Terms of Service

Article 1 (Scope)

1. These Terms apply to all relationships between us and Users concerning the use of the Service.
2. The pricing plans, usage notes and other rules that we post on the Service (“Individual Rules”) form part of these Terms. If these Terms and the Individual Rules differ, the Individual Rules prevail unless the Individual Rules provide otherwise.
3. Users shall use the Service after agreeing to these Terms.

Article 2 (Definitions)

The following terms used in these Terms have the meanings set out below.

1. “Service” means the translation service that we provide under the name “Taiyaku” (including the website, the browser extensions for Google Chrome and Safari, and services incidental to them).
2. “User” means any person who uses the Service after agreeing to these Terms.
3. “Registered User” means a User who has completed registration under Article 3.
4. “Account” means the email address, password, information on linked external accounts and other information for authentication that a Registered User has registered in order to use the Service.
5. “Input Data” means text, web page content, PDFs, subtitles, audio and other data that a User sends to the Service for translation or other processing.
6. “Output Data” means translations, transcriptions, knowledge cards, furigana and other data that the Service generates based on Input Data.
7. “Paid Plan” means the Basic plan, the Pro plan and any other paid usage plan that we specify, and “Free Plan” means the Free plan that we provide free of charge.
8. “AI Provider” means a provider of the AI models that we use for translation and other processing.

Article 3 (Registration)

1. A person who wishes to register for the Service shall, after agreeing to these Terms, apply for registration by the method we specify (registering an email address and password, or linking a Google, Apple, Yahoo! JAPAN or LINE account). Registration is complete when we approve the application.
2. We may decline to approve a registration if we determine that the applicant falls under any of the following:
   1. the application contains false statements, errors or omissions;
   2. the applicant has previously been subject to measures such as cancellation of registration on the ground of a violation of these Terms;
   3. the applicant is an organized crime group, a member of an organized crime group or a person equivalent to them (“Antisocial Forces”), or we determine that the applicant is involved with Antisocial Forces; or
   4. we otherwise reasonably determine that registration is inappropriate.
3. Minors shall register and apply for a Paid Plan with the consent of a legal representative, such as a person with parental authority.

Article 4 (Account Management)

1. Registered Users shall properly manage their Accounts at their own responsibility and shall not allow any third party to use their Accounts, or lend, transfer, change the holder of, sell or buy their Accounts.
2. To make Accounts more secure, we recommend that Registered Users set up two-factor authentication.
3. We may treat any use of the Service made with the authentication information of a registered Account as use by the Registered User concerned. This does not apply where a third party used the Account due to our intent or negligence.
4. If a Registered User suspects that their Account has been used without authorization, the Registered User shall immediately take measures such as changing the password and shall contact us.
5. If any registered information changes, the Registered User shall update it without delay.

Article 5 (Fees and Payment)

1. The fees and details of Paid Plans are as set out on the Pricing page and in the Legal notice under the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions. All fees displayed include consumption tax.
2. Fees for Paid Plans shall be paid by credit card or any other method we specify, through the payment service of Stripe, Inc., the payment processor we designate.
3. The term of a Paid Plan is one month for a monthly plan and one year for an annual plan. Unless the Registered User completes cancellation before the end of the term, the Paid Plan renews automatically on the same terms. The fee for the renewed term is charged automatically on the renewal date.
4. Applying for a Paid Plan requires verification of the email address.
5. A contract for a Paid Plan is concluded when the Registered User completes the application procedure on the payment screen we specify and the payment is completed.
6. If a Registered User changes their Paid Plan partway through a term, the method of settling the fees and the timing from which the change applies are as shown on the screen for the change procedure.
7. If we change the fees for Paid Plans, we will notify Registered Users of the details of the change and its effective date, by posting on the Service or by email, a reasonable period before the effective date. The changed fees apply from the first term that starts on or after the effective date.
8. If a fee cannot be charged, we may stop providing the Paid Plan or change it to the Free Plan.

Article 6 (Cancellation and Withdrawal)

1. Registered Users may cancel a Paid Plan at any time in the Stripe customer portal, which opens from “Manage billing” in Account settings.
2. Even after cancelling a Paid Plan, the Registered User may continue to use the Paid Plan until the end of the term already paid for. When the term ends, the Registered User moves to the Free Plan and no further fees are charged.
3. If a Registered User cancels partway through a term, we do not give pro-rated refunds. The same applies to annual plans. This does not apply where a refund is required by law.
4. Registered Users may withdraw from the Service at any time by deleting their Account in Account settings. If an Account is deleted, any Paid Plan is cancelled at the time of deletion and can no longer be used, even if part of a term already paid for remains (in this case too, no pro-rated refund is given, in accordance with paragraph 3). Translation history, glossaries and other data can no longer be restored.

Article 7 (Free Plan and Usage Limits)

1. We provide a Free Plan. The details of the Free Plan are as set out on the Pricing page.
2. Each plan has monthly usage limits on items such as the number of characters translated, PDF pages, audio time and knowledge card lookups. Usage is reset on the first day of each month (Japan time).
3. For Registered Users who have not completed verification of their email address (except those who sign in with a linked external account), the monthly usage limits are set lower than the normal limits of each plan.
4. When a usage limit is reached, the relevant feature cannot be used until usage is reset in the following month. No additional fees are charged automatically as a result of exceeding a usage limit.
5. In addition to the preceding paragraphs, the Service is subject to technical restrictions that we specify, such as limits on the number of characters or the file size per operation.
6. We may change the details and usage limits of the Free Plan. If a change is disadvantageous to Registered Users, we will give advance notice in the manner set out in Article 16, paragraph 2.

Article 8 (Prohibited Conduct)

Users shall not engage in any of the following conduct when using the Service:

1. conduct that violates laws and regulations or public order and morals;
2. conduct related to criminal acts;
3. submitting for translation or other processing any content that is unlawful, or that infringes the copyrights, trademark rights or other intellectual property rights, privacy, portrait rights, reputation or other rights or interests of a third party;
4. redistributing translation results of another person’s copyrighted work by public transmission, distribution or any other means without the permission of the right holder (except where permitted by the Copyright Act of Japan or other laws);
5. sending large volumes of requests by automated means, or otherwise placing an excessive load on the servers or networks of the Service;
6. attempting to gain unauthorized access to the Service, and conduct that may interfere with its operation;
7. reverse engineering, decompiling or disassembling the software of the Service (including the browser extensions) (except where permitted by law);
8. reselling, lending or providing the Service or the right to use it to a third party, or incorporating features of the Service into a third party’s service, without our permission;
9. improperly evading usage limits or other restrictions, such as by creating multiple Accounts;
10. impersonating another User or a third party, and using another person’s Account;
11. using the Service for the purpose of generating content that is prohibited by the terms of use or similar rules of AI Providers (such as content relating to the sexual exploitation of children or content inciting violence);
12. directly or indirectly providing benefits to Antisocial Forces;
13. facilitating any of the conduct in the preceding items; or
14. any other conduct that we reasonably determine to be inappropriate.

Article 9 (Suspension of Use and Cancellation of Registration)

1. If a User falls under any of the following, we may, without prior notice, suspend the User’s use of all or part of the Service or cancel the User’s registration:
   1. the User violates any provision of these Terms;
   2. any registered information is found to be false;
   3. the User fails to pay fees;
   4. the User is found to fall under any of the items of Article 3, paragraph 2; or
   5. we otherwise reasonably determine that the User’s use of the Service is inappropriate.
2. If we cancel a registration under the preceding paragraph, we will not refund fees already paid. This does not apply where a refund is required by law.

Article 10 (Handling of Translation Results)

1. Output Data is generated automatically using the AI models of AI Providers. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, usefulness or fitness for a particular purpose of Output Data. Output Data may contain mistranslations, omissions or content that is not factually correct (including the content of knowledge cards).
2. Users shall use Output Data at their own discretion and responsibility. When using Output Data for important decisions involving law, medicine, finance, safety or similar matters, always check the original text and, where necessary, have it reviewed by a professional.
3. Copyrights and other rights in Input Data belong to the User or the legitimate right holder, and we do not acquire any rights in Input Data by providing the Service.
4. We do not claim any rights in Output Data. Users may use Output Data within the scope of these Terms and applicable laws. However, if Output Data is a translation of another person’s copyrighted work, its use may require the permission of the right holder of the original work.
5. We use Input Data and Output Data only within the scope of providing the Service, preventing misuse and the other purposes set out in the Privacy Policy, and we do not use them to train AI models.
6. Users shall hold the rights necessary for processing Input Data with the Service, or shall have obtained the permission of the right holders.

Article 11 (Intellectual Property Rights)

1. Copyrights, trademark rights and other intellectual property rights in the Service and in the software, designs, logos, text and other content relating to the Service belong to us or to the legitimate right holders.
2. We grant Users a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service in accordance with these Terms. Except as expressly provided in these Terms, the permission to use the Service does not mean any transfer or license of intellectual property rights relating to the Service.

Article 12 (External Services)

1. The Service is provided using external services (“External Services”), including AI models provided by AI Providers (such as OpenAI, L.L.C.), public information from Wikipedia, which is operated by Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., the payment service of Stripe, Inc., and the sign-in features of Google, Apple, Yahoo! JAPAN and LINE.
2. Information derived from Wikipedia and shown in knowledge cards is subject to the license that applies to each article (such as the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License).
3. The use of External Services may be subject to the terms of use and other rules set by their providers.
4. All or part of the Service may become unavailable due to the suspension of External Services, changes to their specifications or similar reasons.
5. The use of websites, videos and other external content translated with the Service is subject to the conditions set by the providers of that content.

Article 13 (Changes to, Interruption and Termination of the Service)

1. We may change the content of the Service, or add or discontinue features. If a change will have a significant effect on Registered Users, we will give advance notice by posting on the Service or by email.
2. We may temporarily interrupt the provision of all or part of the Service in any of the following cases. In that case, we will announce the interruption on the Service in advance where possible.
   1. when maintaining, inspecting or updating the systems of the Service;
   2. when providing the Service becomes difficult due to force majeure, such as fire, power outage, earthquake or other natural disasters;
   3. when a failure occurs in communication lines, cloud services or External Services; or
   4. in any other case where an interruption is unavoidable for operational or technical reasons.
3. We may end the provision of all or part of the Service by giving notice a reasonable period in advance, by posting on the Service or by email. If we end the Service during the term of a Paid Plan, we will refund the fee corresponding to the remaining period.

Article 14 (Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability)

1. We do not guarantee that the Service will fit a User’s particular purpose, that it will have the functions, accuracy or usefulness a User expects, or that it will be free from defects.
2. If a User suffers damage due to a cause attributable to us, we are liable to compensate for that damage. However, if the damage is caused by our negligence (excluding gross negligence), our liability is limited to ordinary and direct damage actually incurred by the User, and shall not exceed the total fees for the Service that the User paid to us during the 12 months going back from the month in which the event giving rise to the damage occurred (or JPY 10,000, if that total is less than JPY 10,000).
3. The proviso of the preceding paragraph does not apply to damage caused by our intent or gross negligence.
4. If a dispute arises between a User and a third party in connection with the User’s use of Input Data or Output Data, the User shall resolve it at their own responsibility and expense. This does not apply where the dispute arose from a cause attributable to us.
5. Translation history and other data are deleted automatically when the retention periods set out in the Privacy Policy expire. Users shall save by themselves any data that they need to keep.

Article 15 (Handling of Personal Information)

We handle personal information obtained through the use of the Service appropriately in accordance with the Privacy Policy.

Article 16 (Amendments to These Terms)

1. In any of the following cases, we may amend these Terms without obtaining the individual consent of Users, pursuant to Article 548-4 of the Civil Code of Japan:
   1. where the amendment conforms to the general interests of Users; or
   2. where the amendment is not contrary to the purpose of the contract and is reasonable in light of the necessity of the amendment, the appropriateness of the amended content, the content of the amendment and other circumstances relating to the amendment.
2. When amending these Terms under the preceding paragraph, we will, a reasonable period before the effective date, post on the Service, or notify Registered Users by email of, the fact that these Terms will be amended, the content of the amended Terms and the effective date.
3. Registered Users who do not agree to the amended Terms may cancel their Paid Plan or delete their Account by the effective date.

Article 17 (Communications and Notices)

1. We give notices to Users by posting on the Service, by sending email to the registered email address, or by any other method we consider appropriate.
2. When we send an email to a registered email address, the email is deemed to have arrived at the time it would normally have arrived.
3. Users shall contact us by email at [email protected].

Article 18 (Assignment of Rights and Obligations)

1. Users may not assign to a third party, or provide as security, their contractual position under these Terms or their rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior consent.
2. If we transfer the business relating to the Service to a third party (including any case in which the business is transferred, such as a company split), we may, in connection with that transfer, transfer to the transferee our contractual position, rights and obligations under these Terms, together with registration information and other information, and Users consent to this in advance.

Article 19 (Severability)

Even if any provision of these Terms, or any part of a provision, is held invalid or unenforceable under the Consumer Contract Act of Japan or other laws and regulations, the remaining provisions of these Terms and the remainder of any provision held partly invalid or unenforceable continue in full force and effect.

Article 20 (Governing Law and Jurisdiction)

1. These Terms are governed by the laws of Japan.
2. Any dispute between us and a User relating to the Service shall be subject to the exclusive agreed jurisdiction of the Tokyo District Court as the court of first instance.
3. The Japanese text of these Terms is the official text. If there is any discrepancy between a translation of these Terms and the Japanese text, the Japanese text prevails.