Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and CelebrateReel. By creating an Account, by uploading or contributing Content, or by otherwise using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. If you are using the Service on behalf of a business or organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity, and “you” refers to both you individually and that entity.

2. Definitions

In addition to terms defined elsewhere in these Terms or in the Privacy Policy:

• Account — the registered user account through which you access the Service.
• Agency — an Account designated as an agency or reseller (e.g. event planner, photographer, DJ) that resells or includes the Service in offerings to its own clients.
• Content — any material uploaded to or generated through the Service, including photographs, audio files, captions, project metadata, and Renders.
• Customer Content — Content uploaded by you or by Guests you invite, but excluding the CelebrateReel Music Library and our software, templates, and trademarks.
• Funeral-Home Customer — an Account designated as a funeral-home account, typically subscribed to the Funeral-Home Monthly plan.
• Guest — a person who uploads Content to a project through a collection link without creating their own Account.
• Host — the Account holder who creates a project and invites Guests.
• Music Library — the catalog of audio tracks CelebrateReel licenses for use within the Service.
• Per-Event Purchase — a one-time purchase of a paid tier (Premium, Premium Expansion) for a single project.
• Render — the music-timed slideshow video the Service generates from Customer Content.
• Service — the CelebrateReel website at celebratereel.com, the application at app.celebratereel.com, the upload pages, and any related services.
• Subscription — a recurring paid plan, including Funeral-Home Monthly.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least thirteen (13) years old — or sixteen (16) where that is the applicable age of digital consent — to use the Service, and at least the age of majority in your jurisdiction to enter into a paid plan. If you are between the applicable digital-consent age and the age of majority, your parent or guardian must consent to these Terms on your behalf and accepts responsibility for your use of the Service. The Service is not intended for children under thirteen.

You may not use the Service if you are a person designated on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), if you are located in a country subject to U.S. embargo (currently Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, the Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions of Ukraine), or if applicable law prohibits us from providing the Service to you.

4. The Service

CelebrateReel takes Customer Content — photographs, audio, captions — and produces a music-timed slideshow video. Features include collection links for Guests, occasion-specific templates, AI-assisted photo selection and content moderation, brand customization for paid tiers, and delivery / sharing tools. We may add, remove, or modify features over time. We will not materially reduce the core Render functionality of any Per-Event Purchase or active billing period of a Subscription you have already paid for.

5. Accounts

You are responsible for the activity that occurs on your Account, for keeping your password and authentication factors confidential, and for promptly notifying us at security@celebratereel.com of any unauthorized access. You must provide accurate, current, and complete registration information and update it as it changes. You may not share an Account, sell or transfer access to an Account, or use another person’s credentials.

6. Plans, billing & auto-renewal

The Service is offered on a free tier and on paid tiers. Current pricing is published on the marketing site at celebratereel.com and on the billing page within the Service. By submitting a payment, you authorize us, through Stripe, Inc., to charge the payment method you provide for the amounts disclosed at checkout, plus any applicable taxes.

6.1 Per-Event Purchases

Premium tier and the Premium Expansion add-on are sold as one-time, project-scoped purchases. The amount you pay grants you the entitlement described at checkout for the specific project to which the purchase is applied. Per-Event Purchases do not auto-renew and are not subscriptions.

6.2 Funeral-Home Monthly Subscription

The Funeral-Home Monthly plan is a recurring monthly subscription, currently priced at $149 USD per month, that provides Pro-tier features, unlimited tribute projects, and the included hardware and onboarding described at checkout. By starting a Funeral-Home Monthly subscription you are enrolling in an automatically renewing subscription that will continue to be charged to your payment method each month at the then-current rate until you cancel. You can cancel at any time from Billing or by emailing billing@celebratereel.com; cancellation takes effect at the end of the then-current billing period.

Where required by California Business and Professions Code section 17602 or analogous laws (the “California Automatic Renewal Law” and similar U.S. state and EU consumer-protection rules), we will:

• present the auto-renewal terms in a clear and conspicuous manner before you accept;
• obtain your affirmative consent to the auto-renewal terms;
• send a confirmation email after enrollment with cancellation instructions;
• provide an online cancellation method that does not require a phone call;
• send you an advance notice of any material change to the renewal terms;
• send a renewal reminder before each renewal where required by law for plans of certain durations.

6.3 Failed payments

If a payment is declined, we will retry the charge in accordance with industry-standard recovery practices. If a Subscription payment cannot be collected, we may suspend the Subscription, downgrade the Account to the free tier, or, after notice, terminate the Account.

6.4 Chargebacks

If you initiate a chargeback or payment dispute that we determine in good faith to be invalid (for example, after a Render has been delivered as ordered), we may suspend the Account and recover the disputed amount and any associated fees from a future payment method on file or directly.

7. Refunds

We aim to deliver every Render successfully. The following refund policy applies unless a different policy is presented at checkout for a particular product:

• Per-Event Purchases. If a Render fails for technical reasons attributable to the Service and we cannot deliver a usable Render within a reasonable time, contact billing@celebratereel.com within thirty (30) days of purchase for a refund or re-render at our option. Refunds are not generally available for change-of-mind, Host error, or unused entitlement after delivery.
• Funeral-Home Monthly. Subscriptions are billed in advance. We do not pro-rate cancellations mid-period; access continues until the end of the paid period. Where required by mandatory law (for example, mandatory withdrawal rights for EU consumers under the Consumer Rights Directive), we will honor the right of withdrawal as provided by that law.
• Memorial / time-sensitive Renders. Because memorial Renders are often produced under tight deadlines for one-time events, we may at our discretion offer a goodwill credit or refund where a Render is not delivered in time for a service even if the cause is outside our reasonable control.

Disputes about charges should be raised with us first using the contact addresses in Section 38 before filing a dispute with your bank.

8. Taxes

Stated prices do not include taxes unless expressly noted. You are responsible for any sales, use, value-added, goods-and-services, or similar taxes assessed on your purchase, except for taxes based on our income. Where we are required to collect such taxes, we will add them at checkout.

9. Pricing changes

We may change pricing for the free tier, Per-Event Purchases, or Subscriptions. New pricing applies to purchases or renewals occurring after the change. For Subscriptions, we will give at least thirty (30) days’ advance notice of any price increase by email and by in-product notice; if you do not wish to continue at the new price, you can cancel before the change takes effect.

10. Customer Content & license to us

You retain all ownership of and intellectual-property rights in your Customer Content. Subject to these Terms, you grant CelebrateReel a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable (only to our sub-processors), and revocable (on termination of your Account) license to host, store, copy, reproduce, transcode, transmit, and display Customer Content, and to create derivative works of it, solely as necessary to operate the Service for you — including ingest, automated moderation, quality scoring, ordering, music synchronization, rendering, delivery, and the storage of backups. We do not use Customer Content to train artificial-intelligence or machine-learning models.

11. Third-party rights in Customer Content

Customer Content frequently contains images of, voices of, or information about individuals other than the Host. By uploading Customer Content (or by directing Guests to do so), you represent and warrant that:

• you own the Customer Content or have all rights, licenses, consents, releases, and permissions necessary to upload it and to grant the license in Section 10;
• your use of the Service with that Customer Content does not infringe the copyright, trademark, right of publicity, right of privacy, or other rights of any person, and does not violate any contract or law;
• you have given (or directed your Guests to give) any notice and obtained any consent required under applicable privacy law from individuals whose Personal Information appears in the Customer Content, including parental consent where required for minors;
• where Customer Content is being created from a deceased person’s photographs, you have the authority to do so and to release the resulting Render for the use you intend.

12. Music: own audio & licensed library

12.1 Audio you upload

If you upload an audio file to use as the soundtrack for a Render, you represent and warrant that you own or have obtained all rights, licenses, and permissions necessary to use that audio in the Render and to grant the license in Section 10, including any synchronization, mechanical, public performance, master-use, or other rights. You are solely responsible for the licensing of audio you upload, and for any royalties owed to performing-rights organizations, record labels, music publishers, or other rights holders.

12.2 Music Library

We may make a Music Library available within the Service. Tracks from the Music Library are licensed to CelebrateReel for synchronization with Renders generated through the Service and may be used by you only as part of a Render produced through the Service. You may not download, redistribute, license, or use Music Library tracks outside of the Service. Different tracks may be subject to different territorial or use restrictions, which we will surface in the Music Library UI.

12.3 No PRO clearance for live performance

Public performance of a Render at a venue (for example, projected on a wedding-reception screen, played at a memorial service, or shown at a corporate event) may require additional public-performance licenses from performing-rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, or analogous organizations outside the United States, depending on the venue and use. CelebrateReel does not provide such public-performance licenses. You and the venue are responsible for any such licensing.

13. Renders & ownership of output

You own the Render produced from your Customer Content, subject to: (a) our underlying rights in the Service’s software, templates, transitions, fonts, and Music Library tracks (which are licensed to you only as part of the Render and as part of the Service), and (b) the rights of any third party in Customer Content you uploaded. Watermarks, when present, may be removed only by purchasing the appropriate paid tier; tampering with a watermark applied by the Service is a breach of these Terms.

14. Our trademarks & brand

“CelebrateReel,” “Celebrate Reel,” the CelebrateReel logo, and any related marks are trademarks of CelebrateReel. You may not use them in a manner that suggests sponsorship, endorsement, or false affiliation. Pro-tier and Agency Hosts who white-label the Service may remove our trademarks from their Renders only as the white-label feature permits; in all other contexts our marks may not be removed, altered, or covered.

15. Acceptable use

You agree not to, and not to allow any Guest, employee, or contractor to:

• upload or transmit Content that is unlawful, infringing, deceptive, defamatory, harassing, threatening, hateful, sexually explicit, child-sexual-abuse material (which we will report to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children where required by law), or otherwise tortious;
• upload Content depicting an identifiable person without rights or permission to do so;
• upload Content for which you do not hold the rights described in Sections 11 and 12;
• impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation;
• scrape, mass-download, mirror, or systematically extract Content other than your own;
• reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to derive source code or proprietary algorithms from the Service, except to the limited extent that applicable law permits notwithstanding this restriction;
• circumvent, disable, or interfere with security, rate-limit, billing, or moderation features;
• use the Service to send spam, malware, or unsolicited communications;
• use the Service to develop a competing product or service, or to benchmark it for that purpose without our prior written consent;
• use the Service in violation of applicable law or these Terms.

16. Content moderation & appeals

We screen uploaded photographs through Amazon Rekognition’s automated moderation classifier, as further described in our Privacy Policy. We may also remove or restrict Content based on user reports, DMCA notices, or our own review. We will notify the affected Host and explain the reason for removal where reasonably possible, and provide a means to appeal a removal decision by contacting appeals@celebratereel.com. Nothing in these Terms requires us to monitor Content; we have no obligation to do so beyond what these Terms or applicable law require.

17. Copyright (DMCA)

We respond to notices of claimed copyright infringement under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, including the procedures, designated agent, counter-notice, and repeat-infringer policy described in our DMCA Policy. Repeat infringers will have their Accounts terminated.

18. Funeral-home customer terms

If your Account is designated as a funeral-home account or has subscribed to the Funeral-Home Monthly plan, the following additional terms apply:

• You represent that you are duly licensed (where required) to provide funeral or related services in your jurisdiction.
• For each tribute project, you represent that you have authority from the family or other authorized party to upload Content depicting the deceased and any other identifiable person, and to share the Render at the service or otherwise as the family directs.
• You will not upload Protected Health Information regulated by HIPAA into the Service. CelebrateReel is not a HIPAA Business Associate.
• Provided hardware (e.g. a TV stick) remains the property of CelebrateReel during the term of the Subscription unless the order documentation says otherwise; you will return the hardware in working order on cancellation, fair wear-and-tear excepted, or pay the replacement cost set out at checkout.
• You will not resell or sub-license access to the Service to other funeral homes or third parties without entering into a separate Agency agreement.

19. Agency / reseller terms

If your Account is designated as an Agency or you participate in our reseller / white-label program, the following additional terms apply, in addition to any signed agency agreement:

• You may bundle, white-label, and resell the Service to your own clients (“Sub-clients”), but you are responsible for the conduct of, and the Content uploaded by, each Sub-client and their guests as if it were your own.
• You will enter into a written agreement with each Sub-client that imposes terms at least as protective of CelebrateReel as these Terms, and that obligates the Sub-client to comply with our Acceptable Use, copyright, and content-moderation provisions.
• Pricing to Sub-clients is at your discretion; CelebrateReel charges you according to the Agency price list applicable at the time of your purchase.
• You may use our trademarks only as the white-label and brand-customization features permit.

Detailed Agency terms, including a Data Processing Addendum, are available on request to legal@celebratereel.com.

20. Beta features & AI features

From time to time we may make features available that are labeled “beta,” “preview,” “experimental,” or similar (“Beta Features”). Beta Features are provided on an “as is” basis, may be modified or discontinued at any time, and are excluded from any service-level commitments and from the warranty disclaimer carve-outs in Section 24.

Some features of the Service rely on machine-learning models or other artificial-intelligence techniques, including the photo-quality scoring, face detection, and content-moderation classifiers described in our Privacy Policy. These features may produce inaccurate or unexpected results. You are responsible for reviewing AI-assisted output before relying on it in a high-stakes context (for example, before publicly displaying a memorial Render).

21. Feedback

If you send us suggestions, feature requests, or ideas about the Service, we may use them without restriction or obligation, including by incorporating them into the Service. You will not be entitled to compensation for feedback, and we will not treat unsolicited feedback as confidential.

22. Privacy

Our collection and use of Personal Information in connection with the Service is described in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

23. Suspension & termination

You may stop using the Service at any time by deleting your Account from Settings or by emailing support@celebratereel.com. We may suspend or terminate your Account or access to specific features:

• for material breach of these Terms (including the Acceptable Use Policy in Section 15);
• upon receipt of repeat valid DMCA notices, consistent with our DMCA Policy;
• for non-payment that has not been cured within fifteen (15) days of the failed-payment notice (Section 6.3);
• where required by law or to protect the safety, rights, or property of any person;
• if we cease to operate the Service generally, on at least thirty (30) days’ notice.

On termination, your right to access the Service ends. We will give you a reasonable opportunity (at least thirty (30) days, except where prohibited by law) to export Customer Content before deletion. After that period we may delete your Account and Customer Content; backup copies may persist for up to thirty-five (35) days as described in our Privacy Policy. Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive (Sections 7, 8, 10, 11, 12.3, 13–17, 21, 24–36, and any payment obligations accrued before termination).

24. Disclaimers of warranties

Except as expressly set out in these Terms or required by mandatory applicable law, the Service, the Music Library, the Renders, and any Beta Features are provided “as is” and “as available,” with all faults, and CelebrateReel and its suppliers and licensors disclaim all warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, accuracy, quiet enjoyment, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or that it will deliver Renders by any particular time, that defects will be corrected, that the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components, or that any AI-assisted output will be accurate or fit for your purpose.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of certain warranties; the disclaimers above apply only to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. Nothing in this Section excludes or limits any warranty or remedy that may not be excluded or limited by mandatory law applicable to you (for example, mandatory consumer guarantees under EU/UK consumer law, the Australian Consumer Law, or similar regimes).

25. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will CelebrateReel, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, suppliers, or licensors be liable to you for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost revenues, lost business, lost data, lost goodwill, or cost of substitute services, arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Service, whether based on contract, tort, strict liability, or any other legal theory, even if CelebrateReel has been advised of the possibility of such damages and even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose.

CelebrateReel’s aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Service in any twelve-month period will not exceed the greater of (a) the amounts you paid to CelebrateReel for the Service during the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to the liability, or (b) one hundred US dollars (US$100).

The limitations in this Section do not apply to: (i) your indemnity obligations in Section 26; (ii) your obligations under Sections 11 and 12; (iii) either party’s gross negligence or wilful misconduct; (iv) any liability that cannot be excluded or limited by mandatory law; or (v) death or personal injury caused by negligence to the extent applicable law does not allow such limitation.

26. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless CelebrateReel and its affiliates, and each of their officers, directors, employees, agents, and licensors, from and against any third-party claim, demand, suit, or proceeding, and any associated damages, liabilities, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees), arising out of or relating to: (a) your Customer Content (including any infringement of copyright, right of publicity, or privacy by Customer Content); (b) audio you upload (Section 12); (c) your breach of these Terms or violation of applicable law; (d) your violation of the Acceptable Use Policy; (e) in the case of a Funeral-Home Customer or Agency, the conduct of any Sub-client, family member, or other end user you have authorized to use the Service.

We may, at our option, take exclusive control of the defense and settlement of any matter for which you are indemnifying us; you will reasonably cooperate with us in connection with any such matter.

27. Dispute resolution

27.1 Informal resolution

Before filing any formal claim, you and CelebrateReel each agree to try to resolve disputes informally. You will send a written notice describing the nature and basis of the claim and the relief sought to legal@celebratereel.com and to the postal address in Section 38; we will send our notice to your Account email or postal address on file. The parties will negotiate in good faith for at least sixty (60) days from receipt before initiating arbitration or other proceedings.

27.2 Binding arbitration

Except for the matters carved out in Section 27.3, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service, including the formation, breach, termination, validity, interpretation, or enforceability of these Terms, will be resolved by final and binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) in accordance with its Consumer Arbitration Rules (or, for business customers, its Commercial Arbitration Rules). The arbitration will be conducted by a single arbitrator. The seat of arbitration will be Chicago, Illinois, USA, and the language English. Either party may participate in any in-person hearing by videoconference. The arbitrator may award only individual relief; the arbitrator may not consolidate claims or preside over any form of representative or class proceeding.

The Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., governs the interpretation and enforcement of this arbitration agreement. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

27.3 Carve-outs

The arbitration agreement does not require arbitration of: (a) an individual action in small-claims court for claims that qualify; (b) a request for temporary or preliminary injunctive relief in aid of arbitration in a court of competent jurisdiction; (c) intellectual-property infringement claims by either party; or (d) any claim that, by mandatory law applicable to you, may not be arbitrated.

27.4 Costs

Each party will bear its own attorneys’ fees and costs unless the arbitrator awards otherwise pursuant to applicable law or the AAA rules. CelebrateReel will pay any arbitration filing fee and the arbitrator’s costs to the extent they exceed what you would have paid to file a comparable action in court, where required by AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules and where your claim is non-frivolous.

27.5 Opt-out of arbitration

You may opt out of this arbitration agreement (Section 27.2) by sending written notice of your decision to opt out to the postal address in Section 38, postmarked within thirty (30) days of your first acceptance of these Terms. Your notice must include your full name, your Account email, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out of the arbitration agreement. Opting out of the arbitration agreement does not opt you out of the rest of these Terms.

28. Class action & jury waiver

You and CelebrateReel each waive the right to a trial by jury and the right to participate as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate claims with those of other persons or preside over any form of representative or class proceeding. If a court of competent jurisdiction finds this class-action waiver unenforceable as to any specific claim, that claim — and only that claim — will proceed in court rather than in arbitration; the rest of Section 27 will remain in effect.

29. Governing law & venue

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or to the Service are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, and, to the extent applicable, by U.S. federal law. The U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply. For matters not subject to arbitration under Section 27, the parties consent to the exclusive personal jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in DuPage County and the Northern District of Illinois, respectively. Nothing in this Section deprives you of the protection of any mandatory law of the country in which you are habitually resident.

30. Notices

We may give you notices via your Account email, by posting in the Service, or by postal mail. Notices to us must be sent to legal@celebratereel.com with a copy to the postal address in Section 38, except where these Terms require a different address (for example, for DMCA or arbitration opt-out). Notices are deemed delivered on receipt for email, on posting for in-product notices, and three (3) business days after deposit with a reputable courier or postal service for postal mail.

31. Export controls & sanctions

You may not export, re-export, or transfer the Service or any technical data made available through the Service in violation of U.S. Export Administration Regulations, OFAC sanctions, or any other applicable export-control or sanctions laws. You represent that you are not on any U.S. government list of restricted parties.

32. Government users

The Service and any related documentation are “commercial computer software” and “commercial computer software documentation” as those terms are used in the Federal Acquisition Regulation. If you are a U.S. federal government end user, your rights are limited to those provided in these Terms, consistent with FAR 12.212 and DFARS 227.7202.

33. Force majeure

Neither party is liable for any failure or delay in performance (other than payment obligations) caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disaster, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, public-health emergencies, internet or telecommunications failures, denial-of-service attacks, or interruption or failure of utilities. The affected party will use reasonable efforts to resume performance as soon as practicable.

34. Assignment

You may not assign these Terms or any of your rights or obligations under them without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in whole or in part without your consent, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. Any attempted assignment in breach of this Section is void.

35. Changes to the Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top reflects the most recent version. For material changes (including changes that affect billing, dispute-resolution, or your rights), we will give at least thirty (30) days’ advance notice by email and by in-product notice. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of the updated Terms constitutes acceptance; if you do not agree, stop using the Service and, where applicable, cancel your Subscription before the new Terms take effect.

36. Miscellaneous

Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, the DMCA Policy, and any order form, statement of work, or DPA executed by you and us, constitute the entire agreement between you and CelebrateReel regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements regarding the same subject matter.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

No waiver. A failure or delay in enforcing any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of our right to enforce it later. A waiver of any provision must be in writing and signed by us to be effective.

Headings. Headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.

Independent contractors. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship between you and CelebrateReel.

Third-party beneficiaries. These Terms confer no rights on any person other than you and CelebrateReel and our respective successors and permitted assigns.

Electronic delivery and signature. You consent to receiving these Terms, all notices, and all other communications electronically. Your acceptance of these Terms by electronic means (including by clicking “I agree” or by using the Service after the effective date) has the same effect as a hand-written signature.

Languages. These Terms are concluded in English. Any translation is provided for convenience; in the event of inconsistency, the English version controls except where applicable consumer-protection law requires otherwise.

37. Accessibility commitment

We are committed to making the Service accessible to people with disabilities and we work toward conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. If you encounter an accessibility barrier, please contact accessibility@celebratereel.com with a description of the barrier and any assistive technology you are using; we will work in good faith to address it.

38. Contact