Terms of Use

1. Acceptance of these Terms

These Terms of Use ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Noble Nooks ("we", "us", "our"), the publisher of the Jataka Tales mobile application ("the App").

By downloading, installing, opening or using the App, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the App and uninstall it from your device.

These Terms work alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle your information. Your use of the App is also subject to the terms of the store you installed it from (for example Google Play).

2. Your licence to use the App

We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable licence to install and use the App on devices you own or control, for your own private, non-commercial reading, listening and study.

This is a licence to use the App. It does not transfer ownership of the App, its content, or any intellectual property in either.

3. Ownership of content

3.1 The underlying tales

The Jataka tales themselves are ancient Buddhist literature in the public domain. We claim no ownership over the stories as a body of traditional knowledge, and nothing in these Terms prevents anyone from studying, teaching, retelling or translating them independently.

3.2 What is ours

What is protected is the original work created for this App. Unless stated otherwise, the following are owned by us and protected by copyright under the Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003 of Sri Lanka and by international copyright treaties including the Berne Convention:

• The specific Sinhala and English retellings and translations of each tale as they appear in the App
• The summaries, morals, simplified titles and editorial text written for each tale
• The illustrations accompanying the tales, and all other artwork, icons and imagery
• The selection, arrangement, categorisation and curation of the collection, including the virtue-based category scheme, as a compilation
• The App's source code, interface design, layout, typography and visual identity
• The names "Jataka Tales" and "ජාතක කථා" as used to identify this App, and the App logo and icon

All rights not expressly granted to you in these Terms are reserved.

4. What you may not do

Except where a legal exception such as fair dealing, private study or quotation applies, you agree not to:

• Copy or redistribute the App's text or illustrations, in whole or in substantial part, whether free of charge or commercially
• Republish App content on a website, social media account, blog, e-book, printed book, video, podcast or any other platform without our prior written permission
• Incorporate App content into another mobile or web application, whether or not that application is monetised
• Extract, decompile, unpack or reverse engineer the App package in order to obtain its content files, data files or source code
• Scrape, bulk-download, crawl or hotlink the App's media or content servers, or access them by any means other than the App itself
• Use the content to train, fine-tune or evaluate machine learning or artificial intelligence models, or to build a derivative dataset or corpus
• Remove, obscure or alter any copyright notice, attribution or ownership marking
• Sell, rent, sublicense or commercially exploit the App or its content
• Publish a confusingly similar app using our name, icon, branding or visual identity in a way likely to mislead users as to its origin
• Interfere with the App's operation, circumvent its security measures, or attempt to disrupt the servers or networks it relies on
• Use the App for any unlawful purpose, or in a way that disparages or misrepresents the Buddhist teachings it presents

If you would like to use our content for educational, temple, charitable or non-profit purposes, please ask. We are generally glad to say yes to reasonable requests made in advance — write to us using the contact details below.

5. Messages you send us

The App includes an optional Contact form. When you send a message, bug report, correction or suggestion:

• You confirm you have the right to send us its contents, and that it does not infringe anyone else's rights.
• You grant us permission to read, store and act on the message so we can respond and improve the App. If you suggest a correction to a tale, you agree we may incorporate that correction into the App without payment or attribution.
• Please do not send confidential, sensitive or personal information you would not want retained. How we handle these messages is described in our Privacy Policy.

6. Advertising and third-party services

The App is offered free of charge and is supported by banner advertisements served by Google AdMob. It also relies on Google Firebase to deliver illustrations and content updates.

Advertisements are supplied by third parties. We do not select, endorse or take responsibility for the products, services or claims made in them, and any dealings you have with an advertiser are solely between you and that advertiser. You agree not to interfere with, block, spoof or fraudulently interact with advertising in the App.

Your interaction with these third-party services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies.

7. Availability and content updates

The tales are bundled with the App and remain readable offline. Illustrations and occasional text corrections are delivered over the internet, so some features require a connection.

We may update, correct, add to, restructure or remove content and features at any time, and may suspend or discontinue the App or any part of it without notice. We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free availability.

8. About the content itself

Jataka Tales is an independent project offered in a spirit of respect for the Dhamma. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official publication of any temple, monastery, monastic order, Buddhist institution or government body.

The retellings are presented for cultural, literary and moral reading. They are adapted for a general audience and are not offered as authoritative scholarly translations of the Pali canon. The moral reflections accompanying each tale are interpretive and are not religious, medical, legal, psychological or financial advice. If you are studying the Jatakas academically or doctrinally, please consult a recognised scholarly edition.

9. Disclaimer of warranties

The App is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy or completeness.

We do not warrant that the App will meet your requirements, that it will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free, or that translations and text are free of errors or omissions. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, device damage, mobile data charges, or loss of profits or goodwill, arising out of or connected with your use of or inability to use the App.

Because the App is supplied to you free of charge, our total aggregate liability to you in connection with the App, on any basis, is limited to the greater of the amount you actually paid us for the App (which is nil) or LKR 1,000. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

11. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claims, losses, liabilities and reasonable legal costs arising from your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the App, or your infringement of any third party's rights.

12. Copyright complaints and reporting infringement

12.1 If you believe we have infringed your rights

We respect the rights of others. If you believe content in the App infringes your copyright, please email us at the address below with: a description of the work concerned, the exact location of the material in the App (for example, the tale name or number), your contact details, a statement that you believe in good faith that the use is unauthorised, and a statement that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are authorised to act for the rights holder. We will investigate and, where a complaint is well founded, remove or correct the material promptly.

12.2 If you find our content copied elsewhere

If you come across our retellings, summaries or illustrations reproduced in another app, website or publication without permission, we would be grateful if you told us. Please include a link or screenshot. We actively enforce our rights, including by submitting takedown notices to app stores, hosting providers and search engines, and by pursuing remedies available under Sri Lankan and international law.

13. Termination

Your licence under these Terms ends automatically if you breach them. We may also suspend or withdraw access to server-delivered features where we reasonably believe the App or its content is being misused. You may end this agreement at any time by uninstalling the App.

Sections 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 14 survive termination.

14. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, without regard to conflict of law principles. The courts of Sri Lanka have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from these Terms or the App, except that we may seek injunctive relief to protect our intellectual property in any competent jurisdiction.

If you use the App as a consumer resident elsewhere, this does not deprive you of the protection of mandatory consumer law in your country of residence.

15. General

• Entire agreement: These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between us regarding the App.
• Severability: If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remains in force.
• No waiver: If we do not enforce a right immediately, we do not waive it.
• Changes: We may revise these Terms to reflect changes in the App or the law. The "Effective" date above will be updated, and continued use of the App after a change means you accept the revised Terms.

16. Contact