Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and 橙語管理顧問有限公司 (trading as “Merry Mandarin”, “we”, “us”, “our”), a company registered in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. They govern your access to and use of the Merry Mandarin mobile applications (Android and iOS), the web application at app.merrymandarin.com, and all related services (together, the “Service”).

By creating an account, downloading the app, or otherwise using the Service, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

2. Definitions

• “App” means the Merry Mandarin mobile and web applications.
• “Service” means the App and all related online features, content, and infrastructure we provide.
• “Account” means your registered Merry Mandarin user profile.
• “Premium Subscription” means a paid subscription tier offering access to additional features or content.
• “User Content” means anything you create, upload, or share through the Service, including custom decks, classroom assignments, and profile information.

3. Eligibility and Accounts

• The Service is intended for users aged 13 and older. By using the Service, you represent that you meet this age requirement.
• You are responsible for providing accurate registration information and for keeping your login credentials confidential.
• You may only register one personal Account. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your Account.
• You must promptly notify us at support@merrymandarin.com if you suspect unauthorised use of your Account.

4. License to Use Merry Mandarin

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to download, install, and use the App on devices you own or control, solely for your personal, non-commercial language-learning purposes.

You may not, and may not permit anyone else to:

• copy, modify, translate, or create derivative works of the App or its content;
• reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or attempt to extract source code, except where this restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable law;
• remove, obscure, or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices;
• resell, sublicense, rent, lease, or otherwise commercially exploit the Service or any Premium Content;
• use the Service to develop a competing product or to train machine-learning models on our content.

5. Subscriptions, Billing, and Refunds

Premium Subscriptions are sold through the Apple App Store and Google Play. The terms below apply, in addition to the billing details described in §12 of our Privacy Policy:

• Auto-renewal: Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each billing period unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the renewal date. On the Apple App Store, payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase.
• Cancellation: You can cancel at any time through your Google Play or Apple ID account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you keep premium access until then.
• Free trials: Where offered, you will not be charged until the trial period ends. Cancel before the trial ends to avoid being charged. A free trial is only available to customers who have not previously subscribed.
• Refunds: Refunds are handled by Apple or Google according to their respective refund policies. We are not able to process refunds directly.
• Web app: The Merry Mandarin web app is currently free to use and does not offer in-app purchases.
• Price changes: If subscription prices change, we will notify you in advance. Continued use after a price change constitutes acceptance of the new price.

6. User Content

You retain ownership of any decks, notes, or other materials you create within the Service (“User Content”). However, to operate the Service, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to host, store, reproduce, display, and transmit your User Content solely as needed to provide and improve the Service to you.

You are solely responsible for your User Content and represent that:

• you own it or have all necessary rights and permissions to use it;
• it does not infringe any third party’s intellectual property, privacy, or other rights;
• it does not violate any applicable law.

If you join or create a classroom, you authorise us to share your progress data with your classroom teacher as described in §2.3 of our Privacy Policy. We may remove or restrict User Content that violates these Terms.

6.1 Classroom and Community Content

If you create or join a classroom, you may enter text that becomes visible to other members of that classroom — for example, class names, deck content, custom example sentences, assignment text, and your display name. Classrooms are private, invitation-only spaces: students join only with a code shared by the teacher, and the teacher who creates a classroom is responsible for managing it and its members.

To help keep classrooms safe, we automatically filter submitted text for offensive language, and we may reject, remove, or restrict any content that violates these Terms. We may also remove a user from a classroom or block a user from the Service. A teacher can remove any student from their classroom, and a student can leave a classroom at any time. You can report objectionable content or behaviour to support@merrymandarin.com, and we will review reports and take appropriate action. By creating or joining a classroom, you confirm your agreement to these rules.

7. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• use the Service for any unlawful, fraudulent, or harmful purpose;
• scrape, crawl, or harvest data from the Service, or use any bot or automated means to access the Service except as permitted by us;
• attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Service, other Accounts, or our infrastructure;
• interfere with, disrupt, or place an unreasonable load on the Service;
• upload viruses, malicious code, or any content that is unlawful, abusive, defamatory, obscene, or infringing;
• impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation;
• circumvent any access restrictions or technical protection measures.

8. Intellectual Property

The Service, including all software, content, courses, story library, character data, audio recordings, illustrations, design, branding, and the “Merry Mandarin” name and logo, is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property laws. Except for the limited license granted in §4, no rights are transferred to you.

Course content, story texts, and audio are licensed for your personal use only. You may not extract, redistribute, publish, or republish any portion of our content outside the Service.

9. Third-Party Services and App Stores

The Service relies on third-party platforms including Apple, Google (Firebase, ML Kit, Google Play), and Cloudflare. Your use of those platforms is also governed by their respective terms. Detailed information about how data flows through these providers is set out in §4 of our Privacy Policy.

9.1 Apple App Store additional terms

The following applies if you install the App from the Apple App Store:

• These Terms are entered into between you and Merry Mandarin only, and not with Apple Inc. (“Apple”). We, not Apple, are solely responsible for the App and its content.
• Apple has no obligation to provide any maintenance or support services for the App.
• In the event of any failure of the App to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price (if any) for the App. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the App.
• We, not Apple, are responsible for addressing any claims by you or any third party relating to the App, including product-liability claims, claims that the App fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement, and claims arising under consumer-protection or similar legislation.
• Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and, upon your acceptance, will have the right to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.

9.2 Google Play additional terms

If you install the App from Google Play, your use is also subject to the Google Play Terms of Service. Google is not a party to these Terms and has no responsibility for the App.

9.3 News and Editorial Content

The optional News feature displays headlines and short article extracts from independent, third-party news organisations to help you read real-world Chinese. This editorial content is not created, owned, edited, endorsed, or permanently stored by us, and we are not responsible for it. We include only a small, hand-picked selection of established, reputable sources, and article text is processed on your device to grade it by difficulty. Choosing to read the full original article opens the source’s own website in your browser, where that source’s own terms apply.

10. Privacy

Our handling of your personal data is described in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms. By using the Service, you also accept the Privacy Policy.

11. Disclaimers

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim all warranties not expressly set out in these Terms. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above exclusions may not apply to you.

12. Limitation of Liability

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

Our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount you have paid to us for the Service in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred United States dollars (US$100).

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Merry Mandarin and its directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with: (i) your use or misuse of the Service; (ii) your User Content; (iii) your breach of these Terms; or (iv) your violation of any law or third-party right.

14. Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time and delete your Account from Settings → Account → Delete Account. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have breached these Terms or that your continued use poses a risk to us or to other users.

Upon termination, the licenses granted to you in §4 immediately end. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including §6 ownership, §8 IP, §11 disclaimers, §12 limitation of liability, §13 indemnification, §16 governing law, and §17 language) will continue to apply.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated through an in-app notice or by email. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. Continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.

16. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them are governed by, and shall be construed in accordance with, the laws of the Republic of China (Taiwan), without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles.

You and Merry Mandarin agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Taiwan Taoyuan District Court as the court of first instance for any dispute, controversy, or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service, subject to any non-waivable rights you may have under the mandatory consumer-protection laws of your country of residence.

17. Language

18. Severability and Entire Agreement

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable by a competent court, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Merry Mandarin concerning the Service, and supersede all prior agreements, understandings, or communications, whether written or oral, regarding the same subject matter.

19. Contact

For questions about these Terms, please contact us:

橙語管理顧問有限公司 (Merry Mandarin)
No. 28號, Lane 103, Nanping Rd
Pingzhen District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan 324
Email: support@merrymandarin.com