Terms and Conditions

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1. Welcome to Pitchforkd!

2. About Creating an Account

3. Things You Definitely Shouldn’t Do

4. How Movements Work

5. How Funding Works

6. Stuff We Don’t Do and Aren’t Responsible For

7. Our Fees

8. Other Websites

9. Your Intellectual Property

10. Pitchforkd’s Intellectual Property

11. How We Deal with Copyright Issues

12. Deleting Your Account

13. Our Rights

14. Warranty Disclaimer

15. Indemnification

16. Limitation of Liability

17. Dispute Resolution and Governing Law

18. The Rest

1. Welcome to Pitchforkd!

This page explains our terms of use. When you use Pitchforkd, you’re agreeing to all the rules below. Some of them need to be expressed in legal language, but we’ve done our best to offer you clear and simple explanations—hence the brief summaries in these blue boxes, which are not part of the official legal terms.

By using this website (the “Site”) and services (together with the Site, the “Services”) offered by Pitchforkd, LLC, you’re agreeing to these legally binding rules (the “Terms”). You’re also agreeing to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, and agreeing to follow any other rules on the Site, like our Community Guidelines and rules for starting movements.

We may change these terms from time to time. If we do, we’ll let you know about any material changes, either by notifying you on the Site or by sending you an email. Creators based in the European Union will be notified of material changes at least 15 days before they go into effect. New versions of the terms will never apply retroactively—we’ll tell you the exact date they go into effect. If you keep using Pitchforkd after a change, that means you accept the new terms.

Pitchforkd is for your personal, non-commercial use, except as explained in section 4 and section 5 below.

2. About Creating an Account

You must be 18 or over to sign up for a Pitchforkd account. You’re responsible for your account and all the activity on it.

You can browse Pitchforkd without registering for an account. But to use some of Pitchforkd’s functions, you’ll need to register, choose a username, and set a password. When you do that, the information you give us has to be accurate and complete. Don’t impersonate anyone else or choose names that are offensive or that violate anyone’s rights. If you don’t follow these rules, we may cancel your account.

You’re responsible for all the activity on your account, and for keeping your password confidential. If you find out that someone used your account without your permission, you should report it to support@Pitchforkd.com.

To sign up for an account, you need to be at least 18 years old, or old enough to form a binding contract where you live. If necessary, we may ask you for proof of age.

3. Things You Definitely Shouldn’t Do

This section is a list of things you probably already know you shouldn’t do—lie, break laws, abuse people, steal data, hack other people’s computers, and so on. Please behave yourself. Don’t do this stuff.

Millions of people use Pitchforkd. We expect all of them to behave responsibly and help keep this a nice place. Don’t do any of these things on the Site:

• Don’t break the law. Don’t take any action that infringes or violates other people’s rights, violates the law, or breaches any contract or legal duty you have toward anyone.
• Don’t lie to people. Don’t post information you know is false, misleading, or inaccurate. Don’t do anything deceptive or fraudulent.
• Don’t offer prohibited items. Don’t offer any rewards that are illegal, violate any of Pitchforkd’s policies, rules, or guidelines, or violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance, or regulation.
• Don’t victimize anyone. Don’t do anything threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, tortious, obscene, profane, or invasive of another person’s privacy.
• Don’t spam. Don’t distribute unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or promotional material, or any junk mail, spam, or chain letters. Don’t run mail lists, listservs, or any kind of auto-responder or spam on or through the Site.
• Don’t harm anyone’s computer. Don’t distribute software viruses, or anything else (code, films, programs) designed to interfere with the proper function of any software, hardware, or equipment on the Site (whether it belongs to Pitchforkd or another party).
• Don’t abuse other users’ personal information. When you use Pitchforkd — and especially if you create a successful movement — you may receive information about other users, including things like their names, email addresses, and postal addresses. This information is provided for the purpose of participating in a Pitchforkd movement: don’t use it for other purposes, and don’t abuse it.

We also need to make sure that the Site is secure and our systems function properly. So don’t do any of these things—most of which boil down to “don’t mess with our system.”

• Don’t try to interfere with the proper workings of the Services.
• Don’t bypass any measures we’ve put in place to secure the Services.
• Don’t try to damage or get unauthorized access to any system, data, password, or other information, whether it belongs to Pitchforkd or another party.
• Don’t take any action that imposes an unreasonable load on our infrastructure, or on our third-party providers. (We reserve the right to determine what’s reasonable.)
• Don’t use any kind of software or device (whether it’s manual or automated) to “crawl” or “spider” any part of the Site.
• Don’t take apart or reverse engineer any aspect of Pitchforkd in an effort to access things like source code, underlying ideas, or algorithms.

4. How Movements Work

Most of our Terms of Use explain your relationship with Pitchforkd. This section is different—it explains the relationship between members and founders of Pitchforkd movements, and who’s responsible for what. This is what you’re agreeing to when you found or join a Pitchforkd movement.

Pitchforkd provides a funding platform for founding cooperative movements. When a founder posts a movement on Pitchforkd, they’re inviting other people to join the movement subject to the details of that movement. Anyone who backs a movement is accepting the movement’s details.

Once the movement has been started, founders and members will collectively work to attract more followers to the movement and formally join via Pitchforkd’s platform.

At 80% of funding target, the founder and members will nominate and elect a Steering Committee to oversee the completion of the movement and formation of the cooperative.

If funding, cooperative creation, or cooperative conversion have not been completed by the target completion date of the movement a vote will be held to continue the movement or dissolve the effort and return funds to the members.

5. How Funding Works

This section goes over the details of joining and creating movements.

These are the terms that apply when you’re joining a movement:

• Your contribution is bound by the details outlined in the movement. 
• Contributions to join a movement are held by Pitchforkd until the movement has been successfully funded or dissolved by popular vote of the members after the target completion date.

• Your contribution to join a movement is not an investment, there is no expected rate of return.  Your support of a cooperative movement empowers it’s creation and the principles by which cooperatives operate:

1. Voluntary and open membership
2. Democratic Member control
3. Member Economic Participation
4. Autonomy and Independence
5. Education, Training, and Information
6. Concern for Community

• Refunds, less fees, are only issued in the event of a failed movement as voted by the members after the target completion date. 

• The completion date and funding target is an estimate by the founder. The month and year as well as the funding target listed on each movement is the founder’s estimate of when they hope to complete the movement —not a guarantee to fulfill by that time or at that dollar amount. If the movement is not completed by the target completion date or at the funding level, the members will vote to continue or dissolve the movement.

• Your contribution to this movement is not a financial investment, it is not transferrable, and there is no expected rate of return. Your contribution to the movement is in support of the community’s goal of creating a cooperative for the purposes outlined in each movement. If the movement succeeds in attaining 80% of the funding target the cooperative will be created and board of directors democratically elected from the members of the movement. If 80% of the funding target is not achieved by the date outlined in the movement, funds will be returned less expenses as outlined in the Terms of Use.  While the minimum contribution for joining a movement is $100, some will contribute more.  In keeping with the democratic nature of the cooperative, regardless the contribution amount – one member will get one vote. Do not contribute funds that you cannot afford to forego for the duration of the movement. By joining a movement you are agreeing to Pitchforkd’s Terms and Conditions.

• The founder or Pitchforkd may communicate with members in support of the movement's objectives.

6. Stuff We Don’t Do and Aren’t Responsible For

We don’t mediate disputes between users.

Pitchforkd isn’t liable for any damages or losses related to your use of the Services. We don’t become involved in disputes between users, or between users and any third party relating to the use of the Services. When you use the Services, you release Pitchforkd from claims, damages, and demands of every kind—known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed—arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and the Services. All content you access through the Services is at your own risk. You’re solely responsible for any resulting damage or loss to any party.

7. Our Fees

We only charge our 10% fee to join movements, in addition to any fees from our payment partners.

Creating an account on Pitchforkd is free. The 10% fee we charge covers any associated overhead costs incurred by Pitchforkd, we will work to optimize and reduce this fee wherever possible to support maximum funding for movements on our platform.  Fees for Pitchforkd and our payment partners are collected when you join a movement.

You’re responsible for paying any additional fees or taxes associated with your use of Pitchforkd.

8. Other Websites

If you follow a link to another website, what happens there is between you and them—not us.

Pitchforkd may contain links to other websites. (For instance, movement pages, user profiles, and comments may link to other sites.) When you access third-party websites, you do so at your own risk. We don’t control or endorse those sites.

Pitchforkd partners with other companies for payment processing. When you join or found a movement, you’re also agreeing to the payment processor’s terms of service.

9. Your Intellectual Property

We don't own the content you post on Pitchforkd, but we do have your permission to use or copy it however we need. We generally use it to promote movements and showcase our community. Ultimately, you're responsible for the content you post, and you're vouching to us that it's ok to use.

Pitchforkd doesn’t own content you submit to us (your “Content”). But we do need certain licenses from you in order to perform our Services. When you submit a movement for review, or launch a movement, you agree to these terms:

• We can use the Content you’ve submitted. You grant to us, and others acting on our behalf, the worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable right to use, exercise, commercialize, and exploit the copyright, publicity, trademark, and database rights with respect to your Content. In general, we use this Content to promote movements and showcase our community on the website. 
• When we use the Content, we can make changes, like editing or translating it. You grant us the right to edit, modify, reformat, excerpt, delete, or translate any of your Content.
• You won’t submit stuff you don’t hold the copyright for (unless you have permission). Your Content will not contain third-party copyrighted material, or material that is subject to other third-party proprietary rights, unless you have permission from the rightful founder of the material, or you are otherwise legally entitled to post the material (and to grant Pitchforkd all the license rights outlined here).
• Any royalties or licensing on your Content are your responsibility. You will pay all royalties and other amounts owed to any person or entity based on your Content, or on Pitchforkd’s hosting of that Content.
• You promise that if we use your Content, we’re not violating anyone’s rights or copyrights. If Pitchforkd or its users exploit or make use of your submission in the ways contemplated in this agreement, you promise that this will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including (without limitation) any privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights, or any other intellectual property or proprietary rights.
• You’re responsible for the stuff you post. All information submitted to the Site, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, is the sole responsibility of the person from whom that Content originated.
• We’re not responsible for mistakes in your Content. Pitchforkd will not be liable for any errors or omissions in any Content.

10. Pitchforkd’s Intellectual Property

The content on Pitchforkd is protected in various ways. You do have the right to use it for certain personal purposes, but you can’t use it for anything commercial without getting permission first.

Pitchforkd’s Services are legally protected in various ways, including copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, trade secrets, and other rights and laws. You agree to respect all copyright and other legal notices, information, and restrictions contained in any content accessed through the Site. You also agree not to change, translate, or otherwise create derivative works of the Service.

Pitchforkd grants you a license to reproduce content from the Services for personal use only. This license covers both Pitchforkd’s own protected content and user-generated content on the Site. (This license is worldwide, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, and non-transferable.) If you want to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, or store any of this content for a commercial purpose, you need prior written permission from Pitchforkd or the relevant copyright holder. A “commercial purpose” means you intend to use, sell, license, rent, or otherwise exploit content for commercial use, in any way.

11. How We Deal with Copyright Issues

We comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. To learn more about how we deal with claims of copyright infringement, read our Copyright Policy.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act lays out a system of legal requirements for dealing with allegations of copyright infringement. Pitchforkd complies with the DMCA, and we respond to notices of alleged infringement if they comply with the law and the requirements set forth in our Copyright Policy. We reserve the right to delete or disable content alleged to be infringing, and to terminate accounts for repeat infringers. (We do this when appropriate and at our sole discretion.)

If you’d like to submit a claim of copyright infringement, please visit our Copyright Policy. 

12. Deleting Your Account

You can delete your account at any time, but doing so won’t automatically remove some content you’ve already posted.

You can terminate your account at any time through your account settings. We may retain certain information as required by law or as necessary for our legitimate business purposes. All provisions of this agreement survive termination of an account, including our rights regarding any content you’ve already submitted to the Site. (For instance, if you’ve launched a movement, deleting your account will not automatically remove the movement from the Site.) You can contact us at support@Pitchforkd.com for additional information or to request movement page deletion (this is not available in all circumstances).

13. Our Rights

To operate, we need to be able to maintain control over what happens on our website. So in this section, we reserve the right to make decisions to protect the health and integrity of our system. We don’t take these powers lightly, and we only use them when we absolutely have to.

To protect the health and integrity of our system and to help ensure that founders and backers enjoy a safe and secure environment, Pitchforkd reserves these rights:

• We can make changes to the Pitchforkd Site and Services without notice or liability.
• We have the right to decide who’s eligible to use Pitchforkd. We may in limited circumstances impose restrictions or limitations on accounts, or—for particularly significant or repeated violations of our Terms or any other rules on the Site, like our Community Guidelines and rules for starting movements—we may cancel accounts or decline to offer our Services. (Especially if you’re abusing them.) We can change our eligibility criteria at any time. If these things are prohibited by law where you live, then we revoke your right to use Pitchforkd in that jurisdiction.
• We have the right to cancel any pledge to any movement, at any time and for any reason.
• We have the right to reject, cancel, interrupt, remove, or suspend any movement at any time and for any reason.

Pitchforkd is not liable for any damages as a result of any of these actions.

It is our general policy not to comment on the reasons for any such action. However, if we impose restrictions on or limit a verified account holder’s access to any of our Services or if we intend to cancel a verified account, we will let the account holder know the reasons for this action and how they can remedy any issues (where appropriate), unless we’re prohibited from doing so by law or in the interest of safety. For account cancelations, we will let the account holder know the reasons for this action at least 30 days in advance, unless we’re canceling for reasons related to illicit or inappropriate content, the safety of a good or service, counterfeiting, fraud, malware, spam, data breaches, other cybersecurity risks, or the suitability of a good or service for minors.

14. Warranty Disclaimer

We work hard to provide you with great services, but we can’t guarantee everything will always work perfectly. This site is presented as-is, without warranties.

You use our Services solely at your own risk. They are provided to you “as is” and “as available” and without warranty of any kind, express or implied.

Pitchforkd SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ANY WARRANTIES IMPLIED BY ANY COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, OR USAGE OF TRADE. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION (ORAL OR WRITTEN) OBTAINED BY YOU FROM Pitchforkd SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY.

15. Indemnification

If you do something on Pitchforkd that winds up getting us sued, you have to help defend us.

If you do something that gets us sued, or break any of the promises you make in this agreement, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us harmless from all liabilities, claims, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and other legal costs) that arise from or relate to your use or misuse of Pitchforkd. We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to this indemnification clause, in which case you agree that you’ll cooperate and help us in asserting any defenses.

16. Limitation of Liability

If something bad happens as a result of your using Pitchforkd, we’re not liable (beyond a small amount).

To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event will Pitchforkd, its directors, employees, partners, suppliers, or content providers be liable for any indirect, incidental, punitive, consequential, special, or exemplary damages of any kind, including but not limited to damages (i) resulting from your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Services; (ii) for any lost profits, data loss, or cost of procurement or substitute goods or services; or (iii) for any conduct of content of any third party on the Site. In no event shall Pitchforkd’s liability for direct damages be in excess of (in the aggregate) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100.00).

17. Dispute Resolution and Governing Law

We’re located in Vermont, and any disputes with us have to be handled in Vermont under Vermont State law.

We at Pitchforkd encourage you to contact us if you’re having an issue before resorting to the courts. Our Pitchforkd support team is on hand and ready to answer your questions. You can visit our Help Center to find articles with information that may resolve your issue. If you still have questions, you can click “Contact us” in the Help Center or email support@Pitchforkd.com so that one of our support team agents can personally reply to you and attempt to resolve your issue. These resources are easily accessible and free.

If you’re a founder based in the European Union and, after contacting us through those channels, you still don’t feel as if your issue has been resolved, we may agree with you to engage in mediation to resolve any complaints in good faith. You may address your complaint with one of these two mediation organizations:

• The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR)
• IPOS Mediation

In the unfortunate situation where legal action does arise, these Terms (and all other rules, policies, or guidelines incorporated by reference) will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Vermont and the United States, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law, and without application of the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act or the United Nations Convention of Controls for International Sale of Goods. You agree that Pitchforkd and its Services are deemed a passive website that does not give rise to jurisdiction over Pitchforkd or its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, assigns, employees, agents, directors, officers, or shareholders, either specific or general, in any jurisdiction other than the State of Vermont. You agree that any action at law or in equity arising out of or relating to these Terms, or your use or non-use of Pitchforkd, shall be filed only in the state or federal courts located in Vermont, and you hereby consent and submit to the personal jurisdiction of these courts for the purposes of litigating any such action. You hereby irrevocably waive any right you may have to trial by jury in any dispute, action, or proceeding.

18. The Rest

These are our official terms and our rules for how things work. You can verify any confusing or conflicting information you see elsewhere by referencing what we’ve explained on this page.

These Terms and the other material referenced in them are the entire agreement between you and Pitchforkd with respect to the Services. They supersede all other communications and proposals (whether oral, written, or electronic) between you and Pitchforkd with respect to the Services and govern our future relationship. If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid under the law, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that the Terms otherwise will remain in full force and effect and enforceable. The failure of either you or Pitchforkd to exercise any right provided for in these Terms in any way won’t be deemed a waiver of any other rights.

These Terms are personal to you. You can’t assign them, transfer them, or sublicense them unless you get Pitchforkd’s prior written consent. Pitchforkd has the right to assign, transfer, or delegate any of its rights and obligations under these Terms without your consent. Pitchforkd will provide you notice via email, written notice, or by conspicuously posting the notice on our Site.

FIN

Pitchforkd Terms of Use Updates

These updated terms went into effect on May 1, 2021 at 12 am Eastern Time, and apply to all movements launched on Pitchforkd on or after that date.

We want to be as transparent as possible about the changes we make to our Terms of Use. In this archive, you can see versions of our Terms of Use from 2021 to the present. Where available, we’ve also included comparisons of the version to the previous version to make it as easy as possible to see what has changed.