Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms," "TOS," or "Agreement") are a legally binding agreement between Covariant Systems LLC, a Wyoming limited liability company doing business as HelixNodes ("HelixNodes," "Covariant Systems," "we," "us," or "our"), and the person or entity purchasing, accessing, or using our services ("Customer," "you," or "your").

These Terms govern your access to and use of HelixNodes websites, customer portals, hosting accounts, virtual private servers, networking services, domain-related services, support services, software, and any other products or services provided by HelixNodes (collectively, the "Services").

By creating an account, placing an order, clicking to accept these Terms, or using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by these Terms.

Our Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") and Privacy Policy are incorporated into these Terms by reference.

1. Eligibility and Authority

You must be at least 18 years old, or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction, to create an account or purchase Services from HelixNodes.

If you use the Services on behalf of a company, organization, or other entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity to these Terms. In that case, references to "you" and "Customer" include that entity.

You may not use the Services if doing so would violate applicable law, sanctions, export-control restrictions, or other legal requirements applicable to you or HelixNodes.

2. Account Registration

You must provide accurate, current, and complete information when registering an account and must keep that information updated.

We may require additional verification before activating or continuing to provide Services, including verification of your:

• identity;
• billing information;
• telephone number;
• email address;
• physical address;
• intended use of the Services; or
• authority to act for an organization.

We may reject or cancel an order that we reasonably believe is fraudulent, abusive, submitted using false information, or presents an unacceptable risk to HelixNodes or its infrastructure.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your account credentials, API credentials, passwords, SSH keys, two-factor authentication credentials, and other authentication information.

You are responsible for all actions performed through your account or Services, including actions performed by employees, contractors, customers, users, scripts, applications, compromised credentials, or other third parties.

You must promptly notify us if you believe your account or Services have been compromised.

3. Orders and Service Activation

Submitting an order does not require HelixNodes to accept it.

An order is accepted when we activate the applicable Service or otherwise confirm acceptance.

Service specifications, resource allocations, locations, recurring prices, billing intervals, and other product-specific terms displayed when you order form part of this Agreement.

We may refuse an order for reasons including:

• suspected fraud;
• prior abuse;
• inaccurate account information;
• payment risk;
• sanctions or regulatory requirements;
• lack of available capacity;
• network-security concerns; or
• a prior unpaid balance or terminated account.

Provisioning times are estimates unless expressly guaranteed in writing.

4. Service Locations

HelixNodes operates or obtains infrastructure in multiple locations, which may include Ashburn, Virginia, United States, and Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The location selected or stated for a Service generally determines the primary location where that Service operates.

However, supporting systems such as billing systems, monitoring, backups, control systems, logging infrastructure, support systems, anti-fraud services, and administrative systems may operate in other jurisdictions.

We may relocate, replace, upgrade, or migrate infrastructure where reasonably necessary for maintenance, reliability, security, legal compliance, or continuation of the Services. Where a material customer-impacting migration is planned, we will make reasonable efforts to provide advance notice.

5. Customer Content and Data

"Customer Content" means files, data, databases, software, websites, email, images, text, applications, configurations, virtual-machine data, and other content stored, transmitted, hosted, or processed by you through the Services.

As between you and HelixNodes, you retain your ownership rights in Customer Content.

You grant HelixNodes a limited, nonexclusive right to host, copy, transmit, store, process, back up, restore, and otherwise handle Customer Content only as reasonably necessary to:

• provide the Services;
• perform support or maintenance requested or authorized by you;
• secure and protect the Services;
• comply with law or valid legal process; or
• enforce these Terms and the AUP.

You are responsible for ensuring that you have all rights and permissions necessary to store and process Customer Content through the Services.

HelixNodes does not claim ownership of Customer Content merely because it is hosted using our Services.

6. Customer Responsibility for Hosted Content

You are solely responsible for Customer Content and for the activities conducted through your Services.

You are responsible for ensuring that your websites, applications, software, users, and activities comply with:

• applicable law;
• these Terms;
• the Acceptable Use Policy;
• intellectual-property rights;
• privacy and data-protection obligations; and
• any licenses applicable to software or content you use.

We generally do not monitor or pre-screen private Customer Content and do not assume responsibility for Customer Content.

Our failure to detect or act upon a violation does not constitute approval of that activity or a waiver of our right to act later.

7. Managed and Unmanaged Services

Unless a Service is specifically sold as a managed service, it is considered unmanaged.

For unmanaged Services, you are responsible for administration of the operating system and applications, including:

• software installation;
• operating-system updates;
• security patches;
• firewall configuration;
• access control;
• malware removal;
• application configuration;
• database administration;
• monitoring;
• backups; and
• incident response.

HelixNodes support may provide general assistance at our discretion, but assistance with an unmanaged Service does not convert that Service into a managed service or create an ongoing obligation to manage it.

Support scope for managed Services may be defined separately on the applicable product page or order.

8. Backups and Data Loss

You are responsible for maintaining independent backups of all Customer Content.

Any backup, snapshot, restore point, replication system, or disaster-recovery functionality offered by HelixNodes is intended as an additional convenience and must not be treated as your sole backup.

Unless expressly guaranteed in a separate written agreement, HelixNodes does not warrant that:

• a backup will occur successfully;
• every file or database will be included;
• a backup will be free of corruption;
• a specific recovery point will be available;
• deleted data can be restored; or
• backups will be retained for any particular period.

You should maintain backups independent from HelixNodes infrastructure where loss of data would materially affect you.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, HelixNodes is not liable for loss, corruption, modification, or deletion of Customer Content.

9. Security

You are responsible for securing your Services.

At minimum, you should use reasonable security practices appropriate to your workload, which may include:

• secure passwords;
• multifactor authentication;
• SSH keys;
• timely software updates;
• restricted administrative access;
• firewalls;
• application security;
• encryption; and
• monitoring for unauthorized access.

You must promptly address compromised systems.

If we reasonably believe a Service is compromised or poses a security risk, we may take protective action including:

• filtering traffic;
• blocking ports;
• resetting credentials;
• disabling network connectivity;
• null-routing an IP address;
• isolating a Service; or
• suspending the Service.

We will make reasonable efforts to notify you when doing so would not materially increase the security risk.

10. Acceptable Use

You must comply with the HelixNodes Acceptable Use Policy.

A violation of the AUP is a material violation of these Terms.

You are responsible for AUP violations resulting from:

• your own conduct;
• your users;
• your customers;
• your employees or contractors;
• compromised systems;
• applications running on your Service; or
• any other use of Services under your account.

11. Network and IP Addresses

IP addresses assigned with the Services remain under the control of HelixNodes or its upstream providers and are not sold to you.

We may change, withdraw, renumber, or reassign IP addresses when reasonably necessary for:

• network operations;
• abuse mitigation;
• routing changes;
• provider requirements;
• regulatory requirements;
• address-space management; or
• service migration.

You may not announce, route, transfer, lease, sublicense, or otherwise use assigned IP addresses outside the Services unless expressly authorized by us.

Additional IP addresses may require technical justification.

You may not use HelixNodes IP addresses in a way that materially harms their reputation or causes them to be broadly blocked or listed in recognized abuse or spam databases.

12. Bandwidth and Resource Usage

Your Service may include limits or allocations for CPU, memory, storage, I/O, bandwidth, traffic, connection rates, email delivery, processes, or other resources.

You may not intentionally circumvent technical restrictions associated with your plan.

Where a product is advertised as "unlimited," that term does not mean an unlimited right to consume finite shared infrastructure. Usage remains subject to reasonable technical limits and may not materially impair the Services or other customers.

For shared hosting and other shared-resource products, we may restrict activity that causes sustained or disproportionate resource consumption.

Depending on the circumstances, we may:

• contact you;
• throttle the workload;
• temporarily restrict it;
• request that you optimize your application;
• require migration to a more appropriate plan; or
• suspend the affected Service where necessary to protect platform stability.

13. DDoS Protection

Some Services may include DDoS detection or mitigation.

Unless a separate written agreement states otherwise, DDoS protection is provided on a commercially reasonable or best-effort basis.

No mitigation system can guarantee protection against every attack.

We may take actions including filtering, rate limiting, traffic scrubbing, routing changes, or null-routing where we determine such measures are necessary to protect our network or third parties.

A Service experiencing attacks that create extraordinary operational cost, risk, or instability may be temporarily restricted or null-routed.

Intentionally attracting attacks to HelixNodes infrastructure, participating in attacks, or repeatedly engaging in activity reasonably likely to provoke retaliatory attacks is prohibited.

14. Maintenance and Service Changes

We may perform scheduled and emergency maintenance.

Where reasonably practical, we will provide notice of maintenance expected to materially interrupt the Services.

Emergency maintenance may occur without advance notice.

We may modify technical features of the Services as reasonably necessary to improve:

• security;
• reliability;
• performance;
• compatibility;
• regulatory compliance; or
• network operations.

We will not intentionally make a material reduction to a prepaid Service solely to deprive you of the benefit of your purchase.

15. Service Availability

Unless a separate Service Level Agreement explicitly applies to your Service, the Services are provided without a contractual uptime guarantee.

Published uptime figures, status pages, historical availability data, or marketing statements do not create an SLA unless expressly identified as one.

16. Billing

Services are billed according to the pricing and billing interval presented at checkout or in an applicable order.

Unless otherwise stated, recurring Services are billed in advance.

You authorize HelixNodes and its payment processors to charge your selected payment method for amounts due.

You are responsible for:

• recurring service charges;
• usage-based charges;
• add-ons;
• applicable taxes;
• overage charges disclosed as part of the Service; and
• other charges you authorize.

You must maintain valid billing information.

Failure of an automated payment does not cancel the amount owed.

17. Automatic Renewal

Recurring Services automatically renew for successive billing periods unless canceled before the next renewal date.

Cancellation prevents future renewal but does not ordinarily reverse charges already incurred.

You are responsible for confirming that a cancellation request was successfully submitted.

18. Price Changes

We may change prices for future billing periods.

For existing recurring Services, we will provide reasonable notice of a material price increase before the increased price first applies, except where an increase is directly caused by a new tax, governmental charge, or similar mandatory third-party assessment.

Continued use of a Service after a price change becomes effective constitutes acceptance of the new price.

19. Taxes

Prices may exclude sales, use, value-added, telecommunications, or similar taxes unless otherwise stated.

You are responsible for taxes applicable to your purchase except taxes imposed on HelixNodes' net income.

Where legally required, we may collect taxes from you.

20. Refunds

Unless a specific money-back guarantee or refund policy is expressly displayed for the Service at the time of purchase, fees are non-refundable once charged, except where required by law or otherwise agreed by HelixNodes in writing.

Any advertised refund guarantee is subject to the conditions stated with that guarantee.

Fees associated with:

• abuse;
• chargebacks;
• custom work;
• licenses;
• domain registrations;
• third-party products;
• setup fees;
• usage-based services; or
• Services terminated for violation of these Terms or the AUP

may be excluded from refund eligibility.

21. Promotional Credits

Promotional credits:

• have no cash value;
• are not transferable unless we expressly permit transfer;
• may expire;
• may be limited to particular Services;
• may not be combined where prohibited by the promotion; and
• may be revoked if obtained through fraud, abuse, duplicate accounts, or manipulation of a promotion.

We may correct promotional or pricing errors.

22. Late Payment

If payment is overdue, we may suspend or terminate affected Services.

Suspension does not necessarily preserve Customer Content indefinitely.

Where an overdue Service remains unpaid, data may be permanently deleted.

Restoration after suspension may depend on payment of outstanding balances and continued availability of the underlying data.

You remain responsible for charges accrued before termination.

23. Chargebacks and Payment Disputes

You should contact HelixNodes before initiating a chargeback so that we have an opportunity to resolve the issue.

If you initiate a chargeback or payment reversal for charges that are legitimately due, we may suspend Services associated with your account while the dispute is investigated.

Fraudulent chargebacks, repeated abusive disputes, or failure to pay valid balances may result in termination.

Nothing in this section limits rights that cannot lawfully be waived.

24. Cancellation by Customer

You may cancel a Service through the customer portal or another cancellation method we make available.

Unless otherwise specified, cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid billing period.

You are responsible for retrieving Customer Content before termination.

We are not obligated to retain Customer Content following cancellation.

25. Suspension and Termination by HelixNodes

We may suspend, restrict, or terminate Services where reasonably necessary because of:

• violation of these Terms;
• violation of the AUP;
• illegal activity;
• nonpayment;
• fraud or suspected fraud;
• compromised systems;
• threats to network security or stability;
• sanctions or regulatory requirements;
• legal process;
• activity that subjects us or another party to material risk; or
• conduct that materially interferes with our ability to provide Services.

Where practical and appropriate, we may first provide notice and an opportunity to correct the issue.

We may act immediately and without prior notice where we reasonably determine that urgent action is necessary to:

• stop an ongoing attack;
• stop spam, phishing, malware, exploitation, or fraud;
• protect persons or property;
• prevent material network damage;
• comply with law;
• prevent additional third-party harm; or
• protect IP reputation or upstream connectivity.

26. Abuse Investigations

We may investigate credible reports of abuse.

You agree to reasonably cooperate with investigations involving Services under your account.

Depending on the incident, we may require you to:

• respond to an abuse ticket;
• explain the activity;
• stop the activity;
• remove prohibited material;
• secure a compromised system;
• provide evidence of authorization for scanning or security testing; or
• take other reasonable remediation steps.

Time-sensitive abuse incidents may require a response within a deadline specified in our notice.

Failure to respond may result in suspension.

27. Law Enforcement and Legal Process

HelixNodes may respond to subpoenas, warrants, court orders, preservation requests, and other legally valid process as required by applicable law.

We may preserve information where legally required or where reasonably necessary to protect our rights.

Where lawful and appropriate, we may notify the affected customer before disclosing information. We may be prohibited from doing so in some circumstances.

28. Copyright Complaints

HelixNodes respects intellectual-property rights.

Claims of copyright infringement involving content hosted through our Services should be submitted to our designated copyright contact at:

[email protected]

and should include sufficient information to identify:

• the copyrighted work;
• the allegedly infringing material;
• the location of that material;
• the complaining party;
• the complaining party's contact information;
• a statement of good-faith belief;
• a statement regarding the accuracy of the notice and authority to act; and
• an appropriate physical or electronic signature.

Where applicable, HelixNodes may process notices and counter-notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512.

We may terminate accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.

29. Third-Party Software and Services

Services may include, integrate with, or facilitate access to software, licenses, networks, payment processors, operating systems, control panels, registrars, or other services supplied by third parties.

Third-party products may be governed by separate licenses or terms.

HelixNodes does not control third-party services and is not responsible for their acts, outages, changes, or discontinuation except to the extent required by law.

30. Domain Names

If HelixNodes offers domain registration or transfer services, those services may be provided through third-party registrars.

Domain registration is subject to applicable registry, registrar, and ICANN requirements.

You are responsible for keeping domain registration information accurate and maintaining renewal.

HelixNodes does not guarantee that a requested domain will remain available until registration is completed.

31. Customer Support

Official support channels are those identified on our website or customer portal.

Messages sent to individual employees, personal accounts, community forums, Discord accounts, or social-media accounts are not guaranteed to constitute a support request or formal notice.

For account-specific technical or billing support, you should use the HelixNodes ticket system or other designated support channel.

32. Communications

You consent to receive transactional communications reasonably necessary to administer your account, including:

• invoices;
• payment notices;
• service notices;
• abuse notices;
• security alerts;
• maintenance notices; and
• changes to legal terms.

You may not opt out of transactional communications while maintaining an active account where the communication is necessary to provide the Services.

Marketing communications will be handled separately and may be opted out of where required by law.

33. Confidentiality

We may receive confidential information from you when providing support or Services.

We will use reasonable measures to protect information clearly identified as confidential and will use it only for purposes reasonably related to providing the Services, except where disclosure is authorized by you or required by law.

This section does not apply to information that:

• is publicly available without breach of an obligation;
• was already lawfully known to the receiving party;
• is independently developed without use of confidential information; or
• is lawfully received from another source without confidentiality restrictions.

34. Privacy

Our collection and use of personal information relating to account holders, website visitors, and other individuals is described in the HelixNodes Privacy Policy.

Where HelixNodes processes personal data contained in Customer Content solely on your behalf, you generally determine the purpose and manner in which that data is collected and used.

Customers using the Services to process personal information are responsible for complying with applicable privacy and data-protection laws.

A separate Data Processing Addendum may be made available where required.

35. Intellectual Property

Except for Customer Content and third-party material, the Services, HelixNodes website, branding, documentation, interfaces, software, designs, and related intellectual property are owned by Covariant Systems LLC or its licensors.

These Terms do not transfer ownership of that intellectual property to you.

You may not use the HelixNodes or Covariant Systems names, logos, or trademarks in a manner that falsely suggests endorsement, partnership, or affiliation.

36. Feedback

If you voluntarily provide suggestions or feedback about the Services, we may use that feedback without restriction or compensation, provided that doing so does not give us ownership of your underlying Customer Content or confidential information.

37. Disclaimer of Warranties

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE."

HELIXNODES DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF:

• MERCHANTABILITY;
• FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE;
• TITLE;
• NON-INFRINGEMENT; AND
• uninterrupted or error-free operation.

We do not warrant that:

• the Services will operate without interruption;
• the Services will be completely secure;
• every vulnerability or defect will be corrected;
• data will never be lost;
• DDoS protection will stop every attack; or
• third-party networks or services will remain available.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty exclusions, so some exclusions may not apply to you.

38. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, HELIXNODES, COVARIANT SYSTEMS LLC, AND THEIR MEMBERS, MANAGERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY:

• INDIRECT;
• INCIDENTAL;
• SPECIAL;
• EXEMPLARY;
• PUNITIVE; OR
• CONSEQUENTIAL

DAMAGES, OR FOR LOSS OF:

• PROFITS;
• REVENUE;
• BUSINESS;
• GOODWILL;
• DATA;
• USE; OR
• BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES,

ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICES, EVEN IF ADVISED THAT SUCH DAMAGES ARE POSSIBLE.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO A PARTICULAR SERVICE OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO HELIXNODES FOR THE AFFECTED SERVICE DURING THE THREE (3) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

These limitations apply regardless of the legal theory asserted and even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose.

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

39. Indemnification

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Covariant Systems LLC, HelixNodes, and their members, managers, employees, agents, contractors, affiliates, and suppliers from third-party claims, damages, liabilities, penalties, judgments, losses, and reasonable costs and attorneys' fees arising from or related to:

• your Customer Content;
• your use of the Services;
• use of the Services by your users or customers;
• violation of these Terms or the AUP;
• violation of applicable law;
• infringement or misappropriation of third-party rights; or
• your negligence, fraud, or willful misconduct.

We may assume control of the defense of a claim subject to indemnification, in which case you agree to reasonably cooperate with the defense.

40. Force Majeure

HelixNodes is not liable for delay or failure caused by circumstances outside our reasonable control, including:

• natural disasters;
• severe weather;
• fire;
• war;
• terrorism;
• civil unrest;
• labor disputes;
• widespread Internet disruption;
• carrier failure;
• utility failure;
• government action;
• epidemic or pandemic;
• upstream-provider failure; or
• large-scale cyberattack.

41. Changes to These Terms

We may modify these Terms from time to time.

The updated Terms will state the date of the most recent revision.

For changes that materially affect existing customers' rights or obligations, we will make reasonable efforts to provide advance notice through email, the customer portal, or another reasonable method.

Changes may take effect immediately where reasonably necessary to:

• comply with law;
• address an urgent security issue;
• prevent abuse; or
• clarify an existing requirement without materially reducing customer rights.

Your continued use of Services after revised Terms become effective constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

42. Governing Law

These Terms and any dispute arising from them are governed by the laws of the State of Wyoming, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state courts of Wyoming and the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming for disputes arising from or relating to these Terms or the Services.

Nothing in this section prevents HelixNodes from seeking injunctive or protective relief in another jurisdiction where necessary to protect its systems, property, intellectual property, or rights.

43. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect, and the unenforceable provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law.

44. No Waiver

Failure by either party to enforce a provision of these Terms does not waive the right to enforce it later.

45. Assignment

You may not assign or transfer this Agreement without our prior written consent.

We may assign this Agreement in connection with a merger, acquisition, corporate reorganization, financing, sale of substantially all relevant assets, or transfer of the HelixNodes business.

46. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the AUP, Privacy Policy, applicable order, and any other written terms expressly incorporated into them, constitute the agreement between you and HelixNodes concerning the Services.

If there is a conflict between these Terms and a separately executed written agreement signed by an authorized representative of Covariant Systems LLC, the separately executed agreement controls to the extent of the conflict.

47. Contact

Questions concerning these Terms may be sent to:

Covariant Systems LLC d/b/a HelixNodes
30 N Gould St, Ste R, Sheridan, WY 82801
Legal: [email protected]
Support: https://billing.helixnodes.com
Abuse: [email protected]