(1) BookScout.ai – the client part of the application is owned by Bookscout Sp. z o.o. with its registered office in Olsztyn (10-686), ul. Biskupa Tomasza Wilczyńskiego 25E/216 Poland, VAT ID: 7393979615. The FIONA software – Publishing Assistant – is owned by Literacka Sp. in Olsztyn (10-683) ul. Lanca 2/5, Poland, TIN: 7393887965 (hereinafter referred to as ‘BookScout.ai’).

(2) BookScout.ai is offered as an online service for automating the publishing process, particularly in the area of manuscript submission, administration, and analysis. The offer is directed at commercial clients and individuals.

(3) These terms and conditions apply only if no separate agreement governing the use of the service by the client has been concluded.

1. Subject of the agreement.

Unless otherwise agreed in individual cases, the parties preliminarily enter into a basic agreement for the provision of digital, IT-assisted services for manuscript submission, management, and analysis.

2.

2. The BookScout.ai application is equipped with Fiona© software (hereinafter referred to as ‘BookScout.ai software’).

(1) BookScout.ai services are based on information technology.

(2) The publisher has access to the system and software only during the term of the agreement and exclusively through online login. No further usage rights are granted.

(3) Passwords provided by BookScout.ai must be treated as confidential and protected against unauthorized access. Sharing them with third parties is prohibited. If a password is lost or its access has been abused, BookScout.ai must be immediately notified.

3. Subdomain

(1) The publisher receives an individual account in the system. The information displayed in the system is updated by the publisher or BookScout.ai according to the publisher’s specifications.

(2) The subdomain is used to inform authors about the possibility of submitting manuscripts to the publisher via BookScout.ai.

(3) The publisher must clarify that the BookScout.ai software is not a publisher’s offer.

4. Publisher’s Program Analysis

(1) BookScout.ai does not receive any copyright to use the respective works except for permission for analysis. BookScout.ai may use metadata and text excerpts to optimize the software.

5. Book Projects

(1) The publisher can use BookScout.ai software to analyze selected works. The selection of the author and work is solely the decision and responsibility of the publisher.

(2) If the publisher commissions an analysis of a work, they obtain the author’s consent. In particular, the author must allow BookScout.ai to use metadata and text excerpts specified in an anonymized form for software optimization and the creation of computational models.

(3) BookScout.ai is not involved in agreements between publishers and authors. It does not guarantee their fulfillment.

6. Payment Terms

(1) The publisher pays BookScout.ai a monthly basic fee for services covered by the basic agreement, according to the price list, excluding the TRIAL period, during which the service is provided free of charge.

(2) Prices do not include VAT.

(3) Invoicing and payment for services are made in advance monthly or for a one-year period. Charges for individual orders and other expenses are billed monthly and payable within two weeks of invoice issuance.

7. Duration / Termination

(1) Unless otherwise agreed, agreements are valid for one year from the date of signing, with a four-week notice period.

(2) If an individual order has not yet been completed at the expiry of the agreement, it can be continued by further payment.

(3) Termination requires a written form.

8. Technical Limitations

(1) BookScout.ai guarantees a service availability of 97% on average per month. This means that the service will be accessible for the majority of the time, but there might be short periods of unavailability due to maintenance or unforeseen issues.

(2) BookScout.ai is not liable for intentional attacks by third parties, such as hackers, computer viruses, DoS attacks, or other malicious activities that may affect the servers or the service on the internet.

(3) BookScout.ai is not responsible for outages occurring on the side of external hosting providers or internet networks. This means that if any issues or disruptions arise from the hosting provider or network operator, BookScout.ai will not be held responsible for those problems.

9. Manuscript Content

(1) The BookScout.ai application software analyzes submitted manuscripts without specifically checking the content. This means that the system processes manuscripts but does not assess their content for legality, copyright infringement, trademark violations, personal rights infringements, or any other breaches.

(2) BookScout.ai forwards the author’s manuscripts without conducting a pre-screening of their content. Therefore, BookScout.ai is not liable for potentially illegal content contained in the submitted manuscripts.

(3) The ultimate responsibility for the manuscript’s content lies with the publisher, who should address these issues with the author before accepting the manuscript.

10. Messages

While BookScout.ai enables direct communication between the publisher and the author, the publisher is obligated to comply with relevant legal provisions. Sending unsolicited advertisements is prohibited.

11. General Limitation of Liability

(1) Claims for damages are excluded unless there has been deliberate or gross negligence or a material contractual obligation has been breached. This applies to situations where compensation for indirect or consequential damages is required as well. The liability is limited to damages that were foreseeable at the time of entering into the agreement and typical for such cases.

(2) Both parties are required to regularly create data backups and implement IT security measures in accordance with the current state of technology.

12. Confidentiality / Data Protection

(1) BookScout.ai will treat the trade secrets of publishers confidentially and will not disclose them to third parties even after the termination of the agreement. The same applies to the publishers. The software developed by BookScout.ai is also considered a trade secret.

(2) Author data will be stored by BookScout.ai for the purpose of fulfilling the agreement and communication. They will only be transferred to the respective publisher as part of the agreement’s fulfillment, unless separate consent is provided by the submitting individual.

(3) If necessary, an order fulfillment agreement will be signed between BookScout.ai and the publisher.

13.

13. Written statements and changes to the agreement require at least written form.

14. Place of Performance / Jurisdiction

The agreement is subject to Polish law. The place of performance and jurisdiction for any disputes arising from this agreement, if the contracting party is a business entity, is Olsztyn.

15. Severability Clause

If any provision of these terms is found to be ineffective, it does not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.