Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of pawstory.io and our custom film service (together, the “Service”). By placing an order, creating a preview, or using the site, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. At checkout, the line “By placing your order, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy” sits above the pay button. If you don’t agree, please don’t use the Service.

The Service is provided by Paw Story LLC, a California limited liability company (“Paw Story,” “we,” “us,” “our”).

Please read Section 14. It says that disputes between us are resolved by binding individual arbitration, not in court or in a class action. You can opt out within 30 days.

1. What We Do

Paw Story creates short, custom AI-generated films of your dog. You upload a photo and choose a scenario; we make a free image preview and, when you order, a personalized film delivered through a private gift page on pawstory.io. With the Paw Box subscription (currently paused to new subscribers), we create a new film of your dog with every box (Section 4).

Films are made with artificial intelligence. Each one is a creative interpretation of your dog based on the photos you provide, and small visual variations are normal and expected, not defects (Section 9).

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to create a preview or place an order. By uploading a photo, you confirm that you own the dog or otherwise have the right to use the photo, and that your upload doesn’t infringe anyone else’s rights (including a photographer’s copyright on a professional portrait).

3. Orders and Payment

Payments are processed by Stripe. When you place an order, you agree to pay the price shown at checkout. All prices are in US dollars.

• One-time orders. Unless you buy a Paw Box subscription (Section 4), each order is a one-time charge, not a subscription.
• Delivery timeline.We aim to deliver standard orders within 3 to 5 days of purchase, and Express orders within 24 hours for films (48 hours for birthday videos). We’ll let you know if anything is delayed.
• Delivery method. You receive your finished film by email, with a private gift page link you can share with whoever the gift is for.
• Applicable taxes may be added at checkout where required.
• Saved payment method. When you complete a purchase, Stripe keeps your payment method on file so you can add more scenarios to your order with one tap. For one-time orders, these are charges you start by tapping; we never bill you without one. Paw Box subscriptions bill on the schedule in Section 4. Email hi@pawstory.io to remove your saved card at any time.
• Photo restorations.A restoration is a new image our AI makes from the old photo you upload, so small differences from the original are normal. Previews are free and carry a watermark. You pay only for the photos you choose to keep, at the price shown at checkout. Your clean files stay available to download for 90 days after your last download. Any pet is welcome, and people in the photo are restored too (the dog-only line in Section 8 is about films). Love it or your money back: if you don’t love a restoration, email hi@pawstory.ioand we’ll refund you.

4. Paw Box Subscriptions

Paw Box is currently paused to new subscribers. This section applies to existing subscribers and to anyone who subscribes when it reopens. One-time orders are covered by Section 3.

The Paw Box is a recurring subscription billed every 4 weeks: each billing cycle we create a new custom film of your dog and deliver it to your inbox, along with behind-the-scenes photos.

• What you see before you pay.Next to the order button, checkout shows the price of each box, that you’re billed every 4 weeks, that it renews automatically until you cancel, the length of any committed term, and how to cancel. Placing your order means you agree to those renewal terms. We then email you a confirmation that repeats them and explains how to cancel.
• Recurring billing. When you subscribe, you authorize us to charge your payment method every 4 weeks, at the plan price shown at checkout, until your subscription is canceled. Each charge covers one box.
• Introductory pricing.On the 3, 6, and 12-month plans, your first box is discounted at the percentage shown at checkout. The discount applies to the first box only; every box after it is billed at the plan’s regular per-box price shown at checkout.
• Committed terms. The 3, 6, and 12-month plans are commitments for 3, 6, or 12 boxes, billed one box at a time every 4 weeks (not up front). If you cancel during a committed term, cancellation takes effect at the end of the term: the remaining boxes in your current term still bill and ship on schedule, and the next renewal is stopped.
• After your term. Unless you cancel, a committed term renews automatically into another term of the same length (for example, a 3-month plan renews for another 3 boxes) at the same per-box price, and keeps renewing until you cancel.
• Renewal reminders. For 3, 6, and 12-month plans, we email you a reminder about 3 weeks before a new term starts, with the price and how to cancel.
• Price changes. If a plan price changes, we email you before the new price applies, and you can cancel before it does.
• Monthly plan. The monthly plan has no commitment. You can cancel anytime, and cancellation takes effect at the end of the current 4-week billing period.
• How to cancel. Cancel online anytime from your account at pawstory.io/account (sign in with your order email; it takes a couple of taps), or email hi@pawstory.iofrom your order email and we’ll handle it. We never require a phone call.
• Pauses.We may pause billing and deliveries on a subscription, for example while we rebuild the program. We’ll tell you by email when a pause starts, and again before billing restarts, with the date and the price. While a pause is on, you aren’t charged, no boxes are made, nothing renews, and we don’t send renewal reminders. You can cancel during a pause from your account page or by email.
• Delivery.Your first box is prioritized and typically arrives within 48 hours. Each later box is delivered during its 4-week billing cycle. We’ll let you know if anything is delayed.
• Refunds and the guarantee.The Wagging Tail Guarantee (Section 5) applies to each box’s film, and a refund under it covers that box’s payment. Everything already delivered to you stays yours under the license in Section 7, even after you cancel.

5. The Wagging Tail Guarantee

We promise your film will look like your dog. If it doesn’t:

• Free revisions. Email hi@pawstory.iowith a quick note on what we missed and, if you have one, a clear front-facing photo of your dog. We may send you a link to a revision form in your account. We’ll make reasonable revisions until it feels like your dog, at our discretion. Revisions need your help: specific feedback on what’s off and any photos we ask for.
• Full refund.If we still can’t get it right, let us know within 7 days of receiving your last revision and we’ll refund your full purchase to your original payment method within 5 business days (your bank may take a few more days to show it).

Other situations.If we fail to deliver your film within 7 days of purchase, email us and we’ll refund your full purchase. If you choose not to ask for a revision, refund requests must reach us within 14 days of the original delivery.

All refund requests must come from the email address you used to order.

6. Your Content and Data

You keep ownership of the photos, words, and other information you give us (“your content”). You give us a limited, non-exclusive license to use your content only to produce and deliver your films, support you, and improve the Service (for example, reviewing results so future films come out better). The license lets our service providers process your content for those purposes, and it ends when we delete your content, except for copies the law requires us to keep.

Marketing use only with your permission. We use your photos, films, or words (including a review or an email you send us) in our marketing only if you give us separate, explicit permission, which we ask for by email or in your account. You can withdraw it at any time by emailing hi@pawstory.io; we’ll stop using it in anything new and take it down from our site and ads within a reasonable time.

If you give us a recipient’s first name (for example, the person you’re giving the gift to), we use it only to personalize the film and the gift page. We don’t contact the recipient. The gift page lives at a long, unguessable link that only people you share it with can open.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information.

7. Intellectual Property

When you buy a film, we grant you a perpetual, non-exclusive, personal-use license to keep, share, and rewatch it. You may share it privately with friends and family or post it on your personal social media. You may not resell, redistribute, sublicense, or use it for commercial purposes without our written permission.

The underlying production tools, scenario templates, and creative components remain our intellectual property.

8. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Upload photos you don’t have the right to use.
• Upload photos of people, minors, or content that isn’t a dog.
• Provide false or misleading information.
• Create content that is illegal, harassing, hateful, or that infringes someone else’s rights.
• Present a film as real camera footage in a way meant to mislead.
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service.

We may refuse service or cancel orders if we believe these Terms are being violated, and refund any payment made.

9. AI-Generated Output

Your film is made with artificial intelligence. It is a creative interpretation of your dog, not a photograph or a recording of real events. Results vary: small differences from your dog’s actual appearance are normal, especially in stylized scenarios. Films carry an “AI-generated” note on the gift page, and in the file’s metadata where our tools preserve it. The Wagging Tail Guarantee in Section 5 covers the case where the likeness misses meaningfully.

10. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

Apart from the promises in these Terms (such as the Wagging Tail Guarantee), the Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim arising from or related to the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim or (b) $100. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or lost profits. Some places don’t allow these limits, so some may not apply to you; nothing here limits liability that the law does not allow us to limit.

11. Indemnification

To the extent the law allows, you agree to indemnify and hold Paw Story harmless from any claims, damages, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from your misuse of the Service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of anyone else’s rights, including the rights of any photographer or other person whose work is reflected in a photo you upload.

12. Termination

You can stop using the Service at any time. We may suspend or end your access for a violation of these Terms; if we cancel an order you paid for and haven’t received, we refund it. Films already delivered to you stay yours under the license in Section 7. Sections 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15, and 16 continue to apply after your use ends.

13. Changes to These Terms

We post updated Terms here with a new “Updated” date. If a change is material, we also email customers with an open order or an active subscription before it takes effect. Changes apply going forward, not to a dispute already raised, and Section 14 has its own rule for arbitration changes. Using the Service after a change takes effect means you accept it; if you don’t, stop using the Service and cancel any subscription.

14. Dispute Resolution: Arbitration and Class Action Waiver

Please read this section carefully; it affects your legal rights. Unless you opt out, you and Paw Story agree to resolve disputes by binding individual arbitration instead of in court, and you and we each give up the right to a jury trial and to bring or join a class action.

Talk to us first

Before either of us starts an arbitration or a small-claims case, the side with the dispute must send a written notice by email: you to hi@pawstory.io, or us to the email on your order. The notice gives your name, the email you use with us, what the dispute is about, and what you want. We both then try in good faith to resolve it for 30 days after the notice is received, including a phone or video call if either of us asks (your lawyer can join). If it isn’t resolved in 30 days, either of us can start arbitration or a small-claims case. Deadlines to bring a claim are paused during those 30 days. A court can enforce this step, and an arbitration started without it can be paused until it is done.

What goes to arbitration

Any dispute or claim between you and Paw Story that arises out of or relates to these Terms, the Service, any preview, order, or film, our emails, our website, or our privacy practices (including claims under privacy, wiretapping, video privacy, and consumer protection laws), whether based on contract, statute, tort, or any other legal theory. This includes claims that arose before you agreed to these Terms, but not claims already filed in court or in arbitration before then. The arbitrator decides questions about the scope, validity, and enforceability of this agreement to arbitrate, except that a court decides questions about the class action waiver, the mass arbitration process, and the exceptions below.

What stays out of arbitration

• Small claims. Either of us can bring an individual claim in small-claims court in the county where you live or in San Francisco County, as long as it qualifies and stays there.
• Intellectual property. Either of us can go to court to stop the infringement or misuse of intellectual property.
• Public injunctive relief. A request for relief that California law treats as public injunctive relief (a court order that protects the general public) is decided by a court, after the arbitration of all other claims, and the court case is paused until that arbitration ends.

How arbitration works

The American Arbitration Association (AAA) runs the arbitration under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, as changed by this section (see adr.org). One neutral arbitrator decides. Hearings take place by video or phone, or on written submissions, unless the arbitrator decides an in-person hearing is needed; then it is held in the county where you live or another place we agree on. Fees follow the AAA’s consumer fee schedule, which limits what you pay, and we pay the rest of the AAA and arbitrator fees. If you show that you can’t afford your filing fee, we will pay it. Each side pays its own lawyers unless the law or the arbitrator awards fees. The arbitrator must follow the law and these Terms, and can award the same individual relief a court could, but only for you and only as needed for your individual claim. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section.

No class actions or jury trials

You and Paw Story may bring claims against each other only individually, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated, or representative action. The arbitrator can’t combine more than one person’s claims (except as the mass arbitration process below allows) or preside over any class or representative proceeding. If a court decides this class action waiver can’t be enforced for a particular claim or remedy, that claim or remedy (and only that one) goes to court, after the individual arbitration of everything else, and the court case is paused until then. If a claim goes to court for any reason, you and we both waive the right to a jury trial, to the extent the law allows.

Many similar claims (mass arbitration)

If 25 or more demands for arbitration raising similar claims are brought against or by Paw Story, by or with help from the same or coordinated lawyers or organizations, they are handled as follows, and the AAA’s Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules apply where they fit:

• Bellwether round.Each side’s lawyers pick up to 10 demands (up to 20 in all), which go first as individual arbitrations, each with its own arbitrator. The round is to finish within 120 days after its arbitrators are appointed, unless they extend it for good cause. The other demands wait, and no AAA fees are charged on them while they wait.
• Mediation. After the bellwether round, both sides mediate the remaining demands in good faith for at least 60 days, and Paw Story pays the mediator.
• Batches.Demands that mediation doesn’t resolve go forward in batches of up to 100, with one arbitrator per batch, all batches running at the same time rather than one after another. Each person’s claim in a batch is still decided individually.
• Deadlines and courts. Deadlines to bring a claim are paused for every demand while it waits in this process. A court can enforce this process, and either side can ask a court to decide whether it applies.

Opting out

You can opt out of this arbitration agreement within 30 days after you first agree to these Terms (for example, by creating your first preview or placing your first order). Email hi@pawstory.iofrom the email address you use with us, with your name and the words “I opt out of arbitration.” If you opt out, the rest of these Terms still apply, disputes go to the courts named in Section 15, and the class action and jury waivers in this section don’t apply to you. An opt-out from an earlier version of these Terms still counts.

Changes to this section

If we change this section after you agree to it (other than our contact details), you can reject the change by emailing hi@pawstory.io within 30 days after it takes effect. The version you last agreed to then keeps applying to disputes between us.

If part of this section doesn’t hold

If any part of this section is found unenforceable, the rest still applies, except as the class action paragraph above says. This section continues to apply after your use of the Service ends.

15. Governing Law and Venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, except that the Federal Arbitration Act governs Section 14. Anything not decided in arbitration (including disputes after an opt-out and claims a court decides can’t be arbitrated) is decided in the state or federal courts located in San Francisco County, California, and you and we agree to those courts’ jurisdiction and venue. Small-claims cases can also be brought where you live. Nothing in these Terms takes away a right under consumer protection law that can’t be waived by contract.

16. General

These Terms, our Privacy Policy, and what we show you at checkout are the whole agreement between us about the Service. If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect (Section 14 has its own rule). If we don’t enforce a right right away, we haven’t given it up. You can’t transfer these Terms without our consent; we may transfer them to a successor of our business. We’re not responsible for delays caused by events outside our reasonable control.

17. Contact

Questions? Email hi@pawstory.io or write to: Paw Story LLC, 2261 Market Street, STE 30289, San Francisco, CA 94114.