Terms of service

Acceptance & scope

These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute an agreement between you ("you," "user," "subscriber") and the operator of Schmatz ("Schmatz," "we," "us"). They apply to your access to and use of the Schmatz website, dashboard, daily brief, case files, email notifications, and any other interface or content that bears the Schmatz name.

Your continued use of Schmatz after these Terms are revised constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. The date of last revision appears near the top of this page.

Access

Schmatz is currently in a free-tier early-access release. Anyone with a valid email address can create an account via self-signup at /sign-in. Paid Pro subscriptions will be offered as a separate, opt-in tier in the future; nothing on the free tier requires payment.

We reserve the right to grant, decline, suspend, or revoke access at our sole discretion, including without notice for violations of these Terms.

Your account

To use Schmatz you must create an account through our self-hosted authentication system (Auth.js). You agree to provide accurate and current information when you sign up, to maintain the security of your sign-in credentials, and to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.

Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use Schmatz for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable law or regulation.
• Reverse-engineer, scrape, harvest, or systematically extract data from Schmatz beyond what is offered through documented interfaces.
• Publicly redistribute, republish, syndicate, or sell access to Schmatz content without our prior written permission. Forwarding a single brief to a friend is fine; running a mirror site or scraping our case files is not.
• Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Schmatz infrastructure without our written authorization.
• Use Schmatz to make trading decisions on behalf of any third party without independent professional advice. See the disclaimer for why.
• Use any automation that imposes an unreasonable load on the service, or that bypasses access controls.
• Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.

Intellectual property

Schmatz and all underlying content — the dashboard interface, editorial copy, generated narratives, daily briefs, shock dossiers, software, models, strategy specifications, and curated data — are the intellectual property of the operator or its licensors. Beta access grants you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to view and consume this content during the beta period for your own personal evaluation. No other rights are granted.

You retain ownership of any feedback, comments, or suggestions you submit to us during the beta. By submitting feedback you grant us a perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that feedback to improve Schmatz, including incorporation into future versions of the product, without any obligation of attribution or compensation.

No advice; assumption of risk

Schmatz publishes research content. It does not provide investment, financial, tax, or legal advice. See the full disclaimer & risk notice, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. You assume all risk associated with any decisions you make in connection with Schmatz content.

Data & privacy

Our handling of your personal information is governed by our privacy policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. Use of cookies and similar technologies is described in our cookies notice. The security controls we apply to your account data are described in our security overview.

In short: we collect the minimum data necessary to operate the beta — email, optional phone number, invitation code, and basic telemetry — and we do not sell or share it with third parties.

Refunds & billing

The free tier is free. No payment is collected. When paid Pro subscriptions launch, terms applicable to refunds will be published at our refund policy before any charge is made.

Copyright & DMCA

We respect intellectual property rights. The procedure for submitting a copyright takedown notice or counter-notice is described at our DMCA notice page, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

Accessibility

Our commitments and known limitations regarding accessibility are documented at accessibility statement. If something on Schmatz is blocking you from accomplishing what you came here to do, please tell us using the procedure on that page.

No warranties

Schmatz is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness, non-infringement, or that the service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free. We make no warranty about the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of any data, signal, narrative, or analysis presented through Schmatz.

Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall Schmatz, its operator, contributors, or affiliates be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenues, data, or business opportunities, arising out of or in connection with your use of Schmatz, whether based in contract, tort, strict liability, or otherwise, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Our aggregate liability to you for any claim arising out of these Terms or your use of Schmatz during the beta shall not exceed one hundred United States dollars (US$100).

Termination

You may stop using Schmatz at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access to Schmatz at any time, with or without notice and with or without cause. Upon termination, your right to access Schmatz immediately ceases. The provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination — including intellectual property, no-advice, no-warranties, and limitation-of-liability sections — will survive.

Governing law & dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, United States, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or to Schmatz shall be resolved through informal negotiation in good faith; if informal negotiation fails, disputes shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in King County, Washington.

Severability & entire agreement

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision shall be severed and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect. These Terms, together with the disclaimer & risk notice, constitute the entire agreement between you and Schmatz with respect to your access to the service and supersede any prior agreements or understandings.

Contact

Questions about these Terms should be sent to [email protected]. We'll do our best to respond promptly, but response times are not guaranteed.