Terms of Service

1. Acceptance

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of Branchbound at branchboundstudio.com and app.branchboundstudio.com, and any related services (together, the "Service") operated by M6IX33 Pty. Ltd. ATF JMJ Family Trust, trading as Branchbound Studio ("Branchbound", "we", "us", "our").

By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy and Refund Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. Who can use Branchbound

• You must be at least 18 years old to create and hold a Branchbound subscription account.
• Branchbound does not currently offer family-profile or child-account functionality. Anyone under 18 may not hold a Branchbound account, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. (Family-profile features under verifiable parental consent are planned for a future release; these Terms will be updated when those features ship.)
• You are responsible for keeping your account credentials secure. You are responsible for anything done through your account.

3. The Service

Branchbound provides interactive narrative experiences with word-synced narration, ambient audio, and choice-driven storylines, plus tools (the "Studio") for creating your own stories.

We may add, change, or remove features over time. We will give reasonable notice of changes that materially reduce the value of your subscription.

4. Subscriptions and billing

4.1 Plans

Branchbound is a paid subscription service. Current plans, prices, and billing cycles are shown on the Founding members page (and any future pricing page). Prices are listed in AUD by default; Paddle may display the equivalent in your local currency at checkout. Applicable taxes (GST, VAT, sales tax) are added at checkout based on your location.

4.2 Auto-renewal

Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each billing cycle (monthly or annual, whichever you chose) unless you cancel before the renewal date. You authorise us, through our payment processor Paddle, to charge the payment method on file for each renewal until you cancel.

4.3 Founding member rate

If you sign up at the founding price, your rate is locked at that price for as long as your subscription remains continuously active. Cancelling your subscription, or letting payment fail without resolution, ends your founding rate. If you re-subscribe later, you will pay the then-current standard price, not the founding rate.

If we increase the standard price, founding members keep their original rate. If we decrease the standard price below your founding rate, you can switch to the lower rate at next renewal.

4.4 Free trial

Where we offer a free trial or first-story-free promotion, the terms of that promotion will be shown at the point of signup. You will not be charged during a trial period that does not require a payment method up front. If the trial requires a payment method, you authorise the first charge at the end of the trial unless you cancel before then.

4.5 Payment processor

All payments are processed by Paddle, our merchant of record. Paddle handles billing, tax compliance, and the secure storage of your payment details. Branchbound does not see or store your full payment details. Paddle's terms apply to your payment relationship; see paddle.com/legal/buyer-terms.

4.6 Cancellation

You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings or by contacting support@branchboundstudio.com. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period — you keep access until then; you will not be charged for the next period.

We do not use dark patterns, hidden cancellation flows, or "are you sure?" loops designed to change your mind. Cancellation is one click and effective immediately at the end of the current period.

4.7 Refunds

Within 14 days of your first charge, we will refund you in full, with no questions and no conditions. Billing errors are refundable at any time. See our Refund Policy for the full details.

4.8 Failed payments

If a renewal payment fails, we will retry through Paddle's standard retry schedule and notify you. If payment cannot be collected after Paddle's retries, your subscription will lapse and access will be suspended until you update your payment method.

5. Your content (Studio)

5.1 You own your stories

Stories, scenes, and other materials you create in Studio are yours. You retain all intellectual property rights in your content. We do not claim ownership.

5.2 Licence to operate

You grant Branchbound a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, copy, back up, display, and transmit your content solely for the purpose of operating, providing, and improving the Service for you. This licence ends when you delete your content (subject to any retention period required for backups or legal compliance described in our Privacy Policy).

5.3 Publishing

If you choose to publish a story so that other Branchbound users can read it, you also grant us the right to display it to those users until you unpublish it. Publishing is explicit — content is private to your account by default.

5.4 We do not train models on your content

We do not use your stories, drafts, or any other content you create in Studio to train AI models, except where you explicitly opt in via a feature that says so.

6. Library content

Stories in the Branchbound library that we publish (rather than user-published stories) are owned by Branchbound or licensed to us. You may read them as part of your subscription. You may not redistribute, scrape, copy, or use library stories outside the Service without our written permission.

7. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Upload, create, or share content that is illegal, harmful, harassing, hateful, sexually explicit involving minors, or that infringes another person's rights.
• Attempt to break the Service: probe for vulnerabilities, run automated scrapers, abuse APIs, circumvent rate limits, or impersonate Branchbound staff.
• Use the Service to send spam, run unsolicited marketing, or distribute malware.
• Resell access to the Service, share account credentials with third parties, or use one subscription across more households than the plan permits.
• Violate the laws of your country or any country where you use the Service.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules. We try to give warning first where the violation is minor and can be corrected, but we reserve the right to act immediately for serious violations (especially anything involving children, fraud, or abuse).

8. Intellectual property

Branchbound, the Branchbound name, the Branchbound logo, and the Service's design, code, and original content are owned by Branchbound. These Terms do not transfer any of those rights to you.

You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works of any Branchbound-owned material without our written permission, except as expressly allowed by these Terms or by copyright law (e.g., fair dealing for criticism or review).

9. Termination

You may terminate these Terms at any time by deleting your account in settings or contacting support@branchboundstudio.com. Termination takes effect immediately for the Terms; your subscription is treated as a cancellation per Section 4.6.

We may terminate or suspend your account if:

• You violate these Terms or our Acceptable Use rules above.
• Your account has been inactive for an extended period (we will email you first).
• We are required to do so by law.
• We discontinue the Service (we will notify you at least 60 days in advance and refund any unused prepaid period).

If we terminate for your violation of these Terms, refunds are not guaranteed. We will tell you why and give you a reasonable opportunity to export your content before deletion, except where the violation is severe (fraud, child safety, illegality).

10. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

We don't promise the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or perfectly secure. We aim for high availability and we genuinely care about quality, but we don't guarantee it.

11. Australian Consumer Law

Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts, or modifies any consumer guarantee, right, or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be lawfully excluded. Where Australian Consumer Law applies and a guarantee is not met, our liability for breach of a consumer guarantee is limited (where we are permitted to limit it) to one of the following, at our option: the resupply of the services, or payment of the cost of having the services resupplied.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Branchbound's total liability to you for any claim arising out of or related to these Terms or the Service is limited to the amount you paid Branchbound in the twelve months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

Neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or lost goodwill, even if advised of the possibility.

These limitations do not apply to: (a) our gross negligence or wilful misconduct; (b) our indemnification obligations; or (c) any liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.

13. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Branchbound and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claim, demand, loss, or damages — including reasonable legal fees — arising out of or related to your breach of these Terms, your content, or your misuse of the Service.

14. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. The courts of that state have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute, except that either party may seek urgent injunctive relief in any competent court.

For users outside Australia: you may have additional rights under your local consumer protection law that we cannot exclude. Where local law conflicts with these Terms, local law applies to the extent of the conflict.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do:

• We update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.
• For material changes, we email registered users at least 14 days before the change takes effect, so you have time to review and decide whether to continue using the Service.
• If you do not agree to the change, you can cancel your subscription before the change takes effect and we will refund any unused prepaid period.

Continuing to use the Service after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.

16. Miscellaneous

• Entire agreement. These Terms (with the Privacy Policy and Refund Policy) are the complete agreement between you and Branchbound.
• Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remains in force.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of that right.
• Assignment. You may not assign your rights under these Terms. We may assign ours in connection with a sale or restructuring of the business.
• Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delays caused by events outside their reasonable control.

17. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email augustine@branchboundstudio.com.