Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you andLumvex Labs LLC, doing business as Airballoon. They govern your access to and use of airballoon.com, the Airballoon web and mobile applications, conference websites we host on your behalf, and the conference-management services (Submission & Review, Registration, Presentation, Social/Networking) and any related APIs (collectively, the "Services").

By creating an account, accessing the Services, signing a Platform Services Agreement, registering for a conference run on Airballoon, or otherwise using the Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you accept on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind it.

• Organizer — An organization, institution, or individual using the Services to plan and run a conference, including chairs and roles they designate.
• Conference — An event run on the Services by an Organizer.
• Author — A user who submits a paper, abstract, poster, proposal, or other work for a Conference.
• Reviewer / PC Member / Area Chair — A user invited by an Organizer to evaluate Submissions.
• Attendee / Registrant — A user who registers for or attends a Conference.
• Content — Any data, text, file, message, code, or other material submitted, uploaded, or transmitted through the Services.
• Submission — A paper, abstract, poster, proposal, or comparable work submitted to a Conference, including supplementary files, reviews, rebuttals, decisions, and camera-ready materials.
• Platform Services Agreement — The commercial agreement between Airballoon and an Organizer, which supplements these Terms with fees and conference-specific terms.

3.1 Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old (or the age of digital consent in your jurisdiction, whichever is higher). The Services are not intended for individuals barred from receiving them under U.S. or other applicable law.

3.2 Account registration

You agree to provide accurate information and keep it up to date. You are responsible for safeguarding your password and for all activity under your account. Notify us immediately at support@airballoon.ai (mark it Attn: Security) if you suspect unauthorized access.

3.3 Roles and permissions

The Services are role-based. You agree to use the Services only within the role(s) granted to you and not to access data, features, or conferences for which you have not been granted access.

4.1 Packages and services

Airballoon is provided as a single platform that includes the full conference-management feature set; features are not gated behind paid service tiers. The platform is organized into packages:

• AirCore — the shared participant identity and data layer; required.
• AirMaster — conference setup and management; included at no additional charge.
• AirReview — paper submission, peer review, and AI-assisted review tooling (the "Submission & Review" service); included at no additional charge.
• AirReg — attendee registration and payment collection (the "Registration" service); a percentage-based platform fee applies.
• AirUp — storage and delivery of presentation materials (the "Presentation" service); a one-time storage fee applies.
• BalloonUp — the companion event / networking mobile app (the "Social/Networking" service); included at no additional charge.

Conferences created under earlier pricing keep their original terms. See §4.2 for fees.

4.2 Fees and payments

Organizers pay the platform fees set out in their Platform Services Agreement, which currently are:

Airballoon's platform fees are pure platform revenue and do not include payment-processing costs. Stripe's processing fees (currently 2.9% + $0.30 per card transaction in the United States, plus international, cross-border, and currency-conversion fees where applicable) are borne by the Organizer — as are any processing fee Stripe does not return on a refund and any dispute or chargeback fees — in both the Organizer-direct and platform-facilitated payment configurations. Organizers authorize Airballoon to deduct registration platform fees from registration proceeds before disbursing the balance to the Organizer, and to charge the one-time AirUp storage fee to the Organizer's payment method on file at the end of the Conference. All platform fees are non-refundable, even where the Organizer refunds a registrant. Fee schedules are subject to change with notice as set out in the Platform Services Agreement.

4.3 Preview features

Features identified as "preview" or "experimental" are provided as is, may be unstable or discontinued, and are excluded from any service-level commitments.

4.4 Availability

We use commercially reasonable efforts to keep the Services available. We may schedule maintenance and may suspend access without notice where required for security, legal, or operational reasons. We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation.

5.1 License grant

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Airballoon grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to access and use the Services for your internal use in running, participating in, or attending Conferences. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

5.2 Acceptable use

You agree not to, and not to permit anyone else to:

We may suspend or remove Content or accounts that violate these rules and, where serious or repeated, terminate access.

5.3 Reviewer confidentiality

5.4 Author representations

By submitting a Submission you represent and warrant that:

• You have the right to submit the work and to grant the license in §6;
• The work does not infringe any third party's IP, privacy, or publicity rights;
• Co-authors are accurately listed and have authorized the submission;
• You have disclosed conflicts of interest where required by the Conference;
• The work complies with the Conference's policies on plagiarism, dual submission, and AI-assisted authorship.

5.5 Organizer responsibilities

• Comply with the Platform Services Agreement and these Terms;
• Provide accurate Conference information and use the Services only for legitimate conferences;
• Maintain a valid Stripe account in good standing if using the Registration service;
• Establish and publish your own registration, refund, code-of-conduct, and accessibility policies, and apply them consistently;
• Obtain and honor all necessary consents from authors, reviewers, and attendees;
• Comply with applicable privacy laws (GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, etc.) as controller of Conference data;
• Not use the Services for events promoting violence, discrimination, illegal content, or any activity prohibited by Stripe's Acceptable Use Policy.

6.1 Your Content

You retain ownership of Content you submit. By submitting Content, you grant Airballoon a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, copy, transmit, display, adapt (including format conversion), and otherwise process the Content solely as necessary to provide the Services to you and to the relevant Conference. The license ends when the Content is deleted, except for backups retained per the Privacy Policy and Content already shared with third parties (e.g., co-authors, reviewers).

6.2 Conference data

As between Airballoon and the Organizer, Conference data belongs to the Organizer or its respective users. Between an Organizer and its users, ownership and licensing of Submissions are governed by the Conference's published policies (e.g., copyright transfer, Creative Commons, ACM/IEEE policies), not by these Terms.

6.3 Aggregated data

We may create and use aggregated, de-identified data that does not identify you or any Conference for product improvement, security, benchmarking, and reporting. We will not attempt to re-identify it and will not disclose Conference-identifying analytics without the Organizer's consent.

6.4 Feedback

Suggestions, ideas, or feedback you give us may be used by us without restriction or compensation.

6.5 Airballoon IP

The Services and all related software, design, text, graphics, logos, and trademarks belong to Airballoon, Lumvex Labs LLC, or our licensors. "Airballoon" and the Airballoon logo are our trademarks. Nothing in these Terms grants you a right to use them without our prior written consent.

6.6 Copyright complaints (DMCA)

We respond to DMCA-compliant notices. Send notices tosupport@airballoon.ai (mark it Attn: DMCA), including the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3). Repeat infringers' accounts may be terminated.

Some features use AI services for review summaries, keyword suggestions, translation, and similar tasks. You acknowledge that:

• AI output may be inaccurate, biased, or incomplete; you remain responsible for any decision you make using it.
• AI features are intended to assist, not replace, human judgment in peer review and other consequential workflows.
• Conferences may have policies restricting or requiring disclosure of AI-assisted authorship or reviewing; you must follow those policies.
• We do not use your Content to train general-purpose models, and we contractually require AI sub-processors to use your Content only to return a result for your request.

Misuse of AI features — for example, generating reviews you did not meaningfully author, or violating a Conference's AI-disclosure rules — is a breach of these Terms.

The Services integrate with third-party providers, including Stripe (payments),AWS (hosting and platform services), AWS Chime SDK (in-platform calls), Zoom / Microsoft Teams / Google Meet / Cisco Webex (live sessions, where the Organizer connects their own account), ORCID, institutional SSO, and others. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies. Airballoon is not responsible for third-party services, and a failure or change in a third-party service is not a breach by us.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties; in those jurisdictions, the exclusions apply to the maximum extent permitted by law.

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Airballoon, Lumvex Labs LLC, and our officers, directors, employees, and agents from third-party claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to:

• Your breach of these Terms or the Platform Services Agreement;
• Your Content or your use of the Services;
• Your violation of any law or third-party right (including IP and privacy);
• A Conference you organize, including registrant disputes, refund claims, and on-site incidents;
• Your negligence or willful misconduct.

12.1 Term

These Terms apply from the date you first access the Services and continue while you use them.

12.2 Termination by you

You may stop using the Services at any time, and may close your account through your account settings or by contacting support@airballoon.ai.

12.3 Termination by Airballoon

We may suspend or terminate your access if:

• You breach these Terms or the Platform Services Agreement, including fee non-payment;
• Your account or your Stripe account is suspended, terminated, or under fraud investigation;
• Your use poses a security, legal, or operational risk;
• We are required to do so by law or regulatory authority;
• We discontinue the Services (with reasonable notice).

12.4 Effect of termination

On termination, access ceases and we will provide reasonable data-export assistance for a limited period before deleting Conference data, subject to legal-hold and backup retention. Any payment or settlement obligations are governed by the Platform Services Agreement. Sections that by their nature should survive will survive.

We may update these Terms. For material changes we will update the "Last Updated" date and post notice in-product or by email at least 30 days before they take effect (shorter notice may apply for legal or security reasons). Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

14.1 Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of [STATE], United States, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. The U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

14.2 Informal resolution

Before filing a claim, contactsupport@airballoon.ai (mark it Attn: Legal) with a written description of the claim and the relief sought. We will try to resolve the dispute within 60 days of receipt.

14.3 Binding arbitration

If informal resolution fails, any dispute will be resolved by binding arbitrationadministered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Commercial Arbitration Rules (or, for consumer disputes, the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules), held in [County, State] or by remote means. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

14.4 No class actions

14.5 Carve-outs

Either party may bring an individual action in small-claims court within its jurisdiction, and either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in court for IP infringement, confidentiality breaches, or unauthorized access.

14.6 Opt-out

You may opt out of arbitration by sending written notice tosupport@airballoon.ai (mark it Attn: Legal) within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. Opting out does not affect the other provisions.

• Entire agreement — These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and (for Organizers) the Platform Services Agreement and any order forms are the entire agreement on this subject. The Platform Services Agreement controls for matters it covers.
• No waiver — Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver.
• Severability — If a provision is unenforceable, the rest remain in force.
• Assignment — You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign in connection with a merger, financing, or sale of assets, or to an affiliate, on notice.
• Force majeure — Neither party is liable for delays caused by events beyond reasonable control.
• Notices — We may give notices via the Services, by email, or by website posting. Legal notices to us go to support@airballoon.ai (Attn: Legal).
• No agency — Nothing creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship.
• Export and sanctions — You may not use the Services in violation of U.S. export-control or sanctions laws.
• U.S. government users — The Services are commercial computer software per 48 C.F.R. § 12.212 and § 227.7202; rights are limited to those in these Terms.