Terms of Service

The short version

• TimeZyme is for students in middle school, high school and college, for researchers, and for the parents and teachers who help them.
• Anyone can read the free samples. A free account adds Featured Zymes. Explaining your own paper needs a paid plan.
• Accounts are for ages 13 and up. If you’re under 18, a parent or guardian agrees to these Terms with you.
• AI writes the explanations, so they can be wrong. Each one links to the passages of the paper it comes from, so you can check it.
• A Zyme uses its credits only when it finishes. If it fails, its credits are released.
• We never use your papers to train AI.
• You can cancel any time. Payments are generally not refunded.
• Disputes go to arbitration instead of court, unless you opt out within 30 days of first accepting these Terms.

This summary is here to help. The full Terms below are what count.

1. Who we are

TimeZyme is run by TimeZyme, Inc., a Delaware company operating in Texas, in the United States.

2. What TimeZyme does

TimeZyme explains academic papers in plain words. Each explanation, called a Zyme, links to the passages of the paper it comes from, so you can check what it says as you read. Right now TimeZyme accepts academic papers from arXiv only.

A Zyme has three parts: Snapshot, The walk, and Claims & limits.

3. Who TimeZyme is for

TimeZyme is for students in middle school, high school and college, for researchers, and for anyone who wants to understand a research paper. Parents and teachers are welcome to read along.

Anyone can read the free sample Zymes without an account. A free account adds Featured Zymes. Explaining a paper of your own needs a paid plan; see Pricing.

You need to be 13 or older to make an account. If you’re under 18, a parent or guardian must agree to these Terms with you, and is responsible for your account and any purchases. Students under 13 are welcome to use TimeZyme with a parent, guardian or teacher, through that adult’s account.

Some papers deal with mature subjects, and we show them as the authors wrote them, so parents may want to look first.

TimeZyme is offered in the United States only. It isn’t offered in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom.

4. Your account

Keep your account details accurate and your password safe, and tell us right away if someone else gets into your account. You’re responsible for what happens in your account, unless the law says otherwise.

5. Adding a paper

On a paid plan, use New Zyme on your dashboard to add an arXiv ID or link. File uploads aren’t accepted. Quick Start has the details.

We check each paper before processing and may turn one down, for example if arXiv doesn’t have it, or it’s locked, unreadable or over 50 MB.

Adding a paper and seeing its price costs nothing. Choosing Process for N credits means you agree to that price. Section 10 explains how credits are set aside, used and released.

If someone already asked for the same paper, we may give you that finished Zyme; your library stays private. Your queue shows progress and any Zyme that failed.

6. Rules for using TimeZyme

Use TimeZyme lawfully, and only for papers you have the right to have processed. Being able to read a paper doesn’t always mean you may have it processed or reuse it.

Please don’t:

• Break the law or use TimeZyme for anything unlawful.
• Add a paper or link you have no right to have processed, or infringe anyone’s intellectual property or other rights.
• Disrupt the service, add malicious code or try to get in where you aren’t allowed.
• Misuse Zymes or passages from papers, including republishing someone else’s material without the rights to do so.

7. Who owns what

You keep any rights you already have in what you add. Adding a link to someone else’s paper doesn’t make it yours; its rights stay with whoever holds them.

When you add a paper, you confirm you have the rights needed to have it fetched and processed, and you let us use it to run the service. That means storing the PDF for a while, and pulling out, storing and showing its text, passages, figures and details. It also covers the Zyme we make from it, including showing that Zyme to others who ask for the same paper. You can only give us rights you have, and only as far as the paper’s own rights and access permissions allow.

A Zyme doesn’t become your property and gives you no ownership of the paper. Whether you may quote or reuse part of a paper depends on who holds its rights, its license and exceptions such as fair use; an open-access label or a short excerpt doesn’t settle that alone. TimeZyme’s software, design and methods belong to TimeZyme, Inc. and its licensors.

8. AI can be wrong

Zymes are made with automated tools and AI, so they can contain mistakes or leave things out, even where they show their sources. We check each Zyme against the paper, and a part that fails is fixed or left out, never shown as complete. Those checks test whether the paper supports the Zyme; they can’t make AI, text extraction or the research itself perfect.

Seeing the paper’s passages beside each explanation lets you check it yourself, but it isn’t an independent review and doesn’t prove the research is right. Before you rely on a takeaway, read the linked passages and the authors’ own limits in Claims & limits, and go to the original paper for important decisions. A Zyme is a reading aid, not professional advice.

9. Privacy and cookies

Our Privacy Policy explains what personal information and papers we handle, how we use AI services, how long we keep things and your choices. We never use your papers to train AI models. Our Cookie page covers cookies and analytics.

10. Plans, credits and canceling

Stripe handles checkout for plans and credit packs. Prices and allowances change over time; see Pricing for today’s, and Refunds and cancellations for the full rules on canceling, expiry and refunds.

Plans renew monthly and are paid in advance. Monthly credits don’t roll over. Credit packs you buy are separate: they’re used after your monthly credits and expire 365 days after you get them. You need an active paid plan to make new Zymes.

When a Zyme starts, its credits are set aside. They’re used once, when the Zyme finishes, and released if it fails. Released credits aren’t a cash refund.

Cancel any time from the Subscription card in your Billing settings. Your plan keeps working until the end of the period you paid for; unused time isn’t refunded. Upgrades start right away with prorated billing, so check the amount and date shown before you confirm. Downgrades start at the end of the current period.

We’ll give you reasonable notice before prices change, and new prices start after your current billing period.

Unless the law requires otherwise, payments aren’t refundable, including for part of a billing period, and canceling, unused credits and expired credits don’t earn a refund. You can still ask us to review a payment: email support with your account email, purchase date, payment reference and reason. These Terms don’t limit refund rights the law gives you, and our payment processor may refund you on its own.

11. Availability and changes to the service

We provide TimeZyme as it is and as available. We don’t promise it will run without interruption, be secure or be error-free, finish in a set time, or offer any particular paper or Zyme. We may change, pause or stop parts of it for maintenance, safety, legal or operating reasons.

12. Warranties and limits on our liability

As far as the law allows, TimeZyme gives no warranties, express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We don’t promise that the service will be uninterrupted, secure or error-free, that Zymes will be accurate or complete, or that errors will be fixed.

As far as the law allows, TimeZyme isn’t liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, use, goodwill or other intangible losses that result from your use of the service. Also as far as the law allows, our total liability for all claims about the service is limited to the greater of USD 100 or what you paid TimeZyme in the six months before the event that led to the claim.

Nothing in these Terms limits liability, or takes away a right you have, where the law doesn’t allow that.

13. If you misuse TimeZyme

If you break these Terms or misuse the service, you agree to defend and cover (indemnify and hold harmless) TimeZyme, Inc. and its officers, directors, employees and agents against the claims, damages, costs and expenses that result, as far as the law allows.

14. Suspending or closing an account

We may suspend, limit or end access when reasonably needed because of a breach of these Terms, misuse, security or safety, or the law, with notice where the law requires it. You can stop using TimeZyme at any time.

Deleting your account cancels your plan right away. You lose your library, any paid time left and all unspent credits; deleting doesn’t refund them automatically or turn credits into cash. See Refunds and cancellations for refund requests and the Privacy Policy for what happens to your information.

15. Copyright concerns

If you believe a Zyme infringes your copyright, send a notice to our copyright agent at legal@timezyme.com or by mail to Copyright Agent, TimeZyme, Inc., 2100 14th St, Ste 107 #2451, Plano, TX 75074. Include:

• The work you believe is infringed, and the URL of the Zyme.
• Your contact details and your physical or electronic signature.
• A statement that you believe in good faith the use isn’t authorized by the rights holder or the law.
• A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you are the rights holder or are authorized to act for them.

We remove or disable material when we get a valid notice, and we close the accounts of repeat infringers. If your material was removed and you believe it was misidentified, you can send a counter-notice to the same address with the information the Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires, and we may restore the material.

16. Changes to these Terms

When we update these Terms, we post them here with the new date, and we’ll tell you before an important change takes effect, for example on the site or by email. Using TimeZyme after that means you accept the new Terms. A change doesn’t affect rights or duties that already existed, and checkout always asks you to accept the current Terms.

17. Which law applies

The laws of the State of Texas and applicable U.S. federal law govern these Terms, without the conflict-of-laws rules that would apply another place’s law, and subject to any consumer protections the law doesn’t let you give up.

18. Questions, concerns and disputes

If you have a concern, please email legal@timezyme.com first so we can try to sort it out. For billing and refunds, email support@timezyme.com as described in Refunds and cancellations.

Except for cases that qualify for small-claims court, and where the law allows, disputes about these Terms or the service are settled by binding arbitration with the American Arbitration Association (AAA). Consumer disputes follow its Consumer Arbitration Rules; other disputes follow its other applicable rules. See AAA’s consumer arbitration information and its published rules and fees for how to file and who pays which costs.

Arbitration replaces a court trial, including any jury trial, and a court can review an arbitrator’s decision only in limited ways. You keep any right the law doesn’t let you give up, including going to small-claims court if you qualify.

As far as the law allows, disputes are brought only by individuals. You and TimeZyme each give up any right to bring or take part in a class action, a consolidated case or a representative action, in arbitration or in court. You can opt out of arbitration and of this waiver by emailing legal@timezyme.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, saying you’re opting out and giving your account email. Opting out doesn’t change the rest of these Terms.

19. How to contact us

• Terms questions: legal@timezyme.com
• Help, canceling and refunds: support@timezyme.com. Never send full card numbers or security codes.
• Privacy questions and requests: privacy@timezyme.com
• Or use the Contact page or the FAQ.