Terms of Service

Vinegar (the “Service”) is operated by Folkward LLC (“Vinegar,” “we,” “us”), a Texas limited liability company located at 5900 Balcones Drive, STE 100, Austin, TX 78731. The Service includes our browser extension, website (getvinegar.com), APIs, and any related software or features.

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and Folkward LLC. By installing the extension, creating an account, or using any part of the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines.

If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.

EU legal representative (DSA Article 13). Folkward LLC has designated Prighter DSA as its legal representative under Article 13 of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA). Prighter DSA serves as the addressee for competent authorities in the Member States and the European Union on all matters related to the DSA. To contact Prighter DSA, please visit:
https://app.prighter.com/portal/vinegar

Vinegar aggregates and surfaces information about product and brand ownership from sources that include government and regulatory registries, public financial filings (such as SEC filings), company websites, press releases and disclosures, public news reporting, and contributions, corrections, and source links submitted by our community.

Vinegar is not a publisher of opinions about companies, an investigative outlet, a credit, due-diligence, or background-check service, an investment advisor, a political or activist platform, or a “source of truth.” We aim to act as a neutral indexer in the spirit of platforms like OpenCorporates or community-edited reference works.

We make no representation that ownership information shown in Vinegar is complete, current, or correct. Ownership relationships change frequently, are sometimes private, and can be ambiguous. Source links may break, get paywalled, or stop reflecting current facts. You should independently verify any ownership claim before relying on it for any decision.

Vinegar exists to help you make more informed choices when you shop, by surfacing public information about who owns the brands and products you're looking at. We don't tell you what to buy or avoid, we don't endorse or condemn any company, and we don't take a position on which ownership relationships are good or bad.

You are solely responsible for any purchasing, financial, ethical, or other decision you make based on information shown in the Service. We aren't responsible for the outcomes of those decisions - whether you bought a product and later regretted it, skipped one and missed out, or relied on a labeling decision that turned out to be incomplete or outdated. Information in the Service is best-effort and may be wrong; verify anything important before acting on it.

Vinegar is not a consumer reporting agency as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., “FCRA”) or any similar U.S. federal, state, or non-U.S. law, and the information available through the Service is not a “consumer report” under those laws. You agree not to use the Service or any information obtained through it, in whole or in part, as a factor in establishing eligibility for, or making decisions about:

• credit, lending, or financial services;
• employment, contracting, volunteering, or background checks;
• insurance underwriting or pricing;
• housing, tenancy, or tenant screening;
• educational admissions or scholarships;
• government benefits or licensing; or
• any other purpose for which a consumer report would be used under the FCRA or similar law.

This restriction applies regardless of whether you are a natural person or a business, and regardless of your jurisdiction. If your intended use falls into one of these categories, you must use a properly regulated source, not Vinegar.

You may use parts of the Service without an account. To contribute content, vote, or subscribe to Premium, you need an account.

Age. You must be at least 16 years old to create an account, except that residents of the United States who are at least 13 may create an account with limited functionality where permitted by applicable law. If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, your parent or guardian must agree to these Terms on your behalf.

Account information. You agree to provide accurate registration information and to keep it current. You're responsible for activity under your account, including activity by anyone you let access it. Tell us promptly if you suspect unauthorized use.

Account security. Choose a strong password (or use Google sign-in). We hash passwords; we never see them in plaintext.

One human, one account. Don't create multiple accounts to evade moderation, manipulate votes, or inflate reputation. See the Community Guidelines for more.

Supported sites. The extension currently activates on Amazon (free tier) and, with Premium, on Walmart and Target. Supported sites may expand over time. The extension is designed not to run on pages outside the list of supported sites except as needed for installation, sign-in, and update flows.

Browser permissions. The extension requests only the permissions necessary to do its job, which may include scripting/host permissions limited to supported shopping domains, local storage, and the ability to make network requests to Vinegar's APIs. We do not request permission to read your full browsing history, your tabs on unrelated sites, your cookies on unrelated sites, or your downloads, and we don't use any permissions for purposes beyond the Service.

What is processed locally vs. on our servers. The extension is designed to keep as much as possible on your device. In typical operation:

• Local on your device: the page context the extension reads on a supported site, your settings and preferences, your avoid list, cached ownership data so the extension can answer quickly, and any session/auth tokens.
• Sent to our servers: the brand, product identifier, or merchant identifier that needs to be looked up, plus the minimal account/auth signals needed to authenticate the request and prevent abuse.

We do not transmit your full URL bar contents, the full HTML of pages you visit, your shopping cart, your checkout data, your receipts, your payment information, or your purchase history. The Privacy Policy describes this in more detail.

Browser-store distribution. The extension is distributed through third-party stores, which may include the Chrome Web Store, Firefox Add-ons (AMO), the Apple App Store (for Safari), the Microsoft Edge Add-ons store, and similar marketplaces. Your installation and use of the extension through those stores is also subject to the store operator's terms and policies. We don't control those marketplaces, and we aren't responsible for their decisions about distribution, ranking, or availability.

Updates. The extension may update automatically through the relevant browser store. Updates may add, change, or remove features.

7.1 Pre-purchase disclosure

Before you start a Premium subscription, we will display, in a way intended to be clear and conspicuous:

• the plan name and billing frequency (monthly or annual);
• the price for the chosen plan, and the currency;
• that the subscription renews automatically at the end of each billing period until you cancel;
• the method to cancel (in your account settings; see Section 7.5);
• any free-trial or promotional terms, if offered, and what the price will convert to;
• a description of the features included with that plan; and
• a link to these Terms and the Privacy Policy.

By proceeding through checkout you provide your express informed consent to the recurring charges and the other terms described in this Section 7 and on the checkout page.

7.2 What's included

Premium currently unlocks support for Walmart and Target (the free tier covers Amazon), brand search, Brand History (a Premium-only, opt-in feature - see the Privacy Policy), unlimited avoid-list entries, and full ownership-chain depth. Feature lists may evolve, and we may add, change, or remove features.

7.3 Pricing, billing, and voluntary support payments

Premium pricing currently starts at $3.49 per month or $29.99 per year, plus applicable taxes. You may, if you choose, pay an amount above the listed minimum at signup or renewal as voluntary support for ongoing development.

Voluntary support payments are not charitable donations. Folkward LLC is a for-profit company. Amounts you choose to pay above the minimum are part of the subscription price you authorized at checkout, are used to operate the Service, are not tax-deductible, and are generally non-refundable except as required by applicable law (see Section 7.7).

Subscriptions are processed by Stripe. By subscribing, you authorize Stripe to charge your payment method for the plan amount you selected (including any voluntary additional amount), and to do so on each renewal date until you cancel.

7.4 Automatic renewal

Your subscription will renew automatically at the end of each billing period - monthly plans renew monthly, annual plans renew annually - at the then-current price for that plan, on the same payment method you provided, until you cancel.

7.5 How to cancel

You can cancel at any time from Billing & Plan in your account. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you keep Premium access until then. We do not require you to call, email, write a letter, or speak to a human to cancel - the in-account control is the cancellation method.

7.6 Renewal reminders, price-change notices, and confirmations

• Charge confirmation. When a subscription is charged, started, changed, or canceled, we (or Stripe on our behalf) send a confirmation email to the address on your account.
• Pre-renewal reminder (annual plans). For annual subscriptions, we send a reminder before each renewal - typically in the weeks leading up to the renewal date - listing the plan, the amount, the renewal date, and how to cancel.
• Annual reminder (all plans). At least once a year, we send you a reminder of your active subscription, the frequency and amount of charges, and how to cancel - regardless of whether you're on a monthly or annual plan. This satisfies the annual reminder requirement under California's Automatic Renewal Law and similar state laws.
• Price-change notice. If we change subscription prices, we'll notify you in advance - typically by email and in-product - between 7 and 30 days before the new price takes effect, as required by applicable law. The new price will not apply until your next renewal at the earliest. You can cancel before the new price takes effect.

7.7 Refunds

Subscription fees, including any voluntary additional amount you chose to pay above the minimum, are generally non-refundable, including for partial billing periods, unused features, and features that are added, changed, or removed. We may issue goodwill refunds at our discretion. Nothing in this Section limits refund or withdrawal rights you have under applicable law (for example, statutory withdrawal periods under EU/UK consumer law, or rights under California, New York, or other state automatic-renewal statutes).

7.8 Taxes

Listed prices may not include applicable sales, use, value-added, or similar taxes, which will be added at checkout where required.

7.9 Failed payments

If a payment fails, we may retry the charge, suspend Premium features, or terminate the subscription. You're responsible for keeping your payment method current.

7.10 Free trials and promotions

If we offer a free trial or promotional rate, the terms of that offer (including how long it lasts and what it converts to) will be disclosed at signup. If you don't cancel before the trial or promo ends, you'll be charged the standard rate disclosed at signup.

You agree not to:

• use the Service in violation of any law, regulation, or third-party right;
• use the Service for any of the prohibited eligibility-decision purposes described in Section 4;
• access or attempt to access non-public parts of the Service, other users' accounts, or our infrastructure;
• scrape, crawl, or bulk-download data outside of features we expressly provide for that purpose;
• interfere with, overload, or disrupt the Service, including by automated requests beyond reasonable use;
• reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code, except where applicable law forbids that restriction;
• use the Service to build a competing dataset or to train AI/ML models without our express written permission;
• circumvent rate limits, abuse-prevention systems, paywalls, or feature gates;
• impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with one;
• create accounts by automated means, or operate multiple accounts to manipulate votes, reputation, or moderation;
• submit content that violates the Community Guidelines.

We may suspend or terminate access for violations, and we may report unlawful activity to authorities.

Your content. “User Contributions” means any text, link, source citation, correction, vote, report, comment, avoid-list entry, profile information, or other material you submit to the Service.

Your license to us. You retain ownership of your User Contributions. You grant Folkward LLC a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable license to host, store, reproduce, modify (for example, formatting and moderation), translate, display, distribute, and otherwise use your User Contributions to operate, provide, improve, and promote the Service, and to allow other users to view and build on community-sourced data within the Service.

Attribution. Community contributions may be displayed publicly with your username and shown alongside the data they relate to. Don't submit anything you wouldn't want attributed to your account.

Your representations. By submitting User Contributions, you represent that:

• the content is yours to share, or you have all rights necessary to share it;
• you reasonably believe the factual claims you submit are accurate, and you are providing supporting sources where appropriate;
• the content does not violate any law, contract, confidentiality obligation, intellectual property right, or privacy right;
• the content complies with the Community Guidelines.

Removal. We may remove, edit, label, hide, downrank, or restrict any User Contribution at our discretion, including for accuracy, safety, legal, moderation, or quality reasons. We are not obligated to host any particular contribution.

No obligation to monitor. We are not required to review User Contributions before they appear, and the existence of moderation tools does not mean every submission is vetted.

Vinegar may apply confidence labels such as “Registry-Backed,” “Community-Sourced,” “Disputed,” “Single-source claim,” or “Limited source coverage” to indicate the basis for a piece of information. These labels are descriptive and may change as new information arrives. They are not warranties or certifications.

Information labeled as community-sourced or disputed reflects the input of contributors, not the editorial position of Vinegar. Vinegar does not endorse, verify, or vouch for any user-submitted claim, and the display of a contribution does not imply that Vinegar agrees with it.

Reservation of rights and defenses. Vinegar reserves and intends to rely on all rights, defenses, immunities, limitations of liability, and safe-harbor protections available to it under applicable law, including (without limitation) Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. § 230) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512). Nothing in these Terms is intended to waive or limit any such rights or protections.

We may use automated systems, including machine learning models and large language models, to support operation of the Service. Current or anticipated uses include:

• Entity matching: linking brand names, product identifiers, and merchant pages to the correct underlying company entity in our index;
• Spam, fraud, and abuse detection: identifying patterns in submissions, votes, and reports that suggest manipulation, automation, or bad-faith activity;
• Moderation support: flagging contributions that may violate the Community Guidelines for human review;
• Source-quality analysis: scoring or summarizing public sources, and clustering corroborating sources around a claim.

Automated outputs in the contexts above are used as decision support for our team and our systems. They can be wrong. Where automated output is the basis of a moderation action that meaningfully restricts your account or contributions, you can appeal under Section 12.

Use of contributions for AI training. We may use User Contributions, in aggregate or de-identified form, to develop and improve the Service's own internal models (for example, our entity-matching or moderation models). We do not sell or license User Contributions to third parties for the purpose of training their AI/ML models, and we do not provide them to third-party model developers for that purpose, except with your express permission or as required by law.

How to submit a correction. You can submit a correction:

• in-product, attaching at least one supporting source where reasonably possible; or
• by email to [email protected] with the entity, the disputed information, and supporting sources.

Source requirements. Stronger sources carry more weight. We generally prioritize sources roughly in this order: official government and regulatory filings (for example, SEC filings, state corporate registries, Companies House) → company-published primary documents (annual reports, press releases on the company's own domain, official disclosures) → established news reporting with named authors and editorial standards → trade publications and reference databases → other secondary sources.

Anonymous posts, screenshots without provenance, and AI-generated text are not accepted on their own as authoritative sources.

Submissions from company representatives. If you are submitting a correction on behalf of a company referenced in the Service:

• you must identify yourself, your role, and your authority to act for the company;
• we may ask you to verify your affiliation through a corporate email domain, a posted contact channel on the company's official website, or other reasonable means;
• your submission will be considered alongside the rest of the public record. A first-party request does not automatically override sourced information from independent registries or reporting; depending on what the sources show, it may add context, trigger a “Disputed” label, or result in a correction or removal.

Possible outcomes. After review, a correction request may result in:

• Correction - the underlying record is updated;
• Removal - the record or claim is removed from the Service;
• Context added - the record is updated with additional sources or notes;
• “Disputed” label applied - the record is flagged as disputed while sources are reconciled;
• No change - the existing record stands; or
• Pending - review is in progress or additional sources have been requested.

No guaranteed outcome. We do not guarantee any particular result, response time, or level of explanation. We may decline to act on requests that lack supporting evidence, conflict with reliable sources, are abusive, or appear to be reputation management rather than accuracy improvement. We may also decline to disclose internal moderation reasoning where doing so would compromise abuse prevention.

Appeals. If you believe a moderation or correction decision was wrong — including an automated decision - you can appeal by emailing [email protected] with the contribution, the decision you're appealing, and your reasoning. Appeals filed in good faith are reviewed; appeals used to harass or to relitigate the same decision repeatedly may themselves be moderated.

If you believe content on the Service infringes a copyright you own or are authorized to enforce, you may submit a notice under the DMCA to our designated agent.

Designated agent. DMCA Agent, Folkward LLC 5900 Balcones Drive, STE 100 Austin, TX 78731
Email: [email protected] and/or [email protected]
(We have registered this agent with the U.S. Copyright Office as required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(2).)

What a notice must include. A valid DMCA notice must contain, at minimum, the elements required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3):

1. a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner;
2. identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or, for multiple works, a representative list);
3. identification of the material claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient for us to locate it (for example, a URL);
4. your contact information (name, address, telephone number, email);
5. a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
6. a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

What happens after a valid notice. If we receive a notice that substantially complies with § 512(c)(3), we may remove or disable access to the identified material. Where appropriate we will notify the user who posted it.

Counter-notice. If your material was removed or disabled and you believe that removal was in error or that you have authorization, you may submit a counter-notice to [email protected] containing the elements required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3), including:

7. your physical or electronic signature;
8. identification of the material that was removed and the location at which it appeared before removal;
9. a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification;
10. your name, address, and telephone number; and
11. a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the U.S. federal district court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if you are outside the U.S., for any judicial district in which Folkward LLC may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the party who filed the original notice or its agent.

If we receive a valid counter-notice, we may restore the material in 10–14 business days unless the original complainant notifies us that they have filed a court action.

Repeat-infringer policy. We will, in appropriate circumstances and at our discretion, terminate the accounts of users we determine are repeat infringers.

Misrepresentations. Knowingly making material misrepresentations in a DMCA notice or counter-notice may result in liability under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f).

We may, in the future, display affiliate links, sponsored alternatives, or partner suggestions alongside Service content. If we do:

• sponsorships will be clearly and conspicuously labeled as such (for example, “Sponsored,” “Ad,” or “Promoted”);
• sponsorships will never alter, suppress, hide, or reorder ownership-chain facts;
• sponsorships will never affect confidence labels (“Registry-Backed,” “Community-Sourced,” “Disputed,” “Single-source claim,” “Limited source coverage”);
• sponsorships will never affect how corrections or disputes are reviewed or resolved;
• sponsored placements will not change which sources are considered or how they are weighted;
• sponsored suggestions will continue to respect your filters, avoid lists, and other preferences;
• we will not sell or share your personal information with advertisers for behavioral targeting (see the Privacy Policy).

A company being a sponsor does not affect how its ownership relationships are indexed, displayed, or labeled in the Service.

The Service links to and references third-party sources, including government registries, news outlets, and company websites. We don't operate those sources, we can't promise they'll remain available, and we're not responsible for their content, accuracy, or availability. Links may become stale or broken; that doesn't mean the underlying claim is wrong, only that the source can no longer be retrieved at that location.

The Service - including its software, design, branding, name, logos, and original text - is owned by Folkward LLC or its licensors and protected by intellectual property laws.

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for its intended purpose. You may not reproduce, distribute, sell, or create derivative works of the Service except as permitted here.

Company names, brand names, and logos referenced in ownership data belong to their respective owners. Their appearance in Vinegar is informational and does not imply affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement.

You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. Account deletion is described in our Privacy Policy.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms, the Community Guidelines, or applicable law, or to protect the Service, our users, or third parties. We may also terminate the Service or any feature in whole or in part at any time.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination - including Sections 3, 4, 9 (license to User Contributions), 10, 12, 13, 16, 18–21, and 23 - will survive.

Vinegar does not provide legal, financial, investment, tax, accounting, political, purchasing, or professional advice, and nothing in the Service is intended to be such advice. The Service is also not a consumer report and may not be used as one (see Section 4). Decisions you make based on information from the Service are your own.

Some jurisdictions don't allow the exclusion of certain warranties; in those places, the exclusions above apply only to the extent permitted.

These limitations apply regardless of the legal theory and survive termination. Some jurisdictions don't allow some of these limits; in those places, they apply only to the extent permitted, and nothing here limits liability for fraud, gross negligence, willful misconduct, or anything else that cannot be limited under applicable law.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Folkward LLC and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates from any claims, damages, liabilities, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to:

• your User Contributions;
• your use of the Service;
• your use of the Service for any purpose prohibited by Section 4;
• your violation of these Terms or the Community Guidelines;
• your violation of any law or third-party right.

We may assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which case you'll cooperate with our defense.

Informal resolution. Before filing any formal claim, you agree to email [email protected] describing the dispute and what resolution you'd like, and to give us 60 days to respond. We'll do the same before bringing any claim against you.

Binding arbitration. Any dispute that isn't resolved informally will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, except as provided below. Arbitration will take place in the county where you live or another mutually agreed location, or by phone or videoconference. The arbitrator's decision is final and enforceable in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Carve-outs. Either of us may bring (1) claims in small-claims court if they qualify, and (2) actions for injunctive or equitable relief related to intellectual property, unauthorized access, or breach of confidentiality. Nothing here prevents you from contacting a government agency.

Class action waiver. Disputes will be resolved on an individual basis only. Class actions, class arbitrations, consolidated actions, and representative actions are not permitted. If this waiver is found unenforceable as to any claim, that claim must proceed in court rather than in arbitration.

Opt out. You can opt out of the arbitration agreement and class waiver in either of two ways:

• In your account settings. Toggle “Opt out of arbitration” under Settings within 30 days of first accepting these Terms.
• By email. Send an email to [email protected] within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, from the email address associated with your Vinegar account. We treat receipt of an email at this address from your account's email address as your opt-out. We will send an automatic confirmation with a timestamp; please keep that confirmation as your record.

Your opt-out persists. Once you have opted out by either method, your opt-out applies to all subsequent versions of these Terms unless you affirmatively rescind it. You do not need to opt out again when we update the Terms.

Governing law and venue. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. To the extent any dispute is not subject to arbitration, the federal and state courts located in Travis County, Texas will have exclusive jurisdiction, and you consent to that venue.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we'll provide reasonable notice - for example, through the extension, by email to the address on your account, or by posting a notice on our website - before the changes take effect. Continuing to use the Service after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms. If you don't agree, please stop using the Service.

Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and the Community Guidelines are the entire agreement between you and Folkward LLC regarding the Service.

Severability. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest stays in effect.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision isn't a waiver of it.

Assignment. You may not assign these Terms. We may assign them to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

No agency. These Terms don't create any partnership, agency, or employment relationship.

Force majeure. We aren't liable for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control.

Notices to us. Send legal notices to [email protected] or to Folkward LLC at the mailing address listed below.

Notices to you. We may notify you through the extension, by email, or by posting on our website.

Questions about these Terms? Email us at [email protected].

Folkward LLC 5900 Balcones Drive, STE 100 Austin, TX 78731