Terms of Service

Effective September 6, 2026 · v7

This is a reference translation. The Korean text is the governing version. Where the two differ, the Korean text prevails.

These Terms govern the rights, obligations and responsibilities between Kim Hyo-jun (the "Company") and members in relation to the NatureLens website, mobile application and related services (the "Service").

Chapter 1 General Provisions

Article 1 (Purpose)

These Terms set out the conditions and procedures for using the Service, and the rights, obligations and responsibilities of the Company and its members.

Article 2 (Definitions)

  1. "Member" means a person who has agreed to these Terms, entered into a service agreement, and uses the Service.
  2. "Nature record" means the data a Member registers about a natural subject (plant, animal, insect, fungus and the like), including the photograph, location information and description.
  3. "Survey" means the feature that continuously collects the coordinates of a Member's route in order to record a survey path.
  4. "Posting" means any information a Member publishes on the Service — text, photographs, location information and the like.
  5. "AI determination" means the result the Company presents by using artificial intelligence to estimate the species of a nature record and to organise related information.

Article 3 (Publication and Amendment of these Terms)

  1. The Company publishes these Terms on the Service where Members can readily see them.
  2. The Company may amend these Terms within the bounds of applicable law.
  3. When amending, the Company gives notice from 30 days before the effective date, stating the effective date and the reason. Where an amendment is unfavourable to Members, the Company also notifies them separately by electronic means such as the registered email address.
  4. Where the Company has given notice under paragraph 3 and has clearly stated that failure to object within 30 days will be deemed agreement, a Member who does not object is deemed to have agreed to the amended Terms.
  5. A Member who does not agree to the amended Terms may terminate the service agreement.

Article 4 (Interpretation)

  1. The Company may maintain separate terms and policies for individual services; where these conflict with these Terms, the individual terms prevail. The Location-Based Services Terms apply to the handling of location information, and the Privacy Policy applies to the handling of personal information.
  2. Matters not covered by these Terms follow applicable law and commercial practice.

Chapter 2 Membership

Article 5 (Formation of the Service Agreement)

  1. The service agreement is formed when an applicant agrees to these Terms and applies for membership, and the Company accepts the application.
  2. The Company may refuse acceptance, or terminate the agreement afterwards, in the following cases.
    • The name or information of another person has been misappropriated
    • False information has been entered
    • A person under the age of 14 has registered without the consent of a legal representative
    • The applicant has previously lost membership under these Terms
    • Any other violation of law or of the Company's policies

Article 6 (Change of Member Information)

A Member may view and correct their own information through the account screen in the Service or by request to catstopia@gmail.com. The Company is not responsible for disadvantages arising from a failure to notify changes.

Article 7 (Management of Account and Password)

  1. Responsibility for managing the account and password rests with the Member.
  2. A Member may not transfer or share their account with a third party.
  3. On becoming aware of misappropriation, the Member must notify the Company immediately and follow the Company's guidance.

Article 8 (Notice to Members)

  1. Individual notices may be given to the email address registered by the Member.
  2. Notices to an unspecified number of Members may be given by posting on the Service for seven days or more.

Chapter 3 Use of the Service

Article 9 (Provision of the Service)

  1. The Company provides Members with the following services.
    • Photographing and registering nature records, and recording their location
    • Species identification using artificial intelligence, and information about legal designations and hazards
    • Survey route recording, and map-based exploration
    • Sharing of nature records between Members, and statistics
    • Other services the Company develops or provides through partnerships
  2. The Service is in principle provided 24 hours a day, all year round, and all features are currently provided free of charge.
  3. The Company may add to or change the content of the Service as operations require.

Article 10 (Change and Suspension of the Service)

  1. The Company may change or suspend part or all of the Service where this is unavoidable — natural disaster, maintenance or failure of equipment, loss of communications, amendment of the law, a change in a partner's policy, and the like.
  2. The Company gives notice in advance of a change or suspension, or afterwards where the matter is urgent.
  3. Unless applicable law provides otherwise, no separate compensation is given for the change or suspension of services provided free of charge.

Article 11 (Notice Concerning Location and Battery Use)

  1. The Service uses the device's location function in order to record where a nature record was found and to record survey routes. The handling of location information is governed by the Location-Based Services Terms.
  2. Once a Member starts a survey in the mobile app, the route continues to be recorded while the screen is off or another app is in use. Recording and location collection both stop when the survey ends.
  3. Battery use may increase while location is being collected in the background.
  4. Location accuracy varies with the device, the terrain and the communications environment; the Company does not guarantee the accuracy of coordinates.

Article 12 (Nature and Limits of AI Determinations)

An AI determination is reference material and does not replace expert appraisal or a medical or legal judgement. For anything that may affect the body — toxicity, allergy, infection — please obtain confirmation from a specialist institution.

  1. The Company does not warrant that a species name presented by artificial intelligence is correct. Results may vary with the angle and lighting of the photograph and the existence of similar species.
  2. Legal designations and hazard information are shown on the basis of public data and material the Company has compiled. "Not confirmed" does not mean there is no danger; it means no confirmed material exists.
  3. The Company is not liable for loss arising from a Member consuming, touching, collecting or otherwise acting on a living organism in reliance on an AI determination, save where the Company acted intentionally or with gross negligence.
  4. The capture, collection and transplanting of wildlife may be restricted under the Wildlife Protection and Management Act and other laws; responsibility for compliance rests with the Member.

Chapter 4 Postings

Article 13 (Rights in Postings and Their Use)

  1. Copyright in a posting belongs to the Member who created it.
  2. The Member grants the Company a non-exclusive licence to use the posting for the purposes of operating the Service and for research, education and promotion. Within that scope, the Company may modify, reproduce or edit the posting to the extent necessary.
  3. Where a Member has given separate consent at sign-up, the Company may use registered photographs for biodiversity research and to improve species identification models. Details are set out in Article 10 of the Privacy Policy.
  4. A Member may at any time request deletion of, restriction of access to, or exclusion from search of their own postings.
  5. The conditions for using postings are set out in the Copyright Policy.

Article 14 (Obligations of Members)

A Member must not do any of the following.

Article 15 (Management of Postings)

  1. Where a posting violates the Information and Communications Network Act, the Copyright Act or other law or public order and morals, and a victim or rights holder requests suspension or deletion under the procedure prescribed by law, the Company takes the measures required by the applicable law.
  2. Even without a request from a rights holder, the Company may delete a posting or take temporary measures where there is reason to recognise an infringement of rights, or where the Company judges the posting to violate the law or its policies.

Article 16 (Reporting and Blocking)

The Company provides means within the Service for Members to report inappropriate postings or users.

  1. A Member may report a posting or user that violates Article 14. Within 24 hours of receiving a report, the Company reviews the posting, takes any necessary measures such as deletion or restriction of access, and may restrict the poster's use of the Service.
  2. A Member may block a particular user so that that user's postings are not shown to them.
  3. The outcome of a report is communicated to the Member who made it. A reported Member may raise an objection under the procedure the Company prescribes.
  4. Where a report indicates a risk of urgent harm, the posting concerned may be hidden temporarily as soon as the report is received.

Chapter 5 Termination and Restriction of Use

Article 17 (Termination and Withdrawal by a Member)

In the Service this is presented under the name "Delete account". It is the same as "withdrawal" in these Terms.

  1. A Member may terminate the service agreement at any time. Termination may be requested through the delete-account feature in the Service or by request to catstopia@gmail.com; the Company processes it without delay after verifying identity.
  2. On termination, the Company destroys information by which the Member can be identified, such as email address, password and nickname. Information that must be preserved by law is stored separately for the required period; details are set out in Article 4 of the Privacy Policy.
  3. On termination, the postings a Member registered remain on the Service in a form from which the author cannot be identified. Photographs and species information have public value as biodiversity records, and once the link to the author is severed they no longer constitute information about a particular individual. Only a random nickname, from which the Member cannot be identified, is shown on such postings.
  4. A Member who does not wish their postings to remain may delete them directly within the Service before terminating. After termination the link to the author is severed and individual postings cannot be identified, so deletion requests cannot be met.
  5. Comments and other content a Member left on another Member's postings remain in the same way.

Article 18 (Termination and Restriction by the Company)

Where a Member violates the law or these Terms, the Company may take graduated measures such as a warning, deletion of postings, temporary suspension or permanent suspension. Where a Member seriously violates applicable law — identity misappropriation, distribution of unlawful information, hacking — the Company may terminate the service agreement immediately. The Member may raise an objection under the procedure the Company prescribes.

Chapter 6 Compensation and Limitation of Liability

Article 19 (Compensation for Loss)

  1. Where the Company causes loss to a Member intentionally or through gross negligence, it is liable to compensate that loss.
  2. Where a Member causes loss to the Company by violating these Terms, the Member must compensate that loss.

Article 20 (Limitation of Liability)

The Company is not liable in the following cases.

Chapter 7 Miscellaneous

Article 21 (Use Outside Korea)

The Company does not guarantee the same quality of Service outside the Republic of Korea. A Member using the Service abroad is responsible for complying with local law.

Article 22 (Dispute Resolution and Jurisdiction)

  1. Where a dispute concerning personal information or location information arises between the Company and a Member, the parties will confer in good faith; if no agreement is reached, the Member may apply to the Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee under Article 43 of the Personal Information Protection Act.
  2. These Terms are governed by the law of the Republic of Korea, and any litigation concerning a dispute is brought before the court having jurisdiction under the Civil Procedure Act.

Article 23 (Provider Information)

Addendum

These Terms take effect on 6 September 2026. They first took effect on 6 September 2025.