Terms of Service

1Agreement

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") are a contract between you and Bonnie K9 System LLC, a [ North Carolina ] limited liability company ("BK9S," "we," "us"). By creating an account, clicking to accept, or using any part of the platform, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

If you use BK9S on behalf of a veterinary practice, rescue, shelter, kennel, or other organization, you confirm you have authority to bind that organization, and "you" means both you and the organization.

2Who may use BK9S

• You must be at least 18 years old to hold an account.
• You must provide accurate information when you register and keep it current.
• You may not use the service if we have previously suspended or removed you, or if the law of your jurisdiction prohibits your use.
• Organization accounts must represent a real, operating organization. We may ask for verification and may decline or remove an organization account at our discretion.

3Accounts

You are responsible for everything that happens under your account. Keep your credentials private, use a strong password, and tell us at security@bk9s.org right away if you believe your account has been accessed without permission. We are not liable for loss caused by someone using your credentials, unless we caused the breach.

Each person needs their own login. Do not share accounts. Organizations may have multiple seats and are responsible for the actions of every seat they control.

4What BK9S is and is not

BK9S provides software tools: record keeping for dog owners, coordination tools for veterinary and support organizations, and an information service that surfaces public records relevant to animal welfare. We provide the tools. We do not provide the underlying professional judgment.

Not veterinary advice

Health information on the platform, including any content generated by automated features, is general information. It is not a diagnosis, treatment plan, or substitute for a licensed veterinarian who has examined your animal. If your dog is sick or injured, contact a veterinarian. In an emergency, go to an emergency animal hospital.

Not a party to your transactions

Where the platform connects you with a vet, rescue, kennel, trainer, or other user, that relationship is between you and them. We do not supervise, guarantee, or take responsibility for their services, their animals, or their conduct. Adoption, boarding, and care decisions are yours.

Not a consumer reporting agency

See Section 5. BK9S does not furnish consumer reports as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act and must not be used as one.

5Screening and registry data

Some BK9S features compile information from publicly available sources, including court records, published convictions, government registries, and news reporting, about individuals with a record of animal cruelty, neglect, or related offenses (the "Screening Data"). These rules apply to all Screening Data.

What the data is

• Screening Data is collected from third-party public sources. We do not create it and we cannot guarantee it is complete, current, or free of error. Records may be sealed, expunged, overturned, or attached to the wrong person.
• A match is a lead, not a finding. Name matches in particular are unreliable. You must independently verify any match before acting on it.
• Absence of a record means we found nothing in the sources we checked. It does not mean the person has no history.

What you may do with it

• Use it to inform animal placement, adoption, foster, boarding, and welfare decisions, together with your own verification and your organization's own policies.
• Use it to protect animals in your care.

What you may not do with it

• Use it for any purpose covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act or equivalent law: employment, credit, insurance, housing, or licensing decisions about a person.
• Harass, threaten, stalk, dox, or publicly expose any person identified in Screening Data.
• Resell, scrape, bulk-export, or redistribute Screening Data.
• Represent a BK9S result as a formal background check or as a definitive statement of fact about a person.

Disputes and corrections

If you believe Screening Data about you is inaccurate, contact disputes@bk9s.org with the record in question and any supporting documents. We will review within [ 30 ] days, correct or remove records we cannot substantiate, and tell you the outcome.

6Your content

You own what you upload: pet records, photos, notes, organization data, and anything else you post ("Your Content"). You give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, display, process, and transmit Your Content as needed to run the service, improve it, and provide features you turn on. That license ends when you delete the content or close your account, except for copies in routine backups and content you have shared with other users.

You confirm you have the right to post Your Content and that it does not infringe anyone's rights or break the law. We may remove content that violates these Terms.

We do not use Your Content, or any personal information, to train or tune machine learning models.

7Acceptable use

Do not:

• Break the law, or help anyone else break it, using the service.
• Post content that is false and harmful, defamatory, abusive, sexually explicit, or that depicts cruelty to animals for any purpose other than reporting it.
• Impersonate a person, organization, veterinarian, or government body.
• Access the service by automated means (bots, scrapers, crawlers) except through an API we publish and license to you.
• Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the service, or circumvent any security or access control, without our written authorization.
• Reverse engineer, copy, or build a competing product from the service or its data.
• Interfere with the service or with other users' use of it.
• Use the service to harm, harass, or endanger any person or animal.

We may investigate suspected violations and may suspend or remove accounts, remove content, and report conduct to law enforcement.

8Organization accounts

Veterinary practices, rescues, shelters, kennels, and other organizations that use BK9S agree to the following in addition to everything else in these Terms:

• You are responsible for your staff and volunteers who use your seats, and for keeping seat access current when people leave.
• You hold whatever licenses, registrations, and permits your jurisdiction requires for your operation. BK9S does not confer or verify them.
• Data you enter about your clients, adopters, and their animals is your data. You are the controller of it and responsible for having a lawful basis to collect it. We process it on your behalf under these Terms and our Privacy Policy.
• Where you share data with other organizations through the platform, you are responsible for that sharing decision.

9Privacy

Our Privacy Policy at bk9s.org/privacy explains what we collect, why, how long we keep it, and who we share it with. It is part of these Terms. By using the service you agree to it.

Two commitments worth stating here: we do not sell your personal information, and we do not sell Screening Data to data brokers.

10Our property

The platform, its software, design, text, graphics, trademarks, and the compilation and arrangement of data in it belong to BK9S or our licensors. These Terms give you a limited, revocable, non-transferable license to use the service for its intended purpose. They do not transfer any ownership to you. "BK9S," "Bonnie K9 System," and associated logos are our marks. Do not use them without written permission.

If you send us feedback or suggestions, we may use them without obligation to you.

11Third-party services

The service may link to or integrate with third-party services such as payment processors, mapping, messaging, and veterinary records systems. Those services have their own terms and privacy practices. We do not control them and are not responsible for them. Your use of a third-party service is between you and that provider.

12Disclaimers

The service and all content, including screening data, are provided "as is" and "as available." To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, and uninterrupted or error-free operation. We do not warrant that any screening result is accurate, complete, or current, or that any user, organization, or animal on the platform is as described.

Some jurisdictions do not allow these disclaimers. In those places, the disclaimers apply to the extent permitted.

13Limits on liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, BK9S and its officers, directors, employees, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of the service, even if we have been advised of the possibility. Our total liability for all claims relating to the service will not exceed the greater of (a) the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose or (b) [ $100 ].

Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by our negligence.

14Indemnity

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless BK9S and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claim, loss, or expense, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising from Your Content, your use of the service, your use or misuse of Screening Data, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any law or third-party right. We may take over the defense of any claim you are indemnifying, at our expense, and you will cooperate.

15Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of [ North Carolina ], without regard to conflict-of-law rules.

Before filing a claim, contact us at legal@bk9s.org and give us [ 60 ] days to try to resolve it informally.

16Changes

We may update these Terms. For material changes we will give at least [ 30 ] days' notice by email or in-app message before they take effect. Continuing to use the service after that date means you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, close your account before the effective date. The current version and a changelog are always available at bk9s.org/terms.

17Contact