Terms & Conditions

1. Acceptance

These Terms form a legally binding agreement between you and Albatross eCommerce LLC (doing business as “TributeOak”). By creating an account, publishing or contributing to a memorial, posting a guestbook entry, or making any purchase, you confirm that you have read and accepted these Terms, our Privacy Policy, and our Refund Policy, each of which is incorporated by reference. The Terms apply to every visitor to the Service, including those who interact without registering an account.

2. Accounts

• You must be at least 18 years old to register an account or use the Service.
• You are responsible for keeping your credentials confidential and for any activity carried out under your account.
• You agree to keep the information on your account accurate and current.
• If you believe your account has been used without your authorisation, write to support@tributeoak.com at once.
• You may hold only one account at a time, and you may not share your credentials with anyone else.

3. User conduct and content

• Truthful representation. You agree to provide accurate, factual information about the deceased. By creating a memorial you confirm that you have personal knowledge of the person memorialised, or proper authority to act on their behalf, and that you hold the rights and permissions for any photographs, written material, or other media you upload, including the right to share that material without infringing the rights of any third party.
• Content licence.You retain ownership of the content you submit (“User Content”). By posting User Content, you grant TributeOak a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable licence to host, store, display, reproduce, format for display, and distribute it as part of operating the Service. The licence remains in force until you delete the content or your account, except that: (a) entries posted in public areas of memorials (such as guestbook entries) may persist after deletion; (b) backup and archival copies may persist for a reasonable period; and (c) where an account ends, whether by you or by us, the licence continues to the extent necessary to keep memorials available in a read-only state, as set out in Section 12. The licence extends to service providers who help us operate the Service.
• Contributors. If you contribute to a memorial you did not create, for example, a guestbook entry, a story, or a photograph, the same licence applies. Memorial owners may moderate, edit, or remove contributions.
• Dignity. Memorials are places of remembrance. Lives are complicated and the truth sometimes includes difficulty, but you may not use the Service to shame, degrade, or harass the deceased or their family, or to inflict distress under cover of memorialising someone.
• Prohibited content and conduct. You may not post content that is unlawful, defamatory, hateful, threatening, harassing, or that infringes the rights of others. You may not impersonate a person living or dead. You may not attempt to interfere with the Service, gain unauthorised access to any system that supports it, exploit a vulnerability, or use the Service in any way that could harm or overload it.
• Editorial discretion. We may review, decline to publish, edit, hide, or remove any content or memorial at our sole discretion, with or without notice or explanation. We have no obligation to retain content we have removed.
• No general file storage.The Service is for memorialising the dead, not for storing unrelated files or operating a content delivery network. We may limit, throttle, or remove content where storage usage appears excessive or unrelated to a memorial’s purpose.
• No automated collection. You may not crawl, scrape, or otherwise extract content from the Service by automated means without our written permission, and you may not bypass any technical measures we put in place to limit such access.

4. Editorially written memorials

TributeOak publishes memorials written by our editorial team about lives we believe should be remembered (“Editorial Memorials”). The following terms apply to them in addition to the rest of these Terms.

• Sources. Editorial Memorials are compiled from publicly available sources, including news reports, public records, published memorials, encyclopaedic works, and other third-party material. Each is reviewed by an editor before publication.
• No affiliation. The presence of an Editorial Memorial does not imply that TributeOak is affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorised by the family, estate, or representatives of the person memorialised.
• Accuracy. We try to be accurate; the record is rarely complete. We do not warrant that an Editorial Memorial is correct, comprehensive, or current, and we welcome corrections.
• Purpose.Editorial Memorials exist to commemorate. They are not vehicles for advertising or for the commercial use of any person’s name, image, or likeness.
• Photographs. Photographs and other media used in Editorial Memorials are sourced from publicly available material for commemorative purposes. If you hold rights to a photograph that appears on the Service and wish it removed, please contact support@tributeoak.com (see also Section 7).
• Corrections and removals. Family members, estate representatives, or legal representatives may request corrections to or removal of an Editorial Memorial by writing to support@tributeoak.com and providing reasonable proof of their relationship or authority (for example, a death certificate, estate document, or power of attorney). We will make commercially reasonable efforts to respond. Final editorial decisions remain with TributeOak.
• Claiming a memorial. Where we offer it, family members and other authorised individuals may claim an Editorial Memorial in order to administer it. By doing so you confirm your genuine connection to the deceased and accept responsibility for any subsequent additions or changes you make. Claiming a memorial does not transfer ownership of editorially written content. We may revoke a claim if we determine the connection is not legitimate.
• Editorial ownership. Editorial Memorial text is authored by TributeOak and is not User Content. We retain all rights in it.
• Liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability arising out of any Editorial Memorial, including any claim of inaccuracy, defamation, invasion of privacy, right of publicity, or emotional distress, is limited to one hundred U.S. dollars ($100), except where the claim arises from our gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

5. Editorial tools and assisted drafting

We use computational tools to assist our editors with drafting, content review, and other aspects of the Service. By using the Service, you acknowledge the following:

• Assistance, not authorship. Drafting tools may suggest text, surface relevant material, or flag issues. Anything published with their help is reviewed by a person before it appears.
• User-initiated drafting. If you use a feature that helps you draft an memorial or other text, you remain solely responsible for reviewing, verifying, and approving the output before publishing it. We do not warrant the accuracy, appropriateness, or completeness of drafts.
• Editorial content. We try to be accurate in editorially written content, but biographical material drawn from third-party sources is provided as described in Section 4 and Section 13.
• No reliance. Biographical content compiled from third-party sources is for informational and commemorative purposes. We are not liable for decisions or actions taken in reliance on it.
• Changes. Drafting and editorial tools may be modified or replaced at any time without notice. Where we discontinue a user-facing feature entirely, we will give reasonable notice if practicable.

6. Memorial disputes and collaboration

6.1 Ownership disputes

Where a dispute arises about who controls a memorial, for example, between family members, we treat the account holder who created the memorial as its primary owner unless a court order, estate document, or notarised agreement establishes otherwise. We do not adjudicate family or estate disputes, but we may freeze, hide, or remove a memorial involved in a dispute until we receive:

• a valid court order directing specific action;
• a notarised agreement signed by all parties to the dispute; or
• official documentation from an estate executor or administrator resolving the dispute.

Where the account holder is not a family member, an authorised estate representative may submit a verified request to take over the memorial. We will consider such requests on a case-by-case basis and are not obliged to transfer control.

6.2 Collaborators

A memorial owner may invite collaborators with roles such as admin or editor. The owner retains ultimate control and may remove a collaborator or revoke access at any time. Content contributed by a collaborator remains subject to the licence in Section 3 even after the collaborator is removed. We do not mediate disputes between owners and collaborators.

7. Copyright and DMCA

We respect copyright. If you believe content on the Service infringes a copyright you hold, send a notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) to our designated agent containing:

1. your physical or electronic signature, or that of a person authorised to act for the rights holder;
2. identification of the work claimed to have been infringed;
3. identification of the material on the Service that is the subject of the complaint, with information sufficient to locate it (such as a URL);
4. your contact details, including name, address, telephone number, and email;
5. a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorised by the rights holder, an agent, or the law; and
6. a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the rights holder or authorised to act on the rights holder’s behalf.

Designated agent. Send DMCA notices to support@tributeoak.com with the subject line “DMCA Takedown Notice.”

Counter-notice. If you believe your content was removed in error, you may submit a counter-notice including (a) your physical or electronic signature; (b) identification of the removed material and where it appeared before removal; (c) a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed by mistake or misidentification; and (d) your name, address, telephone number, and a statement consenting to the jurisdiction of the federal court in your district and accepting service of process from the original complainant. We may restore the content within 10–14 business days unless the complainant files a court action.

Repeat infringers. We will terminate the accounts of users who are determined, in appropriate circumstances, to be repeat copyright infringers.

8. Purchases and refunds

• Payments.Payments for paid services, including memorial publication and tree plantings, are processed through our third-party payment processor (currently Stripe). By making a purchase you also agree to that processor’s terms.
• Pricing. Prices are shown in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated and may change without notice. We may refuse or cancel orders, including in cases of pricing errors.
• Tree plantings. Tree plantings are fulfilled by third-party reforestation partners. Once an order has been submitted for fulfilment, the service is considered executed and is not refundable. If a planting cannot be fulfilled after reasonable attempts, we will arrange an alternative or, at our discretion, refund the order.
• Subscriptions. If we offer subscriptions, they renew automatically at the end of each billing period unless cancelled before the renewal date. You may cancel from your account or by writing to us. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current period; we do not refund partial periods.
• Refund policy. All purchases are subject to our Refund Policy. Refund requests must be submitted within thirty (30) days of purchase.

9. Third-party services and partners

Our Service relies on third-party vendors and partners, including our hosting and database provider, payment processor, email provider, analytics provider, and reforestation partner, to operate and to fulfil certain orders. TributeOak acts as a platform connecting you with these parties. We do not control, endorse, or assume responsibility for their products, services, actions, or omissions. You agree that TributeOak is not liable for any loss arising from your dealings with such third parties.

10. Email communications

By creating an account or subscribing to memorial updates, you agree to receive email from us, including:

• Transactional email: account confirmations, password resets, receipts, and order updates. These are essential to the Service and cannot be opted out of while your account is active.
• Memorial digests: periodic updates about new guestbook entries and other activity on memorials you have subscribed to. You may unsubscribe at any time.
• Occasional updates: notes about the project. You may opt out of these at any time using the unsubscribe link in the email.

11. Intellectual property

The TributeOak platform, including its code, design, marks, and editorially written content, is the intellectual property of Albatross eCommerce LLC. You may not copy, reproduce, scrape, crawl, mine, or reverse-engineer any part of the Service without our express written permission.

Memorials, whether written by us or contributed by users, are protected. Unauthorised reproduction, scraping, or republication of memorial content is prohibited and may give rise to legal action.

12. Termination

• Right to terminate. We may, at our discretion, deny access to the Service (including by blocking IP addresses) for any reason, including breach of these Terms or applicable law.
• Conduct. We may suspend or terminate accounts immediately for behaviour that is defamatory, harassing, abusive, fraudulent, or otherwise in breach of these Terms or Section 3.
• Effect.If your account is terminated, you may not register a new account in your name, a false name, or another person’s name, including on their behalf.
• Data after termination. On termination, we will make commercially reasonable efforts to provide a thirty-day window during which you may request an export of your User Content by writing to support@tributeoak.com. After this window we are not obliged to retain or provide access to your content. Memorials may be preserved in a read-only state at our discretion. Content contributed by third parties (such as guestbook entries) is not included in user exports. The grace period does not apply to accounts terminated for breach of law or for harassment, threats, or abuse.
• Legal remedies. We may pursue civil, criminal, or injunctive remedies in addition to terminating an account.
• Finality. Decisions to terminate for conduct violations are at our sole discretion and are final.

13. Disclaimer of warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS-IS” AND “AS-AVAILABLE” BASIS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ALBATROSS ECOMMERCE LLC AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS (COLLECTIVELY, THE “TRIBUTEOAK PARTIES”) DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. THE TRIBUTEOAK PARTIES DO NOT WARRANT THAT (A) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE; (B) RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, OR COMPLETE; (C) ANY CONTENT, INCLUDING EDITORIAL CONTENT AND EDITORIAL MEMORIALS, WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR FREE FROM ERROR; OR (D) ANY DEFECT WILL BE CORRECTED.

14. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE TRIBUTEOAK PARTIES ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFIT, GOODWILL, DATA, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSS, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE, REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY, AND EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, TributeOak’s total aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms shall not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount you have paid us in the six (6) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

Without limiting the foregoing, we are not liable for: (i) claims arising from the content of Editorial Memorials, including inaccuracy, defamation, invasion of privacy, right of publicity, misappropriation of likeness, or emotional distress; (ii) claims arising from content produced with the help of computational tools; (iii) the acts or omissions of third-party service providers, including reforestation partners; or (iv) loss or corruption of User Content, except to the extent caused by our wilful misconduct.

Nothing in this section limits liability arising from our gross negligence or wilful misconduct, or where limitation is prohibited by law. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of the above may not apply to you.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Albatross eCommerce LLC and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates (the “Indemnified Parties”) from any claim, demand, loss, liability, cost, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from or relating to (a) your use of the Service; (b) your User Content; (c) your breach of these Terms; (d) your breach of the rights of any third party; or (e) any allegation that your User Content infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights of a third party. This obligation extends to claims brought by individuals featured in memorials (including Editorial Memorials), their estates, families, or representatives, to the extent the claim arises from your content or actions.

16. Disputes and arbitration

Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights, including your right to bring a lawsuit and your right to a jury trial.

• Informal resolution first. Before starting any formal proceeding, you agree to write to support@tributeoak.com and try to resolve the dispute informally for at least thirty (30) days. Most disputes can be settled without further steps.
• Binding arbitration.If we cannot resolve the dispute informally, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service shall be resolved exclusively through final, binding, individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, available at www.adr.org. Arbitration shall take place in the State of Delaware or, at your election, may be conducted remotely.
• Fees. Each party is responsible for its arbitration costs as allocated by the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules. Where those rules require us to pay certain filing or administrative fees, we will do so.
• Small claims.Either party may bring an individual action in small claims court for disputes within the court’s jurisdictional limits.
• Class action and jury trial waiver. YOU AND TRIBUTEOAK AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY CLASS, COLLECTIVE, OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. YOU SPECIFICALLY WAIVE YOUR RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL AND TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person’s claims and may not preside over any class, collective, or representative proceeding.
• Opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by writing to support@tributeoak.com within thirty (30) days of creating your account. Your notice must include your name, email, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out. The remaining provisions of these Terms will continue to apply.
• Survival. This arbitration agreement survives termination of your account and these Terms.

17. Governing law

These Terms, and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service, are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. To the extent any lawsuit is permitted under these Terms, you agree to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Delaware.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. For material changes, including changes to the arbitration clause, limitation of liability, content licence, or pricing, we will give at least thirty (30) days’ advance notice by email to your registered address or by a prominent notice on the Service, except where a shorter period is required by law or to address an immediate security or legal concern. Non-material changes (such as typographical or formatting fixes) take effect on posting.

If you disagree with material changes you may close your account before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. Earlier versions are available on request.

19. Force majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance to the extent it is caused by events outside our reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, pandemics, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, power failures, internet or telecommunications failures, cyberattacks, or failures of third-party providers. During such events, our obligations under these Terms are suspended for the duration of the event.

20. Service continuity

TributeOak is committed to preserving the memorials entrusted to it. We intend to operate the Service indefinitely, but we cannot guarantee perpetual availability. If we cease operations or substantially discontinue the Service, we will make commercially reasonable efforts to (a) give advance notice to account holders by email where feasible, and (b) make User Content available for download or export where technically and financially practicable. We are not liable for loss of data following discontinuation. This section does not create an obligation to continue operating the Service or to maintain infrastructure beyond what is commercially feasible.

21. General

• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and Refund Policy, are the entire agreement between you and TributeOak about the Service and supersede prior or contemporaneous understandings.
• Severability. If a provision is found unenforceable, it will be limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remainder will continue in effect.
• Waiver. Failure to enforce a right or provision is not a waiver of it. Any waiver must be in writing and signed by us.
• Assignment. We may assign or transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms, in whole or in part, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, or sale of assets. You may not assign your rights or obligations without our prior written consent.
• Survival. The following sections survive termination: 3 (content licence), 4 (Editorial Memorials), 5 (Editorial tools), 7 (DMCA), 11 (Intellectual property), 12 (data after termination), 13 (Disclaimer), 14 (Limitation), 15 (Indemnification), 16 (Disputes), 17 (Governing law), 20 (Continuity), and this section.
• Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and have no legal effect.
• No third-party beneficiaries. These Terms are for the benefit of you and TributeOak only, and no third party may enforce them except as expressly provided.

22. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to support@tributeoak.com.

Operator: Albatross eCommerce LLC