Terms of Service

Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using PlasmidStudio ("the Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to these terms, do not use the Service. Your continued use of PlasmidStudio constitutes acceptance of these terms.

Service Description

PlasmidStudio is an AI-assisted plasmid design tool for molecular biologists, biotech teams, and students. The Service provides plasmid construct design, annotation, visualization, cloning strategy simulation, design health analysis, and protocol generation through a web-based interface. PlasmidStudio is a research tool and is not intended for clinical, diagnostic, or therapeutic use.

Early Access

PlasmidStudio is currently in early access. The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without any service-level commitments. Features may be added, changed, or removed without notice. While we take data integrity seriously, you should maintain your own backups of important designs via export. Pricing during early access may not reflect final pricing.

User Accounts and Eligibility

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  You must provide a valid email address to create an account. Authentication is handled via email magic links — no passwords are stored.

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  You are responsible for all activity under your account. Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access.

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  You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service.

Subscription and Payment

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  PlasmidStudio offers free and paid subscription tiers. Paid subscriptions are billed monthly or annually through our payment processor. By subscribing, you authorize recurring charges at the applicable rate.

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  You may cancel your subscription at any time through the billing portal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period — no partial refunds are issued for unused time.

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  If a payment fails, we may retry the charge automatically. We will not immediately revoke access for a single failed payment, but continued non-payment may result in a downgrade to the free tier.

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  We may change pricing with 30 days' notice. Price changes apply at the next billing cycle, not mid-cycle.

Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

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  Use the Service for designing sequences intended for illegal purposes, including but not limited to biological weapons or controlled pathogens.

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  Attempt to circumvent access controls, rate limits, usage limits, biosafety screening mechanisms, or other safety features of the Service.

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  Use automated scripts, bots, or scraping tools to access the Service beyond its intended interface.

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  Misuse the AI features to generate content unrelated to molecular biology or plasmid design.

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  Use the Service in violation of any applicable export control laws or sanctions regulations. You represent that you are not located in, or a national of, any country subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions, and that you are not on any U.S. government prohibited or restricted parties list.

AI-Generated Content

PlasmidStudio uses artificial intelligence to assist with construct design, annotation suggestions, cloning strategy recommendations, design health analysis, and protocol generation. AI-generated outputs are computational suggestions provided for informational purposes:

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  AI suggestions may contain errors, hallucinations, or inaccuracies — including incorrect annotations, wrong restriction sites, inaccurate reading frames, or flawed cloning strategies. AI models are probabilistic and do not guarantee biological functionality or safety.

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  You are solely responsible for validating all AI-generated designs before laboratory use, ordering synthesis, or making decisions based on them.

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  Always follow your institution's safety review and approval processes.

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  The Service uses third-party AI providers (currently Anthropic and OpenAI) via API. These providers do not use API data to train their models. We may change AI providers without notice.

Bring Your Own API Key

PlasmidStudio allows you to provide your own API keys for third-party AI providers. When using your own keys, you are solely responsible for any costs incurred on your AI provider account and for compliance with that provider's terms of service. We encrypt stored keys with AES-256-GCM and decrypt them only server-side to process your requests. We are not liable for charges, data processing, or terms violations arising from your use of your own API keys.

Intellectual Property

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  Your constructs are yours. You retain full ownership of all DNA construct designs, sequences, annotations, and protocols created using PlasmidStudio. We do not claim any intellectual property rights over your designs or data. Our license to your data is limited to what is necessary to provide the Service (storage, processing, display, and sharing per your settings).
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  Your responsibility. You represent that you have the right to upload and process any sequence data you submit. PlasmidStudio does not perform patent searches or freedom-to-operate analysis — you are responsible for verifying that your designs do not infringe third-party intellectual property rights.
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  Our Service is ours. PlasmidStudio's software, interface, branding, and documentation are proprietary. You may not copy, modify, or redistribute the Service.

Sharing

PlasmidStudio allows you to create read-only share links for your constructs. Shared links are accessible to anyone who has the URL — no authentication is required to view shared content. You are solely responsible for deciding what to share and managing your share links. We are not responsible for unauthorized access to shared content if a link is forwarded or discovered by unintended recipients.

Data Handling

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  Your data is stored, processed, and protected as described in our Privacy Policy and Security page.

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  We do not sell or share your construct data with third parties. AI requests are processed through API proxies and are not used to train AI models.

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  You may export your constructs at any time. Upon account deletion, your data will be permanently removed within 30 days.

Limitation of Liability

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. To the maximum extent permitted by law, PlasmidStudio and its operators shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Service — including but not limited to failed experiments based on AI-generated designs, loss of research data, wasted reagents, or decisions made in reliance on the Service's outputs. Our total liability shall not exceed the amount you paid for the Service in the twelve months preceding the claim.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless PlasmidStudio, its operators, and affiliates from any claims, damages, or expenses arising from your use of the Service, your violation of these Terms, your violation of any applicable law or regulation, or your violation of any third-party rights.

Modification of Terms

We may update these Terms of Service from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via the Service or email. Your continued use of PlasmidStudio after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised terms. We encourage you to review these terms periodically.

Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time for violations of these terms, abuse of the platform, or other reasons at our discretion. You may request deletion of your account and all associated data at any time by contacting us. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases immediately. You may export your data within 30 days of termination; after that period, your data may be permanently deleted.

Governing Law

These terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Wyoming, without regard to conflict of law provisions. Any disputes arising from these terms or your use of the Service shall be resolved in the courts located in Wyoming.