Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) are a binding contract between you and the company that operates TideBrief. Please read them carefully — they include an arbitration clause, a class-action waiver, a jury-trial waiver, and a 1-year limitation period in Section 16 that materially affect how disputes are resolved. Section 14 caps our liability. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

NOTICE TO U.S. CONSUMERS: these Terms require individual arbitration of most disputes and waive your right to a jury trial and to participate in class actions. You may opt out of arbitration within 30 days of first agreeing to these Terms (see Section 16).

1. Who you’re contracting with

TideBrief (the “Service”) is operated by PLAY PLAY CARDS SRL, a Romanian limited liability company (sociétate cu răspundere limitată):

• Registered office: Str. Drumul Pescarilor, nr. 16 A, Olimp, Constanța, 905503, Romania
• Trade Register number: J2026023005004
• Sole Registration Code (CUI): 54439120
• Contact: hello@tidebrief.com

References to “we”, “us”, “our”, or “TideBrief” mean PLAY PLAY CARDS SRL.

2. Acceptance and eligibility

By creating an account, entering a payment method, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you don’t agree, don’t use the Service.

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract under the law of your country and U.S. state of residence. The Service is offered primarily to residents of the United States.

3. The Service

TideBrief delivers a fishing-information newsletter (the “Brief”) for U.S. ZIP codes you select. Each Brief is drafted by a large language model (Anthropic’s Claude) from publicly available data sources including USGS gauges, NOAA forecasts, state agency stocking and regulation feeds, and astronomical/solunar tables.

Briefs are informational, not advisory. They are not a navigation aid, a safety service, a weather warning system, or a substitute for the official rules and conditions in your fishing area. See Disclaimer for the full list of things the Brief is not.

4. Accounts

You’re responsible for the accuracy of the information in your account, for safeguarding your credentials, and for everything that happens under your account. Tell us promptly at hello@tidebrief.com if you suspect unauthorized access. We may require email verification before certain actions.

5. Free trial

We offer a 14-day free trial of the paid plan. We collect a payment method when you start the trial but do not charge it during the trial. If you don’t cancel before the trial ends, your plan begins automatically and your payment method is charged the recurring price disclosed at checkout.

6. Subscription, billing, and automatic renewal

Paid plans are billed in advance on a monthly or annual cycle as selected at checkout. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each billing cycle until you cancel.The renewal price will be the then-current price for your plan as posted on our pricing page; we’ll give you advance notice by email of any price increase before it applies to you.

We use Stripe to process payments. By providing a payment method, you authorize PLAY PLAY CARDS SRL (and Stripe acting on our behalf) to charge the recurring fees, applicable taxes (including VAT or U.S. sales tax where required), and any one-time charges you authorize.

Full billing, cancellation, and refund details are in our Cancellation and Refund Policy, and a plain-English summary of auto-renewal terms is in our Subscriber Agreement. California, New York, and other state-specific consumer-disclosure statements are in those pages.

7. Cancellation

You can cancel your subscription anytime — no phone calls, no chat agents, no “retention” flow. The cancel option is available:

• From the “Manage subscription” link in any billing email,
• From your account settings page (one click), or
• By emailing billing@tidebrief.com.

Cancelling stops future renewals. You retain access through the end of the period you’ve already paid for.

8. Refunds

Within 30 days of your first paid charge, email billing@tidebrief.com for a full refund — no reason required. After 30 days, refunds are at our discretion. Statutory rights you may have under your state of residence or under EU consumer law are not affected.

9. Intellectual property

We and our licensors own the Service, the software, the brand, the compilation, the prompts, the schemas, and the Briefs as published. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to access and use the Service and Briefs for your personal, non-commercial fishing purposes while your account is in good standing. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

Data sourced from public agencies (USGS, NOAA, state DNRs, etc.) remains the property of those agencies under their respective licenses.

AI-generated output and copyright.Briefs are produced with substantial assistance from generative AI. Under U.S. copyright guidance (U.S. Copyright Office, “Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence”, 88 Fed. Reg. 16190 (March 16, 2023)), purely AI-generated material is not subject to copyright protection. We do not claim copyright in the AI-generated portions themselves; we do claim, to the maximum extent permitted by law, copyright in (i) the human-authored editorial selection, arrangement, and curation of each Brief, (ii) the prompts, templates, schemas, and software used to produce the Briefs, and (iii) the overall compilation. You may not strip our trademarks, attributions, or notices from any Brief. Your license under these Terms does not grant you the right to use a Brief to train, fine-tune, or evaluate any AI/ML system, or to extract data therefrom in bulk.

Feedback license. If you send us feedback, suggestions, or ideas about the Service, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to use them for any purpose, with no obligation to you.

10. Acceptable use

Don’t do the things listed in our Acceptable Use Policy. In short: no scraping, no resale or syndication of Briefs, no abuse of the system, no harassment, no breaking the law, no sharing your account.

11. AI-generated content and no-reliance

Briefs are produced with substantial assistance from generative AI (currently Anthropic’s Claude). The model synthesizes structured public data into prose; it can and does occasionally produce inaccuracies, omissions, fabrications (“hallucinations”), stale or outdated information, or material that misrepresents source data, despite our automated validation steps. We do not guarantee that any Brief is accurate, complete, current, or fit for any particular purpose, and we expressly disclaim any duty of care with respect to the substantive content of any Brief.

No reliance. You acknowledge and agree that you will not rely on a Brief — alone or in combination with other sources — for any decision affecting your safety, your finances, your legal compliance, your property, or the environment, and you will independently verify any material fact (including weather, water levels, water clarity, regulations, license requirements, season dates, slot/length limits, bag limits, gear restrictions, public access, and emergency conditions) with official primary sources before acting. Section 13 (Disclaimers) and Section 14 (Limitation of Liability) apply with full force to any harm that results from AI-generated output.

No professional advice. Briefs are not, and are not intended to be, legal advice, regulatory advice, navigation advice, weather advisory, medical advice, financial advice, or fitness or professional sport advice. They are a general-information product.

12. Third-party services

The Service integrates third-party providers (Stripe, Supabase, Resend, Anthropic, Vercel, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, and others listed in our Privacy Policy). Your use of these providers may be subject to their own terms; we’re not responsible for their acts or omissions.

13. Disclaimers

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICE AND THE BRIEFS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, OR UNINTERRUPTED OPERATION. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT BRIEFS ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR CURRENT, OR THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE FREE OF ERRORS OR DOWNTIME.

Some jurisdictions don’t allow limitations on implied warranties, so the limitations in this section may not apply to you in full.

14. Limitation of liability

EXCLUSION OF INDIRECT DAMAGES. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER PLAY PLAY CARDS SRL NOR ITS PARENT, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, SHAREHOLDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, LICENSORS, SUB-PROCESSORS, OR SUPPLIERS WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUES, BUSINESS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR FISH(!) — WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, STATUTE, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES — ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS.

AGGREGATE CAP.OUR (AND OUR AFFILIATES’ AND SUPPLIERS’) AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE FEES YOU ACTUALLY PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE EVENT FIRST GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) USD 100. THIS CAP APPLIES IN THE AGGREGATE TO ALL CLAIMS YOU BRING, NOT PER CLAIM, AND WILL NOT BE ENLARGED BY THE EXISTENCE OF MORE THAN ONE CLAIM.

BASIS OF THE BARGAIN. THE LIMITATIONS IN THIS SECTION 14 AND IN SECTION 13 ARE A FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENT OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN YOU AND US AND APPLY EVEN IF A LIMITED REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages (for example, certain consequential or incidental damages, or implied warranties), so portions of this section may not apply to you, and your liability will be limited to the maximum extent permitted in your jurisdiction. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for (i) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, (ii) gross negligence, (iii) willful misconduct, (iv) death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or (v) any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

15. Indemnification

You’ll indemnify and hold harmless PLAY PLAY CARDS SRL from third-party claims arising out of (a) your misuse of the Service, (b) your violation of these Terms, or (c) your violation of any law or third-party right. We’ll tell you promptly about any such claim and let you control the defense at your expense.

16. Governing law and dispute resolution

16.1 Governing law

These Terms, and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service, are governed by the laws of Romania, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules — exceptthat, for residents of the United States, (a) the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. (“FAA”), governs the interpretation and enforcement of the arbitration provisions in this Section 16, and (b) any mandatory consumer-protection law of your state of residence that cannot be waived by contract still applies to you. The U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

16.2 Mandatory pre-dispute notice and meet-and-confer

Before initiating any arbitration or court proceeding (other than a small-claims action under Section 16.8), the complaining party must send a written “Notice of Dispute” to the other and engage in a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute for at least 60 days. The Notice of Dispute must (i) identify the claimant by full legal name and account email, (ii) describe the nature and basis of the claim, (iii) state the specific relief sought with a calculation, and (iv) be personally signed by the claimant (mass-produced, form-letter, or signature-stamped notices do not satisfy this requirement). Notices to us must be sent by email to legal@tidebrief.com AND by registered mail to PLAY PLAY CARDS SRL, Str. Drumul Pescarilor, nr. 16 A, Olimp, Constanța, 905503, Romania. Notices to you go to the email on your account. The 60-day period is a condition precedent to arbitration; an arbitrator or court may stay or dismiss any proceeding filed in violation of it. A telephonic or video settlement conference in good faith is mandatory if the recipient requests one within 30 days. The applicable statute of limitations and contractual limitation period in Section 16.10 are tolled during the notice period.

16.3 Mandatory individual arbitration (U.S. residents)

Subject to Sections 16.2 and 16.8, if you reside in the United States, you and PLAY PLAY CARDS SRL agree that any and all disputes, claims, or controversies between you and us, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation, or any other legal theory, and whether arising before, during, or after the termination of these Terms, will be resolved exclusively by final and binding individual arbitration, and not in court, except as expressly provided in this Section 16. The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules in effect at the time the demand is filed (available at adr.org). If the AAA is unavailable or declines to administer the arbitration, the parties will agree on an alternative provider; failing agreement within 30 days, the arbitration will be administered by JAMS under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures (available at jamsadr.com). The arbitration will be conducted by a single neutral arbitrator. The proceeding will be held by phone, video, or document submission unless the arbitrator determines an in-person hearing is required, in which case it will be held in the U.S. county where you live or another location you and we agree on. The arbitrator’s award is final and binding, and judgment may be entered on it in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Delegation. The arbitrator, and not any court, has exclusive authority to decide all issues relating to the formation, existence, scope, validity, interpretation, applicability, enforceability, or waiver of this arbitration agreement, including any claim that all or part of it is void or voidable — except that the courts have exclusive authority to rule on the validity and enforceability of the class-action waiver in Section 16.4 and the Mass-Filing protocol in Section 16.5.

16.4 Class-action, collective-action, and representative-action waiver

YOU AND PLAY PLAY CARDS SRL EACH AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN YOUR OR ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, CONSOLIDATED, COLLECTIVE, OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING (INCLUDING ANY REPRESENTATIVE PRIVATE-ATTORNEY-GENERAL ACTION).The arbitrator may award relief (including monetary, injunctive, or declaratory relief) only in favor of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by that party’s individual claim, and may not consolidate more than one person’s claims, preside over any form of representative or class proceeding, or award relief that affects anyone other than the individual party.

Severability and poison pill. If a court of competent jurisdiction decides that any part of this Section 16.4 is unenforceable with respect to any claim or any specific request for relief (such as a request for public injunctive relief), then that claim or request for relief — and only that claim or request for relief — must be severed from arbitration and brought in the state or federal courts identified in Section 16.9. The remainder of this arbitration agreement remains in effect and continues to apply to all other claims and requests for relief. Any severed public-injunctive-relief claim shall be stayed pending the resolution of all other claims in arbitration.

16.5 Mass-filing / coordinated-claim protocol

If 25 or more similar arbitration demands are filed against PLAY PLAY CARDS SRL by or with the assistance of the same law firm or coordinated group of law firms within a 90-day period (a “Mass Filing”), you and we agree that the arbitrations will be administered as follows in lieu of the default AAA/JAMS mass-arbitration procedures, to the extent permitted by the administrator and applicable law: (a) counsel for the claimants and counsel for us will each select up to 10 cases (20 total) to proceed first as “bellwether” arbitrations; (b) all other arbitration demands will be stayed, and the limitations period for those stayed demands will be tolled during the stay; (c) after the bellwether arbitrations conclude, the parties will participate in a single mediation in an effort to resolve the remaining demands; (d) if mediation does not resolve the remaining demands, the parties will repeat the bellwether process in waves of up to 20 cases each until all demands are resolved. The arbitrator(s) and the parties will cooperate in good faith to administer this process efficiently. Filing fees, administrative fees, and arbitrator fees for stayed cases are not owed until those cases are activated. If a court or administrator determines this Section 16.5 is unenforceable as to a Mass Filing, the underlying claims must be brought in the courts identified in Section 16.9 on a non-class basis, and the remainder of Section 16 remains in full effect.

16.6 Arbitration fees

We will pay all AAA or JAMS administrative fees and arbitrator fees for any individual arbitration that you initiate in good faith and that is not frivolous, except that you remain responsible for the portion of any filing fee that you would have paid to file an equivalent claim in court. If the arbitrator finds that your claim is frivolous or filed for an improper purpose (as measured by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)), the arbitrator may shift fees and costs to you to the extent permitted by law and the AAA/JAMS rules. For Mass Filings, the parties will share administrative and arbitrator fees in accordance with the administrator’s rules and any protocol the parties agree to under Section 16.5.

16.7 Opt-out of arbitration

You may opt out of the arbitration agreement and class-action waiver in Sections 16.3–16.5 within 30 days of first agreeing to these Terms by emailing legal@tidebrief.com with the subject line “Arbitration Opt-Out” and including your full legal name, mailing address, and the email address on your account. Opting out does not affect any other provision of these Terms, including the governing-law, forum-selection (Section 16.9), jury-trial-waiver, and limitations provisions.

16.8 Small-claims and intellectual-property carve-outs

Either party may bring an individual action in U.S. small-claims court for any claim that is within that court’s jurisdiction, in lieu of arbitration, so long as the action remains in small-claims court and is not removed or appealed to a court of general jurisdiction. Either party may also bring suit in court to seek injunctive or other equitable relief for actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation, or violation of intellectual-property rights.

16.9 Forum selection (claims not subject to arbitration)

For any claim by a U.S. resident that, despite Section 16.3, is determined not to be subject to arbitration, you and we agree to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in New Castle County, Delaware, and you and we waive any objection based on inconvenient forum, lack of personal jurisdiction, or improper venue. For all other users (non-U.S.), the courts of Constanța, Romania have exclusive jurisdiction over disputes arising out of these Terms or the Service, subject to any mandatory consumer protections of your country of residence.

16.10 Jury-trial waiver and limitation period

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU AND WE EACH WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY in any proceeding arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service. Any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service must be filed within one (1) year after the cause of action accrued, or it is permanently barred — except where your local law prohibits a shorter limitation period than the statutory default, in which case the shortest period permitted by your local law applies.

16A. U.S. export controls and economic sanctions

You represent and warrant that (i) you are not located in, ordinarily resident in, or a national of any country or territory subject to a comprehensive U.S. embargo (currently Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, and so-called Luhansk People’s Republic regions of Ukraine, plus any other jurisdiction that becomes the subject of comprehensive sanctions), and (ii) you are not on, and are not 50%-or-more owned or controlled by any party on, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s OFAC Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Denied Persons or Entity List, or any equivalent EU, UK, or UN sanctions list. You agree not to use the Service in violation of any U.S., EU, UK, or UN export-control or sanctions law, and not to provide access to the Service to any person or in any country in violation of those laws. We may suspend or terminate your access at any time if we have reason to believe you are in breach of this Section.

16B. DMCA / copyright complaints

We respect intellectual-property rights and respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512 (“DMCA”). For our designated copyright agent, takedown procedure, counter-notice procedure, and repeat-infringer policy, see our DMCA Policy. Knowingly false notices may subject you to liability under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f).

16C. Force majeure

We will not be liable for any failure or delay in performance to the extent caused by an event beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, fire, flood, earthquake, severe weather, epidemic or pandemic, war, terrorism, civil disturbance, embargo, sanctions, government action or order, labor dispute, third-party service-provider outage, internet or telecommunications failure, or denial-of-service or other malicious attack. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to mitigate the effects of any such event.

17. Termination and suspension

We may suspend or terminate your access if you materially breach these Terms, abuse the Service, or pose a risk to other users or to us. If we terminate without cause, we’ll refund any unused prepaid portion. You can terminate anytime by cancelling your subscription and deleting your account.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. For material changes we’ll email you at the address on file at least 14 days before the changes take effect, and we’ll update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

19. Notices

Notices to you may be sent by email to the address on your account or by posting on the Service. Notices to us must be sent to legal@tidebrief.com and, for formal legal service, by registered mail to: PLAY PLAY CARDS SRL, Str. Drumul Pescarilor, nr. 16 A, Olimp, Constanța, 905503, Romania.

20. Miscellaneous

Entire agreement. These Terms — together with the Privacy Policy, the Cookie Policy, the Acceptable Use Policy, the Cancellation and Refund Policy, the Subscriber Agreement, the Disclaimer, and the DMCA Policy — constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service, and supersede all prior or contemporaneous communications, proposals, or agreements (oral or written) between us about the Service.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, illegal, or unenforceable by a court or arbitrator of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or, if it cannot be so modified, severed; the remaining provisions remain in full force and effect. The poison-pill rule in Section 16.4 governs the class-action waiver specifically and overrides this paragraph for that provision.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of that provision or any other.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any of your rights or obligations under them, by operation of law or otherwise, without our prior written consent; any unauthorized assignment is void. We may assign these Terms freely, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of substantially all of our assets relating to the Service. Subject to the foregoing, these Terms bind and inure to the benefit of the parties and their permitted successors and assigns.

No third-party beneficiaries. These Terms are for the sole benefit of you and us and our respective successors and permitted assigns. Nothing herein, express or implied, is intended to or will confer on any other person any legal or equitable right, benefit, or remedy.

Construction. These Terms have been drafted with the participation of both parties (you accept them by clicking through), and any ambiguity will not be construed against the drafter (the rule of contra proferentemdoes not apply). The headings in these Terms are for convenience only and have no legal effect. The words “include” and “including” are not limiting.

Survival. The provisions that by their nature should survive termination — including Sections 8 (Refunds, as to claims already accrued), 9 (Intellectual Property), 13 (Disclaimers), 14 (Limitation of Liability), 15 (Indemnification), 16 and 16A–16C (Dispute Resolution, Sanctions, DMCA, Force Majeure), 19 (Notices), and 20 (Miscellaneous) — survive any termination of these Terms or of your account.

Electronic acceptance and counterparts.You agree that by clicking “I agree”, creating an account, or otherwise using the Service, you electronically sign these Terms in accordance with the U.S. E-SIGN Act (15 U.S.C. § 7001 et seq.) and Romanian Law no. 455/2001 on electronic signatures. These Terms may be accepted in electronic counterparts, each of which is deemed an original and all of which together constitute one agreement.

Language. These Terms are written in English; any translation is provided for convenience only and the English version controls in case of conflict.

U.S. government end users.The Service and any Briefs are “commercial items” as defined in 48 C.F.R. § 2.101, consisting of “commercial computer software” and “commercial computer software documentation”. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. government is subject only to the rights granted under these Terms and is otherwise prohibited.

21. EU/EEA dispute resolution

If you reside in the EU/EEA, you may use the European Commission’s Online Dispute Resolution platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. We’re not currently committed to using a specific alternative-dispute-resolution body for consumer disputes, but we’ll engage in good faith with any competent authority you contact.

22. Contact

Questions about these Terms? legal@tidebrief.com.