Geode Blockchain Network Terms of Service

Updated May 6th, 2023

User Agreement (Terms Of Service)

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Contract

When you use Geode Blockchain or its associated applications  you agree to all of these terms, including the Privacy Policy and Infringement Countermeasures included herein. You certify that by creating a Geode account, accessing or using on-chain and off-chain services, that you are of legal age to enter into an contract in your locality, and that you are agreeing to personally enter into a legally binding contract. If you do not agree to this contract (“Contract” or “User Agreement”), do not create an account and do not access or otherwise use any of the Services. If you wish to terminate this contract, at any time, you can do so by emptying your accounts and no longer accessing or using the Services. Emptying your accounts will cause the accounts to be reaped (deleted off the chain) which ends the contract. You will still be liable for actions taken while the contract was in force, that is, while you had an account on the chain and/or used the Services.

1.2 Services

This Contract applies to The Geode Blockchain, and related applications (“Services”), including the offsite collection of data for those Services such as nodes, node setup processes and more. Users of our Services are “Members” or “Visitors”. This Contract applies to both Members and Visitors. As a Visitor or Member of our Services, the collection, use and sharing of your personal data is subject to the policies contained herein and any updates to these policies. Updates to any policy will be announced via the decentralized interface. If material changes to any part of these policies are made, notice will be provided through the Services, or by other means, to provide an opportunity to review the changes before they become effective. We agree that changes will not be retroactive. If you object to any changes, you may empty your accounts. Your continued use of the Services after we publish changes to these terms signifies your consent to the updated terms as of their effective date.

1.3 Geode Blockchain Network

You are entering into this Contract with the Geode Blockchain Network, a self-governing decentralized blockchain network (also referred to as “we” and “us”). Geode Blockchain Network will be the controller of your personal data provided to, or collected by or for, or processed in connection with our Services.

2.0 Obligations

2.1 Service Eligibility

By entering into this Contract, you attest and confirm that: 

  • You are eligible to enter into this Contract and you are of legal age to enter into contracts in your locality.
  • You are not already restricted by the Geode Blockchain from using the Services. 
  • You will keep your password and other account data a secret, and agree to safeguard it accordingly.
  • You will not share an account with anyone else and will follow our rules and applicable law.
  • You will follow the community guidelines established herein.
  • You accept full responsibility for anything that happens to you or others through your account and you fully release any and all other parties of any responsibility.
  • You fully release and indemnify the Geode Blockchain Network, its council members, users, contributors, programmers as well as Sparticle Concepts LLC, its owners, officers, employees, and independent contractors, all as innocent and in no way responsible for anything that happens through your account, or for anything that happens to you through the account of someone else. 
  • You agree to receive notices and messages through our interfaces and apps. If your contact information is incorrect, or if you do not check the interface or apps regularly, you may miss important notices. You agree to keep your understanding current.
  • You understand and agree that when you create an account, create your profile, stake a claim, give an endorsement, send a post or message, buy or sell something on the marketplace, or otherwise share information on our Services, others can see, copy and use that information. 
  • You promise to only provide information and content that you have the right to share, and that any information you post, input or share will be truthful and accurate.
  • You agree to not use the Services to violate the laws in your own locality of residence, including intellectual property laws, criminal codes, civil codes and any other laws as applicable to you in your locality of residence. 

2.2 Your Account

Creating an account with false information is a violation of our terms, including accounts registered on behalf of others or by or on behalf of persons too young to make an account legally in their locality, or the falsification of any aspect of your information in apps across the Services.

If the Services were procured by another party for you to use, such as is the case with business related accounts, the party procuring (that is, responsible for payment for) such Service has the right to control access to and get reports on your use of such Service. This does not grant them rights to your personal account, or your personal information or activity conducted through your personal account.

2.3 Payment, Taxes, and Regulatory Compliance

You agree to pay the applicable fees for the Services. You agree that your activities on the Services will be subject to transaction fees, and sometimes to additional app fees, purchase fees and other costs. All purchases, app fees and transaction fees are non-refundable.  There are no refunds on the system, unless the other party individually decides to refund your coin for a given transaction. 

You agree that you alone are fully responsible for paying any taxes or fees due to your local or national governments for any activity conducted through your accounts on the Services.  You agree that you will comply with all local and national tax and regulatory requirements in your locality of residence and as required by law in countries where you operate. You fully indemnify all other parties, and take full responsibility in the instance that you may fail to comply with local or national laws including tax law, securities law, and other all other legal and regulatory matters. 

3.0 Rights and Limitations

3.1. The License You Are Granting

You own all of the content and information that you provide within the Services, but you also grant a non-exclusive license to your content and information as follows: 

  • You are granting a worldwide, transferable and sub-licensable right to use, copy, modify, distribute, publish and process, information and content that you provide through the Services, without any further consent, notice and/or compensation to you or others, as long as it does not violate intellectual property laws, or other local and national laws. 
  • Your content may be translated. 
  • Because you own your content and information, you may choose to make it available to others, and on other platforms in any way you see fit.
  • You understand that data such as claims and endorsements (and other data that are written to the blockchain) are immutable, unchangeable and cannot be deleted. You agree to not post sensitive personal data in your claims and endorsements or within other apps.
  • You agree that anyone may access, store, process and use any information and personal data that you provide in accordance with, the terms of the policies herein.
  • By submitting suggestions or other feedback regarding the Services to us, you agree that anyone can use and share (but do not have to use or share) such feedback for any purpose without compensation to you.
  • You agree that anything you do on the Services is public, openly accessible to anyone worldwide, and available to third party analysis tools and other applications and entities.

3.2 Service Availability

Any aspect of the Services, including prices, policies and other aspects may change, suspend or discontinue at any time, for any reason without notice. 

You agree that the Geode Blockchain Network, its node operators, stake holders, voters, operators, programmers, council, Sparticle Concepts LLC and its officers, employees and affiliated contractors, and anyone else worldwide, have no obligation to store, maintain or provide you a copy of any content or information that you or others provide, except to the extent required by applicable law and as noted in our Privacy Policy. 

3.3 Content Risk And Third Parties

By using the Services, you may encounter content or information that might be inaccurate, incomplete, delayed, misleading, illegal, offensive or otherwise harmful. Your use of others’ content and information posted on the Services, is at your own risk. Due to the decentralized nature of the Geode Blockchain Network, content is not reviewed. You agree that the Geode Blockchain Network, its node operators, stake holders, voters, operators, programmers, council, Sparticle Concepts LLC and its officers, employees and affiliated contractors, and anyone else worldwide, are not responsible for others’ (including other Members’) content or information. Misuse of the Services cannot always be prevented, and you agree that the only parties responsible for any such misuse, are the owners of the specific accounts that directly enacted that misuse. There is a reporting application where anyone can report suspicious activity, and anyone can review and research that activity, including local and national legal and regulatory enforcement organizations. 

The Services may help connect Members offering products and services with Members seeking such products and services. You must be of legal age in your locality to offer, perform or procure these products and services. Others may offer their own products and services through the Services, and only those directly offering such are responsible for those third-party products, services, claims, endorsements, or other activity. You acknowledge that there is no one to supervise, direct, control or monitor Members in the performance of these services or the offering of these products and agree that (1) the Geode Blockchain Network, and its associated persons, as well as Sparticle Concepts LLC and it’s owners, employees and contractors are not responsible for the offering, performance or procurement of these products and services, (2) Particular Member’s offered products and services, are not de facto endorsed by anyone and (3) nothing shall create an employment, agency, or joint venture relationship between the anyone on the Geode Blockchain Network, its Members, Sparticle Concepts LLC and any Member offering products or services. If you are a Member offering products or services, you represent and warrant that you have all the required certifications and licenses and will provide products and services consistent with community guidelines and the laws of your locality.

The Services may help you register for and/or attend events organized by Members and connect with other Members who are attendees at such events. You agree that (1) the Geode Blockchain Network and its Members, and Sparticle Concepts LLC and it’s owners, employees and contractors are not responsible for the conduct of any of the Members or other attendees at such events, (2) Geode Blockchain Network and Sparticle Concepts LLC do not endorse any particular event listed on the Services, (3) There is no one to review and/or vet any of these events, and (4) that you will adhere to the terms and conditions that apply to such events.

3.4 Right To Limit Use

Geode Blockchain Network reserves the right to limit your use of the Services, including but not limited to your ability to use the applications or otherwise engage with the Services. We reserve the right to restrict, suspend, or terminate your account if you breach this Contract or the law or are misusing the Services, including but not limited to failing to follow the Community Guidelines.

3.5 Intellectual Property Rights

This document is providing you notice about your intellectual property rights. Your intellectual property, posted on the Services or not, is yours. 

3.6 Feed Content And Recommendations 

The Services use data and information about you to serve ads and to make relevant suggestions to you and others. The Services use the information and data that you provide and that we have about Members to make recommendations for content and features that may be useful to you. You can update your settings for each applications to tune such content to your preferences.

4.0 Disclaimer and Limit of Liability

4.1 No Warranty

THE GEODE BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK, ITS NODE OPERATORS,  STAKE HOLDERS, VOTERS, COUNCIL, AFFILIATED PERSONS, AS WELL AS SPARTICLE CONCEPTS LLC, ITS OFFICERS, CONTRACTORS AND AFFILIATES MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY ABOUT THE SERVICES, INCLUDING ANY REPRESENTATION THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, AND PROVIDE THE SERVICES (INCLUDING CONTENT AND INFORMATION) ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, THE GEODE BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK, SPARTICLE CONCEPTS LLC AND THEIR AFFILIATES DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF TITLE, ACCURACY OF DATA, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

The sale and purchase of Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) IN ANY FORM, constitutes significant risk. By using the Geode Blockchain Network you certify that you are aware of the inherent risks and that you are acting at your own risk. 

BY ACCESSING THE SERVICES, YOU CERTIFY THAT THE GEODE TOKEN OR CRYPTOCURRENCY IS NOT A SECURITY OR AN INVESTMENT. YOU FURTHER CERTIFY THAT ANY AND ALL ACTIVITY THAT YOU MAY UNDERTAKE ON THE SERVICES IN ANY FORM IS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND IS UNDER YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY. EVEN IF YOU LIVE IN A LOCALITY WHERE LAWS ALLOW YOU TO PROSECUTE, YOU AGREE TO HOLD HARMLESS THE GEODE BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK, ITS NODE OPERATORS, STAKE HOLDERS, VOTERS, COUNCIL, AFFILIATED PERSONS, AS WELL AS SPARTICLE CONCEPTS LLC, ITS OFFICERS, CONTRACTORS AND AFFILIATES FOR ANY LOSS, HARM, ILLEGAL ACTIVITY OR OTHER EFFECTS CREATED ON OR BY THE SERVICES, OR BY ANY MEMBER ON THE SERVICES OR BY ANY MEMBER OUTSIDE OF BUT RELATED TO THE SERVICES. 

4.2 Exclusion of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE GEODE BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK, INCLUDING ITS MEMBERS AND AFFILIATES, AND SPARTICLE CONCEPTS LLC AND ITS OFFICERS, AFFILIATES AND CONTRACTORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE IN CONNECTION WITH THIS CONTRACT FOR LOST OR STOLEN CRYPTOCURRENCY OF ANY KIND, LOST PROFITS OR LOST BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, OFFENSIVE OR DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS, LOSS OF DATA, DOWN TIME OR LOSS, USE OF, OR CHANGES TO, YOUR INFORMATION OR CONTENT, OR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES. THE GEODE BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK, SPARTICLE CONCEPTS LLC AND ITS AFFILIATES WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU IN CONNECTION WITH THIS CONTRACT FOR ANY AMOUNT.

4.3 Exclusions

The limitations of liability in this Section 4 shall apply to all claims of liability including but not limited to warranty, tort, negligence, contract, law, death, personal injury, fraud, gross negligence, regulatory issues and intentional misconduct, even if The Geode Blockchain Network, Sparticle Concepts LLC or its associated persons have been told of the possibility of such damage.

5.0 Termination

This Contract can be terminated, without notice through emptying and reaping your account, or by the account being blacklisted on the Network, but some rights and obligations will survive. On termination, you lose the right to access or use the Services. The following shall survive termination:

  • The rights of anyone to use and disclose your feedback, content and other information and activity on the Services.
  • Members and/or Visitors’ rights to further re-share content and information you shared through the Services;
  • Sections 4, 6, 7, and 8.2 of this Contract;
  • Any amounts owed between you and any other account on the Services prior to termination remain owed after termination.

6.0 Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

You agree that this contract is governed by the laws of the State of Florida, USA. 

You agree that all claims and disputes of any kind arising under or relating to these Terms of Service, or relating to any element of the Geode Portal, User Interfaces, Geode Accounts, Geode Applications, Smart Contracts, or other aspects of the Geode Blockchain Network and Systems are to be settled privately between the parties by friendly negotiation. Should private negotiation between the parties fail to produce a mutually agreeable outcome, you agree that the dispute or claim will be settled by binding arbitration. 

You agree that arbitration will be carried out in:

(1) Pinellas County in the State of Florida, in the case where one of the parties is a Florida resident, or

(2) Another location mutually agreeable to the parties, in the case where no party involved is a resident of the State of Florida. 

You agree that:

  • Arbitration shall be conducted on a confidential basis pursuant to the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. 
  • Any decision or award as a result of any such arbitration proceeding shall be in writing and shall provide an explanation for all conclusions of law and fact and shall include the assessment of costs, expenses, and reasonable attorneys’ fees. 
  • Any such arbitration shall be conducted by an arbitrator experienced in the subject matter of the dispute, and shall include a written record of the arbitration hearing. 
  • The parties reserve the right to object to any individual who shall be employed by or affiliated with a competing organization or entity. 
  • An award of arbitration may be confirmed in a court of competent jurisdiction, but will be legally binding regardless.

7. General Terms

If a court with authority over this Contract finds any part of it unenforceable, all parties agree that the court should modify the terms to make that part enforceable while still achieving its intent. If the court cannot do that, you and all parties agree to remove that unenforceable part and still enforce the rest of this Contract. This Contract (including additional terms that may be provided when you engage with any particular feature of the Services) is the only agreement in force regarding the Services and supersedes all prior agreements for the Services. Failure to act by Members of The Geode Blockchain Network to enforce a breach of this Contract, does not indicate that anyone has waived their right to enforce this Contract. You may not assign or transfer this Contract to anyone. There are no third-party beneficiaries to this Contract. You agree that the only way to provide legal notice is through the Services, using the decentralized user interface, as noted in Section 9.

8. Community Guidelines

You agree that you will:

  • Comply with all applicable laws in your locality, including, without limitation, privacy laws, intellectual property laws, anti-spam laws, criminal laws, export control laws, tax laws, and regulatory requirements;
  • Provide accurate information and keep it updated;
  • Use the Services in a professional and good faith manner.

You agree that you will not:

  • Misrepresent your identity with the intent to do harm or undertake illegal activity, create a Member profile for anyone other than yourself (a real person), or use or attempt to use another’s account;
  • Develop, support or use software, smart contracts, devices, scripts, robots or any other means or processes to override any security feature or bypass or circumvent any access controls;
  • Copy, use, disclose or distribute any information obtained from the Services, whether directly or through third parties, without the consent of The Geode Blockchain Network Members;
  • Disclose information that you do not have the consent to disclose;
  • Violate the intellectual property rights of others, including copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets or other proprietary rights;
  • Violate the intellectual property or other rights of The Geode Blockchain Network Members with the intent to do harm, including, without limitation, (i) copying or distributing our posts, videos or other materials or (ii) copying or distributing our technology, unless it is released under open source licenses; (iii) using the words “Geode” or our logos in any business name, email, or URL;
  • Post or upload anything that contains software viruses, worms, or any other harmful code;
  • Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, decipher or otherwise attempt to derive the source code for the Services or any related technology that is not open source;
  • Imply or state that you are affiliated with or endorsed by The Geode Blockchain Network;
  • Monitor the Services’ availability, performance or functionality for any competitive or harmful purpose;
  • Engage in “framing,” “mirroring,” or otherwise simulating the appearance or function of the Services;
  • Overlay or otherwise modify the Services or their appearance;
  • Interfere with the operation of, or place an unreasonable load on, the Services, including but not limited to spam, denial of service attack, viruses, hacking, stealing coin from accounts, and defeating algorithms; 

That being said, some things are illegal in the context of The Geode Blockchain Network, that you might not immediately realize are illegal. Because posts and other activity are potentially, without intention, viewable by anyone of any age, at any time, who may happen to be in the same space with a Member who is of legal age to be on the Network, the following types of content are disallowed: 

  • Pornography – anything that would warrant an X rating or higher, or anything that would be stored out of sight of children at a store.
  • Anything defined as obscene, profane or indecent by the FCC, as defined by the Supreme Court of the United States of America (see below for details)
  • The FCC’s 7 dirty words list: sh-t, p-ss, f-ck, c-nt, c-cksucker, motherf-cker, and t-ts, and any variation there of including replacing letters with other symbols to avoid automated detection

To quote the FCC, here are the definitions…

Obscene content does not have protection by the First Amendment.  For content to be ruled obscene, it must meet a three-pronged test established by the Supreme Court: It must appeal to an average person’s prurient interest; depict or describe sexual conduct in a “patently offensive” way; and, taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

Indecent content portrays sexual or excretory organs or activities in a way that is patently offensive but does not meet the three-prong test for obscenity.

Profane content includes “grossly offensive” language that is considered a public nuisance.

9. How To Contact Us

You may contact the Council using the decentralized user interface for The Geode Blockchain Network. You may use the Private Messaging application to contact the current Prime Member of the Council. 

Infringement Countermeasures

1.0 Reporting Illegal Content Or Suspicious Activity

Due to the nature of decentralized applications, there is no central entity policing the network. It is up to individual Members to report suspicious activity that may indicate potential illegal activity. Illegal content or activity, for the purposes of this policy, includes content or activity of the following types:

  • Intellectual property infringement: content that violates someone’s claim of preexisting copyright, trademark, or patent, or preexisting claim on The Geode Blockchain Network, or
  • Legal infringement: content that violates the laws of that user’s locality, other than intellectual property infringement.

It is up to individual Members to report such activity via the Suspicious Activity Reporting application on the Geode user interface, and to bring it to the awareness of the appropriate authorities in the infringing user’s locality. 

Please note that a false report or counter-report may give rise to personal liability. You may therefore want to seek the advice of legal counsel before submitting a report or a counter-report. Reporting infringement or illegal activity should not be taken lightly, as you are accusing someone of breaking the law. Please be aware that what is illegal in one locality may perfectly legal in another. Please be certain that what you are accusing someone of is actually illegal in THEIR locality. 

2.0 What Will Happen With Your Report

Suspicious Activity Reports are openly viewable in the Geode Reporting application and that information can be used by anyone worldwide (including authorities) to further investigate. 

3.0 Contact Information

If you have questions regarding this Policy, please contact the council via the decentralized user interface.