Terms of Service

THESE TERMS GOVERN YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SERVICES. BY CLICKING "SIGN UP," "I AGREE," OR A SIMILAR BUTTON OR CHECKBOX, OR BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SERVICES, INCLUDING BY UPLOADING, DOWNLOADING, OR POSTING ANY CONTENT, YOU CONFIRM THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTAND, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS, WHICH FORM A BINDING LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND HIGHNOTE. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES UNLESS YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES.

THESE TERMS CONTAIN IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS (SECTIONS 4 THROUGH 6), A LIMITATION OF LIABILITY (SECTION 11), AND A MANDATORY ARBITRATION PROVISION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER (SECTION 12) THAT AFFECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS. IN PARTICULAR, THE SERVICES PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST HUMAN REVIEW. THEY DO NOT APPROVE OR REJECT PLANS, ISSUE PERMITS, CONDUCT INSPECTIONS, OR PROVIDE OFFICIAL INTERPRETATIONS OF ANY CODE.

"You" and "your" refer to the person accessing or using the Services. If you accept these Terms on behalf of a company, fire department, fire marshal's office, emergency services district, municipality, county, agency, or other legal entity (an "Organization"), you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that Organization, and "you" and "your" also refer to that Organization. If your Organization has signed a separate written agreement with Highnote, Section 10 explains how that agreement and these Terms work together.

“AHJ User”

a Registered User who accesses the Services as an official, employee, or contractor of an AHJ.

“AI Output”

any analysis, summary, comparison, checklist, flagged item, suggested comment or correction, classification, score, draft, recommendation, answer, or other material generated in whole or in part by artificial intelligence, machine learning, large language models, or other automated systems within the Services, whether or not it is labeled as AI-generated.

“Applicant User”

a Registered User who accesses the Services as a permit applicant, property owner, developer, design professional, engineer, architect, contractor, consultant, or other person involved in preparing or submitting plans or in constructing, installing, or maintaining a building or system.

“Authority Having Jurisdiction” or "AHJ"

any fire marshal, fire department, fire prevention bureau, emergency services district, building department, municipality, county, state agency, or other governmental or quasi-governmental body, and its authorized officials, with legal authority to adopt, interpret, apply, or enforce fire, life safety, building, or related codes, or to review plans, issue permits, or conduct inspections.

“Content”

text, graphics, images, drawings, plans, specifications, photographs, software (excluding the Apps), information, messages, recordings, documents, data, and other materials.

“Collective Content”

collectively, Highnote Content, Registered User Content, and AI Output.

“Highnote Content”

Content that we make available through the Services, including Content licensed from third parties and AI Output, but excluding Registered User Content.

“Registered User”

a person who completes the account registration process described in Section 3.

“Registered User Content”

Content that a Registered User posts, uploads, publishes, submits, connects, or transmits through the Services, including Submitted Materials.

“Submitted Materials”

plans, drawings, specifications, calculations, narratives, permit applications, inspection reports, photographs, correspondence, code references, and any other documents or data that a Registered User uploads or connects to the Services for analysis or review.

“Verified User”

a Registered User whose role Highnote has verified, such as an authorized official or employee of an AHJ or a licensed design professional. Highnote may verify or decline to verify any user in its discretion. Verification is not a representation by Highnote about that user's qualifications, authority, licensure, or conduct, and does not make Highnote responsible for anything that user does.

Certain areas of the Services may post additional terms, or require you to accept additional terms, because of differences in features, subscription levels, or customer agreements. If those additional terms conflict with these Terms, the additional terms control for that area of the Services. Unless we state otherwise, new features that augment or enhance the Services are subject to these Terms.

YOUR RELIANCE ON ANY CONTENT, INCLUDING AI OUTPUT, OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE SERVICES MAY BE SUBJECT TO LIMITATIONS, DELAYS, AND OTHER PROBLEMS INHERENT IN THE USE OF THE INTERNET, CLOUD HOSTING, AND THIRD-PARTY AI MODELS. HIGHNOTE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DELAYS, DELIVERY FAILURES, OR OTHER DAMAGE RESULTING FROM SUCH PROBLEMS.

YOU ACCEPT THE SERVICES, INCLUDING THE SITES, THE APPS, AND ALL COLLECTIVE CONTENT, "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITH ALL FAULTS, AND, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WITHOUT REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, OR ANY WARRANTY ARISING FROM STATUTE, COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, OR USAGE OF TRADE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, HIGHNOTE DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT: (A) THE SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR PERFORM WITHOUT INTERRUPTION OR ERROR, OR THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED; (B) ANY AI OUTPUT WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, CURRENT, RELIABLE, OR FIT FOR ANY PURPOSE; (C) THE SERVICES ARE SECURE FROM HACKING OR OTHER UNAUTHORIZED INTRUSION, OR THAT YOUR REGISTERED USER CONTENT WILL REMAIN PRIVATE OR SECURE; (D) CONTENT, PRODUCTS, OR SERVICES PROVIDED BY OTHER REGISTERED USERS, ANY AHJ, OR THIRD PARTIES ARE ACCURATE OR SUITABLE; OR (E) ANY ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY HIGHNOTE OR ITS REPRESENTATIVES CREATES A WARRANTY. HIGHNOTE HAS NO OBLIGATION TO INDEMNIFY OR DEFEND YOU AGAINST CLAIMS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED IN A SEPARATE WRITTEN AGREEMENT.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR LIMITATIONS ON STATUTORY CONSUMER RIGHTS, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Your representations, warranties, and obligations in this Section 7 survive termination of these Terms.

• post, upload, submit, or transmit any Content that you do not have the right to make available under law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships;
• post or transmit any Content that (i) infringes or violates any third party's intellectual property, publicity, or privacy rights; (ii) violates, or encourages conduct that would violate, any law or regulation or give rise to civil liability; (iii) is fraudulent, false, misleading, or deceptive, including falsified plans, photographs, or inspection records; (iv) is defamatory, obscene, vulgar, or offensive; (v) promotes discrimination, harassment, or harm against any individual or group; (vi) is violent or threatening; or (vii) promotes illegal or harmful activities;
• submit Content, prompts, or inputs with the intent to manipulate, deceive, or circumvent the AI systems, to extract system prompts, models, or other users' data, or to cause the Services to generate Content that violates these Terms;
• present AI Output as a human-authored opinion, a licensed professional's work product, or an official AHJ determination, or alter AI Output in a way that misrepresents what the Services generated;
• use, display, mirror, or frame the Services or any element of them, including Highnote's names, trademarks, logos, or the layout and design of any page, without Highnote's express written consent;
• access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the Services, Highnote's computer systems, or the technical delivery systems of Highnote's providers;
• probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any Highnote system or network, or breach any security or authentication measure;
• avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, impair, or otherwise circumvent any technological measure implemented to protect the Services or Collective Content;
• access, search, or download the Services or Collective Content using any bot, scraper, crawler, data mining tool, or other automated means other than those provided by Highnote or generally available web browsers;
• send unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, spam, or other solicitations through the Services;
• use the Services or Collective Content for any commercial purpose or for the benefit of any third party except as permitted by these Terms;
• use the Services to send altered, deceptive, or false source-identifying information;
• interfere with or attempt to interfere with the access of any user, host, or network, including by sending a virus, overloading, flooding, or spamming the Services;
• access or attempt to access projects, submittals, or AHJ workflows that you are not authorized to view, or collect or store personally identifiable information about other users without their express permission;
• impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person, Organization, or AHJ, including by claiming AHJ User status without authorization;
• violate any applicable law or regulation, or any rules of professional conduct; or
• encourage or enable anyone else to do any of the foregoing.