Terms of Service

Effective August 24, 2026 · Version 2026-08-24-launch

Service status. The Service is provided AS IS, with no service-level guarantees. Features may be modified, suspended or discontinued; where reasonably practicable we will give notice of material changes. By using Acanthus you acknowledge these terms and agree to the Disclaimer.

1. Agreement

By accessing Acanthus (the “Service”), operated by ACANTHUS (“we”, “us”), as an organizer or as a judge using an invite code, you agree to these Terms of Service and to the Disclaimer.

2. The Service

Acanthus helps conference organizers configure awards, invite judges, collect scores and view results. We grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for the conference covered by your plan.

3. Accounts and judge invites

You are responsible for activity under your account, for keeping your invite codes confidential, and for ensuring that judges you invite are authorised to access the information you share with them.

4. Plans, pricing, and Merchant of Record

Paid plans on Acanthus are billed on a one-time, per-event basis at the price shown at checkout. Our order process is conducted by our online reseller Paddle.com. Paddle.com is the Merchant of Record for all our orders. Paddle provides all customer service inquiries and handles returns. Payment terms, billing, tax collection, and invoicing are governed by the Paddle Checkout Buyer Terms.

5. Refunds

We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you're not satisfied with your purchase, you can request a full refund within 30 days of your order date. Refunds are processed by our payment provider and Merchant of Record, Paddle. To request a refund, visit paddle.net. See the Refund Policy for detail. Refunds are processed by Paddle as Merchant of Record.

6. Acceptable use

You will not (a) upload unlawful, infringing or harmful content, (b) attempt to breach security, scrape, or reverse-engineer the Service, (c) use the Service to send spam, or (d) use the Service to make decisions with legal or similarly significant effect about individuals without appropriate human review.

7. Your data and ownership

You retain all rights to the conference, presenter, judge and scoring data you submit (“Customer Data”). You grant us a limited license to host, process and display Customer Data solely to provide the Service. We process personal data as described in the Privacy Policy. You are responsible for obtaining any consents required from judges and presenters before submitting their information to the Service.

8. Disclaimer of warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”, WITH ALL FAULTS, AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express, implied or statutory, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, and quiet enjoyment. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or that scoring results will be free of bias or computational error. Final award decisions remain the sole responsibility of the organizer and the relevant award committee.

9. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE — WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STATUTE OR OTHERWISE — IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (a) THE TOTAL FEES YOU ACTUALLY PAID US FOR THE CONFERENCE GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT, OR (b) ONE HUNDRED CANADIAN DOLLARS (CAD $100). We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, goodwill, reputation, or any decisions made (or not made) based on the Service. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be excluded by law (such as for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by our negligence).

10. Indemnity

You will indemnify and hold ACANTHUS harmless from any third-party claim arising from (a) Customer Data you submit, (b) your use of the Service in breach of these Terms, or (c) award or eligibility decisions you make using outputs of the Service.

11. Termination

You may stop using the Service and delete your data at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you breach these Terms or use the Service in a way that creates risk for us or other users.

12. Changes

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated in-app and will require re-acceptance before continued use.

13. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein. The courts located in Toronto, Ontario have exclusive jurisdiction, except that mandatory consumer-protection rights in your country of residence are not affected.

14. Contact

ACANTHUS, Ontario, Canada. You can reach us through the support options available in your account.