Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

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

CircuitSnips is an open-source platform for sharing KiCad schematic subcircuits. The platform itself is licensed under the MIT License.

2. User Accounts

2.1 Account Creation

To upload circuits and participate in the community, you must create an account using GitHub OAuth. You are responsible for:

• Maintaining the security of your GitHub account
• All activities that occur under your account
• Providing accurate profile information

2.2 Account Termination

You may delete your account at any time through your account settings. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

3. User Content and Licensing

3.1 Your Content

When you upload circuits to CircuitSnips, you retain all ownership rights to your content. However, you must choose an open-source hardware license for each circuit you upload.

3.2 Supported Licenses

We support the following open-source hardware licenses:

• CERN-OHL-S-2.0 (recommended)
• MIT License
• Creative Commons BY 4.0
• Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0
• GPL-3.0
• Apache-2.0
• TAPR-OHL-1.0
• BSD-2-Clause

3.3 License Grant

By uploading a circuit, you grant all users the right to use, copy, modify, and distribute your circuit under the terms of the license you selected. This grant is irrevocable.

3.4 Attribution

CircuitSnips automatically embeds attribution information (author, license, source URL) into downloaded circuits. Users who download your circuits must provide proper attribution as required by the license you selected.

4. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Upload circuits you do not have the right to share
• Violate any intellectual property rights
• Upload malicious, harmful, or illegal content
• Harass, abuse, or harm other users
• Spam or engage in fraudulent activity
• Attempt to bypass rate limiting or security measures
• Scrape or abuse the platform's APIs
• Upload content that violates export control laws

5. Intellectual Property

5.1 Platform Code

The CircuitSnips platform itself is open-source software licensed under the MIT License. You may view, fork, and contribute to the source code on GitHub.

5.2 User Circuits

Each circuit uploaded to CircuitSnips is licensed under the specific open-source license chosen by its author. Check each circuit's license before using it in your projects.

5.3 Trademarks

"CircuitSnips" and the CircuitSnips logo are trademarks. "KiCad" is a trademark of the KiCad project. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.

6. Content Moderation

We reserve the right to remove content that:

• Violates these Terms of Service
• Infringes intellectual property rights
• Contains malicious or harmful code
• Is reported as inappropriate by the community

We will make reasonable efforts to notify you before removing content, except in cases of clear legal violations.

7. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT:

• The Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free
• Uploaded circuits are free from errors or defects
• Circuits will work as intended in your projects
• The platform will meet your specific requirements

USE CIRCUITS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Always verify and test circuits before using them in production designs, especially for safety-critical applications.

8. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• Loss of data or content
• Loss of profits or business
• Damage from faulty circuits
• Service interruptions or data breaches

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY SHALL NOT EXCEED $100 USD.

9. DMCA and Copyright

We respect intellectual property rights. If you believe content on CircuitSnips infringes your copyright, please contact us with:

• Description of the copyrighted work
• URL of the allegedly infringing content
• Your contact information
• A statement of good faith belief
• A statement under penalty of perjury
• Physical or electronic signature

Send DMCA notices to: dmca@circuitsnips.mikeayles.com

10. Privacy

Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy. Please review it to understand how we collect and use your data.

11. Changes to Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the new Terms.

For significant changes, we will provide notice via email or a prominent platform announcement.

12. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction where the platform is operated, without regard to conflict of law principles.

13. Contact

For questions about these Terms, please contact us:

• Email: legal@circuitsnips.mikeayles.com
• GitHub Issues: github.com/MichaelAyles/kicad-library