Terms of Service
Sea Spotter
Effective: 2026-06-11
Last updated: 2026-06-13
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1. Acceptance of Terms
By creating an account or using Sea Spotter (the "App" or "Service"), you agree to these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the App.
These Terms form a binding agreement between you and Proinet sp. z o.o., ul. Konstantynowska 16, 95-200 Pabianice, Polska ("we", "us", or "our"), the operator of Sea Spotter.
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2. Description of Service
Sea Spotter is a community-driven mobile application that lets sailors and marine observers report and share real-time wildlife sightings — dolphins, orcas, whales, and other marine species. The App aggregates user-submitted reports onto an interactive map with a probabilistic heat-map overlay that models where species may currently be located based on reported sightings and known movement patterns.
Important limitation: Sea Spotter is an informational, best-effort community tool. Sightings are crowdsourced and unverified. The App makes no representation that any reported sighting is accurate, current, or that any species is or will be present at any location shown. The heat-map overlay is a visualisation only — it is not a real-time tracking system. Do not use Sea Spotter as a basis for navigation decisions, commercial whale-watching scheduling, wildlife research, search-and-rescue operations, or any purpose requiring reliable real-time information.
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3. No Warranty and Limitation of Liability
THE APP IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR UNINTERRUPTED AVAILABILITY.
We do not guarantee that:
• Any sighting report is accurate, timely, or complete.
• The heat-map probability model reflects the actual location of any wildlife.
• The App will be available at any particular time or free of errors.
• Push notifications will be delivered promptly or at all.
• Any species will be present at a location suggested by the App.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, our aggregate liability for any claim arising from your use of the App is limited to the amount you paid for premium features in the 12 months preceding the claim, or €10, whichever is greater.
We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of profit, loss of data, damage to vessels or equipment, or personal injury, arising from your use of or reliance on the App or any sighting data it contains.
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4. Wildlife Ethics Obligations
By using Sea Spotter you commit to the Wildlife Ethics Guidelines accepted during onboarding. These guidelines are consistent with internationally recognised standards for responsible wildlife watching (ACCOBAMS, NOAA NMFS, IWC). Core obligations include:
• Maintaining safe distances from marine wildlife at all times and complying with jurisdiction-specific minimum approach distances.
• Not altering your vessel's course to approach, chase, or intercept a reported sighting.
• Not disclosing or broadcasting precise GPS coordinates of active sightings outside of the App.
• Operating vessel engines responsibly when wildlife is nearby (speed, shutdown).
• Complying with all applicable local and international wildlife protection laws.
We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that we determine have been used in a manner inconsistent with wildlife ethics obligations, at our sole discretion.
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5. Eligibility and Account Registration
You must be at least 13 years old to use Sea Spotter (16 in the EU where a higher age threshold applies). By registering you represent that you meet this requirement.
You agree to:
• Provide accurate and complete registration information, including a valid email address.
• Keep your account credentials confidential and not share your password with others.
• Notify us promptly at contact@sea-spotter.com if you suspect unauthorised access to your account.
• Use only one account per person.
Usernames must not impersonate another person or entity, contain offensive language, or violate any third-party rights.
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6. User-Generated Content
When you submit a sighting report, photograph, or note through the App, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable licence to store, display, distribute, and use that content through the App and in promotional materials relating to Sea Spotter. You retain ownership of content you submit.
You represent and warrant that:
• Your content is accurate to the best of your knowledge.
• You have the right to submit any photographs you upload.
• Your content does not violate any third-party intellectual property rights, applicable law, or these Terms.
Sighting reports (including location and species) are public and visible to all App users. Do not include personal information about yourself or others in sighting notes.
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7. Prohibited Conduct
You may not:
• Submit false, misleading, or fabricated sighting reports.
• Submit sighting locations that would directly reveal nesting sites, denning areas, or other sensitive habitat of protected species.
• Use the App to harass, threaten, or harm any other user.
• Scrape, copy, or collect App data in bulk without our prior written consent.
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, interfere with, or disrupt the App's infrastructure.
• Use the App for commercial purposes — for example, using sighting data to market or operate paid wildlife-watching tours — without our prior written consent.
• Create an account if you have been previously terminated for violating these Terms.
• Violate any applicable law or regulation.
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8. Premium Features
Certain features of Sea Spotter may be offered as a paid subscription ("Premium"). Premium subscriptions are processed through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store under their respective payment terms. All billing, refund, and cancellation rights are governed by the platform through which you purchased. We do not process payments directly.
We reserve the right to change the features included in Premium or to adjust pricing with reasonable notice.
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9. Service Availability and Changes
We aim to keep Sea Spotter available but make no commitment to continuous uptime. The Service may be interrupted for maintenance, upgrades, infrastructure failures, or circumstances beyond our control. We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any feature or the entire Service at any time, with or without notice, and we will not be liable to you for any such modification, suspension, or discontinuation.
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10. Termination
You may delete your account at any time from the Profile section of the App. Account deletion permanently removes your profile and associated personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
We may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if you materially breach these Terms, violate the Wildlife Ethics Guidelines, or if we are required to do so by law. Upon termination you lose access to the App and any Premium features. Sighting reports you submitted may be retained in anonymised, aggregated form for the community benefit of the App's dataset.
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11. Intellectual Property
The Sea Spotter name, logo, brand assets, and the App's original content (excluding user-generated content) are the intellectual property of the operator. You may not use our branding, copy the App's design, or reproduce our content without prior written consent.
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12. Governing Law and Disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of Poland, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Łódź, Poland.
If you are a consumer resident in the European Union, you retain the benefit of any mandatory consumer protection provisions of the law of your country of residence. You may also use the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr
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13. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes via an in-app notice or email before the changes take effect. The "Last updated" date at the top of this document reflects the most recent revision. Continued use of the App after a change takes effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.
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14. Contact
Questions or concerns about these Terms:
contact@sea-spotter.com
Proinet sp. z o.o.
ul. Konstantynowska 16, 95-200 Pabianice, Polska
