Terms of Service

Last Updated: February 5, 2026

Agreement to Terms

By accessing or using Ibid. ("the Service"), available at ibid.law, including our web application, document processing tools, Chrome browser extension, and Microsoft Word add-in, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not use the Service.

Description of Service

Ibid. is a legal citation tool that helps users create properly formatted legal citations following The Bluebook (22nd ed.). The Service includes:

• Citation generation tools for various legal source types (cases, statutes, regulations, books, periodicals, and more)
• Search functionality for legal sources across multiple databases
• Citation classification and formatting
• Document processing and AI-powered citation extraction from uploaded documents
• Sourcepull generation for law review cite-checking
• Automated source lookup ("autopull") from third-party legal databases
• Source library management and project collaboration
• Chrome browser extension for citing web sources
• Microsoft Word add-in for in-document citation insertion

Beta and Preview Features

Certain features of the Service, including document processing, citation extraction, sourcepull generation, and autopull, may be designated as beta, preview, or early access. These features are provided "as is" without any warranty, may contain bugs or errors, may be modified or discontinued at any time, and should not be relied upon for production or time-sensitive work without independent verification. Access to beta features may be limited or revoked at our discretion.

Not Legal Services — Important Disclaimer

IBID. IS NOT A LAW FIRM AND DOES NOT PROVIDE LEGAL ADVICE, LEGAL SERVICES, OR LEGAL REPRESENTATION. The Service is a citation formatting and extraction tool only. No attorney-client relationship is created by your use of the Service.

The Service is not a substitute for the advice of a qualified attorney. If you require legal advice, you should consult with a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction. We do not review, approve, or endorse any legal document, filing, or work product that may incorporate citations generated or extracted by the Service.

Confidentiality Warning

Do not upload or submit attorney-client privileged communications, attorney work product, or highly sensitive personal data to the Service. Content you submit may be processed by third-party service providers, including AI service providers (see "Use of Artificial Intelligence" below) and cloud storage providers. We cannot guarantee the confidentiality or preservation of privilege for any content you submit. By submitting content to the Service, you acknowledge that you have considered and accepted any risks to confidentiality or privilege that may result, including risks arising from the transmission of content to third-party service providers.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Certain features of the Service, including document processing, citation extraction, and sourcepull generation, utilize artificial intelligence ("AI") and large language model ("LLM") technology provided by third-party service providers. These providers may include, without limitation, OpenAI, Google (Vertex AI), Together AI, or other AI service providers, and may change from time to time at our discretion.

By using AI-powered features of the Service, you acknowledge and agree that:

• (a) When you upload a document or submit content for AI-assisted processing, portions of your document content (including footnote text, citation text, and surrounding context) will be transmitted to one or more third-party AI service providers for analysis.
• (b) We use AI service providers' commercial API offerings, which are governed by those providers' terms of service and data use policies. Under the standard commercial API terms of major providers, customer data submitted via API is not used to train, retrain, or improve their AI models.
• (c) Third-party AI service providers may temporarily retain your content for a limited period as part of normal service operations (typically no more than 30 days), after which it is deleted. Retention periods are determined by the applicable provider and may change.
• (d) AI-generated outputs, including extracted citations, source classifications, formatting suggestions, sourcepull tables, and any other results, may contain errors, omissions, hallucinations, or inaccuracies. You are solely responsible for reviewing and verifying all AI-assisted output before use. AI output does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon without independent verification.
• (e) We may add, remove, or change AI service providers at any time without prior notice. We will endeavor to keep this section and our Privacy Policy reasonably current with respect to the categories of providers we use.
• (f) You are responsible for ensuring that you have any necessary rights, permissions, or authorizations to submit content for AI processing, and that doing so does not violate any obligation of confidentiality, privilege, or contractual restriction to which you are subject.

Document Processing and Uploaded Content

When you use the document processing features of the Service:

• You may upload documents (such as .docx files) containing text content, including footnotes and endnotes.
• Uploaded documents are stored in cloud storage (Cloudflare R2) and retained until you explicitly delete the associated processing job, or until we remove them in accordance with our data retention practices.
• Document content is processed by our systems and transmitted to third-party AI service providers for citation extraction and analysis.
• Extracted results (citation tables, sourcepull data, processing statistics) are stored in our database and associated with your account.
• During autopull, extracted citation data may be sent to third-party legal databases (such as CourtListener, GovInfo, USPTO, and others listed under "Third-Party Services") to look up and retrieve source information.
• Individual documents are limited to 50 MB in file size. We reserve the right to impose additional limits on processing volume, frequency, or file size at any time.
• You represent and warrant that you have the right to upload and process any document you submit, and that doing so does not violate any applicable law, regulation, or third-party right.

User Accounts

Account Creation

• You may create an account using Google OAuth authentication.
• You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials.
• You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration.
• You must be at least 13 years of age to create an account or use the Service.
• If you are under 18, you represent that you have your parent or guardian's permission to use the Service.

Account Responsibilities

• You are responsible for all activities that occur under your account.
• Your account is personal to you and may not be shared, transferred, or used by any other person.
• You may not share your login credentials with others or allow others to access your account.
• You must notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account.
• We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any illegal purpose or in violation of any laws
• Violate or infringe upon the rights of others, including intellectual property rights
• Transmit any harmful, offensive, or inappropriate content
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service or its related systems
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers connected to the Service
• Use the Service to create citations for fraudulent or deceptive purposes
• Upload documents containing malware, viruses, or other harmful code
• Use the document processing features to process an unreasonable volume of documents in a manner that degrades the Service for other users

Automated Access Prohibited

• You may not use any robot, spider, scraper, crawler, or other automated means to access or collect data from the Service
• You may not circumvent any rate-limiting, access controls, or technical measures designed to protect the Service
• You may not send automated queries of any sort to the Service without our express written consent

Reverse Engineering and Competitive Use Prohibited

• You may not modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or create derivative works based on the Service or any portion thereof
• You may not access or use the Service to build a similar or competitive website, product, or service
• You may not copy, imitate, or replicate any features, functions, graphics, or content of the Service

AI Training by Users Prohibited

• You may not use the Service, its output, or any data obtained from the Service to train, develop, or improve any artificial intelligence, machine learning model, large language model, or similar technology
• This prohibition applies whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes
• You may not aggregate, collect, or compile data from the Service for the purpose of creating or enhancing any database or dataset for AI training

Intellectual Property

Our Content

• The Service, including its design, features, algorithms, and functionality, is owned by Ibid. and protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.
• You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works based on the Service without our express written permission.

Your Content

• You retain ownership of any documents, citations, sources, and other content you create or upload through the Service ("Your Content").
• By using the Service, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, store, process, transmit, display, and reproduce Your Content for the following purposes:
  • Providing, operating, and maintaining the Service;
  • Processing Your Content through third-party service providers (including AI providers and cloud storage) as necessary to deliver the Service;
  • Analyzing aggregated, de-identified, or anonymized usage data and output patterns to improve, develop, and enhance the Service, including training or fine-tuning machine learning models operated by us (not third-party models);
  • Generating aggregated, anonymized statistics about Service usage.
• We will not sell Your Content to third parties or use it for purposes unrelated to the Service.
• For clarity: the license to use anonymized and aggregated data for Service improvement survives termination of your account.

Resale and Redistribution Prohibited

• You may not resell, redistribute, sublicense, or commercially exploit the Service or access to the Service without our prior written consent.
• You may not provide access to the Service to third parties on a service bureau, time-sharing, or similar basis.
• Citations generated by the Service are for your personal or internal business use only and may not be sold or distributed as a standalone product or service.

Citation and Extraction Accuracy Disclaimer — No Guarantees

IMPORTANT: The Service generates and extracts citations automatically based on the information you provide, document content you upload, and data obtained from third-party sources and AI service providers. WE MAKE NO GUARANTEES WHATSOEVER regarding the accuracy, completeness, correctness, or fitness for any purpose of any citation generated, extracted, classified, or formatted by the Service.

Without limiting the foregoing:

• AI-powered citation extraction may miss citations, hallucinate citations that do not exist, misclassify citation types, or produce incorrect source attributions
• Sourcepull tables may contain errors, omissions, or incorrect Bluebook formatting
• Autopull source lookups may return incorrect, outdated, or incomplete source information from third-party databases
• Citation formatting may not reflect the most current Bluebook rules or may apply rules incorrectly
• Third-party data sources may be incomplete, inaccurate, temporarily unavailable, or may change without notice

You are solely responsible for:

• Verifying the accuracy of all citations generated or extracted by the Service before use
• Independently confirming all source information, including case names, reporter citations, page numbers, dates, and parallel citations
• Reviewing all extraction and sourcepull results before using them in legal documents, court filings, law review publications, or academic work
• Ensuring citations comply with applicable citation standards and requirements

Reliance on any citation generated or extracted by the Service is entirely at your own risk. The Service is provided as a tool to assist with citation formatting and extraction, not as a substitute for professional legal, editorial, or academic review. We are not responsible for any consequences arising from errors in citations or extraction results, including but not limited to rejected filings, missed deadlines, sanctions, adverse rulings, published errors in academic work, or reputational harm.

Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:

• THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
• WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
• WE MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT CITATIONS, EXTRACTION RESULTS, SOURCEPULLS, OR SOURCE LOOKUPS WILL BE ACCURATE OR COMPLETE.
• WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES ARISING FROM:
  • Errors, omissions, hallucinations, or inaccuracies in citations or extraction results
  • Incomplete, incorrect, or missing entries in sourcepull tables
  • Incorrect or outdated source information returned by autopull
  • Rejected court filings or legal documents
  • Missed deadlines or statutes of limitations
  • Sanctions, penalties, or adverse rulings
  • Published errors in law review articles or academic work
  • Academic penalties or rejected submissions
  • Loss of or damage to uploaded documents or data
  • Unauthorized access to or disclosure of your content
  • Any other consequences of relying on the Service
• OUR TOTAL LIABILITY SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRIOR TO THE CLAIM (OR $100 IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID ANYTHING).

Indemnification

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Ibid., its officers, directors, employees, and agents from claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:

• Your use of the Service, including document processing and citation extraction features
• Your violation of these Terms
• Your violation of any applicable law or the rights of another party
• Content you submit or upload through the Service that infringes or is unlawful
• Your reliance on citations, extraction results, or sourcepulls generated by the Service

Dispute Resolution

Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of California, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

Arbitration

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the use of the Service shall be resolved by binding arbitration administered in accordance with the rules of JAMS or another mutually agreed-upon arbitration provider, conducted in California. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Class Action Waiver

YOU AGREE THAT ANY CLAIMS WILL BE BROUGHT IN YOUR INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION. You waive any right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration against Ibid.

Service Availability

The Service is provided on an "as available" basis. We do not guarantee that the Service will be available at any particular time or that it will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free. You acknowledge that:

• The Service may be unavailable due to scheduled or unscheduled maintenance
• We may experience technical difficulties, outages, or service disruptions
• Third-party services we rely on (including AI providers and legal databases) may become unavailable or change
• Document processing may be slow or fail due to AI provider outages, rate limits, or capacity constraints
• We are not liable for any loss or damage arising from Service unavailability

Service Modifications

We reserve the right to:

• Modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service (or any feature thereof) at any time, with or without notice
• Change features, functionality, AI providers, data sources, or availability
• Update these Terms from time to time — continued use after changes constitutes acceptance
• Limit certain features or restrict access to parts or all of the Service
• Change file size limits, processing quotas, or other usage limits

Termination

We may terminate or suspend your account and access to the Service, with or without notice, in situations such as:

• Violation of these Terms
• Fraudulent or illegal activity
• Extended periods of inactivity
• Excessive use that degrades the Service for other users
• To protect the security or integrity of the Service or other users

Upon termination, your right to use the Service will cease immediately. We may delete your account, uploaded documents, processing results, and associated data, subject to our Privacy Policy. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (including Intellectual Property, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, Dispute Resolution, and the license grants in "Your Content") will survive.

Third-Party Services

The Service integrates with various third-party services to provide its functionality. These include, but are not limited to:

• Authentication: Google OAuth (for account sign-in)
• AI Processing: OpenAI, Google Vertex AI, Together AI, or other AI service providers (for document processing and citation extraction)
• Case Law: CourtListener API, Google Scholar
• Federal Statutes: GovInfo API
• Federal Regulations: eCFR API, Federal Register API, GovInfo API
• Legislative Materials: Congress.gov API, Legiscan API, GovInfo API
• Patents: USPTO Open Data Portal API
• Citation Metadata: Zotero Translation Server (self-hosted)
• Cloud Storage: Cloudflare R2 (for uploaded documents)
• Hosting: Railway (application hosting and database)

Your use of these third-party services is subject to their respective terms of service and privacy policies. We are not responsible for the practices, availability, accuracy, or reliability of third-party services. Third-party services may change, become unavailable, or modify their terms at any time without notice to us.

Force Majeure

We shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations where such failure or delay results from circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to:

• Natural disasters, acts of God, floods, fires, earthquakes, or severe weather
• Acts of war, terrorism, civil unrest, or armed conflict
• Epidemics, pandemics, or public health emergencies
• Government actions, laws, regulations, embargoes, or sanctions
• Power outages, internet service provider failures, or telecommunications failures
• Cyberattacks, denial of service attacks, or other malicious activities
• Failures or outages of third-party services we depend on

International Users

The Service is operated from the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for compliance with local laws. Your content may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States and other countries where our service providers operate.

Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Ibid. regarding the Service and supersede all prior agreements and understandings.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at .

By using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms of Service.