Terms of Service — Merlin's Pantry

Effective date: 8/1/2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a legal agreement between you and Gerald Tilghman ("we", "us") governing your use of the Merlin's Pantry mobile app ("the app"). By creating an account or using the app, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, don't use the app.

1. Eligibility & accounts

• You must be at least 13 years old (or the minimum age in your jurisdiction) to use the app. The app is not directed to children under 13.
• Using the app requires an account (email + password). You agree to provide accurate information, keep your credentials secure, and are responsible for activity under your account.
• One account is for one person; don't share credentials.

2. The service

Merlin's Pantry helps you find recipes you can make from ingredients you have, save recipes, create your own personal recipes, scan a photo of a recipe to import it as a personal recipe, and optionally generate a recipe with AI. Recipe data comes from third‑party providers and open sources (see §7). We may change, add, or remove features at any time.

Free and paid tiers. The free tier lets you browse and save a limited number of recipes/personal recipes (the current limit is shown in the app). A paid subscription removes that limit and unlocks additional features as described in the app.

3. Subscriptions & payments

(Applies once paid subscriptions are available.)

• Subscriptions are sold through the Apple App Store / Google Play and billed by that store, subject to its terms. Pricing, billing period, and features are shown at purchase.
• Subscriptions auto‑renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel through your app‑store account settings; deleting the app does not cancel a subscription.
• Payment is charged to your app‑store account at confirmation of purchase. Refunds are handled by the app store under its policies. You can restore prior purchases in the app.

4. Your content

"Your Content" means the personal recipes and other material you create or upload (title, ingredients, instructions, categories, and any recipe you choose to share).

• You own Your Content. We don't claim ownership of it.
• License to us. You grant us a worldwide, non‑exclusive, royalty‑free license to host, store, reproduce, and display Your Content as needed to operate the app for you (including syncing it across your devices). If you turn on community sharing for a recipe (see §5), you additionally grant us and other users a license to view and use that recipe within the app.
• Your promises. You represent that Your Content is yours or you have the rights to it, and that it does not infringe anyone's copyright, trademark, or other rights, and is not unlawful. Do not upload other people's copyrighted recipe writing or photographs. (An ingredient list and short, functional steps are generally facts and not copyrightable; a recipe's creative prose, headnotes, and photos are protected — don't copy those.)

5. Community recipes

Sharing a personal recipe to community search is off by default and entirely optional — a recipe is only discoverable by other users if you explicitly enable it, and you can turn it off at any time. When you publish to the community, you are responsible for what you share under §4, and the copyright/takedown process in §10 applies.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to: use the app for anything illegal; upload infringing, harmful, or deceptive content; attempt to scrape, bulk‑export, resell, or reverse‑engineer the app or its recipe data; interfere with or abuse the service or other users; or circumvent usage limits or security.

7. Recipe data, licensing & intellectual property

The app displays recipe data from multiple sources, and different rules apply to each:

• Third‑party API recipes (e.g. Spoonacular, TheCocktailDB, TheMealDB) remain the property of, and are subject to the terms of, their providers. They are shown for your personal use within the app; you may not redistribute or resell them.
• Openly‑licensed recipes. Some recipes come from Wikibooks Cookbook, which is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution‑ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY‑SA 4.0). That content remains available to you under CC BY‑SA 4.0 — the restrictions in these Terms (including the no‑redistribution rule in §6) do NOT limit your rights in that content. You may use, adapt, and redistribute Wikibooks‑sourced recipes under CC BY‑SA 4.0, provided you keep the attribution and license the same way. Each such recipe is shown with its attribution and a link to the license. If you create an adaptation (including an AI‑assisted one) of a CC BY‑SA recipe, your adaptation must also be shared under CC BY‑SA 4.0 with the attribution chain intact.
• Our materials. The app itself, its design, name, logo, and our original content are owned by us and protected by intellectual‑property laws. These Terms don't grant you rights to them except to use the app as intended.

8. AI‑generated recipes

Recipes generated by the app's "Synthesize" feature, or read from a photo you provide via "Snap a recipe," are produced by third‑party AI (Google Gemini / Groq) from the ingredients or image you provide. They are general information only — not medical, dietary, nutritional, or professional advice. AI output — including text read from a photo — may be inaccurate, incomplete, or unsafe for particular diets or allergies, so scanned recipes are shown for you to review before saving. You are responsible for verifying ingredients, checking for allergens, and using your own judgment before cooking or eating. We make no guarantee that generated recipes are accurate, safe, or fit for any purpose.

9. Third‑party services

The app relies on third‑party services (see the Privacy Policy). Your use of recipes and data they provide may also be subject to their terms. We are not responsible for third‑party content, services, or outages.

10. Copyright & DMCA (notice and takedown)

We respect intellectual‑property rights and expect users to do the same. If you believe content in the app (including a community‑shared recipe) infringes your copyright, send a notice to our designated agent, Merlin's Pantry DMCA, at [email protected], including: (a) your signature (physical or electronic); (b) identification of the work; (c) identification of the infringing material and where it is in the app; (d) your contact information; (e) a statement of good‑faith belief the use is unauthorized; and (f) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the notice is accurate and you are authorized to act.

We will remove or disable infringing material, notify the user who posted it, and terminate the accounts of repeat infringers. A counter‑notice procedure is available to users whose content is removed.

11. Disclaimers

The app is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non‑infringement. We do not warrant that the app will be uninterrupted, error‑free, or that recipe data (including match scores, availability, or AI output) is accurate or reliable. You cook and eat at your own risk.

12. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Gerald Tilghman will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss arising from your use of the app or reliance on recipe or AI content. Our total liability for any claim will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim or USD $50.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold Gerald Tilghman harmless from claims, damages, and expenses arising out of Your Content, your use of the app, or your violation of these Terms or others' rights.

14. Termination

You may stop using the app and delete your account (and its data) at any time from within the app. We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms or to protect the app or other users. Sections that by their nature should survive (e.g. §4 license grant for content you shared, §7, §11–§13) survive termination.

15. Governing law & disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to conflict‑of‑laws rules. Before filing any claim, you agree to try to resolve it informally by contacting us. (Your attorney may recommend adding an arbitration and/or class‑action‑waiver clause here — that is a legal decision to make before launch.)

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We'll post the updated version with a new effective date and, where appropriate, notify you in the app. Continued use after an update means you accept the revised Terms.

17. Contact

Questions about these Terms: [email protected], Merlin's Pantry.