Terms of Service

1. Definitions and scope

1.1 Definitions

In these Terms of Service:

1.2 Scope

These Terms apply to Customers and to the Service as we make it available. They are subject to the mandatory provisions of the Finnish Consumer Protection Act (Fi: kuluttajansuojalaki 38/1978), and, where you reside outside Finland, to the mandatory consumer protection rules of your country of residence.

These Terms govern your use of the Service and are to be read together with the Privacy Policy.

2. The Service

2.1 General

The Service enables you access to and use Sota Connect, which encrypts your device’s internet traffic and routes it through servers operated for us in several countries, replacing your visible IP address.

You can use Sota Connect on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and tvOS, as available and indicated on our website: sotavpn.com/en.

We operate the Service so as not to store logs of your browsing activity, as also set forth in our Privacy Policy.

You must be at least eighteen (18) years old to use the Service. A person under eighteen (18) may use the Service only with the consent of a parent or guardian and to the extent permitted by the provisions on the legal capacity of minors.

The Service operates over the public internet and uses servers shared among many users. While Sota Connect mitigates certain privacy and security risks, it does not render you anonymous in all circumstances and is not a substitute for careful use of the internet. Certain websites, services or networks may block or restrict VPN traffic, and such restrictions are outside our control.

2.2 Availability of the Service

We aim to keep the Service available and functioning reliably, but we do not guarantee that it will be uninterrupted or error-free. Connection quality, speed and the availability of individual server locations may vary due to factors such as network load, your device and connection, and matters outside our control.

We may temporarily interrupt or restrict the Service where necessary for maintenance, upgrades or security, causing as little inconvenience as reasonably possible and, where practicable, providing you a notice in advance.

3. Use of the Service

3.1 General

You must use the Service lawfully and with due regard for the Service, our network and other users. You are solely responsible for the traffic and content you send or receive through the Service.

The Service is provided for your own personal use, and not mainly as a part of your own product, service or business.

3.2 Prohibited use

You may not use the Service to:

• act in any way contrary to these Terms;
• infringe any Intellectual Property Rights related to the Service or of any person, or collect or share another person’s private data or trade secrets without the right to do so;
• harass, defame, threaten, insult or discriminate against any person;
• carry out, promote or assist any illegal activity, or to access, store or share illegal content, including child sexual abuse material;
• distribute malware, operate or join botnets, or engage in phishing, denial-of-service attacks, hacking, port scanning or other unauthorized access to systems or networks;
• send spam or unsolicited bulk messages;
• impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your identity;
• pay for the Service by fraudulent means, such as a stolen payment card;
• resell, sublicense or otherwise make the Service available to third parties;
• disrupt, overload or interfere with the Service or our network, or circumvent our security or usage controls; or
• breach applicable laws, including export-control and sanctions rules, or use the Service for any other unlawful, deceptive or harmful purpose.

3.3 Consequences

If you use the Service in breach of this Section 3, we may take measures set out in Section 12, including restricting, suspending or terminating your access to the Service.

We may also act where required by an order of a competent authority.

We take such measures to protect the Service and other users and, where reasonable, we will inform you in accordance with Section 12.

3.4 Network management

We may manage Sota Connect’s traffic and, where necessary, limit its capacity in order:

• to maintain the security and integrity of the whole Service;
• to comply with applicable laws; or
• to prevent or alleviate congestion.

Any such measures are kept proportionate and, where temporary, are lifted as soon as the reason for them ceases to apply.

4. Account

4.1 Use of the Account

You are responsible for keeping your Account credentials and access keys confidential, and you must use reasonable care in storing and protecting your credentials and devices. You agree to provide accurate registration information and to keep it up to date. Accounts created by automated means or in bulk are not permitted and may be closed.

You are responsible for all activity that takes place through your Account. If, however, a third party uses your Account without your consent, you are responsible for that use only to the extent it results from your own negligence.

You must notify us without undue delay in such a case, and we may suspend access to protect you and the Service.

4.2 Session limits

Access to Sota Connect is provided on a per-session basis, not per device, and a single device may occupy more than one session. Your Subscription entitles you to the maximum number of simultaneous sessions applicable to your plan, as indicated in the Service and your Account from time to time, and you may not exceed that number.

4.3 Account inactivity and deletion

We may suspend or delete an Account that has no active Subscription and that has remained inactive for a continuous period of twelve (12) months.

An Account with an active Subscription is treated as active. An Account without an active Subscription is treated as active if, at least once during the twelve-month period, you log in to your Account.

Before we take actions towards your Account, we give you notice fifteen (15) days in advance, sent to the email address associated with your Account.

If you consider that your Account has been suspended or deleted in error, you may request a review of the decision by contacting customer support within a reasonable time and, in any event, no later than two (2) months after you received our notice of the suspension or deletion.

5. License to use Sota Connect

5.1 License

In connection with the use of Sota Connect, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable right to install and use Sota Connect on your devices for your personal use during the term of your Subscription or Trial.

While using Sota Connect you may not:

• copy, modify, translate or create derivative works of the software;
• reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble its source-code;
• rent, sell, sublicense, distribute or otherwise transfer the software;
• disclose access keys or credentials beyond what your Subscription permits; or
• remove, obscure or alter any proprietary or legal notices.

Sota Connect may include open-source components licensed under their own terms. Those terms govern the components in question and prevail over these Terms to the extent of any conflict.

5.2 Intellectual Property Rights

All Intellectual Property Rights in the Service, Sota Connect and related materials remain with Cat Connect and its licensors.

No rights are granted except those expressly set out in these Terms.

6. Payment terms

6.1 Prices

The price of the Service is the price displayed to you at the time of purchase and includes value added tax at the applicable rate. The Sota Connect plans currently comprise one-, three-, six- and twelve-month Subscriptions.

The prices in force from time to time are shown on our website and in your Account dashboard.

6.2 Payment

You may pay using the methods offered at checkout, which currently include payment cards, cryptocurrency payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal.

Payments are processed by third-party payment providers, whose handling of your payment data is governed by their own terms and privacy policies.

If you purchase a Subscription through a third-party store (such as the Apple App Store), billing, renewal, cancellation and refunds are handled by that store under its own terms.

6.3 Taxes

Consumer prices are shown inclusive of applicable indirect taxes. You are responsible for any charges imposed by your own payment provider or bank.

6.4 Price changes

We may change the price of the Service from time to time. A price change does not affect a Subscription period for which you have already paid.

For a renewing Subscription, any change to the renewal price takes effect only from the next renewal and is notified to you in advance, in accordance with applicable law, so that you may cancel before the change takes effect.

7. Subscription(s)

7.1 Subscription model(s)

Automatically renewing Subscription

Your Subscription runs for the period selected at purchase and renews automatically for successive periods of the same length until you cancel it. By placing the Subscription, you agree to this automatic renewal and to the recurring charges to your chosen payment method.

At the start of each new period, we charge the renewal at our standard price for the Subscription in force at the time of renewal.

7.2 Cancellation

You may manage or cancel your Subscription at any time through the dashboard of your Account or by contacting customer support using the details in Section 16.

Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid Subscription period, and you retain access to the Service until then.

Where your Subscription renews automatically, cancelling before the renewal date stops the next renewal.

7.3 Trial

A Trial gives you time-limited access to the Service for the trial period at the Trial price stated to you in the Service.

Unless you cancel the Trial before that period ends (through your Account or customer support), the Trial converts automatically into a monthly Subscription at the standard price then in force, renewing monthly until cancelled under Section 7.2.

A Trial is available once per Customer and Account.

Section 8.2 applies to a Trial and to the Subscription into which it converts in the same way as to any other Subscription.

8. Right of withdrawal

8.1 Statutory right of withdrawal

As a consumer, you may withdraw from your Subscription within fourteen (14) days of purchasing the Subscription.

To withdraw, you need to notify us within the 14-day period using the withdrawal function in your Account or contacting our customer support with the details as included under Section 16.

8.2 Effect of withdrawal on payments

If you withdraw within the 14-day period and you have expressly asked us to begin providing the Service during that period, you must pay a reasonable amount for the part of the Service actually provided up to the moment you notified us of your withdrawal. This amount is calculated in proportion to the price of the Subscription or the Trial.

The proportionate refund amount will be issued within fourteen (14) days of your request to the same payment method, using the same payment method used to the purchase of the Subscription or the Trial. Payments made in cryptocurrency are non-refundable.

9. Referral programme

We may offer a referral programme that rewards you with additional days for your Subscription when a person you invite becomes a new paying Customer through your referral link available on your Account. Rewards apply to new Customers only and are provided at our discretion and subject to the programme rules.

Referring yourself or your own additional accounts to obtain rewards is not permitted.

10. Privacy and Data Protection

We process personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679).

By using the Service, you acknowledge and accept the terms of the Privacy Policy.

11. Liability

11.1 Limitation of liability

Except where mandatory law provides otherwise, and in addition to the other limitations set out in these Terms:

• if we breach these Terms, you are entitled to compensation only for the actual direct loss caused to you;
• we are liable for indirect loss only where it results from intent or gross negligence on our part;
• we are not liable for loss to the extent it is caused by your own act or omission, by your device, software or connection, by third-party networks, services or equipment, or by an impediment beyond our reasonable control as described in Section 14.5.

11.2 Responsibility for third-party claims

To the extent permitted by mandatory laws, you are liable to us for any claim, demand or proceeding brought by a third-party, and for the reasonable costs and expenses we incur as a result, where such claim arises from your unlawful use of the Service or from your breach of these Terms.

We will notify you of any such claim without undue delay and will not settle it in a manner that imposes obligations on you without first consulting you.

12. Suspension, restriction and termination

12.1 Grounds

We may restrict, suspend or terminate your access to the Service, in whole or in part, where:

• you are in material breach of these Terms and, where the breach is capable of remedy, you have failed to remedy it within a reasonable period after we have requested you to do so;
• the Service is being used in an unlawful manner or in breach of Section 3.2;
• we are required to do so by law or by an order of a competent authority; or
• it is necessary to prevent damage or to safeguard the security or integrity of the Service or our network.

12.2 Procedure

Except where immediate action is required or mandatory laws provide otherwise, we give you prior notice before taking any measure under this Section on the grounds set out in Section 12.1, we inform you of the measure and its grounds in an appropriate manner, and we keep any restriction limited to what the circumstances require and lift it once its grounds no longer apply.

12.3 Effect

On termination, your right to access and use the Service ends.

Termination does not affect any rights or liabilities that have accrued before it takes effect.

13. Amendment of the Terms

13.1 Amendments

We may develop and change the Service and amend these Terms. Changes that are not to your detriment may be made at any time.

We may make changes to your detriment only where the Terms do not change materially as a whole and the change is due to a reason such as a change in applicable law or an authority decision, a change in relevant costs or in third-party services, the development or renewal of the Service, or the protection of security or data protection.

13.2 Right to terminate

We notify you in writing of any change to these Terms, the Service or prices that is to your detriment, together with your right to terminate.

We give such notice at least fifteen (15) days before the change takes effect, or at least thirty (30) days before a change to prices.

13.3 Continued use

If you continue to use the Service after a change has taken effect, the changed Terms apply to your continued use of the Service.

14. Miscellaneous

14.1 Assignment

We may transfer these Terms, in whole or in part, within our group or to a party to which the relevant business is transferred, and we will inform you of such a transfer in good time. We may use subcontractors to perform our obligations.

You may not transfer these Terms or your Account to a third-party without our prior written consent.

14.2 Severability

If a provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in force, and the invalid provision is replaced, so far as possible, by a valid provision that best reflects its purpose.

14.3 No waiver

If we do not enforce a right under these Terms on a given occasion, that is not a waiver of that right or of any other right.

14.4 Entire agreement

These Terms, together with the Sota Connect order details and the Privacy Policy, form the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service.

14.5 Force majeure

We are not liable for failure or delay in performing our obligations to the extent it is caused by an event beyond our reasonable control that we could not have taken into account when the contract was made and whose consequences we could not reasonably have avoided.

15. Governing law and dispute resolution

15.1 Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Finland, excluding its choice-of-law provisions.

The choice of Finnish law does not deprive you of the protection afforded by the mandatory consumer protection rules of your country of habitual residence.

15.2 Disputes

We seek to resolve any dispute concerning these Terms primarily through negotiation between you and us.

If no settlement is reached, you may bring an action before the district court for the place in Finland where you are domiciled or habitually resident. Any other action is brought before the District Court of Helsinki.

15.3 Consumer authorities

If a dispute cannot be settled by agreement, you may contact the Consumer Advisory Services (Fi: kuluttajaneuvonta) and refer the matter to the Consumer Disputes Board (Fi: kuluttajariitalautakunta, www.kuluttajariita.fi).

16. Contact details

Cat Connect Oy — business ID: 3586838-7, registered address Sturenkatu 26 lt. 36, 00510 Helsinki.

Customer support:

• Email: [email protected]
• Telegram: @sotasupport

Service status:

• sotastatus.com

We maintain an electronic point of contact for communications from users, authorities and other parties relating to the Service, these Terms and applicable digital-services regulation. Such communications should be sent to [email protected]. We handle communications in English and, where required, in Finnish.