Field Case Confidentiality & Engineering Use Agreement

1. Parties and electronic acceptance

This Field Case Confidentiality & Engineering Use Agreement (the “Agreement”) is between DendroSeal, Inc., a Delaware corporation based in Tracy, California, United States (“DendroSeal”), and the individual and organization identified in a Field Case submission (“Submitter” or “Customer”). By checking the acceptance box, typing an electronic signature and submitting a Field Case request, Submitter agrees to this Agreement and confirms authority to bind the identified organization concerning the submission.

Before the full form is shown, DendroSeal sends a short-lived one-time code to the submitted business email address. Successful entry of that code confirms control of the email address only. It does not prove the Submitter's identity, employment, organization, role, telephone number or authority. The Field Case form therefore requires organization, role and telephone information, and DendroSeal may manually verify the organization, email domain, role, telephone and authority before allocating engineering resources or accepting a separate engagement.

2. Purpose of the relationship

The Field Case channel allows a person or organization, including one that has not purchased a DendroSeal product or service, to submit a condition for initial, non-emergency review. The primary purpose is to understand the field reality, identify missing evidence, assess whether DendroSeal may be able to help and communicate possible next steps (the “Case Assistance Purpose”).

DendroSeal will not treat submission as an invitation to advertise the Customer, display the site or convert the Field Case into promotional material. Any external use is governed only by Section 12.

3. DendroSeal Field Case Confidentiality Standard

DendroSeal voluntarily applies a professional-care confidentiality structure to Field Cases: information is received for a defined assistance purpose; collection, access, use and disclosure are limited to what is reasonably necessary; access is based on role and need to know; records are safeguarded; and external publication requires a separate authorization.

This structure is informed by professional engineering ethics and core medical-confidentiality principles. DendroSeal is not a healthcare provider, Field Case information is not medical information, and this Agreement does not claim that HIPAA, physician-patient privilege or any medical evidentiary privilege applies. It creates the contractual confidentiality duties stated here. It also does not, by itself, create an engineering-client engagement or an engineer-client evidentiary privilege.

4. Protected information and case records

Contact details, operating data, descriptions, photographs, videos, audio, drawings, inspection reports, measurements, metadata and related files supplied for a Field Case are “Customer Source Materials.” Customer Source Materials preserved in submitted form are “Original Evidence.” The case number, submission record, communications, expert annotations, analysis and retained evidence chain are “Field Case Records.”

Customer Source Materials, the existence and substance of the request, and Field Case Records that identify or could reasonably be linked to the Customer, site, personnel, equipment or confidential technical process are “Confidential Field Case Information.” All submitted Field Case information is designated confidential by default. The term does not include information DendroSeal can document was lawfully public without breach, already lawfully known without restriction, independently developed without use of Confidential Field Case Information, or lawfully received from another source without a duty of confidentiality.

5. No emergency service or engineering engagement

The channel is not monitored or designed for emergency response. Submitter must use the asset owner's emergency procedures and appropriate local resources for fire, explosion, uncontrolled hazardous release, imminent structural failure, injury or other immediate danger.

Submission does not obligate DendroSeal to accept, investigate or respond to a case and does not create an engineering, contractor, consultant, professional-client, sales, warranty, fiduciary or other service relationship. Any site visit, construction plan, engineering opinion, proposal or field work requires a separate written agreement. The confidentiality duties in this Agreement nevertheless apply to an accepted submission. An intake response must not be treated as authorization to operate, continue a leak, bypass owner procedures or perform construction.

6. Submitter authority and safe collection

Submitter represents that: (a) Submitter is at least 18 years old; (b) information is accurate to the best of Submitter's knowledge and estimates or uncertainties are identified; (c) Submitter is authorized to provide the materials; (d) submission does not violate ownership, confidentiality, privacy, employment, site-security or intellectual-property rights; and (e) identifiable people appearing in a file are included with lawful authority or appropriate permission.

Submitter must not upload passwords, payment-card data, government identifiers, protected health information, classified information, weapons data, export-controlled technical data, controlled aircraft-maintenance or defense-program data, nuclear safeguards information, or highly sensitive facility-security details. Nuclear and defense Field Cases, controlled aircraft-maintenance or defense-program matters, and any case requiring those prohibited categories must use a separately approved secure channel arranged with DendroSeal before technical details are sent. Submitter must not create risk, enter a restricted area or interfere with operations to collect evidence.

7. Customer ownership and limited authorization

As between the parties, Customer or the applicable original owner retains ownership of Customer Source Materials. This Agreement does not transfer ownership of original photographs, videos, audio, drawings, reports, measurements or raw metadata to DendroSeal.

Customer gives DendroSeal a limited, non-exclusive authorization to receive, copy, preserve, format, transcode, translate, secure, analyze, annotate, compare and internally display Customer Source Materials only as reasonably necessary for the Case Assistance Purpose and the Protected Engineering Operations in Section 8. This authorization does not include external advertising, marketing, sales, fundraising, investor materials, public demonstrations, patent disclosure, publication or external training use.

8. Protected Engineering Operations

DendroSeal may use the minimum information reasonably necessary to administer and secure the case; consult authorized experts; preserve provenance and evidence integrity; maintain safety, quality, consent, audit and legal records; prevent misuse; defend legal rights; and comply with law. DendroSeal may also conduct protected internal case comparison, expert-feedback learning, validation, correction and improvement of its engineering methods and systems (“Protected Engineering Operations”).

For Protected Engineering Operations beyond the immediate review, DendroSeal will use generalized, segregated or appropriately de-identified information where reasonably practicable. DendroSeal will not place identifiable Customer Source Materials in a public training dataset or permit an independent third party to use them to train or improve that party's general-purpose model or product. Protected Engineering Operations are internal engineering uses; they are not publication rights.

9. Need-to-know disclosure and safeguards

DendroSeal will limit access to personnel and authorized experts who need the information for a permitted purpose. Professional advisers and infrastructure providers may receive only what is reasonably necessary and must be subject to applicable professional duties or contractual restrictions appropriate to their role. DendroSeal will use reasonable administrative, technical and organizational safeguards, including access control, protected storage and activity records appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.

DendroSeal may disclose the minimum necessary information when required by law, court order, legal process or regulatory authority, or when reasonably necessary to prevent a serious and imminent threat to health, safety, property or the environment. Where legally permitted and reasonably practicable, DendroSeal will notify Customer before a compelled disclosure and cooperate in seeking appropriate protection.

10. DendroSeal Technology and Case-Derived Engineering Knowledge

DendroSeal retains all rights in its pre-existing and independently developed DendroSeal ISB technology, devices, frameworks, software, taxonomies, templates, calculations, methods, systems, trade secrets, patents and know-how (“DendroSeal Technology”).

“Case-Derived Engineering Knowledge” means generalized, aggregated or appropriately de-identified facts, patterns, relationships, engineering lessons, failure modes, risk indicators, taxonomies, retrieval structures, expert corrections, calculations, model improvements, rules, methods, system improvements and Living Knowledge created through DendroSeal's own analysis, comparison, validation or expert review. It excludes Customer Source Materials, Customer trade secrets, Customer-specific analysis records and any output that identifies or could reasonably be used to reconstruct the Customer, facility, confidential process or specific Field Case.

DendroSeal may generate, retain, combine, validate and use Case-Derived Engineering Knowledge in Protected Engineering Operations. As between the parties and to the extent permitted by law, DendroSeal owns that Case-Derived Engineering Knowledge and improvements to DendroSeal Technology. This ownership is not a right to disclose the Customer's source reality. “Derived Knowledge” may not be used as a label to avoid the confidentiality duties in this Agreement.

11. Original Evidence integrity and separation

DendroSeal will preserve Original Evidence in its submitted form subject to documented retention and lawful deletion. DendroSeal will not overwrite, crop, annotate, redact, enhance or transcode Original Evidence. Working copies, translations, annotations, excerpts, redactions, de-identified copies and any later public derivative must be maintained as separate, traceable records linked to Original Evidence. DendroSeal may use checksums, manifests, version records and access history to support provenance and traceability.

12. No publication or marketing right from submission

The Field Case intake form does not request or collect permission to publish, advertise or market a submitted case. Submission, case review, silence or continued communication does not grant that permission.

If DendroSeal later wishes to use selected material for a website, marketing, sales, fundraising, investor presentation, public demonstration, external training, technical publication, patent disclosure or another external purpose, it must obtain a separate, case-specific written release or rely on a controlling written contract that expressly permits that use. The release should identify the Case Number, selected files or derivatives, proposed captions or context, permitted purposes and channels, whether Customer identity may appear, required de-identification and any agreed term or withdrawal conditions. Customer may decline without affecting the original intake or DendroSeal's confidentiality duties.

Any authorized “De-identified Public Derivative” must be a separate edited copy. Review must address customer and plant names, logos, faces, identifiable voices, precise locations, GPS and EXIF data, identifying dates, equipment and line numbers, nameplates, badges, vehicle plates, reports, diagrams, supplier labels and contextual combinations that could reasonably identify a person, Customer, facility or confidential process. DendroSeal will not intentionally re-identify information represented as de-identified.

13. Retention, deletion and account closure

DendroSeal may retain Field Case Records only for as long as reasonably necessary for the Case Assistance Purpose, Protected Engineering Operations, safety and quality records, evidence-chain integrity, security, audit, legal or contractual obligations, dispute prevention or defense and intellectual-property protection. Retention is subject to periodic review, a documented retention schedule, legal holds and limited backup cycles. Identifying information should be minimized, deleted or appropriately de-identified when no longer reasonably necessary.

Closing a current or future Customer account ends platform access but does not, by itself, delete a Field Case. Account closure, source-record deletion and deletion of Case-Derived Engineering Knowledge are separate matters. Lawfully created Case-Derived Engineering Knowledge already generalized, validated or incorporated into DendroSeal Technology need not be reversed or “unlearned,” provided it no longer identifies the Customer or discloses protected source content.

14. Security incidents

DendroSeal will maintain a process to assess suspected unauthorized access to or disclosure of Confidential Field Case Information, take reasonable containment and corrective measures and provide notice where required by applicable law or a controlling written agreement. No storage or transmission system can be guaranteed completely secure.

15. Privacy rights

Personal information is processed as described in the Privacy Notice. Depending on applicable law, a person may request access, correction or deletion of personal information or withdraw consent for an optional use. Requests remain subject to lawful safety, recordkeeping, legal, contractual and intellectual-property restrictions. DendroSeal will explain a material denial or limitation where required.

16. Electronic records; governing law; precedence

Submitter consents to electronic records and signatures. DendroSeal may retain the agreement version, case reference, typed signature, acceptance time and related technical records as evidence of acceptance.

To the extent permitted by law, this Agreement is governed by California law, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. A separately signed MSA, NDA, project agreement or publication release controls over conflicting website terms for its stated subject. A later website version applies only to later submissions unless the parties separately agree otherwise. If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain effective.

17. Contact

Privacy, Field Case and agreement questions may be sent to contact@dendroseal.com. DendroSeal is based in Tracy, California, United States. Include the applicable DendroSeal Case Number when available.