Terms & Conditions

1. Agreement to these Terms

These Terms & Conditions ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the FicNook website, applications, and related services (collectively, the "Platform"), operated by FicNook ("FicNook," "we," "us," or "our").

By accessing, registering for, or using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not access or use the Platform.

These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you and FicNook. Your electronic acceptance is valid and enforceable under the Electronic Commerce Act (RA 8792).

2. Eligibility and accounts

2.1 Age requirement

You must be at least 14 years old to create an account. Users who are 14 to 17, or who are otherwise below the age of majority in their jurisdiction, represent that they have the consent of a parent or guardian to use the Platform. Some content on the Platform may be restricted to adults and subject to age-gating.

2.2 Account registration

You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information when registering and to keep it updated. You are responsible for:

maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials;
all activity that occurs under your account; and
notifying us immediately of any unauthorized use or security breach.

We are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your credentials. We may refuse registration, reclaim usernames, or suspend or terminate accounts at our discretion as set out in these Terms.

2.3 One account; no transfer

Accounts are personal to you and may not be sold, transferred, or shared without our written consent.

3. The Platform and its content

FicNook provides a platform for users to read, write, publish, and interact with original written fiction and related content. We may add, modify, suspend, or discontinue any feature, content, or part of the Platform at any time, with or without notice, without liability to you.

We do not guarantee that any particular content, story, author, or feature will remain available.

4. User-Generated Content

4.1 Your content

"User Content" means any content you create, upload, publish, post, submit, or transmit through the Platform, including stories, chapters, text, comments, reviews, ratings, tags, messages, images, and profile information.

You retain ownership of the intellectual property rights you hold in your User Content. We do not claim ownership of your User Content.

4.2 License you grant to FicNook

To operate the Platform, you grant FicNook a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to host, store, reproduce, display, perform, adapt, format, translate, distribute, and otherwise use your User Content solely for the purposes of operating, providing, promoting, and improving the Platform and as permitted by these Terms.

This license includes the right to make your User Content available to other users and the public according to your visibility settings, to create technical copies (such as backups and caches), and to display excerpts in connection with promotion of the Platform. This license continues for as long as your User Content remains on the Platform and for a reasonable period afterward to allow for removal from active systems, backups, and copies retained by other users or services. Where your content has been shared, reposted, or interacted with by others, residual copies may persist beyond removal.

You waive any moral rights, or agree not to assert them against FicNook, to the extent necessary for us to exercise the rights granted above, as permitted by law.

4.3 Your representations and warranties

For each item of User Content, you represent and warrant that:

you own or have all necessary rights, licenses, and permissions to submit it and to grant the license above;
it does not infringe or violate the intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other rights of any person;
it does not violate any law or these Terms; and
any factual statements you make are not knowingly false or misleading.

You are solely responsible for your User Content and for any consequences of posting it.

4.4 No obligation to monitor; right to moderate

We have no obligation to monitor, review, or screen User Content, but we reserve the right (and not the obligation) to review, edit, refuse, restrict, remove, disable, or delete any User Content at any time, for any reason or no reason, including content we believe violates these Terms, is unlawful, or is objectionable, without notice and without liability to you. Removal or moderation decisions are at our sole discretion.

4.5 Feedback

If you send us suggestions, ideas, or feedback, you grant us an unrestricted, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free right to use them for any purpose without compensation or obligation to you.

5. Acceptable use and prohibited conduct

You agree not to use the Platform to:

post or transmit content that is unlawful, defamatory, libelous, harassing, threatening, hateful, or that incites violence;
post content that sexually exploits or endangers minors, or that violates any law concerning child protection;
infringe the intellectual property, privacy, or other rights of any person, including posting plagiarized or stolen work;
post malware, viruses, or harmful code, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Platform or other accounts;
scrape, harvest, crawl, data-mine, or use bots or automated means to access or copy the Platform or its content except as expressly permitted;
use the Platform or its content to train, fine-tune, or develop any machine-learning or AI model without our prior written consent;
engage in fraud, spam, phishing, manipulation of ratings or metrics, or impersonation;
interfere with, disrupt, overload, or circumvent the security, integrity, or performance of the Platform;
reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code, except where such restriction is prohibited by law;
resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit the Platform or content without authorization; or
violate any applicable law or regulation, or these Terms.

We may investigate and take any action we deem appropriate for violations, including removing content, suspending or terminating accounts, and reporting to law enforcement.

6. Intellectual property of FicNook

The Platform itself — including its software, design, layout, user interface, logos, trademarks, branding, databases, and all content we create (excluding User Content) — is owned by or licensed to FicNook and is protected by the Intellectual Property Code (RA 8293) and applicable laws.

Except as expressly permitted, you may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, or create derivative works from any part of the Platform. "FicNook" and our logos are our trademarks; you may not use them without our prior written consent. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the Platform for personal, non-commercial purposes in accordance with these Terms.

7. Copyright and intellectual property complaints

We respect intellectual property rights and expect users to do the same. If you believe content on the Platform infringes your copyright or other rights, send a notice to support@ficnook.com including:

identification of the work or right claimed to be infringed;
identification and location (URL) of the allegedly infringing content;
your contact information;
a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized; and
a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and that you are the rights holder or authorized to act on their behalf.

We may remove allegedly infringing content and, where appropriate, terminate accounts of repeat infringers. We may forward your notice (including your contact details) to the user who posted the content. Submitting a false or bad-faith notice may expose you to liability.

8. Fees

The Platform is currently free to use. We do not charge fees, sell subscriptions or memberships, process payments, or accept tips or donations, and we do not collect payment card or billing information.

We may introduce paid features or author monetization in the future. If and when we do, we will publish additional terms (including pricing, billing, renewals, refunds, taxes, and any payout details) and obtain any consent required before those features apply to you.

9. Third-party services and links

The Platform may integrate with or link to third-party services, websites, or content. We do not control and are not responsible for third-party services, and your use of them is at your own risk and subject to their terms. Inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement.

10. Privacy

Your use of the Platform is subject to our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle personal information in accordance with the Data Privacy Act (RA 10173).

11. Disclaimers

The Platform and all content are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, to the maximum extent permitted by law. We disclaim all implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or free of viruses or harmful components; that defects will be corrected; or that content (including User Content) is accurate, reliable, complete, or appropriate. User Content reflects the views of the users who post it, not FicNook. You rely on the Platform and its content at your own risk.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty exclusions, so some of the above may not apply to you; in that case, warranties are limited to the minimum extent required by law.

12. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:

FicNook, its owners, officers, employees, agents, and partners will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunities, arising out of or related to your use of (or inability to use) the Platform, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
FicNook will not be liable for User Content, the conduct of any user or third party, unauthorized access to your account, or events beyond our reasonable control.
Our total aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or relating to the Platform or these Terms will not exceed USD 100.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable Philippine law, including liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, fraud, or death or personal injury caused by our negligence.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless FicNook and its owners, officers, employees, agents, and partners from and against any claims, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your User Content; (b) your use or misuse of the Platform; (c) your violation of these Terms or any law; or (d) your violation of any rights of a third party. We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification, in which case you agree to cooperate with us.

14. Suspension and termination

14.1 By you

You may stop using the Platform and delete your account at any time through your account settings or by contacting us.

14.2 By us

We may suspend, restrict, or terminate your access to the Platform or your account, and remove your User Content, at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, including if we believe you have violated these Terms, created risk or legal exposure for us, or engaged in fraudulent or unlawful conduct.

14.3 Effect of termination

Upon termination, your right to use the Platform ceases immediately. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including content licenses for residual copies, intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution) will survive. We are not liable to you or any third party for suspension or termination.

15. Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of the Philippines, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

Any dispute, controversy, or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Platform shall first be sought to be resolved amicably through good-faith negotiation. If unresolved, the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the proper courts of the Philippines, and you waive any objection to venue in those courts.

To the extent permitted by law, you agree that disputes will be resolved on an individual basis and not as a class or representative action.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date and may provide additional notice. Changes take effect when posted unless stated otherwise. Your continued use of the Platform after changes take effect constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to the changes, you must stop using the Platform.

17. General provisions

Entire agreement: These Terms and the Privacy Policy (and any policies referenced) are the entire agreement between you and FicNook regarding the Platform and supersede prior agreements.
Severability: If any provision is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force, and the unenforceable provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable.
No waiver: Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later.
Assignment: You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign them freely, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
Force majeure: We are not liable for any failure or delay caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, outages, attacks, or government actions.
Relationship: No agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment relationship is created by these Terms.
Notices: We may provide notices to you via the Platform or the email associated with your account. You may contact us at the details below.
Language: These Terms are written in English. Any translation is for convenience only; the English version controls.

18. Contact us

Questions about these Terms?

FicNook
Email: support@ficnook.com
Address: Philippines