Terms of Service

Scriptorium.works is a global online platform for authors of books, essays, manuscripts, and literary works. The Platform combines elements of a marketplace (sale of original works by their authors) with elements of a curated library (free distribution of third-party materials within strictly defined categories — public domain works, Creative Commons licensed works, and works with documented written permission).

Platform Operator: IVI CREATIVE AGENCY LLC. Contact: [email protected], +1 (440) 454-4790.

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account and use the Platform. By registering, you confirm that: you are at least 18 years of age; you have full legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement; you are not prohibited from using the Platform under any applicable law.

Users aged 16–17 may use the Platform in read-only mode where permitted by applicable local law, with verifiable parental consent provided in advance.

To publish your own works at a price (Category A — see Upload Agreement), you must additionally create a Stripe Connect Standard account, in accordance with Stripe's terms and Know-Your-Customer requirements.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to notify us immediately at [email protected] of any unauthorized use of your account.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that: (a) violate these Terms; (b) are involved in fraudulent activity; (c) have been inactive for more than 24 consecutive months. We will provide reasonable prior written notice except in cases of serious breach where suspension may be immediate.

Each upload requires you to choose one of two fundamental categories (complete details in the Upload & Publishing Agreement):

CATEGORY A — YOUR OWN ORIGINAL WORK: A work authored by you, sold at a price you set, processed through your own Stripe Connect Standard account. You are the rights holder.

CATEGORY B — THIRD-PARTY MATERIAL (FREE): A work that does not belong to you but that you have the right to redistribute, within one of three sub-categories — Public Domain, Creative Commons, or Written Permission from the rights holder. Distributed exclusively free of charge.

Regardless of category, you retain copyright in your own original contributions (editorial work, curation, preface, translation where applicable). Rights in the underlying third-party work remain with the original rights holder.

By uploading content, you grant Scriptorium.works a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to store, display, generate previews, and transmit the content to relevant users (purchasers for Category A; downloaders for Category B). Complete license terms: see the Upload & Publishing Agreement.

This license does NOT include the right to: use your content for training artificial intelligence or machine learning models without your explicit consent; reproduce or sublicense your content beyond the operational needs of the Platform; create derivative works from your content beyond technical previews.

You agree not to upload, sell, or distribute content that: infringes any copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property right (see DMCA Policy); is plagiarized or fraudulently attributed; contains defamatory, libelous, or demonstrably false statements about real persons; sexualizes, exploits, or endangers minors in any way; constitutes hate speech based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin; promotes violence, terrorism, or self-harm; was generated entirely by artificial intelligence without clear disclosure; contains malicious files or injected code; violates any applicable law or regulation.

Content created with AI assistance (where AI assisted but the work was substantially authored by a human) is permitted but must be disclosed. Content generated entirely by AI must be clearly labeled as such.

Payments are processed exclusively by Stripe, Inc. ("Stripe"), through the Stripe Connect Standard system. By making or receiving payments on the Platform, you also agree to Stripe's terms (stripe.com/legal).

COMMERCIAL MODEL — CATEGORY A WORKS (YOUR OWN):

The author creates their own Stripe Connect Standard account (onboarding managed directly by Stripe, including all KYC and tax form collection).

The author sets their own price for each work in their Stripe account (primary currency: USD; optional automatic conversion display for readers in other currencies).

For each sale, the reader's payment goes DIRECTLY into the author's Stripe Connect account. Stripe AUTOMATICALLY transfers ten percent (10%) (application fee) to Scriptorium.works. The remaining ninety percent (90%), less standard Stripe processing fees (currently 2.9% + $0.30 for U.S. cards, 3.9% + $0.30 for international cards), remains in the author's account.

Stripe directly handles: payouts to the author's bank, currency conversion (where applicable), tax forms (W-8BEN for non-U.S. authors, 1099-NEC for U.S. authors exceeding $600/year). Scriptorium.works does NOT issue tax forms and is NOT a party to the author's tax obligations.

COMMERCIAL MODEL — CATEGORY B WORKS (THIRD-PARTY):

Exclusively free distribution. There is no direct sale of the work. Readers may leave voluntary tips through the uploader's Stripe Connect account, in recognition of the uploader's curation/editorial effort — NOT as compensation for the underlying third-party work.

PAYMENTS FOR PREMIUM FEATURES OR SUBSCRIPTIONS:

Certain Platform features (reader subscription, premium memberships) may be billed directly by Scriptorium.works through Stripe. For such transactions, the Operator is the seller, and standard Stripe terms apply.

Because the Platform transacts in digital files immediately accessible after download, sales are generally final.

Exceptions (full refund):

(a) The delivered file is corrupted, empty, or technically unreadable.

(b) The delivered content materially fails to match the listing description (e.g., claimed 200 pages, delivered 20 pages).

(c) EU/EEA consumers exercising their statutory 14-day right of withdrawal under Directive 2011/83/EU, provided the digital content has NOT been accessed or downloaded.

Disputes must be opened within 7 days of delivery by contacting [email protected]. For Category A works, content or quality disputes may also involve the author (via their Stripe Connect Standard account).

Our decision is binding for the Platform's internal purposes but does not limit any rights you may have under applicable law in your jurisdiction.

The Platform offers an Authorship Certificate service ("/protect") which generates a SHA-256 cryptographic hash of your file and records it with a UTC timestamp in our database and on the Bitcoin blockchain via a public timestamping protocol.

This certificate constitutes evidence of the existence of a specific document at a specific point in time and may be used as corroborating evidence in legal proceedings in many jurisdictions. It does NOT constitute formal copyright registration with any national authority and does NOT replace registration with the U.S. Copyright Office for U.S. statutory damages eligibility.

We store only the cryptographic hash, declared metadata (title, author name), and timestamp — we do NOT store your file content on our servers when you use the /protect service (unless you also choose to publish the file).

For complete details about this service: see the Copyright & DMCA Policy.

We treat unpublished manuscripts uploaded to the Platform as confidential information. We will not share, display, quote, or expose unpublished manuscripts to any third party, except: (a) to purchasers who have completed payment for a specific manuscript; (b) to Platform personnel analyzing a dispute, DMCA notification, or infringement report; (c) as required by applicable law or court order.

We will NEVER use unpublished manuscripts for AI training, promotional excerpts, or any purpose beyond facilitating the specific transaction for which they were listed.

Scriptorium.works respects copyright and fully complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. § 512. Our Designated DMCA Agent is officially registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Designated DMCA Agent: IVI CREATIVE AGENCY LLC. Email: [email protected].

For valid DMCA notification, counter-notification procedure, detailed process, and our Strikes Policy (progressive three-tier system with a rolling 90-day window, modeled on industry standards): see the Copyright & DMCA Policy.

Users who accumulate three Strikes within a 90-day window are permanently removed from the Platform, and funds remaining in their Stripe Connect balance may be redirected to identifiable rights holders, in accordance with applicable law.

THE PLATFORM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IVI CREATIVE AGENCY LLC DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free. We are not responsible for the accuracy, quality, legality, or authenticity of user-uploaded content. We do not verify authors' authorship declarations — we rely on the personal-liability declaration system (see the Upload Agreement).

Stripe is an independent partner. Issues with payments, payouts, or tax forms are handled directly between the author and Stripe — Scriptorium.works does not bear responsibility for the functionality of Stripe's services.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IVI CREATIVE AGENCY LLC SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL) ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE PLATFORM, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

OUR TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM RELATED TO THE PLATFORM SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF: (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID TO THE PLATFORM IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US$100).

Nothing in these Terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by gross negligence, fraud, or any other liability that cannot be limited under applicable law in your jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of these limitations may not apply to you.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Ohio and the federal laws of the United States of America, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.

Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, USA.

EXCEPTION FOR EU/EEA CONSUMERS: For users in the European Union and European Economic Area, mandatory consumer protection provisions of the law of your country of residence apply regardless of this choice-of-law clause. EU users may use the European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.

We encourage amicable dispute resolution by contacting [email protected] before initiating any legal action.

We may update these Terms at any time. For material modifications (e.g., change of application fee percentage, change of third-party material rules, change of governing law), we will notify users by email at least thirty (30) days before the effective date.

For minor modifications (language corrections, clarifications, internal procedural adjustments), modifications take effect on the date of publication on this page, and users are encouraged to periodically review the Terms.

Continued use of the Platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to the modifications, you may close your account before the effective date.

SEVERABILITY: If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

ASSIGNMENT: You may not assign your rights or obligations under these Terms without our written consent. We may assign our rights and obligations to any party, including a successor entity in the event of a merger, acquisition, or reorganization.

ENTIRE AGREEMENT: These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Author Agreement, Upload Agreement, DMCA Policy, and Cookies Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and IVI CREATIVE AGENCY LLC regarding the use of the Platform, and supersede any prior agreements.

WAIVER: Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not be deemed a waiver of such right or provision.

NO RELATIONSHIP: Nothing in these Terms creates any agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment relationship between you and IVI CREATIVE AGENCY LLC.

Legal matters and DMCA counter-notifications: [email protected]

DMCA notifications: [email protected]

General support: [email protected]

Operator: IVI CREATIVE AGENCY LLC

Telephone: +1 (440) 454-4790