1. Who we are and what these Terms cover
We provide the website alithon.com, the Serial Port Utility desktop application for Windows, macOS and Linux together with its command-line tool ("the software"), Alithon accounts, license keys and subscriptions, and the cloud services described in Section 5 (together, "the services").
The Privacy Policy and the Refund Policy are part of these Terms. The product description and price shown at checkout are part of each order.
If you obtained the software from the Mac App Store or another app store, that store's standard license terms (for the Mac App Store, Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement) govern your use of that copy, and the store's own terms govern purchases made there. These Terms still govern your Alithon account and the cloud services, and apply to that copy wherever they do not conflict with the store's terms.
2. Who may use the services
You must be able to enter into a binding contract where you live. Alithon accounts are not intended for children under 14. If you are under 18, you may create an account or make a purchase only with the consent of a parent or guardian.
If you use the services on behalf of an organization, you confirm that you are authorized to accept these Terms for it; "you" then includes that organization.
3. Your Alithon account
You do not need an account to use the software on your own computer. An account is needed for the cloud services, to bind license keys and to see your orders in the account center.
- Give a working email address and accurate details, and keep them up to date.
- Keep your password and license keys confidential; an account is for one person.
- Tell us promptly at bill@alithon.com if you suspect someone else is using your account or a license key.
- You are responsible for what happens through your account, including what guests do with invite codes you issue, unless the law provides otherwise.
You can delete your account at any time in the account center (Delete account, https://www.alithon.com/dashboard/account/delete) or in the software (Cloud > Delete Account…). Deletion takes effect immediately and cannot be undone. It removes your profile, device list, synced settings, Live Console data and invite codes, and forfeits any cloud traffic balance. License keys remain valid but are no longer bound to an account. Orders, invoices and refund records are kept, unlinked from any account, for as long as accounting and tax law requires. Deleting your account does not cancel a subscription bought through an app store; cancel it in that store. The Privacy Policy describes what is deleted and what is kept.
4. Software licenses
The software is licensed, not sold. Each license gives you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the software within the terms below; we and our licensors keep all other rights.
Free. You may download the software and use its free edition ("Free") at no charge and with no time limit. Free includes the local serial, TCP and UDP tools and the cloud services, within the limits shown on our pricing pages.
SPU Pro. Additional tools and larger allowances ("Pro") require a paid entitlement: a Personal or Enterprise license key bought on alithon.com for the term shown at checkout (1 month, 1 year, 3 years or lifetime), or an SPU Pro subscription bought through the Mac App Store. The current differences between Free and Pro are listed at https://www.alithon.com/pricing/compare. We may change what Free and Pro include in later versions, but a change will not reduce what a paid license already includes during its paid term.
No trial. Direct downloads of the software run as Free from the first launch and no longer include a free Pro trial. If a trial is still running when you upgrade to version 6.6.8, it continues until 30 days after the software was installed; new installations receive no trial. App Store subscriptions no longer include an introductory offer; a subscription already in one renews on the terms the store showed you.
- A Personal license is for the individual who bought it, or the account it is bound to, and may be activated on that person's devices within the device limit shown at checkout or in the account center.
- An Enterprise license may be used only by the purchasing organization's staff and contractors, within the number of seats bought.
- A license key bound to an account is activated by signing in to that account on a computer. A key can be bound to only one account, and a binding is changed only by our support at your request.
- A term license ends when its paid period expires; licenses bought on alithon.com do not renew automatically. A lifetime license covers the supported lifetime of the product edition bought, not every future product.
- You may pass an unmodified installer to others; they need their own license to use Pro.
- You may not sell, rent, share or sublicense license keys, bypass or emulate activation, remove notices, or reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the software, except to the extent applicable law expressly permits it despite this restriction.
- If we reasonably determine that a license key or a device has been used to breach these Terms — for example to share, resell or bypass activation of a license, or to keep using the software after obtaining a refund — we may disable that license key, or refuse activation on that device (identified by the device identifier the software generates, see the Privacy Policy) and have the software show a notice and stop running there. The notice explains how to contact us if you believe this is a mistake.
5. Cloud services
"Cloud services" are the online features of the software that work through our servers and require an Alithon account:
- Live Console: see a computer's serial ports and their recent data in a web browser, and send data or commands to them.
- Live Relay: open a serial port on another computer — yours, or one shared with you — through our servers.
- Live Share: let someone who holds an invite code you issued use one of your ports, from the software or from a browser, for a limited time.
- Settings sync: keep the software's settings, and if you choose your send history, in your account and apply them on your other computers.
Online features — license activation and checks, statistics on the use of the Free allowances, in-app announcements, your account and the cloud services — work only after you allow them in the software (the first-start dialog, or Help > Privacy and Online Features…). Without that permission the software keeps working offline as Free. The Privacy Policy describes what each of them sends.
RFC 2217 Server and bridges connect computers directly over your own network. They do not use our servers and are not cloud services.
Allowances. Cloud traffic is counted per account, per calendar month (China Standard Time) and per direction. Each account has a monthly allowance, which is larger while the account has an active Pro entitlement; you can buy traffic packs for use beyond it. Current allowances and pack prices are shown at https://www.alithon.com/pricing. Purchased traffic does not expire while your account exists, cannot be moved to another account, and is forfeited if you delete your account. When the allowance and your packs are used up, cloud traffic stops until the next month or until you add a pack.
The cloud services depend on the internet and on our servers. We work to keep them available but do not guarantee uninterrupted operation. We may change, limit or suspend a feature where reasonably necessary for security, abuse prevention, maintenance or legal reasons, and we will give reasonable advance notice of a material change or discontinuation where practical.
A guest who joins through an invite code must follow Section 6 while using the shared port. The host who issued the code can end the share at any time.
Cloud services connect people to real equipment. You decide what you share and with whom, and you are responsible for the data and commands sent to your devices by you or by guests you invite. Do not rely on the cloud services where an interruption, a delay or an unintended command could cause injury, damage or loss.
6. Acceptable use
Do not use the services to:
- break the law or infringe anyone's rights;
- access equipment, systems or data you are not authorized to access, or probe or test systems without permission;
- distribute malware, or interfere with the services or with other users;
- get around allowances, rate limits, activation or other technical limits;
- resell the cloud services, or use them to run a service for third parties, without our written permission.
We may remove content or suspend access that breaches this section, as described in Section 10.
7. Orders, prices and taxes
- The checkout page shows the product, term, quantity, currency and total for the chosen payment method. Payments on alithon.com are processed by WeChat Pay (through YunGouOS) or PayPal; we never receive your full card or bank account details.
- An order is accepted when the payment is confirmed. License keys are shown on the order page and sent to the email address you gave.
- Licenses bought on alithon.com do not renew automatically. App Store subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel them in the App Store, which handles their billing and refunds.
- You are responsible for applicable taxes, duties and payment-provider fees unless checkout states otherwise. For orders paid in RMB you can request a VAT e-invoice (电子发票) at checkout; you are responsible for the accuracy of the invoice details you give.
- If a price or product description is obviously wrong, we may correct it before delivery and will offer you the corrected purchase or a full refund.
- Refunds are governed by the Refund Policy.
8. Your content
Data that passes through the cloud services, and the settings you sync ("your content"), remain yours. You allow us to store, transmit and process your content only to provide the services to you and to the guests you invite, as described in the Privacy Policy. We do not sell your content or use it for advertising.
You are responsible for having the right to send and share your content.
9. Intellectual property and feedback
We and our licensors own the website, the software, the documentation, our trademarks and the service technology. The software includes open-source components, which are licensed to you under their own licenses, listed with the software. If you send us feedback, we may use it without restriction or payment.
10. Suspension and termination
We may suspend or end access to the services, in whole or in part, for a material breach of these Terms, fraud, a security risk, unlawful use or non-payment. Suspension may apply to an account, a license key or a single device, and may be temporary or permanent. We act proportionately and, where practical, tell you the reason and how to contact us.
A refund issued under the Refund Policy disables the related license key; the software on devices activated with it reverts to Free.
You may stop using the services and delete your account at any time (Section 3). Sections that by their nature should continue after termination — including the restrictions in Section 4 and Sections 8, 9, 11, 12 and 13 — remain in effect.
11. Disclaimers
The software and the services are provided "as is" and "as available". To the extent permitted by law, we give no implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement, and we do not warrant that the services will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that data sent through them will arrive complete, in order or on time.
12. Limitation of liability
To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential losses, or for loss of profit, business or data, arising from the services. Our total liability for a paid service is limited to the amount you paid for that service in the twelve months before the claim, and for a free service to RMB 100.
These limits do not apply to liability for personal injury, to property damage caused by our intentional misconduct or gross negligence, or to any other liability that the law does not allow to be limited, and they do not affect your mandatory rights as a consumer.
13. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the People's Republic of China (for this purpose excluding the laws of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), without regard to conflict-of-law rules. We will first try to resolve any dispute with you by negotiation. If a dispute is not resolved within 30 days, either party may bring it before the Shanghai Minhang District People's Court (上海市闵行区人民法院).
If you are a consumer, this choice of law and court does not deprive you of the protection of mandatory rules of the law of the country where you live, or of any right under that law to bring proceedings in your local courts.
14. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms, for example when the services or the law change, and will publish the updated version here with its effective date. For a change that materially reduces your rights we will tell you at least 7 days in advance by email or in the software. If you do not agree with a change, you may stop using the services and delete your account before it takes effect; continuing to use the services after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms, where the law allows.
15. Contact
The services are provided by Alithon Studio. Questions about these Terms: bill@alithon.com.