Section 1
Licences & third‑party content
In short: We license you to use the Site while you follow our rules. We keep our IP; you keep yours but grant us limited rights to operate the platform. You’re responsible for what you post. Tell us about copyright issues and we’ll review.
1.1 Access licence to the Site
We grant you a limited, revocable, non‑exclusive, non‑transferable licence to access and use the Site and Site Services, subject to these Terms and the User Agreement. We aim to keep the Site available and secure, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted access and may modify or discontinue features without notice where lawful.
1.2 Suspension or termination of access
If you breach these Terms or any part of our Terms of Service, we may suspend or terminate your access at any time. If terminated, you must stop using the Site immediately. Some obligations continue after termination (see Section 4.1).
1.3 Our intellectual property
All copyrights, trademarks, service marks, logos, trade dress, patents, and other IP in or on the Site are owned by Cognowork or our licensors. Using the Site does not grant you rights to our IP except the limited licence in 1.1. Third‑party names and logos may be the property of their respective owners.
1.4 Your content on Cognowork
1.4.1 Responsibility & indemnity
You are solely responsible for all content you post, upload, or transmit via the Site (profiles, briefs, files, messages, portfolios, feedback, etc.). You warrant that your content is lawful, accurate, and does not infringe third‑party rights.
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Cognowork and our personnel from claims, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your content or your use of the Site, to the extent permitted by law.
1.4.2 Licence you grant to Cognowork & other users
To operate, host, display, and improve the Site, you grant Cognowork a worldwide, royalty‑free, non‑exclusive licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt, transmit, display, and distribute your content via the Site and related channels. This licence is limited to providing and improving the Site Services and ends when your content is deleted from active systems (subject to backups, legal holds, and archived logs).
You also grant other users and visitors a limited licence to access and view your content through the Site, and to use it as enabled by Site features and the law (e.g., viewing portfolios, reading feedback).
Where your content includes your name, image, likeness, or voice, you authorize us to use it solely to operate and promote your presence on Cognowork (e.g., showcasing your expert profile to relevant clients). We may display advertising near your content without paying you.
1.4.3 Suggestions & ideas
If you share feedback or ideas, you agree we may use them freely without obligation or compensation and without restricting our right to use similar ideas developed independently or obtained from others.
1.5 Third‑party content, tools & links
The Site may include content posted by users or links to third‑party sites, tools, or services. We do not endorse and are not responsible for third‑party content or services, unless expressly stated. Use them at your own risk and review their terms and privacy notices.
1.6 Copyright concerns & takedown requests
We respect intellectual property. If you believe material on the Site infringes your copyright, please email copyright@cognowork.com with:
- identification of the copyrighted work;
- the URL or location of the allegedly infringing material;
- your contact details;
- a statement of good‑faith belief that use is not authorised;
- a statement that the information is accurate and, under penalty of perjury (where applicable), that you are the owner or authorised to act;
- your physical or electronic signature.
We may remove or restrict access to the content and notify the user who posted it. We may also, where appropriate, close repeat infringers’ accounts.
Section 3
Prohibited use of the Site
In short: Don’t post illegal/harmful content, mislead others, game ratings, bypass payments, or interfere with our systems.
3.1 Unacceptable content
Do not post, request, offer, or promote content or work that:
- is unlawful, defamatory, invasive, hateful, harassing, or incites violence;
- is sexually explicit or exploits minors;
- infringes intellectual property or privacy/publicity rights;
- violates academic or professional integrity (e.g., plagiarism, submitting work for assessed academic credit on someone else’s behalf, ghost‑writing exams/certifications);
- facilitates deception (e.g., fabricated reviews, deceptive “deepfakes” intended to mislead);
- breaches our Community Standards, User Agreement, or any applicable policy.
3.2 Misleading or fraudulent conduct
You must be truthful about identity, skills, qualifications, and who is doing the work. Prohibited conduct includes:
- misrepresenting experience, credentials, portfolios, or results;
- using another person’s identity, photo, or account;
- submitting proposals where a different person/team will actually do the work without disclosure;
- falsifying hours, activity, or deliverables;
- demanding payment or bribes without intent to provide services;
- posting jobs with objectively unreasonable payment terms, hiring yourself, or seeking free work outside an agreed trial/scope;
- using generative AI or automation contrary to a client’s brief, in a way that infringes rights, or hides material AI‑generation where disclosure is required by the brief or law.
3.3 Unfair treatment of others
- unlawfully discriminate or express unlawful preferences in jobs or proposals;
- dox, post personal data, or invade privacy;
- spam users (e.g., duplicate job posts, mass unsolicited outreach);
- request fees to submit proposals or demand free work as a condition of consideration;
- request services primarily to purchase items (including crypto/NFTs) on others’ behalf.
3.4 Feedback & ratings misuse
- coerce, trade, or condition payments/services for positive feedback;
- threaten negative feedback;
- post unrelated political/religious commentary in feedback;
- manufacture feedback by fake contracts or rating yourself.
3.5 Technology abuse, scraping & circumvention
- create multiple accounts or transfer/sell your account without our written consent;
- share means of direct contact before an on‑platform engagement, or bypass on‑platform payments during the non‑circumvention period (see User Agreement);
- advertise or recruit for competing platforms or off‑platform migrations without an approved conversion per the User Agreement;
- interfere with security, probe or bypass access controls, or overload our infrastructure;
- introduce malware or harmful code;
- scrape, harvest, crawl, or use bots without written permission;
- reverse‑engineer or extract non‑open‑source code;
- frame, mirror, or systematically copy Site content without consent;
- publish performance/benchmark tests of the Site without permission;
- access the Site via unauthorised interfaces.
Section 4
Enforcement & reporting
In short: We investigate suspected breaches, may remove content, limit features, or close accounts, and we may keep limited rights needed to run the platform. Please report issues—your help matters.
4.1 How we enforce these Terms
We may investigate suspected violations and, where appropriate and lawful, remove content, limit features, suspend, or close accounts. Our decision not to act on one occasion does not waive our right to act later.
If your access ends, you remain responsible for fees incurred and for complying with sections that survive closure, including: our limited licences to host backups of your content (1.4.2), users’ limited rights to access content already shared (1.4.2), and all prohibitions in Section 3.
4.2 Reporting a breach
To report violations, use the in‑product Report option where available or email support@cognowork.com with details (URLs, screenshots, timestamps). If we follow up, you agree to cooperate reasonably (e.g., provide additional information) so we can assess and remediate the issue.
