📋 Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using CantoneseEcho ("the Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

These Terms apply to all visitors, registered users, and anyone else who accesses or uses the Service.

2. Description of Service

CantoneseEcho provides AI-powered Cantonese language tools including:

• Text-to-Speech (TTS): Converting written Cantonese, formal Chinese, or English text into spoken audio
• Speech-to-Text (STT): Transcribing spoken Cantonese or English audio into text or SRT subtitle format
• Subtitle Sync: Adding Jyutping romanization and multilingual translations to Cantonese SRT subtitle files
• Jyutping conversion: Converting Cantonese characters to Jyutping romanization

The Service is provided as an independent research project and may be modified, suspended, or discontinued at any time without notice.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years of age to use the Service. Users between 13 and 18 years of age must have parental or guardian consent. By using the Service, you represent that you meet these age requirements.

The Service is available globally. You are responsible for ensuring your use of the Service complies with all laws applicable in your jurisdiction.

4. Account Registration

You may use the Service without creating an account, subject to usage limits for anonymous users. To access higher usage limits, you may register for a free account.

When registering, you agree to:

• Provide accurate, complete, and current information
• Maintain the security of your password and account
• Promptly notify us of any unauthorized access to your account
• Accept responsibility for all activity that occurs under your account

You may not create accounts using automated means or create accounts on behalf of others without authorization.

5. Acceptable Use

You may use the Service for lawful personal, educational, research, and commercial purposes consistent with these Terms. Permitted uses include:

• Converting personal or original text to Cantonese speech for personal use
• Creating voiceovers for original video content you own
• Learning Cantonese pronunciation and language skills
• Processing subtitles for content you have rights to
• Research and academic purposes
• Internal business communications and training materials

6. Prohibited Conduct

You may not use the Service to:

• Generate speech, transcripts, or subtitles containing hate speech, harassment, threats, or content that promotes violence or discrimination
• Create deepfake audio impersonating real individuals without their explicit consent
• Produce content that infringes third-party intellectual property rights, including copyright, trademark, or publicity rights
• Generate spam, phishing content, or misleading audio/text
• Violate any applicable law or regulation, including export control laws
• Attempt to circumvent usage limits through multiple accounts, automated requests, or other means
• Reverse engineer, scrape, or extract data from the Service through automated means
• Transmit malware, viruses, or any harmful code through the Service
• Use the Service for any application where failure could result in death, personal injury, or severe harm (medical diagnosis, emergency services, safety-critical systems)
• Resell access to the Service without prior written permission
• Submit audio containing private conversations of individuals who have not consented to recording and processing

7. Usage Limits and Fair Use

The Service operates on a tiered usage system:

• Anonymous (Free): 200 words per day, 10 conversions per day
• Registered (Free): 500 words per day, 20 conversions per day
• Coffee Supporter: 1,000 words per day, 30 conversions per day
• Basic (Paid — coming soon): 2,000 words per day, 50 conversions per day
• Premier (Paid — coming soon): 10,000 words per day, 100 conversions per day

We reserve the right to modify these limits at any time. Attempting to circumvent usage limits is a violation of these Terms and may result in account termination.

We reserve the right to throttle or suspend access to any user whose usage patterns indicate abuse, automated requests, or excessive load on our systems, regardless of whether they are within their daily limits.

8. Intellectual Property

8.1 Our intellectual property

The CantoneseEcho name, logo, website design, software, and all content created by us are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works without our written permission.

8.2 Your content

You retain all ownership of text you submit to our TTS service and audio you submit to our STT service. By submitting content, you grant us a limited, temporary licence to process that content solely to provide the requested Service output.

8.3 Output content

Audio files generated by our TTS service and transcripts generated by our STT service are provided for your use. The AI-generated audio is produced using voices licensed from Microsoft. You are responsible for ensuring your use of generated content complies with applicable copyright and licensing requirements.

8.4 Jyutping data

Jyutping romanization is generated using the open-source pycantonese library. Jyutping notation itself is not copyrightable — it is a standardized linguistic system.

9. User Content

You represent and warrant that:

• You own or have the necessary rights and permissions for all content you submit to the Service
• Your content does not violate any third party's intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or any applicable law
• Audio you submit for transcription does not contain recordings of individuals made without their knowledge or consent where such consent is required by law

We are not responsible for the content you submit or generate using our Service. You are solely responsible for ensuring your use complies with applicable laws.

10. Third-Party Services

The Service relies on third-party AI and cloud providers including Microsoft Azure, Groq, Google (Gemini and OAuth), and Fly.io (application hosting). The availability and quality of these third-party services may affect the Service. We are not liable for interruptions or changes in third-party services.

Links to third-party websites or services are provided for convenience only. We do not endorse and are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or terms of third-party services.

11. Disclaimer of Warranties

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to:

• Warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement
• Warranties that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure
• Warranties as to the accuracy, completeness, or quality of speech synthesis, transcription, translation, or Jyutping romanization output
• Warranties that the Service will meet your specific requirements

The Service must not be used for any application where inaccuracy could cause harm, including but not limited to medical diagnosis, legal proceedings, emergency communications, or safety-critical systems.

12. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, CantoneseEcho and its operator shall not be liable for:

• Any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages
• Loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or other intangible losses
• Damages resulting from unauthorized access to or alteration of your content
• Damages resulting from interruption or unavailability of the Service
• Damages resulting from inaccuracies in speech synthesis, transcription, or translation output
• Any matter beyond our reasonable control

Our total liability to you for any claim arising from or relating to these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the greater of CAD $10 or the amount you paid to us in the 12 months preceding the claim.

Some jurisdictions do not allow limitation of liability for certain types of damages. In such jurisdictions, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless CantoneseEcho and its operator from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:

• Your use of the Service in violation of these Terms
• Content you submit to the Service
• Your violation of any third-party rights
• Your violation of any applicable law or regulation

14. Account Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account at any time, with or without notice, for:

• Violation of these Terms
• Conduct that we determine is harmful to other users, us, or third parties
• Extended periods of inactivity
• Discontinuation of the Service

You may delete your account at any time by contacting us through the Contact page. Upon account deletion, we will remove your personal information subject to retention requirements described in our Privacy Policy.

15. Buy Me a Coffee Donations

If you choose to support CantoneseEcho via Buy Me a Coffee:

• Donations are voluntary and made at your discretion
• Donations are processed by Buy Me a Coffee Inc. — not by CantoneseEcho directly
• As a thank-you, supporters who donate using their registered CantoneseEcho email address automatically receive an upgraded usage tier (1,000 words/day, no ads)
• This benefit upgrade is a goodwill gesture, not a contractual obligation, and may be modified or discontinued
• We do not guarantee any specific features or service level in exchange for donations
• Donations are non-refundable — please contact Buy Me a Coffee directly for payment issues

16. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of British Columbia and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict of law principles.

Any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of the Service shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of British Columbia, Canada. If you are located outside Canada, you consent to the jurisdiction of these courts.

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

17. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. When we make material changes, we will:

• Update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page
• Post a notice on the home page for 30 days
• Send an email notification to registered users for significant changes

Your continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the Service.

18. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms of Service, please contact us through our Contact page. We will respond within 30 days.