Business Of contributor terms.

Business Of contributor terms

Version: 1.0
Effective date: 8 September 2026
Entity: TBO Ltd (trading as "Business Of")

1. Who we are and what these terms cover

These terms are between you and TBO Ltd, a company registered in the Masdar City Free Zone, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, company number MC 14805, trading as Business Of, publisher of businessof.co and our shows and publications ("TBO", "we", "us", "our").

They apply whenever you submit any article, commentary, opinion, analysis, image, photograph, illustration, chart, graphic, video, audio, dataset, quotation, biography, profile information or other material to us for publication or use ("Content").

Content may be published or used on businessof.co, in our shows, in newsletters, podcasts, reports, research, social media, events, books, commercial products, partner publications, syndicated services, our technology platforms and anywhere else we publish or distribute content.

By ticking the acceptance box or otherwise electronically accepting these terms, you:

• agree to be legally bound by them;
• confirm that you have read and understood them; and
• intend your electronic acceptance to authenticate these terms and operate as your electronic signature wherever a signature is legally required.

If you do not accept these terms, you cannot submit Content.

If we change these terms, we may require you to accept the new version before submitting further Content. Content already submitted remains subject to the version of the terms that applied when it was submitted unless we agree otherwise with you.

2. Who can contribute

You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering into this agreement.

You must provide us with accurate information about your real name, work email address, job title, and organisation, and keep that information up to date.

You must contribute either:

• in your own name and on your own authority; or
• with all necessary authority from any employer, company, client or other person on whose behalf you are contributing or who has rights in the Content.

If you submit Content on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you have authority to do so and to grant the rights and give the warranties contained in these terms.

We reserve the right to verify your professional affiliation and authority to contribute. You agree to provide reasonable assistance if we request confirmation of employer or organisational approval.

Contribution is by invitation unless we agree otherwise. We may decline any submission, withdraw an invitation, suspend or close a contributor account, or stop accepting Content from you at any time.

We are not obliged to publish anything you submit.

3. Rights you give us

You retain ownership of any copyright that you own in your Content.

When you submit Content, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable and sub-licensable non-exclusive licence to use that Content.

This licence allows us, and anyone we authorise, to:

• reproduce, publish, distribute, communicate, display and make the Content available;
• edit, shorten, expand, excerpt, format, translate, annotate, correct and adapt it;
• change headlines, titles, standfirsts, captions, formatting and presentation;
• combine it with other material;
• create derivative works from it;
• reproduce quotations, extracts, images and other elements from it;
• archive and store it;
• promote it through paid and organic media;
• syndicate, license or distribute it to partners and third parties;
• include it in commercial publications, reports, research, books, events, training, products, databases and services;
• reproduce it in print, digital, audio, video and any other existing or future format; and
• use, analyse, index, classify, summarise, retrieve, evaluate and process it in or with artificial intelligence, machine-learning, and automated synthesis systems that we operate, commission or license.

The licence includes use for commercial purposes.

It also allows us to transfer or assign the benefit of the licence to a purchaser, successor, group company or other entity acquiring all or part of our business, assets, publications or technology.

The licence applies to third-party material contained in your Content only to the extent that you have authority to grant us those rights. You must tell us before submission about any material whose permitted use is more restricted than these terms.

Providing a copyright notice, source credit, photographer credit or other attribution does not by itself establish that you have permission to use material. You remain responsible for having the necessary rights.

3.1 Exclusivity

Separately from the licence above, you agree that for 12 months from the date we first publish Content, you will not publish or authorise anyone else to publish the same Content, or a substantially similar version of it, elsewhere without our written permission.

You may during that period share links to the Content and reasonable extracts from it on social media or elsewhere, provided you do not substantially reproduce the Content.

After the 12-month period, you may republish your Content elsewhere provided that the republication credits Business Of as the place of first publication and includes a functional link to the original article on businessof.co where reasonably practicable.

4. Your name, profile and likeness

You grant us permission to use the name, biography, headshot, job title, employer or organisation, social profile details and other contributor information you provide for the purposes of:

• identifying and crediting you;
• publishing your contributor profile;
• promoting your Content;
• promoting Business Of and its shows, publications, platforms and services; and
• maintaining an accurate historical record of published Content.

This permission is worldwide, royalty-free and continues for as long as we publish, distribute, archive or otherwise use your Content.

5. Moral rights

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you waive and agree not to assert against us or anyone authorised by us any moral rights or similar rights you have in the Content, including rights to object to editing, adaptation or other treatment of the Content.

Your electronic acceptance of these terms is intended to constitute your signature for the purpose of that waiver wherever a signed written waiver is required.

Where a moral right cannot legally be waived, you consent to us doing anything permitted by the licence in section 3 and agree not to enforce that right against us to the fullest extent permitted by law.

We will normally identify you as the author where appropriate, but we do not guarantee that a credit will appear in every reproduction, format, excerpt or distribution of the Content.

6. Your warranties to us

Every time you submit Content, you warrant and promise that all of the statements in this section are true.

6.1 Originality and plagiarism

You warrant that:

• the Content is genuinely your own original work except for material clearly identified as coming from another source;
• it has not been copied, plagiarised, scraped or reproduced from another person or publication;
• it does not contain uncredited copying, disguised copying or substantial uncredited paraphrasing of another person's work;
• it is not substantially based on somebody else's work without the necessary permission;
• it has not previously been published, or submitted for publication, in substantially the same form unless you have disclosed this to us and we have agreed to accept it; and
• every attribution and source credit you provide is accurate.

These obligations apply whether or not the copying would technically amount to copyright infringement.

6.2 Ownership, copyright, trade marks, and intellectual property

You warrant that:

• you own the Content or have obtained every permission, licence, consent and authority necessary for us to use it as contemplated by these terms;
• no employer, former employer, client, publisher, agency, co-author or other person has rights that prevent you granting those rights to us;
• every photograph, illustration, chart, graphic, image, screenshot, video, audio clip, dataset, quotation or other third-party item contained in the Content is lawfully used;
• any licence or permission relied upon permits the type of publication, editing, commercial use and distribution contemplated by these terms, unless you have disclosed a restriction to us before submission and we have expressly accepted it;
• you will keep sufficient evidence of relevant licences, consents and permissions and provide it promptly if we ask for it; and
• the Content does not infringe, misappropriate, or violate anyone's copyright, trade mark, service mark, design right, database right, patent, trade secret, moral right, passing-off right, domain name right, or other intellectual property or proprietary right.

6.3 Defamation, accuracy and reputation

You warrant that the Content:

• is not defamatory, libellous, or slanderous;
• does not constitute malicious falsehood or injurious falsehood;
• does not make false or misleading allegations about any person or organisation;
• does not deliberately or recklessly omit information in a way that creates a materially false impression;
• does not present an allegation or opinion as an established fact;
• does not unlawfully damage another person's reputation, business or professional standing; and
• does not contain unlawfully threatening, harassing or discriminatory material.

For every material statement of fact that could reasonably damage the reputation or interests of a person or organisation, you confirm that you have taken reasonable steps to verify it and have reasonable evidence supporting it.

Where you express an opinion, you confirm that it is genuinely and honestly held and, where appropriate, based on facts that can reasonably support that opinion.

Any quotation attributed to another person must be accurate in substance and must not be edited, shortened or presented in a way that materially misrepresents what that person said or meant.

6.4 Privacy, personal data and confidential information

You warrant that the Content:

• does not unlawfully misuse private information;
• does not infringe rights of privacy, publicity or personality;
• does not unlawfully contain or disclose another person's personal data;
• does not disclose confidential information, trade secrets or material non-public information;
• does not breach any confidence owed to an employer, former employer, client, supplier or other person;
• does not identify, quote, photograph, record or depict another person in circumstances where consent or another lawful basis is required unless the necessary consent or lawful basis exists; and
• does not disclose information prohibited by a court order, reporting restriction or other legal obligation.

6.5 Other obligations you owe

You warrant that submitting and publishing the Content does not breach:

• any employment obligation;
• any consultancy or client agreement;
• any non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement;
• any publishing agreement;
• any contractual restriction;
• any fiduciary or professional obligation; or
• any other duty you owe to another person.

6.6 Commercial interests and advertising

You must disclose to us any material commercial, financial or personal connection relevant to the subject of your Content.

This includes, where relevant:

• your employer;
• current or recent clients;
• consultancy relationships;
• sponsorship;
• payments, gifts or benefits;
• shareholdings or other financial interests;
• affiliate or commission arrangements; and
• any other relationship that a reasonable reader might consider relevant to your independence.

You must not use contributor Content as undisclosed advertising, native promotional material, or search-engine manipulation. We may add a disclosure, label, or editorial note to Content where we consider it appropriate.

6.7 Compliance with law

You warrant that the Content and your submission of it comply with all laws and regulations that apply to you or the Content, including where relevant laws relating to:

• advertising, testimonials, and endorsements;
• financial promotions and investment advice;
• consumer protection;
• competition;
• data protection and privacy;
• intellectual property;
• confidentiality;
• contempt of court and reporting restrictions; and
• unlawful communications.

You also warrant that the Content does not contain malicious software, hidden tracking, deceptive links or anything intended unlawfully to manipulate our systems, search engines, AI answer engines, or readers.

7. Artificial intelligence

You may use artificial intelligence tools in preparing Content only where their use is lawful and consistent with these terms.

If AI has materially assisted in researching, drafting, or structuring the Content, you must disclose that to us when you submit it.

Whether or not AI has been used, you remain personally responsible for the entire Content as if you had created every part of it yourself.

In particular, you warrant that:

• you have independently checked all material facts, figures, names, claims and quotations;
• you have verified that cited sources exist, are authentic, and support the statements attributed to them;
• AI has not fabricated or "hallucinated" quotations, sources, evidence, case law, or events;
• the Content does not infringe another person's rights merely because it was generated or assisted by AI;
• your use of the relevant AI tool permits the commercial use you are making of its output;
• you have not uploaded confidential information, trade secrets or another person's personal data to an AI system without authority to do so; and
• AI-generated or AI-altered material does not deceptively impersonate, depict or purport to show a real person doing or saying something they did not do or say.

You must obtain our prior written approval before submitting materially synthetic or AI-generated audio, video, or imagery depicting an identifiable real person.

8. Continuing responsibility and duty to tell us

Your responsibilities do not end when Content is submitted or published.

You must tell us promptly if you later discover or reasonably suspect that:

• anything in the Content is materially inaccurate;
• a quotation or attribution is wrong;
• material may have been copied or plagiarised;
• you may not have the necessary rights or permissions;
• a licence or permission has expired, changed or been withdrawn;
• confidential or private information may have been disclosed;
• the Content may be defamatory or otherwise unlawful;
• somebody has complained, threatened a claim or challenged your right to publish the Content;
• a conflict of interest should have been disclosed; or
• any warranty you gave under these terms was inaccurate when given or has subsequently become inaccurate.

You must not wait for us to discover the problem independently.

9. Your responsibility if something goes wrong

You are responsible for the Content you submit and for the warranties and promises you make under these terms.

You agree to indemnify and keep indemnified TBO on demand against all claims, demands, actions, proceedings, liabilities, judgments, settlements, damages, losses, costs and expenses, including reasonable external legal and professional fees, arising out of or in connection with:

• your Content;
• your submission or publication of the Content;
• any breach of these terms;
• any breach of a warranty or promise made by you;
• any allegation or claim that the Content infringes intellectual property rights, copyright, trade mark rights, or passing-off rights;
• plagiarism;
• defamation, libellous statements, malicious falsehood, or injurious falsehood;
• misuse of private or confidential information;
• breach of data protection or privacy rights;
• breach of contract or another obligation owed by you;
• undisclosed commercial or financial interests;
• unlawful or misleading advertising or financial promotion; or
• any other unlawful act or omission by you relating to the Content.

This protection applies to TBO Ltd and its current and future affiliates, directors, officers, employees, contractors, agents, publishers, distributors, syndication partners, licensees, sub-licensees, successors and assigns ("Protected Persons").

Our decision to review, edit, fact-check, approve, publish, promote, syndicate, retain or remove Content does not reduce your warranties or your responsibility under this section.

Nor does the fact that we did not identify a problem before publication transfer responsibility for that problem from you to us.

The indemnity applies whether your breach was deliberate, negligent, accidental or unknown to you when the Content was submitted.

The indemnity does not apply to the extent that a claim arises solely because we made a material change to your Content after submission that introduced the legal problem complained of and which you did not subsequently approve.

10. Claims, complaints and cooperation

If a complaint, claim, or legal issue arises from your Content, you must give us all reasonable assistance we request.

This may include:

• responding promptly to questions;
• providing notes, source material, and supporting evidence;
• providing licences, releases, permissions, and correspondence;
• identifying rights holders or sources;
• explaining the factual basis for statements;
• assisting our lawyers or insurers;
• providing a witness statement or other evidence where reasonably required; and
• preserving relevant documents and communications.

You must normally respond to a request from us relating to a legal complaint within two working days, or within any shorter reasonable period we specify where the matter is urgent.

We have full control over the investigation, defence, response, negotiation, or settlement of any claim made against us.

You must not make admissions, contact a claimant on our behalf, agree to a settlement, or take any other step that could prejudice our legal position without our prior written consent.

Where reasonably necessary and legally permitted, we may disclose your identity and relevant contact information to a complainant, rights holder, court, regulator, law-enforcement body or other competent authority for the purpose of:

• complying with applicable law;
• responding to a legal complaint or formal notice;
• establishing, exercising, or defending legal rights;
• identifying the author or primary publisher of Content; or
• relying upon any statutory safe-harbour, defence, or procedure available to a website operator, intermediary, or publisher.

11. Editorial control

We have final editorial control over everything published through our services.

We may:

• accept or reject Content;
• edit for clarity, style, length, grammar or house style;
• fact-check Content;
• request supporting evidence;
• change headlines, titles, standfirsts, captions and formatting;
• select, replace or remove images;
• add disclosures or editorial notes;
• correct Content after publication;
• delay publication;
• decline publication;
• remove or disable Content temporarily or permanently; or
• archive Content.

We may do any of these things at any time and without owing you compensation.

Where we propose a material editorial change that could alter the substance or meaning of your argument, we will normally seek your approval before publication.

If you approve a materially revised version, your warranties under these terms apply again to the version you approve.

Publication by us does not mean that we have independently verified the Content or accepted responsibility for its accuracy or legality.

Unless we expressly state otherwise, contributor Content represents the contributor's views and not necessarily the views of TBO.

12. Complaints, takedowns, and legal procedures

12.1 Copyright complaints contact

To report an alleged copyright infringement contained in any Content hosted on businessof.co, copyright owners or their authorised representatives should contact our copyright complaints contact at:

• Contact: Copyright Complaints Manager, TBO Ltd
• Email: [email protected]
• Address: Masdar City Free Zone, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Every notification of claimed copyright infringement must be in writing and include substantially the following:

1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material (including the specific URL link on businessof.co);
4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and email address;
5. A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

12.2 Defamation and Section 5 website operator procedure

If we receive a formal notice or complaint alleging that Content published on businessof.co is defamatory, we will process the complaint in accordance with applicable laws, including (where relevant) the procedures prescribed under Section 5 of the Defamation Act 2013 and the Defamation (Operators of Websites) Regulations 2013.

Where a valid notice of complaint is received:

1. We may immediately disable, hide, or restrict access to the Content while the matter is investigated.
2. We will contact you at your registered email address to notify you of the complaint and provide a copy of the allegation.
3. You must respond to us in writing within the time period we specify (and no later than 5 calendar days from the date we send the notice).
4. In your response, you must explicitly confirm whether:
   • (a) you agree to the removal of the Content; or
   • (b) you object to the removal of the Content and wish it to remain online.
5. If you object to the removal, your response must:
   • (i) state your full legal name and your real residential or business postal address;
   • (ii) confirm whether you consent to us releasing your legal name and postal address to the complainant;
   • (iii) respond specifically to the defamatory allegations made against the Content; and
   • (iv) provide supporting evidence verifying the truth or honest opinion of the statements challenged.
6. If you fail to respond within the required timeframe, fail to provide your real name and postal address, or fail to state whether you object to the removal, we will permanently remove the Content without further notice to you.
7. You acknowledge that under Section 5 of the Defamation Act 2013 or other legal rules, we may be required or permitted to release your name and contact details to the complainant or a court, and you consent to such disclosure.

12.3 Trade mark, privacy, and general legal complaints

For non-copyright and non-defamation complaints (including alleged trade mark infringement, passing off, misuse of private information, breach of confidence, or data protection concerns), notices should be sent to our general complaints address at [email protected] or submitted via our complaints process at businessof.co/content-complaints.

We may immediately suspend, remove, or edit Content upon receipt of any general legal complaint without your prior permission. Removal or restriction does not constitute an admission of liability by TBO.

Repeated infringement, repeated breaches of these terms, or failure to cooperate fully with complaints procedures may result in immediate and permanent termination of your contributor account.

13. Records and evidence

You must retain reasonable evidence supporting the rights, permissions, and material factual claims on which your Content depends.

Where Content contains third-party material used under a licence or permission, you must retain evidence of that licence or permission for as long as the Content remains published or otherwise used by us and for a reasonable period afterwards.

If a dispute, complaint, or legal inquiry has arisen, you must preserve all relevant notes, recordings, correspondence, drafts, and evidence until the matter has been finally resolved.

We may retain our own records of:

• Content submitted (including all drafts, revisions, and metadata);
• electronic acceptance audit trails, timestamps, IP addresses, and verification records;
• contributor identity, contact details, declarations, and permissions provided to us;
• source and credit records;
• complaints, statutory notices, and related correspondence; and
• other evidence reasonably necessary to establish or enforce our continuing licence rights, demonstrate compliance with statutory procedures, or defend legal claims,

for as long as TBO reasonably requires them to protect its legal interests, subject to applicable data protection law.

14. Payment and contributor status

Unless we separately agree otherwise with you in writing, you contribute without payment.

Nothing in these terms creates an employment, worker, agency, partnership, fiduciary or joint-venture relationship between you and us.

You have no authority to:

• enter into commitments on our behalf;
• bind us;
• speak for us; or
• represent yourself as our employee or authorised representative.

A title such as "contributor", "contributing editor" or similar describes your editorial relationship with us only.

You are responsible for your own taxes and for complying with any obligations you owe to your employer, clients or other organisations.

15. Your contributor profile and personal data

Your contributor profile may be public.

We may publish the name, headshot, job title, employer or organisation, biography, website and social links you provide to us.

You can ask us to correct or update your profile information.

We may preserve historic profile information alongside previously published Content, as well as retain identity records, electronic acceptance audit trails, declarations, and dispute correspondence, for as long as reasonably necessary to maintain an accurate historical archive, prove authorship, establish continuing licence rights, or defend legal claims.

We process your personal information in accordance with our privacy policy at businessof.co/privacy-policy.

16. Stopping contributions

You may stop contributing at any time.

We may suspend or end your contributor relationship or close your account at any time.

Ending the relationship does not affect rights already granted to us.

In particular, sections relating to:

• our licence;
• exclusivity where still applicable;
• moral rights;
• your warranties;
• your continuing responsibility;
• indemnification;
• complaints and cooperation;
• records and evidence; and
• liability

continue to apply to Content submitted before the relationship ended.

You may ask us to remove previously published Content and we will consider the request in good faith, but we are not obliged to remove it unless required by law.

Removing Content from businessof.co does not revoke the licence granted to us and does not require us to recall or destroy material that has already been syndicated, licensed, distributed, printed, archived or incorporated into another permitted work or service.

17. Our liability to you

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability where doing so would be unlawful under applicable law.

Subject to that:

• we are not liable to you for deciding not to publish Content;
• we are not liable for removing, editing, correcting, delaying or ceasing to distribute Content;
• we are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business, opportunity, goodwill, reputation or data;
• we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses; and
• our total aggregate liability to you arising from or in connection with these terms or your Content will not exceed £100.

Nothing in this section limits or reduces your obligations to indemnify us under section 9.

18. General

18.1 Entire agreement

These terms are the entire agreement between you and us concerning contributor Content, except for any separate written agreement that expressly states that it overrides part of these terms.

18.2 No waiver

If we do not enforce a provision immediately, that does not mean we have waived it.

18.3 Severability

If any provision is held to be unlawful, invalid or unenforceable, it will be interpreted or modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable where possible. If that is not possible, it will be treated as deleted and the remaining provisions will continue in force.

18.4 Transfer

We may assign, transfer or otherwise deal with our rights and obligations under these terms in connection with a restructuring, financing, sale, transfer or other disposal of all or part of our business, platform or assets. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these terms without our written consent.

18.5 Third-party rights

The Protected Persons identified in section 9 may rely upon and enforce the provisions of these terms that expressly protect them. Except for those persons, nobody who is not a party to these terms has any right to enforce them.

18.6 Notices

We may contact you using the email address associated with your contributor account. You must send formal legal notices relating to these terms to [email protected] or [email protected].

18.7 Governing law

These terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them, including non-contractual disputes and claims, are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

18.8 Jurisdiction

The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute or claim arising from these terms. However, TBO retains the right to bring proceedings or seek interim, protective, injunctive, or emergency relief against you in the courts of the United Arab Emirates or any other court of competent jurisdiction worldwide where reasonably necessary to protect TBO's intellectual property, enforce indemnities, recover costs, or safeguard its business operations.

19. Contact

Questions about these terms or legal notices should be sent to:
[email protected] / [email protected]