Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern your use of localhost:8080 (the "Website"), operated by Softphoria, a sole proprietorship with its principal place of business at Monalisa Mansion, Nayabad Avenue, Kolkata, West Bengal, India ("Softphoria", "we", "us" or "our"). They also set out the general basis on which we provide our technology services.

By using the Website, creating an account or engaging our services, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you use the Website or engage us on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you are authorised to accept these Terms for it. If you do not agree, please do not use the Website.

1. Who can use the Website

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a legally binding contract under the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (or the equivalent law where you live) to create an account or engage our services. You may browse the Website without an account.

2. Member accounts

• Provide accurate information, keep it up to date, and keep your password confidential. You are responsible for activity under your account.

• Tell us straight away at contact@softphoria.com if you suspect unauthorised use of your account.

• We may suspend or close an account that breaks these Terms, puts other users or the Website at risk, or is required to be closed by law.

• You can ask us to delete your account at any time. See our Privacy Policy.

3. Comments and other content you post

Members can comment on and react to blog articles. You keep ownership of what you post, but you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, display, reproduce and moderate it on the Website for as long as it is published.

You agree not to post or share anything that:

• belongs to another person and to which you have no right;

• is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another's privacy, harassing, or insulting on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity or religion, or that promotes violence or hatred;

• is harmful to children;

• infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary right;

• deceives or misleads about its origin, or knowingly communicates false or misleading information;

• impersonates another person;

• threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order;

• contains software viruses or other code designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource;

• is spam, advertising or unsolicited promotion;

• otherwise violates any law in force.

We may remove or hide content that breaks these rules, or that we are required to remove by law, and we may restrict the accounts involved. You can report a comment using the "Report" option next to it, or by writing to our Grievance Officer (see section 13). We acknowledge complaints about content within 24 hours and aim to resolve them within 15 days, in line with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

4. Acceptable use of the Website

You must not:

• use the Website unlawfully;

• attempt to gain unauthorised access to it, its administration area or its systems;

• interfere with its operation, including by overloading it;

• collect data from it with automated tools (scraping, harvesting contact details and the like) without our written permission;

• use it to send spam;

• misrepresent your identity when contacting us.

5. Our services and client engagements

• Information only. Descriptions of services, technologies, timelines and case studies on the Website are general information. They are not an offer capable of acceptance.

• Written agreement. Each engagement is governed by a written proposal, statement of work, master services agreement or similar document signed or accepted by both parties (the "Engagement Agreement"). If the Engagement Agreement conflicts with these Terms, the Engagement Agreement prevails.

• Estimates. Estimates and quotations are valid for the period stated on them (or 30 days if none is stated). They are based on the information you provide. Changes in scope may change cost and timelines, and are agreed in writing.

• Fees and taxes. Fees, currency, milestones and payment terms are set out in the Engagement Agreement and on our invoices. Unless stated otherwise, fees exclude applicable taxes, such as Indian Goods and Services Tax (GST), which are added where the law requires. For international clients, any bank and currency-conversion charges on your side are borne by you.

• Your responsibilities. You agree to provide timely information, access, feedback and approvals we reasonably need. Delays on your side may affect delivery dates.

• Third-party services. Projects often rely on third-party platforms (such as hosting, cloud, payment or e-commerce providers). Those services are governed by their own terms, and fees paid to those providers are your responsibility unless agreed otherwise.

6. Intellectual property

The Website, including its design, text, graphics, logos and code, is owned by or licensed to Softphoria and protected by Indian and international intellectual property laws. You may view and print pages for your own reference, but you may not copy, modify, republish or commercially exploit them without our written permission. Third-party names and logos shown on the Website, for example in our technology lists, belong to their respective owners and are used for identification only.

Ownership of work we create for clients, and any licence to our pre-existing tools, libraries and know-how used in that work, is set out in the Engagement Agreement. Unless it says otherwise, ownership of project-specific deliverables passes to the client on full payment of the related fees.

7. Confidentiality and data protection

We treat information you share with us about your business and projects as confidential, and use it only to evaluate, deliver and support the engagement. Where we process personal data on a client's behalf, we act as the client's Data Processor, and we will agree appropriate data-processing terms in writing. How we handle personal data collected through the Website is explained in our Privacy Policy.

8. Third-party links

The Website may link to third-party websites, including client projects we showcase. We are not responsible for their content, availability or practices, and a link does not mean we endorse them.

9. Disclaimers

We work to keep the Website accurate, available and secure. However, the Website and its content, including articles and technical guidance on our blog, are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis for general information. They are not professional advice for your specific situation. To the extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties about the Website, whether express or implied. Warranties for our services are set out only in the Engagement Agreement.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

• we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, or for loss of profits, revenue, data or goodwill, arising from your use of the Website;

• our total liability for all claims arising from your use of the Website is limited to INR 10,000;

• our liability in connection with services is governed by, and limited as set out in, the Engagement Agreement. If the Engagement Agreement sets no limit, our liability is limited to the fees you paid us for the services giving rise to the claim in the 12 months before it arose.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded under applicable law, including your statutory rights as a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

11. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify us against claims, losses and reasonable costs, including legal fees, arising from content you post on the Website or from your breach of these Terms.

12. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or withdraw all or part of the Website, or your access to it, at any time. We will act reasonably and, where practical, give notice. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including sections 6, 9, 10, 11 and 14) continue to apply.

13. Grievances and contact

For questions, complaints about content, or other grievances, contact our Grievance Officer:

• Grievance Officer, Softphoria

• Email: contact@softphoria.com

• Address: Monalisa Mansion, Nayabad Avenue, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

14. Governing law and disputes

These Terms, and any dispute or claim arising from them or from your use of the Website, are governed by the laws of India. Unless an Engagement Agreement provides otherwise:

• Negotiation first. Both parties will first try in good faith to resolve any dispute through negotiation, for at least 30 days after one party notifies the other in writing.

• Arbitration. A dispute that is not resolved this way will be finally settled by arbitration under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, by a sole arbitrator appointed by mutual agreement. The seat and venue of arbitration is Kolkata, West Bengal, India, and the proceedings will be conducted in English. The award is final and binding, and, for clients outside India, is enforceable in the many countries that are parties to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.

• Courts. Subject to the above, the courts at Kolkata, West Bengal have exclusive jurisdiction, including for urgent interim relief.

15. General

• Electronic records. These Terms are an electronic record under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and do not require a physical or digital signature.

• Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control.

• Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest remain in effect.

• No waiver. Our failure to enforce a right does not waive it.

• Assignment. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms without our consent.

• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy and any Engagement Agreement, are the entire agreement about their subject matter.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The "Effective date" at the top shows when they last changed. Changes apply from the date they are published. Your continued use of the Website after that date means you accept the updated Terms. Changes do not alter an Engagement Agreement already in force.