Harkin Terms of Service

Harkin helps individuals preserve their life stories through guided conversations and transforms those conversations and other materials provided by participants into written stories and, where included with the purchased experience, a physical book.

Harkin may use software, artificial intelligence, human review, editorial processes, and third-party service providers to provide the Services.

A Harkin experience may be purchased for yourself or as a gift for another person.

For purposes of these Terms:

• The "Purchaser" is the person who purchases a Harkin experience.
• The "Storyteller" is the person whose conversations, memories, photographs, documents, and other materials are used to create the story.

The Purchaser and Storyteller may be the same person.

Purchasing Harkin for another person does not give the Purchaser the right to consent on the Storyteller's behalf to recording, processing, publication, or use of the Storyteller's personal information or story.

Before participating, the Storyteller may be required to separately acknowledge applicable terms, privacy disclosures, and consent regarding Harkin's collection and processing of their information.

A Harkin experience may include guided conversations, recording and transcription, story development, editing, book design, printing, and other features described at the time of purchase.

Harkin is designed to unfold over time. The length of an experience will vary depending on the Storyteller's pace, participation, amount of material, and the specific Harkin experience purchased.

Unless Harkin expressly guarantees a completion or delivery date in writing, estimated timelines are not guaranteed.

Harkin's initial release, called "The First 500," is limited to the first 500 completed purchases of a Harkin experience.

A purchase may be made for the Purchaser or as a gift for a Storyteller. Each completed purchase counts as one of the 500 available places.

If you purchase an experience in advance, the anticipated start period will be disclosed at the time of purchase.

First 500 experiences are expected to begin in early 2027. Harkin may onboard participants in stages.

After the 500th place is taken, Harkin may invite people to join a waitlist for a later release. Joining the waitlist is not a purchase and does not guarantee a place until a purchase is completed.

Being part of The First 500 does not entitle the Purchaser or Storyteller to additional services, discounts, ownership interests, or other benefits beyond those described at the time of purchase. The designation reflects only that the purchase was among Harkin's first 500.

Prices are displayed at the time of purchase and may change for future purchases.

Payment is due at the time of purchase unless Harkin expressly offers another payment arrangement.

Payments may be processed by third-party payment processors, such as Stripe. Your payment information may therefore also be subject to the applicable payment processor's terms and privacy practices.

Applicable taxes and shipping charges, if any, may be added as disclosed during checkout.

If the Storyteller has not yet begun their Harkin experience, the Purchaser may cancel the purchase for a full refund.

Before the experience begins, a Harkin purchase may also be transferred to another eligible Storyteller at no additional charge.

Once the Storyteller begins their Harkin experience, the purchase becomes non-refundable because Harkin begins providing personalized services specifically for that individual.

For purposes of this policy, an experience is considered to have begun when the Storyteller participates in their first substantive Harkin storytelling conversation or otherwise begins personalized story creation services.

If Harkin is unable to provide a purchased experience, Harkin will provide a refund for the portion of the Services it is unable to fulfill, which may include a full refund where appropriate.

Nothing in these Terms limits any refund, cancellation, or other rights that cannot legally be waived under applicable law.

To provide the Services, Harkin may record, transcribe, analyze, summarize, organize, and otherwise process conversations between the Storyteller and Harkin.

Harkin may use artificial intelligence and other automated technologies as part of this process.

Where required, Harkin will obtain appropriate consent before recording a conversation.

The Storyteller may stop participating in a conversation at any time.

Further information about how recordings, transcripts, and personal information are collected, used, retained, and protected is described in Harkin's Privacy Policy and any consent presented to the Storyteller.

Storytellers and Purchasers may provide Harkin with stories, recordings, photographs, documents, names, dates, written materials, corrections, feedback, and other content ("Customer Content").

As between you and Harkin, you retain any rights you hold in your Customer Content.

You grant Harkin a limited, non-exclusive license to host, reproduce, transcribe, process, edit, format, design, print, and otherwise use Customer Content as reasonably necessary to provide, maintain, support, and improve the Services you have requested.

This license does not give Harkin the right to publicly publish, advertise with, sell, or commercially exploit your private family story or Customer Content without additional permission.

Life stories naturally involve other people.

When providing photographs, documents, recordings, correspondence, or other materials to Harkin, you represent that you have the right or appropriate permission to provide those materials for use in your Harkin experience.

Storytellers are responsible for the statements and recollections they choose to share about other people.

Harkin does not independently verify every factual statement, memory, date, allegation, or characterization provided during a storytelling experience.

Harkin helps preserve personal memories and stories. Human memory is subjective and may be incomplete or inaccurate.

Harkin does not guarantee the historical or factual accuracy of a Storyteller's recollections.

Automated transcription, artificial intelligence, editorial processing, and other technologies may also occasionally introduce errors.

Where the Harkin experience includes an opportunity to review or approve story content, the Storyteller is responsible for identifying desired corrections before final production.

Harkin may use artificial intelligence systems to assist with functions such as conversation, transcription, organization, summarization, writing assistance, editing, and story development.

AI-generated or AI-assisted output may contain inaccuracies, omissions, or interpretations that do not perfectly reflect the Storyteller's intent.

Harkin's editorial and review processes are intended to help create a faithful story, but the Storyteller should review material made available for approval before finalization.

Harkin's handling of Customer Content in connection with third-party AI providers will be described in its Privacy Policy and governed by Harkin's arrangements with those providers.

Preserving a life story can involve highly personal information.

Harkin's collection, use, disclosure, retention, and protection of personal information is governed by Harkin's Privacy Policy and any additional privacy notices or consents presented during the experience.

The Privacy Policy forms an important part of your relationship with Harkin and should be reviewed before using the Services.

If your purchased Harkin experience includes a physical book, Harkin will arrange for production and delivery after the story reaches the applicable completion and approval stage.

Physical books are individually produced and may have minor variations in color, paper, printing, binding, or other physical characteristics.

Harkin may replace a book that arrives materially damaged, defective, or materially inconsistent with the approved final version. You must notify Harkin within a reasonable period after delivery and may be asked to provide photographs of the issue.

Once a personalized book has entered production, changes may no longer be possible.

Except for Customer Content, the Services and all associated software, designs, branding, prompts, interview methodologies, workflows, templates, layouts, graphics, and other Harkin materials are owned by Harkin or its licensors and are protected by applicable intellectual property laws.

These Terms do not transfer ownership of Harkin's intellectual property to you.

You may not copy, reverse engineer, reproduce, sell, license, or commercially exploit Harkin's proprietary technology or materials except as permitted by law or with Harkin's written permission.

You agree not to use Harkin to:

• violate applicable law;
• impersonate another person or misrepresent your authority to provide materials;
• infringe another person's intellectual property or privacy rights;
• upload malicious software or interfere with the operation or security of the Services;
• obtain unauthorized access to another person's Harkin experience or information; or
• use the Services for fraudulent, abusive, threatening, or unlawful purposes.

Harkin may suspend or terminate access when reasonably necessary to protect participants, Harkin, third parties, or the integrity of the Services.

By providing contact information, you agree that Harkin may send communications reasonably necessary to provide your experience, including purchase confirmations, participation instructions, interview notifications, story-review requests, production updates, and other service-related messages.

Marketing communications will be handled in accordance with applicable law, and you may opt out of marketing messages as provided in those communications.

Harkin is a developing service and may improve, modify, add, or remove features over time.

Changes will not materially reduce a paid Harkin experience without an appropriate remedy.

If a material change prevents Harkin from providing the experience you purchased, Harkin will work with you to provide an appropriate alternative or refund.

Harkin is a storytelling and publishing service.

The Services are not intended to provide legal, medical, financial, mental health, genealogical, historical-verification, or other professional advice.

Except as required by applicable law, the Services are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis, and Harkin does not guarantee that the Services will always be uninterrupted or error-free.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Harkin and its officers, employees, contractors, and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages arising from or relating to the Services.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Harkin's aggregate liability arising from or relating to a particular purchased Harkin experience will not exceed the amount paid to Harkin for that experience.

Some jurisdictions do not permit certain limitations of liability, so some of these limitations may not apply to you.

These Terms and any disputes relating to them will be governed by the laws of [STATE], without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

[Counsel should determine whether Harkin will use court litigation, individual arbitration, a class-action waiver, informal dispute-resolution procedures, or another structure, and add all legally required disclosures and opt-out procedures.]

Harkin may update these Terms from time to time.

If Harkin makes material changes that affect an existing paid experience, Harkin will provide notice as required by applicable law.

The version of the Terms in effect when you purchase an experience will continue to govern material aspects of that purchase unless a change is required by law or you agree otherwise.

Questions about these Terms may be sent to:

Harkin [LEGAL ENTITY NAME] [MAILING ADDRESS] [SUPPORT EMAIL]