Terms of Service

Plain-language summary. You own your research. You’re responsible for what you publish, and you promise it’s yours to publish. AI features send your text to the AI provider you choose, and you approve every AI edit before it lands. Published research is public and others can share it. Be lawful and be decent to other people. The full terms below are the ones that legally count — please read them. This document should be reviewed by a qualified lawyer before we rely on it commercially.

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and KARAN, a sole proprietor based in India (“OrbitSub”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). They govern your access to and use of the website at orbitsub.com, its subdomains, and all related applications, tools, and services we provide (together, the “Service”).

By creating an account, clicking “I agree,” or otherwise accessing or using the Service, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated here by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Definitions

In these Terms, the following words have the following meanings:

• “Account” — the personal account you register to use the Service.
• “Content” — anything you create, upload, submit, or display through the Service, including drafts, published research, titles, text, images, files, citations, sources, comments, suggestions, messages, and profile information.
• “Published Research” — Content you choose to publish, making it publicly viewable at a public link.
• “Draft” — Content that has not been published and is visible only to you and any collaborators you admit.
• “Room” — a workspace for a piece of research, which may be private (draft) or live, and may allow real-time collaboration.
• “Orbit” / “Suggestion” — the feature by which readers or collaborators propose text or edits that an author or admin may accept into a piece of research.
• “AI Features” — the assistant, editing, review, and citation features that use third-party artificial-intelligence providers.
• “Third-Party Providers” — the independent service providers we rely on to operate the Service, listed in Section 12.

2. Eligibility and who may use OrbitSub

You must be at least 18 years old to create an Account or use the Service. By using the Service you represent and warrant that you are 18 or older and have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms.

We set this age because our AI Features are powered by third-party AI providers whose own terms require users to be 18+, and because, under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP”), processing the personal data of a person under 18 requires verifiable parental consent, which the Service does not currently support.

• You may hold only one Account per person unless we agree otherwise in writing.
• The information you give us must be accurate, current, and complete, and you must keep it updated.
• You may not use the Service if you are barred from doing so under the laws of India or any other jurisdiction that applies to you, or if you have previously been removed from the Service.
• Accounts are for individuals. You may not sell, rent, lease, or transfer your Account, or share your login with others.

3. Your Account and security

You are responsible for safeguarding your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your Account, whether or not you authorised it. You agree to:

• keep your password confidential and choose a strong, unique one;
• enable two-factor authentication in Settings, which we strongly recommend;
• notify us immediately at team@orbitsub.com if you suspect any unauthorised access or security breach involving your Account.

We are not liable for any loss arising from unauthorised use of your Account that results from your failure to keep your credentials secure. We may require you to reset your password or take other steps to protect the Service.

4. Your Content is yours

You retain all ownership rights in your Content. We do not claim ownership of your research, and we do not sell your Content. However, to operate the Service, we need your permission to handle your Content in certain ways.

You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable licence to host, store, cache, reproduce, adapt (for formatting and display only), publish, publicly perform or display, and distribute your Content solely for the purpose of operating, providing, securing, and improving the Service. This includes displaying your Content on your research page, in feeds, search results, preview cards and excerpts, in exports you generate, and in the reader.

• Published Research is public. When you publish, anyone on the internet may read it, link to it, quote it with attribution, and share the link. You grant other users a limited licence to share and reference your Published Research through the features the Service provides. You can unpublish or delete it, but copies others have already made or shared are outside our control.
• Drafts are private to you and the collaborators you admit to the Room.
• Suggestions and the Orbit. If you submit a Suggestion, you grant the relevant author(s) the right to include it in their research; if it is accepted, you receive the attribution the Service displays. If an author accepts Suggestions into their work, they remain responsible for the resulting Content. Do not submit text you do not have the right to share.
• This licence ends when you delete the relevant Content or your Account, except: (a) for Content others have already shared or copied; (b) for back-up or residual copies retained for a limited period as described in our Privacy Policy; and (c) where we must retain it to comply with law.

5. Your promises about your Content

This is important for a research platform. For everything you post, you represent and warrant that:

• you own the Content or have all rights, licences, and permissions needed to post it and to grant the licence in Section 4;
• your Content does not infringe or misappropriate anyone’s copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, privacy, publicity, or other rights;
• your Content is not plagiarised and, where it draws on others’ work, is properly attributed and cited;
• your Content does not contain anything unlawful, defamatory, or otherwise prohibited under Section 7;
• any data, claims, or results you publish are presented honestly and are not knowingly false, fabricated, or misleading.

You are solely responsible for your Content and the consequences of publishing it. OrbitSub does not endorse, verify, or guarantee any Content, and Content reflects the views of its author, not of OrbitSub.

6. AI Features — how they actually work

OrbitSub’s assistant, editing, review, and citation features are powered by third-party AI providers. When you use an AI Feature, the relevant parts of your prompt, draft, attachments, and selected sources are transmitted to our AI provider — currently Microsoft (Azure OpenAI Service) — so it can generate a response, subject to that provider’s own terms and privacy practices.

• You approve every AI edit. Edits proposed by the AI are shown to you as a change you can apply or discard. Nothing the AI suggests is applied to your research automatically. What you choose to apply and publish is your responsibility and appears under your name.
• AI output can be wrong. It may be inaccurate, outdated, incomplete, or biased, and may “hallucinate” facts or sources. You must independently verify any AI-assisted content, citation, or source before relying on or publishing it.
• No professional advice. AI output is not legal, medical, financial, or other professional advice.
• Fair-use quotas. AI usage is subject to reasonable usage limits that may vary by plan and that we may adjust to keep the Service reliable and affordable.
• You must not use AI Features to generate content that violates Section 7 or any provider’s usage policy, or to attempt to extract, reverse-engineer, or misuse the underlying models.

7. Acceptable use

You agree that you will not, and will not allow anyone else to:

• post or transmit Content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, hateful, harassing, threatening, or that invades another person’s privacy or promotes violence or discrimination;
• publish others’ work as your own, plagiarise, or infringe any copyright, trademark, or other intellectual-property or proprietary right;
• fabricate, falsify, or knowingly misrepresent research data, results, sources, or citations, or engage in academic or research misconduct;
• impersonate any person or organisation, or misrepresent your identity, qualifications, or affiliation;
• spam, artificially manipulate engagement or rankings, operate undisclosed advertising or paid promotion disguised as research, or engage in coordinated inauthentic behaviour;
• upload or transmit viruses, malware, or other harmful code, or use the Service to attack, disrupt, or gain unauthorised access to any system, network, or data;
• probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service except under our responsible-disclosure process, or breach or circumvent any security, authentication, rate-limit, quota, or access-control measure;
• scrape, crawl, harvest, or use bots or automated means to access the Service or collect data from it, except as expressly permitted by us in writing;
• copy, modify, translate, reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or create derivative works of the Service or its software, except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by law;
• resell, sublicense, rent, or otherwise commercially exploit the Service or access to it without our written permission;
• use the Service in a way that violates any law or regulation that applies to you, including India’s Information Technology Act, 2000 and rules made under it.

8. Moderation and enforcement

We may, at our discretion and to the extent permitted by law, review Content and take action to protect the Service, our users, and the public. This includes the right to remove or restrict Content, limit or disable features, apply automated moderation rules, and warn, suspend, or terminate Accounts that violate these Terms or applicable law, or that create legal risk or harm.

• Where practical, we will tell you what action we took and why, and you may appeal through our Grievance process.
• For serious violations — including unlawful content, security attacks, or conduct that endangers others — we may act immediately and without prior notice.
• We are an intermediary and are not obliged to monitor all Content, but we will act on valid legal notices and reports as required by law.

9. The Founding 500

The first 500 eligible members receive founding status and the benefits described on the Founding page, which include a permanent Founding Member badge and priority on future perks (but not a paid plan). Founding status is personal and non-transferable and may be revoked for serious violations of these Terms. Specific features may evolve over time, but we commit to honouring the substance of the founding promise for members in good standing.

10. Subscriptions, billing, and cancellation

Parts of the Service may be offered free of charge, and parts may require a paid subscription. Where paid plans are offered:

• paid plans are billed in advance through our payment processor and, unless stated otherwise, renew automatically for successive periods until you cancel;
• you can cancel at any time in Settings; cancellation stops future renewals, and you keep paid access until the end of your current billing period;
• refunds and cancellations are governed by our Refund & Cancellation Policy;
• we may change prices or plan features; if a change affects you, we will give you notice before it applies to your next renewal, and your continued use after that constitutes acceptance;
• you are responsible for any taxes associated with your purchase except taxes on our income, and you authorise us and our payment processor to charge your chosen payment method for amounts due.

Detailed payment terms are set out in our Refund & Cancellation Policy and any dedicated Payment Policy we publish.

11. Our intellectual property

The Service itself — including its software, source code, design, user interface, graphics, and the OrbitSub name, logo, and brand — is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. Except for the rights expressly granted to you to use the Service under these Terms, we reserve all rights, and nothing in these Terms transfers any of our intellectual property to you. You may not use our name, logo, or branding without our prior written permission.

12. Third-party services

The Service depends on independent Third-Party Providers, including (currently) Vercel and Render (hosting), Neon (database), Cloudinary (file storage), Resend (email delivery), Upstash (caching), Cloudflare (bot protection), PayPal (payments), Google (optional sign-in), Microsoft (Azure OpenAI Service for AI features), and reference services such as Crossref, Zotero, and Mendeley for citations and sources. Your use of the Service may be subject to these providers’ terms, and how they process personal data is described in our Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for the acts or omissions of Third-Party Providers beyond our control.

13. Feedback

If you send us ideas, suggestions, or feedback about the Service, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use them for any purpose without any obligation or compensation to you. This does not affect your ownership of your Content.

14. Disclaimers

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service and all Content are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, or non-infringement.

• We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the Service or its servers are free of harmful components.
• Research published on OrbitSub is the work of its authors, not of OrbitSub. We do not verify, endorse, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any Content, including AI-assisted content.
• Nothing on the Service constitutes professional, legal, medical, financial, or academic advice, and you rely on any Content at your own risk.

15. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, OrbitSub and its proprietor will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or relating to your use of (or inability to use) the Service, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the total amount you paid us in the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) ₹1,000 (one thousand Indian Rupees). Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you; nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

16. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless OrbitSub and its proprietor from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your Content; (b) your use of the Service; (c) your violation of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any law or the rights of any third party.

17. Suspension and termination

You may stop using the Service and delete your Account at any time in Settings. We may suspend or terminate your access, with or without notice, if you violate these Terms or applicable law, if required by law, or if continuing to provide the Service to you creates legal risk or is no longer commercially viable.

On termination, your right to use the Service ends. Sections that by their nature should survive — including Content ownership and licences already granted, your promises and warranties, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity, governing law, and dispute resolution — survive termination. Deletion of your Content and Account is handled as described in our Privacy Policy.

18. Force majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay in providing the Service caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, labour disputes, internet or utility failures, or failures of Third-Party Providers.

19. Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India, without regard to conflict of laws principles. Subject to any mandatory consumer-protection rights you have, the courts at New Delhi, India will have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service.

Try to resolve it with us first. Before starting any formal proceeding, you agree to contact us at team@orbitsub.com and give us at least thirty (30) days to resolve the issue informally and in good faith. Many disputes can be settled quickly this way.

20. Grievance redressal

In accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the name and contact details of our Grievance Officer and the process for making a complaint are published on our Grievance Redressal page. We acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and aim to resolve them within 15 days.

21. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or an in-product notice before they take effect and update the “Last updated” date above. Your continued use of the Service after the changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you must stop using the Service and may delete your Account.

22. General

• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any other policies referenced here, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service and supersede any prior agreements.
• Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the rest remain in full force, and the invalid provision will be applied to the maximum extent permitted or, if not possible, severed.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to enforce it later.
• Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms without our written consent. We may assign them, for example in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
• No agency. Nothing in these Terms creates any partnership, agency, employment, or joint venture between you and us.
• Notices. We may give you notices by email, through the Service, or by posting on the website. You may contact us at team@orbitsub.com.
• Language. These Terms are drafted in English, which is the controlling language even if translated.

23. Contact us

If you have any questions about these Terms, contact us at team@orbitsub.com.