Thematic Thing - Software License Agreement
Thematic Thing is provided and licensed by Clement Rahula, an individual residing in the Republic of Estonia (the “Developer”).
Questions about this Agreement can be sent to legal@thematicthing.com.
Plain-English Summary
Thematic Thing v1.x.x is free beta software. It may be used for personal, academic, educational, research, professional, and commercial work.
Users and organizations may install it on any number of devices they own or are authorized to use. The official application may not be redistributed, modified, or sold.
Using Thematic Thing does not give the Developer any ownership of users’ research material or analytical work.
Thematic Thing is beta software and may contain defects. Users should keep independent backups of important research.
The sections below contain the full terms of the license.
By using Thematic Thing, the user agrees to be bound by the terms of this Agreement.
License
Subject to this Agreement, the developer grants each user or organization a worldwide, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and non-sublicensable license to install and use Thematic Thing v1.x.x as permitted below.
The license permits personal, academic, educational, research, professional, and commercial use.
Thematic Thing may be installed and used on any number of devices that the user or organization owns or is authorized to use. Organizations may install the software on shared or institution-owned devices for use by their authorized users.
This license applies only to Thematic Thing v1.x.x. It does not grant any right to future major versions of Thematic Thing.
Ownership of the Software
Thematic Thing is licensed, not sold.
The developer retains ownership of Thematic Thing and all rights in its proprietary software and brand assets that are not expressly granted by this Agreement, including rights in its source code, application binaries, name, and logo.
The license to use Thematic Thing does not transfer ownership of the software or its intellectual property to the user.
Project Data
Users retain all rights they already hold in material imported into Thematic Thing and in analytical work they create using it.
The developer claims no ownership of users’ transcripts, codes, themes, notes, participant information, project files, exports, or other research material.
Project data is stored locally and is not held by the developer. The Thematic Thing Privacy Policy describes how the application and website handle personal data: https://thematicthing.com/privacy-policy
Permitted Use
Users may use Thematic Thing for lawful personal, academic, educational, research, professional, and commercial purposes.
Users may make copies of the software where reasonably necessary for installation or backup on devices they are authorized to use.
Screenshots and recordings of Thematic Thing may be used in theses, papers, publications, presentations, teaching materials, reviews, demonstrations, and similar works, provided that such use does not falsely suggest official endorsement or affiliation.
Users and third parties may create software that reads, writes, converts, imports, exports, or otherwise interoperates with Thematic Thing project files. Nothing in this Agreement prevents users from accessing their project data with other software.
Restrictions
Unless the developer gives written permission, users may not:
- sell, sublicense, rent, lease, redistribute, or otherwise make modified or unmodified copies of the Thematic Thing application or installer available to others
- modify, adapt, or translate Thematic Thing, or reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to derive its source code
- remove or alter copyright, trademark, attribution, or other proprietary notices
- use the Thematic Thing name, logo, or other brand assets in a way that falsely suggests that an unofficial product, modified build, distribution, or service is official or endorsed by the developer
Users may link to the official Thematic Thing website or download location so that others can obtain the software directly.
These restrictions do not apply where applicable law permits an act regardless of contractual restrictions.
Third-Party Software
Thematic Thing includes third-party and open-source software components.
Those components remain subject to their respective licenses. Where a third-party or open-source license grants rights that differ from or go beyond this Agreement, those rights remain unaffected.
Applicable copyright notices and third-party licenses are provided with the software or in its accompanying documentation.
Responsibility for Research Material
Users are responsible for ensuring that they are entitled to store and process material used with Thematic Thing and for meeting any legal, ethical, contractual, or institutional requirements that apply to their work.
Thematic Thing does not grant users rights to material they would not otherwise be entitled to use.
Backups and Data Loss
Thematic Thing stores project data locally and creates configurable local project backups.
Local backups are not a substitute for maintaining independent copies of important research. Hardware failure, accidental deletion, file corruption, operating system problems, or other events can result in loss of local data.
Users are responsible for maintaining appropriate independent backups of research material and project files. The developer does not hold a remote copy from which a lost project can be restored.
Beta Software
Thematic Thing v1.x.x is beta software and is still under development.
It may contain defects, incomplete functionality, compatibility problems, or other errors. Features, behavior, project formats, and compatibility may change during the v1.x.x series and with future updates.
Updates may include changes or migrations required for existing projects. Users should maintain independent backups when using the software for important work, particularly before installing updates.
Updates and Compatibility
The developer may release updates to Thematic Thing v1.x.x, but does not guarantee a particular update schedule.
Updates may fix defects, change functionality or compatibility, or alter how project data is stored or migrated.
The developer does not guarantee indefinite compatibility with every version of macOS, hardware configuration, file format, or third-party application.
The developer may stop distributing Thematic Thing v1.x.x at any time. Stopping distribution does not terminate existing licenses for copies of v1.x.x that users already possess.
A future major version, such as Thematic Thing v2.x.x, may be offered under different license terms and may be paid software. This Agreement does not entitle users to future major versions.
Support
Support for Thematic Thing v1.x.x is provided on a best-effort basis.
The developer may answer questions and investigate bug reports, but does not guarantee a response time, a response to every request, or that any particular problem will be fixed.
Research Outcomes
Thematic Thing is a tool for organizing qualitative analysis. The researcher remains responsible for interpretation and analytical decisions.
The software does not determine whether an interpretation, code, theme, methodological decision, or conclusion is correct or appropriate.
Use of Thematic Thing does not guarantee any particular research, academic, professional, or publication outcome.
Warranty
Thematic Thing v1.x.x is provided free of charge as beta software.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the developer does not provide contractual warranties beyond those expressly stated in this Agreement.
Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the developer is not liable for indirect or consequential loss arising from the use of Thematic Thing or the inability to use it. This includes indirect or consequential loss resulting from the loss or corruption of project data.
Termination
Users may terminate their license at any time by deleting copies of Thematic Thing under their control.
The developer may terminate a user’s license if the user materially breaches this Agreement and, where the breach can reasonably be corrected, fails to correct it after being given a reasonable opportunity to do so.
Termination of the software license does not transfer ownership of or give the developer access to the user’s project data.
Provisions that by their nature are intended to survive termination, including those concerning ownership, restrictions, liability, and applicable law, remain in effect where relevant.
Changes to This Agreement
This Agreement applies to Thematic Thing v1.x.x under the terms accepted by the user.
The developer may offer later releases under an updated Software License Agreement. An updated agreement does not automatically replace the terms governing an existing copy simply because a new version is published.
Where acceptance of new terms is required for an update or later release, users will be given the opportunity to review those terms before accepting them.
Governing Law and Consumer Rights
This Agreement is governed by the laws of the Republic of Estonia.
Nothing in this Agreement excludes, restricts, or replaces rights or remedies that cannot legally be excluded, restricted, or replaced by contract.
Other Terms
This Agreement governs the license to use Thematic Thing v1.x.x.
The Thematic Thing Privacy Policy describes the handling of personal data: https://thematicthing.com/privacy-policy
If any provision of this Agreement is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to apply to the extent permitted by law.
A failure by the Developer to enforce a provision of this Agreement on one occasion does not waive the right to enforce it later.
Contact
Questions about this Agreement can be sent to:
legal@thematicthing.com