Legal · Terms of Service

Terms of Service.

Effective May 22, 2026 Version 1.0 Governs use of inkid.io

1. Acceptance of these Terms

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern your access to and use of inkid.io and its subdomains (collectively, the "Site"), which is operated by InkID, Inc. ("InkID," "we," "us"). The Site is the public-facing umbrella for the InkID authorship-verification protocol and serves as informational marketing for the products built on that protocol, together with the InkVerify demo widget hosted on the homepage. By accessing or using the Site, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site.

These Terms apply to the Site only. The InkID protocol is exposed through separate products — including the InkWave mobile application, InkTrust publisher dashboard, InkVerify resolver, and others — each governed by its own product-specific terms. Nothing in these Terms grants you rights to, or imposes obligations on you in respect of, any of those products; those relationships are governed by the terms accepted in or for each product.

2. About inkid.io

The Site is an informational website. It describes the InkID protocol, the products that implement it, and the philosophy behind them. It includes a non-interactive demo verify widget (see §5) that returns illustrative sample records for two pre-defined identifiers; it does not, on this Site, accept arbitrary identifiers, query a production verification backend, or transmit any identifier you enter to InkID systems. The Site does not provide accounts, file storage, content submission, payments, behavioral data collection, or any feature that captures, uploads, or stores user-generated content. Forms or widgets we add later (a waitlist, contact form, account creation) will be governed by additional notices presented at the point of collection together with the Privacy Policy.

The Site is not a legal advisor, a copyright office, an enforcement mechanism, a publisher, a verification service for arbitrary works, or a substitute for any of the foregoing. Information published on the Site is provided for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal, regulatory, or business advice.

3. Eligibility & geographic scope

The Site is intended for use by adults and by minors aged sixteen (16) or older. By using the Site you represent that you are at least 16 years of age. The Site is targeted at users located in the United States. While the Site is technically reachable from outside the United States, products and services described on the Site may not be available in all jurisdictions, and we make no representation that the content of the Site is appropriate, lawful, or available for use in any particular jurisdiction. International availability for any InkID product will be governed by that product's terms and applicable local law at the time the product launches in that jurisdiction.

If you are visiting from the European Union, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction whose mandatory consumer-protection or data-protection law applies to you, those provisions continue to apply to the extent they grant you greater protection than the choice-of-law and dispute-resolution provisions of §§12 and 13.

4. Acceptable use; prohibited conduct

You may access and use the Site for personal, non-commercial review and for legitimate business evaluation of the InkID protocol and its products. You agree not to:

  1. access the Site in any manner that violates applicable law, regulation, or third-party rights;
  2. copy, scrape, crawl, mirror, or systematically download substantial portions of the Site other than via standard browser caching and standard search-engine indexing of public pages;
  3. reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble any portion of the Site or attempt to discover the source code of any component of it, except to the extent such activity is expressly permitted by applicable law notwithstanding this prohibition;
  4. introduce or transmit any virus, worm, denial-of-service vector, or other malicious code to or through the Site;
  5. circumvent or attempt to circumvent any security measure or access control we apply to any portion of the Site;
  6. misrepresent your identity or any affiliation with InkID, or impersonate InkID, its personnel, or any affiliate;
  7. use the Site to harvest contact information for unsolicited communications;
  8. use any InkID name, logo, mark, or trade dress (including the marks listed in §6) in a manner likely to cause confusion as to source, sponsorship, or endorsement.

5. The InkVerify demo widget

The widget on the homepage that resolves identifiers (the "Demo Widget") is provided for illustrative and demonstration purposes only. It is a self-contained, client-side widget that returns one of two pre-defined sample records for two specific demo identifiers; for any other input it returns a "not found" response. The Demo Widget does not transmit your input to any InkID server, does not query the production InkID verification backend, and does not generate or store an InkID on your behalf. The sample records returned are fictional and intended to illustrate the structure of a real InkID record on the production resolver at inkverify.co.

Production resolution of real InkIDs is performed by the InkVerify product, accessible at verify.html and (where applicable) at the InkVerify resolver page. Use of the production InkVerify resolver is governed by its own terms, presented at that surface.

6. Intellectual property & trademarks

Except for any third-party content identified as such, all content on the Site — including text, graphics, layouts, design, photographs, code, the InkID logo, brand marks, and the visual and editorial system of the Site — is owned by or licensed to InkID and is protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property laws. All rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved.

The marks InkID, INKID-PROTO, InkWave, InkFolio, InkProof, InkVault, InkVerify, InkTrust, and the InkID fingerprint-and-quill logo are trademarks of InkID, Inc. You may not use these marks, or any confusingly similar marks, without InkID's prior written permission. Nominative fair use is permitted (for example, accurate reference to "InkID" in journalism, criticism, comparison, or commentary), provided you do not imply that InkID has reviewed, endorsed, or sponsored your work.

The published portions of the InkID protocol specification, lexicon, methodology, and AI Training Rights Declaration format are released under specified open terms identified on the page on which each appears. Where no license is stated, the default position is "all rights reserved" — please contact us before redistribution.

7. Third-party services

The Site uses a small number of third-party services to function: Google Fonts (for typography), Firebase Hosting (operated by Google, for content delivery), and — where the Site references them — the FreeTSA Time-Stamp Authority and the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) open standard. Use of those third-party services may be subject to their own terms and privacy practices. InkID is not responsible for the practices of any third-party service.

Where the Site links to external sites (including the InkVerify resolver, App Store listings, social profiles, news coverage, partner sites, or specification documents), InkID does not endorse and is not responsible for the content, terms, or practices of those external sites.

8. DMCA & copyright complaints

InkID respects the intellectual-property rights of others and expects users of the Site to do the same. If you believe content on the Site infringes a copyright you own or control, please send a notice that includes the elements required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) to our designated copyright agent at legal@inkid.io:

  1. identification of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed;
  2. identification of the allegedly infringing material on the Site, with sufficient detail to permit us to locate it (URL is preferred);
  3. your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address;
  4. a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
  5. a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the owner's behalf;
  6. your physical or electronic signature.

Counter-notifications complying with 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3) may be sent to the same address. We will terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the access of users who are repeat infringers.

9. Disclaimers

THE SITE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, AND COMPLETENESS. INKID DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, SECURE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT ANY INFORMATION ON THE SITE IS CURRENT, COMPLETE, OR FREE OF DEFECTS.

Information about the InkID protocol on the Site describes the protocol as designed and as published in INKID-PROTO v0.9. Implementation of the protocol in any particular InkID product may differ from the published specification at any given point in time; the authoritative description of any product's behavior is the documentation and consent notices presented in that product.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, InkID and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages — including, without limitation, damages for lost profits, lost revenue, lost business opportunities, loss of goodwill, loss of use, or loss of data — arising out of or relating to your access to or use of the Site, regardless of the legal theory (whether in contract, tort, statute, or otherwise) and regardless of whether InkID has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

InkID's total aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the Site will not exceed one hundred United States dollars (US$100). Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages; in those jurisdictions InkID's liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

11. Indemnification

You will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless InkID and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to (a) your use of the Site in violation of these Terms or applicable law, (b) your violation of any third-party right (including intellectual-property, privacy, or publicity rights), or (c) any content you submit through any future Site feature in violation of these Terms.

12. Dispute resolution & arbitration

Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights, including your right to file a lawsuit in court and your right to participate in a class action.

Informal resolution first

Before initiating any formal proceeding, you and InkID agree to attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute by negotiation. You may begin the informal-resolution process by sending a written notice describing the dispute to legal@inkid.io. The parties will work in good faith for sixty (60) days to resolve the dispute.

Binding individual arbitration

If informal resolution fails, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Site, or your relationship with InkID will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, conducted in English. The arbitrator — not any federal, state, or local court — has exclusive authority to resolve any dispute concerning the interpretation, applicability, enforceability, or formation of this arbitration agreement, including any claim that this arbitration agreement is void or voidable.

Class-action waiver

YOU AND INKID AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN YOUR OR ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.

Exceptions

The arbitration agreement does not apply to (a) claims that qualify for adjudication in small-claims court in a venue where both parties can attend, or (b) claims for injunctive or equitable relief relating to intellectual-property rights.

Right to opt out

You may opt out of the arbitration agreement (but not the rest of these Terms) by sending written notice of your decision to opt out to legal@inkid.io within thirty (30) days of first accepting these Terms. Your notice must include your name, your email address, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out of arbitration with InkID.

Fees; mass-filing protocol

InkID will pay all AAA administrative and arbitrator fees for claims of less than US$10,000; for larger claims, fees are allocated under the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules. If 25 or more substantially similar claims against InkID are filed within a 60-day period, the AAA will randomly select ten of those claims to be arbitrated first as bellwethers; the remaining claims will be stayed pending the bellwether outcomes, and the parties will attempt to resolve outstanding claims based on the bellwether results.

EU / UK consumers

If you are a consumer in the European Union or the United Kingdom, this section does not override any mandatory consumer-protection provision of your country of residence, including your right to bring claims before a local court and your right to file complaints with your local data-protection authority.

13. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. The exclusive venue for any matter not subject to arbitration under §12 is the state and federal courts located in San Francisco County, California; you and InkID consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts. For consumers in the EU and UK, mandatory consumer-protection law of your country of residence applies to the extent it provides greater protection than California law.

14. California privacy rights

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, together "CCPA") provides you with the following rights with respect to personal information collected about you through the Site: (a) the right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose; (b) the right to delete personal information; (c) the right to correct inaccurate personal information; (d) the right to opt out of "sale" or "sharing" of personal information; (e) the right to limit our use and disclosure of sensitive personal information; and (f) the right to non-discrimination for exercising these rights.

InkID does not "sell" personal information collected through the Site as that term is defined under CCPA, and does not share such information for cross-context behavioral advertising. To exercise your CCPA rights, contact us at privacy@inkid.io. We will respond within forty-five (45) days. Detailed information about what we collect through the Site and how we handle it is set out in the Privacy Policy.

15. General provisions

Entire agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any notices presented at the point of any specific feature, constitute the entire agreement between you and InkID concerning the Site. They supersede all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals (whether oral, written, or electronic) between you and InkID concerning the Site.

Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect; the invalid or unenforceable provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable while preserving its original intent to the maximum extent permitted.

Waiver

Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of that or any other provision.

Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms, by operation of law or otherwise, without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets, provided that the assignee agrees to be bound by these Terms.

Force majeure

InkID is not liable for any delay or failure to perform resulting from causes outside its reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, pandemics, war, terrorism, government action, power failures, internet outages, or third-party service failures.

Site availability

InkID does not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or secure access to the Site. The Site may be unavailable due to maintenance, updates, or causes outside our control.

No third-party beneficiaries

These Terms do not confer any rights or remedies on any person or entity other than you and InkID, except as expressly stated.

Survival

Sections 6 (Intellectual property), 9 (Disclaimers), 10 (Limitation of liability), 11 (Indemnification), 12 (Dispute resolution), 13 (Governing law), and any other provisions that by their nature should survive termination will survive any termination of these Terms or of your use of the Site.

Headings

Section headings are for convenience only and have no legal effect.

16. Changes to these Terms

InkID may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Effective" date at the top of this page. If we make material changes, we will provide additional notice (for example, a banner on the Site or, where you have provided contact information through any Site feature, an email notice) at least 30 days before the change takes effect. Your continued use of the Site after the effective date of an updated version constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.

17. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at:

InkID, Inc.
Email (legal): legal@inkid.io
Email (privacy): privacy@inkid.io

Email contact addresses will be activated as the InkID email infrastructure is provisioned. Until then, please direct inquiries to the address listed on a current product page or InkID's verified social channels.