I’ve just spotted something in the Replit terms that is concerning for anyone using Replit’s standard Core package to build an app which you wish to commercialise:
Replit Core account…
3. Personal and non-commercial use: Unless otherwise specified, the Service is for your personal and non-commercial use. If you are planning to use the Service for commercial purposes you must subscribe to Replit Teams, and agree to the Teams Product Agreement, which will then apply.
Replit Teams account…
3. Ownership of Output Content. Output Content is deemed to become Customer Content when adopted by Customer or User. Replit hereby assigns to Customer its right, title and interest (if any) in and to such content, and affirms that intellectual property and other rights in such content are held by Customer pursuant to these terms.
As I see it, there are 2 possible interpretations for the Core terms…
they only affect people like me who use Replit to build apps on behalf of paying clients
they affect all startup founders who are building apps which they wish to launch and turn into a business with paying clients
Anyone know which it means? Can you shed any light on it @matt-replit?
regards, Steve
PS, apologies if this is not the right category for such a post.
I don’t mean to intrude. However, clarification on this is going to be detrimental for me moving forward making betas on Replit… To those who see the legalese as boring and mundane my apologies. However, these are valid concerns I would like to see addressed by the leadership or legal staff. Either publicly or personally through DM.
I also posted this on Linkedin today and tagged Matt and @replit. No reply here or on Linkedin. Tumbleweed. It is like Replit support doesn’t exist. For such an amazing product it feels disappointing. I got invited to this forum just a week ago, and I have to say, it is deathly quiet in here.
I have clients I am helping to build apps via Replit, and as it stands they feel uncomfortable staying on Core, so will be upgrading - an expense they did not want!!
Yeah, I am working on about three or four projects (baby stages) but anyone who’s ever made anything relatively successful or tried to enter the next stage will know the legalese is almost as important as the underlying code. Ahem meta and all their infamous nonsense. That starts exactly where you are poking at. So, honestly this should be the first questions as developers we ask before deciding to use Replit and make betas anywhere. Honestly, it is really painful and hard to skip the excitement of “finally let me get at this”. However, I have to slow my roll and agree without clarity on the legalese no more development should be made. It’s why I’m at a point (personally) where I’m forcing myself to formalize either a 501(c)3 or LLC (tbd) and get the proper legal process going so I can protect the work. It’s almost as if you need basic patent law understanding as well as a formal business entity that you operate under. Then join teams. And then everything you do has to be for “the company” which opens a rabbit hole that I hate and would rather spend my time developing. However, my friend you are right to question this.
Edit: also to be fair getting an answer to this will mean waiting for the legal staff to give a formal answer which could cost (hahaha) and take time to make proper with how large Replit is lol when they developed Replit though they went through this same thing which is where them having monetary funds to cover these aspects of their app helps them be even more successful (imo) it’s all about money at some point lol and having enough cash and deep enough pockets to keep your apps going and developing while covering the legalese.
Which is why at some point all these applications end up with huge staffs and boom (imo) it’s just a requirement at some point. A team of a few people and our LLM can only do so much and go so far… just my thoughts on the subject
Quick solution on the surface is to get Replit teams and keep working. Teams is great, comes with extra credits that basically make it pay for itself, plus additional features.
Yeah I was super stupid and made like four personal accounts and referred myself to each other because I wanted to keep each project completely separate. That isn’t advisable at though… looking back it was a rookie mistake.
that is an answer for sure. but I think it is fair that we actually push for the real answer we need on the legalities of what can/can’t be done with Core. Not just cave in and buy the more expensive product because its an easy way out.
Yes. Agreed. And in teams clarifying the scope of what you mentioned in the OP.
This will definitely need to be addressed. If it were up to me I’d boot it to the top of the list. Along with HIPPA complaint. Like I should be for my own projects… it’s sadly the first stop any project should take. My god is it painful though…
A dedicated legal liaison for the forum would be a sweet addition lol
It seems pretty clear to me what the terms are saying. Core is for personal or personal business use (you can make your own business app with it), but if you’re a dev shop getting paid to build, you’ll need Teams.
Eeek. lol maybe I should do what Pam from “The Office” did and just self appoint myself as the forum liaison assistant and then give myself a salary and start doing it for my day job lol I’m totally kidding.
I’m sure over time with enough of us serious developers we can unify and push for these things in a civilized structured non squirrelly manner… we are developers… maybe we make an app on Replit that Replit uses to for liaison purposes hahaha
Edit: I hate speech to text lol sorry for the constant typos
We should definitely create an area for members like us to connect and then formalize and as a “board” or group we could start formally requesting these things with numbers. I’m definitely down to help on that however it would require more than just me. It would have to be taken seriously as I do work two full time jobs right now and someone else would have to be the face on mainstream social media because I refuse to use them anymore because of this exact reason. The user agreements and legalese make it so you own nothing. Not even your own thoughts after you post them. I’d sure like that to not happen here…
Edit: I do pay nearly 100 or more depending a month for my subscriptions here so like yeah… it’s not much in the scheme of things but still… annually and then not being able to communicate with staff? That would put a damper on development
hey @kody-replit - as the person who kindly invited me here, you are the only person I vaguely know in here to be a Replit-bod. Any chance you could join this convo? @jsull91 is making some good points about perhaps some of us heavier users creating a little group where we can consolidate ideas, questions and requests, and liase with you/replit. cheers, Steve
Are you talking about unionizing the user base? lol
Relax fellas! Every little ting is gon’ be alright. Keep calm, vibe on! If you’re worried about the terms, get Teams. I’m sure they’ll pro-rate you and the upgrade costs will be manageable.
just a way for us to consolidate ideas and chat with replit as one voice to help them and us - rather than them face thousands of us shouting for the same thing. and not just on this legal issue in the OP.
We are cool and calm - we are vibers. But we need an open door into replit.
For what it’s worth I’m going to read the both the terms and conditions and teams agreement over the next week.
I’ll come back here and post what I find. However, just to (re)iterate I’m not a lawyer so what I find can’t be taken as a legal opinion. It may be obvious to some, however for the sake of transparency (and in case you perhaps need the reminder) that what I say isn’t fact. Neither is it me speaking for or on behalf of anyone except myself.
Just from my first glance though it seems implied that the “customer” is defined as anyone who clicks “yes”, agrees to the terms and uses the services.
This is a direct pull from the second sentence lol so… let’s see if they established a formal definition of these things in the index and (or) later.
I’m not going to rely solely for chat gpt for this though LOL so it might take some turn around time even for me. I may even run it by CPA/tax attorney and see if it’s boiler plate and they have any suggestions or points to caution around. As they did pass the bar lol
“This Agreement takes efect when Customer accepts these terms by clicking “accept” and the individual accepting these terms represents that they are authorized to enter into this Agreement on behalf of Customer.”
Replit Core account…
lol maybe I should do what Pam from “The Office” did and just self appoint myself as the forum liaison assistant and then give myself a salary and start doing it for my day job lol I’m totally kidding.