BioForging Terms of Service

Working draft (v2.0, August 2026). This text describes the Service as it works today and has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer. It does not constitute legal advice.

1. Acceptance of the Terms

By creating an account or using BioForging (the "Service"), you —and the organization you represent, if acting on its behalf— (the "User") accept these Terms and Conditions (the "Terms"), which form a binding agreement between the User and BioForging, domiciled in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. If you do not agree with them, you must not use the Service.

2. Description of the Service

BioForging is an electronic lab notebook (ELN) delivered as an internet service and includes, depending on the plan purchased: experiment records with attachments and version history; protocols with version control and approval states; reagent inventory with lots, expiry dates and consumption deduction; projects, tasks and reminders; reports exportable to PDF and CSV; a cryptographically chained audit log; and electronic sign-off of experiments by the responsible scientist. A mobile application and a desktop program with bioinformatics analysis modules are offered as complements.

3. Permitted use, including commercial use

The Service may be used for commercial, professional, academic and research purposes. Its use is expressly permitted by testing laboratories, corporate quality departments, production plants, universities, public bodies and biotechnology companies, under the subscription corresponding to the plan purchased.

The following is prohibited: (a) using the Service for illegal, fraudulent or professionally unethical activities; (b) reselling, sublicensing, renting or offering the Service to third parties as if it were your own without a written agreement with BioForging; (c) attempting to breach the security of the Service, access data belonging to other laboratories, or circumvent the limits of the plan purchased; (d) uploading content that infringes third-party rights or that the User is not authorized to process.

4. Plans, subscriptions and payments

The billing unit is the laboratory, not the individual user. The plans in force, with their user and storage limits, features and prices, are those published on the Service website at the time of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically for the period purchased unless cancelled before the renewal date. Prices are stated in US dollars and do not include taxes, which are added where applicable. BioForging may change its prices with thirty (30) days notice by email; the new price applies from the following renewal. Payments may be processed by a third party, whose terms the User accepts when transacting with it.

Onboarding services (inventory migration, protocol loading and training) are billed once and are non-refundable after delivery.

5. Accounts, laboratories and roles

Access requires a personal account. The User undertakes to provide accurate information, keep their password confidential, not share credentials between people, and immediately report any unauthorized use. Within a laboratory, the administrator assigns the roles that determine what each member can see and modify, and is responsible for keeping those assignments current. Because what gets recorded is attributed to the account that did it, sharing credentials invalidates traceability and electronic signatures.

6. User content and data ownership

The data, files and results the User uploads or generates in the Service are and remain the property of the User or of their organization. BioForging acquires no rights over them and processes them solely to provide the Service, in accordance with the Privacy Policy. The User is responsible for the lawfulness of the content uploaded and for holding the necessary authorizations when it includes personal data of third parties.

7. Audit log and electronic signature

The Service keeps an audit log of the actions performed (author, date, action and IP address), cryptographically chained so that alterations can be detected. That log cannot be edited or deleted by users, including the laboratory administrator: it is part of the integrity of the Service. Electronic sign-off of experiments records who closed a record and when. The User acknowledges that these features are documentation and internal control tools, and that their evidentiary weight before third parties depends on the regulations applicable in their jurisdiction and on how the User employs them.

8. Availability, support and backups

BioForging aims for the highest possible availability, but the Service may be interrupted, whether scheduled for maintenance or unscheduled due to technical causes of its own or of its providers. Support response time commitments (SLA) apply only to the plans that expressly include them. Backups of the information are taken periodically; the Lab Quality plan also includes a documented restore procedure. Backups do not replace the advisability of the User exporting and keeping copies of any information they consider critical.

9. Personal data protection

The processing of personal data is governed by the Privacy Policy and by Argentine Personal Data Protection Act No. 25,326. When the User uploads personal data of third parties, the User acts as data controller and BioForging as data processor, processing that data only in accordance with the User instructions and as needed to provide the Service. The Lab Quality plan includes signing a data processing agreement. The User acknowledges and accepts that attachments are stored with an infrastructure provider located in the United States, as detailed in the Privacy Policy.

10. BioForging intellectual property

The software, source code, interface, logos, documentation and the BioForging brand are the exclusive property of BioForging. The subscription grants a non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable right of use, limited to the plan purchased, and transfers no intellectual property rights. Copying, decompiling, reverse engineering or distributing the software without written authorization is prohibited. Modules that query external services —for instance public databases such as NCBI— are additionally subject to the terms of use of those third parties.

11. Limitation of liability

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available". BioForging does not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free, nor that it will meet the specific expectations of the User. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, BioForging shall not be liable for indirect damages, loss of profit, loss of opportunity or consequential damages; and its total aggregate liability, on any basis, shall not exceed the amount actually paid by the User during the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim. Nothing in these Terms limits liabilities that the law does not allow to be limited.

About results: BioForging is a recording, management and auxiliary analysis tool. It does not issue diagnoses, does not validate analytical methods and does not certify laboratories. Interpreting the data, validating the methods, regulatory compliance and any decision taken on the basis of the recorded information are the sole responsibility of the User and of the professionals in charge.

12. Term, termination and portability

The User may cancel their subscription at any time; termination takes effect at the end of the period already paid for, with no pro-rata refunds except where required by law. On non-payment or cancellation, the lab switches to read-only for sixty (60) calendar days, during which the User may browse, download and export all of their information and finish work already open (signing and countersigning what is already recorded, custody of samples already received, amending or withdrawing reports already issued and closing open nonconformities), but may not record new work. After that period the information can still be browsed and exported. After that period, BioForging will give email notice before releasing the storage space. The User may export their data as PDF and CSV from the application, or download the full laboratory export from the Laboratory screen (whoever manages the laboratory downloads it), or request it by writing to info@bioforging.com. BioForging may suspend the Service upon a serious breach of these Terms, with prior notice unless there is an immediate risk to the security of the platform or of other users.

13. Changes to the Terms

BioForging may modify these Terms. Substantial changes will be notified by email or within the application at least thirty (30) days in advance. Use of the Service after they take effect implies acceptance; if the User does not accept them, they may terminate and export their information under section 12.

14. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of Argentina. For any dispute, the parties submit to the ordinary courts of the Province of Buenos Aires, waiving any other jurisdiction.

15. Contact

Questions about these Terms: info@bioforging.com.

BioForging Privacy Policy

Working draft (v2.0, August 2026). Pending legal review. The full, current version is published at /privacy-policy-en.html.

1. Who processes your data

The data controller is BioForging, domiciled in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Contact: info@bioforging.com. Processing is carried out under Argentine Personal Data Protection Act No. 25,326.

2. What information we collect

• Account data: first name, last name, email, password (stored hashed, never in plain text), institution, position, area of interest, ORCID and language.
• Content you upload: projects, experiments, protocols, inventory, tasks, reports and the files you attach.
• Technical and audit data: IP address, date and time, and the action performed, recorded to keep the lab notebook traceable.
• Sales enquiries: if you write through the contact form or subscribe to the newsletter, we store your name, email, message, contact source and IP address.

We do not collect location data, we do not run advertising and we do not track you across sites.

3. What we use it for

• Giving you access to the Service and keeping your session.
• Storing and syncing your lab content across your devices.
• Maintaining the audit log required for notebook traceability.
• Sending operational notices (expiry dates, assigned tasks, password recovery) and, if you asked for them, product updates.
• Answering your sales and support enquiries.

4. Where your data lives

The database and the application are hosted with our hosting provider. Attachments (step photos, PDFs, experiment annexes) are stored in a private Amazon Web Services (S3) bucket located in the us-east-2 region (Ohio, United States). This entails an international transfer of data outside Argentina; by using the Service you consent to that transfer. Files are not public: they are served through short-lived signed links and all traffic is encrypted over HTTPS.

5. Cookies

We only use strictly necessary cookies: the session cookie (PHPSESSID), which keeps you signed in and backs the CSRF protection, and the "remember me" cookie, which is only created if you tick that option when signing in. We do not use advertising or third-party analytics cookies, and we do not share cookies with social networks. You can delete or block them in your browser, but you will not be able to sign in.

6. Who we share information with

We do not sell or rent personal data. We share it only with the infrastructure providers needed to operate the Service (hosting, file storage, email delivery and push notifications), acting on our instructions, or where required by law or a court order. Inside a shared laboratory, your content and recorded actions may be visible to other members according to their role.

7. How long we keep it

We keep your information while your account is active. The audit log is retained for an additional period to support the integrity of the laboratory records, and that period is the same for every account, whatever its plan. When you delete your account we delete or anonymize your personal data, except what we must retain by legal obligation.

8. Your rights

You may access, rectify, update and delete your personal data, and request its portability, by writing to info@bioforging.com from your registered email address. Exporting experiments, projects and protocols as PDF and lists as CSV is available inside the application; a full export of the laboratory is downloaded by whoever manages it from the Laboratory screen, as a compressed archive; if they cannot do it, they ask info@bioforging.com and we deliver it.

Under section 14(3) of Act No. 25,326, the data subject may exercise the right of access free of charge at intervals of no less than six months, unless a legitimate interest is demonstrated. The AGENCY FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION, the supervisory authority for Act No. 25,326, is empowered to handle complaints from those whose rights are affected by non-compliance with data protection rules.

9. Security

We apply reasonable security measures: hashed passwords, encrypted transport, role-based access control, CSRF protection and an audit log. No system is infallible; if we detect an incident affecting your data we will notify you by email.

10. Minors

The Service is aimed at laboratory professionals and students. It is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. We will publish the current version with its date and, if the changes are significant, notify you by email.