Terms of Service

Will these Terms ever change?

We are constantly trying to improve our Services, so these Terms may need to change along with our Services. We reserve the right to change the Terms at any time, but if we do, we will place a notice on our site located at gatherhq.com, send you an email, and/or notify you by some other means.

If you don't agree with the new Terms, you are free to reject them; unfortunately, that means you will no longer be able to use the Services. If you use the Services in any way after a change to the Terms is effective, that means you agree to all of the changes.

Except for changes by us as described here, no other amendment or modification of these Terms will be effective unless in writing and signed by both you and us.

What about my privacy?

Gather takes the privacy of its users very seriously. For the current Gather Privacy Policy, please see our Privacy Policy.

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") requires that online service providers obtain parental consent before they knowingly collect personally identifiable information online from children who are under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect or solicit personally identifiable information from children under 13 years of age; if you are a child under 13 years of age, please do not attempt to register for or otherwise use the Services or send us any personal information. If we learn we have collected personal information from a child under 13 years of age, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that a child under 13 years of age may have provided us personal information, please contact us at legal@gatherhq.com.

What are the basics of using Gather?

Gather is an AI-moderated market research platform offered to businesses ("Customers") and the employees, contractors, and authorized users acting on a Customer's behalf. To access the Services, you (or your employer or organization) must register for an account at app.gobeheard.com or be granted access under an enterprise agreement with Gather. By creating an account, accessing the platform, or otherwise using the Services, you accept these Terms and the Privacy Policy. As part of using the Services, you may (i) provide us with certain information or data, such as account and contact information, study briefs, audience criteria, reference documents, and other content ("Inputs"); (ii) field research studies to panel-sourced respondents or to audiences you bring (such as your own customers, community members, or authenticated users); (iii) receive insights, transcripts, summaries, reports, content assets, and other outputs generated by the platform ("Outputs"); and (iv) collaborate with Gather's customer success and research teams where applicable to your plan.

You promise to provide us with accurate, complete, and updated account and contact information. You may not transfer your account to anyone else without our prior written permission.

You represent and warrant that you are an individual of legal age to form a binding contract. If you're agreeing to these Terms on behalf of an organization or entity, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to agree to these Terms on that organization's or entity's behalf and bind them to these Terms (in which case, the references to "you" and "your" in these Terms, except for in this sentence, refer to that organization or entity).

You will use the Services only in a manner that complies with all laws that apply to you. If your use of the Services is prohibited by applicable laws, then you aren't authorized to use the Services. We can't and won't be responsible for your using the Services in a way that breaks the law.

You are responsible for protecting the security of your account credentials and for any activity that occurs under your account. You will not share your account access with anyone outside of the Customer organization, and you must notify us promptly of any suspected unauthorized use.

Are there restrictions in how I can use the Services?

You represent, warrant, and agree that you will not provide or contribute anything, including any Content or User Submission (as those terms are defined below), to the Services, or otherwise use or interact with the Services, in a manner that:

• infringes or violates the intellectual property rights or any other rights of anyone else (including Gather);
• violates any law or regulation, including, without limitation, any applicable export control laws, privacy laws or any other purpose not reasonably intended by Gather;
• is dangerous, harmful, fraudulent, deceptive, threatening, harassing, defamatory, obscene, or otherwise objectionable;
• jeopardizes the security of your account or anyone else's (such as allowing someone else to access the Services as you);
• attempts, in any manner, to obtain the password, account, or other security information from any other user;
• violates the security of any computer network, or cracks any passwords or security encryption codes;
• runs Maillist, Listserv, any form of auto-responder or "spam" on the Services, or any processes that run or are activated while you are not logged into the Services, or that otherwise interfere with the proper working of the Services (including by placing an unreasonable load on the Services' infrastructure);
• "crawls," "scrapes," or "spiders" any page, data, or portion of or relating to the Services or Content (through use of manual or automated means);
• copies or stores any significant portion of the Content; or
• decompiles, reverse engineers, or otherwise attempts to obtain the source code or underlying ideas or information of or relating to the Services.

A violation of any of the foregoing is grounds for termination of your right to use or access the Services.

What are my rights in the Services?

The materials displayed or performed or available on or through the Services, including, but not limited to, text, graphics, data, articles, photos, images, illustrations, Inputs (as defined below) and so forth (all of the foregoing, the "Content") are protected by copyright and/or other intellectual property laws. You promise to abide by all copyright notices, trademark rules, information, and restrictions contained in any Content you access through the Services, and you won't use, copy, reproduce, modify, translate, publish, broadcast, transmit, distribute, perform, upload, display, license, sell, commercialize or otherwise exploit for any purpose any Content not owned by you, (i) without the prior consent of the owner of that Content or (ii) in a way that violates someone else's (including Gather's) rights. Anything you upload, share, store, or otherwise provide through the Services, including study briefs, audience criteria, reference documents, and feedback, is your "Input".

Subject to these Terms, we grant each user of the Services a worldwide, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable and non-transferable license to use (i.e., to download and display locally) Content solely for purposes of using the Services. Use, reproduction, modification, distribution or storage of any Content for any purpose other than using the Services is expressly prohibited without prior written permission from us. You understand that Gather owns the Services. You won't modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as expressly provided in this Section), create derivative works based on, or otherwise exploit any of the Services. The Services may allow you to copy or download certain Content, but please remember that even where these functionalities exist, all the restrictions in this section still apply. We reserve the right to remove any Content from the Services at any time, for any reason (including, but not limited to, if someone alleges you contributed that Content in violation of these Terms), in our sole discretion, and without notice.

The Services are powered by artificial intelligence technologies ("AI Technologies"). When you provide Inputs to the Services, you will receive Outputs based on your Inputs, which may include audio, text, transcripts, summaries, reports, and content assets. As between you and Gather, and to the extent permitted by applicable law, Gather shall own the Outputs from the use of the Services; subject to your compliance with these Terms, Gather grants you a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use the Outputs in connection with your business.

What about anything I contribute to the Services – do I have to grant any licenses to Gather or to other users?

You are solely responsible for all Inputs you contribute to the Services. You represent that all Inputs submitted by you are accurate, complete, up-to-date, and in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. You agree that you will not post, upload, share, store, or otherwise provide through the Services any Inputs that infringe any third party's copyrights or other rights (e.g., trademark, privacy rights, publicity rights, etc.) or violate any law. You acknowledge that we may generate the same or similar Outputs for multiple users and that we reserve all rights to do so.

You agree that you will not post, upload, share, store, or otherwise provide through the Services any User Submissions that: (i) infringe any third party's copyrights or other rights (e.g., trademark, privacy rights, etc.); (ii) contain sexually explicit content or pornography; (iii) contain hateful, defamatory, or discriminatory content or incite hatred against any individual or group; (iv) exploit minors; (v) depict unlawful acts or extreme violence; (vi) depict animal cruelty or extreme violence towards animals; (vii) promote fraudulent schemes, multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes, get rich quick schemes, online gaming and gambling, cash gifting, work from home businesses, or any other dubious money-making ventures; or (viii) that violate any law. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing and for purposes of clarity, you may not provide any Inputs to the Services that may create Outputs that may violate any of the foregoing restrictions.

Licenses

In order to operate the Services for you, including delivering Outputs back to you and to other authorized users in your organization, you grant us certain rights in your Inputs and other Content (see below for more information). Please note that all of the following licenses are subject to our Privacy Policy to the extent they relate to Content that is also personally-identifiable information.

By submitting Inputs or other Content through the Services, you hereby do and shall grant Gather a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid, sublicensable and transferable license to use, edit, modify, truncate, aggregate, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, perform, and otherwise process the Content solely in connection with operating, improving, securing, and supporting the Services for you and your organization. For clarity, the foregoing license does not grant Gather rights to publicly redistribute your Inputs or Outputs outside of the Services, and does not affect your ownership of or license rights in your Content.

If you provide us with any comments, suggestions, ideas, or other feedback with respect to the Service itself (together, "Suggestions"), you agree that we will be free to copy, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, disclose, distribute, license and sublicense, incorporate and otherwise use the Suggestions, including derivative works thereto, for any and all purposes (including both commercial purposes and non-commercial purposes) with no obligation of any kind to you. Gather may collect, retain and use during and after your termination of your account or the Services, usage data that is derived from the operation of the Services, including patterns identified through the use of the Services and data regarding the performance of the Services ("Usage Data"). Gather is free to use Usage Data for any lawful purpose, including to develop and improve the Services, including any AI Technologies. You acknowledge and agree that Gather may freely use, retain and make available Aggregated De-Identified Data (as defined below) for Gather's business purposes (including without limitation, for purposes of improving, testing, operating, promoting and marketing Gather's products and services). "Aggregated De-Identified Data" means data submitted to, collected by, or generated by Gather in connection with your use of the Services, including Inputs, but only in aggregate, de-identified form which can in no way be linked specifically to you.

Finally, you understand and agree that Gather, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users (including you), may need to make changes to your Content to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connection networks, devices, services, or media, and the foregoing licenses include the rights to do so.

Who is responsible for what I see and do on the Services?

You are responsible for all Content you contribute, in any manner, to the Services, and you represent and warrant you have all rights necessary to do so, in the manner in which you contribute it.

The Services may contain links or connections to third-party websites or services that are not owned or controlled by Gather. When you access third-party websites or use third-party services, you accept that there are risks in doing so, and that Gather is not responsible for such risks.

Gather has no control over, and assumes no responsibility for, the content, accuracy, privacy policies, or practices of or opinions expressed in any third-party websites or by any third party that you interact with through the Services. In addition, Gather will not and cannot monitor, verify, censor or edit the content of any third-party site or service. We encourage you to be aware when you leave the Services and to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of each third-party website or service that you visit or utilize. By using the Services, you release and hold us harmless from any and all liability arising from your use of any third-party website or service.

Your interactions with respondents, panel providers, organizations, or individuals you engage through the Services, including any subsequent transactions, communications, or agreements, are solely between you and such parties. You should make whatever investigation you feel necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any such engagement. You agree that Gather shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings.

If there is a dispute between participants on this site or Services, or between users and any third party, you agree that Gather is under no obligation to become involved. In the event that you have a dispute with one or more other users or third parties, you release Gather, its directors, officers, employees, agents, and successors from claims, demands, and damages of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and/or our Services. You shall and hereby do waive California Civil Code Section 1542 or any similar law of any jurisdiction, which says in substance: "A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party."

Will Gather ever change the Services?

We're always trying to improve our Services, so they may change over time. We may suspend or discontinue any part of the Services, or we may introduce new features or impose limits on certain features or restrict access to parts or all of the Services. We'll try to give you notice when we make a material change to the Services that would adversely affect you, but this isn't always practical. We reserve the right to remove any Content from the Services at any time, for any reason (including, but not limited to, if someone alleges you contributed that Content in violation of these Terms), in our sole discretion, and without notice.

Do the Services cost anything?

Access to the Services is offered through subscription plans, enterprise agreements, and usage-based credits. Subscription fees, credit pricing, and the scope of included features are described on our pricing pages or in your order form or enterprise agreement, and may be updated from time to time. Interviews you field to your own customers, community members, or authenticated users are included at no additional cost; credits are consumed only for panel-sourced research where Gather procures third-party respondents on your behalf.

You agree to pay all applicable fees in accordance with your selected plan or order form. Unless otherwise stated, fees are billed in advance, are non-refundable, and are exclusive of taxes, which you are responsible for paying as applicable. Failure to pay may result in suspension or termination of your access to the Services.

What if I want to stop using the Services?

You're free to do that at any time by contacting us at legal@gatherhq.com; please refer to our Privacy Policy, as well as the licenses above, to understand how we treat information you provide to us after you have stopped using our Services.

Gather is also free to terminate (or suspend access to) your use of the Services or your account for any reason in our discretion, including your breach of these Terms. Gather has the sole right to decide whether you are in violation of any of the restrictions set forth in these Terms.

Account termination may result in destruction of any Content associated with your account, so keep that in mind before you decide to terminate your account.

If you have deleted your account by mistake, contact us immediately at legal@gatherhq.com – we will try to help, but unfortunately, we can't promise that we can recover or restore anything.

Provisions that, by their nature, should survive termination of these Terms shall survive termination. By way of example, all of the following will survive termination: any obligation you have to pay us or indemnify us, any limitations on our liability, any terms regarding ownership or intellectual property rights, and terms regarding disputes between us, including without limitation the arbitration agreement.

What else do I need to know?

Warranty Disclaimer

Gather and its licensors, suppliers, partners, parent, subsidiaries or affiliated entities, and each of their respective officers, directors, members, employees, consultants, contract employees, representatives and agents, and each of their respective successors and assigns (Gather and all such parties together, the "Gather Parties") make no representations or warranties concerning the Services, including without limitation regarding any Content contained in or accessed through the Services, and the Gather Parties will not be responsible or liable for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality, or decency of material contained in or accessed through the Services or any claims, actions, suits procedures, costs, expenses, damages or liabilities arising out of use of, or in any way related to your participation in, the Services. The Gather Parties make no representations or warranties regarding suggestions or recommendations of services or products offered or purchased through or in connection with the Services. THE SERVICES AND CONTENT ARE PROVIDED BY GATHER (AND ITS LICENSORS AND SUPPLIERS) ON AN "AS-IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR THAT USE OF THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. GATHER AND ITS LICENSORS DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT (I) THE USE OF THE SERVICES WILL BE SECURE, TIMELY, UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, (II) THE SERVICES OR ANY RESULTS OF THE SERVICES WILL MEET REQUIREMENTS OR EXPECTATIONS, OR (III) THE SERVICES OR ANY RESULTS OF THE SERVICES ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE SERVICES OPERATE ON AI TECHNOLOGIES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THIRD PARTY AI TECHNOLOGIES) AND GATHER DOES NOT TEST, VERIFY, ENDORSE OR GUARANTEE TO BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE OR CURRENT ANY SUCH SERVICES OR ANY RESULTS OF THE SERVICES. GATHER DOES NOT CONTROL OR INFLUENCE THE TRAINING OR HOSTING OF ANY SUCH THIRD PARTY AI TECHNOLOGIES. YOU SHOULD INDEPENDENTLY REVIEW AND VERIFY ALL RESULTS FROM THE SERVICES AS TO APPROPRIATENESS FOR ANY OR ALL OF YOUR USE CASES OR APPLICATIONS. RESULTS FROM THE SERVICES MAY NOT BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE OR INFORMATION. THE WARRANTY DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY IN THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE SERVICES APPLY TO ANY SERVICES WHICH OPERATE ON, OR RESULT FROM, GATHER'S AI TECHNOLOGIES OR THIRD PARTY AI TECHNOLOGIES. DUE TO THE NATURE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT RESULTS OF THE SERVICES GENERATED THROUGH YOUR USE OF ANY COMPONENTS OF THE SERVICES LEVERAGING AI TECHNOLOGIES MAY BE SIMILAR TO RESULTS GENERATED THROUGH ANOTHER USER'S USE OF THE SERVICES, OR THAT THE SAME DATA MAY RESULT IN DIFFERENT RESULTS FROM ONE USE TO THE NEXT.

Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES AND UNDER NO LEGAL THEORY (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, TORT, CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE) SHALL ANY OF THE GATHER PARTIES BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY OTHER PERSON FOR (A) ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, ACCURACY OF RESULTS, OR COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, (B) ANY SUBSTITUTE GOODS, SERVICES OR TECHNOLOGY, (C) ANY AMOUNT, IN THE AGGREGATE, IN EXCESS OF THE GREATER OF (I) ONE-HUNDRED ($100) DOLLARS OR (II) THE AMOUNTS PAID AND/OR PAYABLE BY YOU TO GATHER IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICES IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THIS APPLICABLE CLAIM OR (D) ANY MATTER BEYOND OUR REASONABLE CONTROL. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL OR CERTAIN OTHER DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION AND EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold the Gather Parties harmless from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages (actual and consequential), losses and expenses (including attorneys' fees) arising from or in any way related to any claims relating to (a) your use of the Services (including any actions taken by a third party using your account), and (b) your violation of these Terms. In the event of such a claim, suit, or action ("Claim"), we will attempt to provide notice of the Claim to the contact information we have for your account (provided that failure to deliver such notice shall not eliminate or reduce your indemnification obligations hereunder).

Assignment

You may not assign, delegate or transfer these Terms or your rights or obligations hereunder, or your Services account, in any way (by operation of law or otherwise) without Gather's prior written consent. We may transfer, assign, or delegate these Terms and our rights and obligations without consent.

Choice of Law

These Terms are governed by and will be construed under the Federal Arbitration Act, applicable federal law, and the laws of the State of California, without regard to the conflicts of laws provisions thereof.

Arbitration Agreement

Please read the following ARBITRATION AGREEMENT carefully because it requires you to arbitrate certain disputes and claims with Gather and limits the manner in which you can seek relief from Gather. Both you and Gather acknowledge and agree that for the purposes of any dispute arising out of or relating to the subject matter of these Terms, Gather's officers, directors, employees and independent contractors ("Personnel") are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and that upon your acceptance of these Terms, Personnel will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as the third-party beneficiary hereof.

(a) Arbitration Rules; Applicability of Arbitration Agreement. The parties shall use their best efforts to settle any dispute, claim, question, or disagreement arising out of or relating to the subject matter of these Terms directly through good-faith negotiations, which shall be a precondition to either party initiating arbitration. If such negotiations do not resolve the dispute, it shall be finally settled by binding arbitration in San Francisco County, California. The arbitration will proceed in the English language, in accordance with the JAMS Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures (the "Rules") then in effect, by one commercial arbitrator with substantial experience in resolving intellectual property and commercial contract disputes. The arbitrator shall be selected from the appropriate list of JAMS arbitrators in accordance with such Rules. Judgment upon the award rendered by such arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(b) Costs of Arbitration. The Rules will govern payment of all arbitration fees. Gather will pay all arbitration fees for claims less than seventy-five thousand ($75,000) dollars. Gather will not seek its attorneys' fees and costs in arbitration unless the arbitrator determines that your claim is frivolous.

(c) Small Claims Court; Infringement. Either you or Gather may assert claims, if they qualify, in small claims court in San Francisco County, California or any United States county where you live or work. Furthermore, notwithstanding the foregoing obligation to arbitrate disputes, each party shall have the right to pursue injunctive or other equitable relief at any time, from any court of competent jurisdiction, to prevent the actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation or violation of a party's copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents or other intellectual property rights.

(d) Waiver of Jury Trial. YOU AND GATHER WAIVE ANY CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY RIGHTS TO GO TO COURT AND HAVE A TRIAL IN FRONT OF A JUDGE OR JURY. You and Gather are instead choosing to have claims and disputes resolved by arbitration. Arbitration procedures are typically more limited, more efficient, and less costly than rules applicable in court and are subject to very limited review by a court. In any litigation between you and Gather over whether to vacate or enforce an arbitration award, YOU AND GATHER WAIVE ALL RIGHTS TO A JURY TRIAL, and elect instead to have the dispute be resolved by a judge.

(e) Waiver of Class or Consolidated Actions. ALL CLAIMS AND DISPUTES WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT MUST BE ARBITRATED OR LITIGATED ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT ON A CLASS BASIS. CLAIMS OF MORE THAN ONE CUSTOMER OR USER CANNOT BE ARBITRATED OR LITIGATED JOINTLY OR CONSOLIDATED WITH THOSE OF ANY OTHER CUSTOMER OR USER. If however, this waiver of class or consolidated actions is deemed invalid or unenforceable, neither you nor Gather is entitled to arbitration; instead all claims and disputes will be resolved in a court as set forth in (g) below.

(f) Opt-out. You have the right to opt out of the provisions of this Section by sending written notice of your decision to opt out to the following address: 548 Market Street PMB 786440, San Francisco, California 94104 postmarked within thirty (30) days of first accepting these Terms. You must include (i) your name and residence address, (ii) the email address and/or account identifier associated with your account, and (iii) a clear statement that you want to opt out of these Terms' arbitration agreement.

(g) Exclusive Venue. If you send the opt-out notice in (f), and/or in any circumstances where the foregoing arbitration agreement permits either you or Gather to litigate any dispute arising out of or relating to the subject matter of these Terms in court, then the foregoing arbitration agreement will not apply to either party, and both you and Gather agree that any judicial proceeding (other than small claims actions) will be brought in the state or federal courts located in, respectively, San Francisco County, California, or the federal district in which that county falls.

(h) Severability. If the prohibition against class actions and other claims brought on behalf of third parties contained above is found to be unenforceable, then all of the preceding language in this Arbitration Agreement section will be null and void. This arbitration agreement will survive the termination of your relationship with Gather.

Miscellaneous

You will be responsible for paying, withholding, filing, and reporting all taxes, duties, and other governmental assessments associated with your activity in connection with the Services, provided that Gather may, in its sole discretion, do any of the foregoing on your behalf or for itself as it sees fit. The failure of either you or us to exercise, in any way, any right herein shall not be deemed a waiver of any further rights hereunder. If any provision of these Terms are found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated, to the minimum extent necessary, so that these Terms shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable. You and Gather agree that these Terms are the complete and exclusive statement of the mutual understanding between you and Gather, and that these Terms supersede and cancel all previous written and oral agreements, communications and other understandings relating.