LitCharts Service Terms

Last revised: August 5, 2024

1. Introduction and General Terms

This website (the “website”) and LitCharts mobile applications (the "apps") are operated by LitCharts, a Learneo, Inc. business (“LitCharts”). All of the Service Terms (the “Service Terms”) explained herein that refer to the website or "Service" apply equally to the use of our mobile apps. Your use of and access to our website or Service is governed by these Service Terms and the Learneo Terms of Service available at: https://www.learneo.com/legal/terms-of-service (the “Learneo Terms of Service”) (collectively, as amended from time to time, the “Terms”).

In the event of a conflict between these Service Terms and the Learneo Terms of Service, these Service Terms shall govern.

The Terms are binding on all users of this website and of LitCharts mobile apps. By directing your browser to this website or otherwise accessing the pages of this website or any LitCharts apps, you accept the Terms. LitCharts may change the Terms, or may modify or discontinue the website, apps, or services offered thereon, at any time at its sole discretion. LitCharts reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to deny further or continuing access to the Service to any visitor, including, without limitation, any user that LitCharts determines has violated any aspect of the Terms. LitCharts reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to seek and obtain any other remedies available to it pursuant to any applicable laws and regulations as a result of your breach of the Terms or any other act or omission by you that gives rise to a claim by LitCharts.

PLEASE BE ADVISED: The Terms contain provisions that govern how claims that you and LitCharts have against each other can be brought. These provisions will, with limited exception, require that you submit claims you have against LitCharts to binding and final arbitration on an individual basis, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, group or representative action or proceeding.

2. Users Under Age 16

We do not permit anyone under age 16 to register for a free user account or a paid membership subscription account. We do not collect any data or other personally identifiable information from anyone under age 16. Parents and legal guardians using the Service and/or purchasing a subscription on behalf of a child are entirely responsible for their child’s use of the Service, including all fees and legal liability that they incur.

3. Free Registered User Accounts

LitCharts users can create free registered user accounts to access certain features available to logged in free registered users. LitCharts free registered user accounts are distinct from paid membership subscription accounts, which give users access to paid premium subscribers-only content.

4. Membership Subscription and Other Paid Features

Access to much of LitCharts is free, but if you would like to upgrade to a paid LitCharts membership subscription or any other paid features, the following terms in Section 5 (Billing) apply.

5. Billing

Billing and Payment

If you upgrade to a paid LitCharts membership subscription, LitCharts will charge your credit or debit card (or other payment method identified when making the initial purchase) through an online account for use of the Service. You agree to pay LitCharts all charges associated with your paid subscription using this online account. You agree to maintain current, complete, and accurate information for your billing account throughout the entire duration of your subscription. In addition, you authorize us to obtain updated or replacement expiration dates and card numbers for your credit or debit card as provided by your credit or debit card issuer. LitCharts may change the membership subscription price from time to time, such as by offering coupons for promotional purposes, at its sole discretion, but will notify you by email, to the email address provided by you to create a LitCharts user account, in the event of a price increase before your subscription renews.

You should be aware that online payment transactions are subject to validation checks by your card issuer and we are not responsible if your card issuer declines to authorize payment for any reason. Please note that it is possible that your card issuer may charge you an online handling fee or processing fee. We are not responsible for this.

Automatic Renewal

(1) Your subscription for the Service will automatically renew and continue indefinitely until you cancel it via your Account Settings page. After your initial subscription period, and again after any subsequent subscription period, your subscription will automatically continue for an additional equivalent period of the same duration as the subscription term originally selected (for example, unless you cancel, a one-month subscription will automatically renew on a monthly basis). You acknowledge and agree that your subscription will be subject to this automatic renewal feature. In the event of a price increase, we will notify you before your subscription automatically renews. If you do not wish for your account to renew automatically you can cancel your subscription at any time. For step-by-step guidelines on how to cancel, please see our Help Center.

(2) By subscribing, you authorize LitCharts to charge your credit card or debit card (or other payment method, as applicable) you select when your subscription begins. You understand and agree that if you do not cancel your subscription before the subscription term end date, your subscription will be automatically extended and your payment method will be charged automatically again at the beginning of any subsequent subscription period, including any sales or similar taxes imposed on your subscription payments. Upon the renewal of your subscription, if LitCharts does not receive payment, you agree that LitCharts may either terminate or suspend your subscription and/or user account and continue to attempt to charge your payment method provider until payment is received or you cancel your subscription. Upon receipt of payment, your subscription will be reactivated and you will continue to be charged automatically for each subscription renewal period until you cancel your subscription.

Cancellation Policy

Cancellation by You. You can cancel your subscription at any time at least 24 hours before the next subscription renewal date by going to the “Subscription” tab in your Account Settings, as outlined in our Help Center. If you cancel your subscription, we will not charge you again at the end of your current subscription term. You will have continued access to your subscription until the end of your then-current subscription term and your subscription will not renew thereafter.

As stated in the Refund Policy below, LitCharts subscription fees are generally final and not refundable. This means LitCharts will not issue a refund of any portion of the subscription fee paid for your then-current subscription term.

Termination by LitCharts. LitCharts is also free to terminate (or suspend access to) your LitCharts subscription or your account, for any reason, in our discretion, including your breach of the Terms. LitCharts has the sole right to decide whether you are in violation of the Terms. If you violate our Terms and we terminate or suspend your account, you will no longer have access to your account and you will not be eligible for a refund under any circumstances.

Refund Policy

LitCharts subscription fees are generally not refundable. We may choose to offer a refund, on a case-by-case basis, and at our sole discretion or as otherwise required by applicable law.

LitCharts explicitly does not offer refunds in the following circumstances:

If a user discovers that LitCharts does not cover the material they need or expected to find on our service. Since much of our content is available to preview for free, users must make this judgement for themselves before subscribing. If you are unsure whether or not our subscribers-only content will meet your needs, please download a free sample prior to subscribing.
If a user forgets to cancel prior to renewal. Subscribers have complete control over initiating, canceling, and reactivating subscriptions. This means that as a subscriber, you can easily:

Cancel your subscription at any time at least 24 hours before the next subscription renewal date. Here’s how to cancel your subscription.
Resubscribe at any time in the future. Here’s how to reactivate your subscription.

If a user subscribes under any false or fraudulent pretenses. LitCharts user accounts are licensed to one user per account. Failure to comply with this, or any other clause in our Terms, precludes the user from the possibility of a refund.
If a user has deleted their account. We are unable to offer refunds, under any circumstances, for any accounts which have been deleted. Subscribers acknowledge that they are ineligible for refunds for any unused portion of their subscription upon deleting their account.

Fraud

If you believe your financial information has been used fraudulently, please contact support@litcharts.com for assistance.

Disputes and Chargebacks

If you file a dispute for a LitCharts transaction with your financial institution, your account will be immediately closed and you will be banned from subscribing again. If you have a concern about billing, you are encouraged to reach out to support@litcharts.com prior to filing a dispute or chargeback with your financial institution. Once a dispute or chargeback has been filed with your financial institution, we are unable to assist with any billing questions or offer you a courtesy refund. Your account will immediately be terminated and banned and this action is irreversible. No refunds will be provided for accounts that have filed a chargeback or dispute.

6. Privacy

All information submitted on the Service might potentially be publicly accessible. We are not responsible for protecting, nor are we liable for failing to protect, the privacy of electronic mail or other information transferred through the Internet or any other network that you may utilize. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for more information regarding privacy. The privacy policy is incorporated into and is a part of the Terms. By using the Services, you also agree that our Privacy Policy applies.

7. Security

LitCharts uses industry standards, including SSL encryption, to safeguard the confidentiality of your personally identifiable information. However, LitCharts cannot and does not guarantee that any personally identifiable information provided to us will not become public under any circumstances.

8. Artificial Intelligence features on LitCharts

LitCharts may use artificial intelligence (“AI”) services to provide some of the AI features as part of the LitCharts Service. AI-generated output that appears in the Service is not created or reviewed by humans and may be provided via third-party services. Such output may be inaccurate or offensive and does not represent LitCharts views. In accordance with the Warranty Disclaimer section in these Service Terms, LitCharts is not responsible for any AI-generated content that is inaccurate, false, or inappropriate.

If you would like to flag inaccurate or offensive AI-generated content, you may do so directly by contacting us at support@litcharts.com.

9. Access and Proprietary Rights

So long as you comply with the Terms, you are authorized to access, use, download, and reprint copies of information and materials (including web pages, PDFs, or other media) available on the website and Service only for purposes of your personal and educational use. You acknowledge that the Service contains information, software, photos, video, graphics, music, sounds, or other material (collectively, "Content") that are protected by copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or other proprietary rights, and that these rights are valid and protected in all forms, media and technologies existing now or hereafter developed. For the avoidance of doubt, Content does not include AI-generated content. Except for AI-generated content (“outputs”), all Content is copyrighted as a collective work under the U.S. copyright laws, and LitCharts owns a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such Content.

Uploading and Distributing Digital Copies Publicly is Prohibited

You may not upload, post, reproduce or distribute digital versions of the Content protected by copyright (such as our printable literature and poetry guides, Shakespeare translations, and Teacher Editions), or other proprietary right, on any publicly accessible technology platform, including web pages and mobile apps, without obtaining permission of the owner of the copyright or other proprietary right. Violation of this restriction may result in infringement of intellectual property and contractual rights of LitCharts or third parties, which is prohibited by law and could result in substantial civil and criminal penalties.

Sharing Printed Copies is Permitted

You may distribute print copies of our downloadable content, such as our literature guide PDFs and the files contained in our Teacher Edition zip files, for any educational non-commercial use; for instance a student may share such printed materials within a study group, or a teacher may share such materials with their students. Any copies made by you must retain without modification any and all copyright notices and other proprietary marks.

Creating Derivative Works is Prohibited

You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or any part of the Services, in whole or in part, including use for creative work or to sell or promote other products.

Automated Downloads are Not Permitted

The use of software or other means of automating the process of downloading any or all of our content is strictly prohibited, including “crawls,” “scrapes,” or “spiders” of any page, data or portion of or relating to the Services or Content (through use of manual or automated means). We reserve the right at our sole discretion to refuse service, cancel subscriptions, terminate accounts, and ban users who violate this clause. No refunds will be issued in the event of a ban, termination, or account closure for this reason.

Sharing Account Information is Not Permitted

Account login information may not be shared or transferred to anyone other than the original subscriber or account holder. You may only create one account with us. If your account has been suspended or terminated, you may not create another account. You may not sell, share, or transfer your account to anyone else without our prior written permission. Any activity that purposefully or negligently jeopardizes the security of your LitCharts account or anyone else’s (such as allowing someone else to log on as you on the Services) is subject to immediate account termination without refund.

Authorized Access Only

In certain instances, LitCharts may agree to provide you with access to secure, password protected pages of the website. Such access is restricted to authorized users only; any attempt by you to access these areas without authorization or beyond the authorized access provided by LitCharts will result in the termination of your account and may subject you to criminal or civil liability.

Proprietary Marks

LitCharts, LitCharts A+, LitCharts A+ Teacher, Shakescleare, and other identifying marks of LitCharts are proprietary to LitCharts. You may not use these marks for any purpose without the express prior written consent of LitCharts. Except as expressly set forth above, these Service Terms do not grant to you any express, implied or other license or right under any patent, trademark or copyright of LitCharts or any third party.

10. External Links

This website may contain links to other websites that are not operated or controlled by LitCharts. Use of these links to access other Internet sites is at your own risk. LitCharts is not responsible for the accuracy, reliability or quality of any information or services provided or products sold at these sites. LitCharts establishes links to other websites for the convenience of its users; however, such links are not intended to be an endorsement of other websites.

11. Linking to LitCharts

We encourage linking to all LitCharts.com pages and you do not need our permission to do so. We request that instead of linking to copies of our PDFs hosted elsewhere that you link directly to LitCharts.com pages, where users can then download our PDFs legally. It is a violation of copyright law to link directly to any LitChart PDF file.

12. Warranty Disclaimer; Limitation of Liability

Neither LitCharts nor any of its licensors or suppliers make any representations, warranties, or guarantees that content contained in or accessed through the Service, such as but not limited to, the files available for viewing or downloading through the Service, will be free of contaminating or damaging code such as viruses, trap doors and the like. LitCharts does not endorse content, nor warrant the accuracy, completeness, correctness, legality, decency, timeliness or usefulness of any opinions, advice, content, services, suggestions, outputs, recommendations of services, products or merchandise provided through the Service or on the Internet generally. Any details as to products, including product descriptions, benefits, quality and performance are provided by the supplier or manufacturer of the product and are reproduced for the convenience of our users. This information is not verified or substantiated by LitCharts and LitCharts is not responsible for any inaccuracies or omissions.

YOU AGREE THAT USE OF THE WEBSITE AND SERVICE IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE WEBSITE AND PRODUCTS AND SERVICES PROVIDED THROUGH OR IN CONNECTION WITH IT, ARE PROVIDED "AS IS,"WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. LITCHARTS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION: 1) ANY WARRANTIES CONCERNING THE AVAILABILITY, ACCURACY OR CONTENT OF INFORMATION, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES; AND 2) ANY WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. LITCHARTS MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT THE WEBSITE AND SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, OR THAT THE WEBSITE AND SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE; NOR DOES LITCHARTS MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS OR AI-GENERATED OUTPUTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE WEBSITE AND SERVICE OR AS TO THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE AND SERVICE.

YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT ANY MATERIAL AND/OR DATA DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE WEBSITE AND SERVICE IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF SUCH MATERIAL AND/OR DATA. LITCHARTS MAKES NO WARRANTY REGARDING ANY GOODS OR SERVICES OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE AND SERVICE OR ANY TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO THROUGH THE WEBSITE AND SERVICE. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM LITCHARTS OR THROUGH THE SERVICE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY MADE HEREIN. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

NEITHER LITCHARTS NOR ANY OF ITS PARTNERS, AGENTS, AFFILIATES OR CONTENT PROVIDERS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF USE OF THE SERVICE OR INABILITY TO GAIN ACCESS TO OR USE THE WEBSITE AND SERVICE OR OUT OF ANY BREACH OF ANY WARRANTY.

13. Arbitration and Governing Law

The exclusive means of resolving any dispute or claim arising out of or relating to these Service Terms (including any alleged breach thereof), the Service, or the website shall be BINDING ARBITRATION administered by the American Arbitration Association. The one exception to the exclusivity of arbitration is that you have the right to bring an individual claim against LitCharts in a small-claims court of competent jurisdiction. But whether you choose arbitration or small-claims court, you may not under any circumstances commence or maintain against LitCharts any class action, class arbitration, or other representative action or proceeding.

By using the website or the Service in any manner, you agree to the above arbitration agreement. In doing so, YOU GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO GO TO COURT to assert or defend any claims between you and LitCharts (except for matters that may be taken to small-claims court). YOU ALSO GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION OR OTHER CLASS PROCEEDING. Your rights will be determined by a NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR, NOT A JUDGE OR JURY. You are entitled to a fair hearing before the arbitrator. The arbitrator can grant any relief that a court can, but you should note that arbitration proceedings are usually simpler and more streamlined than trials and other judicial proceedings. Decisions by the arbitrator are enforceable in court and may be overturned by a court only for very limited reasons.

Any proceeding to enforce this arbitration agreement, including any proceeding to confirm, modify, or vacate an arbitration award, may be commenced in any court of competent jurisdiction. In the event that this arbitration agreement is for any reason held to be unenforceable, any litigation against LitCharts (except for small-claims court actions) may be commenced only in the federal or state courts located in New York County, New York. You hereby irrevocably consent to the jurisdiction of those courts for such purposes.

These Service Terms, and any dispute between you and LitCharts, shall be governed by the laws of the state of New York without regard to principles of conflicts of law, provided that this arbitration agreement shall be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act.

Your use of this website is governed by all applicable laws and regulations of the United States and any state and locality having jurisdiction. Information on this website may be subject to U.S. export control restrictions. Your use of this website may be subject to the laws of other countries if you are not located in the United States.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold LitCharts, its partners, agents, affiliates and content partners harmless from any dispute which may arise from a breach of Terms, which includes losses and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) arising from third party claims relating to (a) your use of the Service or website (including any actions taken by a third party using your account), and (b) your violation of the Terms.

15. Conduct

Your use of the website and Service is subject to the Terms and all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations. LitCharts retains the right, at LitCharts's sole discretion, to determine whether or not your conduct is consistent with the Terms and LitCharts's operating rules or policies, and we may terminate your access to and use of the account, the website, and/or Service if your conduct is found to be inconsistent with the Terms, such rules or policies.

If you contact LitCharts customer support via the website or any other medium, you agree to treat our customer support team with respect. LitCharts will not tolerate any type of abusive, rude, vulgar, fraudulent, deceptive, threatening, harassing, or inappropriate treatment of anyone on our customer support team, or anyone else at LitCharts. We reserve the right at our sole discretion to refuse service, cancel subscriptions, issue refunds, terminate accounts, and ban users who do not follow these guidelines. Without limitation, LitCharts reserves the right to terminate your access to and use of the Service. If your account is terminated for misconduct, you will not be eligible for a refund.

16. Communications

You agree and consent to receive email messages from us. These emails may be transactional or relationship communications relating to the website, such as administrative notices and service announcements or changes, or emails containing commercial offers, promotions, or special offers from us or third-party partners.

17. Feedback

You agree that any comment, review, recommendation, suggestion, feedback, testimonial, or other similar input you submit or share with us related to our products, Services, website, applications, or technology (“Feedback”) may be used by us without any notice, obligation, restriction, compensation, or reimbursement to you and you waive (and agree not to enforce) any and all rights that may now or in the future exist in any Feedback.

18. Notices

LitCharts will publicize any necessary notices by posting them on the website. You authorize LitCharts to send notices via electronic mail as well if LitCharts decides, in its sole discretion, to do so. You agree to check the website for notices, and that You will be considered to have received a notice when it is made available to You by posting on the website.

19. Changes to the Terms

LitCharts reserves the right to modify or amend this policy at any time by posting the revised Terms on our website. The changes will only affect the information we collect after the effective date of the change unless we clearly express otherwise.

20. Survival of Terms

Provisions that, by their nature, should survive termination of the Terms shall survive termination. By way of example, all of the following will survive termination: any obligation you have to pay us or indemnify us, any limitations on our liability, any terms regarding ownership of intellectual property rights, and terms regarding disputes between us.