Terms of Service

You accept these Terms by checking the acceptance box when you create an account, or when we ask you to accept them in the Service, or by otherwise using the Service. The agreement between you and us consists of these Terms, our Privacy Policy, and any plan details shown to you when you subscribe (together, the “Agreement”). If they conflict, these Terms control, except that plan details shown at purchase control as to price and plan contents.

We keep a record of each acceptance. The record includes the version of these Terms you accepted, the date and time, and the IP address and browser used. We send a confirmation of your acceptance to your account email address.

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use the Service. The Service is intended for engineers and other qualified professionals who are competent to evaluate the significance and limitations of its results, and for engineering students and faculty working under appropriate academic supervision. It is not offered to consumers for personal, family, or household purposes.

If you use the Service on behalf of a company or other organization, you represent that you are authorized to bind that organization to these Terms, and “you” includes that organization. The organization is responsible for the acts and omissions of each person who uses the Service under its accounts.

The Service performs numerical calculations from inputs you supply. It is based on our implementation of published design standards (such as AISC 360, ACI 318, and ASCE 7) and established engineering methods. We develop and test the Service’s calculation methods with care. Even so, the Service is a computational tool. It is not an engineering service. Using it does not create an engineer–client, professional, or fiduciary relationship of any kind. We do not practice engineering through the Service. We do not review, approve, stamp, or seal any design.

The responsibility for structural modeling, data input, the exercise of engineering judgment, and the interpretation and implementation of results remains entirely with you and, where applicable, with the engineer of record for the project. In particular, you acknowledge and agree that:

• you are solely responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and suitability of your inputs. This includes geometry, material properties, loads, load combinations, units, and the choice of design standard and edition;
• each tool relies on assumptions, simplifications, and limits of applicability that are described in the Service, its documentation, and the governing standards. It is your responsibility to confirm that a tool and its assumptions are appropriate for your problem;
• no software is free of errors. You will check all results independently, by other means and using your professional judgment, before relying on them for any design, construction, fabrication, or assessment, especially where life safety or property is involved;
• final responsibility for any analysis, design, drawing, specification, calculation package, or other document prepared with the help of the Service rests with you and, where the law requires, with the licensed professional engineer who reviews, verifies, and seals that work; and
• design standards, building codes, and local amendments change and vary by jurisdiction. We do not warrant that the Service implements the edition or amendment that applies to your project.

Calculation packages and other outputs are prepared from your inputs, for your use. They do not carry our certification. They must not be presented as prepared, reviewed, or approved by STRENC.

Accordingly, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all responsibility for the design, adequacy, defects, or failure of any structure, component, or project in connection with which the Service or its outputs are used. This includes any responsibility in contract, negligence, strict liability, or product liability.

The Service is licensed, not sold. While your account is in good standing and your plan or trial is active, and subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable licence to access and use the Service and its documentation. This licence is for your internal business, professional, or academic purposes, within the limits of your plan.

Unless your plan states otherwise, each subscription is for one named individual user. It may not be shared, pooled, or used by more than one person, whether at the same time or in turn.

Free trial. New accounts may start one free trial of the top-tier plan for the period shown when you start it (currently 14 days). No payment method is needed. The trial is provided so that you can evaluate the Service. [DRAFT — decide whether trial use for paid or commercial engineering work is prohibited, as some engineering-software vendors require] When the trial ends, access to paid tools stops unless you subscribe. You will not be charged automatically at the end of a free trial that you started without a payment method. One free trial is allowed per person or organization. We may refuse or end trials that we reasonably believe are being abused, for example through repeated signups.

Academic licence. Students and faculty may apply for a free academic licence for the period shown when it is approved (currently 90 days). Academic licences may be used only for non-commercial teaching, learning, and research. They may not be used for paid or commercial engineering work. We may ask for proof of eligibility, and we may decline, shorten, or revoke an academic licence at our discretion.

Beta features. Features labeled beta, preview, or experimental are provided for evaluation. They may change or be withdrawn without notice, and they may be less reliable than the rest of the Service.

Free trials, academic licences, and beta features are provided “as is,” without any warranty or commitment, and we may end them at any time.

You must provide accurate, current account information and keep it up to date. You must keep your password, sign-in methods, and any API keys confidential, and you must not disclose them to anyone. You are responsible for all activity under your account. Tell us promptly, at the contact address below, if you learn of any unauthorized access or use. You must also take any reasonable steps we request to stop it.

We may monitor use of the Service to operate it, enforce plan limits, and verify compliance with these Terms. This includes detecting shared accounts. The Privacy Policy describes the information involved.

Automatic renewal. Paid plans are subscriptions that are billed in advance, monthly or yearly as you choose at checkout. Your subscription renews automatically at the end of each billing period, for another period of the same length, at the then-current price, until you cancel. By subscribing, you authorize us and our payment processor to charge your payment method for each renewal.

How to cancel. You can cancel online at any time from the Billing page. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. You keep access until then, and you are not charged again.

Payments and taxes. Payments are processed by Stripe, Inc. We never receive or store your full card number. Prices are shown at checkout. You are responsible for all applicable sales, use, value-added, and similar taxes, unless you give us a valid exemption certificate before purchase. If a payment fails, we may retry it and may suspend paid features until it succeeds.

Plan changes. If you upgrade or downgrade, the change and any proration are shown in the billing portal before you confirm.

Price changes. We will give you at least 30 days’ notice of a price change, by email or in the Service. The new price applies from your first renewal after the notice period. If you do not agree to the new price, you may cancel before then.

Refunds. Except where the law requires otherwise, or where Section 21 provides for a refund, fees are non-refundable. We do not give refunds or credits for partial billing periods or unused features. [DRAFT — confirm the refund policy with counsel — e.g. whether to offer a money-back window on a first annual purchase]

Each plan includes a monthly allowance of calculation runs. Topology optimization is measured separately, in solver iterations. The allowances for your plan are shown on the Billing page, and they reset each calendar month. Unused allowance does not carry over. We also apply rate limits to protect the Service. When you reach a limit, further runs are refused until the allowance resets or you upgrade.

Plans that include API access let you create API keys to call the Service programmatically. API keys are credentials. You must keep them confidential, and you must not embed them in public code or share them outside your organization. Revoke any key you believe has been compromised. You are responsible for all use made with your keys. API usage counts toward the same limits as use through the website. We may change or version the API. We will try to give reasonable notice of changes that break existing integrations.

Except as these Terms expressly permit, or as applicable law permits despite this restriction, you must not, and must not allow or help anyone else to:

• (a) copy, modify, translate, or create derivative works of the Service or its documentation;
• (b) reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise try to derive the source code, algorithms, or calculation engines of the Service;
• (c) rent, lease, lend, sell, resell, sublicense, or otherwise make the Service available to anyone else, including by sharing accounts or credentials;
• (d) frame, mirror, or embed the Service or any part of it in another website, application, or service;
• (e) access or extract content, data, or outputs by robot, scraper, or other automated means, except through the documented API;
• (f) remove, disable, or get around any usage limit, rate limit, plan entitlement, trial restriction, access control, or security measure;
• (g) remove, alter, or obscure any proprietary notice, disclaimer, or notice in the Service or in calculation packages;
• (h) use the Service to build, train, or benchmark a competing product or service;
• (i) interfere with, overload, probe, or disrupt the Service or its infrastructure, or interfere with anyone else’s use of it;
• (j) upload malware, or content that infringes anyone’s rights or is otherwise unlawful;
• (k) misrepresent Service outputs, including by presenting them as prepared, reviewed, or approved by us; or
• (l) use the Service in violation of any law or regulation.

You are responsible for providing the equipment, software, and internet access needed to use the Service, including a current version of a supported web browser. You are responsible for entering your data into the Service. You are also responsible for keeping your own copies of important work and calculation packages. We back up our systems, but the Service is not an archive.

“Your Content” means the projects, models, inputs, files, and other material you submit to the Service. As between you and us, you keep all rights in Your Content. You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, copy, process, and display Your Content, only as needed to provide and secure the Service and the features you use. For example, this includes running calculations, generating calculation packages, and sharing a project with another user when you ask us to. We do not use Your Content to train machine-learning models, or for advertising.

You are responsible for Your Content. You represent that you have the rights needed to submit it. When you share a project with another user, that user can see it under these Terms. Deciding what to share is your responsibility.

The Service is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by copyright and other intellectual-property laws of the United States and other countries. This includes its software, calculation engines, user interface, documentation, updates, and branding. These Terms do not transfer to you any ownership of the Service or any intellectual-property right in it. We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you.

You may use calculation packages and other outputs generated from Your Content in your own projects and deliverables, subject to Section 3.

If you send us suggestions or feedback, we may use them without restriction and without paying you.

We may update the Service at any time, including with corrections, new features, new design-standard editions, and changes to plan contents. Updates may change or remove features. All updates become part of the Service and are governed by these Terms. Except as stated in the next sentence, we are not obliged to provide any particular update, or to keep any particular feature, standard edition, or browser supported. If we remove a material feature from a paid plan during a period you have already paid for, we will give you reasonable notice.

The Service refers to and implements design standards published by organizations such as AISC, ACI, and ASCE. It may also include section-property data derived from published databases. Those organizations do not endorse or sponsor the Service, and their names and marks belong to them. Where your work depends on the text of a standard, rely on the standard itself.

The Service relies on third-party providers, for example for authentication, payments, and hosting, and it may link to third-party websites. Those third parties’ services and websites are governed by their own terms. We are not responsible for them, or for their accuracy, availability, or content.

Our Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and share personal information, and it forms part of the Agreement. The Service is operated from the United States. By using it, you agree to your information being processed and stored in the United States and in other countries where our service providers operate, as described in the Privacy Policy.

You agree to receive notices, agreements, receipts, and other communications from us electronically, by email to your account address or in the Service. These electronic communications satisfy any legal requirement that they be in writing. Checking an acceptance box or clicking an acceptance button in the Service is your electronic signature. It has the same effect as a handwritten signature. You may withdraw this consent by closing your account.

THE SERVICE AND ALL OUTPUTS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS,” “AS AVAILABLE,” AND WITH ALL FAULTS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. OUTPUTS INCLUDE CALCULATION RESULTS, DIAGRAMS, AND CALCULATION PACKAGES. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE, ON OUR OWN BEHALF AND ON BEHALF OF OUR LICENSORS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS, DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. THIS INCLUDES ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ACCURACY, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM A COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, OR USAGE OF TRADE. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE OR ITS OUTPUTS WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR ERROR-FREE. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THEY WILL COMPLY WITH ANY DESIGN STANDARD OR BUILDING CODE, OR THAT ERRORS WILL BE CORRECTED. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE AVAILABLE AT ALL TIMES OR WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR SECURE. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT INTERNET CONGESTION AND OUTAGES, MAINTENANCE, AND OTHER INTERRUPTIONS MAY AFFECT YOUR ACCESS.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW: (A) NEITHER WE NOR OUR LICENSORS OR SERVICE PROVIDERS WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES. THIS INCLUDES LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, OR GOODWILL, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, AND THE COST OF SUBSTITUTE SERVICES. IT ALSO INCLUDES ANY DAMAGE, LOSS, INJURY, OR DEATH ARISING FROM THE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, DEFECT, OR FAILURE OF ANY STRUCTURE OR PROJECT IN CONNECTION WITH WHICH THE SERVICE OR ITS OUTPUTS WERE USED. (B) OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THE AGREEMENT WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (I) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US FOR THE SERVICE IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, AND (II) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US$100). THESE LIMITS APPLY TO ALL THEORIES OF LIABILITY, INCLUDING CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, PRODUCT LIABILITY, AND STATUTE. THEY APPLY EVEN IF WE WERE TOLD THAT SUCH DAMAGES WERE POSSIBLE, AND EVEN IF A LIMITED REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, such as liability for fraud, or for gross negligence or willful misconduct where the law does not allow it to be limited. Where the law does not allow a limitation in full, our liability is limited to the fullest extent it permits. You agree that the disclaimers and limitations in Sections 3, 18, and 19 are an essential basis of the bargain between you and us. Without them, we could not offer the Service at its current price.

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless STRENC and its members, managers, officers, employees, and agents from and against third-party claims, and all resulting damages, losses, liabilities, settlements, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees), arising out of or relating to:

• (a) any design, structure, project, or document that relies on the Service or its outputs;
• (b) Your Content;
• (c) your breach of the Agreement; or
• (d) your violation of any law or of anyone else’s rights.

We will notify you promptly of any claim for which we seek indemnity. We will let you control the defense, and we will cooperate reasonably at your expense. We may take part in the defense with counsel of our own choosing, at our own cost. You may not settle a claim in a way that admits fault by us or imposes any obligation on us, without our written consent.

The Agreement starts when you first accept these Terms. It continues until your account is closed.

You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time, from the Account page in the Service or by contacting us. We may suspend or end your access, with notice where practicable, in any of these cases: you breach the Agreement; your use creates a security, legal, or operational risk; a payment fails; or we discontinue the Service. If we discontinue the Service for reasons other than your breach, we will give you reasonable notice. We will also refund any prepaid fees for the unused part of your billing period.

When your account ends, your licence ends and you must stop using the Service. We delete Your Content as described in the Privacy Policy, so download anything you need first. Termination does not limit any other right or remedy either party has. Sections 3, 7 (for amounts owed), 10, 12 (second paragraph), 13, and 15 through 27 survive termination.

We may update these Terms from time to time. For material changes, we will notify you by email or in the Service at least 14 days before they take effect. We will also ask you to accept the updated Terms before you continue using the Service. If you do not accept them, you may cancel your subscription and stop using the Service. Changes do not apply to disputes that arose before the change took effect. Otherwise, the Agreement may be changed only in a writing signed by both parties.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

Before starting any formal proceeding, you and we agree to try to resolve a dispute informally. Either party may start this by sending written notice describing the dispute. Both parties will then negotiate in good faith for 30 days.

If a dispute is not resolved informally, the state and federal courts located in Cook County, Illinois, have exclusive jurisdiction, and you and we consent to their personal jurisdiction and venue. Either party may seek an injunction in any court of competent jurisdiction to protect its intellectual property or confidential information. [DRAFT — counsel to decide whether to use binding individual arbitration with a class-action waiver instead of court, and whether to add a small-claims carve-out]

TO THE EXTENT THE LAW PERMITS, ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THE AGREEMENT MUST BE BROUGHT WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CLAIM ARISES. AFTER THAT, THE CLAIM IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.

The Service may be subject to U.S. export-control and sanctions laws. You must not use or access the Service, or make it available, in violation of those laws. This includes use from any country or region subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions, and use by or for anyone on a U.S. government restricted-party list. You represent that you are not such a person.

The Service is “commercial computer software” and “commercial computer software documentation,” as those terms are used in 48 C.F.R. § 2.101. If you are a U.S. government agency or contractor, you receive only the rights granted to all other users under these Terms, as provided in 48 C.F.R. § 12.212 and, for Department of Defense users, 48 C.F.R. §§ 227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4.

• Entire agreement. The Agreement is the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between you and us about the Service. It supersedes any prior or contemporaneous proposals, agreements, or understandings on that subject, whether oral or written. Terms in any purchase order or other document you send us do not apply.
• Severability. If any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent possible and modified only as much as needed to make it enforceable. The rest of the Agreement stays in full effect.
• No waiver. Failing to exercise, or delaying the exercise of, any right is not a waiver of it.
• Assignment. You may not assign or transfer the Agreement without our prior written consent, and any attempt to do so is void. We may assign it to an affiliate, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets. The Agreement binds and benefits the parties and their permitted successors and assigns.
• Force majeure. We are not liable for any delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control. Examples include natural disasters, war, acts of government, labor disputes, and failures of utilities, networks, or third-party providers.
• Relationship. The parties are independent contractors. The Agreement does not create a partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship, and it gives no rights to any third party.
• Interpretation. Headings are for convenience only. “Including” means “including without limitation.” The English version of these Terms controls.
• Notices. We send notices to your account email address. You send notices to the contact address below. Notices are effective when received.

Questions about these Terms: jd.pozo.raster@gmail.com [DRAFT — replace with the company support address and a mailing address for legal notices]