Terms of Service | TravelPen

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using Travel Pen ("the platform", "we", "us"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use our services. Travel Pen is operated from the United Kingdom and these terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

2. Content Ownership and Licence

You retain ownership of the content you submit to Travel Pen.

By submitting content to Travel Pen, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, display, and distribute that content for the purposes of operating and promoting the platform. This includes sharing your stories across our social channels and in marketing materials.

This licence continues for as long as your content remains on the platform. If you delete your content or close your account, the licence ends, except where we have already used your content in published marketing materials prior to deletion.

You confirm that you own or have the necessary rights to submit any content you post, including photographs, and that doing so does not infringe the intellectual property rights or any other rights of any third party.

3. User Accounts

To publish content on Travel Pen, you must create an account. You agree to:

Provide accurate and complete information when registering.
Keep your account credentials secure and not share them with others.
Notify us promptly at admin@travelpen.io if you suspect any unauthorised use of your account.
Take responsibility for all activity that occurs under your account.

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account on Travel Pen.

4. Content Standards

Travel Pen is a platform for authentic, first-person travel stories. By submitting content, you confirm that:

The story is based on your own genuine, first-hand travel experience.
Any photographs you submit are your own and you hold the rights to publish them.
The content has not been published elsewhere online.
The content is not AI-generated.
The content is not sponsored, paid for, or incentivised by a third party without clear disclosure.

We reserve the right to remove content that does not meet these standards or that we reasonably believe violates these Terms, without prior notice.

5. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to use Travel Pen to:

Post content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, threatening, or hateful.
Infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party.
Impersonate any person or organisation.
Post spam, unsolicited advertising, or promotional material.
Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the platform or its infrastructure.
Interfere with the proper functioning of the platform.
Scrape, copy, or reproduce content from the platform without permission.

6. Guest Posts and Backlinks

Where content is submitted as part of our guest post programme, the above content standards apply in full. A do-follow backlink will be added at our discretion following review of the published content. We reserve the right to withhold or remove backlinks if content is found to be in breach of these Terms at any point after publication.

7. Account Suspension and Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account if we reasonably believe you have breached these Terms, without notice in serious cases. Where possible, we will contact you before taking action and give you the opportunity to respond.

You may delete your account at any time. On deletion, your published stories will be removed from the platform, subject to the content licence provisions in Section 2.

8. Disclaimer of Warranties

Travel Pen is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We do not guarantee that the platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free from viruses or other harmful components. We make no warranties, express or implied, about the accuracy or reliability of content published on the platform by users.

User-generated content on Travel Pen reflects the views and experiences of individual contributors and does not constitute professional travel, legal, medical, or financial advice.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Travel Pen shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential loss or damage arising from your use of the platform, including but not limited to loss of data, loss of revenue, or damage to reputation.

Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under English law.

10. Third Party Links

Content on Travel Pen may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the content or practices of any linked sites and inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement.

11. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Where changes are material, we will notify registered users by email or via a notice on the platform before the changes take effect. Your continued use of Travel Pen after that point constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

12. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of the platform will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

13. Contact

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at admin@travelpen.io.