Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the CaptionCompliance website, platform, and services (collectively, the "Service") operated by CaptionCompliance and its owners ("we," "us," or "our"). By accessing or using the Service in any capacity — including viewing the website, using the demo, creating an account, or purchasing credits — you agree to be bound by these Terms in full.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the Service.

1. Service Description

CaptionCompliance is an AI-powered tool that generates alt text, captions, and long descriptions for images to support accessible publishing workflows. The Service is designed to reduce the time and effort required to produce accessibility-supportive content — it is not a legal compliance product and does not guarantee legal compliance with any standard.

Our outputs are intended as a starting point for human review and editorial refinement. CaptionCompliance is a productivity and risk-reduction tool, not a substitute for professional accessibility auditing, legal counsel, or certified human review.

2. AI-Generated Output Disclaimer

All alt text, captions, and descriptions generated by CaptionCompliance are produced by artificial intelligence. While our system is informed by WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2 best practices, outputs may contain inaccuracies, omit contextual details, or not fully satisfy the specific accessibility requirements of your platform, audience, jurisdiction, or applicable law.

You are solely responsible for reviewing, editing, approving, and taking legal ownership of all generated content prior to publication or use. You assume all risk associated with publishing AI-generated accessibility content without independent professional review.

3. User Responsibilities

By using the Service, you agree to:

• Review all AI-generated alt text and descriptions for accuracy, context, tone, and suitability before publishing or deploying them in any format.
• Not rely solely on CaptionCompliance outputs to satisfy legal, regulatory, or contractual accessibility requirements.
• Only upload images you have the right to use, analyze, and process under applicable law.
• Not upload images containing illegal content, content that violates third-party intellectual property rights, personally identifiable information without consent, or content that depicts minors in any inappropriate context.
• Use the Service in full compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, including but not limited to ADA, Section 508, CCPA, GDPR, and WCAG standards.
• Keep your account credentials confidential and notify us immediately of any unauthorized access.
• Not attempt to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of our systems or networks.

4. Acceptable Use Policy

You may not use the Service for any purpose not expressly permitted by these Terms. The following are strictly prohibited:

• Reselling, white-labeling, sublicensing, or redistributing Service outputs or access to the platform without prior written authorization from us.
• Using outputs generated by the Service to train, fine-tune, benchmark, or otherwise develop a competing AI model or accessibility tool.
• Reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, or otherwise attempting to extract source code, model weights, prompts, or proprietary logic from the Service.
• Accessing the Service via automated means, bots, scrapers, or scripts in ways that circumvent our intended usage limits or abuse the credit system.
• Using the Service to process images on behalf of third parties on a volume or commercial basis without a valid agency, enterprise, or reseller agreement with us.
• Making false, misleading, or defamatory statements about the Service, its outputs, or its operators.

Violation of this Acceptable Use Policy is grounds for immediate account termination and may result in legal action.

5. Accounts, Credits & Payment

5.1 Credits

Credits are consumed when an image is successfully analyzed. If a generation fails due to a confirmed system error on our end, the credit will be refunded to your account at our sole discretion. We reserve the right to audit credit consumption patterns and revoke credits obtained through abuse, circumvention, or manipulation of the system.

5.2 Subscriptions

Monthly subscription plans (Starter, Pro) automatically renew at the end of each billing period using your payment method on file. You authorize us to charge your payment method on a recurring basis. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period — you retain access through the period end date. No pro-rata refunds are issued for partial months, unused credits, or plan downgrades.

5.3 Burst Pack (One-Time Credits)

Burst Pack credits are non-subscription, one-time purchases. All purchased Burst Pack credits expire 90 days from the date of purchase. Expired credits are forfeited with no refund, extension, rollover, or exception. By purchasing a Burst Pack, you expressly acknowledge and accept this expiration policy.

5.4 No Refunds

All purchases — including monthly subscriptions and Burst Pack credits — are final and non-refundable except as required by applicable law or as expressly stated in these Terms. Unused credits do not carry over between billing periods for subscription plans.

5.5 Pricing Changes

We reserve the right to modify credit allocations, pricing structures, or plan features at any time. We will provide at least 30 days' notice to existing paying customers before any price increases take effect. Continued use of the Service after a price change constitutes acceptance of the new pricing.

6. Third-Party Services & Data Processing

The Service uses the Anthropic API to process image analysis requests. By uploading images to CaptionCompliance, you acknowledge and consent that your image data will be transmitted to Anthropic, PBC as a third-party processor for the purpose of generating accessibility descriptions. Anthropic's processing of your data is subject to Anthropic's own Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

We are not responsible for the data handling practices, uptime, or output quality of third-party services. We select processors with reasonable care but make no warranties regarding their performance or compliance posture.

7. Intellectual Property

7.1 Your Content

You retain all rights to the images you upload and the text outputs generated in association with your account. We do not claim ownership of your content. By using the Service, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to process your uploaded images solely for the purpose of providing the Service to you.

7.2 Our Platform

The CaptionCompliance name, logo, domain, website design, system prompts, model architecture, scoring systems, user interface, and all underlying technology are the exclusive intellectual property of CaptionCompliance and its owners. Nothing in these Terms transfers any ownership rights to you. You may not copy, modify, adapt, distribute, or create derivative works from any part of the Service without prior written consent.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, CaptionCompliance, its owners, operators, officers, employees, affiliates, contractors, and agents shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages of any kind.

This limitation applies to all claims including but not limited to:

• Losses arising from reliance on AI-generated outputs without independent human review.
• Failure to meet any accessibility standard, audit requirement, legal obligation, or regulatory threshold.
• Third-party claims, lawsuits, or regulatory actions related to the accessibility of published content.
• Service interruptions, API outages, data loss, system errors, or technical failures.
• Loss of revenue, business opportunity, goodwill, or reputation.

Our total cumulative liability for any claim arising under or related to these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the total amount you paid us in the 30 days immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or $50 USD, whichever is greater.

These limitations apply regardless of the legal theory advanced — whether contract, tort, strict liability, statute, or otherwise — and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

9. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free of harmful components. We make no representations that any generated output will be accurate, complete, suitable for any particular use, or compliant with any specific accessibility standard. We expressly disclaim any warranty that use of the Service will satisfy any legal or regulatory obligation.

10. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless CaptionCompliance, its owners, operators, officers, employees, contractors, licensors, and agents from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to:

• Your use of or reliance on the Service, including any AI-generated outputs you publish or distribute.
• Your violation of these Terms or any applicable law or regulation.
• Your infringement of any intellectual property or other rights of any third party.
• Any claim by a third party that your use of the Service caused or contributed to an ADA violation, accessibility failure, or civil rights injury.
• Your negligent or wrongful acts or omissions in connection with the Service.

This indemnification obligation survives termination of your account and these Terms.

11. Termination

You may close your account at any time by contacting us at legal@captioncompliance.com. Closure does not entitle you to a refund of any unused credits or remaining subscription time.

We reserve the right to suspend or permanently terminate your account, with or without notice, if you: violate these Terms; engage in conduct that could harm other users, our infrastructure, or our business reputation; abuse the credit system; attempt to circumvent usage limits or security measures; or for any other reason at our sole discretion.

Upon termination, your right to access the Service ends immediately. We may retain or delete your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Sections 2, 4, 7.2, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14 survive termination.

12. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service shall first be subject to informal resolution: you must contact us at legal@captioncompliance.com and allow 30 days for good-faith resolution before initiating any formal proceeding.

If informal resolution fails, any dispute shall be resolved by binding arbitration administered in Los Angeles County, California, under the American Arbitration Association (AAA) Commercial Arbitration Rules. You waive any right to a jury trial or to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration. Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction for intellectual property violations or emergency relief.

13. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms at any time. For material changes — including price increases, changes to limitation of liability, or changes to arbitration provisions — we will provide at least 30 days' written notice to the email address associated with your account before the changes take effect.

For non-material changes (corrections, clarifications, formatting), we will update the "Last Updated" date and post the revised Terms on this page. Your continued use of the Service after any changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

14. General Provisions

14.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and CaptionCompliance regarding the Service and supersede all prior agreements, communications, and understandings.

14.2 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

14.3 No Waiver

Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of those rights.

14.4 Assignment

You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets without restriction.

14.5 Force Majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance resulting from causes beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, pandemic, war, government actions, internet or infrastructure outages, or third-party service failures.

Contact

For questions about these Terms, legal inquiries, or account issues, contact us at:

legal@captioncompliance.com
CaptionCompliance.com