NonCommercial Terms
Detailed definitions of commercial vs. non-commercial use, the $150/mo incidental revenue threshold, and permitted activities.
Last Updated: 2026-03-24 --- ## TL;DR - **DO** use MangaBaka data for personal projects, education, research, and open-source work. - **DO** use it in ad-supported content (blogs, videos, podcasts) as long as the data isn't the primary content. - **OK** if your project earns **$150/month or less**. That's under the incidental revenue threshold. - **DO NOT** sell, license, or paywall MangaBaka data, or use it to build a commercial product. - **DO NOT** use it to train AI/ML models for commercial purposes. Personal tinkering and research is fine. Just don't ship it in a commercial product. _This summary is for convenience only. The full terms below are legally binding._ --- These Supplementary Terms clarify the meaning of "NonCommercial" as it applies to the use of MangaBaka Data licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). These terms are intended to supplement, not replace, the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. In the event of a conflict between these Supplementary Terms and the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 legal code, the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 legal code governs. These Supplementary Terms apply to all MangaBaka Data obtained through the MangaBaka API, database downloads, or any other means. Definitions used here carry the same meaning as in the [Data License](/about/data-license). --- ## 1. Definition of Commercial Use For the purposes of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license as applied to MangaBaka Data, **"commercial use"** means any use that is primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation. The following activities are considered commercial use, regardless of whether revenue is actually generated: ### 1.1 Direct Monetization - Selling, licensing, or sublicensing access to MangaBaka Data, whether in raw, modified, or derived form. - Bundling MangaBaka Data with a product or service that is sold, rented, or offered for a fee. - Offering MangaBaka Data behind a paywall, subscription, or premium tier. ### 1.2 Indirect Monetization - Using MangaBaka Data as a primary driver of user engagement in an application, website, or service that generates revenue through advertising, sponsorships, or affiliate links, where such revenue exceeds the Incidental Revenue Threshold defined in Section 2. - Using MangaBaka Data to attract users to a platform where those users are then monetized through upselling, premium features, or paid conversions. ### 1.3 Corporate and Organizational Use - Use of MangaBaka Data by or on behalf of a for-profit entity for any purpose, including internal operations such as market research, competitive analysis, product development, or business intelligence. - Use of MangaBaka Data by a non-profit entity for revenue-generating activities (e.g., selling merchandise, operating paid services) that exceed the Incidental Revenue Threshold. ### 1.4 Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (Commercial) - Using MangaBaka Data to train, fine-tune, evaluate, validate, or otherwise develop machine learning or artificial intelligence models that are directly or indirectly incorporated into commercial products or services. - Using MangaBaka Data to generate training datasets, benchmarks, or evaluation sets for commercially deployed machine learning systems. - Using MangaBaka Data as input to AI systems that produce commercially distributed outputs. Note: Personal experimentation, academic research, and non-commercial tinkering with ML/AI using MangaBaka Data is **not** commercial use. See Section 3 for permitted activities. ### 1.5 Data Brokering - Aggregating MangaBaka Data with other datasets for sale or commercial distribution. - Providing MangaBaka Data as part of a data feed, API, or data-as-a-service offering to third parties for compensation. - Redistributing MangaBaka Data through any channel where the recipient pays, directly or indirectly, for access. --- ## 2. Incidental Revenue Threshold Use of MangaBaka Data in a project, application, or service that generates **gross revenue of $150 USD per month or less** from all sources (including advertising, donations, sponsorships, affiliate links, and any other form of compensation) is not considered commercial use, provided that: - The project is operated by an individual or a team of no more than five people. - MangaBaka Data is not the sole or primary content of the project. - The revenue is incidental to the project's purpose and is used to offset operating costs (such as hosting, domain registration, and infrastructure). - The project complies with all other provisions of the Data License and these Supplementary Terms. If a project's revenue exceeds $150 USD per month in any calendar month, all use of MangaBaka Data in that project is considered commercial use from that point forward, unless and until a commercial license is obtained from MangaBaka. --- ## 3. Activities That Are NOT Commercial Use The following activities are expressly permitted under the NonCommercial terms and are not considered commercial use: ### 3.1 Personal Use - Using MangaBaka Data for personal manga tracking, collection management, or recommendation purposes. - Building personal tools, scripts, or applications that consume MangaBaka Data for your own use. ### 3.2 Educational and Academic Use - Using MangaBaka Data in coursework, academic research, theses, dissertations, or scholarly publications. - Using MangaBaka Data in classroom instruction or educational workshops. - Publishing research findings that reference or analyze MangaBaka Data in academic venues, including conferences and journals. ### 3.3 Community and Open Source Projects - Using MangaBaka Data in free, open-source projects that do not generate revenue exceeding the Incidental Revenue Threshold. - Sharing or redistributing MangaBaka Data within community forums, wikis, or collaborative projects, provided attribution is given and the ShareAlike condition is maintained. ### 3.4 Journalism and Commentary - Referencing, quoting, or analyzing MangaBaka Data in news articles, blog posts, reviews, videos, podcasts, or other editorial content, even if the publication is ad-supported, provided MangaBaka Data is not the primary content of the publication. --- ## 4. When In Doubt If you are unsure whether your intended use qualifies as commercial, you should either: - [Contact us](/about) to request a determination. - Assume the use is commercial and seek a commercial license. MangaBaka will respond to inquiries about commercial use classification within a reasonable timeframe and will not unreasonably withhold permission for borderline cases that serve the manga community. --- ## 5. Commercial Licensing If your use of MangaBaka Data falls under the definition of commercial use, you must obtain a separate commercial license from MangaBaka before proceeding. Commercial licensing is available on a pay-what-you-want basis through our [commercial pricing page](/about/pricing), managed through [OpenCollective](https://opencollective.com/mangabaka/donate?interval=month). We suggest around 2% of your gross monthly revenue as a contribution. The pricing page has a full suggestion table. All commercial licensing revenue is publicly visible on our [finances page](/finances). Revenue is used to fund hosting, infrastructure, development, and data moderation. --- ## 6. Enforcement MangaBaka reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of these Supplementary Terms. If MangaBaka determines that your use of MangaBaka Data constitutes commercial use without a valid commercial license, MangaBaka may: - Request that you cease the commercial use or obtain a commercial license. - Suspend or terminate your access to the MangaBaka API and database downloads. - Pursue any legal remedies available under applicable law. MangaBaka will make reasonable efforts to contact you and provide an opportunity to cure any violation before taking enforcement action, except in cases of willful or egregious violations. --- ## 7. Relationship to CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 These Supplementary Terms are intended to clarify the application of the NonCommercial element of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license to MangaBaka Data. They do not expand or restrict the rights granted by the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license beyond what is permitted by its legal code. The CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 legal code remains the governing license for MangaBaka Data. These Supplementary Terms serve as MangaBaka's published guidance on how it interprets and applies the NonCommercial condition. In any legal proceeding, these Supplementary Terms may be presented as evidence of MangaBaka's intent regarding the scope of the NonCommercial condition. --- ## 8. Changes to These Supplementary Terms MangaBaka reserves the right to modify these Supplementary Terms at any time. Changes will be indicated by updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this document. Your continued use of MangaBaka Data after changes are posted means you accept of the modified Supplementary Terms.