Terms of Service & DMCA Safe Harbor Policy

1. Platform Nature & Third-Party Content Disclaimer

Project Ashabi operates as a hybrid digital reading interface and publishing showcase. Content accessible through the platform falls into three distinct legal categories:

• Ashabi Original Concept Previews & African Originals: Original intellectual property, artwork, worldbuilding, and prose created by or licensed directly to Project Ashabi and its African creator collective.
• Public-Domain Literary Works (Books & Novels): Classic literature and full-text novels sourced from public-domain digital repositories (including Project Gutenberg) where copyright has expired in applicable jurisdictions.
• Third-Party Syndicated Demonstration Content: Global manga, manhwa, manhua, and comic series metadata, trailers, and chapter feeds retrieved dynamically via automated public third party indexing APIs. Project Ashabi does not claim ownership over any third-party titles, characters, trademarks, or scanlations. All trademarks, artwork, and copyrights belong exclusively to their respective creators, studios, and original rightsholders.

2. DMCA Safe Harbor & 24-Hour Copyright Takedown Protocol

Project Ashabi respects the intellectual property rights of all authors, illustrators, publishers, and licensing studios worldwide and complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512), the Nigerian Copyright Act, and international copyright treaties.

Because third-party catalog entries are surfaced via automated API queries during our technical demonstration phase, Project Ashabi acts strictly as a passive conduit/index for those third-party feeds and does not claim ownership of them. If you are a copyright owner or an authorized agent and believe that any material indexed or displayed on Project Ashabi infringes upon your copyright, you may submit a formal takedown notice containing:

1. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or a representative list of such works.
2. The specific URL or series identifier on Project Ashabi where the material is indexed so we can locate it immediately.
3. Your contact information (name, organization, email address, or phone/WhatsApp number).
4. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

Commitment to Rapid Removal: Upon receipt of a valid rights or takedown request via our direct Founder governance channel below, we will permanently block, delist, and remove the requested title or chapter feed within 24 hours.

3. Age-Restricted Content (18+ Mature Hub) & Viewer Responsibility

Project Ashabi maintains a segregated 18+ Mature Hub protected by a mandatory age-verification gate. By clicking “I am 18 or older” on any mature content verification prompt, you affirmatively represent and warrant under penalty of applicable law that:

• You are at least eighteen (18) years of age (or have reached the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction, whichever is higher).
• Accessing mature artistic, dramatic, or adult-rated comic literature is legal in your local community and jurisdiction.
• You will not permit any minor under the age of 18 to view or access the 18+ section from your device or browser session.

4. Acceptable Use, Anti-Scraping & Platform Security

You are granted a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access Project Ashabi strictly for personal, non-commercial reading and evaluation. You agree not to:

• Deploy automated bots, spiders, crawlers, or bulk-downloading scripts that bypass our rate limiters or burden platform infrastructure.
• Reproduce, sell, commercialize, or redistribute any Ashabi Original artwork, branding, UI code, or third-party syndicated content.
• Attempt to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any server, proxy, or API route operated by Project Ashabi.

5. Disclaimer of Warranties & Limitation of Liability

Project Ashabi is provided on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis during its public beta and African Originals transition phase. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Project Ashabi, its founder, contributors, and affiliates disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including without limitation implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.

In no event shall Project Ashabi or its founder be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of data, goodwill, or profits arising out of or related to your use of—or inability to use—the platform or any third-party syndicated content displayed therein.