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Terms of Use — SmileProgress

Section 1. Scope of Application

These Terms of Use (the "Terms") apply to all aspects of the relationship between users and SmileProgress ("the Service"), including matters arising before and after registration.

Section 2. Definitions

  1. "Service" means the SmileProgress mobile application and website.
  2. "Service Provider" (also "we", "us", "our") means the person or entity that operates the Service, and any successor to its business as described in Section 5.
  3. "User" (or "you") means an individual who uses the Service.
  4. "Posted Data" means any image, text, or other content that you transmit to the Service Provider's servers through the Service.
  5. "Post" means a unit of Posted Data that you have shared via the Service.

Section 3. Ownership of Posted Data

Your photos belong to you. Specifically, copyright and other intellectual property rights in Posted Data remain with you or the rightful holder. The Service Provider does not acquire any copyright in Posted Data.

Section 4. License Grant

To operate the Service for you, the Service Provider needs a limited license to use Posted Data. You grant the Service Provider a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use Posted Data, solely for the following purposes and only until you delete the relevant Post (subject to limited backup, legal compliance, security, and dispute-resolution retention as described in the Privacy Policy):

  1. Operating the Service (storage, display, distribution, reproduction, processing, anonymization, compression, and delivery via caches and content delivery networks);
  2. Backup, disaster recovery, and incident response;
  3. Quality improvement and statistical analysis of the Service;
  4. Detection and moderation of misuse and rights infringement;
  5. Responding to user inquiries and conducting audits;
  6. Compliance with legal obligations, governmental requests, and dispute resolution;
  7. Preparing for and carrying out the business succession described in Section 5.

The Service Provider will not exercise this license for any secondary use beyond the purposes above, and will not sell, rent, or separately transfer Posted Data to any third party, except for sub-licensing to subprocessors as set out in Section 11 and transfer as part of business succession as set out in Section 5.

Section 5. Business Succession

If all or a substantial part of the Service Provider's business relating to the Service is succeeded through merger, corporate split, business transfer, or any similar transaction, the Service Provider may transfer Posted Data and related rights and obligations to the successor, to the extent necessary for the continued operation of the Service. For this purpose of business succession, the license granted under Section 4 may be transferred to the successor. The successor will handle Posted Data within the scope of these Terms and the Privacy Policy in effect at the time of succession, and will assume the Service Provider's obligations to you under these Terms.

Section 6. Third-Party Disclosure

The Service Provider discloses Posted Data to third parties only within the scope set out in the Privacy Policy. Any change to that scope is governed by Section 8.

Section 7. Deletion and Survival

  1. Once you delete a Post, the Service Provider will, within a reasonable period, remove the Posted Data from active environments and exclude it from search indexes and delivery caches. You can delete a Post from the device on which it was created, from a device to which your identity has been carried over (via iCloud, Sign in with Apple, or an in-app purchase), or by using the deletion secret issued at the time of posting.
  2. Posted Data on backups is retained solely for recovery purposes and will be deleted or overwritten in the ordinary backup rotation.
  3. Minimum records necessary for legal compliance, dispute response, and abuse prevention are not subject to deletion requests.
  4. The license granted under Section 4 survives with respect to (a) lawful uses completed before deletion, and (b) statistical or aggregated information that has been anonymized so that individuals are no longer identifiable by reasonably likely means.

Section 8. Changes to These Terms and the Privacy Policy

The Service Provider may amend these Terms and the Privacy Policy. Material changes will be communicated at least thirty (30) days in advance through the Service and the official website. Any change that expands the scope of use of Posted Data will apply only to Posted Data submitted on or after the effective date. Posted Data submitted before that date will continue to be governed by the prior version of these Terms and Privacy Policy. The Service Provider records, for each Post, the version of the Terms and Privacy Policy in effect at the time of submission, the timestamp of consent, and the post identifier.

Section 9. Representations and Warranties

At the time of submitting a Post, you represent and warrant that:

  1. The Post does not infringe any third party's rights;
  2. If the Post contains the mouth or face of another person, you have obtained that person's consent;
  3. You meet the minimum age set out in Section 9 of the Privacy Policy for your country of residence, and if you are below the local age of majority, you have obtained the consent of your legal guardian;
  4. You comply with the laws of your country of residence.

Section 10. Prohibited Conduct

You shall not:

  1. Violate any applicable law or accepted standards of public policy and decency;
  2. Post images or content that infringes third-party rights;
  3. Post images that include the mouth or face of another person without that person's consent;
  4. Use the Service as a basis for medical diagnosis, evaluation of treatment outcomes, or individual medical advice, or post content that purports to provide medical advice;
  5. Post content that promotes self-harm or suicide, or that contains discrimination, defamation, sexual content, or the personal information of any specific individual;
  6. Use the Service for commercial advertising, solicitation, or other commercial purposes;
  7. Collect Posted Data by automated means, or use Posted Data to train any machine learning model, without the Service Provider's prior consent;
  8. Engage in unauthorized access, reverse engineering, or any other act that interferes with the proper operation of the Service.

Section 11. Subprocessors

The Service Provider may engage third-party processors for cloud hosting, image delivery, monitoring, customer support, and other services necessary to provide the Service. For this purpose, the Service Provider may sublicense the rights granted under Section 4 to such subprocessors solely to the extent necessary. The Service Provider imposes on each subprocessor obligations of purpose-limitation, confidentiality, security, and managed sub-processing. A current list of material subprocessors and their processing locations is made available in the Service or on the official website.

Section 12. Disclaimer

The Service does not provide medical diagnosis, evaluation of treatment outcomes, or individual medical advice. You should not rely on the Service as the basis for any medical decision. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Service Provider is not liable for any damages incurred by you in connection with the use of Posted Data, the conduct of any third party, or any interruption or suspension of the Service.

Section 13. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of Japan. Any dispute arising in connection with the Service is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Tokyo District Court of first instance. The foregoing does not deprive Users of any mandatory consumer rights or jurisdictional protections available under the laws of their country of residence.

Last updated: (to be confirmed at release) Contact: see Section 11 of the Privacy Policy