Acceptable Use Policy

1. General Prohibitions

When using any Covala Service, you must not:

• Violate any applicable local, state, national, or international law or regulation.
• Infringe on the intellectual property rights of others.
• Transmit malware, viruses, or any code designed to disrupt, damage, or limit the functioning of the Services.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Services, other accounts, computer systems, or networks connected to the Services.
• Impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
• Engage in any activity that interferes with or disrupts the Services or the servers and networks connected to the Services.
• Harvest or collect information about other users without their consent.

2. API-Specific Rules

2.1 Technical Restrictions

• Respect rate limits. Do not attempt to circumvent rate limiting through multiple API Keys, rotating IP addresses, or other methods.
• Implement proper error handling. When receiving error responses (4xx, 5xx), use exponential backoff. Do not retry failed requests in tight loops.
• Do not conduct load testing, stress testing, vulnerability scanning, or penetration testing against the API without prior written approval from Covala.
• Do not reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of the API or its underlying algorithms.

2.2 Data Usage Rules

• Do not use Product Data to build a competing product data service, product intelligence API, or data aggregation platform.
• Do not systematically download the entire catalog or use automated tools to extract data beyond your normal application usage patterns.
• Do not use Product Data to train machine learning models for the purpose of competing with Covala, without a separate written agreement.
• Do not redistribute raw API responses as bulk data downloads, data feeds, or through a secondary API.
• Do not present stale pricing or availability data as current information in a way that could mislead consumers.
• Do not use Product Data for price fixing, market manipulation, or any anti-competitive purpose.

2.3 Brand and Attribution Rules

• Do not imply endorsement by, affiliation with, or sponsorship by any retailer or manufacturer whose data appears in the API.
• Do not use retailer or manufacturer trademarks in a manner that suggests a partnership with Covala or those entities.
• Do not remove or obscure attribution required by your subscription tier.

3. Enforcement

Covala reserves the right to investigate and take action against violations of this policy. Enforcement actions may include:

1. Warning: We may contact you to notify you of a violation and request corrective action.
2. Rate limiting: We may reduce your rate limits temporarily or permanently.
3. Suspension: We may temporarily suspend your access to the Services.
4. Termination: We may permanently terminate your account and revoke all API Keys.

The severity of enforcement depends on the nature, frequency, and impact of the violation. We will make reasonable efforts to notify you before taking action, except where immediate action is necessary to protect the Services or other customers.

4. Reporting Violations

If you become aware of any violation of this Acceptable Use Policy, please report it to abuse@covala.com.

5. Contact

For questions about this Acceptable Use Policy, please contact legal@covala.com.