Guideline (Purchase)

Guideline (Purchase)

Academist Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "the Company") has established the following guidelines (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines") regarding the use of “academist”, a crowdfunding platform operated by the Company (hereinafter referred to as the "Service"). In order for users to use the Service, it is necessary for users to agree to all provisions of the Guidelines and the Terms of Service Agreement separately set forth by the Company, and users are deemed to have agreed to the Guidelines when they use the Service. All definitions of terms appearing in the Guidelines are subject to the Terms of Service Agreement.

Article 1 Outline

The Company will provide a crowdfunding platform that allows a large number of unspecified Registered Users to become supporters of Projects posted by Challengers and provide financial support for those Projects.

1. The Challenger may offer the Supporter one or more types of returns (i.e. intangible or tangible objects provided within the scope of the law and regulations for a certain amount of funding determined by the Project) related to the Project. In such cases, the Challenger may entrust the sales to the Company. Registered Users can also purchase them to sponsor the Project and support the Challenger as a supporter. When the total amount promised by the Supporters who have promised to purchase the returns reaches the total target amount of funding set by the Challenger, and when the application period ends (achievement of the Project), the purchase and sales of the returns will be concluded and the amount of funding by the Supporters will be paid according to the prescribed conditions. In such cases, the sales contract will be made between the Company and the Supporter in principle, and there will be no contractual relationship between the Challenger and the Supporter.
2. Prior to the achievement of the Project, the Challenger can promote the Project through the Service in order to recruit Supporters. After the Project is achieved, Challengers are encouraged to share the progress of the Project with their Supporters on the Project page through the progress report section and the return research report, etc. Supporters can learn about the Project progress as the Supporters of the Project.

Article 2 Project Posting

1. If the amount of funding reaches the target amount within the application period set by the Challenger, the Project will be established at the end of the application period (hereinafter referred to in the Guidelines as "Project Achievement", "achievement" or "successful"). At this point, the Supporter's funding will be settled in full and the Challenger shall commence its Project activities.
2. If the Project does not reach the target amount within the application period, the project will be unsuccessful ("Unsuccessful"). In such cases, the Supporter's funding will not be settled in full and the Supporter will not be entitled to any returns. In such cases, no payment will be made from the Company to the Challenger.
3. Challengers are encouraged to promote their Projects and share their progress with Supporters and Registered Users to ensure that their Projects are successful.
4. Even if the Challenger raises fundings in excess of the target amount during the application period, the Challenger cannot terminate the posting of the Project and must continue to recruit Supporters until the end of the application period.
5. In the event that a Challenger's Project is successful, the Challenger must personally fulfill the return by the date and time stated on the Project page, or cooperate with the Company in fulfilling the return. However, this does not apply to cases where the feasibility or timing of the return cannot be predicted, such as the inclusion of the name of the Challenger in the acknowledgements of the expected research paper.
6. If the Company determines that the Project applied for by the Challenger is not intended to obtain research funding, the Company may refuse to publish the Project.
7. Once a Project has been posted on the Service, it cannot be withdrawn from the Service in principle, nor can the application period, target amount, return content or amount be changed. However, this does not apply to Projects that have not yet been successfully launched before the deadline for submissions, and in which both the Company and the Challenger determine that the Project cannot be launched for unavoidable reasons. In such cases, the Challenger must promptly notify the Company of such inability.
8. In the event that a Project is unavoidably withdrawn from publication for any of the reasons described in the preceding paragraph, the Company will charge an administrative fee based on the progress of the Project in addition to a cancellation fee of 50,000 yen (excluding tax).

Article 3 Project Support

1. Supporting the Challenger as a Supporter means to purchase the right to receive the return (goods or services) set by the Company and the Challenger, and thereby supporting the execution of the Project.
2. The Supporter shall be entitled to receive a return from the Challenger once the payment of the funding has been completed and the supported Project has been successful. However, if the type of return involves the sales of goods or other shipping activities, Supporters residing overseas may not be eligible to receive such returns.
3. By providing support, Supporters will be deemed to have understood and agreed to the terms and conditions of the Project for which they have provided support. The terms and conditions of the Project will be displayed separately on the Service for each Project.
4. The Supporter shall not make any demands other than the previously agreed returns for the Project.
5. Upon completion of the Supporter's payment processing, the Company may display the fact that the Supporter has supported the Project on the Supporter List page of the Project without delay, regardless of whether the Project has been successful or not.
6. The timing for receiving returns from the Challenger shall be clearly stated and determined in the Project posted on the Service by the Challenger. In the event that any problems arise regarding the delivery of returns, they shall be resolved between the Supporter and the Challenger in principle. In addition, the Supporter shall understand the maximum number of returns to be distributed and other conditions indicated on the Service, and shall pay the funding.
7. The Challenger or Supporter who uses the Service may be subject to taxation in connection with the use of the Service. The Company will not be involved in any taxation related to the use of the Service, and the Challenger and Supporter are responsible for confirming whether or not there is any taxation and the amount of taxation.
8. As the Service is a purchase-type crowdfunding service in principle, the support through this Service is not deductible as a donation. However, this does not apply to supports from the areas of academist that are clearly labeled as donation-type areas or from the pages of “academist Plus” for each university or research institution.

Article 4 Eligibility for Use

1. When a minor user uses the Service, the consent of a person with parental authority is required.
2. Challengers as individuals must be adults and have a Japanese address, telephone number, bank account in their names, and ID issued by a public institution (driver's license, passport, health insurance card, etc.) or student ID.

Article 5 Prohibitions on Project Publication

1. Challengers are not allowed to post Projects that they are not involved with or that have not been approved by the Project rights holder.
2. In the event that a Registered User learns the address, e-mail address, or other information of a Registered User or Supporter other than himself/herself, or the support history of the Registered User or Supporter, the Registered User may not reprint or disclose such information on or off the Internet without the consent of the third party concerned. However, this does not apply to user names.
3. It is prohibited to post Projects or returns that include any of the following;
   • Violation of laws and regulations;
   • Works for which the right to use is not legitimately held such as works for which the copyright is not obtained or works without the license;
   • Firearms, weapons, tobacco, medicines, medical supplies, animals, insects and other living organisms, those that do not meet the licensing and qualification requirements required by law for sales, and all illegal products;
   • Highly dangerous products such as gunpowder and fireworks, products that may be used in crimes (air guns, stun guns, tear gas sprays), knives that are prohibited by law, high-priced products advocating good fortune or charm against bad luck from evil, financial products (stocks, dividends, etc.), and items with high cash value such as gift certificates and coupons in general circulation; or
   • Other items that the Company deems inappropriate.

Article 6 Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights

1. Projects posted by the Challenger must not contain works for which the Challenger does not hold the copyright or has not received a license to use the work.
2. The copyright for the text in the Project shall belong to the Company. However, the copyright of photographs, graphs and other drawings (hereinafter referred to as "drawings") provided by the Challenger shall belong to the Challenger.
3. The Company may use the drawings provided by the Challenger for the purpose of responding to interviews from various media and for advertising activities of academist and other related services, and the Challenger shall grant permission to do so free of charge.
4. The Challenger may use the text within the Project only for the purpose of disclosing information about the Challenger and the Challenger's research, and for advertising activities for academist and other related services. The Company shall grant such permission without charge. Any other use must be made with the prior written consent of the Company.
5. Registered Users do not have any copyright, merchandising rights or any other rights related to the Project, regardless of whether they have supported the Project as a Supporter or not. However, this excludes the right to get a return as a Supporter of the Project.

Article 7 Cancellation, Return and Refund

1. Supporters may not cancel, return, request a refund, or otherwise withdraw any payment once they have completed payment of their support.
2. In principle, the Challenger may not request the withdrawal or modification of a Project once it has been posted. However, if the Challenger wishes to withdraw the Project due to unavoidable circumstances, the amount of money received through the posting of the Project will be refunded after a full explanation of the circumstances is provided to the Company and the Supporter. In such cases, the cancellation fee and the administrative fee mentioned in Article 2, Paragraph 8 will be charged.
3. Any problems, refund requests, return requests, or other disputes related to the ongoing Project activities outside of the Service shall be resolved between the Supporter and the Challenger, and the Company shall not be responsible for any such disputes.
4. The Company will not refund any part or all of the funding after the start of the Project, regardless of the reason and even if the Challenger is unable to proceed with the Project or if the performance of the return is delayed or impossible.
5. If the Challenger or the Company sends the return to the Supporter but the return is returned due to reasons not attributable to the Challenger or the Company, the Challenger or the Company will keep the return for 3 months. During the storage period, requests to resend the return will be accepted, but the cost for resending will be borne by the Supporter. After the aforementioned storage period, the return will be destroyed.

Article 8 Payment of Support

1. In the event that a Project is successful, the Company will pay the Challenger or the university or research institution to which the Challenger belongs an amount equal to the total amount of funding raised through the posting of the Project minus the Company's management fee, the fee of the settlement agent used by the Company, the return preparation fee, the bank transfer fee, etc. (hereinafter referred to as the "Return Preparation Fee").
2. If the payment is not processed successfully for some reason at the time of payment, the Supporter will not be entitled to get the return until the payment is completed successfully. If the payment is not successfully processed within 30 days from the end of the application period of the Project, the support will be cancelled regardless of the amount.

Article 9 Fees

The Company's commission will be 17% of the total amount of funding ultimately gathered through the posting of the Project, of which settlement has been completed. In addition, a 3% settlement fee will be charged separately. The amount of money obtained by subtracting the cost of making returns, etc. from the 80% of the total amount of funding will be paid as a donation to the Challenger or the university or research institution to which the Challenger belongs. Please note that a portion of the payment may be used for the education and research of the Challenger's university or research institution as a whole.

Article 10 Service Operation

1. The Company is not responsible for any damage caused to the user due to the inability to pay the funding as a Supporter due to the concentration of access and other reasons.
2. The standard time of the Service is the time managed by the Company's servers and systems, and may not match the actual time or the time displayed on the Service. Users shall use the Service with this understanding.
3. The Company will not be responsible for any loss or damage incurred by the Challenger due to the failure of the Supporter's funding to reach the target amount and to start the Project.
4. The Company shall not be responsible for any damage caused to the Supporter due to the delay of indication, return, or late delivery of the Supporter's funding for reasons not attributable to the Company or the Supporter (such as registration of wrong e-mail address or address).

Article 11 Handling of Personal Information

When the personal information of the Supporter (address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc.) is required to provide the return, the method of obtaining the information or the function of sending and receiving messages specified in the Service shall be used. In such cases, the Challenger will be responsible for managing the personal information obtained and the Company will not be responsible for any damage caused by incidents such as the leakage of information. Personal information related to the Service will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Policy set forth separately.

Article 12 Terms of Service

In order to use the Service, one must also agree to the Terms of Service Agreement separately stipulated by the Company.

Article 13 Changes to the Guidelines, etc.

1. The Company may change the Guidelines for any reason. The Company shall notify Registered Users of such changes by displaying on the Company's Website for the Service. Registered Users who use the Service after such changes shall be deemed to have agreed to such changes.
2. Even if all or part of a provision of the Guidelines is determined to be invalid under the law, such provision shall be interpreted to be as consistent as possible with the original intent, and the portion of the provision other than the invalid portion and the other provisions of the Guidelines shall remain valid.
3. If any part of the provisions of the Guidelines is held invalid or revoked in relation to any one user, the Guidelines shall nevertheless remain in effect in relation to the other users.