Terms & Conditions

1. Agreement to these terms

These terms and conditions (“Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and Picclou (the entity operating the Picclou service). By accessing the Picclou website, creating an account, or using any Picclou product or service (together, the “Service”), you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to any part of them, you must not use the Service.

We may refer to you as “you” or “user”. Content you upload to the Service is “your Content”. “Clients” are the people you share galleries with. These Terms apply equally to you and to anyone acting on your behalf.

2. The Service

Picclou provides end-to-end encrypted storage, proofing, and client delivery tools for photographers and studios, including client galleries, watermarking, tiered releases, and long-term archive storage.

The Service is end-to-end encrypted by design: your photos and files are encrypted on your own device before they are uploaded. Picclou stores only encrypted blobs and the limited metadata required to operate the Service, and does not hold the keys needed to decrypt or read your Content.

3. Eligibility and registration

• You must be at least 16 years old, or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, to use the Service.
• You must provide accurate, current, and complete information when registering, and keep it up to date.
• Each account must be used by the person who registered it and must not be shared or transferred without our consent.
• We may accept or refuse registration in our sole discretion, including for reasons of past abuse, fraud, or breach of these Terms.

4. Accounts and security

• You are responsible for safeguarding your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account.
• At signup you generate a backup key sheet. Store it somewhere safe and separate from your device. Because the Service is end-to-end encrypted, Picclou cannot recover your account, your files, or your keys. Lost keys mean lost access to encrypted content, and we are not liable for that loss.
• If you believe your account has been compromised, notify us promptly at hello@picclou.com.

5. Your Content and your ownership

• You retain all rights, title, and interest in and to your Content.
• To operate the Service, you grant Picclou a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, limited license to store, process, transmit, and reproduce your Content solely to the extent necessary to provide the Service to you. This license never authorizes us to view, sell, share, or train models on your Content.
• You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary rights, releases, licenses, and consents to upload and share your Content, including consent from any person depicted, and that your Content does not violate any law or the rights of any third party.
• You, not Picclou, are responsible for the Content you upload and for how you use and share it.
• You are responsible for the conduct of the Clients you share galleries with, including any resharing of your Content. You must ensure your Clients use the Service lawfully, and you remain liable to us for their acts.

6. Acceptable use and prohibited conduct

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Store, distribute, or transmit unlawful, infringing, defamatory, hateful, or exploitative material.
• Store, distribute, or transmit child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or any material that sexualizes or endangers minors. Such material is strictly prohibited; where we become aware of it, we will report it to the relevant authorities, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) or its local equivalent.
• Store, distribute, or transmit non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) or any intimate content depicting a person without their consent.
• Distribute malware, viruses, or other harmful code.
• Impersonate another person or misrepresent your affiliation with any entity.
• Attempt to defeat, bypass, or probe the encryption, access controls, watermarks, PINs, or payment gates of the Service, or otherwise interfere with its integrity.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of the Service.
• Scrape, crawl, or use automated means to access the Service or download galleries at volumes beyond normal client use.
• Use the Service to spam, harass, or solicit clients or other users.
• Resell, rent, lease, or sublicense the Service, your account, or access to it, without our written consent.
• Circumvent a suspension or termination by registering a new account or using another person’s account.

We may investigate violations and cooperate with law enforcement or other authorities. We retain the right to refuse service, remove or restrict access to material that violates these Terms, and suspend or terminate accounts involved in violations.

Because the Service is end-to-end encrypted, we cannot view the content you store, and we do not proactively monitor it. We act on abuse when we become aware of it through account metadata, reports, or legal process. To report abuse, email abuse@picclou.com.

7. Fair use

• The Service is intended for professional use by photographers and studios to deliver and archive their own photography work. Storage, transfers, and restores are metered per your plan.
• You may not use the Service as a general-purpose cloud backup, a content delivery network, a hosting backend for third-party applications, or a storage service for unrelated data. Abuse of this nature may be throttled, limited, or suspended.
• Archive storage is designed for long-term retention with occasional restores. Sustained or excessive restore traffic beyond reasonable personal use may be limited, and we may require you to move to a plan that matches your usage.
• We reserve the right to limit, throttle, or suspend usage that we reasonably determine to be excessive or abusive, and to require plan changes before restoring full access.

8. Intellectual property and our brand

• The Picclou name, logo, trademarks, trade dress, website, and the software that powers the Service are owned by Picclou or its licensors and are protected by intellectual property laws.
• We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for your own professional use. This is a license to use, not a sale; you acquire no ownership in the Service.
• You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or create derivative works from the Service, nor use the Picclou brand or marks in a way that suggests endorsement by, or affiliation with, us, without our prior written permission.
• If you provide feedback or suggestions about the Service, you grant us a perpetual, royalty-free license to use them freely to improve the Service.

9. Copyright infringement and DMCA notices

We respect the intellectual property rights of others and expect you to do the same. If you believe that material made available through the Service infringes a copyright you own or control, you may send a notice of claimed infringement to copyright@picclou.com. To be effective, the notice must include: (a) a description of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed; (b) identification of the allegedly infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate it; (c) your contact information; (d) a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized; and (e) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.

We will respond to valid notices as required by applicable law, which may include removing or disabling access to the material. We will also terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who are repeat infringers.

10. Third-party services

The Service may rely on third-party providers for payments, infrastructure, and support tools. Payments are processed by our payment provider and are subject to that provider’s terms. Your encrypted Content is never disclosed to third parties. We are not responsible for the products or services of third parties.

11. Billing and subscriptions

• Paid plans are billed in advance, monthly or annually depending on your selection. Free trials require no credit card.
• Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled. You can cancel at any time; access continues until the end of the paid period you have already purchased.
• We generally do not issue partial refunds for unused portions of a paid period, except where required by law. Statutory rights are unaffected.
• We may change plan prices. Price increases are communicated in advance and take effect at the next billing cycle; continued use of the Service after that constitutes acceptance of the new price.
• If payment fails or is overdue, we may suspend access until the balance is settled.
• You must not initiate fraudulent chargebacks. If you dispute a legitimate charge through your bank or card issuer rather than contacting us first, we may suspend your account and recover the disputed amount plus our reasonable costs of collection.

12. Privacy

Our handling of your personal data is described in our privacy policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

13. Availability and disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

We work to keep the Service reliable but do not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or secure availability. Cold-archive restores are provided on a best-effort basis, typically completing within hours. We may change, add, or remove features at any time, without liability for their removal.

14. Limitation of liability

• To the maximum extent permitted by law, Picclou’s aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service is limited to the amounts you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim.
• To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or exemplary damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, business, goodwill, or data, including data loss arising from lost or stolen keys, regardless of the cause of action.
• Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law, including for death, personal injury, fraud, or gross negligence.

15. Indemnification

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Picclou and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your Content; (b) your use of the Service; (c) your violation of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any law or the rights of any third party.

16. Termination and suspension

• You may stop using the Service and delete your account and Content at any time.
• We may suspend or terminate your access, with or without notice, if we reasonably determine that you have breached these Terms, engaged in unlawful or abusive activity, violated fair-use or acceptable-use rules, failed to pay amounts due, or initiated a fraudulent chargeback.
• We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone and to remove or restrict access to material that violates these Terms.
• Termination for breach is effective immediately, does not entitle you to a refund, and does not affect any accrued rights. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 5, 8, 9, 14, 15, and 18) survive it.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as the Service evolves. Material changes will be communicated through the Service and this page will be revised accordingly. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

18. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws applicable where Picclou’s principal place of business is located, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles, and the courts of that jurisdiction have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute. Before initiating formal proceedings, you agree to contact us and attempt to resolve the dispute informally in good faith.

19. General provisions

• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our privacy policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Picclou and supersede all prior agreements and understandings.
• Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force and effect.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to enforce it later.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign them to an affiliate or a successor in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
• No third-party beneficiaries. Nothing in these Terms confers rights on any person who is not a party to them.
• Force majeure. We are not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
• Reserved rights. We reserve all rights not expressly granted in these Terms.