Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of these Terms

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") form a binding legal agreement between you and Pocket Lantern (the "Service," "Pocket Lantern," "we," "us," or "our"), the operator of the Service available at pocketlantern.org. By creating an account, accessing, or using the Service, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

You are presented with a separate explicit acceptance step ("clickwrap") inside the Service before continuing past account creation. The record of that acceptance — including the version of these Terms, timestamp, IP address, and user agent — is retained as evidence of your agreement.

Professional-use representation. The Service is designed for use by funeral homes, mortuaries, crematories, celebrants, and other death-care professionals. By accepting these Terms you represent that you are using the Service for business, professional, or trade purposes, and not as a consumer for personal, household, or family purposes. You further represent and warrant that (a) you are at least 18 years of age (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction); (b) you have the legal capacity to enter into this agreement; (c) if you accept on behalf of a business or legal entity, you have authority to bind that entity; and (d) you are not barred from receiving services under applicable laws, including U.S. trade sanctions or any other applicable export-control regime.

If you are an individual residing in the European Economic Area ("EEA"), the United Kingdom ("UK"), Switzerland, or another jurisdiction whose mandatory consumer protection law applies to you and treats you as a consumer, certain provisions of these Terms are modified for you as described in Section 18.

2. Family authorization and the dignity of memorial content

You are responsible for obtaining all necessary authorizations before publishing a memorial.

By creating or publishing a memorial, you represent and warrant that you have obtained the consent and authorization of the family, next of kin, estate, or other person with the legal authority to direct the disposition and memorialization of the deceased, sufficient to publish: the name, image, dates, life story, and order of service of the person being remembered; the names and information of surviving family members, officiants, and others identified in the memorial; and any photographs, music, readings, artwork, or other materials you upload.

You agree to publish memorial content with accuracy, care, and respect for the deceased and the bereaved, and to promptly correct or remove content at the request of the authorizing family. Pocket Lantern provides software; it does not verify family authorization and is not the author of memorial content. If a family member or other person with a legitimate interest asks us to remove a memorial, we may, after reasonable inquiry, restrict or remove it.

3. The Service is provided "AS IS"

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available," with all faults, without any warranty of any kind.

Pocket Lantern expressly disclaims all warranties, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including without limitation any warranty of merchantability, satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy, completeness, uninterrupted operation, error-free operation, security, or that any defect will be corrected.

Without limiting the foregoing, Pocket Lantern does not warrant that (a) the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, including during the hours surrounding a scheduled service; (b) the Service will meet your requirements; (c) any errors or defects will be corrected; (d) any content you submit or that we display will be preserved, accurate, available, or free of loss, corruption, or interference; or (e) the Service will produce any particular result. You assume all risk from your use of the Service.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any warranty, condition, or liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited under the law of your jurisdiction. If you are an EEA/UK/Swiss/Brazilian consumer, see Section 18.

4. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will Pocket Lantern, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, suppliers, contractors, or licensors be liable to you for any indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, consequential, or punitive damages of any kind — including without limitation loss of profits, loss of revenue, loss of goodwill, loss of data, business interruption, reputational harm, or emotional distress — even if Pocket Lantern has been advised of the possibility of such damages, and regardless of the theory of liability (contract, tort including negligence, strict liability, or otherwise).

Pocket Lantern's total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service, for all claims combined, will not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount you actually paid to Pocket Lantern in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars (US $100).

These limitations apply to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, even if any limited remedy fails of its essential purpose. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions or limitations, so some of these may not apply to you in full.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits Pocket Lantern's liability for (i) death or personal injury caused by Pocket Lantern's negligence; (ii) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation by Pocket Lantern; or (iii) any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the law of your jurisdiction.

5. Memorial content — your responsibility

You are solely responsible for the content you submit, upload, or display through the Service ("Your Content"), including the name and dates of the deceased, obituaries and life stories, the order of service, the names of family members and participants, portrait and event photographs, music and reading selections, donation/charity information, and service times and locations. Pocket Lantern does not review, verify, edit, endorse, or assume responsibility for Your Content.

Inaccuracies, omissions, or misrepresentations in Your Content — including a misspelled name, an incorrect date or service time, or an out-of-date location — are your responsibility, and you indemnify Pocket Lantern against any resulting claims (see Section 9).

You retain ownership of Your Content. You grant Pocket Lantern a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable license to host, copy, transmit, display, and modify (only as necessary to operate and present the Service, e.g., resize images) Your Content solely to operate, maintain, and improve the Service and as permitted by these Terms and the Privacy Policy. We will not use a family's memorial photographs to market the Service without separate, specific permission.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to (and not to allow any teammate, agent, or third party to):

• publish a memorial without the authorization described in Section 2, or impersonate a family, a deceased person, or another funeral home;
• use the Service in any unlawful manner, to violate the rights of any third party, or to publish content that is fraudulent, defamatory, obscene, infringing, harassing, threatening, or that exploits or degrades the deceased or the bereaved;
• upload content that infringes intellectual property or publicity/privacy rights, contains malware, or is designed to interfere with the Service;
• attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, scrape, harvest, or otherwise access non-public portions of the Service or extract data we have not authorized you to access;
• interfere with or disrupt the Service, including by overloading, flooding, or sending automated requests in volumes greater than a reasonable user would generate;
• circumvent any access control, authentication, rate limit, or other security measure;
• resell, lease, or sublicense the Service except as expressly authorized in writing by Pocket Lantern;
• use the Service to build a competing product, or in violation of applicable export-control or sanctions laws.

Pocket Lantern may investigate and take any action it deems appropriate against violations, including removing content, suspending or terminating accounts, and cooperating with law enforcement — without notice and without liability to you, except as required by Section 11 (EU Digital Services Act).

7. Account, teams, and security

You sign in with a Google account. You are responsible for all activity under your account and for keeping your Google account secure. Pocket Lantern is not liable for losses arising from unauthorized access to your Google account or credentials. Notify us promptly of suspected unauthorized use.

Account owners may invite colleagues with the role "Manager" or "Editor." The owner is responsible for managing role assignments and revocations and represents that invited colleagues are authorized to view and modify the funeral home's memorial data within the limits of their role.

Pocket Lantern uses commercially reasonable measures to protect the Service, but no system is impenetrable. Pocket Lantern is not liable for unauthorized access to, alteration of, or destruction of your account or Your Content by third parties, except as required by applicable law (including GDPR Articles 33–34 breach notification, as detailed in the Privacy Policy). You are responsible for maintaining your own records of memorial content.

8. Subscriptions, billing, auto-renewal, refunds

Pocket Lantern offers paid subscription plans ("Pro" and "Group"). Pricing is shown at sign-up and may be updated for new billing periods on notice. Subscriptions are billed in advance on a recurring basis through Stripe.

Automatic renewal disclosure (California Bus. & Prof. Code § 17600 et seq.): Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each billing period at the then-current rate until you cancel. You may cancel at any time through your account billing portal; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. We do not provide refunds for partial periods, unused time, or downgrades, except where required by law (including, for EEA/UK consumers, the right of withdrawal in Section 18).

Taxes, including VAT, GST, and sales tax, are collected as required by law via Stripe Tax. You are responsible for any taxes assessed on your use of the Service.

9. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Pocket Lantern, its affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, contractors, suppliers, and licensors from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, investigations, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to:

• Your Content or your use of the Service;
• your failure to obtain the family/next-of-kin authorization described in Section 2;
• your violation of these Terms, the Privacy Policy, or any applicable law (including data-protection, publicity, or post-mortem privacy laws);
• your violation of any third-party right, including intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights of any person named or depicted in a memorial;
• any error in memorial content (including a name, date, time, or location) and any reliance on it by a family or guest;
• any dispute between you and a family, an estate, a guest, an employee, a contractor, or any other third party.

Pocket Lantern may, at its own expense, assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you must indemnify us, and you agree to cooperate. This indemnification is subject to mandatory consumer protections under Section 18 to the extent applicable.

10. Intellectual property

The Service, including its software, design, trademarks (including "Pocket Lantern"), graphics, and other content provided by us, is owned by Pocket Lantern and its licensors and protected by intellectual property laws. Except for the limited right to use the Service in accordance with these Terms, no rights are granted to you in any Pocket Lantern IP.

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, send a notice under the U.S. DMCA to legal@pocketlantern.org. For EU users, see Section 11. Pocket Lantern respects intellectual property rights and will respond to valid notices.

11. EU Digital Services Act (DSA) — notice-and-action

Pocket Lantern acts as a hosting service provider with respect to user-generated content (memorials, obituaries, photos, etc.) and complies with the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065).

• Single point of contact (Art. 11 DSA): legal@pocketlantern.org. Working language: English.
• Legal representative (Art. 13 DSA, where applicable): Pocket Lantern will appoint and publish a legal representative in the EU prior to crossing the relevant thresholds. Until then, contact the email above.
• Notice-and-action mechanism (Art. 16 DSA): Any individual or entity — including a family member who objects to a memorial — may notify Pocket Lantern of allegedly illegal content by emailing legal@pocketlantern.org with: (i) a substantiated explanation; (ii) the URL; (iii) the notifier's name and email; (iv) a good-faith statement of accuracy. We process notices in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary, and objective manner.
• Statement of reasons (Art. 17 DSA): When Pocket Lantern restricts or removes content or an account for moderation reasons, the affected user receives a clear statement of reasons by email.
• Internal complaint handling (Art. 20 DSA): Users may appeal moderation decisions within six months. We review and respond without undue delay.
• Out-of-court dispute settlement (Art. 21 DSA): EU users may refer disputes to a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body.

12. Modifications to the Service and to these Terms

Pocket Lantern may modify the Service or these Terms at any time. For a material change to these Terms, we will (a) post an updated version at this URL, (b) update the version identifier and effective date, and (c) re-present the clickwrap acceptance step so you can review and accept. Continued use after the change indicates acceptance.

If you do not agree to a change, your sole remedy is to stop using the Service and cancel any paid subscription.

13. Dispute resolution — binding arbitration & class-action waiver (U.S. users)

Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights, including your right to file a lawsuit in court and to participate in a class action. This Section 13 applies only to users not residing in the EEA, UK, Switzerland, or another jurisdiction whose mandatory consumer protection law prohibits pre-dispute arbitration. EEA/UK/CH/Brazil consumers: see Section 18.

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service ("Dispute") that cannot be resolved through informal negotiation within thirty (30) days of written notice will be resolved by final and binding individual arbitration administered by JAMS under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules then in effect. Arbitration will take place in Seattle, Washington (King County), or by remote means as the arbitrator may direct.

You and Pocket Lantern each waive any right to a jury trial. You and Pocket Lantern each waive any right to bring or participate in a class, collective, consolidated, or representative action. Disputes must be brought only on an individual basis.

30-day opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration provision by sending written notice to legal@pocketlantern.org within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, stating your name, email, and a clear statement that you opt out. Opting out does not waive any other provision.

Notwithstanding the above, either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in court to prevent infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property, and small-claims actions remain available if your claim qualifies.

14. Governing law, venue, and severability

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, USA, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles, except where the mandatory law of your country of residence applies (see Section 18).

Any matter not subject to arbitration under Section 13, and not otherwise governed by Section 18, must be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in King County, Washington (Seattle), and you consent to personal jurisdiction there.

If any provision is held unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary or severed, and the remaining provisions remain in full force. Pocket Lantern's failure to enforce any right is not a waiver. These Terms, with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement regarding the Service.

15. Force majeure

Pocket Lantern will not be liable for any failure or delay due to causes beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, labor disputes, pandemic, denial-of-service attacks, security breaches, or failures of third-party services (including Vercel, Supabase, Stripe, Google, or any network or hosting provider).

16. Assignment, notices, contact

You may not assign these Terms without Pocket Lantern's prior written consent. Pocket Lantern may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets.

Pocket Lantern may give notices to you by email to the address associated with your account, by posting on pocketlantern.org, or in the Service. You may send legal notices, DSA notices, DMCA notices, takedown requests, and arbitration opt-outs to legal@pocketlantern.org.

17. Memorial disclaimer — read me

Pocket Lantern is a software tool for publishing memorial programs. It is not a funeral director, registrar, or legal advisor, and it does not verify the authorization, accuracy, or legality of memorial content. You are solely responsible for obtaining the family's authorization and for the accuracy and lawfulness of any memorial you publish. Pocket Lantern disclaims all liability for any harm — including distress arising from an error in a memorial, a missed or changed service detail, or a dispute among family members — arising from Your Content or from anyone's reliance on it.

18. Additional rights — EEA, UK, Switzerland, and Brazil consumers

If you are an individual residing in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland, or Brazil and you use the Service as a consumer (not in the course of trade, business, craft, or profession), the following apply in addition to or in modification of the foregoing and prevail over any conflicting term to the extent of the conflict:

18.1 Mandatory consumer protections preserved

Nothing in these Terms — including Sections 3, 4, 9, 13, or 14 — limits or excludes any right, remedy, or warranty granted to you by the mandatory consumer protection law of your country of residence. Such protections continue to apply regardless of any contrary provision.

18.2 Governing law for consumers

In accordance with Article 6 of EU Regulation 593/2008 (Rome I) and analogous rules in the UK, Switzerland, and Brazil, your use of these Terms does not deprive you of the protection of the mandatory provisions of the law of your country of habitual residence.

18.3 Forum for consumers

You may bring proceedings against Pocket Lantern in the courts of your country of residence, in addition to or instead of the venue in Section 14. Pocket Lantern may bring proceedings against you only in the courts of your country of residence.

18.4 Pre-dispute arbitration and class waivers — not applicable to consumers

The binding arbitration and class-action waiver in Section 13 do not apply to you. You may pursue claims through the courts of your jurisdiction, or — for EU users — through the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.

18.5 Right of withdrawal (EEA & UK)

Under Directive 2011/83/EU (and the UK's Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013), you have the right to withdraw from a paid subscription within 14 days of purchase, without reason, by an unequivocal statement (e.g., email to legal@pocketlantern.org). Because the Service begins immediately upon purchase, by purchasing you expressly consent to immediate performance and acknowledge that you lose the right of withdrawal once we have begun providing the Service (Art. 16(m) of Directive 2011/83/EU). To the extent you withdraw before performance has begun, we will refund the corresponding portion.

18.6 Statutory remedies for non-conformity (EEA & UK)

Where applicable, Directive (EU) 2019/770 grants remedies including bringing the Service into conformity, a proportionate price reduction, or termination for serious non-conformity. These statutory rights apply in addition to anything stated elsewhere and are not limited by Sections 3 or 4.

18.7 Liability cap not applicable to certain losses

For consumers, the liability cap in Section 4 does not limit Pocket Lantern's liability for (i) death or personal injury caused by negligence; (ii) gross negligence or willful misconduct; (iii) fraud; or (iv) any other liability that cannot be excluded by mandatory law.

18.8 GDPR / UK GDPR / LGPD

Your rights under the GDPR, UK GDPR, the Swiss FADP, and Brazil's LGPD — including access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, objection, complaint to a supervisory authority, and withdrawal of consent — are set out in our Privacy Policy and apply regardless of anything in these Terms.

18.9 California consumer rights

California residents may report complaints to the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95834, or by phone at (800) 952-5210. See our Privacy Policy for CCPA/CPRA rights.