TERMS OF SERVICE (RFCx, Arbimon)

Use of the Rainforest Connection (or "RFCx") websites (rfcx.org, arbimon.org, and all sub-domains), the Arbimon biodiversity monitoring platform, desktop programs, APIs, and mobile applications (collectively, the "Platform") constitutes agreement to these Terms of Service (the "Terms"). References to the "Platform" throughout these Terms include, without limitation, the Arbimon platform and all services, tools, and features accessible through arbimon.org and its sub-domains. We encourage you to review the following information carefully.

TRADEMARKS

Rainforest Connection, Arbimon, and other marks indicated on our sites are trademarks owned exclusively by Rainforest Connection. The use of these trademarks is prohibited unless authorized by written consent from Rainforest Connection. Use is also prohibited if used to disparage or discredit Rainforest Connection or if used in any way that may cause confusion among our supporters, donors, and the general public.

RESTRICTIONS

It is the intention of Rainforest Connection to open source all of our technology in accordance with the Apache 2.0 license, and to offer the use of our Platform, including Arbimon, for conservation and research purposes. We will collaborate with the academic community to responsibly share AI knowledge, contributing to publishing research studies and enabling data scientists to develop useful AI applications. We will uphold high standards of scientific excellence as we work to progress AI development. Given this, Rainforest Connection hereby grants you permission to access and use our Platform, including Arbimon, provided that these standards are held in high regard.

Access to the Platform is specifically subject to the following conditions, and you agree that your failure to adhere to any of these conditions shall constitute a breach of these Terms on your part:

1. You agree to use our services only for lawful purposes, and in a manner which does not infringe the rights, or restrict, or inhibit the use and enjoyment of the Platform by any third party.

2. You agree not to distribute any part of or parts of the Platform, including but not limited to any content, in any medium without Rainforest Connection's prior written authorization. Where Rainforest Connection makes available functionality for sharing or exporting content through the Platform or Arbimon (such as social media sharing buttons, offline download, or data export features), such functionality may be used solely for your personal or your organization's internal research and conservation purposes. Export or distribution of content through such functionality is expressly prohibited when undertaken (a) in bulk or at scale for the purpose of populating, operating, or servicing a competing platform or service, (b) for commercial redistribution to third parties, or (c) in a manner that circumvents usage limits or access controls established by Rainforest Connection.

3. You agree not to alter or modify any part of the Platform.

4. You agree not to (or attempt to) circumvent, disable, or otherwise interfere with security related features of the Platform or features that (a) prevent or restrict use or copying of content, or (b) enforce limitations on use of the Platform or the content accessible via the Platform.

5. You agree not to use or launch any automated system (including, without limitation, any robot, spider, or offline reader) that accesses the Platform in a manner that sends more request messages to Rainforest Connection's servers in a given period of time than a human can reasonably produce in the same period by using a publicly available, standard (i.e., not modified) web browser.

6. You agree not to interfere with, or disrupt, the Platform or services or networks connected to the Platform and not to introduce any computer virus (including any variant or similar malicious code or instructions) to Rainforest Connection systems.

7. You shall not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any content for any other purposes without the prior written consent of Rainforest Connection or the respective licensors of the content.

8. You are prohibited from using meta tags or any other hidden text utilizing Rainforest Connection's or Arbimon's name or trademarks without the express written consent of Rainforest Connection. Any unauthorized use of these websites voids the limited license granted by Rainforest Connection.

9. We design our AI models for conservation and research purposes. We ensure that strong safety and security practices are in place to avoid unintentionally causing any harm. You are prohibited from using any of our detection AI models, including those hosted on Arbimon, for any purpose outside of the scope of use document that accompanies every AI model hosted on our Platform.

   COMMERCIAL USE AND RESALE PROHIBITION
   
   

10. You agree not to resell, sublicense, or otherwise provide access to the Platform (including Arbimon) or any outputs generated through the Platform to any third party for a fee or other consideration. Without limiting the foregoing, you shall not:
    (a) Charge fees, commissions, or any form of compensation to third parties for services delivered through or substantially reliant upon the Platform or Arbimon, including but not limited to species identification, audio analysis, biodiversity monitoring, soundscape ecology reporting, or any other analytical services;
    (b) Use the Platform or Arbimon as shadow infrastructure, back-end processing, or data pipeline for any third-party product or service, whether or not such product or service is offered for compensation;
    (c) White-label, rebrand, or otherwise misrepresent Platform or Arbimon outputs, analyses, visualizations, or reports as originating from you or your organization rather than from Rainforest Connection or Arbimon; or
    (d) Sublicense, assign, or transfer your account access or any rights granted under these Terms to any third party.

    Users or organizations seeking to use the Platform or Arbimon for commercial purposes may inquire about commercial licensing arrangements by contacting Rainforest Connection at partnerships@rfcx.org.

    COMPETITOR USE RESTRICTION
    
    

11. If you are, or are employed by or affiliated with, an entity that offers products or services that compete with or are substantially similar to any product or service offered by Rainforest Connection, including but not limited to bioacoustic monitoring platforms, automated species identification services, or conservation technology platforms that compete with Arbimon (a "Competing Entity"), or if you were employed by or affiliated with Rainforest Connection within the preceding twenty-four (24) months (a "Former Affiliate"), you must disclose such relationship to Rainforest Connection in writing within thirty (30) days of creating your account or within thirty (30) days of such relationship arising, whichever is later. Failure to make such disclosure constitutes a material breach of these Terms. You agree that you shall not:
    (a) Use the Platform or Arbimon to conduct competitive analysis, benchmarking, feature comparison, or performance evaluation of Rainforest Connection's products, services, or technology;
    (b) Use the Platform or Arbimon, or any information obtained through the Platform or Arbimon, to develop, improve, or inform the development of any product or service that competes with or is substantially similar to any product or service offered by Rainforest Connection, including Arbimon; or
    (c) Use the Platform or Arbimon to provide services to clients or customers of a Competing Entity, or in furtherance of any business of a Competing Entity.

    USAGE LIMITS AND FAIR USE
    
    

12. Rainforest Connection may, at its sole discretion, establish and modify limits on Platform usage, including but not limited to Arbimon storage capacity, number or duration of audio uploads, data export volume, API call frequency, number of Arbimon projects, and computational resources allocated per account or organization. These limits may be published on the Platform or Arbimon, communicated to you directly, or enforced through technical measures. Usage that exceeds published limits or that Rainforest Connection reasonably determines to be of a commercial nature or commercial scale may require a separate commercial license agreement. Rainforest Connection reserves the right to throttle, suspend, or restrict access to accounts that exceed usage limits or engage in patterns of use inconsistent with personal, academic, or nonprofit conservation research.

    NON-CIRCUMVENTION AND GOOD FAITH
    
    

13. You agree not to use the Platform or Arbimon to circumvent, undermine, or interfere with Rainforest Connection's relationships with its partners, clients, funders, or donors. Without limiting the foregoing, you shall not:
    (a) Use the Platform or Arbimon to service contracts, grants, or engagements that were diverted, redirected, or obtained from Rainforest Connection or its partners, whether directly or through intermediaries;
    (b) Exploit knowledge of Rainforest Connection's business relationships, pricing, proposals, strategies, or proprietary information (whether obtained through prior affiliation, partnership, or otherwise) to divert or compete for business opportunities;
    (c) Represent or imply to any third party that you are affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of Rainforest Connection when no such relationship exists; or
    (d) Use the Platform or Arbimon in any manner that Rainforest Connection reasonably determines to be in bad faith or contrary to the spirit of these Terms.

    PROTECTING YOUR ACCOUNT

    Some portions of the Platform, including Arbimon, permit username and passwords to be used. You are responsible for protecting your unique username and password and you agree to be responsible for all activities performed under your user account, including all activity on Arbimon projects associated with your account.

    ORGANIZATIONAL ACCOUNTS AND DISCLOSURE

    If you access or use the Platform or Arbimon on behalf of, in connection with, or for the benefit of any organization (including but not limited to a company, university, research institution, nonprofit, government agency, or consulting firm), you must, at the time of account creation or promptly upon such organizational use commencing, provide the following information to Rainforest Connection:

    (a) The name and principal business of the organization on whose behalf you are acting;

    (b) The nature and purpose of your use of the Platform and Arbimon (for example: personal research, academic research, commercial consulting, grant-funded project, government monitoring); and

    (c) Whether you or the organization have had any prior relationship with Rainforest Connection within the preceding twenty-four (24) months, including but not limited to as a partner, contractor, consultant, employee, funder, or licensee.

    This information may be provided through the account registration process, through a form designated by Rainforest Connection, or by written communication to partnerships@rfcx.org.

    You represent and warrant that all information provided under this section is accurate and complete. The provision of false, misleading, or materially incomplete information under this section constitutes a material breach of these Terms.

    CONTENT SUBMITTED BY SITE USERS

    If you post content to the Platform or Arbimon, or otherwise submit material (including, but not limited to, audio files, audio labels, audio metadata, annotations, species identifications, and derived data), you grant Rainforest Connection, its affiliates, and third parties that Rainforest Connection has engaged for developing and fine tuning machine learning based AI models, a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, and create derivative works using your content or material. This license applies to all content submitted through any part of the Platform, including all Arbimon projects, whether public or private. We will never share your account profile personally identifiable information without your consent.

    Rainforest Connection strongly advises against uploading any audio data that contains personally identifiable information such as recordings of people's voices.

    Rainforest Connection is not liable to protect or prevent the distribution of any personally identifiable information uploaded by you outside of what is included in your account profile (including but not limited to personally identifiable information in audio files, audio labels, and audio metadata).

    By your submission you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you post; that the content is accurate; that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify Rainforest Connection or its affiliates for all claims resulting from content you supply. Rainforest Connection reserves the right to remove any content at our sole discretion.

    AUDIT AND MONITORING RIGHTS

    Rainforest Connection reserves the right to monitor and review your use of the Platform, including Arbimon, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with these Terms. In furtherance of this right, Rainforest Connection may:

    (a) Employ technical measures to monitor usage patterns, access frequency, data volumes, and other metrics related to your use of the Platform and Arbimon;

    (b) Request that you provide information regarding the nature, scope, and purpose of your use of the Platform and Arbimon, including the identity of any organization on whose behalf you are acting and the nature of any outputs or services you are producing using the Platform;

    (c) Conduct an audit of your account and usage, including review of Arbimon projects, data volumes, export history, and associated metadata, upon reasonable notice to you; and

    (d) Suspend your access to the Platform, including Arbimon, pending investigation of any suspected breach of these Terms.

    Upon receiving a request for information or cooperation under this section, you agree to respond in good faith within fourteen (14) calendar days. Failure to cooperate with a reasonable request under this section, including failure to respond within the specified period, constitutes a material breach of these Terms.

    TERMINATION FOR CAUSE

    Rainforest Connection may, at its sole discretion, suspend or terminate your access to the Platform, including Arbimon, in whole or in part, with or without prior notice, for any of the following reasons:

    (a) Violation of any provision of these Terms;

    (b) Unauthorized commercial use of the Platform or Arbimon, including resale, sublicensing, or provision of services to third parties in violation of Restriction (10);

    (c) Conduct that Rainforest Connection reasonably determines is harmful to the Platform, Arbimon, its users, or the conservation and research community;

    (d) Provision of false, misleading, or materially incomplete registration information or organizational disclosures;

    (e) Failure to disclose a competitive relationship as required by Restriction (11);

    (f) Excessive or abusive use of Platform or Arbimon resources, including use inconsistent with the usage limits and fair use provisions of Restriction (12); or

    (g) Failure to cooperate with an audit or information request under the Audit and Monitoring Rights section.

    Upon termination, your right to access and use the Platform, including Arbimon, shall immediately cease. Termination does not affect Rainforest Connection's rights under the content license granted in the Content Submitted by Site Users section, which shall survive any termination.

    You acknowledge and agree that you remain liable for any breach of these Terms that occurred prior to termination, and that the following sections shall survive termination: Trademarks, Content Submitted by Site Users, Indemnification, Limitation of Liability, and Applicable Law.

    INDEMNIFICATION

    You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Rainforest Connection, its officers, directors, employees, agents, affiliates, and partners from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to:

    (a) Content or material that you submit, post, or transmit through the Platform or Arbimon;

    (b) Your use of the Platform or Arbimon, including any products, services, reports, or analyses you produce or provide to third parties using the Platform, Arbimon, or outputs derived from either;

    (c) Your violation of any provision of these Terms;

    (d) Your violation of any rights of any third party, including but not limited to intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or contractual rights; or

    (e) Any claim by a third party arising from services you provided to such third party using, in whole or in part, the Platform, Arbimon, or outputs derived from either.

    This indemnification obligation shall survive the termination of your account and these Terms.

    LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

    The Platform, including Arbimon, is provided by Rainforest Connection on an "as is" and "as available" basis. Rainforest Connection makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, as to the operation of the Platform or the content contained therein. You expressly agree that your use of the Platform and Arbimon is at your own risk. Rainforest Connection cannot warrant that the Platform, our servers, or email communications affiliated with the use of the Platform are free from viruses. Rainforest Connection will not be responsible for any damages of any kind resulting from the use of the Platform or Arbimon, including but not limited to direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, and consequential damages.

    APPLICABLE LAW

    By using the Platform, you agree that the laws of the state of California, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern these Terms and any dispute of any sort that might arise between you and Rainforest Connection.

    CHANGES IN POLICY

    Rainforest Connection reserves the right to modify, alter, delete, and update these Terms at any time at our discretion. We will endeavor to provide notice of material changes through the Platform or by other reasonable means. Such alterations do not nullify our rights if infringements or breaches occurred under a previous version of these Terms. Your continued use of the Platform after any modifications constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

    Last Updated: 5 March, 2026