Why are these changes important?

As we continue to update our platform, features and functionality, it is important to keep the Terms and Conditions up to date as well, so that you as a user have a clear understanding of how Transkribus is operated. These updates will not affect how you use Transkribus, but they will provide a stronger foundation for our partnership.

What does this mean for you?

In practical terms, you can continue to use Transkribus as you always have. The new terms reflect our ongoing commitment to providing a sustainable, secure, fair, and supportive environment for our community of Transkribus users.

In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the main changes and outline the next steps at the end, so we kindly ask you to read it carefully. We also encourage you to review the updated Terms and Conditions in full.

Here’s a summary of the key changes:

What 's Changing?

New additions:

1. Electronic communication: by using our services or contacting us, you agree to receive important non-marketing emails about your use of Transkribus, unless you’ve opted out. Please keep your contact details up to date.
2. Limitation of User Liability: we’ve set a limit on user liability. It’s now capped at the total amount paid to us in the 12 months before any claim. This doesn’t apply to third-party claims caused by a user breaking our terms, the law, or third-party rights.
3. Comments / Reporting Illegal content: if you find any illegal or inappropriate content within Transkribus, you can report it to us at reportabuse@transkribus.org.
4. Shared collections management: when you add or upload material to a shared collection with multiple users, you give them the right to manage those documents. This means they can view, edit, delete, or move your material (depending on their role). If you don’t want to grant these rights, don’t upload to shared collections.

Amendments to key clauses:

1. Availability: our services will be provided “as-is”, with all the current features you enjoy, though there may occasionally be some limitations. Check our systems status page for more information here.
2. Amendments: we’ve updated how we make changes to our terms and will inform you of any significant updates.
3. Warranty: we’ve revised this to better align with EU regulations on digital services.
4. Ownership and License to use your Materials: you retain full ownership and all intellectual property rights to your documents and materials. When you use our services, you grant us a licence to use your materials for as long as they are protected by intellectual property rights. If you do not make your materials publicly accessible, this licence only covers the rights needed for us to provide and improve our services. You always retain control over your materials and can decide how they are shared within Transkribus.

These changes do not alter our practices but ensure that you have a better understanding of how your materials are used within our platform.

Clearer and more transparent information:

1. Third-Party Copyright and IP Rights: expanded to cover all intellectual property, making sure your rights and ours are protected.
2. Refund Policy: clarifies that refunds are only possible in accordance with the right of withdrawal for consumers.
3. Liability: we’ve refined our terms around liability to make sure both your rights and ours are protected in a fair way.
4. Public models: we’ve provided more detail on how you can share your models publicly within Transkribus and outlined how other users can view and use these public models.
5. Term and termination: we’ve simplified this clause to make it clearer how you can end your agreement with us if needed.

What are the next steps?

If you’re happy with the changes, simply log into Transkribus from 4 November and click “Accept” or continue using our services. If you decide these updates aren’t right for you, you can close your account at any time without any penalty. Just send an email to info@transkribus.org with the subject “Delete my account” and include the email address linked to your account.

Thank you for being part of the Transkribus community. We look forward to continuing our journey of unlocking historical documents together.

The Transkribus Team