Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using the MergeFund service ("Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not access or use the Service.

You agree to these Terms by clicking "I agree," creating an account, or otherwise accessing or using the Service.

2. Description of the Service

MergeFund is a platform designed to help connect software projects with contributors, including through issue listings, contribution workflows, and optional bounty or incentive mechanisms (where available). The Service may include:

• Repository and issue discovery features
• Contribution and workflow tools
• Analytics and insights (if enabled)
• Payment-related features for bounties or rewards (if enabled)

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old (or the minimum age required in your jurisdiction) to use the Service.

If the Service enables payments through Stripe, you must be at least 13 years old to create a Stripe account. If you are under 18, a parent or legal guardian must assume the role of account owner and be responsible for any connected Stripe account, including agreeing to Stripe's terms and completing any required identity verification. By using the Service, you represent that you meet these requirements.

4. User Accounts

4.1 Account Creation

To access certain features, you may need to create an account (for example, by signing in with a third-party provider). You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and for all activity that occurs under your account.

4.2 Account Security

You agree to:

• Provide accurate information as prompted
• Maintain the security of your account
• Notify us promptly if you suspect unauthorized access or use of your account

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for unlawful, harmful, or fraudulent purposes
• Attempt to access systems or data you are not authorized to access
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service (including by introducing malware)
• Use automated systems (bots, scrapers, or similar) to access the Service without our written permission
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code or underlying systems beyond what is permitted by law
• Impersonate others or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity

6. Roles and Responsibilities

To make the Service work, different users may act in different roles:

• Project Owner means a person or entity that controls or represents a software project or repository listed on the Service.
• Maintainer means a person with repository permissions to review, accept, reject, or merge contributions for a project.
• Sponsor means a person or entity that funds, posts, or offers a bounty or reward (this may be the Project Owner, a Maintainer, or a third party).
• Contributor means a person who submits work, code, pull requests, issues, comments, or other contributions in connection with a project or bounty.

Authority and decisions. Unless explicitly stated otherwise in a bounty listing, the Sponsor and/or the applicable Maintainer controls scope, technical requirements, and acceptance decisions for contributions and bounty submissions. The Company is not a party to agreements between Sponsors and Contributors.

7. Bounties, Payments, and Financial Terms (If Enabled)

If the Service provides payment features (including bounties, rewards, or payouts), the terms in this section apply.

7.1 Payment processing and third parties

We may use third-party payment processors (including Stripe). Your use of those services is subject to their terms and policies. The Company is not responsible for payment processor actions, delays, or decisions.

7.2 Bounty listing terms, scope, and acceptance criteria

Each bounty listing should define the scope, requirements, and acceptance criteria. Sponsors are responsible for writing clear acceptance criteria.

What counts as "completed." A submission is considered "completed" only when the Sponsor and/or the designated Maintainer confirms in the Service (or in writing) that the submission meets the stated acceptance criteria.

No guarantee of merge or acceptance. A pull request does not need to be merged for a bounty to be rejected, and a merged pull request does not automatically mean a bounty must be paid, unless the bounty listing explicitly says so.

7.3 Rejection, disputes, and platform involvement

Sponsors and Maintainers may reject submissions that do not meet scope, quality, security, license, or acceptance criteria requirements.

The Company may, but is not required to, assist with disputes. We may suspend accounts, remove listings, pause payouts, or take other actions if we reasonably believe there is fraud, abuse, policy violations, duplicate work, or other misconduct.

7.4 Duplicate work, fraud, and abuse

Sponsors may receive multiple similar submissions. Unless a bounty listing states otherwise, only one submission may be selected for payout.

We may withhold, reverse, or refuse payouts where we reasonably suspect:

• Fraud or misrepresentation
• Plagiarism or unauthorized copying
• Duplicate submissions or collusion
• Malicious code, security exploits, or backdoors
• Attempts to manipulate reviews, rankings, or outcomes

7.5 Chargebacks, reversals, refunds

Payments may be subject to chargebacks, reversals, disputes, or refunds initiated through payment processors.

If a payout is reversed (including due to a chargeback), you agree that we may recover the amount from future payouts or require repayment to the extent permitted by law.

Refunds, if any, are determined by the Sponsor's listing terms and any applicable payment processor rules. The Company does not guarantee refunds.

7.6 Taxes

You are responsible for any taxes or reporting obligations arising from payments you send or receive. We do not provide tax advice.

8. License Compatibility and Open Source Notice

Projects listed on the Service are typically open source and governed by their own repository licenses and contribution rules.

You are responsible for ensuring that your contributions, submissions, and use of code comply with:

• The repository's license and contribution guidelines
• Any third-party license obligations (including attribution, notice, and copyleft requirements)
• Applicable laws

No guarantee of merge or rights. Sponsors, Project Owners, and Maintainers are not required to merge or accept any pull request. The Company does not grant you any ownership rights in third-party repositories or code.

9. User Content and Submissions

You may submit content such as profile details, issue descriptions, proposals, comments, code, pull requests, or other materials ("User Content"). You represent and warrant that:

• You have the rights necessary to submit the User Content
• Your User Content does not violate any law or the rights of others

You grant the Company a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, and distribute User Content solely as necessary to operate, secure, and improve the Service.

10. Intellectual Property and Copyright Complaints

The Service, including its design, text, graphics, branding, and software (excluding User Content), is owned by the Company and/or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws.

Because the Service may host user-submitted content, we respond to valid notices of alleged copyright infringement and may remove content and terminate repeat infringers where appropriate.

Copyright complaint process. If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, contact us at support@mergefund.org with:

• Your name and contact information
• Identification of the copyrighted work you believe is infringed
• Identification of the content you believe is infringing and enough information to locate it
• A statement that you have a good faith belief the use is not authorized
• A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on their behalf
• Your physical or electronic signature

We may request additional information before acting.

11. Third-Party Services and Third-Party Code Disclaimer

The Service may integrate with, rely on, or link to third-party services (for example, source control providers, authentication providers, hosting services, analytics tools, or payment processors). Your use of third-party services is subject to their respective terms and privacy policies. The Company is not responsible for third-party services' practices, availability, or content.

Third-party code and repositories. The Service may display or link to repositories, pull requests, code, or other materials provided by third parties. We do not control, review, or guarantee that third-party code is safe, secure, accurate, or free of malware. You are responsible for reviewing and testing any code before using it.

12. Changes to the Service

We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time, including features and availability, without liability to you.

13. Termination

13.1 Termination by You

You may stop using the Service at any time. If you want to request account deletion, you may contact us at support@mergefund.org. We will handle deletion requests in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable law.

13.2 Termination or Suspension by Us

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service if we reasonably believe you:

• Violated these Terms
• Used the Service in a fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful manner
• Posed a security risk to the Service or other users

14. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE COMPANY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

15. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE COMPANY AND ITS OPERATORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE.

16. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Company and its operators from any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to your use of the Service, your User Content, or your violation of these Terms.

17. Dispute Resolution and Venue

17.1 Informal resolution

Before filing a claim, you agree to contact us at support@mergefund.org and provide a brief description of the dispute and your requested resolution. We will try to resolve disputes informally.

17.2 Venue (court option)

If we cannot resolve the dispute informally, you agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Rhode Island, and you consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

17.3 Class action waiver (optional but common)

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree that disputes will be brought on an individual basis only, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, or representative action.

(If you want arbitration instead of courts, tell me and I will swap Section 17.2 with a clean arbitration clause.)

18. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will post the updated Terms and update the "Last updated" date. Your continued use of the Service after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

19. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Rhode Island, United States of America, without regard to its conflict of law principles.

20. Contact Information

If you have questions about these Terms, contact:

Email: support@mergefund.org
Company: MergeFund