Terms of Service

§ 1 Scope and Contracting Parties

(1) These Terms of Service govern the use of the SaaS platform BrandKernel.io between:

BrandKernel (Einzelunternehmen)
Maximilian Appelt
Wolbecker Str. 94, 48155 Münster, Germany
Email: mail@brandkernel.io
(hereinafter "Provider")

and the registered business customer (hereinafter "Customer").

(2) The platform is intended exclusively for entrepreneurs and businesses within the meaning of § 14 of the German Civil Code (BGB). By registering, the Customer confirms that they are using the platform in the course of their commercial or independent professional activity.

(3) Use by consumers within the meaning of § 13 BGB is expressly excluded. The Provider reserves the right to suspend consumer accounts without any entitlement to reimbursement. Any statutory right of withdrawal under §§ 312 et seq. BGB that may nonetheless apply remains unaffected.

(4) Any terms and conditions of the Customer that deviate from or conflict with these Terms shall not apply unless the Provider has expressly agreed to their application in writing.

§ 2 Subject Matter and Scope of Services

(1) The Provider makes the AI-powered brand strategy platform BrandKernel.io available to the Customer as a Software-as-a-Service over the internet. The platform enables the development of brand identities through structured AI dialogues (Brand Archaeology Sessions).

(2) The specific scope of services is determined by the product description published on brandkernel.io at the time of contract conclusion. The Provider is entitled to expand or adjust the scope of features, provided this does not materially impair the core services agreed under the contract.

(3) The Provider shall ensure platform availability of an average of 99% per calendar month, measured at the handover point of the data center. The following are excluded: (i) announced maintenance windows, (ii) outages caused by third-party providers (in particular Anthropic, Xano, Vercel), (iii) force majeure.

(4) The AI dialogue functions require the forwarding of user inputs to the Anthropic Claude API. The Provider is responsible for ensuring this transmission is compliant with applicable data protection law (see § 8).

§ 3 Freemium, Registration and Contract Formation

(1) The Provider offers a free trial function allowing the Customer up to five (5) dialogue turns within a Brand Archaeology Session (Freemium Access).

(2) Once the Freemium quota is exhausted, a paid account is required to continue. The Customer will be notified of the payment requirement at that point.

(3) The contract is formed upon the Customer placing an order and the Provider confirming it (by email or account activation). Payment processing is handled by Paddle.com Market Ltd. as Merchant of Record.

(4) The Customer is obligated to provide complete and accurate information upon registration and to update any changes without delay.

§ 4 Pricing, Payment and Merchant of Record

(1) Current prices are published on brandkernel.io. All prices are exclusive of applicable taxes.

(2) Payment processing is handled exclusively by Paddle.com Market Ltd., 15 Station Street, Brighton, BN1 1SA, United Kingdom. Paddle acts as Merchant of Record and is responsible for payment processing, invoicing, and tax handling.

(3) Payment is made as a one-time payment at the time of contract conclusion. Access is activated upon payment confirmation by Paddle.

(4) In the event of payment default, the Provider is entitled to suspend access until full payment has been received.

§ 5 Usage Rights and License

(1) The Provider grants the Customer a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable right to use the platform for the duration of the contract.

(2) Outputs generated through Brand Archaeology Sessions (including Brand Kernel JSON, strategy documents, and language rules) are the exclusive property of the Customer, to the extent they are based on content provided by the Customer.

(3) The Customer grants the Provider the right to use submitted content exclusively for the purpose of delivering the contracted services and technically improving the platform — not for disclosure to third parties or for the creation of competing products.

(4) Reverse engineering, decompilation, or extraction of the platform's source code is prohibited.

§ 6 Customer Obligations

(1) The Customer shall keep login credentials confidential and shall not grant unauthorized third parties access to their account.

(2) The platform may not be used:

• to create misleading or deceptive brand content,
• to infringe trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights of third parties,
• for automated mass access to the API infrastructure (scraping, bots),
• to commercially resell platform access to third parties.

(3) The Customer is solely responsible for all content submitted through their account and shall indemnify the Provider against third-party claims arising from unlawful use.

§ 7 Limitation of Liability

(1) The Provider's liability is unlimited for damages arising from injury to life, body, or health, and for damages caused intentionally or through gross negligence.

(2) In B2B relationships, the Provider's liability for slight negligence is limited to breaches of material contractual obligations (cardinal obligations) — those whose fulfillment is essential to the proper performance of the contract and on whose observance the Customer may regularly rely. In such cases, liability is limited to the foreseeable damage typical for this type of contract, and in any event to the total amount paid by the Customer to the Provider in the preceding calendar year.

(3) The Provider accepts no liability for the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of AI-generated outputs for any specific business purpose. The use of such outputs is the sole responsibility of the Customer.

(4) The above limitations do not apply to claims under the German Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz) or in cases of fraudulently concealed defects.

§ 8 Data Protection

(1) The processing of personal data is governed by the Provider's Privacy Policy, available at brandkernel.io, which forms an integral part of these Terms.

(2) Where the Customer submits personal data of third parties and the Provider processes such data on the Customer's behalf, a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR must be concluded. The Provider will make a standard DPA available upon request.

§ 9 Term and Termination

(1) The contractual relationship commences upon account activation and ends upon full delivery of the service as defined by the product's access parameters.

(2) The right to terminate for cause without notice remains unaffected.

(3) Following termination, Customer data will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Policy. The Provider will make an export function available upon request.

§ 10 Amendments to These Terms

(1) The Provider reserves the right to amend these Terms for valid reasons, including changes in applicable law, regulatory requirements, technical developments, or security requirements, provided such amendments do not unreasonably disadvantage the Customer or alter the core contractual obligations.

(2) Amendments will be communicated to the Customer by email with a notice period of at least 30 days. If the Customer does not object within 30 days of receiving the notice, the amended Terms shall be deemed accepted. The Provider will explicitly draw attention to the right to object and the legal consequence of remaining silent in the amendment notice.

§ 11 Final Provisions

(1) These Terms are governed by German law, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

(2) The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contractual relationship is Münster, Germany, provided the Customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law, or a special fund under public law.

(3) Should any individual provision of these Terms be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected.