Terms of Service
Effective date: April 9, 2026
1. Acceptance of Terms
By accessing or using the OpenSOSData API or the opensosdata.com website, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, do not use the service.
2. Description of Service
OpenSOSData provides a REST API that retrieves publicly available business entity information from US Secretary of State databases. Data includes registered agent details, entity status, principal addresses, formation dates, and officer information where publicly available.
We do not create or verify this data. We retrieve it from official government sources and make it available via our API. The underlying data is owned by the respective state governments and remains in the public domain.
3. API Access and API Keys
- API keys are issued per account and must be kept confidential.
- You may not share, sell, or transfer your API key to any other person or organization.
- Each API call is logged and billed to your account.
- We reserve the right to revoke keys at any time for abuse, non-payment, or violation of these Terms.
- You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your API key, whether or not authorized by you.
4. Acceptable Use
You agree NOT to use OpenSOSData to:
- Harass, stalk, dox, or target individuals.
- Build consumer credit reports or take consumer-impacting decisions. We are not a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and our data may not be used for any FCRA-covered purpose.
- Violate any applicable law or regulation, including data protection and anti-spam laws.
- Resell or republish raw API responses without significant transformation, enrichment, or aggregation.
- Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or scrape our infrastructure.
- Exceed published rate limits or attempt to circumvent billing controls.
- Use the service to compete directly with OpenSOSData by reselling identical lookups.
5. Billing and Payment
OpenSOSData uses a prepaid wallet model. Minimum purchase is $3.14 (Pi dollars), which provides exactly 100 API lookups at our Pi pricing of $0.0314 per lookup.
- Credits are deducted from your wallet at $0.0314 per non-cached lookup.
- Credits expire after 12 consecutive months of account inactivity. We will email you 30 days before any expiration. Making any API lookup resets the 12-month inactivity clock.
- Expired credits are forfeited and are not refundable. Credits are not cash, are not redeemable for cash, and are not transferable between accounts.
- Monthly spend caps: You may set a monthly spending limit in your wallet settings. Lookups are blocked when the cap is reached. Caps reset on the first of each month (UTC).
- Auto-refill: When Stripe billing is active, you may enable automatic top-ups when your balance falls below a threshold you set. Auto-refill requires a saved payment method.
- Prices may change with 30 days email notice to registered users.
- Failed payments may result in immediate suspension of API access.
- Unused credits may be refunded at our discretion within 30 days of purchase upon written request to support@opensosdata.com.
6. Data Accuracy
All data is sourced from public government databases and provided AS IS. OpenSOSData makes no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness, currentness, or timeliness of any data returned by the API. Government databases may contain errors, omissions, or stale information.
You should always verify critical information directly with the relevant Secretary of State office before relying on it for legal, financial, or regulatory decisions.
7. Intellectual Property
The OpenSOSData API, our scraping infrastructure, our documentation, our website design, and our trademarks are owned by OPENSOSDATA LLC and protected by intellectual property laws. The underlying business entity data is public government information and not subject to our copyright.
8. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, OPENSOSDATA LLC and its officers, directors, employees, and affiliates shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages arising from or related to your use of the service, including but not limited to lost profits, lost data, or business interruption, regardless of the legal theory of liability and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Our total cumulative liability to you for any and all claims arising from or related to the service shall not exceed the amount you paid OPENSOSDATA LLC in the 30 days immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
9. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless OPENSOSDATA LLC and its officers, directors, employees, and affiliates from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) arising from or related to your use of the service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any rights of a third party.
10. Termination
We may suspend or terminate your account at any time for violation of these Terms, non-payment, or abuse, with or without notice. We may also terminate or modify the service at any time with at least 7 days prior notice via email.
You may cancel your account at any time by contacting support. Upon cancellation, your API key will be deactivated and any unused credits will be forfeited unless a refund is requested within the 30-day window described in Section 5.
11. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Montana, without regard to its conflict of law principles. Any dispute arising from or relating to these Terms or the service shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Flathead County, Montana.
12. Changes to Terms
We may update these Terms at any time. Material changes will be announced by email to registered users at least 14 days before taking effect. Continued use of the service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.