Terms of Service

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Terms of Service

Updated: August 20, 2012

Welcome to Kbuuk, an easy to use self-publishing distribution and marketing platform. We offer a simple and easy to use interface with push button distribution, comprehensive reader analytics, book sales analytics, and channel tracking service to give Authors, Agents and Publishers the best possible experience. Basically, we think we’re awesome. Throughout this document, the words “Kbuuk”, “Kbuuk.com”, “Kbuuk LLC”, “we”, “us”, “our”, and “awesome” refer to us, Kbuuk LLC, our website, Kbuuk.com, our service, Kbuuk PubHub, as is appropriate in the context of the use of the words.

Likewise, the words “you”, “your”, “dear customer”, or “also awesome” refer to you, the person who is being presented with this document for agreement.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY, AS THESE TERMS OF SERVICE, AS AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME, FORM A BINDING AGREEMENT BETWEEN US AND YOU.

1. Your Agreement

By using and/or visiting this web site (www.kbuuk.com) and affiliated domains or by subscribing to or using our products or services, You agree to be bound by both these Terms of Service (the “Terms of Use”) as well as Kbuuk’s Privacy Policy which is available at www.kbuuk.com/about/privacypolicy, and which is incorporated herein by reference. These Terms of Service apply to all users of the Kbuuk.com. If you do not agree to any of these terms, then please do not use the Kbuuk.com and exit this site immediately.

In addition to agreeing to the above, we need to know that we can legally enter into a contract with you, which means you are an adult human. So as part of this Agreement, you hereby attest that you are at least eighteen years old to sign up for our service, or, if a higher age of contractual capacity exists in your jurisdiction, then you are at least however old that age is. Also you are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in these Terms of Service, and to abide by and comply with these Terms of Service. You further warrant and represent that you own or control the necessary rights to distribute the eBooks you are creating through this service. Finally, you warrant to us that you are not and have never been a North Korean dictator.

2. Subscription Plans and Services

Kbuuk provides its products and services to you, subject to the following terms, which may be updated by us from time to time without notice to you (sorry, that’s just the way it is). Your continued use of our products or services constitutes your agreement to all such terms, conditions, policies and notices in connection with such product or service. By completing any registration forms or otherwise providing your contact information to Kbuuk, you agree to be contacted via email, text message, tweet, carrier pigeon, telegraph or other means by Kbuuk, and by third parties for any services you have requested.

• Free eBook Creation Kbuuk offers you no-risk, free use of its proprietary authoring tools to create an eBook. When you sign-up for the Kbuuk service, you will be dumbfounded at how easy it is to create an eBook. You will be able to access the Kbuuk PubHub to create your eBook. A free downloadable .epub copy of the eBook is available immediately; faster than you can say “cortado.” The preview copy is a complete copy of your eBook. Should you wish take advantage of Kbuuk’s distribution partners and other cool marketing services inside the PubHub, then you will need to upgrade to a premium plan.

• Premium Plan If you register for the Premium Plan, then you shall be charged a fee with pricing and services dependent on the level of subscription (if a service dependent level exists) chosen for use of the Kbuuk. The fee shall be paid either monthly or in a single payment at the start of the Term. You expressly authorize the Company to make charges on any credit card or Paypal profile you provide for the subscription fee. If you elect to pay on a monthly basis and payment is not made, then we may suspend the service in which case your account will be downgraded to a free account and your books distributed by our distribution partners will be removed from those channels. Suspension does release you from your payment obligation but does not entitle you to any refund. We reserve the right to change the subscription terms and its pricing at any time upon written notice to You. The Premium Plan automatically renews upon each anniversary of your subscription unless you notify the Company in writing at least thirty (30) days in advance of the anniversary of your desire to terminate. You will not be entitled to any refund for cancellation of the Premium Plan. Upon termination of the Premium Plan, your account will be downgraded to the basic plan and any book distributed through our distribution partners will be removed from those sales channels. There are additional fees for use of the Kbuuk distribution partners and other value-added services.

• Enterprise Plan If you register for the Enterprise Plan or seek to use the Kbuuk PubHub more than 30 Works or other product for Agents and Publishers, then you will be contacted by one of our sales personnel to set up a customized pricing package. The Enterprise Plan offers distribution via the Kbuuk distribution partners.

• Distribution Should You desire to take advantage of Kbuuk’s distribution partners (Amazon.com, iBookstore, Kobo bookstore, and Barnes and Noble’s Nook Store) and have Kbuuk submit any Work to its distribution partners, Kbuuk’s sole responsibility with respect to distribution is to submit the Work to its distribution partners, and Kbuuk is not responsible for decisions made with respect to content of any distributed Work by any of Kbuuk’s distribution partners, nor will Kbuuk refund or rebate any funds in that regard. You will receive 100% of the Net Sales Revenue paid for your sales with Kbuuk’s distribution partners.

• Sales Made Through the Kbuuk Web Site and iPad App You may elect to publish and sell any or all of Your eBooks through the Kbuuk Web Site on a non-exclusive basis. Kbuuk shall pay to you 80% of net sales made on the Kbuuk Web Site or iPad application as an accruable royalty balance. You can withdraw any amount from that balance at any time. A transaction fee from Paypal will be charged to withdraw any amount. This fee is subject to change, but has recently been 5% + $0.05 of the withdraw amount. By publishing your eBook through the Kbuuk Web Site, you grant to Kbuuk a non-exclusive right to display, promote, and sell your eBook on the Site in all markets throughout the world, and to market Your eBook in Kbuuk’s sole judgment. You retain the right to remove your eBook(s) from sale at any time.

• Additional Terms. All fees set forth above are quoted and payable in U.S. Dollars. Your complete billing address, social security number and telephone number must be provided to receive royalty withdrawal payments. We accept major credit cards including Visa and MasterCard and transactions through Paypal. You are also responsible for paying all applicable taxes for information, contents, goods, products or services and any other costs incurred in connection with the use of or access to Kbuuk including charges incurred on your account by yourself, or anyone you allow to use your account.

3. Rights and Publication.

• Rights. You hereby grant and assign to us the nonexclusive worldwide right to digitally publish, distribute, market and sell (“Publish”), and to license others to do so, the work identified on the front page of your submission, including but not limited to you (and if different the Author’s) name, likeness, image, metadata and any other background or summary information provided to us (the “Work”). Since the terms of your agreement with us, herein, are non-exclusive, you are free to Publish, license, market and sell your work elsewhere and retain all rights not granted herein. In addition, we shall have the right to distribute samples of the Work in any form of media, including printed media, in order to promote (a) the Work and/or (b) the Kbuuk service. These samples will be licensed for free, non-commercial use, duplication and sharing, and will comply with the sample percentage authorized by you. We shall also have the right, but not the obligation, to drive traffic to the Work through (a) general Search Engine Optimization services (b) crawlable, promotional hypertext links or (c) arrangements with third parties which make searchable certain sample portions of the Work. Other than stated above, we shall only Publish electronic versions of the Work, and acquires no other subsidiary rights to the Work including hardcover or paperback editions, audio editions, multimedia editions, theatrical editions, first and second serial rights or media rights other than as set forth herein. Therefore, if another publisher will allow you to keep electronic rights to the Work, you may continue to Publish the Work electronically while publishing a printed version of the Work with a print publisher. If Kbuuk distributes any Work to its distribution partners, Kbuuk makes no representation or warranty that the content of the Work meets the content standards of any of its distribution partners. You are solely responsible for the content of your Work.

• Copyright. The copyright in the Work shall belong to you or the party that you cite as the copyright holder. You are solely responsible for filing for any copyrights and any other intellectual property with the appropriate governmental body. It is your responsibility to provide a copyright notice on the copyright page or some other prominent place in the Work.

• Ownership. You acknowledge and agree that the Kbuuk Web Site and services are to Kbuuk and that the Work is proprietary to you.

• Software. Please note that all software programming, including without limitation all tools, HTML and other code contained in the Kbuuk Web Site (collectively, “Software”), is owned by us and/or its Licensors and is protected by copyright laws and other intellectual property laws, as well as international treaty provisions. Any unauthorized access to, reproduction, redistribution, publication, display or other use of the Software is expressly prohibited by law and may result in severe civil and/or criminal penalties. Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible.

• Publication. Subject to agreement to the terms hereof, we will generally Publish any submissions which do not violate, or which do not appear to violate this Agreement. In general, we will Publish your Work as it is delivered to us, and not edit or modify the Work. Certain modifications may however occur caused by file or design conversions. We do not and cannot guarantee accurate preservation of the original Work’s formatting. We may decide not to Publish Your Work or may decide to discontinue its publication of Your Work for any reason and for no reason, and no reason need be provided. Except in the cases of gross violations of this Terms of Service, we will attempt to provide reasonable notice to you via email, up to and including providing instructions on how to remedy potential issues that might prevent us from listing a title. You shall submit the Work as a Microsoft Word .doc, .docx or .ePub file. The Company shall utilize its proprietary technology to convert the book into multiple ebook formats, and publish the Work for use in sampling, distributing and selling the Work. Due to the technical nature of the Kbuuk Platform, we require that you submit files to the Kbuuk Platform in specific formats and subject to certain content specifications which must be followed and which are outlined on the Kbuuk Style Guide which is available free in our online bookstore. These formats and specifications are subject to change at any time in the discretion of the Company. We are strong proponents of author’s rights, and the right of authors and copyright owners to receive compensation for their digitally published Works. Therefore, we strongly discourages piracy/infringement of your Work and encourages customers to purchase licensed copies. However, we do not publish works containing digital rights management schemes that limit the customer’s ability to consume the Work as they see fit. Therefore, we cannot completely prevent piracy/infringement of your Work. There is a growing body of evidence indicating that DRMed Works do not sell as well as non-DRMed Work because customers resent limitations and don’t appreciate being mistrusted. Generally, we trust our customers, and we would like you to as well. Non-DRMed Works often outsell DRMed Works by leveraging the viral nature of uninhibited sampling and sharing which can dramatically increase your total audience and sales opportunities. There is also evidence that by pricing your Works for less than printed equivalents, you can further decrease piracy and increase sales volume. You understand that the Company is distributing the Works according to this so described Trust system.

4. Warranties and Representations.

The warranties and representations contained in this Agreement are made on behalf of you and your licensees and successors and assigns. By uploading content to Kbuuk, you agree that any violation of the warranties below may result in immediate deletion of your account and the forfeiture of accrued earnings.

• By submitting Your Work for publication, you warrant and represent that the Work is complete and the author:

  • is the only author of the Work;

  • is the sole owner of the rights herein granted;

  • has not assigned, pledged, or encumbered such rights or have not entered into any agreement which would conflict with the rights granted to the Company herein; and agrees not to do any of the aforementioned without first unpublishing the work at Kbuuk; and

  • has full right, power, and authority to enter into this Agreement and to grant the rights granted herein

• You further warrant that the Work contains no materials which:

  • violate any right of privacy, which are libelous or which violate any personal right or other right of any kind of any person or entity, including but not limited to publishing a person’s private email address without his/her permission;

  • would violate any of your contracts or would disclose any information given to you on the understanding that it would not be published or disclosed;

  • plagiarize or pirate any other work or infringe upon any copyright, trademark or other proprietary right;

  • Are injurious to End-Users or others including but not limited to recipes, formulae or instructions;

  • violate state and federal laws advocate hateful, discriminatory or racist views or actions toward others;

  • advocate or condones violence against another person, whether or not the other party is a willing participant;

  • advocate illegal activities;

  • advocate the use of Private Label Rights content to make money on the Internet, or the modification of such content for the creation of Internet content;

  • contain images or illustrations depicting individuals perpetrating graphic violence upon another individual or individuals;

  • contain hyperlinks to affiliate marketing pages, especially if the ebook is published for the sole intent of publishing hyperlinked content that directs readers to affiliate marketing pages or advocate or promote “systems” about how to make money on the Internet by publishing ebooks;

  • contain SEO keyword spam, either in your manuscript or your metadata tags;

  • contain advertisements for services, or contain partial books for the purpose of promoting the purchase of the same book elsewhere;

  • contain erotica content. Neither the book cover nor the book interior may contain graphic images of nudity (either photographic or illustrated) or persons involved in sex acts, and does not include children or underage minors engaged in sexual acts or situations, witnessing such situations, considering sexual acts, or thinking about sexual acts. Explicit sexual passages or other erotica content that does not constitute the sole purpose of the book are acceptable. We reserve the right to reject a book for its sexual content at our sole discretion. Fine art books of a non-erotic nature that contain nudity may be accepted on a case by case basis at the sole discretion of the Company and/or its retail partners;

• You further warrant the Work meets the following standards for originality:

  • It is not a public domain work;

  • The Work does not include word-for-word scrapes (or is not a compilation) from Wikipedia or other public domain, government or commercial services;

  • No part of the Work is sourced from “Private Label” rights, articles, ebooks or information sources which license the same content to other people;

  • The Work does not contain or comprise machine-generated language translations;

  • The uploaded file is not a partial sample or sample chapter, or is not a collection of sample chapters, or not simply a catalog advertising other books; and

  • The Work represents a complete story with a beginning, middle and end, not a short serial. Although works in progress are perfectly appropriate.

5. Infringement.

The Company takes claims of infringement seriously and may take immediate action upon notice from someone claiming to be an infringed party. It is your responsibility to secure permissions to the Work prior to the time you submit such work if any material from the work belongs to, or has been licensed to, someone else.

It is the policy of the Company to respond to all claims of intellectual property infringement. We will promptly investigate notices of alleged infringement and will take appropriate actions required under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(2) (“DMCA”) and other applicable intellectual property laws.

Pursuant to the DMCA, notifications of claimed copyright infringement should be sent to a Service Provider’s Designated Agent. Notification must be submitted to the following Designated Agent for this website:

Kbuuk LLC

945 McKinney St, Suite 621

Houston, TX 77002

Phone: 281-407-0723

To be effective, the notification must be a written communication that includes the following:

• A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;

• Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;

• Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material;

• Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted;

• A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law;

• A statement that the information in the notification is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

• Indemnification. You agree to indemnify and hold the Company, and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and contractors harmless from and against any and all claims, costs, demands, damages, liabilities, or expenses, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising from or related to: (a) the Work you provide or approve for publication, (b) Your use of the Kbuuk Web Site, or (c) Your breach of these Terms of Service. Upon receiving notice of any claim, demand, action or suit or other legal proceeding alleging facts inconsistent with or contrary to any of the warranties or representations, the Company shall have the right to withhold any sums payable to You in reasonable amounts as security for the payment of the Your potential obligations.

7. Warranty Disclaimer.

YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THIS WEB SITE OR SOFTWARE SHALL BE AT YOUR SOLE RISK. WE MAKE NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THIS WEB SITE’S CONTENT, ITS SOFTWARE OR THE CONTENT OF ANY SITES LINKED TO THIS WEB SITE AND ASSUME NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY (I) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT, (II) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF OUR WEB SITE OR SOFTWARE, (III) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS OR SOFTWARE AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/ OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (IV) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM OUR WEB SITE OR SOFTWARE, (IV) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH OUR WEB SITE OR SOFTWARE BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (V) ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY CONTENT OR SOFTWARE POSTED, EMAILED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THIS WEB SITE. WE DO NOT WARRANT, ENDORSE, GUARANTEE, OR ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE OR SOFTWARE ADVERTISED OR OFFERED BY A THIRD PARTY THROUGH THIS WEB SITE OR ANY HYPERLINKED WEB SITE OR FEATURED IN ANY BANNER OR OTHER ADVERTISING, AND WE WILL NOT BE A PARTY TO OR IN ANY WAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING ANY TRANSACTION BETWEEN YOU AND THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, KBUUK, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO ANY MATTER WHATSOEVER RELATING TO THE WEB SITE AND ANY INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES PROVIDED HEREIN, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. AS WITH THE PURCHASE OF A PRODUCT OR SERVICE THROUGH ANY MEDIUM OR IN ANY ENVIRONMENT, YOU SHOULD USE YOUR BEST JUDGMENT AND EXERCISE CAUTION WHERE APPROPRIATE.

8. Limitation of Liability

IN NO EVENT SHALL KBUUK, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM ANY (I) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT OR SOFTWARE, (II) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF OUR WEB SITE OR SOFTWARE, (III) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS OR SOFTWARE AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (IV) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM OUR WEBSITE OR SOFTWARE, (IV) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE, WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH OUR WEB SITE OR SOFTWARE BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (V) ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED, EMAILED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THIS WEB SITE OR SOFTWARE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW IN THE APPLICABLE JURISDICTION. IN NO CASE SHALL KBUUK OR ITS RETAILERS BE LIABLE FOR ERRORS OF ANY KIND THAT RESULT IN SHIPMENT OR AVAILABILITY DELAYS, MISPRICINGS, OR INACCURATE OR INCOMPLETE PRODUCT LISTINGS. It is the Your responsibility to monitor retailer listings and report errors to Kbuuk, in which case Kbuuk on a reasonable efforts basis will strive to work with the retailer to correct the error. In the event that Kbuuk is found liable for any damages, for any reason whatsoever, You hereby expressly agree that, in no event will Kbuuk’s liability to You exceed the amounts collected by Kbuuk for the Work in question. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

9. Assignment

These Terms of Service, and any rights and licenses granted hereunder, may not be transferred or assigned by You, but may be assigned by us without restriction.

10. Service Changes

Kbuuk reserves the right with or without notice to You at any time to change, modify or discontinue any service, product or a portion or attribute thereof, or the offering of any information, good, content, product or service. We shall have no liability to any user or any third party should we modify or discontinue service.

11. General

You agree that: (i) the Kbuuk Web Site shall be deemed solely based in Houston, Texas; and (ii) this web site shall be deemed a passive web site that does not give rise to personal jurisdiction over Kbuuk, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than Texas. These Terms of Service shall be governed by the internal substantive laws of the State of Texas, without respect to its conflict of laws principles. Any claim or dispute between You and us that arises in whole or in part from the Kbuuk Web Site shall be decided exclusively by a court of competent jurisdiction located in Houston, Texas. These Terms of Service, together with the Privacy Policy and any other legal notices published by us on the Kbuuk Web Site, shall constitute the entire agreement between You and us concerning the Kbuuk Web Site. If any provision of these Terms of Service is deemed invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms of Service, which shall remain in full force and effect. No waiver of any term of this these Terms of Service shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or any other term, and our failure to assert any right or provision under these Terms of Service shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. We reserve the right to amend these Terms of Service at any time and without notice, and it is Your responsibility to review these Terms of Service for any changes. Your use of this web site following any amendment of these Terms of Service will signify Your assent to and acceptance of its revised terms. YOU AND KBUUK AGREE THAT ANY CAUSE OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS WEBSITE MUST COMMENCE WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES. OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION IS PERMANENTLY BARRED. A printed version of these Terms of Service and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this agreement to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved to Kbuuk.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS STATED ABOVE OR TO ANY CHANGES MADE IN THESE TERMS, PLEASE EXIT THIS WEB SITE IMMEDIATELY.