Terms of Service

1. Scope and acceptance

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") form a binding agreement between Apia Business Affairs Co., Ltd. (the "Company", "we") and any person or organisation that registers for or uses Factdock (the "Service", and such person or organisation the "User", "you").

By creating an account, or by using the Service, you accept these Terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the Service.

Where you use the Service on behalf of a company or other organisation, you represent that you are authorised to bind that organisation, and "you" refers to that organisation.

2. The Service

The Service searches, retrieves, translates and summarises publicly available primary sources and other third-party material, and presents the results together with links to the underlying sources.

The Service is an information tool. It does not produce professional advice, and it is not a substitute for the independent judgement of a qualified professional. Section 8 sets out the specific limits that apply to professional fields.

3. Accounts

You must provide accurate registration information and keep it up to date. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account and for keeping your credentials confidential.

Accounts are issued to a single named user unless your plan expressly permits use by multiple members of one organisation. You may not share, resell or transfer an account.

You must be of the age of majority in your country of residence, or have the consent of a legal guardian, to register.

You represent and warrant that you are not a person subject to export controls or economic sanctions imposed by Japan, the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom or any other applicable country or body (including any person owned or controlled by such a person), and that you will not use the Service from, or on behalf of a resident of, a country or region subject to such sanctions. Where the Company identifies use contrary to this paragraph, it may suspend or terminate the account without notice.

4. Plans, credits and fees

The Service is provided on a monthly subscription basis. Each plan grants a monthly allowance of credits, which are consumed as you use the individual research engines.

Monthly credits are valid for the billing period in which they are granted, that is, until the day before the next renewal date of your subscription, and do not carry over to the following billing period.

Additional credits may be purchased separately, only while you have an active paid plan. Regardless of the date of purchase, additional credits expire at the same time as the monthly credits of the current billing period (the day before the next renewal date) and do not carry over. The expiry date is shown on the purchase screen before you buy.

The applicable prices, credit allowances, taxes and any introductory discount are those displayed on the pricing page and on the checkout screen at the time of your purchase. The currency shown at checkout applies to your purchase.

Fees are charged in advance for each billing period and recur automatically until the subscription is cancelled.

The Company may change monthly fees, monthly credit allowances and the number of credits each feature consumes. A change to monthly fees or credit allowances will be notified, by the means set out in section 23, at least thirty (30) days before it takes effect, and applies from the first renewal date on or after its effective date; if you do not agree to it, you may cancel your subscription before that renewal date. The number of credits each feature consumes may be changed at any time without prior notice, for example to improve the quality of the Service, optimise the system, change AI models, or reflect changes in the cost of external data. The number that applies is the one shown on the screen of the Service (including the credit details of each engine) when you run the feature. Please check it before each use; by running the feature, you agree to that number.

Any introductory discount — for example a reduced price for the first month — is limited to one use per customer and applies only to a customer's first subscription.

A customer who has already received an introductory discount is not entitled to receive it again, including after closing an account and registering again, and including where the same payment method or payment identifier is used. Where the Company identifies such a repeat application, it may decline the order or apply the standard price without prior notice.

5. Cancellation and refunds

You may cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings. Cancellation stops the next renewal; the Service remains available until the end of the billing period already paid for.

Because the Service is a digital service that is made available immediately, fees already paid and credits already granted are non-refundable, except where a refund is required by applicable law or where the Service was not made available for reasons attributable to the Company.

This clause does not affect any statutory right of a consumer that cannot be waived by agreement.

Refunds and chargebacks. Where a payment is refunded, in full or in part, or is reversed through a chargeback, the entire remaining balance of the credits of the kind purchased with that payment is cancelled and set to zero — credits for payments made in the app, and API credits for purchases of API credits. A partial refund cancels the whole balance in the same way. A refund does not by itself cancel a subscription; cancellation is made separately under the first paragraph of this section.

If you close your account while a paid period is still running, you may choose either option. (a) Scheduled closure: you keep full access until the end of that period, after which your account and all of its data are permanently deleted; you may cancel a scheduled closure from your account settings at any time before that date. (b) Immediate deletion: after a warning and your explicit consent, your account, settings, sign-in access, API keys and credit balances are deleted at once; any remaining paid period, credits and API credits expire immediately and are neither restored nor refunded. Deleted data cannot be restored.

Inactive accounts. Where an account holds no valid credits and no valid API credits (including where they were used up or expired, or where a subscription has ended), has no active subscription, and there has been no activity for ninety (90) days since its last activity (the most recent sign-in or API request), a notice is sent to the registered email address, and fourteen (14) days after that notice the account, its API keys and its saved data are deleted. Signing in or making an API request at any time before the deletion date stops it. An account that holds at least one valid credit or API credit is not deleted under this paragraph.

When an account is deleted, personal information (such as name, email address and password) is deleted completely. Payment records (payment IDs, amounts, currency, dates and country codes) are kept in an anonymised form that does not identify you, as required by tax and accounting legislation.

Purchased business API credits are valid for one (1) year from the date of the most recent purchase; each new purchase extends the validity of the whole balance. Unused API credits expire at the end of that period and are not refunded.

6. Your content, confidentiality and data handling

You retain all rights in the text, files and images you submit to the Service ("User Input").

You grant the Company the limited right to process User Input solely to operate the Service for you — for example to run a search, translate a source, or generate a report.

The Company does not use User Input to promote or advertise to third parties. How User Input is handled is described in the Privacy Policy.

Security and data handling:

• No use for AI training. The Company does not use User Input — including the text, documents and other data you submit — for training, retraining or otherwise improving AI or machine-learning models, whether its own or those of any third party, or for any other secondary purpose. Analysis is carried out in business-grade AI processing environments under terms that do not permit User Input to be used for model training.
• No retention of input or results. The Company does not permanently store or accumulate User Input, or the analysis and generation results derived from it ("Processed Data"), in its databases. Processed Data is discarded promptly once the processing needed to provide the Service and display the result is complete. Items that you choose to save in your account (for example, saved reports) are kept until you delete them or close your account.
• External search services. When the Service searches publicly available information, only search keywords derived from User Input are sent to external search services. The text you enter and the documents you upload are not provided to external search services.
• Execution records. For the stable operation of the Service, the investigation of faults, incident response and the accurate management of credits, the Company keeps system execution records that contain none of the content of User Input or Processed Data (for example, the date and time, the processing status and the credits consumed). These records are kept in an encrypted, access-controlled environment for 30 days and are then deleted automatically.
• Automatic cancellation on system failure. If a search or analysis fails for system reasons — an internal error, or an outage or timeout of an external service used by the Service — so that no result can be returned, the credits for that request are not consumed; the error screen shows a reference number that you may quote if you contact us.

7. Third-party sources

Search results, source documents, statistics and images originate from third parties. The Company does not author them and does not warrant their accuracy, completeness, currency or fitness for any purpose.

Third-party sources may move, change, be withdrawn or become unavailable at any time. Where a source link cannot be reached, the Service may substitute an alternative link to the same document.

You are responsible for verifying any information against the original source before relying on it.

Search results are produced by automated processing that includes AI, and the Company cannot guarantee that they are 100% accurate. Search results and other third-party information may contain errors, or outdated or incomplete information, and the search results themselves may be wrong — for example, the Service may display incorrect information, or information that does not match what you searched for. You must check for yourself whether such content is accurate before relying on it. The Company is not liable for any loss arising from errors in search results or other third-party information, or from relying on them without checking the original source.

8. Professional fields — important limits

Certain engines address veterinary, medical, legal, financial, real-estate and regulatory subject matter. For those engines the following applies without exception:

• The Service does not diagnose, prescribe or treat. Veterinary and medical output is reference material intended to support — never to replace — the judgement of a licensed practitioner.
• The Service does not provide legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship arises from its use.
• The Service does not provide investment, tax or financial advice, and nothing it produces is a solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument.
• Information on product ingredients, allergens, possible cross-reactivity, interactions and other risks is reference information compiled by matching publicly available information against academic and other databases. It does not establish that a product is safe or unsafe for any particular animal, person or case. The absence of matching information does not mean that there is no risk.
• Any decision taken on the basis of output from the Service, and its consequences, remain solely with you and, where applicable, with the qualified professional responsible for the matter.

9. Prohibited conduct

You must not:

• Use the Service in breach of any applicable law or regulation, or of the terms of any third-party source.
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Service, other users' data, or any underlying system, or interfere with its normal operation.
• Use automated means to access the Service at a volume that degrades it for others, or circumvent credit consumption, rate limits or access controls.
• Reverse engineer, decompile or otherwise attempt to derive the internal composition of the Service, except to the extent that such restriction is prohibited by law.
• Resell, sublicense or make the Service available to third parties outside the scope of your plan.
• Submit content that infringes the rights of others, or that you are not entitled to disclose.

10. Intellectual property

The Service, including its software, interface, structure, engine design and brand, is owned by the Company or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property law. Patent applications relating to the Service are pending.

Nothing in these Terms transfers any right in the Service to you. You receive a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service in accordance with your plan.

Rights in third-party source material remain with their respective holders. Reports generated by the Service may be used for your internal business or professional purposes; redistribution of third-party source material remains subject to that third party's own terms.

11. Availability, suspension and termination

The Company may modify, suspend or discontinue all or part of the Service, and may perform maintenance, with prior notice where reasonably practicable and without notice in an emergency.

The Company may suspend or terminate an account that breaches these Terms, that is used unlawfully, or where required by law. Where the breach is not material and is capable of remedy, the Company will normally give you an opportunity to remedy it first.

On termination your right to use the Service ends. Provisions that by their nature survive termination — including sections 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20 and 22 — continue to apply.

12. Disclaimer of warranties

The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Company disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and uninterrupted or error-free operation.

The Company does not warrant that any particular source, database or piece of information will be found, remain accessible, or be free of error.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Company is not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of business opportunity, or loss of data, arising out of or in connection with the Service.

Where the Company is liable, its aggregate liability is limited to the greater of (a) the total fees you paid for the Service in the six (6) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, and (b) one hundred US dollars (USD 100).

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law. In particular, where you are a consumer under the Consumer Contract Act of Japan, the limitations above do not apply to damage caused by the Company's intentional misconduct or gross negligence.

14. Amendments

The Company may amend these Terms where the amendment is consistent with the general interest of users, or is otherwise reasonable in light of the necessity and content of the change, in accordance with Article 548-4 of the Civil Code of Japan.

An amendment that is unfavourable to users will be notified, with its content and effective date, a reasonable period in advance and in any case at least thirty (30) days before it takes effect, by either of the following means: (a) email to your registered email address; or (b) posting on this website (including this page). Because email may not be received, a notice made by either of these means is effective.

Other amendments, such as minor corrections, take effect when they are published on this page or on the date stated in the notice.

Continued use of the Service after an amendment takes effect constitutes acceptance of it.

15. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of Japan.

Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Service is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Sendai District Court as the court of first instance.

16. Exclusion of anti-social forces

You represent and warrant that neither you nor, where you act for an organisation, that organisation or any of its officers or substantial shareholders is, or has been within the past five (5) years, an organised crime group, a member or associate member of such a group, a company related to such a group, a corporate racketeer (sōkaiya), a group engaged in criminal activities under the pretext of social or political movements, or any other person or group equivalent to the foregoing (together, "Anti-Social Forces"), and that you have no relationship with Anti-Social Forces, including providing funds or other benefits to them or being controlled by them.

You must not, by yourself or through a third party, make violent demands, make unreasonable demands beyond legal responsibility, use threatening language or violence in connection with a transaction, spread rumours or use fraudulent means or force to damage the credit of the Company or obstruct its business, or engage in any other conduct equivalent to the foregoing.

If you breach this section, the Company may suspend your account or terminate the agreement under these Terms immediately and without notice. The Company is not liable for any loss you suffer as a result, and you must compensate the Company for any loss it suffers as a result of the breach.

17. Assignment

You may not assign, transfer, pledge or otherwise dispose of your position under these Terms, or any right or obligation under them, to a third party without the Company's prior written consent.

Where the Company transfers the business relating to the Service to a third party (including by business transfer, company split or merger), the Company may transfer to the transferee its position under these Terms, its rights and obligations under them, and your registration information and other information, and you consent to such transfer in advance by agreeing to these Terms.

18. Force majeure

The Company is not liable for any failure or delay in performing its obligations to the extent caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including natural disasters, fire, epidemics, war, terrorism, riots, acts of government, power or telecommunications failures, and outages or interruptions of third-party services on which the Service depends.

19. Severability

If any provision of these Terms, or any part of a provision, is held invalid or unenforceable under the Consumer Contract Act of Japan or any other law, the remaining provisions, and the remainder of the provision concerned, continue in full force and effect.

20. Indemnification

You will indemnify and hold harmless the Company against any loss, damage and cost (including reasonable legal fees) that it incurs as a result of any claim, action or other demand made against it by a third party arising out of or in connection with: (a) your breach of these Terms or of applicable law; (b) User Input that you submit to the Service; or (c) your redistribution or other use of third-party material contrary to that third party's terms.

Where the Company receives such a claim, it will notify you promptly and may ask you to cooperate, to a reasonable extent, in responding to it.

This section does not apply to the extent that the claim results from the Company's intentional misconduct or gross negligence.

21. Nature of the displayed information

The information displayed by the Service — including search results, summaries, translations, product ingredient information, possible cross-reactivity and other data ("Displayed Information") — is collected from information published on the internet and from academic, public and other databases, matched, and presented together with its sources.

The Company endeavours to keep Displayed Information accurate, complete and current, but does not warrant that it is (sections 7 and 12).

Translations, summaries, classifications, extractions and other output are produced by automated processing using AI, and may contain mistranslations, omissions, statements that differ from the original or other errors. Before relying on such output for any important decision, check it against the original source shown with it. The Company is not liable for any loss arising from such errors.

AI translation (machine translation) is provided only as a reference to help you understand the content. AI translation is not always accurate and may contain errors, including: (a) mistranslation, where a passage, or a technical, legal or medical term, is rendered with a meaning that differs from the original; (b) omission or addition of words, sentences or figures; and (c) characters, words or fragments from another language or writing system mixed into the translated text (for example, a few letters of another script appearing within the translation). The Company takes technical measures to reduce such errors, but cannot eliminate them completely.

Where the content of a translation differs from the content of the original, the content of the original is treated as correct. For all content translated by AI — including contract clauses, dosages and figures — you must check the original yourself before relying on it.

The Company is not liable for any loss arising from errors in AI translation, including mistranslation, omission or addition, or the mixing in of another language, or from relying on AI-translated content without checking the original.

Displayed Information is provided to support the judgement of professionals and does not establish any diagnosis, prediction or conclusion. The final judgement rests with the professional concerned or with you (section 8).

22. Requests to correct or remove Displayed Information

Copyright, trademarks and other intellectual property rights in third-party material contained in Displayed Information belong to their respective holders, as stated in section 10. Product names and trademarks are displayed only to identify the products concerned.

A manufacturer or seller of a product, or any other person with a legitimate right or interest (a "Rights Holder"), may ask the Company to correct, supplement or stop displaying Displayed Information. Requests are made by email to info@fact-dock.com and must include: (a) the requester's name or company name, contact details, and information showing that the requester is a Rights Holder; (b) information identifying the Displayed Information concerned (for example the screen, URL or product name); and (c) what is requested (correction, addition or removal), the reasons, and supporting evidence.

The Company will review the request, its grounds and the requester's standing, and take any necessary action within a reasonable period. It may decline a request whose grounds cannot be confirmed or where there is other good reason to do so.

The Company can remove information only from its own databases and from what the Service displays. Information on a third party's website must be addressed to the operator of that website.

The Company is not liable to Rights Holders or users for action taken, or not taken, in good faith under this section, except in the case of its intentional misconduct or gross negligence.

23. Notices

The Company gives notices to users by email to the registered email address or by posting them on the Service.

A notice by email is deemed to have reached you when it is sent, and a notice by posting when it is posted, including where it does not arrive because the registered email address is incorrect or cannot receive email.

You must keep your registered email address able to receive email, and update it promptly if it changes.

24. External services

At your instruction, the Service can connect with note-taking applications (such as Notion or Obsidian), AI assistants and AI agents, and other external services or software ("External Services") through API keys, MCP connections, export functions and similar means.

Information that you send to or store in an External Service is handled under that External Service's own terms of use and privacy policy. The Company is not responsible for how an External Service handles information, or for any suspension, malfunction or change of an External Service, or for loss arising from them, except in the case of its intentional misconduct or gross negligence.

Any contract or fee required to use an External Service is your responsibility.

Any operation performed by an External Service (including an AI agent) through an API key you issued or a connection you approved — including the consumption of credits — is deemed to be your own operation. You are responsible for managing the permissions you grant to External Services and for keeping your API keys secure.

25. Contact

Apia Business Affairs Co., Ltd., 1F, 4-8-17 Chuo, Aoba-ku, Sendai-shi, Miyagi 980-0021, Japan. Contact details are published on the Company page and in the Legal Notice.