Terms of Use

1. About OpenSpeak

OpenSpeak is a free, open-source augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) application and accompanying website. OpenSpeak is being operated as an initiative preparing to become a fiscally sponsored project of Social Good Fund, a California 501(c)(3) public charity. References to "the OpenSpeak AAC Foundation," "we," "us," or "our" refer to the project and its operators, regardless of incorporation status at the time of use.

2. Acceptance of these terms

By downloading, installing, or using the OpenSpeak app, or by visiting openspeakaac.org, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. If you are accepting on behalf of a child, an organization, or another person, you represent that you have authority to do so.

3. Who can use OpenSpeak

• OpenSpeak is intended for use by parents, legal guardians, caregivers, educators, speech-language pathologists, and other adults supporting non-verbal children or individuals with communication needs.
• Children may use OpenSpeak only with the active supervision and authorization of an adult who has set up and configured the app on their behalf.
• If you are under 18, you may use OpenSpeak only with the involvement of a parent or guardian who agrees to these Terms.
• If you are accessing OpenSpeak on behalf of a school district, clinic, or other organization, you represent you have authority to accept these Terms on the organization's behalf.

4. Parental and caregiver responsibility

OpenSpeak is designed to be configured and supervised by a responsible adult. The adult is solely responsible for:

• Creating and managing child or learner profiles, including the information entered into those profiles.
• Setting and safeguarding the parent-mode PIN.
• Reviewing AI-suggested symbols before adding them to a child's board.
• Determining whether OpenSpeak is appropriate for a specific child given their communication, developmental, sensory, or clinical needs.
• Supervising the child's use of the device on which OpenSpeak is installed.

For more on how we handle children's data, see our Children's Privacy Notice.

5. The service

OpenSpeak provides:

• Symbol-based communication with text-to-speech output.
• Multiple learner profiles with customizable settings.
• Offline functionality for the sentence builder, grammar engine, text-to-speech, and progress tracking. Symbol images are sourced from the public ARASAAC library and cached locally after first display; once cached they are available offline.
• Optional cloud backup when you sign in with Google (Android) or Apple (iOS).
• On-device progress tracking and communication analytics.
• Support for multiple languages.

Cloud backup is the only feature that requires an active internet connection. All other features work without internet once symbol images have been cached on the device.

We may add, modify, suspend, or remove features at any time. We will provide reasonable notice for material changes that affect existing users.

6. User accounts

• Creating an account is optional. OpenSpeak works fully offline without an account.
• If you sign in with Google or Apple, your identity is managed by those providers; we receive only the limited fields described in our Privacy Policy.
• You are responsible for the security of your account credentials and the parent-mode PIN.
• You can delete your account at any time at openspeakaac.org/delete-account or by emailing support@openspeakaac.org.

8. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use OpenSpeak for any unlawful purpose or in any way that violates these Terms.
• Attempt to access another user's data or account.
• Upload, create, or distribute content that is illegal, harmful, harassing, sexually explicit, or otherwise inappropriate ... especially in contexts viewable by children.
• Reverse engineer the app except as expressly permitted by the open-source license that covers the relevant source code.
• Interfere with, probe, or stress-test our servers or infrastructure.
• Use OpenSpeak to harm, distress, mislead, manipulate, or coerce a child.
• Use OpenSpeak to develop a competing commercial product without complying with the open-source license terms.
• Resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit the ARASAAC symbol library in violation of its Creative Commons license (see Section 10).

9. User content

"User content" means any data you create or upload through OpenSpeak, including child profiles, custom symbols, sentences, photos used for custom symbols, and configurations.

• You own your user content. We do not claim ownership.
• License to operate. To deliver the service, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, revocable license to store, process, transmit, and display your user content on your devices and (if you opt in) on our cloud infrastructure, solely to provide the service to you.
• Responsibility. You represent and warrant that you have the rights to all user content you upload, including any photos used to create custom symbols.
• Removal. We may remove user content that violates these Terms or applicable law.

10. Intellectual property

a. OpenSpeak software and brand

OpenSpeak source code is released under the license stated in the public source repository. The "OpenSpeak" name, the OpenSpeak logo, and related branding are trademarks of the OpenSpeak project and may not be used to imply endorsement without our written permission.

b. ARASAAC symbols

OpenSpeak includes pictographic symbols from ARASAAC (Aragonese Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication), produced by the Government of Aragon. Symbols are licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0. You may use the symbols within OpenSpeak for personal, educational, and clinical (non-commercial) purposes. You may not use ARASAAC symbols for commercial purposes outside of OpenSpeak.

c. Your content

Custom symbols, learner profiles, and other content you create remain your property. We do not claim ownership.

11. Open-source software

OpenSpeak is built on a stack that includes open-source components. The applicable open-source licenses (for the OpenSpeak codebase and for third-party libraries we incorporate) are listed in our public source repository. You may use, modify, and redistribute the open-source portions of OpenSpeak under the terms of those licenses.

12. Medical and therapy disclaimer

• OpenSpeak makes no claims of therapeutic outcomes. Every learner is different and results will vary.
• Always consult a licensed speech-language pathologist, physician, or other qualified professional for diagnosis, treatment, and decisions about communication supports.
• Do not delay seeking professional advice because of something you saw or experienced in OpenSpeak.
• OpenSpeak is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, nor by any equivalent international body, as a medical device. If your jurisdiction would regulate AAC tools as medical devices in your clinical setting, do not deploy OpenSpeak in that setting without confirming compliance with local law.

13. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

For purposes of this Section and the Indemnification Section that follows, "OpenSpeak Parties" means OpenSpeak AAC, the OpenSpeak AAC Foundation, our fiscal sponsor (once retained), our parent, subsidiary, and affiliated entities, and each of our and their respective founders, officers, directors, board members, employees, volunteers, contractors, agents, licensors, service providers, suppliers, and successors and assigns. No individual founder, officer, director, board member, employee, volunteer, contractor, or agent of any OpenSpeak Party shall have any personal liability under these Terms or arising out of or related to the OpenSpeak service.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:

• "As is" and "as available": OpenSpeak is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, non-infringement, or quiet enjoyment.
• No warranty of accuracy: We do not warrant that translations, symbol selections, sentence predictions, or any output of the app will be accurate, complete, or suitable for any particular use.
• No liability for indirect damages: To the fullest extent permitted by law, no OpenSpeak Party will be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including loss of data, lost profits, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or related to your use of OpenSpeak, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
• Cap on direct damages: The aggregate liability of all OpenSpeak Parties combined for direct damages arising from these Terms or your use of OpenSpeak shall not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the twelve months prior to the claim (which is generally $0 for the free service) or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).
• No personal liability of founders, directors, officers, employees, or volunteers: You acknowledge and agree that any claim relating to OpenSpeak shall be brought solely against the OpenSpeak entity providing the service and not against any individual founder, officer, director, board member, employee, volunteer, contractor, or agent in their personal capacity. You expressly waive any right to assert any claim against such individuals personally.
• Free service acknowledgment: You acknowledge that OpenSpeak is provided to you at no cost, that we receive no consideration from you for the service, and that the limitations set forth in this Section are an essential, bargained-for element of providing OpenSpeak free of charge to the public. Without these limitations, we could not offer OpenSpeak for free.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages. The limitations in this Section apply to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. If any portion of this Section is held unenforceable, the remainder shall continue in full force and effect.

14. Indemnification

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless all OpenSpeak Parties (as defined above, including each founder, officer, director, board member, employee, volunteer, contractor, and agent in their individual capacity) from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, damages, losses, liabilities, settlements, judgments, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees and costs of investigation) arising out of or in any way related to: (a) your use or misuse of OpenSpeak; (b) your user content; (c) your violation of these Terms; (d) your violation of any law, regulation, or right of any third party (including any child for whom you are responsible); or (e) any act or omission by you in connection with the OpenSpeak service. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify us, and you agree to cooperate with our defense of any such claim.

15. Dispute resolution and arbitration (U.S. residents)

If you reside in the United States, you and the OpenSpeak Parties agree to resolve any dispute arising out of or relating to OpenSpeak or these Terms as follows:

1. Informal resolution first. Before filing a claim, you agree to email us at support@openspeakaac.org with a description of the dispute and to negotiate in good faith for at least 60 days. No arbitration or litigation may be commenced until this informal resolution period has expired.
2. Binding arbitration. If the dispute is not resolved during the informal resolution period, you and the OpenSpeak Parties agree to resolve it through final and binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules (or, if AAA is unavailable, JAMS). The arbitrator's decision shall be final and binding, and judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.
3. Scope. This arbitration agreement covers all claims of any kind, including but not limited to contract, tort (including negligence and strict liability), statutory, and common-law claims, and applies equally to claims against any individual founder, officer, director, board member, employee, volunteer, contractor, or agent of any OpenSpeak Party.
4. No class actions; no representative actions. All disputes will be resolved on an individual basis. You expressly waive any right to participate in any class action, collective action, mass action, private attorney general action, or any other representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate claims of multiple persons or preside over any form of representative proceeding.
5. Small-claims exception. Either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court if it qualifies and remains in that court.
6. Right to opt out. You can opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing support@openspeakaac.org with the subject line "Arbitration Opt-Out" within 30 days of first agreeing to these Terms, and including your full name and the email address associated with your use of OpenSpeak. Opting out does not affect any other terms. Opting out of arbitration does NOT waive the class-action waiver in subsection (4) above, which applies regardless.
7. Severability. If the class-action waiver is found unenforceable as to any particular claim, that claim (and only that claim) shall be severed and brought in court; the remainder of this arbitration agreement shall remain in full force.

The Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this Section.

16. International users and governing law

For users outside the United States, these Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California (excluding its conflict-of-law principles), and disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in San Francisco County, California, unless mandatory consumer protection laws in your country require otherwise. Nothing in these Terms is intended to deprive you of consumer protections that cannot be waived under your local law.

EU/UK users retain the protections of mandatory consumer law in their country of residence.

17. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Effective Date" above. For material changes, we will provide notice (in-app, by email, or by website banner) at least 14 days before the change takes effect. Your continued use of OpenSpeak after the change becomes effective constitutes acceptance.

18. Termination

You may stop using OpenSpeak at any time by uninstalling the app. We may suspend or terminate access to accounts that violate these Terms or applicable law. Upon termination, your local on-device data remains on your device. Cloud-stored data is deleted within 30 days of an account deletion request.

19. DMCA / copyright complaints

If you believe content in OpenSpeak infringes your copyright, send a written DMCA notice to dmca@openspeakaac.org (or to support@openspeakaac.org if dmca@ is not yet provisioned) that includes:

• A description of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed.
• A description of the allegedly infringing material and its location in OpenSpeak.
• Your name, address, phone number, and email.
• A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and that you are the rights holder or authorized to act on their behalf.
• Your physical or electronic signature.

We will respond to valid notices in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512.