Terms and Conditions of Use

Welcome to Ko-fi.com. This page tells you the terms on which you may use our website and platform www.Ko-fi.com, whether as registered user or guest. Please read these terms of use carefully. By using the site, you accept the terms of use and agree to comply with them. If you don't accept them, you must not use the site.

Ko-fi.com is a site operated by Ko-fi Labs Limited (“We”, “Us”, “Our”, “Ko-fi”). We are a UK Limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 11087704.

To contact us, please email hello@ko-fi.com or reach out to us via the Help Portal on our site.

Terms

Description of Service

Ko-fi.com is a platform, it is not a financial institution, merchant, creditor, charity, advisor or broker of any kind. Ko-fi is designed to allow a Creator (see below definition) to register and customise a page such as www.ko-fi.com/PageName. Creators can customise the page with images, text and video and use the page to facilitate the acceptance of monetary Donations (“Donations”), the sale of commissions (“Commissions”), products (the “Ko-fi Shop”), Memberships (“Memberships”) and other forms of Creator content which shall be collectively referred to as “Creator Content”. Supporters are able to follow, donate, purchase or subscribe to receive Creator Content.

In a Nutshell
We develop a community for Creators to sell Creator Content, receive messages and Donations from Supporters.

Acceptance of Terms  

By accessing this platform, you are agreeing to be bound by these terms of use and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws.

You are also agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of the services you connect your Ko-fi account with such as PayPal, Stripe, YouTube and Twitch.

If you do not agree with any of these terms, you are prohibited from using or accessing this site. The materials contained in this platform are protected by applicable copyright and trademark law.

In a Nutshell
By using Ko-fi.com you agree to these terms.

Changes to These Terms and our site

We may amend these terms from time to time.  We will notify you of any substantial changes.  Every time you wish to use our site, please check these terms to ensure you understand the terms that apply at that time. These terms were last updated in February 2024.

We may also update and change our site from time to time to reflect changes to subscriptions, Memberships, different features, our users' needs, changes in the law, regulatory requirements and our business priorities. We will give you reasonable notice of any major changes.

In a Nutshell
We can decide to change our terms and our site whenever we decide to update them.  We will let you know about any major changes.


Disclaimer

The materials on Ko-fi's platform are provided "as is". Ko-fi makes no warranties, representations or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, and hereby disclaims and negates all other warranties, including without limitation, implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of intellectual property or other violation of rights including without limitation in respect of: (i) the materials provided on Ko-fi’s platform; and (ii) all transactions in relation to Creator Content, Donations, Memberships or any other type of good or service. Further, Ko-fi does not warrant or make any representations concerning the accuracy, likely results, or reliability of the materials on its website or the contents of any sites linked to this site. Ko-fi does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or correctness of user-generated content. Ko-fi does not explicitly or implicitly condone or support any message or claim made by any of its users.

Ko-fi is a listing platform only and doesn't guarantee or endorse any Creator Content.  Any disputes, errors, revision requests or other such communication regarding Creator Content, Donations or Memberships should be made directly to the Creator. Ko-fi is not responsible for refunds or managing disputes resulting from any such transactions. All transactions relating to Creator Content, including without limitation, Commissions, Products, Donations, Memberships or any other form of purchase are with the relevant Creator only. Creators are listed as third-party sellers identified on the Ko-fi platform, which facilitates third party sales and transactions. Ko-fi does not identify itself as the seller of any goods or services as aforesaid, and buyers shall have no recourse against Ko-fi for any purchases of the same.

In a Nutshell
If you use Ko-fi.com it is at your own risk.

Acceptable Use for Creators

A Creator is defined as someone who registers a Ko-fi page or uses the Ko-fi platform in any way to solicit Donations, messages, post content and sell Creator Content or Memberships. As a Creator you are solely responsible for all text, images, videos, links and other content that you create, upload, post, publish or display using Ko-fi.

As a Creator, whenever you make use of a feature that allows you to upload content to our site, or to make contact with other users of our site, you warrant that you have the necessary authorisation to provide this information. You will be liable to us and indemnify us for any breach of that warranty. This means you will be responsible for any loss or damage we suffer as a result of your breach of warranty.

Any content you upload to our website will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. You retain all of your ownership rights in your content but you grant us and other users of our site a limited licence to use, store and copy that content and to distribute and make it available to third parties. We may use this content to improve our site and our business without liability to you.

You also grant us the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any content posted or uploaded by you to our site constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy.

We have the right to check and remove any content or posting you make on our site if, in our opinion, this is reasonably necessary to protect our business.

As a Creator you agree to become a data controller, personally responsible for the lawful processing of any information provided to you on Ko-fi, for example, email addresses of followers or names and addresses of purchasers of goods or services you sell on Ko-fi. You will only use information about Supporters (including but not limited to donors, followers, buyers, subscribers) to communicate with Supporters in relation to their interactions with you on Ko-fi and in a lawful manner. You must provide Supporters with a way to withdraw their consent for the processing of their information, delete their data from your records and observe all legal requirements for the processing of personal information made available to you by Ko-fi.

To register a ‘Creator’ account you must be a minimum of 18 years of age.

You are prohibited from using the Ko-fi platform, service or page in connection with any of the following;

  • Any activity in breach of our Content Guidelines, Copyright Guidelines, Content Guidance on Physical Items, Guidance on Using The NSFW Tag and any other guidelines we may publish from time to time (together, the Ko-fi Content Guidelines);  
  • Any activity that violates any law or governmental regulation industry requirements or money laundering regulation.
  • Anything prohibited by the payment providers connected to the platform such as PayPal Inc and Stripe. For the avoidance of doubt the acceptable use and prohibited activities can be found at
    https://www.paypal.com/en/webapps/mpp/ua/acceptableuse-full
    https://stripe.com/gb/prohibited-businesses
  • Content including but not limited to;
  • Adult or sexually explicit content including but not limited to:
    • Pornography, nudity and any other obscene content;  
    • Literature, imagery (including illustrative), videos, links to external sites or content containing such material; and
    • Sexual services such as prostitution, escorts, pay-per view, adult live chat features;
    • Content including links to and from the platform which is fraudulent, misleading, inaccurate or dishonest;
    • Violent or excessively gory content; and
    • Hate speech, intimidation or abuse of any kind targeting any individual, group or institution.
  • Abuse of any kind targeting any individual, group or institution.
  • Activity purposefully designed to harm the Creator in any way including financial harm with tactics such as chargebacks or fraudulent disputes;
  • Transactions for the sale of items or goods or services with the purpose of avoiding paying taxes;
  • Products or services that directly infringe or facilitate infringement upon the trademark, patent, copyright, trade secrets, or proprietary or privacy rights of any third party;
  • Raffles, lotteries, giveaways or games of chance where a fee is paid to enter and winners are selected at random;
  • Any other activity that Ko-fi may deem in its sole discretion to be unacceptable.
In a Nutshell
Do not use Ko-fi.com for Illegal or Adult content.
Only use Ko-fi.com in legal, genuine and positive ways.


Supporter Specific Terms

A Supporter is defined as any person or entity providing payments, Donations or messages to a Creator page or Commissioning a Creator. Ko-fi does not guarantee that any Creator page, goal, post, message or content of any kind is legitimate, accurate, truthful or lawful. It is always the responsibility of the Supporter to determine if they wish to support a Creator and they should only do so after seeking the appropriate financial, legal, tax or other professional advice where appropriate.    

To register as a ‘Supporter’ or use the Ko-fi platform in any way you must be a minimum of 18 years of age.

Some activities such as supporter messages are (by default) public and may be used by Ko-fi across the internal platform or other external websites, social media pages or other entities. To keep messages of support private you must choose the option marked ‘Private’ when using the Ko-fi support service. Even when ‘Private’ is chosen, personal details may still be shared by the Payments provider between the buyer and the seller depending upon the type of account held with the Payments provider. Find out more here

You are prohibited from using the Ko-fi platform, service and any page in connection with any of the following;

  • Any activity in breach of the Ko-fi Content Guidelines;  
  • Any activity that violates any law or governmental regulation industry requirements or money laundering regulation.
  • Anything prohibited by the payment providers connected to the platform such as PayPal Inc and Stripe. For the avoidance of doubt the acceptable use and prohibited activities can be found at
    https://www.paypal.com/en/webapps/mpp/ua/acceptableuse-full
    https://stripe.com/gb/prohibited-businesses
  • Content including but not limited to;
  • Adult or sexually explicit content including but not limited to:
    • Pornography, nudity and any other obscene content;  
    • Literature, imagery (including illustrative), videos, links to external sites or content containing such material; and
    • Sexual services such as prostitution, escorts, pay-per view, adult live chat features;
    • Content including links to and from the platform which is fraudulent, misleading, inaccurate or dishonest;
    • Violent or excessively gory content; and
    • Hate speech, intimidation or abuse of any kind targeting any individual, group or institution.
  • Abuse of any kind targeting any individual, group or institution;
  • Activity purposefully designed to harm the Creator in any way including financial harm with tactics such as chargebacks or fraudulent disputes;
  • Transactions for the sale of items or goods or services with the purpose of avoiding paying taxes;
  • Products or services that directly infringe or facilitate infringement upon the trademark, patent, copyright, trade secrets, or proprietary or privacy rights of any third party;
  • Any other activity that Ko-fi may deem in its sole discretion to be unacceptable.

We have the right to check and remove any content or posting you make on our site if, in our opinion, this is reasonably necessary to protect our business.

Ko-fi will not investigate or be held liable in any way for Donations given in error, refund requests or monetary disputes of any kind between the Creator and the Supporter.

In a Nutshell
Send Donations and messages to Ko-fi creators at your own risk.

Reporting Content

We want to keep our site safe for all users.  We have rules prohibiting illegal content and activity and content which is in breach of the Ko-fi Content Guidelines (see the sections titled “Acceptable Use For Creators” and “Supporter Specific Terms”).  If you spot any illegal content or activity (Illegal Content) on our site, or content which is in breach of the Ko-Fri Content Guidelines (Prohibited Content) please report it to Ko-fi, whether you are a Creator, Supporter or any other user of our site.  

In a Nutshell
Please help us keep Ko-fi a safe place.


How To Report Content

We have published instructions on our site which explain how you can report specific items of content which you think may be Illegal Content or Prohibited Content.  You will need to include the following information so that we can review the content and take the appropriate action:

  • an explanation of why you consider the content to be Illegal Content or Prohibited Content – please give enough information so that we can understand your reasons;
  • the page or pages which contain the content, and enough information so that we can tell which item you are referring to on the relevant page or pages; and
  • your name and email address – we are required by law to ask for this information to avoid abuse of the reporting mechanisms, however, you do not have to provide this information.  Please do provide this information if it is important to help us understand that the content is illegal.  But please do not provide it where it would put you at risk.

We will also ask you to confirm that your report is accurate.  This is to avoid abuse of the reporting mechanism.  If we discover that a user is repeatedly submitting unfounded complaints about Illegal Content or Prohibited Content, we may take appropriate action.  This may include suspending the user’s access to the site.

We will investigate all reports of Illegal Content and Prohibited Content, but we will prioritise investigating reports of the following types of Illegal Content (Priority Illegal Content):

  • Terrorism content;
  • Child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) content; and
  • Content which constitutes any of the following: harassment, stalking or abuse; hate offences; fraud; financial services violations; extreme pornography; unlawful supply of or guidance on taking drugs/psychoactive substances; firearms and other weapons; unlawful immigration and human trafficking; sharing private images/sextortion; sexual exploitation of adults; foreign interference; threats to kill; proceeds of crime; controlling or coercive behaviour).
In a Nutshell
If you submit a report to us about Illegal or Prohibited content, we will investigate it.  We will investigate certain types of illegal content as a priority.


We Also Check for Priority Illegal Content

As well as the reporting process, we also have systems and processes in place to check for Priority Illegal Content.  These may include automatic reviewing systems for images and text and may include human review.  We keep our systems and processes under review, to take account of emerging technologies.

In a Nutshell
We also use pro-active content checks for certain types of illegal content.


What We Do If We Become Aware Of Illegal Content

We have a legal duty to act if we become aware of any Illegal Content on our site, whether that is from a user report or from our own systems and processes.

If we become aware of Illegal Content we will take whatever actions we consider are necessary and/or appropriate, which may include:

  • removing or disabling access to the Illegal Content; and/or
  • suspending or terminating a user’s account or restricting their access to our site if we discover that a user is repeatedly submitting Illegal Content.

Where we take an action, we will write to the person who provided the Illegal Content to explain our decision.  We will provide details to the user of how they can challenge our decision.   Where we made the decision in response to a report, we will not reveal the identity of the reporter unless doing so is necessary to explain why the content was removed, for example where a rights holder reports a user infringing their intellectual property rights.

Where we have electronic contact details for the user who provided the report (if relevant), we will also write to them to explain our decision.  We will provide details to the user of how they can challenge our decision.

In a Nutshell
We will decide what to do about the content and we will let the relevant users know our decision.


Complaints

If you have a complaint about a decision we have made, you can raise the complaint with us by following the instructions in the notice we sent for the original decision. We will review your complaint and consider whether our decision should be reversed or remain in place.  We will try to resolve your complaint fairly.  

In a Nutshell
You can complain about a decision we made.


Creator Content

Creators can accept Commissions, solicit Donations and sell Products, Memberships or any other form of Creator Content (subject to applicable fees).

The contractual relationship entered into for any transaction in relation to Creator Content, Donations or Memberships shall be directly between the Creator and the Supporter or buyer. The Creator is responsible for supplying the relevant buyer with its own appropriate terms and conditions relating to any such sales of the Creator Content.

Ko-fi will not be a party to any agreements, discussions, disputes, demands or otherwise in relation to sales of Creator Content or Memberships or in relation to any solicited Donation, and will not be held responsible for any returns, damages, claims or loss arising from them.

In a Nutshell
Ko-fi is not a party to any transactions in relation to Creator Content, Donations, Memberships or any other type of good or service.


Payments

Ko-fi is not a payments provider. Payments are made directly from Supporters to Creators externally to Ko-fi using a third party payment provider (e.g. PayPal, Inc., and Stripe, Inc.).

By using Ko-fi you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of any third party payment providers associated with the Platform and they will be responsible for all matters relating to payment and use of your card details.

Only PayPal Australia Pty Ltd (“PayPal Australia”) is able to provide the PayPal services in Australia. Ko-fi is not an agent, representative, employee or Authorized Representative of PayPal, or PayPal Australia. PayPal Australia can be contacted at https://www.paypal.com/au/smarthelp/contact-us

Payment providers may display the personal details of your payments account depending upon your account type even when a Donation is marked ‘Private’. You should consult the payment provider directly and prior to using Ko-fi should you have any questions or concerns about the information displayed when making a payment.

In a Nutshell
Ko-fi facilitates transactions but is not a payments provider. You will be bound by third party provider terms too.


Fees

We reserve the right to change our fees and charge additional fees in the future for any type of transaction. We shall charge fees in relation to applicable subscriptions and transactions, as listed from time to time on our site. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you agree that Ko-fi does not identify itself as the seller of Creator Content, Memberships or any other goods or services, and that Ko-fi is not a party to any Donation solicited by a Creator. You agree that any purchases or Donations you make on our site are with Creators, who act as third-party sellers identified on the Ko-fi platform.

Creators may be required to pay fees for subscriptions – you will be notified of the subscription fees at the time of entering into your subscription. Please note that the type of subscription you choose may impact your transaction fees. Depending on subscription or type of transaction, Ko-fi may not take any fees, subject to us reserving the right to charge additional fees in the future for any type of subscription, transaction, purchase or donation.

For other types of subscription, transaction or any other Ko-fi feature, we may charge fees. All applicable transaction fees in relation to Creator Content, Donations, Memberships or any other goods or services, shall automatically be deducted from the relevant transaction by one of our third-party payment providers.

In a Nutshell
We may charge fees for any Ko-fi feature. All fees will be as advertised on our site from time to time and/or as specified for each Ko-fi feature.

Taxes

It is your responsibility to determine what, if any, taxes apply to the Donations, Subscriptions and Sales you receive through your use of the services. It is solely your responsibility to assess, collect, report or remit the correct tax, if any, to the appropriate tax authority.

In a Nutshell
Taxes are your responsibility, we don’t collect or pay taxes on your behalf or give advice about tax implications of using Ko-fi.

Linking to the Site and Scraping

You may not scrape content from this site and repost such content, either manually or automatically, without Ko-fi’s prior written consent. This site must not be framed on any other site without our prior written permission. We reserve the right to withdraw linking, scraping and framing permission without notice. If you wish to make any use of material on this website other than that set out above, please address your request to info@ko-fi.com. Linking to this site should only be for the purpose of promoting a specific page as a Creator and should follow the Creator Specific Terms outlined above. Bots or other automatic means must not be used to interact with our website.

In a Nutshell
Don’t steal or scrape our data. Not cool!

Links to External Sites

Ko-fi has not reviewed the sites linked to its Internet platform and is not responsible for the contents of any such linked site. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Ko-fi of the site. Use of any such linked platform is at the user’s own risk. We do not have control over the contents of those sites or resources.

If you are concerned that a page on our site is linking to, or is linked from, external Illegal Content (External Illegal Content), please report the page to us (see above, How To Report Content).  We will investigate the report to decide what action to take.

If the page on our site is linking to External Illegal Content, we will deal with the situation as if the External Illegal Content appeared on the page itself.

If the page on our site:

  • is being linked to from External Illegal Content; or
  • is linking to, or is being linked to from external content which would be Prohibited Content if it appeared on our site;

we may take whatever actions we consider are necessary or appropriate.  These could include:

  • removing or disabling access to the content; and/or
  • suspending or terminating a user’s account or restricting their access to our site; or
  • no action, where we consider that to be appropriate.

Please see our policy titled “What Does “Page Unpublished” Mean and What Should I Do?” for more information.

In a Nutshell
Click links from Ko-fi.com to other sites at your own risk.

Account Details

If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party.

We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.

If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your user identification code or password, you must promptly notify us at data@ko-fi.com.

In a Nutshell
Keep your Ko-fi account details safe.

Personal Data

We will use your personal information only in accordance with our Privacy Policy (available at https://ko-fi.com/home/privacy). Our Privacy Policy describes how we handle the information you provide to us when you use our site. You understand that through your use of our site you consent to the collection and use of your personal information as set forth in the Privacy Policy.

You must not upload or use another individual’s personal information without the consent or approval of that individual.  

Any transaction facilitated by Ko-fi is paid by the Supporter to the Creator via PayPal or Stripe. Ko-fi has no control over the information that passes to PayPal or Stripe nor the communication or display of names or personal information on its website that arise from the Supporter’s payment made via PayPal or Stripe. For details of how Stripe or PayPal may use your personal information, you should refer to their respective privacy policies.

Ko-fi and Creators using Ko-fi process Supporters (including but not limited to followers, donors, subscribers and buyers) personal data and as such are considered separate and independent data controllers of Supporters personal data. Each party is responsible for the personal information entered on Ko-fi. Both Creators and Supporters acknowledge Ko-fi will not be held responsible for any disclosure or misuse of personal data by a Creator. By using this service Creators hereby indemnify Ko-fi for any expenses, damages or fines incurred as a result of your use of the personal information obtained from the use of Ko-fi.  

In a Nutshell
We will only use your personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Creators (not Ko-fi) are responsible for how they use Supporters data.

‍‍

Limitation of Liability

We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so.

If you are a Creator:

  • We exclude all implied conditions, warranties, representations or other terms that may apply to our site or any content on it.
  • We will not be liable to you for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with:
    • use of or inability to use, our site; or
    • use of or reliance on any content displayed on our site.
  • In particular, we will not be liable for:
    • loss of profits, sales, business, or revenue;
    • business interruption;
    • loss of anticipated savings;
    • loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation; or
    • any indirect or consequential loss or damage.‍

If you are a Supporter:

  • You agree not to use our site for any commercial or business purposes, and we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.
In a Nutshell
You can’t claim damages from us for any use of our website.

Bugs or Viruses

We do not guarantee that our site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses and you are solely responsible for securing and backing up your content.

You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform to access our website. You should use your own virus protection software.

You must not misuse our website by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

In a Nutshell
Keep your own content and devices safe from bugs and viruses and do not introduce them to our website.

Trademarks and Copyright

Our trademarks and trade dress may not be used in connection with any good or service without the prior written consent of Ko-fi.

We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our site, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our site for your personal use and you may draw the attention of others to content posted on our site. You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.

Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on our site must always be acknowledged.

If you print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

In a Nutshell
Please do not abuse or steal our brand.

Revisions and Errata

The materials appearing on Ko-fi's platform could include technical, typographical, or photographic errors. Ko-fi does not warrant that any of the materials on its platform are accurate, complete, or current. Ko-fi may make changes to the materials contained on its platform at any time without notice. Ko-fi does not, however, make any commitment to update the materials.

In a Nutshell
Some content on Ko-fi maybe incorrect, but we aren’t responsible for that.

Termination

You are required to ensure that all persons who access our website through your internet connection are aware of these terms of use and other applicable terms and conditions, and that they comply with them.

If you wish to terminate your Ko-fi account, you should delete your account by following the steps on this page https://ko-fi.com/Manage/DeleteAccount.

Creators:

Ko-fi may terminate or suspend any and all services and/or your Ko-fi Creator account immediately, where we have a legitimate reason for doing so, including without limitation if:

  • you fail to pay any amount due for your Creator subscription account on the due date for payment and remain in default not less than 30 days after being notified in writing to make such payment; or
  • you commit a material breach of these terms of use.

If we terminate or suspend your subscription where you are not at fault, we shall provide you with a refund of your subscription fees for the remainder of your subscription period.

If you have signed up to a subscription, you can find information about your cancellation rights on our site. You will need to cancel your subscription in accordance with these cancellation rights to stop your recurring payments for the relevant subscription. Merely deleting your account without cancelling your subscription will not stop these payments.


Supporters:

Ko-fi may terminate or suspend any and all services and/or your Ko-fi Supporter account immediately, where we have a legitimate reason for doing so, including without limitation if you breach these terms of use.

Upon termination of your account, your right to use Ko-fi.com will immediately cease. All provisions of the terms of use shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.

All provisions of the Terms which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.

In a Nutshell
We can decide to stop providing the service to you or to everyone if we decide to.


Governing Law

These terms of use, their subject matter and their formation (and any non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by English law. You and Ko-fi agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.

In a Nutshell
Any legal matters will be dealt with in the English courts.