Phronesis Law - Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 2025-01

Welcome to the Phronesis Law Platform. These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your use of our website, application, and services (collectively, the "Platform"). By accessing or using the Platform, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.

1. Description of services offered by the Platform

The Phronesis Law Platform provides access to analyses of publicly available information (“Data”). The analyses are provided on demand by third-party tools.

2. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using our Platform, you confirm that you can form a legally binding contract with Phronesis (Pty) Ltd, Registration Number: 2022/453135/07 with registered address at: 441 Yvonne Str, Pretoria 0181 (“Phronesis”) and that you accept these Terms. If you are using the Platform on behalf of a company, you agree to these Terms on behalf of that company and you warrant your authority to do so.

3. Modification of Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by posting the updated Terms on the Platform or by sending you an email. Your continued use of the Platform after the changes have been made will constitute your acceptance of the revised Terms.

4. Eligibility

To use this Platform, you must be at least 18 (eighteen) years old. If you are under the age of 18, you must obtain your parents’ or legal guardians’ advance authorization, permission and consent to be bound by these Terms before using the Platform.

You are responsible for ensuring that your use of the Platform complies with all applicable laws.

5. Paid Services and Subscriptions

We offer certain services and content on the Platform on a subscription basis (the “Paid Services”). By purchasing any Paid Services, you agree to the following:

• Pricing

Current subscription fees for the Paid Services are listed on the Website at the time of purchase. Prices may vary based on the type of subscription plan chosen and any promotional offers.

The subscription fees are subject to annual adjustment. We reserve the right to increase the subscription fees by up to 20% annually, effective on the anniversary of the subscription start date. We will provide you with at least 30 days written notice of any such increase. If you do not agree to the increased fees, you may terminate the Paid Services through your account settings. Should you, however, continue to use the Paid Services after the effective date of the price increases, we are entitled to assume that you have accepted the new fees.

• Payment

You agree to pay all fees and charges associated with the Paid Services, including any applicable taxes, through the payment methods available on the Website. You authorize Phronesis to charge your selected payment method for the applicable fees.

• Termination of Paid Services

Subject thereto that no subscription fees payable for the Paid Services are outstanding, the Paid Services shall continue on a month-to-month basis until terminated under these Terms. You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings. The cancellation will take effect at the end of the next billing cycle following your notification to cancel, and no refunds will be issued for partially used periods.

• Refunds

All payments are non-refundable unless otherwise specified under applicable law or as explicitly stated in these Terms. We may, at our sole discretion, offer refunds in special circumstances, such as a billing error or if the service has not been delivered as promised.

6. Account Registration

To access the Platform, you will be required to create an account. You must provide accurate, current, and complete information during the registration process. You are responsible for safeguarding your password and agree not to disclose your account credentials to any third party.

7. Content

We reserve the right to make improvements, to change or to discontinue, without notice, any aspect or feature of the Platform and any information or content on the Platform.

We may use the website of third parties to provide information on the Platform. We have no control over this information and makes no representations or warranties of any nature as to its accuracy, appropriateness or correctness. You agree that such information is provided “as is” and that we and our online partners shall not be liable for any losses or damages that may arise from the user’s reliance on it, howsoever these may arise.

8. Linked Third Party Websites and Third Party Content

We may provide links to third party websites on the Platform. These links are provided to the user for convenience purposes only and we do not endorse, nor does the inclusion of any link imply our endorsement of, such websites, their owners, licensees or administrators or such websites’ content or security practices and operations.

While we try to provide links only to reputable websites or online partners, we cannot accept responsibility or liability for the information provided on other websites. Linked websites or pages are not under, nor subject to, our control. We are not responsible for and give no warranties or makes no representations in respect of the privacy policies or practices of linked or any third party or advertised websites on the Platform.

You agree that we shall not be held liable, directly or indirectly, in any way for the content, the use or inability to use or access any linked website or any link(s) contained in a linked website, nor for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as a result of any dealings with, or as the result of the presence of such third party linked websites on the Platform. Any dealings that you may have with any linked websites, including advertisers, found on the Platform, are solely between you and the third party website.

9. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to engage in the following prohibited activities:

• Impersonating any person or entity.
• Accessing data not intended for you.
• Engaging in activities that violate the intellectual property rights of others.
• Spamming, phishing, or distributing malware or viruses.
• Using automated systems such as bots to access or manipulate the Platform.
• Post content that is harmful, abusive, defamatory, or illegal.
• Use the Platform to engage in fraudulent activity, harassment, or other malicious behaviour.
• Reverse engineering, decompiling, or attempting to extract the source code of the Platform.
• Copy (other than for backup, archival or disaster recovery purposes), reproduce, translate, adapt, vary, modify, lease, licence, sub-licence, encumber or in any other way deal with any part of the Platform for any reason and in any manner, unless it is consistent with the intent and purpose of these Terms.
• Write and/or develop any derivative of the Platform or any other software program based on the Platform.
• Modify or enhance the Platform . If you make any modifications or enhancements to the Platform in breach of this clause, such modifications and enhancements shall be the property of Phronesis.
• Without our prior written consent, provide, disclose, divulge or make available to or permit the use of or give access to Platform by persons other than you, the user.
• Remove any identification, trademark, copyright or other notices from the Platform.
• Use for any purpose other than personal, non-commercial and information purposes.

10. Security

In order to ensure the security and reliable operation of the Platform to all our users, we reserve the right to take whatever action necessary to preserve the security, integrity and reliability of the Platform’s network and back-office applications.

You may not utilise the Platform in any manner which may compromise the security of our networks or tamper with the Platform in any manner whatsoever.

Any user who commits any of the offences detailed in Chapter 13 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (“ECTA”) (specifically sections 85 to 88 (inclusive)) shall, notwithstanding criminal prosecution, be liable for all resulting liability, loss or damages we or our affiliates, agents and/or partners suffers.

11. Intellectual Property

The Platform and all associated content, including software, design, and trademarks, but excluding the Data you generate by using the Platform, are the intellectual property of Phronesis or its licensors. Your use of the Platform does not grant you any rights to this intellectual property, other than the limited access rights provided under these Terms.

You may not reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works based on this content without prior written consent.

12. Privacy and Cookie Policy

This clause provides details about our Privacy and Cookie Policy (“Policy”), which Policy forms part of these Terms. We take your privacy seriously and is committed to protecting your personal information. We use the personal information that we collect from you in accordance with this Policy.

“Personal information” when used in this Policy means information that can identify you as an individual or is capable of identifying you. By “personal information” we don’t mean general, statistical, aggregated or anonymised information.

Your use of our Platform signifies your consent to us collecting and using your personal information as specified below.

• Information we collect
  We may collect personal information, such as your name, email address, billing information, and other data required to provide services. We also collect non-personal information, such as browser type and IP address, to enhance the user experience.
• How we collect information about you
  Most of the personal information we hold about you, you provide to use directly when you:
  • Register your account on the Platform
  • Voluntarily complete a customer survey or provide feedback on nay of our message boards or via email
  • Use or view the Platform via you browser’s cookies
  When we process your order, we may send your personal information to and also use the resulting information from, credit reference agencies to prevent fraudulent purchases.
• How long do we keep your information for?
  The time periods for which we keep your information may vary according to the use or purpose attached to the information. Unless there is a specific legal requirement requiring us to keep your information, however, we will not keep it for longer than necessary for the purpose for which the information was collected or for which it is to be processed.
• Disclosing your information to third parties
  We do not share your personal information with third parties except:
  • As required to process payments or provide services
  • With third-party service providers who assist us in operating the Platform (e.g., payment processors, hosting providers).
  • When required by law or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Platform or others.
• When and where do we use cookies?
  We allocate cookies during the registration process for our Platform. These cookies will hold information collected during your registration and will allow us to recognise you as a customer and provide you with the Platform you require.
• How can you refuse or opt out of cookies?
  Most browsers are set by default to accept cookies automatically, but usually you can alter the settings of your browser to prevent automatic acceptance and to prompt you every time a cookie is sent to you or to allow you to choose not to receive cookies at all.
• How can you manage your privacy preferences?
  If you’d like us to stop processing your information for marketing purposes, please write to us at the address set out in clause 20 below.
• Data Security – how do we store your personal information? We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure.
• Marketing
  We would like to send you information about products and services we think you might be interested in. If you have agreed to receive marketing, you may always opt out at a later date. If you no longer wish to receive marketing materials, please select the “opt-out” button presented on our website and/ or marketing materials.
• Your rights:
  We would like to make sure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following:
  • The right to access – You have the right to request copies of your personal data. We may charge you a small fee for this service.
  • The right to rectification – You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request that we complete the information you believe is incomplete.
  • The right to erasure – You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to restrict processing – You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to object to processing – You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to data portability – You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us.
  • The right to withdraw you consent for us to process your personal information at any time.
  • The right to not have your personal information processed for purposes of direct marketing by means of unsolicited electronic communications from third parties unknown to you.
  • The right to submit a complaint to the Information Regulator regarding an alleged interference with the protection of personal information processed in accordance with these terms. The Information Regulator's contact details are published by the government from time to time in terms of Protection of Personal Information Act No. 4 of 2013 POPIA. When they are published, POPIA places a duty on us to inform you what those contact details are and we will do so as and when required.
  • The right to institute civil proceedings regarding an alleged interference with the protection of your personal information processed in accordance with these terms.

13. Confidentiality

By using the Platform, you agree that you shall hold in the strictest confidence and not disclose to any third party information acquired in connection with any aspect of the Platform offered. You shall notify us should you discover any loss or unauthorised disclosure of the information.

14. Licence to use the Platform

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable license to access and use the Platform and the Paid Services for personal or internal business purposes only.

15. Disclaimers

The Platform is provided on an “as-is” and “as-available” basis. We make no guarantees that the Platform will be uninterrupted or error-free. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied.

16. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Platform. Our liability to you for any claims arising from the use of the Platform is limited to the amount you paid us, if any, for using the Platform.

You expressly acknowledge that where the Platform enables you to obtain access to the Data, your reliance on such Data will be entirely at its own risk. We will in no way take any responsibility for the accuracy or suitability of any Data you obtain through the use of the Platform.

17. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Platform at any time, without prior notice, if we believe that you have violated these Terms.

18. Compliance with ECTA

In compliance with section 43(1) of the ECT Act, the following is noted:

• Full name: Phronesis (Pty) Ltd
• Registration number:2022/453135/07
• Physical address: 441 Yvonne Str, Pretoria 0181
• Telephone number: +27848001987
• Website address: www.phronesis-analytics.tech
• E-mail address: info@phronesis-analytics.tech
• Names of office bearers: Jurgens de Lange, Hannes Strydom
• Fees: as indicated on the website
• Manner of Payment: as indicated on the website

19. Notices

Except as explicitly stated otherwise, any notices to us shall be given by email via the email address stipulated under clause 18. Notices to you shall be sent to the e-mail address you have provided us, or such other address that has been specified. Notice shall be deemed given 48 (forty eight) hours after an email is sent, unless the sending party is notified that the email address is invalid.

If notice is sent by registered mail, postage prepaid and return receipt requested to the address which you have provided us or our address stipulated under clause 18 above, notice shall be deemed given 7 (seven) days after the date of mailing.

You acknowledge that all agreements, notices or other communication required to be given in terms of the law or these Terms may be given via electronic means and that such communications shall be “in writing”.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, a written notice or communication actually received by a party shall be an adequate written notice or communication to it, notwithstanding that it was not sent to or delivered at its chosen address(es) for that purpose.

20. General

These Terms shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the Republic of South Africa as such laws are applied to agreements entered into and to be performed within South Africa.

This Platform is controlled, operated and administered by us, Phronesis, from our offices within the Republic of South Africa. We make no representation that the content of the Platform is appropriate or available for use outside of South Africa. Access to the Platform from territories or countries where the content of the Platform is illegal is prohibited. Users may not use this Platform in violation of South African export laws and regulations. If the user accesses this Platform from locations outside of South Africa, that user is responsible for compliance with all local laws.

If any provision of these Terms is held to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be struck out from these Terms and the remaining provisions shall be enforced to the full extent of the law.

Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not constitute a waiver of our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches.

You shall not be entitled to cede your rights or assign your rights or delegate your obligations in terms of these Terms to any third party without our the prior written consent.

21. Contact Information – Support Desk

If you have any questions or concerns about these Terms, please contact us at info@phronesis-analytics.tech or at the details set out under clause 18.