Terms of Service

Effective Date: 27 September 2024

Welcome to Sparke! These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Sparke website located at https://sparkebooks.com (the "Website"), our mobile applications (the "App"), and any related services (collectively, the "Services") provided by Sparke ("we," "us," or "our").

By accessing or using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use our Services.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: THESE TERMS CONTAIN A BINDING ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER THAT AFFECT YOUR RIGHTS. PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY.

1. Eligibility

1.1. Minimum Age

  • Minimum Age Requirement: You must be at least eighteen (18) years old ("Minimum Age") to access or use the Services.

  • Representations and Warranties: By using the Services, you represent and warrant that you meet the Minimum Age requirement.

  • Prohibition of Use by Underage Users: The use of the Services by anyone under the Minimum Age is unauthorized and we may terminate your use of the Services if it comes to our attention that any of your representations are incorrect.

2. Account Registration

To access certain features of the Services, you may be required to create an account. When you create an account, you agree to:

  • Provide accurate, current, and complete information.

  • Maintain and promptly update your account information.

  • Maintain the security of your account by keeping your password confidential.

  • Accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account.

  • Notify us immediately at contact@sparkebooks.com of any unauthorized use of your account.

  • Not allow any other person to use the Services under your account.

3. User-Generated Content

3.1. Content Submission

Our Services allow you to create, post, share, and store content, including but not limited to stories, comments, reviews, images, and other materials ("User Content"). You are solely responsible for the User Content you submit.

3.2. Content Guidelines

We take violations of laws and proprietary rights very seriously. It is your responsibility to ensure your content doesn't violate laws or copyright, trademark, brand, privacy, publicity, or other rights. You agree not to post User Content that:

  • Illegal or Infringing Content: Violates any laws or infringes upon any intellectual property rights, including copyrights, trademarks, or proprietary rights.

  • Offensive Content: Is hate speech, promotes the abuse or sexual exploitation of children, contains pornography, glorifies rape or pedophilia, advocates terrorism, or other material we deem inappropriate or offensive.

  • Unauthorized Use: Is under copyright and freely available on the web unless provided by the owner of the copyright. Companion books based on copyrighted works (e.g., summaries, study guides) are not allowed without written permission from the copyright holder.

We reserve the right to remove or disable access to any User Content that violates these Terms or our policies.

3.3. Content Moderation

You acknowledge and agree that we may use automated and/or discretionary tools, personnel, and systems to review, monitor, and moderate User Content and other content on the Services for violations of these Terms, our policies, or applicable laws.

3.4. License Grant

By submitting User Content, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable, and transferable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, and display such User Content in connection with providing and promoting the Services.

4. Intellectual Property Rights

All content and materials available on the Services, including but not limited to text, graphics, logos, images, software, and other materials (collectively, "Content"), are the property of Sparke or its licensors and are protected by intellectual property laws.

You may access and use the Content for your personal, non-commercial use only. You agree not to reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, or otherwise exploit any Content without our prior written consent.

5. In-App Purchases and Coins

5.1. Coins

We may offer a virtual currency known as "Coins" that you can purchase and use to access certain content or features within the Services.

5.2. Purchasing Coins

  • Acquisition: Coins will be provided to you by the means specified by Sparke, such as purchases, special offers, and the like.

  • Payment Details: Details regarding the payment methods, units, and all other conditions regarding Coins will be displayed accordingly on the Services.

  • Usage Limitation: Coins cannot be exchanged or used for any other purpose other than to access certain content offered by the Services.

5.3. Pricing and Changes

  • Price Changes: We reserve the right to change the purchase price for Coins at any time.

  • Content Access Changes: The number of Coins required for accessing the content may be changed by Sparke from time to time and will be displayed accordingly on the Services.

  • Terms Applicability: The terms applicable to your access and/or redemption of Coins are those in effect on the date of your access and use of the content as displayed on the Services.

5.4. Purchase Limits

  • Account Limit: The purchase value of Coins associated with your account may not exceed $2,000 (or the equivalent in local currency) at any given time.

  • Daily Limit: Your Coin purchases across any and all accounts you hold may not exceed $10,000 (or the equivalent in local currency) per day.

  • Purchase Refusal: We may refuse the Coin purchase if we suspect it is unauthorized, fraudulent, suspicious, or otherwise unusual based on prior transaction activity.

5.5. Non-Transferability and Non-Refundability

  • Account Usage: Coins may only be used by the account that purchased and/or earned them.

  • Refund Policy: Should a user be unsatisfied by the Services for any reason, they are entitled to receive a refund on their first coin package purchase. To be eligible, users must email contact@sparkebooks.com within 90 days of purchase and request for the refund. The refund will be credited back to you in 7 business days. The refund will be granted regardless of whether you have used your coins or not. Only 1 refund per person.

  • No Refunds After the First Purchase: All Coin sales are final and will not be refunded unless required by applicable laws or at our sole discretion.

5.6. Free Coins

  • Promotional Coins: We may offer promotional Coins ("Free Coins") that you do not pay for, including in connection with promotional activities.

  • Expiration: Free Coins may expire after a certain period, which will be designated by Sparke.

  • Usage Order: When you use Coins to redeem content, any Free Coins you have in your account will be applied first, followed by your purchased Coins.

5.7. Prohibited Actions

  • No External Transfers: You are not allowed to transfer Coins outside of the Services, nor sublicense, trade, sell, or attempt to sell Coins for real money or exchange Coins for value of any kind outside of the Services.

  • Void Actions: Any such transfer is prohibited and void.

5.8. Discontinuation of Coins

  • Notice of Discontinuation: Upon one (1) month prior notice to you, we may discontinue the usage of Coins from our Services.

  • Expiration: All unused Coins will expire on the specified discontinuance date.

5.9. iOS Users Only

  • Device-Specific Storage: Coins purchased without logging into an account will only be stored on your device.

  • Non-Transferability: Purchased Items cannot be transferred to another device.

  • Deletion Consequences: If you delete the Sparke App from your device, all Purchased Items will be deleted permanently and cannot be restored even if the App is reinstalled.

6. Conditions of Use

6.1. Acceptable Use

You may not access or use, or attempt to access or use, the Services to take any action that could harm Sparke, its affiliates, service providers, licensors, or any other third party, interfere with the operation of the Services, or use the Services in a manner that violates any laws. For example, and without limitation, you agree not to:

  • Impersonation: Impersonate any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation or the origin of materials you transmit.

  • Unauthorized Account Use: Allow any other person to use the Services under your account.

  • Unauthorized Access: Engage in unauthorized "crawling," "scraping," or harvesting of content or personal information, or use any other unauthorized automated means to compile information available through the Services.

  • Overloading Systems: Take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on Sparke's network or infrastructure.

  • Interference: Use any device, software, or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Services or any activity conducted on the Services or attempt to probe, scan, test the vulnerability of, or breach the security of any system or network.

  • Reverse Engineering: Attempt to decipher, decompile, disassemble, or reverse-engineer any of the software comprising or in any way making up a part of the Services.

  • Spamming: Distribute any unauthorized materials or advertise or promote goods or services through the Services without Sparke's permission (including, without limitation, by sending spam).

  • Restricting Others: Engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits any person from using or enjoying the Services, or that, in Sparke's sole judgment, exposes Sparke or any of its users, affiliates, or any other third party to any liability, damages, or detriment of any type.

Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. Sparke may investigate and work with law enforcement authorities to prosecute users who violate these Terms.

6.2. Compliance with Law and Reservation of Rights

You must use the Services and Content in compliance with applicable laws, and you may not use the Services in any manner that may have a detrimental effect on the Services, Sparke, its users, or any other third parties. All licenses are non-exclusive, and all rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved to Sparke.

6.3. Content Moderation

You acknowledge and agree that we may use automated and/or discretionary tools, personnel, and systems to review, monitor, and moderate User Content, Digital Content, and other content on the Services for violations of these Terms, our policies, or applicable laws.

7. Modification, Suspension, and Termination of Services

7.1. Right to Modify, Suspend, or Terminate

We reserve the right, at any time with or without notice, to:

  • Modify or Suspend Services: Modify, suspend, or terminate operation of or access to the Services or Content, in whole or in part, for any or no reason.

  • Interrupt Services: Interrupt the operation of the Services, in whole or in part, as necessary to perform routine or non-routine maintenance, error correction, or other changes.

7.2. Termination of Rights

Your rights under these Terms will automatically terminate if you fail to comply with any term herein. In case of such termination:

  • Cessation of Use: You must cease all use of the Services and Content.

  • Revocation of Access: Sparke reserves the right to immediately revoke your access to the Services and Content.

  • Suspension: We may, at our sole discretion, suspend your access to the Services in part or in whole if you fail to comply with any term of these Terms.

7.3. No Waiver

Sparke's failure to exercise or enforce any term of these Terms will not constitute a waiver of such term or any of Sparke's rights or remedies.

8. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Services and Content are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. Sparke makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the operation of the Services or the information, content, or materials included therein.

We do not warrant that:

  • The Services will meet your requirements.

  • The Services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free.

  • Any errors or defects will be corrected.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Sparke shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, data, or other intangible losses, resulting from:

  • Your access to or use of, or inability to access or use, the Services.

  • Any conduct or content of any third party on the Services.

  • Unauthorized access, use, or alteration of your transmissions or content.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Sparke and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses arising out of or relating to:

  • Your use of the Services.

  • Your violation of these Terms.

  • Your violation of any rights of another party.

11. Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Agreement

You and Sparke agree that any legal disputes or claims arising out of or relating to these Terms (including but not limited to the Services, use of the Services, or the interpretation, enforceability, or arbitrability of any disputes or claims) that cannot be resolved informally shall be submitted to binding arbitration in the state in which the Terms were performed.

The arbitration shall be conducted by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, a copy of which can be obtained at https://www.adr.org/sites/default/files/Consumer%20Rules.pdf, or as otherwise mutually agreed by you and Sparke. Any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Claims shall be brought within the time required by applicable law.

You and Sparke agree that any claim, action, or proceeding arising out of or relating to these Terms must be brought in your individual capacities, and not as plaintiffs or class members in any class, collective, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not otherwise preside over any form of a class, collective, or representative proceeding.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU AND SPARKE ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY OR TO PARTICIPATE AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS ACTION OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.

12. Governing Law

These Terms and any disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Services will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

13. Changes to the Terms

We reserve the right to modify or replace these Terms at any time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice through the Services or by other means to provide you the opportunity to review the changes before they become effective. Your continued use of the Services after the effective date of the revised Terms constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

14. User Data Deletion

You have the right to request the deletion of your personal data collected by Sparke. For more information on how to exercise this right and to submit a data deletion request, please visit https://sparkebooks.com/userdatadeletion.

15. Contact Information

If you have any questions or concerns about these Terms or the Services, please contact us at:

Email: contact@sparkebooks.com

16. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Sparke regarding the use of the Services and supersede any prior agreements between you and Sparke.