What you’re buying, in plain English.
A perpetual licence to use Manuscripts on your Macs.
The short version. You buy a perpetual licence for one person to use Manuscripts on up to three of their Macs. You get all 1.x updates free. Manuscripts comes with no warranty and we are not liable for lost data, missed deadlines, or rejected papers. We offer a 30-day no-questions refund. The licence and these terms are governed by the laws of British Columbia, Canada.
1. The licence you are buying
When you purchase Manuscripts, James Forrest (“we”) grants you (“you”) a perpetual, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to install and use the version of Manuscripts you purchased, plus all 1.x updates released during the life of that version, on Macs that you personally own or use.
The licence is for one person. You may install Manuscripts on up to three Macs that are yours, for your own use. You may not share your licence key with others, post it publicly, or use it to activate installations on Macs you do not own or primarily use.
What “perpetual” means
You can keep using the version of Manuscripts you bought for as long as it runs on your hardware and operating system. We will not remotely disable your copy of the app, demand recurring payment, or take features away that worked when you bought it.
What “all 1.x updates” means
Bug fixes, refinements, and new features released as version 1.0.x or 1.x.0 are included in your purchase. A future major release (2.0) may be a paid upgrade. We will give existing customers a fair upgrade discount and will not pressure you to upgrade.
2. What you may not do
You may not:
- Reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble the app, except where applicable law expressly permits this despite our prohibition
- Resell, redistribute, sublicense, or rent the app or your licence key
- Remove or alter copyright notices or licence-key checks
- Use the app to do anything illegal, including violating other people’s intellectual property or privacy rights
3. Refunds
We offer a 30-day no-questions-asked refund. The full policy lives on the Refund Policy page. By purchasing Manuscripts, you agree that the refund window is the sole remedy for dissatisfaction with the app.
4. Third-party services
Some Manuscripts features can call third-party services (Anthropic, Perplexity, Ollama). These calls use API keys you supply and route directly from your Mac to those services. We are not responsible for the availability, accuracy, terms, or pricing of those third-party services, and your use of them is governed by their own terms. See AI & Data Handling for details.
5. No warranty
Manuscripts is provided “as is”, with all faults and without warranty of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
We make no promise that Manuscripts will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that it will meet your specific research, submission, or workflow needs. We make no promise about the accuracy or reliability of AI-assisted features.
Please keep your own backups. Manuscripts includes automatic local backup of its data store, and you can also export your data at any time. Do both. We cannot recover data that you have lost.
6. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of or related to your use of Manuscripts. This includes, but is not limited to: lost data, missed submission deadlines, rejected manuscripts, lost research time, lost professional opportunity, or any costs of substitute software or services.
Our total liability to you, in aggregate, for any claim arising out of or relating to Manuscripts or these terms, is limited to the amount you paid for your licence in the 12 months before the claim arose.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain warranties or damages. In those jurisdictions, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.
7. Termination
You may stop using Manuscripts at any time. We may terminate your licence if you materially breach these terms (for example, by sharing your licence key publicly or attempting to circumvent activation). On termination, you must stop using the app and uninstall it. Any refund eligibility is governed by the Refund Policy.
8. Changes to these terms
If we make material changes to these terms, we will update the version and date at the top of this page, and (where we have your email from a purchase) we will email registered customers. The updated terms apply to your continued use of the app and to purchases made after the update. They do not apply retroactively to purchases already made, except where required by law.
9. Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of British Columbia, Canada, and the federal laws of Canada applicable in BC, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. The courts located in Vancouver, BC have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or relating to these terms or your use of Manuscripts, and you consent to that jurisdiction.
Where applicable consumer protection law in your jurisdiction gives you rights that cannot be overridden by contract, those rights apply.
10. Severability and entire agreement
If any provision of these terms is held unenforceable, the rest of the terms remain in effect. These terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Refund Policy, and AI & Data Handling page, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding Manuscripts.