Terms of Use

Effective Date: June 26, 2026

Last Updated: June 26, 2026

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Knovel platform at knovel.co, operated by Knovel Protocol, Inc. (“Knovel,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

By creating an account or using Knovel, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the platform.

For questions, contact us at legal@knovel.co.

1. Who Can Use Knovel

You must be at least 13 years old to use Knovel. If you are under 18, you must have permission from a parent or legal guardian.

By using Knovel, you represent that:

• You are at least 13 years old
• You have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms
• You will use Knovel in compliance with these Terms and all applicable laws

2. Your Account

Creating an Account

To access author features, you must connect a compatible crypto wallet. Your wallet address serves as your on-platform identity. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your wallet and any account credentials.

Knovel will never ask for your private key or seed phrase. Do not share these with anyone.

Account Responsibility

You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at security@knovel.co.

One Account Per Person

You may not create multiple accounts to circumvent bans, game discovery algorithms, or otherwise abuse the platform.

3. Content You Publish

Your Ownership

You retain ownership of the original content you publish on Knovel. Publishing on Knovel does not transfer your intellectual property rights to us.

License to Knovel

By publishing content on Knovel, you grant Knovel a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, display, distribute, and promote your content on the platform and in connection with Knovel’s marketing and promotional activities. This license ends if you remove your content from the platform, except for content that has been shared or interacted with by other users in ways that cannot reasonably be reversed.

On-Chain Registration

When you publish a book, your content metadata and wallet address are registered on Story Protocol’s blockchain. This registration is permanent and public. Knovel cannot reverse or delete on-chain records. By publishing, you acknowledge and accept this.

Your Representations

By publishing content on Knovel, you represent that:

• You own the content or have all rights necessary to publish it
• Your content does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party
• Your content complies with these Terms and all applicable laws

4. Content Standards

You may not publish, post, or share content on Knovel that:

• Infringes any copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property right
• Is defamatory, harassing, threatening, or abusive toward any individual
• Contains sexual content involving minors
• Promotes or facilitates violence, terrorism, or illegal activity
• Contains malware, phishing links, or other malicious code
• Impersonates another person or entity
• Violates any applicable law or regulation

Knovel reserves the right to remove content that violates these standards and to suspend or terminate accounts responsible for violations, with or without prior notice depending on the severity of the violation.

5. Derivative Works

Author Permissions

As an author, you control whether readers may create derivative works (fanfiction, translations, adaptations) from your published books. You set these permissions through Knovel’s licensing configuration when you publish or by updating your rights settings afterward.

Creator Responsibilities

If you create a derivative work, you are responsible for ensuring:

• The original work permits the type of derivative work you are creating
• Your derivative work complies with the license terms set by the original author
• Your derivative work does not infringe any rights beyond what the license permits

License Enforcement

Derivative work licenses are recorded on-chain through Story Protocol. Knovel facilitates this process but is not a party to the licensing relationship between original authors and derivative creators. Disputes between authors and derivative creators are between those parties.

6. Monetization and Earnings

Platform Fees

Knovel takes a platform fee on earnings generated through the platform. Current fee rates are displayed in your account settings and may be updated with 30 days notice.

Royalties

Royalties from commercial derivative works are distributed on-chain through Story Protocol’s royalty module. Knovel does not control or guarantee these distributions — they are governed by the smart contracts of the underlying protocol.

Payouts

Off-chain earnings (direct reader payments) are paid out according to the payout schedule in your account settings. Minimum payout thresholds and supported payment methods are listed there.

Taxes

You are responsible for all taxes applicable to your earnings on Knovel. Knovel will provide tax documentation as required by law but is not responsible for determining your tax obligations.

7. Prohibited Conduct

In addition to content standards, you may not:

• Use Knovel to scrape, harvest, or collect data from the platform at scale without written permission
• Interfere with or disrupt the platform’s infrastructure, servers, or networks
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the platform or another user’s account
• Use automated tools (bots, scripts) to interact with the platform in ways that simulate human behavior or artificially inflate engagement metrics
• Engage in any conduct that manipulates trending, ratings, or discovery systems
• Use the platform to send unsolicited commercial communications to other users

8. Intellectual Property

Knovel’s name, logo, platform design, and proprietary technology are the intellectual property of Knovel Protocol, Inc. Nothing in these Terms grants you a right to use Knovel’s branding or technology outside of normal platform use.

Content published by other users remains their property. You may not reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from other users’ content except as permitted by the license terms they have set on their published works.

9. Third-Party Services

Knovel integrates with third-party services including Story Protocol, Thirdweb, and Pinata. Your use of these services is subject to their own terms and privacy policies. Knovel is not responsible for the conduct, availability, or policies of third-party services.

Blockchain networks are decentralized and outside Knovel’s control. We cannot guarantee transaction speed, cost, or success for on-chain actions.

10. Disclaimers

Knovel is provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that:

• The platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure
• Content published by users is accurate, complete, or appropriate
• On-chain transactions will complete successfully or within any particular timeframe

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Knovel disclaims all implied warranties including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Knovel Protocol, Inc. and its officers, directors, employees, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the platform, including but not limited to loss of earnings, loss of data, or loss of access to on-chain assets.

Our total liability to you for any claim arising from these Terms or your use of Knovel will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid to Knovel in the 12 months preceding the claim, or (b) $100.

Some jurisdictions do not allow limitations on liability — in those jurisdictions, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Knovel Protocol, Inc. and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:

• Your use of the platform
• Content you publish on Knovel
• Your violation of these Terms
• Your violation of any third party’s rights

13. Account Termination

By You

You may delete your account at any time from your account settings. Deletion removes your profile and off-chain data within 30 days. On-chain records are permanent and cannot be deleted.

By Knovel

We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms, engage in conduct that harms the platform or other users, or for any other reason at our discretion. For serious violations (illegal content, fraud, abuse), we may terminate without notice. For lesser violations, we will generally provide notice and an opportunity to cure before terminating.

Effect of Termination

Upon termination, your right to use the platform ends immediately. Provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, and limitation of liability.

14. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict of law principles.

Any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of Knovel that cannot be resolved informally will be resolved through binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association, conducted in English. You waive any right to a jury trial or to participate in a class action lawsuit.

You may opt out of arbitration within 30 days of first agreeing to these Terms by emailing legal@knovel.co with the subject line “Arbitration Opt-Out.”

Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking injunctive or other equitable relief in court for matters involving intellectual property or unauthorized access to the platform.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms as the platform evolves. When we make material changes, we will notify you via email or an in-platform notice at least 14 days before the changes take effect. Continued use of Knovel after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

16. General

Entire Agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Knovel regarding your use of the platform.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force.

No Waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms does not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce it in the future.

Assignment. You may not assign your rights under these Terms without our written consent. We may assign our rights without restriction.

17. Contact

Knovel Protocol, Inc.

Email: legal@knovel.co

For privacy matters: privacy@knovel.co

For security matters: security@knovel.co