# Terms of service

Concept · [Cloud, hosting and security](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/cloud)

Also called: ToS, terms of use, terms and conditions, T&Cs, user agreement, service agreement

The legal agreement between a service and the people who use it. A person must accept it to use the service. [Common Paper](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/common-paper) publishes a free, standard template for this (Terms of Service), made for business software that customers accept with a click.

**For example:** A [founder](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/founder) plans to resell output from an [AI provider](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/model-provider). The provider's terms of service say what customers may do with that output, so the founder's lawyer reads them.

## Connects to (9)

- [Data privacy](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/data-privacy): How a company collects, uses, stores and shares information about people.
- [Compliance](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/compliance): Meeting the laws, regulations and standards that apply to a company.
- [SaaS](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/saas): Software as a service.
- [AI use policy](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-use-policy): An organization's rules for which AI tools its people may use and what information they may put into them.
- [Intellectual property](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/intellectual-property): Things you create that can be owned, such as code, designs, brand names and inventions.
- [Common Paper](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/common-paper): A contract company for startups that publishes free, standard agreements anyone may use and modify, along with software for sending…
- [DocuSign](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/docusign): A service for signing documents electronically.
- [Federal Trade Commission](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ftc): The US federal agency that enforces laws against unfair, deceptive and anticompetitive business practices.
- [Oklahoma Bar Association](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/oklahoma-bar-association): The association of lawyers in Oklahoma, based at the Oklahoma Bar Center in Oklahoma City.

> This glossary is plain-language orientation, not legal or financial advice. Before you decide on a company structure, a contract, taxes or a fundraising deal, talk with a lawyer or an accountant.

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/terms-of-service