Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of the Terms

By accessing or using Charcoal, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

2. Eligibility and Accounts

Charcoal is currently an invitation-only Founder Preview. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information associated with your account and for activity conducted through it. Keep access to your account secure and notify us if you believe it has been compromised.

We may restrict, suspend, or terminate access when reasonably necessary to protect Charcoal, its community, or others, or to comply with legal obligations.

3. The Service

Charcoal is an artist community where users can create profiles, publish Artwork and Studio Updates, follow artists, interact with content, save content, and communicate with other users. Available features may vary during the Founder Preview.

4. User Content and Ownership

You retain ownership of the artwork, photographs, text, and other content you submit to Charcoal. Uploading content does not transfer ownership of your work to Charcoal.

5. License to Operate the Service

By submitting content, you grant Charcoal a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to host, store, reproduce, display, format, resize or otherwise process, and distribute that content within Charcoal as necessary to operate, improve, and present the service.

This license does not give Charcoal a broad right to commercially exploit your work for purposes unrelated to Charcoal. It lasts only as reasonably necessary to provide the service, honor actions you take within it, maintain operational backups, and meet legal obligations.

6. Your Responsibility for Content

You are responsible for content you submit and must have the rights and permissions needed to upload and share it. Do not knowingly submit content that infringes copyright, privacy, publicity, or other rights.

Charcoal is a community for work created by artists. You may not publish creative work that is substantially generated by generative artificial intelligence as artwork or other content on Charcoal. The use of digital tools or incidental AI-assisted features does not by itself violate this rule where the creative work remains fundamentally your own.

7. Community Conduct

Do not use Charcoal to harass or threaten others, impersonate people or organizations, send spam, commit fraud, distribute illegal or rights-infringing content, engage in malicious activity, or disrupt, probe, or misuse the service.

8. Social Features and Communications

Charcoal includes follows, Sparks, comments, messages, sharing, and Saved content. You are responsible for your interactions and communications with other users. Use these features respectfully and exercise care when deciding what to share.

9. Moderation

We may review reported content where appropriate, remove or restrict content, limit features, suspend accounts, or terminate access when reasonably necessary to operate or protect the community and service. Charcoal does not undertake to proactively review every post or private message.

10. Copyright and Intellectual Property Concerns

If you believe content on Charcoal infringes your intellectual property rights, contact hello@charcoalarts.com with enough information for us to understand and evaluate the concern. This contact does not represent a formally designated DMCA agent.

11. Service Availability and Changes

Charcoal is in Founder Preview. Features may change, be added or removed, be interrupted, or be unavailable. We do not guarantee continuous or error-free service.

12. Third-Party Services and Links

Charcoal may link to or interact with websites and services operated by others. We are not responsible for third-party services, content, availability, or practices outside our control.

13. Termination

You may stop using Charcoal at any time. We may suspend or terminate access for violations of these Terms, abuse, legal requirements, security concerns, or protection of Charcoal and its community.

14. Disclaimers

To the extent permitted by applicable law, Charcoal is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. We disclaim warranties that are not expressly stated in these Terms, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Some jurisdictions may not allow certain disclaimers, so portions of this section may not apply to you.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the extent permitted by applicable law, Charcoal Arts and the people involved in operating Charcoal will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, goodwill, or opportunities arising from or related to the service. These limitations apply only to the extent allowed by law and do not exclude liability that cannot legally be limited.

16. Changes to the Terms

We may update these Terms as Charcoal evolves. If changes are material, we will communicate them through reasonable means. Continued use after updated Terms take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

17. Governing Law

Applicable law governs these Terms. The specific governing law and forum for disputes require final legal and business review before Charcoal becomes broadly available.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be sent to hello@charcoalarts.com.