ResearchCast
ResearchCast

Terms of Service

Effective: September 23, 2025

These Terms of Service ("Terms") together with our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy form the agreement between Sebastian Vauth ("ResearchCast", "we", "us", "our") and you ("you", the "User"). By accessing or using our website, web application, and related services, including any audio content we provide (collectively, the "Service"), you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

We may update these Terms from time to time. Where required by law, we will notify you before material changes take effect. Your continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance. You can always stop using the Service and delete your account.

1) Eligibility & Accounts

You must be at least 16 years old (or the age of digital consent in your country if higher) to use the Service.

You are responsible for your account and for keeping your credentials secure. Do not share access or attempt to use anyone else's account.

You can delete your account at any time from settings. Deletion removes your profile and initiates purge of user-owned storage; residual copies may persist for a limited time in provider backups used for disaster recovery (see our Security & Compliance page for details).

2) Your Content, Warranties & Processing Rights

"Your Content" includes any files, links, prompts, instructions, or metadata you submit or provide to us (including "openly accessible" source links).

Your warranties. You represent and warrant that:

  • you have all rights necessary to submit and have us process Your Content for the intended use;
  • the source is lawfully accessible and not subject to a machine-readable text-and-data-mining (TDM) reservation or other technical or legal prohibition you are aware of;
  • Your Content does not infringe the rights of others and you have obtained all permissions or consents required by applicable law.

TDM reservations & robots. We will not process sources that signal a machine-readable TDM reservation or comparable opt-out. We may also decline processing where robots.txt or site terms prohibit automated analysis or where rate-limit or anti-abuse controls would be affected.

License to operate the Service. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, copy, parse, analyze (including text-and-data-mining), transform, and otherwise process Your Content as needed to operate the Service for you, including to generate scripts, summaries, and audio, and to stream or otherwise make available resulting outputs to you and (only if you choose a public visibility setting) publicly. We create temporary working copies as technically necessary and delete them after the processing purpose is fulfilled, subject to minimal retention in backups and where law requires.

Indemnity. To the extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless ResearchCast from claims, losses, and costs arising out of Your Content or your breach of these Terms.

3) Generated Output & Our IP

3.1 Output ownership. As between you and ResearchCast, and to the extent permitted by law, you own the rights in the output (scripts or audio) you generate using the Service, subject to third-party rights and any license conditions of the sources (for example, Creative Commons). Nothing here grants you rights you do not already have under those third-party licenses or statutory exceptions.

3.2 License back to us (hosting or streaming). You grant us a non-exclusive license to host, store, transcode, and deliver your generated episodes for private playback, and (only if you enable a public visibility mode, see Section 4) to make them publicly available.

3.3 ShareAlike cascade (BY-SA). If a source is CC BY-SA and your episode qualifies as an Adaptation, we may publish the episode under CC BY-SA and will label it accordingly in the episode notes.

3.4 Our IP & your license to use the Service. We (and our licensors) own the Service and all elements not constituting Your Content or your Output, including software, design, site copy, and branding. We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service and any audio you obtain through it, subject to these Terms. Except as expressly allowed, you may not copy, modify, or reverse engineer the Service.

3.5 Redistribution. You may not resell, re-host, or redistribute subscriber-only audio except where an episode is explicitly released under a license that permits such redistribution (for example, CC BY-SA). For CC-licensed episodes we will not apply DRM that prevents uses allowed by the applicable CC license.

4) Visibility & Sharing (Private / Invite-Only)

4.1 Private (default). Episodes are private by default and accessible only within your account. We do not provide public or "unlisted" links in this mode. Access requires authentication and is delivered via short-lived signed URLs.

4.2 Invite-only ("friends"). Where the source license allows, you may invite named accounts (small, selected group). Re-sharing and "anyone with the link" are disabled. We may cap the number of invitees per episode. If a source license prohibits public redistribution (such as ND/NC or arXiv non-exclusive), invite-only sharing may be disabled.

4.3 Removals. We may restrict or remove content or visibility where licenses, site terms, or statutory exceptions require it, or where we receive a valid notice (see Section 12).

5) Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

  • use the Service for unlawful purposes or to infringe others' rights;
  • upload, generate, or request content that is illegal or that incites violence or hatred;
  • scrape, harvest, or attempt to bypass technical restrictions, paywalls, or rate limits;
  • test or probe the Service except through an approved coordinated disclosure channel.

We may suspend or terminate access for material breaches or where required for security or by law.

6) AI & Information Accuracy

We use generative models to assist with script drafting and text-to-speech. Outputs can be inaccurate or incomplete and are provided for information only. They are not professional advice (legal, medical, financial, and so on). You are responsible for evaluating outputs before relying on them.

7) Plans, Payments, and Cancellations

We may offer free and paid plans. If you purchase a subscription:

  • Auto-renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically for the then-current term unless canceled. You can cancel from settings; access continues until the end of the billing period.
  • Pricing. We may change prices with prior notice where required. Taxes or VAT may apply based on your billing details.
  • Refunds. Fees are non-refundable except where required by law.
  • Consumers in the EEA/UK - right of withdrawal. If you are a consumer, you typically have 14 days to withdraw from an online contract without giving a reason. For digital content not supplied on a tangible medium (such as streaming audio), you may lose this right once performance begins with your prior express consent and acknowledgement. We present these prompts at checkout where applicable.

8) Service Availability & Changes

We aim for high availability but do not guarantee uninterrupted operation. The Service may be suspended or changed for maintenance, updates, or events beyond our control. We may add or remove features at any time. We are not responsible for third-party service failures outside our reasonable control.

9) Intellectual Property & Feedback

Except for Your Content and third-party materials (and subject to Section 3 regarding Output), all rights in the Service (software, design, branding, and produced content) are owned by us or our licensors. You may not copy, modify, or reverse engineer the Service except as permitted by law.

If you send us feedback, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use it without restriction.

10) Content Sourcing & IP Compliance

We prioritize lawfully accessible sources and respect machine-readable TDM reservations and robots.txt or site API policies. Our episodes are original paraphrases; we avoid substantial verbatim readings and do not embed third-party figures in subscriber content. When longer quotation, TTS readings of third-party prose, or figure reuse are requested, we only proceed where the source license permits and we comply with its conditions (such as attribution, ShareAlike, or no DRM), or we obtain permission. We provide clear attribution and links in episode notes.

11) Legal Notices & Notice-and-Action (EU DSA)

Where to send notices. Please email legal@[your-domain] (for general legal notices) or copyright@[your-domain] (for copyright). Include:

  • the URL of the content you are reporting;
  • why you believe it is illegal or infringes rights;
  • your name and email; and
  • a good-faith statement that your notice is accurate.

What happens next. We acknowledge receipt, review the notice without undue delay, and may remove, disable, delist, or restrict visibility where appropriate. If we take action, we send affected users a statement of reasons (measure taken, legal basis, whether automated tools were involved, scope or duration, complaint options). We also inform the reporter of the outcome. An internal complaint path is available. This process is intended to comply with Articles 16 and 17 (and where applicable 20) of the EU Digital Services Act for hosting providers or online platforms.

12) Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available". We disclaim all warranties to the maximum extent permitted by law, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. This section does not limit statutory rights that cannot be excluded.

13) Limitation of Liability (German/EU compliance)

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability (i) for intent (Vorsatz), (ii) for gross negligence, (iii) for injury to life, body, or health, or (iv) under the Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz).

For slight negligence, we are liable only for breach of essential contractual duties (Kardinalpflichten) and then limited to the foreseeable damage typical for this type of contract. Otherwise, we are not liable for slight negligence. Where a cap is permitted, our aggregate liability is limited to the fees you paid in the 12 months before the claim.

14) Governing Law & Venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of Germany. Courts in Germany shall have jurisdiction. If you are a consumer resident in the EEA/UK, any mandatory consumer protections of your home country remain applicable; a choice of law must not deprive you of those protections.

15) Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time. We may suspend or terminate access if you materially breach these Terms, to protect the Service or other users, or where required by law.

16) Miscellaneous

No waiver / severability. Failure to enforce a term is not a waiver. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest remain in effect.

Assignment. We may assign these Terms; you may not assign them without our consent.

Entire agreement. These Terms (plus referenced policies) are the entire agreement regarding the Service.

Language. We provide these Terms in English; translations are for convenience only.

End of Terms of Service.