Terms of Service
These Terms govern use of the Trellis™ website and platform operated by Hortiki Plants LLC (“Hortiki,” “we,” “us”). By using the site, creating an account, submitting a quote, or starting an engagement, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy below.
Nature of services
Trellis provides data preparation, statutory structuring, secure automated document extraction support, and independent expert scientific review for regulatory compliance pathways (including FDA, EPA, USDA, and state agricultural routes). Deliverables are fixed-scope professional services, not open-ended retainers.
No guarantee of agency outcomes. Trellis does not guarantee government agency rulings, approvals, timelines, or the absence of Requests for Information (RFIs). Our structural and formatting quality commitments (including Trellis ResponseShield revision rounds) are not a warranty of scientific or legal sufficiency for any particular filing strategy.
Not legal advice
Website content and platform outputs are informational and operational. Nothing here creates an attorney–client relationship. You remain responsible for your regulatory strategy, submissions to agencies, and any counsel you retain.
Accounts and acceptable use
You must provide accurate account information and keep access to your email secure. Use the site and portal only for lawful purposes related to Trellis products. Do not attempt to disrupt, scrape abusively, reverse engineer, or bypass access controls on the platform or vault.
Client materials and confidentiality
You represent that you have the right to upload materials you submit. Engagement files are treated as confidential and accessed by Trellis admin and the assigned expert as needed to deliver the sprint. See the data storage summary.
Materials-supplied review. Expert review is based on the materials you supply. Incomplete or inaccurate inputs can produce incomplete outputs.
Experts
Expert reviewers are independent contractors, not employees of Hortiki Plants LLC, unless otherwise stated in writing. Experts are credentialed scientists and industry veterans (including professionals with a B.S. or M.S. and substantial direct agency submission experience, as well as PhDs). Expert access is limited to assigned engagements.
Fees, invoices, and refunds
Prices are the fixed Trellis catalog amounts published on the site (or a written quote). Institutional buyers use the same catalog rates and may purchase multiples on one invoice. Payment may be by card (Stripe), ACH/invoice, or another method stated on the quote. Refunds, if any, are handled case by case for undelivered scope — not for unfavorable agency outcomes.
Intellectual property
The Trellis name, site design, software, statutory template shells, and Hortiki frameworks (including Trellis DataLattice, Trellis Statutory Core, Trellis TalentCanopy, Trellis 360° Executive Decision Suite, and Trellis ResponseShield) are owned by Hortiki Plants LLC. Your science remains yours. Subject to payment, you own the substantive scientific content and filing package prepared for your engagement.
Disclaimer of warranties
THE SITE AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW. WE DISCLAIM IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent allowed by law, Hortiki Plants LLC is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or agency delays/denials, arising from your use of Trellis.
Maximum financial liability. Hortiki’s total liability for claims related to these Terms or a Trellis engagement will not exceed the fees you paid Hortiki for that engagement (or, for website-only claims, the fees you paid in the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the claim).
Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Hortiki Plants LLC and its founders, employees, and contractors from claims arising from your misuse of the platform, your violation of these Terms, your violation of third-party rights, or materials you upload.
Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland and applicable U.S. federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, unless a signed MSA says otherwise. Venue for disputes will be in courts located in Maryland or the District of Columbia, unless mandatory law requires otherwise.
Privacy Policy
Procurement-style detail also lives in the Buyer center security summary.
Who we are
Trellis™ is a Hortiki Innovations initiative owned and operated by Hortiki Plants LLC (Washington, DC / Maryland, USA). Privacy questions: info@trelliscompliance.co.
Information we collect and how we use it
We collect only what we need to run Trellis safely and deliver fixed-scope compliance engagements.
Website inquiries and quotes
When you contact us or use a quote flow, we collect details such as your name, work email, company, billing address (if provided), purchase intent, and project context. We use this to respond, prepare invoices or engagements, and send operational updates.
Accounts and sessions
If you create or use a client, expert, or admin account, we collect your email, name, role, login session details, and profile fields you provide. Sign-in uses a magic-link email and an HttpOnly session cookie.
Engagement materials
For an active sprint we may store intake answers, laboratory files (Certificates of Analysis, chemical identity files, sequence files), structured extraction results, draft and final dossiers, slide decks, Q&A messages, and expert audio briefings. These are confidential client engagement data.
Payments
Card purchases are processed by Stripe when configured. We do not store your full card number. ACH / invoice purchases may be handled through our quote tool and Hortiki’s books.
Expert payouts
Expert compensation is paid via Wise. We store only the Wise email or tag the expert provides — not bank account numbers.
Who can see engagement files
- You (the client account on the engagement)
- The assigned expert for that sprint (independent contractor)
- Trellis admin for assignment, quality release, and support
We do not sell your personal information or your laboratory files.
Vendors (sub-processors)
- Cloudflare (hosting, D1, R2, KV, Functions, optional Workers AI)
- Stripe (payments, when enabled)
- Email delivery provider for magic links and operational mail (when configured)
- Wise (expert payouts; expert’s Wise identifier only)
International transfers and security
Primary infrastructure runs on Cloudflare and related cloud services, with Hortiki operations connected to the United States. We use HTTPS in transit; Cloudflare documents AES-256 encryption at rest for D1. No internet transmission is 100% secure.
Retention
Account and engagement records are kept while your engagement is active and for a reasonable period afterward for delivery, revisions, support, and legal/accounting retention. Default working retention after close is about 90 days for vault files unless a signed agreement says otherwise.
Breach notice
If we confirm a security incident that affects your personal data or confidential engagement files, we will notify your named contact without undue delay and within 72 hours of confirmation.
Your rights
You can ask to access, correct, or delete your personal data. Write to info@trelliscompliance.co. We typically respond within 30 days.
Children
Trellis is a B2B professional service. It is not directed to children under 16.
Data privacy & AI processing
Data Privacy & AI Processing Clause:
Trellis processes customer data using secure automated data extraction scripts and private API inference hosted on enterprise cloud edge infrastructure (including Cloudflare Workers AI). Customer uploads, lab reports, and generated outputs are encrypted in transit and at rest, processed in isolated server environments, and never used to train public or foundational third-party AI models.
Automated output can be incomplete or incorrect. Low-confidence fields are flagged for human review. Experts and clients must review flagged and material fields before relying on a deliverable.
Optional third-party AI usage
Trellis provides resources for your personal use of third-party AI tools—such as suggested prompts and educational materials—solely as a convenience. Trellis does not advocate, endorse, or mandate the use of third-party AI tools. Public AI models may store, log, or train on submitted text depending on your third-party account settings. Trellis advocates caution when sharing your information with third-party AI tools (such as, but not limited to, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, and other large language models), and strongly recommends that you do not share proprietary or confidential information with these tools. If you choose to use these tools, you do so entirely at your own risk, and agree not to hold Trellis liable for any third-party AI data privacy breaches, IP leakage, output inaccuracies, or other harms that may occur.