Terms, without the smoke.

01 · Agreement & Scope

These terms form an agreement.

These Terms of Use & Sale (the “Terms”) govern access to and use of the 9th Story Foundry website, customer accounts, downloadable products, forms, publications, and other online features (collectively, the “Site”). They also govern purchases made through the Site unless a product page, order form, proposal, statement of work, master services agreement, or other written agreement expressly provides different terms.

The Site is operated by 9th Story Foundry LLC, a Kentucky limited liability company (“9th Story Foundry,” “Foundry,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). By accessing the Site, creating an account, placing an order, downloading or using a product, submitting an inquiry, or otherwise using the Site, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy.

If you use the Site or make a purchase on behalf of a company, agency, nonprofit, or other organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization. You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter a binding agreement.

02 · Website Use & Accounts

Use the Site lawfully, accurately, and without trying to break it.

You may use the Site for legitimate business, professional, educational, and purchasing purposes. You may not:

• violate any applicable law, regulation, contract, intellectual-property right, privacy right, or security requirement;
• attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site, another customer’s account, underlying systems, source code, administrative interfaces, or nonpublic data;
• probe, scan, overload, disrupt, scrape at unreasonable scale, introduce malicious code, bypass access controls, or interfere with Site operation;
• use bots or automated systems to purchase, copy, extract, republish, or train on Site content except as expressly authorized in writing;
• misrepresent your identity, authority, affiliation, payment information, or intended use; or
• use the Site to transmit unlawful, infringing, deceptive, abusive, or harmful material.

Accounts and credentials

You are responsible for the accuracy of account and order information, for maintaining the confidentiality of login credentials and download links, and for activity conducted through your account. Notify us promptly at info@9thstory.io if you believe an account, credential, order, or download link has been compromised.

Site information is not a professional engagement

Articles, product descriptions, examples, checklists, diagrams, research summaries, and other Site content are general information. They are not legal, tax, accounting, financial, accreditation, certification-body, government, or other regulated professional advice. Visiting the Site, reading content, or submitting a public form does not create an attorney-client, auditor-client, fiduciary, certification, or consulting relationship.

03 · Orders, Payment & Delivery

An order is accepted when we confirm and fulfill it.

Product descriptions and order acceptance

We work to describe products accurately, but previews, screenshots, file counts, compatibility notes, edition references, release dates, and included materials may change before purchase. Your order is an offer to purchase. We may accept, reject, cancel, or limit an order before fulfillment, including because of a pricing or description error, suspected fraud, payment failure, legal restriction, technical problem, or product unavailability. If we cancel a paid order before fulfillment, we will refund the amount collected for that order.

Prices, taxes, and payment

Unless stated otherwise, prices are shown in U.S. dollars. Applicable taxes, currency-conversion charges, and payment-provider fees may be added or separately imposed. You authorize us and our payment provider to charge the payment method you submit for the displayed total. You represent that you are authorized to use that payment method and that the billing information is accurate.

Digital delivery

Downloadable products are normally delivered through the order-confirmation page, email, and/or customer account. You are responsible for providing a working email address, safeguarding access links, downloading files within any stated availability period, maintaining secure backup copies, and using compatible software. Unless the product page says otherwise, download availability is a delivery convenience—not a perpetual file-hosting or archival service.

If a file is missing, corrupted, inaccessible, or materially different from the purchased description, contact us promptly so we can investigate and, where appropriate, repair, replace, redeliver, or refund the affected item.

04 · Digital-Product License

You are buying a license to use the materials—not ownership of the underlying product.

After full payment, 9th Story Foundry grants the purchaser a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to use the purchased digital product under this section. The “Purchaser” is the single legal organization identified in the order, or one individual when no organization is identified and the purchase is plainly personal.

Affiliates and implementation providers

A contractor or implementation provider may access the product only to perform work for the licensed Purchaser. The provider does not receive an independent license and may not retain the source package for reuse with other clients. Separate legal entities require separate licenses unless the product page or written order expressly states otherwise.

Your information and customizations

You retain ownership of information, data, branding, and original content you add. We retain all rights in the underlying product, structure, instructions, examples, design, reusable components, and pre-existing intellectual property. Your adaptations do not transfer ownership of those underlying elements, but you may continue using your properly licensed adapted materials under these Terms.

License enforcement

The license begins after full payment and ends if the Purchaser materially breaches these Terms and fails to cure the breach after notice when cure is reasonably possible. Upon termination, use and distribution of the unlicensed source materials must stop, but the Purchaser may retain records that law requires it to preserve. Rights that by their nature should survive— including ownership, confidentiality, payment, disclaimers, and liability provisions—remain in effect.

05 · Refunds & Order Problems

Downloadable products are generally final once access is delivered.

Digital files can be copied and used immediately. For that reason, sales of downloadable products are generally final once the files have been made available or downloaded, except where applicable law requires otherwise or where this section provides a remedy.

Contact info@9thstory.io within 14 days of the order when:

• you were charged twice for the same order;
• the download is corrupted, incomplete, or cannot be accessed after reasonable troubleshooting;
• the delivered product is materially different from the description in effect when you purchased it; or
• another demonstrable order or fulfillment error occurred.

We may first attempt to correct, replace, or redeliver the product. When a refund is appropriate, it will normally be issued to the original payment method. A change of mind, failure to review compatibility or scope, inability or unwillingness to implement the materials, later changes to a standard or law, or failure to obtain certification or another desired result does not by itself create a refund right.

Services, subscriptions, custom work, and scheduled engagements are governed by the cancellation, rescheduling, deposit, and refund terms in the applicable proposal, order, or written agreement. Nothing in this section limits a right that applicable law does not permit the parties to waive.

06 · Updates & Support

A purchase includes the version described at the time of purchase.

Unless the product page or order expressly says otherwise, a digital-product purchase does not include perpetual updates, future editions, consulting, customization, implementation, technical administration, certification support, or priority support.

We may correct files, improve instructions, replace formats, or release later versions. We may choose to make an update available to prior purchasers, but doing so once does not create an ongoing obligation. Major revisions, new-standard editions, new platforms, additional automation, or materially expanded packages may be sold separately.

Support ordinarily covers reasonable questions about access, download integrity, and what the package contains. Advice about tailoring, implementing, migrating, configuring, auditing, operating, or defending the system is consulting work unless the order says it is included.

07 · Standards & Certification

Alignment work is not certification—and certification is never guaranteed.

9th Story Foundry is an independent business. References to ISO, IEC, ISO/IEC standards, certification, accreditation, Microsoft, Google, WordPress, WooCommerce, DCSA, NIST, CMMC, or other standards, agencies, platforms, organizations, and trademarks identify the subject matter or intended use of products and services. They do not imply sponsorship, endorsement, approval, partnership, accreditation, or certification by the referenced organization unless we expressly state otherwise and have authority to do so.

• Our products do not include licensed copies of third-party standards unless an order expressly says otherwise.
• Purchasers are responsible for obtaining authorized copies of standards and other controlled source material they need.
• Readiness products and services do not certify an organization, system, product, service, person, or control.
• They do not prove operating effectiveness, satisfy an auditor, close a finding, or replace implementation, evidence, internal audit, management review, corrective action, legal analysis, or independent assessment.
• Certification and accreditation decisions are made by independent bodies under their own rules and professional judgment.

Product names, descriptions, and compatibility statements should be read as references to the standards or platforms the product is designed to help address—not as a claim that the product itself is certified, approved, or issued by those organizations.

08 · Consulting & Advisory Services

A conversation is not an engagement. A defined agreement is.

Submitting an inquiry, scheduling an introductory call, exchanging preliminary information, or receiving general observations does not obligate either party to begin work. A consulting, advisory, assessment, implementation, vFSO, research, or other professional engagement begins only when scope, commercial terms, responsibilities, and authorization are documented in a proposal, statement of work, order, or other written agreement accepted by both parties.

Unless a written agreement says otherwise:

• you remain responsible for management decisions, legal and regulatory obligations, control ownership, system administration, implementation, evidence, representations to third parties, and the accuracy and completeness of information supplied to us;
• our role is limited to the scope expressly accepted, and silence about an activity does not transfer responsibility for it;
• recommendations involve professional judgment and available information, not a guarantee that every issue will be identified or that every recommendation is suitable without validation;
• timelines depend on timely access, decisions, cooperation, and accurate information; and
• deliverables may contain assumptions, limitations, dependencies, or customer actions that are part of the work—not fine print to be ignored.

09 · Intellectual Property & Third Parties

The Site and its original work remain protected.

Except for content owned by others, the Site and its original text, graphics, illustrations, brand elements, page designs, software, product architecture, downloadable materials, and other content are owned by or licensed to 9th Story Foundry and are protected by intellectual-property and unfair-competition laws. No right is granted except the limited Site-use and product-license rights expressly stated in these Terms.

Feedback

If you voluntarily provide product suggestions, corrections, ideas, or other feedback without a separate confidentiality agreement, you grant us a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free right to use that feedback to improve and develop our products and services. This does not transfer ownership of your confidential business information or customer data.

User-supplied material

You retain rights in material you submit. You represent that you have authority to provide it and grant us the limited right to host, copy, transmit, analyze, and otherwise use it as reasonably necessary to respond, fulfill an order, provide agreed services, protect the Site, or comply with law. Do not send third-party confidential or copyrighted material unless you are authorized to do so.

Third-party services and links

The Site may link to or depend on hosting, payment, email, form, security, content-delivery, analytics, social-media, standards, certification, government, and software services operated by others. We do not control their availability, content, security, terms, pricing, or privacy practices. A link or integration is not an endorsement, and your use of a third-party service is governed by that provider’s terms.

10 · Disclaimers & Liability

Use judgment. Validate before relying. Keep responsibility where it belongs.

Disclaimer of warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Site and digital products are provided “as is” and “as available.” Except for an express written warranty in an applicable order or agreement, we disclaim implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy, completeness, and uninterrupted or error-free operation.

We do not warrant that the Site or a product will identify every risk, satisfy every requirement, work with every platform or edition, remain current after requirements change, prevent an incident, produce a particular decision, or result in certification, accreditation, award, contract, audit outcome, revenue, cost saving, or other business result.

Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, 9th Story Foundry and its members, personnel, contractors, and suppliers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential damages; loss of profits, revenue, opportunity, goodwill, contracts, or anticipated savings; loss, corruption, exposure, or unavailability of data; business interruption; or the cost of substitute products or services, arising from or related to the Site, a product, or these Terms—even if advised that such loss was possible.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability arising from or related to a product, service, event, or series of related events will not exceed the greater of:

1. the amount you paid to 9th Story Foundry for the specific product or service giving rise to the claim during the 12 months before the event; or
2. US $100 when no amount was paid for that product or service.

These limitations do not apply to liability that applicable law does not permit the parties to exclude or limit. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty exclusions or damage limitations, so portions of this section may not apply to you.

Indemnity for misuse

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless 9th Story Foundry and its members, personnel, contractors, and suppliers from third-party claims, losses, liabilities, costs, and reasonable legal fees arising from your unlawful use of the Site; unauthorized redistribution or commercialization of a product; infringement or misuse of another person’s rights; material you submit without authority; or your material breach of these Terms. This obligation does not apply to the extent a claim was caused by our own unlawful conduct.

11 · Law, Disputes & General Terms

Kentucky law governs, with room for rights that cannot be waived.

Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Before filing a claim, each party will make a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute for at least 30 days after written notice describing the issue and requested resolution.

Unless applicable law requires otherwise, any judicial proceeding must be brought in the state courts located in McCracken County, Kentucky, or—when federal jurisdiction exists—in the federal court serving that county. You and 9th Story Foundry consent to personal jurisdiction and venue in those courts.

Nothing in these Terms deprives a consumer of a non-waivable protection or forum right provided by the law that applies to that consumer.

Suspension and termination

We may suspend access to the Site, an account, or downloads when reasonably necessary to address suspected fraud, payment disputes, security threats, abuse, unlawful conduct, or material breach. We may terminate access after notice when appropriate. Suspension does not cancel payment obligations already incurred or erase restrictions that survive termination.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms by posting a revised version and changing the effective date. Changes apply to future Site use after posting. The license terms in effect when a completed product order was accepted will ordinarily continue to govern that purchase unless the parties agree otherwise or a change is required by law, protects users, corrects an error without materially reducing purchased rights, or relates to ongoing services.

General provisions

These Terms, the Privacy Policy, the applicable product page and order, and any controlling written agreement form the entire agreement for their subject matter. A failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. If a provision is unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary and the remainder will continue. You may not assign these Terms or a product license without our written consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, reorganization, financing, sale of assets, or transfer of the applicable business. Headings are for readability and do not limit meaning. Electronic notices, records, and signatures may be used to the extent permitted by law.