Terms of Service
Valid from November 1st, 2018
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE OR THE APP
These terms of service (“Terms of Service”) (together with the documents they refer to) tell you the terms on which you may make use of Cookpad’s website (“Site”) or mobile application (“App”). Use of the Site or the App includes accessing, browsing, or registering to use Site or App.
This Site and App are operated by the UK registered branch of Cookpad Inc., a corporation registered at 4-20-3 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan ("we", "us", "our" or "Cookpad") and its affiliates (being entities controlling, controlled by or under common control with Cookpad).
By using our Site or App, you confirm that you accept and agree to comply with these Terms of Service set out below. If you do not agree to these Terms of Service, you must not use our Site or App. We recommend that you keep a copy of these Terms of Service for future reference.
1. ADDITIONAL POLICIES
The following additional policies also apply to your use of our Site or App:
- Our Privacy Policy, which explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, the controls you have over your personal information and the procedures that we have in place to protect your privacy. It applies to personal information we collect through the Site and the App. Please make sure that you read our Privacy Policy carefully before using the Site or the App.
- Our Cookie Policy, which sets out information about the cookies on our Site and App.
- Our Community Guidelines, which set out the permitted uses and prohibited uses of our Site or App. These Community Guidelines form part of these Terms of Service, so references to Terms of Service includes them.
2. INFORMATION ABOUT US
We are the UK registered branch of Cookpad Inc., a corporation registered at 4-20-3 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan. The branch has an office at Silversmiths 1 – 3 Broad Plain, Bristol, BS2 0JP, United Kingdom.
If you have any question or complaint about our Site or App, or in any respect about Cookpad, please contact us at: [email protected]
3. INFORMATION ABOUT OUR SITE AND APP
Our Site and App provide you with an ability to share recipes with other users of our Site and App, and browse other users’ recipes (the “Cookpad Service”). Except for optional Premium Services that we may offer (see Section 7), the Cookpad Service is made available free of charge.
Our Site is designed to work on modern web browsers, major operating systems and platforms. Features and compatibility may vary between some web browsers, operating systems and platforms
We may use third party service providers in the provision of the Cookpad Service or in fulfilling our obligations under these Terms of Service.
We do not promise that our Site or App, any content on them, or services as may be provided by such third party service providers, will be free from errors or omissions.
4. IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING RECIPES
All recipes on our Site or App are provided for general information only and published by other users, like you, and not by Cookpad. Cookpad does not screen or check recipes before they are posted, so there may be some inappropriate, incorrect or unsafe recipes, ingredients or cooking methods. The recipes, comments and other information provided on our Site or App are not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and any use of or reliance on any recipe of other content provided on our Site or App is at your own risk.
Cookpad makes no statements, whether express or implied, about the accuracy, quality, safety or fitness for purpose of recipes published on the Cookpad Service.
Therefore:
- you should verify any unusual or novel ingredients or methods in a recipe by referring to other sources;
- you should comply at all times with any food safety notices or bulletins issued by your local government authority, and you should not expect the Cookpad Service to note or explain risks contained in food preparation, method or techniques of cooking or consumption of certain food; and
- if you are not an experienced cook, we advise that you take instruction from an experienced cook, or other appropriate authority, when using recipes from the Cookpad Service, particularly in respect of health and safety.
If you have any comments or concerns about any recipes or other content on the Cookpad Service or, if you believe that your copyrighted work has been infringed or are aware of other infringing, illegal or inappropriate material, please contact us at: [email protected]
5. USER REGISTRATION
With regard to our Site, you may visit and view the recipes without registration as a guest (“Guest”). However, you will have access to more features of the Cookpad Service if you create an account through registration. If you wish to register for an account to use the Cookpad Service, you will have to either complete the required account information as requested by us through submitting the application in such format as may be specified by us, or sign up by third party account (e.g. Facebook, Google).
We will conduct the necessary checks on your registration prior to or after the registration process and, once we accept, you will be registered as registered user (“Registered User”).
We reserve the right to suspend, withdraw or discontinue your account, account details or password in the following circumstances. Where possible, we will give you notice of our intention to do this, and give you an opportunity to appeal:
- you do not exist;
- you do not have an email address that could receive emails;
- you breach these Terms of Service;
- you have or appear to have intentionally provided false information to us;
- you are a minor and have not submitted the account information with the approval of a parent or guardian;
- to respond to actual or potential threats to our business (such as cyber-security threats), or unwelcome or dangerous practices or behaviours in our community; or
- for any of the reasons set out in Section 18 below.
6. YOUR ACCOUNT AND PASSWORD
If you choose to become a Registered User, you must treat your account information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party. You accept full responsibility and liability for all activities that occur under your account, except where it is our fault.
If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your account, you must promptly notify us at [email protected]
7. PREMIUM SERVICES
Availability. We may provide an optional subscription fee-based service (“Premium Service”) that is directed at certain countries. If the Premium Service is available in your area, it may be available on our Site ("Premium Web Service") and/or App ("Premium App Service") or both.
Use. Regardless of whether you subscribe to the Premium Service via our Site or App, use of the Premium Service and its features is available to you on both the Premium Web Service and Premium App Service where available in your country or area. However, the features and functions available may vary depending on whether you are using the Premium Web Service or Premium App Service.
8. PREMIUM SERVICE FEES
Subscription Fees. If the Premium Service is available to you, the fees for the Premium Service will be set out on our Site or in our App (“Subscription Fees”). The Subscription Fees may vary according to the country at which the Premium Service is directed, and whether you subscribe to the Premium Service via our Site or our App. If subscribing through our App, the Subscription Fees may also vary according to whether you use the iOS or Android platform. The Subscription Fees for the Premium Service are payable as follows:
Premium Service Subscribed to via Our Site: Subscription Fees. If you subscribe to the Premium Service via our Site, Subscription Fees are payable on a pre-paid basis for a fixed duration. Once the fixed duration has come to an end, your subscription will terminate unless you enter into a further fixed term subscription.
Premium Service Subscribed to via Our App: Subscription Fees. If you subscribe to the Premium Service from our App, Subscription Fees are payable on a monthly basis and your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each month and the applicable Subscription Fees shall be due unless your subscription is cancelled in accordance with Section 9.
Payment. At the time of subscribing to the Premium Service, you will be asked to pay the Subscription Fee by a payment method as may be designated by us or our payment processor time to time. The payment method may vary depending on your location and whether you subscribe to the Premium Service via our Site or App.
Payment for Premium Service Subscribed to via Our App. You can subscribe to the Premium Service from our App (Android / iOS). By providing payment processor authorised by Google Inc. or Apple Inc. (“Authorised Payment Processor”) with the details of a payment method, you (i) promise that you are authorised to use the payment method that you provided; (ii) promise that any payment information you provide is true and accurate; and (iii) authorise the Authorised Payment Processor to take payment of the Subscription Fees on a recurring monthly basis until your subscription to the Premium Service is cancelled by you as described in Section 9, or is terminated by us in accordance with these Terms of Service. You must keep the details for your chosen payment method up to date, and ensure there are enough funds to cover the cost of the Subscription Fees. To change your payment information, please refer to the following pages: Android / iOS. If you submit updated information regarding your payment method, you agree to permit the Authorised Payment Processor to use the updated information to collect payment from you. Changes made to your payment information will not apply to Subscription Fees that were already submitted for payment.
Third-Party Charges. We or our payment processor are not responsible for any charges or fees imposed by your bank, credit or debit card issuer, or other account provider on payment of the Subscription Fees or any costs that may be incurred as a result of failed attempts to take such payment. We or our payment processor may re-attempt to take payment at any time. If we cannot take successful payment we may terminate or suspend your use of the Premium Service, however you will still owe us Subscription Fees up until the point of termination or suspension and (in the case of suspension) for the period during which your account is suspended, to the extent permitted by applicable laws. We or our payment processor may contact you if your bank, card issuer or other account provider declines payment of the Subscription Fees or refuses to authorise a recurring payment for the Subscription Fees.
Changes to the Fees. We may increase or decrease the Subscription Fees at any time in our sole discretion (including the introduction of charges for aspects of the Premium Service that were previously provided at no extra cost) and in that case, we will notify you reasonably in advance the price change takes effect, such as by sending you email or by a message displayed through the Cookpad Service. If you do not agree to the changed Subscription Fees, you may cancel your subscription to the Premium Service within thirty (30) days after we notify you of the change. If you do not cancel your subscription, then you will be deemed to have accepted the change and we will start charging the amended Subscription Fee.
9. CANCELLATION OF PREMIUM SERVICE
Cancellation of Premium Service Subscribed to via our Site. Subscriptions to our Premium Service are payable on a pre-paid basis for a fixed duration. Once you have purchased a Subscription for Premium Service for a fixed duration, your Subscription will last for the duration selected and you will not be able to cancel it unless we breach these Terms of Service or you are otherwise permitted to. At the end of the applicable Subscription period your Subscription will terminate unless you purchase an additional Subscription.
Cancellation of Premium Service Subscribed to via Our App. To cancel your monthly subscription to our Premium Service, please refer to the following pages: Android / iOS. Cancellation will take effect at the end of the then-current monthly billing period. SUBSCRIPTION FEES ARE NONREFUNDABLE AND THERE ARE NO REFUNDS OR CREDITS FOR PARTIAL MONTHLY BILLING PERIODS.
10. CONTENT OWNER AND RIGHTS YOU LICENCE
We do not claim ownership of any recipes, photographs, graphics, comments, information, data, text or other materials you upload or post on our Site or App ("Content").
However, when you upload Content, including a recipe, to our Site or App, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, on-going and transferable right and licence (which we may also grant to affiliates and a third party(ies), including other users) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, translate, publish, transmit, display and distribute (including via third parties) that Content or derivatives of it, in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed) for any and all of our business activities. You also agree that:
- this licence includes the right for us to provide promote and commercially exploit Content uploaded to our Site or App in any means, manner or form to or with other users or persons who partner with us for the distribution or publication of Content on other media and services;
- such additional uses by us, other users of our Site or App and other persons who partner with us for the distribution or publication of your Content may be done with no compensation paid to you with respect to Contents that you upload to our Site or App;
- you authorise us to report copyright infringement on your behalf to the designated agent, site owner, hosting provider or any other appropriate contact when we find your Content is infringed; and
- you waive or, where that is not possible, agree not to assert, all moral rights (and all similar rights in other jurisdictions) which you have or will have now or in the future in respect of your Content.
11. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Except for your Content, including your recipes, all intellectual property rights in the Cookpad Service and all materials on our Site or App, including design, graphics, text, pictures, software, other files and the selection and arrangement thereof (collectively, “Materials”) are owned by us and/or our licensors.
We give you permission to use the Materials to the extent, and only to the extent, necessary to access and use the Cookpad Service for your personal, non-commercial use in accordance with these Terms of Service. All other rights are expressly reserved.
Therefore:
- you must not use any part of the Materials, or our Site or App, for commercial purposes without obtaining an explicit consent to do so from us and/or (if applicable) our licensors;
- you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text; or
- you must not use Materials outside our Site or App, especially by deleting any identified contributors’ status as the authors of Materials on our Site or App.
12. CODE OF CONDUCT
You promise that you will not:
- infringe intellectual property rights of third parties, including without limitation, intellectual property rights such as copyright and trademark, of us, other users or third parties;
- infringe the property rights, privacy rights and image rights of us, other users or third parties;
- disclose information, such as the name, mailing address, telephone number and email address of a specific individual without authorisation, and by which any third party is able to identify the said individual;
- register multiple email addresses to obtain multiple accounts, while being a single user;
- obtain an account on behalf of a Registered User whose account has been suspended or terminated;
- discriminate against, harass, bully, intimidate, defame, or damage the reputation and credibility of, other users or third parties;
- alter and/or erase Materials made available through the Cookpad Service;
- impersonate us, other users or third parties (including doctoring email headers for the purpose of falsifying the source of email headers and the identity of the sender);
- transmit computer programmes or viruses that are harmful or cause other users or third parties to receive such programmes or viruses;
- accessing without authorisation, or conducting port scans, denial of service attacks, or spamming the facilities of other users or third parties or the facilities used by the Cookpad Service (including, without limitation, telecommunication facilities, computers and other equipment, as well as software that is used in the provision of the Cookpad Service by us) and/or causing or attempting to cause interference with the use or operation of such facilities;
- transmit, without authorisation, email that are advertisement or promotion or solicitation or that are of a repulsive nature (including spam); obstruct the receipt of email by other users or third parties; request the transmission of chain emails and/or transmission of chain emails in accordance with such requests;
- circulate information, equipment and software that are used for the purpose of disabling or circumventing the access control function of servers and other facilities;
- reproduce, modify, disassemble, reverse engineer or analyse the samples or software contained in the Materials (except to the extent permitted by law, and you agree to give notice to us in such circumstance);
- obtain account information without authorisation or through fraud (including, without limitation, by phishing or similar methods);
- use the Cookpad Service for commercial activities (including any incentivized activities), for profit and in anticipation of profit, unless prior written approval has been obtained from us;
- use the Cookpad Service for election campaign or other political activities;
- use the Cookpad Service in contravention of applicable laws and regulations;
- hinder the operation of the Cookpad Service or hinder the exchange or sharing of Content contributed by other users or third parties; or cause damages or losses to us, other users or third parties by damaging their credibility or infringing their intellectual property rights;
- cause significant hindrance to the operations of our business through repetitive, frivolous or vexatious enquiries or emails, which are beyond our obligations and/or are unreasonable;
- breach the Terms of Service; or impede public order and morality (including, without limitation, by transmitting or displaying Content that may promote and induce violence, illegal images or suicide);
- establish a link to our Site or App in order to encourage any of the actions, including those by third parties, described hereinabove;
- contravene such other requirements that we may impose from time to time at its sole and absolute discretion; or
- use the Cookpad Service in a manner that Cookpad reasonably deems unsuitable or inappropriate. Cookpad will refer to factors such as the typical use of Cookpad Service by the majority of its users, and general industry practice, when determining whether such use is unsuitable or inappropriate.
13. AUTOMATED IMAGE SCANNING
As an optional feature, Cookpad may offer automated image classification that assists you in uploading food-related images. If you choose to use this optional feature, the images available on your device will be sent to our servers and automatically scanned using automated image recognition software that attempts to identify which of your images are food-related. The images tentatively identified as food-related will be presented to you on your private page at our App, which you only have access to. You can manually remove unwanted images presented on the private page. Any images that are not identified as food-related, or that you removed manually, will be deleted from Cookpad’s servers.
14. RESPONSIBILITY FOR CONTENT
You are solely responsible for the Content that you post, upload, and/or publish using the Cookpad Service. We do not review or screen any of your Content before that Content appears or is shared.
You promise that:
- any Content you post or publish comply with these Terms of Service;
- you have the right to use, upload, post or publish Contents to our App or Site and grant the licences to us as set out in Section 10; and
- the use by Cookpad of the Contents you uploaded, posted or published will not infringe the rights of any third parties.
You agree and acknowledge that:
- we will not be responsible, or liable to any third party, for the Content or accuracy of any Content posted by you or any other user of our Site or App;
- we have the right to remove any Content you make available on our Site or App at our sole discretion, including; if, in our opinion, your Content does not comply with these Terms of Service, or if we believe that it is necessary to protect ourselves, other users or any third party; and
- you are solely responsible for securing and backing up your Content.
15. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS
We may revise these Terms of Service (“Changes”) at any time if:
- there are changes in applicable laws and regulations;
- there are changes in the specification or operation of the Cookpad Service;
- there are changes to Cookpad group policy or internal regulations;
- there are changes to the service specification or policy of external third party services used by Cookpad or connected to the Cookpad Service;
- there are changes to the business environment in which Cookpad operates;
- it is necessary to respond to actual or potential threats to our business (such as cyber-security threats), or unwelcome or dangerous practices or behaviours in our community;
- it is necessary to clarify or make a correction of any part of these Terms of Service; or
- of other, unanticipated, situations that may reasonably require us to revise these Terms of Service;
Please check this page from time to time to take notice of any such Changes that we make, as they are binding on you, unless you terminate your account. We will notify you of material Changes, including by posting when you visit our Site or App or by email to the email address registered upon your account registration.
If you continue to use Cookpad Service after a Change is made, you are agreeing to the Changes. If you do not accept a Change: (i) if you are a Guest or Registered User, please stop using Cookpad Service or (ii) if you are a user of Premium Service, you must terminate your subscription within thirty (30) days after we notify you of the Change (or you become aware of it, if earlier).
If you cease to use the Cookpad Service or terminate the Premium Service (as applicable) in accordance with the previous paragraph, the relevant Changes will not be binding on you. Please note that, even if the Changes are not binding on you, if you fail to terminate your subscription by your next renewal date, you will be charged a subscription fee for the following month’s service.
These Terms of Service were last updated on 1 November. We updated the Terms of Service to:
- amend the contracting entity from Cookpad Limited to the UK registered branch of Cookpad, Inc.; and
- make some general consumer law and clearer wording updates (including revisions to Sections 19 and 23, and a new Section 24).
16. CHANGES TO OUR SITE OR APP AND COOKPAD SERVICE
We may update our Site or App from time to time, and may change the Materials at any time. We also reserve the right to change and improve the features and functionality of the Cookpad Service at any time and at our sole discretion. This includes adding, modifying or removing specific features and functionality of the Cookpad Service. If we intend to remove any material functionality of the Premium Service to which you subscribe, we will give you reasonable advance notice. Please note that any of the Material on our Site or App may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update it.
17. TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT SUSPENSION OF COOKPAD SERVICE
We do not promise that Cookpad Service, or any Materials on the Site and App will always be available or be uninterrupted. We may suspend, withdraw, or discontinue all or any part of Cookpad Service without notice. We will not be liable to you if for any reason our Cookpad Service is unavailable at any time or for any period.
We may also suspend or cancel your access to or right to use the Cookpad Service where we are withdrawing them, in which case we will give you reasonable advance notice.
18. RESTRICTION, SUSPENSION OR CANCELLATION OF USE
We may restrict, suspend, withdraw or discontinue your access to or right to use the Cookpad Service without prior notice in the following circumstances. Where possible, we will give you notice of our intention to do this however:
- you have breached these Terms of Service;
- you have given us false information;
- you are using Cookpad Service illegally or in breach of any third party’s rights;
- you have not paid the Subscription Fees for Premium Service, we have reminded you of this and you still have not paid;
- it is necessary to protect ourselves, other users or any third party;
- it is likely that claims or proceedings may be brought against us by third parties due to circumstances that are connected to your use of Cookpad Service;
- it is not possible to establish contact with you through telephone, fax and/or email;
- it is an emergency; and/or
- it is necessary for operating Cookpad Service.
Restriction, suspension, withdrawal or discontinuation of the Cookpad Service could result in a permanent loss of access to and use of certain aspects of the services, including your own uploaded Content, even if you later re-register or re-subscribe to the Cookpad Service.
19. LIMITATION OF OUR LIABILITY
Nothing in these Terms of Service excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, or our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
We will not be liable to you for any losses or damages suffered by you that: (i) were not reasonably foreseeable at the time you accepted these Terms of Service - loss or damage is reasonably foreseeable if either it is obvious at the time you accepted these Terms of Service that it may happen, or both you and we knew it might happen, for example, if you and we discussed it; or (ii) are not caused by us breaching a term of these Terms of Service, or any other failure by us.
We will also not be liable to you for:
- any errors or omissions in any recipe or other Materials;
- use of or reliance on any Materials displayed on our Site or App;
- any unauthorised access to or use of our secure servers or any and all non-secured personal information;
- any interruption or the cessation of transmission to or from our Site or App;
- a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programmes, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our Site or App or to your downloading of any Materials on it, or on any website linked to it;
- the content of websites linked on our Site or App; or
- third party demands, assertions, claims, suits, actions or other proceedings brought against you from other users, alleging that your Contents infringes any third party’s intellectual property rights, or misappropriates a third party’s confidential information;
Limited Liability to Premium Service Registered Users We will only be liable to Registered User of the Premium Service up to a maximum aggregate limit of the Subscription Fees paid by that Registered User to us in respect of the Premium Service.
20. INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
In order to use our Site and our App, your device will need a connection to the internet. You are solely responsible for obtaining, at your own expense, any hardware, software, and third-party services (such as a wireless service plan purchased through a telecommunications service provider) necessary to connect your device(s) to the internet, including any data transfer fees that may be imposed by your chosen service provider and which, if you choose to upload large amounts of data such as image files, may be substantial.
21. THIRD PARTY LINKS AND RESOURCES IN OUR SITE OR APP
Where our Site or App contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.
22. THIRD PARTY RIGHTS
The parties intend that no person who is not party to these terms shall have any right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 or otherwise to enforce any term of these Terms of Service. No consent of any third party is required to vary these terms.
23. APPLICABLE LAW AND JURISDICTION
We will do our best to resolve any disputes over these Terms of Service.
These Terms of Service, their subject matter and its formation, are governed by English law. However, if you are a consumer and resident of any other European Union country you will benefit from, and if you are a consumer and resident of any other non- European Union country you might benefit from, mandatory provisions of, and legal rights available to you under, the laws of that country. Nothing in these Terms of Service affects your rights as a consumer to rely on these local law mandatory provisions and legal rights.
You and we both agree that the courts of England and Wales will have non-exclusive jurisdiction. However, if you are a consumer and resident of any other country you and we may also bring proceedings in that country.
24. ODR
The EU Commission has provided for an internet platform for online dispute resolution (“ODR Platform”). This ODR Platform serves as point for an alternative dispute resolution with regard to contractual obligations from online contracts. The ODR Platform is accessible at the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.
25. TRADEMARKS
“cookpad” and the cookpad logo are registered trademarks of Cookpad Inc. in Japan, the UK and certain other jurisdictions.
26. CONTACT US
To contact us, please email [email protected]
If you are residing in a country that is part of the European Union:
If you have started the Premium Service, you have the right to change your mind and receive a full refund within fourteen (14) days of first subscribing, by sending an email to us at [email protected] with the following:
I hereby give notice that I cancel my contract of subscription of the
Premium Services ordered on [ ](date)
Name of consumer(s):
Username:
Address of consumer(s):
Date:
If you are residing in Spain:
- You may contact us also in the phone number: 965225615
- The license on uploaded Content that you grant us under Section 10 shall be for the period of duration of the rights under any applicable law.
- Paragraph (iv) in Section 10 shall not apply and shall be deemed deleted.
- These Terms of Service can be printed and downloaded by you into a permanent support at any time.
If you are residing in US:
Cookpad complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. §512). If you believe that any material on our Site infringes your copyrights, please notify our designated agent at the following address: [email protected].
Your notification to our agent must include a description of your work that you believe has been infringed; the location on our Site where we can find the infringing material; your contact information including your name, address, telephone number, and email address; and a statement by you, signed under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner and that you believe the reported use of the material is unauthorized.
If you are residing in India:
You can also contact us by email at [email protected].
This T&C is an electronic record in terms of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (as amended / re-enacted) and rules there under, and is published in accordance with the provisions of Rule 3 (1) of the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics code) Rules, 2021, which mandates publishing of rules and regulations, privacy policy and terms of use for access or usage of the App. This electronic record is generated by a computer system and does not require any physical or digital signature.
About these Terms of Service
If any term, or part of a term, of these Terms of Service is disallowed or found to be unenforceable by any court or regulator, the other provisions shall continue to apply.
If you or we breach these Terms of Service and you or we take no action against the other, you or we will still be entitled to use our rights and remedies in any other situation where you or we break these Terms of Service.
Thank you for using the Cookpad Service.