Contributor Publishing Agreement

1. Parties and eligibility

GATHWAY INC. (“GATHWAY”, “we”, “us”), a Canadian corporation, operates The Insight Docket (“Platform”) at theinsightdocket.com. Contact: legal@gathway.app; privacy@gathway.app for privacy requests. Registered office: 230-7737 Lundy’s Lane, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

This Agreement supplements the Terms of Use and binds contributors when affirmatively accepted before their first submission. Contributors must be at least 18 years of age and have the legal capacity to enter into this Agreement and, where a paid membership applies, the subscription agreement. Eligibility to register as a reader from age 16 does not by itself confer eligibility to contribute; any future programme for younger writers will operate only under separate terms and safeguards.

Free contributors. An approved contributor may submit original works for editorial consideration without purchasing a paid membership, including articles, legal commentary and analysis, academic research, journalism, poetry, short stories, novels and other permitted literary and professional publications. Publication of each work remains subject to editorial approval. A free contributor is not required to submit government-issued identification by default; GATHWAY may nevertheless require identity verification for documented legal, regulatory, security, fraud-prevention or other legitimate compliance purposes.

Paid contributors. A paid contributor membership is optional and is a route toward monetization eligibility. Paid contributor status requires an approved contributor application, acceptance of the Monetization and Earnings Policy, successful verification of government-issued identification, an active paid contributor subscription, a minimum age of 18 with legal capacity, and compliance with applicable Platform requirements. The membership costs CAD $10 per month or CAD $120 per year, subject to applicable taxes. A request for paid contributor status does not by itself charge the contributor or activate paid status; paid status begins only once payment has been successfully completed and the other requirements are met. Payments are made to GATHWAY INC. and processed by Stripe. A payment received from a contributor who does not meet these requirements does not activate paid status and is handled under the Contributor Membership Refund Policy.

Approval as a contributor, identity verification, or payment of a contributor subscription does not independently establish monetization eligibility or guarantee earnings. Monetization eligibility is determined separately under the Monetization and Earnings Policy. Neither free nor paid contributor status guarantees publication approval, preferential editorial treatment, acceptance of submitted work, monetization or earnings.

2. Submissions and warranties

Contributor confirms they own or have sufficient rights to submit the work, that required consents, permissions and clearances have been obtained, and that it does not infringe intellectual property, privacy, confidence or other rights. Submissions must be original or properly attributed, truthful as to source material, and compliant with the Editorial Standards. Professional credentials must be accurate and verifiable. A contributor who claims a professional or academic qualification, or seeks a verified designation, must allow that qualification to be verified before any related badge or designation is shown.

3. Editorial assessment and approval

GATHWAY may request changes, reject, postpone, fact-check, annotate or correct submissions. Initial approval authority resides with the Super Admin and may be delegated by an auditable, revocable permission to an Editor-in-Chief or other qualified team member. The Super Admin retains ultimate administrative authority over contributor and publication approvals. Contributor approval, verification status, paid membership and editorial approval are distinct decisions. No submission is published until approved.

4. Retention of copyright; licence

Contributor retains copyright in their original content. Upon formal publication, Contributor grants GATHWAY a non-exclusive, worldwide, continuing licence to store, reproduce, format, publicly display, communicate, distribute, index, preserve, archive and promote the published work on The Insight Docket and its authorized channels, with reasonable technical adaptations. Promotional excerpts must identify the author where reasonably possible. Any sublicensing beyond technical service providers and ordinary syndication needs clearer separate authorization.

5. Duration, account closure and archived publications

For a work once published, the archive licence survives membership cancellation, expiry and account deletion. Deleting an account does not ordinarily remove previously published works; appropriate author attribution may persist. GATHWAY may correct, anonymize, restrict or remove work when needed for law, safety, privacy, third-party rights, editorial integrity or court orders. Unpublished drafts and verification documents are subject to applicable deletion/export rights and retention obligations.

6. Moral rights and modifications

No blanket waiver of moral rights is presumed. Contributor consents to customary copyediting, formatting, accessibility adaptations and technically necessary changes that do not materially distort the work. Material substantive edits, uses outside the express licence or a moral-rights waiver require further agreed terms where applicable. Corrections and takedowns may still be required by law.

7. Distribution, third-party republication and exclusivity

The licence is non-exclusive: Contributor may publish the original work elsewhere, subject to warranties that third-party agreements are not breached. A separate signed addendum is required for exclusive submissions, translations, audiobook rights, print compilations or paid syndication not adequately covered by this Agreement.

8. AI-assisted works

AI assistance may be used, but the Contributor remains responsible for original expression, fact-checking, source verification and legal compliance. Material AI-generated passages or imagery must be disclosed under the Editorial Standards. Fabricated judicial decisions, quotations, research citations or purported sources are prohibited.

9. Monetization and attribution

Monetization is governed exclusively by the separately accepted Monetization and Earnings Policy. The Contributor retains any contractually earned amounts notwithstanding later account closure, subject to payment-provider, legal and compliance requirements. No guaranteed revenue arises from contributor approval, identity verification, a paid membership or publication, alone or together.

10. Disputes and records

GATHWAY maintains dated submission, revision, decision and acceptance histories and a fair path for correction requests or rights complaints. The Contributor agrees to cooperate reasonably in rights investigations. Indemnities or liability allocation require founder legal approval before being introduced.