Terms of Service

• You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, whichever is higher) to use the Service.
• You must provide accurate information and keep your account information up to date.
• You may not use the Service if you have been previously suspended or removed, or if applicable law prohibits you from receiving the Service.

MatchaScene uses one-time passcode (OTP) email sign-in. You are responsible for keeping access to your email account secure and for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access.

You can browse cafes, products, and rankings without an account. Submitting a rating, review, or photo requires a signed-in account. A small number of low-stakes actions — such as liking a post in the Pulse feed — work without signing in, using an anonymous session stored in your browser. All usage, signed-in or not, is subject to rate limits and anti-abuse measures.

Your ownership

You retain all rights in and to the ratings, reviews, photos, favorites, and other content you submit to the Service (“User Content”). MatchaScene does not claim ownership of your User Content.

License you grant us

By submitting User Content, you grant MatchaScene a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to host, store, reproduce, modify (for formatting/display only), publish, publicly display, publicly perform, distribute, and create aggregated or derivative works from your User Content for the purpose of operating, improving, and promoting the Service. This license continues even after you delete your account for content that has already been shared with others or incorporated into aggregate rankings, provided we remove your personally identifying information where practicable.

Responsibility

You are solely responsible for your User Content and the consequences of posting it. You represent and warrant that (i) you own or have the rights to submit the User Content, (ii) it does not violate any third party’s rights, and (iii) it complies with these Terms and applicable law.

Content standards

You agree that your User Content will not:

• Be false, misleading, defamatory, or fraudulent (e.g., fake reviews, reviews you were paid to write without disclosure, or reviews of a business you own or work for).
• Reveal private information about other individuals (full names, phone numbers, addresses, photos of other patrons) without consent.
• Be obscene, hateful, threatening, harassing, or discriminatory.
• Infringe any copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property right.
• Contain spam, advertising, solicitation, or links to off-platform commerce.
• Contain malware, viruses, or code intended to damage the Service or other users.

Moderation

We may, but are not obligated to, review, edit, refuse, or remove User Content that we believe violates these Terms or is otherwise harmful. We may suspend or terminate accounts that repeatedly violate these rules.

Photos are screened automatically. Every photo you upload is checked by an automated moderation service before it can appear on the Service. Photos that the service flags are rejected without human review; photos it clears still require approval by a MatchaScene administrator before they are published. Details of what is sent and to whom are in our Privacy Policy.

Automated screening is imperfect. If your photo was rejected and you believe that was a mistake, email support@matchascene.com and a person will review the decision.

You agree not to:

• Scrape, crawl, or harvest data from the Service except with our written permission or via features we explicitly provide.
• Circumvent rate limits, anti-abuse systems, or authentication mechanisms (including by using multiple accounts).
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code from the Service.
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service, servers, or networks connected to the Service.
• Use the Service to send unsolicited messages or for any unlawful purpose.
• Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
• Manipulate rankings, trending algorithms, or ratings (including by offering or accepting incentives to rate a product).

The Service displays information about cafes, chains, and retail products (“Third-Party Content”) aggregated from public sources such as Google Places and manufacturer listings. Inclusion of a business or product is not an endorsement. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, availability, pricing, hours, or quality of any listed cafe or product, and we are not responsible for your interactions with them.

If you own or operate a business listed on the Service and want to correct information or request removal, contact support@matchascene.com.

The Service, including its software, design, graphics, logos, text, and trademarks (other than User Content and Third-Party Content), is owned by MatchaScene and protected by intellectual property laws. We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service for its intended purpose. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

“MatchaScene” and related marks are our trademarks. You may not use them without our prior written consent.

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, send a notice to dmca@matchascene.com containing:

• Your physical or electronic signature.
• Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed.
• Identification of the allegedly infringing material and where it appears on the Service.
• Your contact information (address, phone, email).
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material is not authorized.
• A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.

We may terminate accounts of repeat infringers.

You may stop using the Service or delete your account at any time. You can request account deletion by emailing privacy@matchascene.com.

We may suspend or terminate your access to all or part of the Service, with or without notice, if we believe you have violated these Terms, if required by law, or to protect the Service or its users. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (including intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and governing law) will survive.

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, or that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or accurate.

Ratings and reviews reflect the opinions of individual users, not MatchaScene. Information about cafes and products (including ingredients, allergens, and availability) may be inaccurate or out of date — always verify directly with the business or manufacturer, especially if you have allergies or dietary restrictions.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, MatchaScene and its officers, directors, employees, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenues, data, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or in connection with your use of the Service.

Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you have paid us in the twelve months preceding the claim or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless MatchaScene and its affiliates from and against any claims, damages, liabilities, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to: (i) your use of the Service, (ii) your User Content, (iii) your violation of these Terms, or (iv) your violation of any third-party rights or applicable law.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in San Francisco County, California, except that either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court.

Any claim you have against us must be filed within one (1) year after the cause of action arose, or be forever barred, unless applicable law requires otherwise.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date and, where appropriate, notify you by email or via an in-app notice. Your continued use of the Service after the changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree, stop using the Service.

• Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between you and MatchaScene regarding the Service.
• Severability. If any provision is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent; we may assign them freely.

Questions about these Terms? Reach us at support@matchascene.com.