SignHow Terms and Conditions of Use

SignHow is a community sign language dictionary. It aims to include over 300 different sign languages used globally. Our website is the first to support crowd‑sourcing of Signs and allow users to view signs using GIFS, which are more efficient than videos. Please read these terms and conditions of use carefully as they constitute a binding agreement between SignHow Global Co Pty Ltd ABN 80 653 997 089 (SignHow or We, Us, Our) and You.

The SignHow website at www.signhow.co or such other URL as chosen by Us from time to time (the “Website”) and community sign language dictionary service, which includes access to Signs and, for Approved Users, the ability to upload videos, including (without limitation) any other websites, mobile applications and other interactive properties through which the service is delivered (collectively, the “Service”) are owned, operated and distributed by SignHow.

By accessing any part of the Service, You are agreeing to the terms and conditions described herein (as may be updated by Us from time to time in accordance with section 10.1), and the terms and conditions of any other legal notices published by Us on the Service (collectively, the “Agreement”). If You do not agree to any of these, You should not use the Service.

1.          Dictionary

“Approved User” means a User who has been approved by Us by written notice (including email) to upload Signs to the Website on the basis of their sign language fluency.

“Australian Consumer Law” means Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).

“Free Service” has the meaning given in section 2.1.

“Free User” means a User that has a registered account with the website but has not registered for the Paid Service.

“Material” means Signs on the Website and related content or information.

“Paid Service” has the meaning given in section 2.1.

“Paid User” means a person that has registered for the Paid Service.

“Sign” means a visual form of communication through hand signals, gestures, facial expressions, and body language that delivers a particular message and is part of a sign language.

“Uploaded Sign” has the meaning given in section 3.1.

“User” means a person that has a registered account with the Website to access and use the Service.

“You” and “Your” refers to the User.

2.          Description of Service and Registration

2.1       The full description of the Service is on the Website, which explains how to create an account with SignHow, and how to register for a paid subscription – please refer to the ‘How it Works’ page on the Website. Certain aspects and functionality of the Service are provided to You for you to use free‑of‑charge (“Free Service”). Other aspects and functionality of the Service require You to register for a paid subscription before You can access them (“Paid Service”).

2.2       You must ensure that the details provided by You on registration remain correct and complete. If there are any changes to the information that You provided when registering for the Service, please inform Us promptly so that we can communicate with You effectively.

2.3       You may cancel your registration to use the Service at any time by notifying us in writing by email to hello@signhow.co. If you do so, you must immediately cease to access the Website or use the Service. Cancellation of your registration does not affect any of Your statutory rights. However, You agree that if You are a Paid User, no refund will be made for the remaining time of the then-current subscription period.

2.4       You agree to abide by the rules for all Users set out in section 4, and not to use the Service, the Website, or the Material any part thereof in any manner not expressly permitted by the Agreement.

2.5       The Service is the property of SignHow or Our licensors. We grant You a limited, non‑exclusive, revocable licence to make personal, non‑commercial use of the Service and the Material.

2.6       No part of the Service, Material or Website is sold or transferred to You, and SignHow and its licensors retain ownership of all of the Service, Material and Website. Except for the rights expressly granted to You in the Agreement, SignHow grants no right, title or interest to You in the Service, Website or Material. Without limiting the foregoing, We acknowledge that You retain ownership of Uploaded Signs as per section 5.3.

2.7       All SignHow trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, domain names and any other features of the SignHow brand are the sole property of SignHow or its licensors (“SignHow Brand Features”). The Agreement does not grant You any rights to use any SignHow Brand Features, whether for commercial or non‑commercial use.

2.8       Third party software (for example, open source software libraries) included in the Service are made available to You under the relevant third party software library’s license terms.

3.          Uploading Signs

3.1       If You are an Approved User, You can add videos of your Signs to your own private library (“Uploaded Signs”). If We agree, by written notice (including email) to you,  the Signs in your library can be made public on the Website for other Users to see).

3.2       If You are an Approved User, You warrant that:

3.2.1   with respect to any Uploaded Sign You add to the Website, You have the right to upload such Uploaded Sign, and such Uploaded Sign, or its use by Us as contemplated by the Agreement, does not violate the Agreement or applicable law, or the intellectual property, publicity, personality, or other rights of any other person;

3.2.2   You will only upload videos that you have created yourself, and You will either film yourself, or ensure You have obtained permission from the person You are filming for permission to share the Sign; and

3.2.3   You will only upload Signs in sign languages that you know fluently, and ensure the words and tags are spelled correctly.

3.3       We may, but are not obliged to, monitor, review, or edit Uploaded Signs. In all cases, We reserve the right to remove any Uploaded Sign for any or no reason, without notification to You, including where, in Our sole discretion, We consider that an Uploaded Sign violates the Agreement or applicable law, or the intellectual property, publicity, personality, or other rights of any other person.

3.4       You are solely responsible for all Uploaded Signs You add to the Website. You agree that if anyone brings a claim against Us related to any of Your Uploaded Signs, then, to the extent permissible under applicable law, You will indemnify and hold Us harmless from and against all damages, losses, and expenses of any kind (including reasonable legal fees and costs) arising out of such claim.

3.5       You agree that once You have added an Uploaded Sign to the Website, You will not be able to delete it. Whilst You can request SignHow to delete or remove Your Uploaded Sign, We are under no obligation to action such request, and may or may not do so in Our absolute discretion.

3.6       You agree that if We agree to You making public Your Uploaded Signs, then such Uploaded Signs will be public and available for all other Users to view.

4.          Rules for all Users

4.1       In accessing and using the Service, You agree that You:

4.1.1   will access the Material solely for your personal, non‑commercial purposes;

4.1.2   will not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, license, distribute, translate, upload, download, or exploit any portion of the Material and Service except as expressly permitted under the Agreement or on the Website;

4.1.3   will not use the Service in violation of any applicable law, rule or regulation;

4.1.4   will not send unauthorized or unsolicited communications or undertake any activity that involves the transmission of unsolicited mass mailings or other forms of spam, junk mail, chain letters or similar;

4.1.5   will not attempt to gain or bypass unauthorized access to Our materials, databases, software, or computer systems;

4.1.6   will not interfere with or in any way disrupt the Service, or attempt to probe, scan, or test for vulnerabilities in the Service or Our computer systems, network, usage rules, or any of Our security components, authentication measures or any other protection measure applicable to the Service, the Material or any part thereof;

4.1.7   will not introduce code which is disruptive or harmful or include or introduce any malicious content such as malware, Trojan horses, or viruses, or otherwise interferes with any user’s access to the Service; and

4.1.8   will not violate intellectual property, publicity, personality, or other rights of any other person.

4.2       You must respect SignHow, the owners of the Material, and other users of the Service. You must not engage in any activity, post any material, or register and/or use a username, which is or includes material that:

4.2.1   is offensive, abusive, defamatory, pornographic, threatening or obscene;

4.2.2   is illegal, or intended to promote or commit an illegal act of any kind, including violations of intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or proprietary rights of SignHow or a third party;

4.2.3   includes malicious content such as malware, Trojan horses, or viruses, or otherwise interferes with any User’s access to the Service;

4.2.4   impersonates or misrepresents your affiliation with another User, person, or entity, or is otherwise fraudulent, false, deceptive or misleading;

4.2.5   involves commercial or sales activities, such as advertising or promotions; or

4.2.6   links to, references, or otherwise promotes commercial products or services.

4.3       We have the right, but not the obligation, to cancel your account and revoke your right to use and access the Website and Service if You violate any of the rules for Users set out in this section 4 (or SignHow reasonably believes that You have done so). We may also reclaim your username where it is reasonable for us to do so.

4.4       Your password protects Your user account, and You are solely responsible for keeping your password confidential and secure. You understand that You are responsible for all use (including any unauthorised use) of Your username and password on the Service. If Your username or password is lost or stolen, or if You believe there has been unauthorised access to your account by a third party, You must notify us immediately and change Your password as soon as possible.

5.          Intellectual Property and Licence

5.1       The entire contents of the Service and Website are protected by copyright and trademark laws and other proprietary rights. The owners of the copyrights and trademarks are SignHow, its affiliates and/or other third party licensors. You may print and download portions of Service and Website solely for your own non‑commercial use provided that You agree not to change or delete any copyright or proprietary notices from them.

5.2       You may not use any robots, spiders or similar data mining, data gathering or extraction tools or manual processes to collect, gather or copy any content or data on or related to the Service in a manner not authorised by SignHow in writing. You may not engage in practices of “screen scraping”, “database scraping” or any other practice or activity the purpose of which is to obtain lists of users, portions of a database, or other lists or information from the Service, in any manner and any quantities not authorised by SignHow in writing. You may not frame or utilise framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo or other proprietary information (including images, text, page, layout or from) of SignHow or its affiliates without express written consent. You may not use meta tags or any other ‘hidden text’ using the SignHow name or trademarks without the express written consent of SignHow.

5.3       You retain ownership in the intellectual property rights in each Uploaded Sign. You hereby grant SignHow an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty‑free, full sublicensable, non‑exclusive license to use, copy, distribute, sell, publicly display, publicly perform and make derivative works from your Uploaded Signs, regardless of the form of media or file type of the Uploaded Signs.

5.4       Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (for example the services of the Crown or in reliance on one of the fair dealing exceptions, i.e. fair dealing for the purposes of research or study) no part of the Website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission.

6.          Membership and billing

6.1       You must be at least 13 years of age to become a User, or have the permission of a parent/guardian to create an account (in which case You may only use the Service under the supervision of Your parent/guardian).

6.2       Your account will continue until terminated. If You are a Free User, You will not incur any charges in connection with Your service. If You are a Paid User, You will incur a periodic charge in connection with Your service.

6.3       We may change the price of the paid subscriptions, including recurring subscription fees from time to time and will communicate any price changes to You in advance and, if applicable, how to accept these changes. Price changes will take effect at the start of the next subscription period following the date of the price change. Subject to applicable law, You accept the new price by continuing to be a Paid User after the price change takes effect. If You do not agree with a price change, You have the right to reject the change by unsubscribing from the paid subscription prior to the price change going into effect.

6.4       Your payment to Us or the third party through which You purchased the paid subscription will automatically renew at the end of the applicable subscription period, unless You cancel your paid subscription before the end of the then‑current subscription period.

7.          Warranties, Liability and Indemnity

7.1       This Website, Service and Material are provided by SignHow on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis and We make no representations or warranties about the Website, Service or Material, including (without limitation) that:

7.1.1   they are complete, accurate, reliable, up‑to‑date and suitable for any particular purpose;

7.1.2   access to them will be uninterrupted, error‑free or free from viruses; or

7.1.3   the Website or Service will be secure.

You agree that you will read, use and act on the Website and the Material at your own risk.

7.2       To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, We exclude all liability for any loss or damage of any kind (including indirect or consequential loss, and any loss of profits or data) arising out of or in connection with the Website, Service and Material or their use by You. Without limiting the foregoing, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, We accept no liability for any of the following:

7.2.1   any business losses, such as loss of profits, income, revenue, anticipated savings, business, contracts, goodwill or commercial opportunities;

7.2.2   loss or corruption of any data, database or software;

7.2.3   any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage.

7.3       To the full extent permissible by applicable law, in relation to the Website, Service and Material or their use by You, We disclaim all guarantees, warranties, and representations, express or implied. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right, remedy, guarantee or warranty, implied or imposed by any legislation which cannot lawfully be excluded or limited by applicable law (including the Australian Consumer Law).

7.4       You shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Us, Our related bodies corporate, and each of Our, and their, respective employees, contractors, directors, and representatives from all liabilities, claims, and expenses, including reasonable legal costs, that arise from, or relate to, your use or misuse of, or access to, the Website, Service or Material, or otherwise from your violation of the Agreement, or infringement by You, or any third party using Your account or identity, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity. We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by You, in which event You will assist and cooperate with Us in asserting any available defences.

8.          Governing Law and Jurisdiction

8.1       The Agreement is made under and to be construed according to the laws of the State of Queensland, Australia and both parties hereby submit to the non‑exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Queensland and courts that have jurisdiction to hear appeals from those courts.

9.          Complaints and Disputes Procedures

9.1       In the event of a dispute in connection with Your use of the Website or Service, You must notify Us no later than 1 month (30 days) from the day in which the event occurred. We agree to negotiate in good faith with You to resolve the dispute. However, Our determination in relation to any dispute is final and binding.

10.       Modifications

10.1     We may vary, modify or supplement the terms of the Agreement (“Modification”) from time to time. While We will use our reasonable endeavours to provide timely notice of Modifications, such as by publishing a notice on the Website, it is also Your responsibility to check these terms and conditions of use periodically for changes. Your continued use of the Website or Service following any Modification constitutes Your acceptance of the Modification, and the varied, modified or supplemented Agreement terms will apply to Your continued use of the Website and Service going forward.

10.2     We may impose limits on certain features, services, or restrict access to parts or all of the Website Service without notice or liability to You.

11.       General

11.1     Third party sites: The Website may contain links to websites operated by third parties. We do not control, endorse or approve, and are not responsible for, the content on those websites. You should make your own investigations with respect to the suitability of those websites.

11.2     Notices: Unless otherwise specified in these terms and conditions of use all notices will be in writing and will be deemed to have been duly given when received, if personally delivered or sent by certified mail, return receipt requested; when receipt is electronically confirmed, if transmitted by e‑email; or the date after it is sent, if sent for net day delivery by overnight delivery service. If You have any questions or clarifications regarding the Agreement, the Website or any other matters related to the Service, please contact us at hello@signhow.co or by using the contact form on the Website.

11.3     Customer Support: We provide customer support services to users via electronic mail. If You experience any difficulties using Our Website or Services, please notify us by contacting us at hello@signhow.co with the subject line “Support”or by using the contact form on the Website.

11.4     Severance: If a provision of these Terms is held to be void, invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision must be read down as narrowly as possible to allow it to be valid or enforceable. It is not possible to read down a provision (in whole or in part), that provision (or that part of that provision) is severed from these terms without affecting the validity or enforceability of the remainder of that provision or the provisions in these Terms.

11.5     Waiver: Unless otherwise agreed, no delay, act or omission by a party in exercising any right or remedy will be deemed a waiver of that, or any other, right or remedy.

11.6     Force Majeure: We shall not be liable for any failure to perform Our obligations hereunder where such failure results from any cause beyond Our reasonable control, including, without limitation, mechanical, electronic, or communications failure or degradation.

11.7     International access: The Website may be accessed throughout Australia and overseas. We make no representation that Our Website complies with the laws (including intellectual property laws) of any country outside Australia. If You access Our Website from outside Australia, You do so at your own risk and are responsible for complying with the laws of the jurisdiction where You access the Site.

11.8     Discontinuance: We may, at any time and without notice to You, discontinue Our Website, in whole or in part. We may also exclude any person from using Our Website, at any time and at Our sole discretion. We are not responsible for any liability You may suffer arising from or in connection with any such discontinuance or exclusion.