Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use

Relationship to Signed Agreements

This Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use governs FERZ public materials and public digital properties unless superseded by a signed written agreement. It does not replace any signed master services agreement, statement of work, license agreement, nondisclosure agreement, data processing agreement, investor subscription document, business associate agreement, security addendum, or other written agreement between FERZ and a counterparty. To the extent a signed agreement conflicts with this page, the signed agreement controls for that engagement. Where no signed agreement exists, this page governs access to and use of FERZ public materials to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

Definitions and Scope

For purposes of this Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use, "FERZ public materials" means FERZ websites, public research summaries, articles, diagrams, product descriptions, technical descriptions, documentation, investor-facing summaries, and other materials made publicly available by FERZ. "User" means any person or entity that accesses FERZ public materials. "Client" means a party that has entered into a signed agreement with FERZ. "Counterparty" means any client, partner, investor, government entity, contractor, subcontractor, vendor, or other organization interacting with FERZ under written terms or in contemplation of a business relationship.

Provisions directed to "users" apply to website visitors and public-material users. Provisions directed to "clients" or "counterparties" apply only where the relevant relationship exists or where enforceable under applicable law or written terms.

Executive Summary: Key Limitations

No Professional Relationship Created

FERZ provides technical infrastructure, related materials, and advisory services. None of these replace legal, medical, financial, or other licensed professional advice. FERZ does not create an attorney-client relationship, doctor-patient relationship, or fiduciary relationship of any kind. Clients must seek appropriate licensed professional counsel for legal, medical, financial, or regulatory compliance matters.

Client Sophistication and Service Scope

Enterprise client requirement

FERZ commercial services are designed for sophisticated enterprise, institutional, and government clients with internal technical expertise, dedicated legal counsel, and substantial organizational resources. They are not intended for individual consumers, small businesses without legal representation, or organizations lacking technical implementation capabilities.

Client sophistication requirements

• Adequate technical expertise to evaluate AI governance approaches.
• Access to qualified legal counsel for regulatory compliance matters.
• Internal resources for proper implementation.
• Understanding that system properties depend on deployment architecture, integration, and configuration.
• Authority to make substantial technology implementation decisions.

Public research materials

FERZ public research materials, including papers, articles, and published standards, may be read, cited, and evaluated by researchers, students, individual readers, and other interested parties. Reading or citing these materials does not create a client relationship and does not require the client qualifications listed above. Materials released under an express open license are governed by that license, as described under Prohibited Uses and Open Licenses.

Audience and access restrictions

FERZ does not target or provide services to individual consumers or the general public, including for personal use. Access to certain FERZ materials may be restricted in jurisdictions with heightened consumer-protection requirements. FERZ reserves the right to verify client sophistication and to restrict access to non-public materials and services where adequate professional representation cannot be confirmed.

Consumer protection rights preservation

Nothing in this Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use is intended to limit or waive any rights or protections available to individual consumers under applicable law. If you are an individual consumer accessing FERZ materials, you should not rely on FERZ materials or services for personal decisions, and any consumer-protection rights you may have under applicable law remain unaffected by these terms. Consumer-protection laws may override certain provisions of this Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use when applied to individual consumer relationships.

No Legal, Medical, or Financial Advice

FERZ public materials are provided for informational purposes and do not constitute legal, medical, financial, investment, tax, accounting, or other licensed professional advice. The scope, deliverables, responsibilities, and warranties applicable to FERZ software and services are defined in the applicable written agreement. Users, clients, and counterparties must obtain their own independent professional advice, as applicable, before making decisions based on FERZ materials or recommendations.

Professional service boundaries

FERZ does not:

• Provide legal opinions or regulatory compliance certifications.
• Offer medical diagnoses or healthcare guidance.
• Give financial, investment, or tax advice.
• Create attorney-client, doctor-patient, or fiduciary relationships.
• Act as a registered investment advisor or securities dealer.
• Provide audit, accounting, or financial reporting services.

Regulatory and Government Use Limitations

FERZ materials and services do not replace, modify, or serve as a substitute for compliance with mandatory government regulations, and do not constitute official government policy or endorsement. FERZ technologies and methodologies support compliance programs but do not ensure, and are not a substitute for, formal determinations by regulators or courts. Clients remain solely responsible for engaging with relevant agencies and for ensuring that their systems obtain any required approvals, certifications, or authorizations.

Government contracting and procurement integrity

All engagements with government agencies, contractors, or subcontractors are subject to Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) and procurement-integrity review. FERZ may decline or discontinue engagements where required to comply with federal acquisition regulations, organizational conflict of interest rules, and ethics requirements.

Government clients acknowledge that FERZ may have relationships with other agencies, private-sector clients, or competitors that could create actual or perceived conflicts of interest. FERZ will disclose known conflicts and implement mitigation measures as required by applicable procurement regulations, but cannot guarantee conflict-free relationships across all potential government engagements.

Government experience and endorsement

To the extent any FERZ material references government, public-sector, or regulatory experience, such references describe professional experience. They do not constitute official endorsement, validation, certification, or approval by any government entity, and they do not guarantee any compliance, procurement, or regulatory outcome. Regulatory environments differ across agencies and jurisdictions, and each implementation context presents distinct requirements.

AI Regulatory Status

FERZ materials may discuss AI governance laws, standards, frameworks, or regulatory concepts, including but not limited to the EU AI Act, NIST materials, privacy laws, cybersecurity requirements, financial-services rules, healthcare rules, procurement requirements, and sector-specific compliance regimes. Such materials are informational only. FERZ does not determine any user's, client's, or counterparty's legal role as provider, deployer, importer, distributor, controller, processor, business associate, contractor, subcontractor, or regulated entity. Users, clients, and counterparties remain solely responsible, as applicable, for classification, conformity assessment, documentation, registration, notice, human oversight, transparency, audit, security, and other obligations under applicable law.

Runtime Authorization Boundary Limitations

References to runtime authorization, non-bypassable enforcement, fail-closed behavior, proof-carrying decisions, replayable artifacts, or deterministic governance describe intended system properties within a specified deployment architecture, integration boundary, configuration, and threat model.

Claims of non-bypassable enforcement and fail-closed behavior apply within the expressly identified enforcement scope and threat model. An execution path within that scope that permits a governed action to execute without the required authorization does not satisfy the stated property. Execution paths expressly excluded from that scope, including customer-controlled paths outside the declared enforcement boundary, are not covered by the claim.

These terms do not guarantee immunity from misconfiguration, implementation error, insider compromise, supply-chain compromise, credential misuse, physical tampering, infrastructure failure, software vulnerability, network attack, or regulatory rejection.

A FERZ authorization artifact is technical evidence of an authorization decision under defined system inputs and policy state. It is not, by itself, a legal opinion, regulatory approval, audit certification, safety certification, medical determination, financial determination, or court-admissibility guarantee.

Published Standards and Conformance Claims

FERZ is the steward of the Five Tests Standard (5TS), a published standard. A conformance claim made by any party under the 5TS license terms is that party's own claim. FERZ does not certify, audit, or endorse third-party conformance claims unless stated in a signed agreement, and a conformance claim is not a legal opinion, regulatory approval, or security certification. Conformance to a published FERZ standard does not establish that a system uses FERZ technology or is licensed under FERZ patents.

Published Works, Versions, and Currency

FERZ doctrine and technical positions develop over time. FERZ does not represent that every page, article, or other website content reflects FERZ's current position, and FERZ may retain content as originally published, including after the doctrine it describes has changed. Website content reflects FERZ's position as of its publication or last-revised date. FERZ may, but is not required to, identify content that has been superseded.

FERZ technical papers and published standards deposited with a DOI are authoritative for the formal results, definitions, and conformance requirements stated within their respective scopes. Where website content conflicts with such a work on those matters, the latest published version of that work governs. Website commentary does not expand what those works establish. Articles may develop operational arguments and recommendations beyond a paper's formal result; those arguments and recommendations do not become conclusions of the paper by reference to it.

Each version of a published work is fixed as issued. A citation or conformance claim that references a specific version refers to that version. A later version supersedes it as FERZ's current position but does not change what the earlier version stated. For works deposited on Zenodo, the concept DOI resolves to the landing page of the latest published version.

For doctrine articles published on ferz.ai, the ferz.ai version is canonical and controls over deposited or syndicated copies of the same article. This precedence concerns versions of that article; it does not override the formal results or conformance requirements of a separate technical paper or published standard.

This section determines which FERZ text controls a doctrinal or technical question. It does not modify any signed agreement, which controls as described under Relationship to Signed Agreements.

Emerging Technology and Implementation Dependence

FERZ technologies and methodologies address an emerging category of enterprise AI governance infrastructure. Their performance, suitability, and operational effect depend on the deployment architecture, integration boundary, customer infrastructure, policy configuration, data quality, security controls, and implementation discipline. FERZ does not guarantee any legal, regulatory, financial, security, operational, or competitive outcome unless expressly stated in a signed agreement.

Scope of formal results

Formal results hold under their stated assumptions. Whether those assumptions hold in a given deployment depends on the deployment architecture, integration, configuration, and maintenance. Deterministic behavior is a property of a specified system within its defined inputs, policy state, and configuration; it does not extend to inputs, integrations, or conditions outside that specification.

Integration and compatibility

Compatibility and integration requirements depend on the systems, interfaces, configurations, and versions involved. Supported integrations, implementation responsibilities, and acceptance criteria are defined in the applicable written agreement.

Implementation dependence

Outcomes also depend on the client's operational readiness and implementation decisions. FERZ does not guarantee adoption or organizational outcomes.

Technical and Performance Statements

FERZ technical statements are made within their expressly stated scope, assumptions, version, and evidentiary basis, and must be read within them. Analytical proofs and formal verification results establish only the properties demonstrated under their stated assumptions; they do not, by themselves, establish empirical deployment performance. Empirical results apply to the identified implementation, test conditions, and methodology. Illustrative examples and roadmap descriptions do not establish validated capabilities or deployment results.

Actual performance depends on deployment architecture, workload, policy complexity, infrastructure, customer controls, integration quality, and threat model. FERZ does not make performance warranties unless expressly stated in a signed agreement. FERZ does not authorize publication of numerical performance, accuracy, reliability, security, compliance-support, or operational claims unless the claim is supported by an identified test environment, methodology, scope, and validation basis.

No Warranties

FERZ materials and services are provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. FERZ makes no representations or guarantees regarding the accuracy, reliability, completeness, timeliness, or suitability of the materials for any particular purpose, use case, or environment, except as expressly stated in a signed agreement.

Intellectual Property

FERZ owns or controls rights in its public materials, technical descriptions, software, designs, architectures, marks, product names, methodologies, documentation, diagrams, research artifacts, and related intellectual property, including materials associated with FERZ products and research initiatives identified on FERZ-controlled websites or in written FERZ materials. No license is granted except as expressly stated in a written agreement or applicable open-license notice.

Patent status

Patent applications are pending on core methodologies. Pending applications remain subject to examination, through which the scope of any issued claims is determined. Nothing in this Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use grants a license under, or waives, any FERZ patent or patent application.

Client IP risk allocation

Unless a signed agreement provides otherwise, clients are responsible for IP compliance within their jurisdiction, and FERZ is not liable for client infringement of third-party intellectual property rights. Licensing terms and availability may change over time.

Prohibited Uses and Open Licenses

Except as expressly authorized in writing or permitted under the open licenses and published license terms described below, users may not copy, scrape, crawl, harvest, download in bulk, reproduce, modify, translate, distribute, mirror, frame, resell, sublicense, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, benchmark for competitive purposes, use for model training, use for dataset creation, use to create derivative technical specifications, or otherwise exploit FERZ materials. Users may not misrepresent FERZ materials, remove proprietary notices, imply FERZ endorsement, or use FERZ materials to develop, market, or validate competing governance, authorization, compliance, security, or AI infrastructure systems without written authorization.

Open licenses and published license terms

Where a FERZ material is published under an express open license (for example, a Creative Commons license or the MIT License) or under published license terms (including the license terms published with the Five Tests Standard (5TS) repository), that license governs use of that material, and this page does not impose additional restrictions on uses permitted by that license. Rights not granted by that license are reserved. Publication of FERZ materials does not grant rights under FERZ patents, patent applications, or trademarks beyond those granted by the applicable license or a separate written agreement.

Limitation of Liability

Except for claims arising from FERZ's gross negligence or willful misconduct, and except to the extent applicable law prohibits limiting liability for a particular claim, FERZ's total liability for any claims arising from or related to FERZ public materials, websites, digital properties, services, methodologies, or intellectual property shall not exceed: (a) for clients or counterparties with a signed agreement, the liability cap stated in that signed agreement, or if no such cap exists, the total amount paid by the client to FERZ in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim; and (b) for users without a signed agreement, one hundred U.S. dollars (US$100). This limitation applies regardless of the number of claims, the theory of liability, or whether the claims are brought in contract, tort, statute, or otherwise.

Excluded damages

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, and except where prohibited by law or in cases of gross negligence, willful misconduct, or breach of express warranties by FERZ, FERZ shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, punitive, or exemplary damages arising from or in connection with use of FERZ materials or services; reliance on projections, compliance statements, or competitive-advantage statements; implementation failures, integration problems, or system incompatibilities; loss of profits, business interruption, loss of data, or reputational harm; regulatory enforcement actions or compliance failures; patent-infringement claims or IP litigation; third-party system failures or security breaches; or technology obsolescence.

Direct damages and public policy

Where exclusion of direct damages would violate public policy or be deemed unconscionable, FERZ's liability for direct damages shall be limited to the lesser of: (a) actual direct damages proximately caused by FERZ's breach of express obligations, or (b) the monetary limitation specified above.

Limitation survivability

These limitations reflect the deployment-dependent nature of runtime authorization infrastructure, the technical and informational nature of FERZ public materials, and, where applicable, the sophisticated commercial relationship between FERZ and enterprise clients or counterparties. They are intended to be reasonable given the nature of the materials, the intended enterprise audience, and the availability of professional technical, legal, and compliance review for client implementations.

Data Processing and Customer Data

FERZ does not request or require regulated, sensitive, personal, health, financial, classified, controlled unclassified, export-controlled, or customer-confidential data except as expressly authorized under a written agreement. Where FERZ processes customer data, the applicable written agreement, data processing agreement, business associate agreement, security addendum, or equivalent contract controls. Public FERZ materials do not constitute a privacy notice, data processing agreement, security certification, or authorization to transmit regulated data to FERZ.

Export Control, Sanctions, and Technology Transfer

Access to FERZ technical materials, software, source code, architecture specifications, cryptographic designs, implementation guidance, hardware-interface materials, or controlled know-how may be restricted based on export-control, sanctions, procurement, national-security, customer-policy, or technology-transfer requirements. FERZ may restrict, suspend, or deny access to materials or services based on nationality, location, affiliation, end use, end user, jurisdiction, sanctions status, or legal-review requirements. No FERZ material grants any right to export, reexport, transfer, disclose, or provide access to controlled technology.

Third-Party References and Dependencies

FERZ makes no claims about the official status, currency, or authoritative interpretation of external standards, and is not responsible for changes to referenced standards or for regulatory-interpretation evolution. FERZ is not responsible for the functionality, security, availability, or legal compliance of any third-party systems, APIs, or technologies referenced in its materials. Clients assume full responsibility for third-party technology assessment and compliance.

Forward-Looking Statements and No Securities Offering

FERZ materials may contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations and assumptions and subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. FERZ undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, projection, or strategic statement except as required by law.

No securities offering

Public FERZ materials are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, securities. Any securities offering, if made, will be made only through formal offering documents and only to persons eligible to participate under applicable securities laws. Public statements about market opportunity, financing plans, valuation, revenue, commercial strategy, or prospective transactions are illustrative and non-binding, and may not be relied upon as investment terms.

No statement on any public FERZ page should be interpreted as establishing offering terms, investor eligibility, subscription rights, allocation rights, valuation, securities availability, or acceptance into any financing process.

International Use and Regulatory Compliance

FERZ materials and services may be accessed from jurisdictions worldwide. FERZ does not represent that its materials, methodologies, or advisory services are appropriate, legally available, or compliant in any particular country or regulatory regime. Clients are solely responsible for compliance with local laws and regulations, including export-control, technology-transfer, data-sovereignty, cross-border-transfer, and professional-licensing requirements. Local consumer-protection laws may override certain provisions of this Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use.

Jurisdictional adaptation

Where local law requires specific disclaimers, warranties, or liability allocations that conflict with this Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use, such local requirements shall apply to the minimum extent necessary for legal compliance, while all other provisions remain in full force. FERZ retains the right to modify service offerings or restrict access in jurisdictions where local law does not permit the protections in these terms.

External Events and Third-Party Disruptions

FERZ is not liable for delays, failures, or performance issues resulting from circumstances beyond reasonable control, including regulatory-framework changes or new enforcement interpretations, technology-infrastructure failures, cybersecurity incidents, third-party service disruptions or API changes, economic disruption affecting client operations, supply-chain disruption, sanctions restrictions, export-control restrictions, government action, or other external events outside FERZ's reasonable control.

Modifications, Updates, and Access Control

FERZ reserves the right to modify or update this Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use, public materials, service descriptions, methodology specifications, and related policies at any time. Updates will be posted with a revised "Last Updated" date. Continued access to or use of FERZ public materials after an update constitutes acceptance of the updated terms to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

FERZ may suspend, restrict, or terminate access to materials, websites, services, or digital properties at its discretion, including for misuse, noncompliance with these terms, unauthorized disclosure of proprietary information, breach of client-sophistication requirements, export-control or sanctions concerns, suspected security risk, or violation of intellectual-property rights. Upon termination or restriction of access, users must discontinue access to the affected FERZ-controlled services or non-public materials as directed. Such termination or restriction does not alter rights in previously obtained materials under an applicable license; those rights remain subject to that license's terms. Obligations relating to intellectual-property protection, confidentiality, export control, liability limitations, dispute resolution, and indemnification survive termination to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

Covered Websites and Digital Properties

This Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use applies to FERZ, Inc.-operated websites, domains, subdomains, and digital properties, including the primary FERZ website and associated content-distribution and social-media channels. References to "this site," "our website," or "FERZ digital properties" refer collectively to these FERZ, Inc.-managed properties.

Indemnification

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, users, clients, and counterparties agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless FERZ, its principals, employees, contractors, affiliates, successors, and assigns from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, or expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising from or related to: misuse of FERZ materials, services, or intellectual property; unauthorized copying, disclosure, reverse engineering, scraping, model training, redistribution, or exploitation of FERZ materials; failure to comply with applicable laws, regulations, professional standards, export-control requirements, sanctions restrictions, procurement rules, or data-protection obligations; implementation of FERZ materials without appropriate technical, legal, security, or professional oversight; infringement or alleged infringement arising from the user's or client's implementation, modification, combination, or use of FERZ materials; or misrepresentation of FERZ services, capabilities, affiliations, approvals, certifications, endorsements, or government status.

Indemnification obligations apply only to the extent enforceable under applicable law and do not limit any additional indemnification obligations contained in a signed agreement. This section is subject to Government entities below.

Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

Unless a signed agreement provides otherwise, this Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use and any dispute arising from or related to FERZ public materials, FERZ digital properties, or use of FERZ services are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Unless a signed agreement provides otherwise, any dispute arising from or related to FERZ public materials, FERZ digital properties, or FERZ services shall be resolved through binding arbitration in Fairfax County, Virginia, under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association.

Class action and collective action waiver

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, each user, client, and counterparty waives any right to participate in class-action lawsuits, class-wide arbitration, collective actions, or representative proceedings against FERZ. All disputes must be resolved on an individual basis.

Exceptions to arbitration

FERZ retains the right to seek injunctive relief for intellectual-property violations, confidentiality breaches, or unauthorized use of proprietary methodologies in courts of competent jurisdiction. Arbitration proceedings shall be confidential and may not be consolidated with other proceedings without FERZ's express written consent.

Government entities

To the extent a provision of this Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use, including indemnification, binding arbitration, governing law, or acceptance of updated terms through continued use, is prohibited by or unenforceable against a government entity under the law applicable to that entity, that provision does not apply to that entity, and the applicable law and any signed agreement govern.

Severability and Enforceability

If any provision of this Legal Disclaimer and Terms of Use is held invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, such provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or, if modification is not possible, severed, and the remainder shall remain in full force and effect. Where any limitation of liability or warranty disclaimer is deemed excessive by a court, such limitation shall be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. If a limitation or exclusion is unenforceable, it applies only to the extent permitted by applicable law. Nothing in this section increases a liability cap that is otherwise enforceable.

Contact

For legal inquiries or dispute-resolution matters, contact FERZ with "LEGAL MATTER" in the subject line.