TEPNOT TERMS OF SERVICE
Tepnot is under the sole control of Tepnot Technologies (OPC) Private Limited, a Company registered under the provisions of the Companies Act 2013, and having registered office at B-802, Platinum Heights, Mota Varachha, Opp Utran Power House, Utran, Surat, Gujarat- 394105 (Hereinafter referred to as the “Company” which expression shall include its successors and permitted assigns along with any wholly owned subsidiaries in any of its operating jurisdictions.)
This Agreement shall be read alongside the Tepnot Privacy Policy
1. APPLICABLE TERMS
1.1. The User is instructed to read these Terms carefully and make sure they understand it. If the User does not understand the Agreement, or does not accept any part of it, then they may not use the Service.
1.2. It shall be the User’s responsibility to ensure that they have read, understood and provided consent to these Terms. Tepnot shall not be liable for any harm caused to the User
2. DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION
2.2. User/s: Shall mean any person, persons, individual or entity who accesses Tepnot for use of its services.
2.3. Business Group: shall mean the groups created by the Users where only the one bearing the status of the Group’s Admin can send messages.
2.4.[2.3.] Tepnot Team: Shall mean any person, persons, individual or entity that shall be responsible for the logistical and maintenance of other functioning of Tepnot.
2.6.[2.5.] Content: Shall only mean any pictorial, artistic, image, audio-video content that shall be made by the User to be uploaded on Tepnot either as a post or as a temporary upload. The Content shall also mean the comments and any other interaction with the content uploaded by the Users. The use of the word “Content” shall not cover any such content shared on personal chats.
3. ABOUT THE SERVICE
3.2. Services Offered: The core service offered by Tepnot is messenger services. The User may use Tepnot to send messages to their contacts provided the recipient too is a User of the Services. The User may also connect with other Tepnot Users via voice messages, video messages and document sharing as well as other allied features such as polls, animated gifs and more as illustrated in these Terms. The User may also use Tepnot to upload pictures and videos which can be interacted with by other users as illustrated in these Terms.
3.3. Safety, Security and Integrity Principles: Tepnot is dedicated to protect the safety, security and integrity of the Services including but not limited to appropriately dealing with abusive people and activity violating these Terms. The Tepnot Team works to prohibit misuse of the Services including harmful conduct towards others, violations of these Terms and policies, and address situations where they may be needed to help support or protect the Tepnot community. If Tepnot learns of people or activity as described above, appropriate action shall be taken, including but not limited to removal of such people or activity or contacting the law enforcement in the appropriate jurisdiction. Any said removal shall be in accordance to the Termination of Service section as stated below.
3.4. Enabling Access to the Services: To operate the Services on a global scale, Tepnot needs to store and distribute content and information in data centres and systems around the world, which may fall in a jurisdiction outside that of the User’s. The use of this global infrastructure is necessary and essential to provide the Services. This infrastructure may be owned or operated by the Company or any of the affiliated entities of the Company.
3.5.1. Determination of the fact that the User is a real person and not a bot account and not employing automated means or is making an account for the purposes of sending Spam messages or other unwanted communication.
3.5.2. To be in compliance with the applicable laws of the land that mandates Tepnot to collect and store the data.
3.5.3. To analyze the User preferences and suggest them the Content that they may like.
4. USER ELIGIBILITY AND ACCOUNT REGISTRATION
4.2. The User shall create an account immediately at the time of first accessing Tepnot. The User’s Account shall be in individual capacity.
4.3. Age Eligibility :
4.3.1. The User must be a minimum 13 Years of age to access Tepnot; OR
4.3.2. Such greater age as may be applicable according to the jurisdiction of the country the User is residing in.
4.3.3. The Parent or Legal Guardian of any User who is below 18 Years of age or whose consent is considered invalid by law due to any unsoundness of mind must provide the consent to these Terms on behalf of such a User.
4.3.4. The Company shall not be under any obligation to ensure that such consent to the Terms has been given nor shall the Company be liable for the exposure of any underage User to explicit content that
4.4.1. The User shall be mentally and physically stable and shall be in a position to understand the functioning of Tepnot.
4.4.2. Users who are intoxicated or mentally challenged, shall not use Tepnot independently.
4.4.3. If the User suffers from any unsoundness of mind, the Parent or Legal Guardian of such User must provide the consent to these Terms on their behalf.
4.5.1. The User Registration Process shall not be skipped.
4.5.2. The User Registration Process will require the following data from the User
4.5.2.1. The Phone Number of the User.
4.5.2.2. The Country of residence of the User
4.5.2.3. Verification Code that shall be sent by SMS.
4.5.2.4. Name of the User
4.5.2.5. The User may also upload a profile photo
4.5.3. Tepnot shall require the explicit consent of the User to access the following
aspects:
4.5.3.1. The User’s Location
4.5.3.2. The Media Gallery of the Device used by the User
4.5.3.3. The File Management application and the stored documents in the Device used by the User.
4.5.3.4. The entire list of contacts from the Contact Library of the Device used by the User.
4.5.4. The User may establish further verification mechanisms at the time of registration, however Tepnot shall not be responsible for any harm that is caused to the User due to the establishment of such mechanisms.
5. NO SUBSTITUTION FOR OTHER SERVICES
5.2. The Users must note that Tepnot does not provide access to emergency services or emergency services providers, including the police, fire departments, or hospitals, or otherwise connect to public safety answering points.
5.3. The User alone should ensure that they can continue to personally contact the emergency services providers within their jurisdiction through a mobile phone, a fixed-line telephone, or other service.
6. SYSYTEM REQUIREMENTS
6.3. The User also consents to Tepnot sending notifications to the Users via Tepnot from time to time, as necessary to provide Tepnot Services to the User.
6.4. The User is responsible for all carrier data plans, Internet fees, and other fees and taxes associated with the User’s use of Tepnot.
7. PRIVACY POLICY
7.2. Privacy Control in the Hands of the Users: The User shall be able to enjoy a discretion pertaining to sharing of the information with Tepnot. Apart from the mandatory
information asked for while creating the User Account, the User shall have the option to disclose such data to the Company/Tepnot.
7.3. Retaining of Information: Post the deletion of the User Account or suspension of the same, the Company shall retain the information of the User for the maximum duration allowed by the applicable privacy law of the land from where Tepnot Services was availed.
7.4. Notification: The User shall be notified any time Tepnot needs access to their personal files and other data that may be required.
7.5. Compliance with the Privacy Laws: The Company affirms that all the clauses in these Terms are compliant with the Applicable Privacy Laws of the land the User is residing in, an example without limitation is General Data Protection Regulation (For EU Countries);
8. ACCEPTABLE USE OF TEPNOT
8.2. Legal and Acceptable Use:
8.2.1. The User must access and use Tepnot only for legal, authorized, and acceptable purposes. The User shall not Use or assist other in Using the Tepnot Services in ways that:
8.2.1.1. Violate, misappropriate, or infringe the rights of Tepnot, other Users, or any other third party, including privacy, publicity, intellectual property, or other
proprietary rights;
8.2.1.2. Are illegal, obscene, defamatory, threatening, intimidating, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or instigate or encourage conduct that would be illegal or otherwise inappropriate, such as promoting violent crimes, endangering or exploiting children or others, or coordinating harm;
8.2.1.3. Involve publishing falsehoods, misrepresentations, or misleading statements;
8.2.1.4. Impersonation of other Users;
8.2.1.5. Involve sending illegal or impermissible communications such as bulk messaging, auto-messaging, auto-dialing, and the like; or
8.2.1.6. Involve any non-personal use of Tepnot unless otherwise expressly authorized by Tepnot.
8.3.2. Send, store, or transmit viruses or other harmful computer code through or onto Tepnot Services;
8.3.3. Gain or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Tepnot Services or systems;
8.3.4. Interfere with or disrupt the safety, security, confidentiality, integrity, availability, or performance of the Tepnot Services;
8.3.5. Create user accounts on Tepnot through unauthorized or automated means;
8.3.6. Collect information of or about other Tepnot Users in any impermissible or unauthorized manner;
8.3.8. Distribute or make Tepnot available over a network where the Services could be used by multiple devices at the same time, except as authorized through tools expressly provided on Tepnot;
8.3.9. Create software that function substantially the same as Tepnot and offer them for use by third parties in an unauthorized manner; or
8.3.10. Misuse any reporting channels, such as by submitting fraudulent or groundless reports or appeals.
8.4. Account Security: The User is solely responsible for maintaining the security of their own account and must notify the Tepnot Team immediately of any breach in their account or the Tepnot Services that they have detected.
9. FULL SCOPE OF SERVICES OFFERED
9.1. Tepnot offers the following services to the User:
9.1.1.1. Messenger Services are the core services offered by Tepnot.
9.1.1.2. The Users may use Tepnot to send messages in the form of textual, audio, video, document formats to any contact that is also a User of Tepnot.
[9.1.1.3.] The Users may also employ other features such as polls, emojis, andstickers and animated gif files provided by Tepnot.
9.1.1.3.[9.1.1.4.] The User may also form or join chat groups with other Users which may either remain till they are deleted or may be temporarily formed for a certain duration of time only. The User may also create or be invited to join Business Groups
9.1.1.4.[9.1.1.5.] The messages sent may also be deleted and they may be designed to disappear.
9.1.2.2. The Content may be uploaded as Posts that shall remain until they have been taken down by either the User or the Tepnot Team or may be uploaded for only 24 hours, after which it shall automatically disappear.
9.1.2.4. The User may also interact with the Content uploaded by other Users by the means of liking it, sharing it and even commenting on it using the tools provided by Tepnot.
9.1.2.5. The Content displayed on the User’s screen shall be contingent on the interaction of the User with the posts as well as the contacts of the User.
9.1.4.2. The User may write a brief description in the bio that shall be displayed on their profile.
9.1.4.3 . The User may make other changes in their Profile, the messages that they can see, the notification settings, etc through the Settings page.
9.1.4.4. The User may also change their wallpaper in the Tepnot Application which they have downloaded in their Device, this shall only be visible to the User themselves
9.2.1. Tepnot is committed to maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for all the Users. To achieve this goal, Tepnot has implemented a robust content moderation system to promptly identify and remove illegal, harmful, or inappropriate Content from the Services. This content moderation policy aims to ensure compliance with applicable laws, protect the rights and safety of the users, and uphold the community standards.
9.2.2. Prohibited Content includes without limitation:
9.2.2.2. Adult content, nudity, pornography, or sexually explicit material.
9.2.2.4. Content that encourages self-harm, suicide, or any dangerous activities.
9.2.2.5. Misinformation or content that may cause harm, fear, or confusion to our users.
9.2.2.6. Graphic or gratuitously violent content.
9.2.2.7. Harassment, bullying, or stalking of individuals.
9.2.2.8. Content that invades privacy or reveals sensitive personal information of others without their consent.
9.2.2.9. Content that promotes or supports terrorism, hate groups, or extremist ideologies
9.2.2.10. Content that violates, infringes or copies other Users’ Intellectual Property.
9.2.3. Reporting of Content, Users and Messages: Tepnot encourages Users to report any Prohibited or violative Content, Users, Groups and Messages. For doing the same the User can select the particular message, post, group or a whole account and report it on the following grounds;
9.2.3.2. If the content is Spam: In such cases, the User shall make the report only on the basis of good faith belief that the content reported falls under the criteria of unwanted, continuous messages.
9.2.3.3. Nudity or Sexual Activity: If the message, post, or the whole group or profile in general is portraying nudity and other sexual activity in either display or by means of solicitation or promoting its display.
9.2.3.4. Hate Speech or other Symbols of Hate: If the content that is reported has elements of hate speech or has incorporated any hateful symbols promoting violence against any specific person or a group of persons.
9.2.3.5. Violence or Dangerous Organizations: If the content that is reported promotes or calls for violence or is shared by or shared by someone linked to directly or indirectly an organization or entity that is violating the law and putting the public or a specific person at risk.
9.2.3.7. Scam or Fraudulent content: If the User sees elements of scam or tall claims or messages or content designed to entice the Users into surrendering personal, financial or any other information or generally a fraudulent claim or message.
9.2.3.8. Bullying or Harassment of a single person or a group of people.
9.2.3.9. If the message, content, group, post or the user is or is encouraging or is directly linked to the Infringement of Intellectual Property owned by another person which shall include the patent, trademark, copyright or design owned by such person.
9.2.3.10. Any other reason: In such cases the User will have to provide the reason for reporting the content, post, message, account or group for a reason not listed above.
9.2.4. In the above cases, especially with respect to Intellectual Property violations, danger to a specific person or a group, Tepnot encourages the Users to contact the local authorities as soon as possible.If it violates the Intellectual Property of the User
[9.2.3.2.] If it harms the User in any way
[9.2.3.3.] If it is spreading misinformation
[9.2.3.4.] Threatens the use of violence or is hateful in any way
[9.2.4.] Tepnot Team shall respond to the report request within 48 hours of having the request placed. If the report request is found to be genuine, Tepnot shall respond by either suspending or taking down the account. If the content, messages, User or a group is found to be not violating the Tepnot policies, then the Tepnot Team shall not take any action. In the whole process, the identity of the User who files a report shall remain a secret.
9.2.5. Should the User be dissatisfied with the resulting action or would like to appeal their suspension they may send an email regarding the same to
10. THIRD PARTY SERVICES
websites, applications, their content, products and any other service that are integrated into the working of Tepnot for the purposes of sharing, posting or any other communication using Tepnot.
11. LICENSES
11.2. Rights of Tepnot:
11.2.1. Tepnot and by extension the Company, represents and warrants that they are the true and complete owners of all copyrights, trademarks, domains, logos, trade dress, trade secrets, patents, and other intellectual property rights associated with the Tepnot Services (Hereinafter referred to as “Tepnot IPR”)
11.2.2. The User shall not use the Tepnot IPR under any circumstances for any purpose. The User may use the Intellectual Property of other entities should they have permission. However, Tepnot has no authority to verify, allow or discontinue any such use of the IPR of other entities and shall bear no liability should such use be proven to be a result of infringement.
11.3.1. In order to operate and provide the Tepnot Services, The User grants Tepnot a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works of, display, and perform the information (including the content) that you upload, submit, store, send, or receive on or through the Services.
11.3.2. The rights the User grants in the said license are for the limited purpose of operating and providing the Tepnot Services (such as to allow Tepnot to display the User’s profile picture and status message, transmit the User’s messages, and store the undelivered messages on the Tepnot servers for up to 30 days as Tepnot tried to deliver them).
11.4.1. Tepnot grants the User, limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable and non-transferable license to use our Services, subject to and in accordance with these Terms and any other Tepnot policy, notification or communication put forth by Tepnot.
11.4.2. The sole purpose of this license is for enabling the User to use the Tepnot Services in the manner permitted under these Terms, any other Tepnot policy, notification or communication put forth by Tepnot.
11.4.3. No licenses or rights are granted to the User by implication or otherwise, except for the licenses and rights which are expressely granted.
12. TRADEMARK, COPYRIGHT AND OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT INFRINGEMENT POLICY
12.2. All the violations of the User’s Intellectual Property right can be addressed through the reporting mechanism as described in these terms.
12.3. However if the User is dissatisfied with the result of such report request, they may follow the procedure as highlighted in this Policy for any Copyright, Trademark Infringement or other Intellectual Property Infringement claim.
12.4. The User may follow the following procedure:
12.4.1. The User may report an infringement and request that Tepnot may remove any such
infringing content including but not limited to Profile Picture, profile name or any
other Content that is uploaded or shared publically by the User by E-mail to
12.4.2. The said mail must contain a fully descriptive copyright infringement claim and it may also be sent to Tepnot by way of physical mail to the address as specified in the NOTICES section.
12.4.3. Before contacting Tepnot for such claim, the User is encouraged to resolve the matter personally with the allegedly infringing User.
12.4.4. If Tepnot finds the claim satisfactory, the Infringing User’s Account may be suspended temporarily or permanently.
12.5. What the mail as stated above should include:
12.5.1. The complete contact information of the User: the Full name, mailing address and Phone number.
12.5.2. Description of the work being infringed
12.5.3. Description of the content that is hosted on Tepnot that the User claims infringes the User’s Intellectual Property.
12.5.4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit Tepnot to locate the infringing property on the Tepnot Services. The easiest way to do this is by providing Tepnot the phone number of the individual who has submitted the infringing content on our Services.
12.5.5. A declaration stating that the user believes that they are making this claim in good faith, the information provided is accurate, that the User is the original owner of the IPR that has been infringed
12.5.6. The Signature of the User.
12.6. Please note that any of the provisions of this Clause 12 are only limited to the actions that shall be taken by Tepnot and by extension the Company and this is in no way be treated as a judicial action taken under the law of the appropriate jurisdiction.
13. DISCLAIMER
13.2. Tepnot strictly does not warrant any information provided by the Company or the Tepnot Team that the Services will be operational, error free, secure, or safe and that Tepnot shall function without disruptions, delays or imperfections.
13.3. Tepnot and by extension the Company does not control and is strictly not responsible for controlling how, when, from where and for what purpose the Users use Tepnot or the other features, services and interfaces provided by Tepnot.
13.4. Tepnot has no obligation to control nor is responsible for the actions of any User or other third party or any information either transmitted or uploaded by them.
13.5. The Company, Tepnot and the Tepnot Team and any other affiliates of the Company are free from any claim, dispute, allegation or averments in relation to any existent action of the User against a Third Party.
13.6. This disclaimer by no means forgoes or waives the right of the User to initiate any legal action against other Users or a third party.
14. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
14.2. The foregoing disclaimer of certain damages and the limitation of liability shall apply to the maximum extent permitted by the applicable law.
14.3. The laws of some jurisdictions may not allow the exclusions and limitations set forth above and may not apply to the Users. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these Terms, in such cases, the liability of Tepnot shall be limited to the fullest extent permitted by the Applicable Law.
15. INDEMNIFICATION
15.1.1. The User’s access or use of the Service
15.1.2. Breach of these Terms under the Applicable Law
15.1.3. Any misrepresentation made by the User
15.3. The rights of the User are not modified, denied or changed by this Indemnification clause if the laws of the country or territory in which the User resides does not permit it.
16. NOTICES
16.2. Any Notice to Tepnot or the Company shall be effective when delivered to the Company to the address: B-802, Platinum Heights, Mota Varachha, Opp Utran Power House, Utran, Surat, Gujarat- 394105 or any address as the Company may later state to the Users.
17. GREIVANCE OFFICER
the Grievance Officer through the following contact details:
Name:
E-Mail ID
Registered Address: B-802, Platinum Heights, Mota Varachha, Opp Utran Power House, Utran, Surat, Gujarat- 394105
If the Grievance remains unresolved, the matter shall be dealt with by the Courts of Surat, Gujarat, India and each party shall be subject to the jurisdiction of those Courts.
18. GOVERNING LAWS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION
18.2. Any Dispute with respect to any of the clauses, covenants, provisions or statements made in these Terms or any other subsequent Tepnot Policies, communication and notification shall be dealt with as per the laws of India and governed by the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 and the venue of Arbitration shall be Surat, Gujarat, India regardless of the User’s place of residence.
18.3. Should Arbitration fail, the Courts of Surat, Gujarat shall have exclusive jurisdiction.
19. AVAILABILITY OF TEPNOT SERVICES
19.2. That pertains expanding, adding or removing the Services, features, functionalities, and the support of certain devices and platforms.
19.3. Tepnot Services may be interrupted during certain situations including for maintenance, repairs, upgrades, or network or equipment failures.
19.4. Tepnot may discontinue some or all of the Tepnot Services, including certain features and the support for certain devices and platforms, at any time. Events beyond the control of Tepnot may affect the Services, such as events in nature and other force majeure events.
20. TERMINATION
20.2. Tepnot may modify, suspend, or terminate the User’s access to or use of Tepnot anytime for any reason, such as if you violate the letter or spirit of these Terms or create harm, risk, or possible legal exposure for Tepnot, other Users, or any other third party.
20.3. Tepnot may also disable or delete the User’s account if it does not become active after account registration or if it remains inactive for an extended period of time.
21. ABOUT THE TERMS
notifications, etc.
21.2. The Company may amend these Terms without any prior intimation, to reflect changes to Tepnot or for legal, regulatory, or security reasons, and/or to prevent abuse or harm.
21.3. If the Company materially alters these Terms, they will provide the User with reasonable advance notice and the opportunity to review the changes, except when the Company launches a new product or feature, or in urgent situations, such as preventing ongoing abuse or responding to legal requirements.
21.4. If the User does not agree to any of these Terms or other Tepnot policies, they may opt out of the Services all together.
21.5. Severability: If it turns out that any particular term in these Terms is rendered unenforceable due to any subsequent law, it shall be severed without affecting the rest of the Terms.
21.6. Waiver: The Company or Tepnot’s lack of action for any breach of these Terms or Tepnot Policies by the User shall not constitute a waiver to act upon such actions.
21.7. Relationship between the Parties: The Parties, the User and Tepnot, hereto are independent contractors, and nothing contained herein shall be interpreted as creating any relationship other than that of independent contracting Parties. The Parties shall not be construed as being partners, joint ventures, shareholders, employers/employees, agents/servants. The User has no power or authority to bind Tepnot to any obligation, agreement, debt, or liability. The User shall not hold themselves out as an agent or representative of the Tepnot.
21.9. Unless mutually agreed, these Terms shall constitute the entire agreement between the User and the Company.