Effective Date: Mar 15, 2026
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of Hackboard, a keyboard customization application for macOS, developed and provided by:
Farbe Software UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
Brauhausstr. 16
13086 Berlin, Germany
Managing Director (Geschäftsführer): Arndt Haßel-Kurz
Commercial Register: Amtsgericht Charlottenburg, HRB 277917
Email: contact@farbe-software.com
(Information provided in accordance with § 5 DDG.)
These Terms form a binding agreement between you and Farbe Software UG (haftungsbeschränkt) ("Company", "we", "us") regarding your download and use of Hackboard.
3.1. These Terms apply to all Users who download, install, or use Hackboard.
3.2. By downloading, installing, or using Hackboard, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not download, install, or use the Software.
3.3. If you are under 18 years of age, you must have the consent of a parent or legal guardian before using Hackboard. These Terms impose obligations (including licence restrictions and data processing consent) that are not purely legally advantageous, so the agreement of a parent or legal guardian is required under German law (§ 107 BGB). By using the Software, you represent that you have obtained this consent. For the separate age threshold for data processing consent (16 years), see our Privacy Policy, Section 8.
4.1. Hackboard is currently provided as a beta version. The Software is under active development and may contain bugs, errors, incomplete features, or instability.
4.2. Elevated System Privileges. Hackboard and its subcomponents require elevated macOS system permissions to perform keyboard remapping. You should review and understand these permissions before granting them, and trust only applications you have authorized to access such sensitive system capabilities.
4.3. We make no guarantees regarding the availability, uptime, performance, or reliability of the Software during the beta period. The Software may not function as expected at all times.
4.4. We reserve the right to modify, update, suspend, or discontinue the beta program or any part of the Software. Where reasonably possible, we will provide at least 14 days' notice before suspending or discontinuing the beta program.
4.5. We may revoke a User's access to the beta for objective reasons, including but not limited to misuse of the Software, violation of these Terms, or discontinuation of the beta program. Where reasonably possible, we will provide notice before revoking access.
4.6. Feedback. You may voluntarily submit feedback, suggestions, bug reports, or ideas regarding Hackboard through the in-app feedback dialog or other channels we provide. For details on what data is collected when you submit feedback, see our Privacy Policy, Section 2.2.
You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, modify, and incorporate your feedback for the purpose of developing and improving Hackboard. This licence applies to the ideas and suggestions contained in your feedback — any personal data included in feedback submissions is processed and retained in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
4.7. You acknowledge that beta software is inherently experimental. You should not rely on Hackboard for critical workflows without accepting the associated risks.
5.1. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, the Company grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to download, install, and use Hackboard on macOS devices for personal and professional use during the beta period.
5.2. You may not:
5.3. This licence may be revoked if you materially breach these Terms and fail to cure the breach within 14 days of being notified. Upon revocation, you must cease all use of the Software and delete all copies in your possession.
5.4. You agree to use Hackboard in compliance with all applicable export control laws, regulations, and sanctions, including those of the United States, the European Union, and your country of residence.
6.1. Hackboard incorporates a modified version of Karabiner Elements, an open-source keyboard customization tool originally created by Fumihiko Takayama. Karabiner Elements is licensed under the Unlicense (a public-domain-equivalent licence) that permits unrestricted use, modification, and redistribution.
6.2. Hackboard may also incorporate other open-source software components. A list of open-source components, their respective licences, and attribution notices is available in the NOTICES file bundled with the application.
6.3. The Company's modifications, enhancements, and additions to Karabiner Elements and any other open-source components are proprietary and subject to these Terms. The original, unmodified open-source code remains available under its respective original licence from its upstream source.
6.4. For the avoidance of doubt, your rights under applicable open-source licences apply only to the original, unmodified upstream code — not to the Company's modifications or to Hackboard as a whole.
7.1. Hackboard collects crash reports and error logs to help us identify and fix bugs, improve software quality, and ensure stability. This data includes, but is not limited to, crash stack traces, error messages, your operating system version, and your Hackboard version. For the complete list of data collected, see our Privacy Policy, Section 2.1.
7.2. Crash reporting is optional and disabled by default. You may enable or disable crash reporting at any time in the Hackboard settings. Enabling crash reporting constitutes consent to the processing described in this Section and in the Privacy Policy. Hackboard is fully functional without crash reporting enabled. Enabling crash reporting is a voluntary contribution to help improve the Software — it is not a condition of your licence and does not constitute counter-performance for the provision of the Software.
7.3. Crash reports do not intentionally collect personal data such as your name, email address, or the content of your keyboard configurations. However, crash data may incidentally contain technical identifiers. We process any such data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
7.4. For full details on what data is collected, how it is processed, stored, and your rights as a data subject under the GDPR, please refer to our Privacy Policy.
8.1. Hackboard and all associated intellectual property — including but not limited to the Software's source code (excluding open-source components), design, user interface, name, logo, and branding — are and remain the property of the Company. All rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved.
8.2. Your Configurations belong to you. The Company claims no ownership, licence, or other rights over Configurations you create within Hackboard. Your Configurations are stored locally on your device and are not transmitted to us (except to the extent that crash data may incidentally contain fragments of configuration data, as described in Section 7).
8.3. You may not use the Hackboard name, logo, or branding for any purpose without our prior written consent, except to refer to the Software in an accurate, non-misleading manner (e.g., in reviews, discussions, or compatibility statements).
9.1. Hackboard is provided free of charge during the beta period. No payment or other counter-performance is required. Under German law, the provider of a gratuitous benefit is liable only for fraudulently concealed defects (§ 524 BGB).
9.2. Accordingly, the Company warrants only that Hackboard has not been provided with fraudulently concealed defects (arglistig verschwiegene Mängel). Beyond this, and to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, no warranties are given — whether express or implied — regarding the Software's fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, accuracy, or uninterrupted operation.
9.2a. To the extent that §§ 327 ff. BGB (digital content provisions) apply to any aspect of the Software's provision, the Company's update obligations under § 327f BGB remain unaffected by this Section.
9.3. The Company does not warrant that the Software will meet your specific requirements, operate without interruption, or be free of errors, bugs, or security vulnerabilities. This is inherent to the nature of beta software.
9.4. This Section 9 does not affect any mandatory statutory warranty rights that cannot be excluded under applicable law. In particular, it does not limit any rights you may have under mandatory consumer protection provisions of your country of residence.
9.5. Inherent Risks of Keyboard Remapping Software. You acknowledge that Hackboard operates with elevated system privileges to intercept and modify keyboard input. This inherent design creates foreseeable risk categories: unexpected keyboard behaviour, unintended triggering of system commands, interruption of normal keyboard function, and conflicts with other running software. These risks are inseparable from keyboard remapping functionality and exist regardless of the Company's diligence.
9.6. Right of Withdrawal (Widerrufsrecht). Hackboard is provided free of charge and without any counter-performance. No statutory right of withdrawal under §§ 312g, 355 BGB arises, as there is no paid contract to withdraw from. You may stop using Hackboard and terminate this agreement at any time (see Section 11.1).
10.1. Unlimited liability. The Company is liable without limitation for:
10.2. Limited liability for ordinary negligence. In cases of ordinary negligence (einfache Fahrlässigkeit), the Company is liable only for breach of material contractual obligations (wesentliche Vertragspflichten, also known as Kardinalpflichten) — that is, obligations whose fulfilment is essential to the proper performance of these Terms and on whose compliance the User may regularly rely. In such cases, liability is limited to the foreseeable, typically occurring damages.
10.3. Given that Hackboard is provided free of charge during the beta period and no payment has been made, the foreseeable, typically occurring damages within the meaning of Section 10.2 are limited to such damages as are typical for free, non-commercial software. This assessment takes into account that Hackboard operates with elevated system privileges (see Section 9.5).
10.4. The limitations in this Section 10 apply regardless of the legal basis of the claim, including but not limited to breach of contract, tort, and unjust enrichment.
10.5. To the extent the Company's liability is excluded or limited, this also applies to the personal liability of its employees, representatives, and vicarious agents (Erfüllungsgehilfen).
11.1. Termination by the User. You may terminate this agreement at any time by uninstalling Hackboard and its subcomponents from all your devices and ceasing all use of the Software.
11.2. Termination by the Company. We may terminate this agreement or revoke your licence at any time by providing notice via this repository, within the Software, or by any other reasonable means.
11.3. Effect of termination. Upon termination:
11.4. Surviving provisions. The following Sections survive any termination of this agreement: Section 4.6 (Feedback licence), Section 6 (Open-Source Components), Section 8 (Intellectual Property), Section 9 (Warranty Disclaimer), Section 10 (Limitation of Liability), Section 13 (Governing Law and Dispute Resolution), Section 14 (Severability and Miscellaneous), and Section 15 (Contact Information). Our obligations under the Privacy Policy continue to apply to any data collected before termination.
12.1. We may modify these Terms from time to time. Updated Terms will be posted in this repository with a revised effective date.
12.2. Material changes. For changes that materially affect your rights or obligations, we will provide reasonable advance notice (at least 14 days) before the changes take effect. Notice may be given through this repository, within the Software, or through other appropriate channels.
12.3. For material changes, we will ask you to accept the updated Terms through an in-app dialog before they take effect. If you do not accept the updated Terms, you must stop using Hackboard. Continued use without active acceptance does not constitute agreement to modified Terms.
12.4. We encourage you to review these Terms periodically. The current version is always available in this repository as TERMS.md.
13.1. Governing law. These Terms and any disputes arising out of or in connection with them are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, excluding the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).
13.2. Consumer protection. If you are a consumer habitually resident in the European Union, you also benefit from any mandatory provisions of the consumer protection law of your country of residence. Nothing in these Terms deprives you of those protections (in accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 — Rome I).
13.3. Jurisdiction. If you are a consumer, you may bring proceedings in the courts of your habitual residence; nothing in this clause restricts that right. For all other disputes, the courts of Berlin, Germany have jurisdiction.
13.4. Informal resolution. Before initiating formal legal proceedings, we encourage you to contact us by email (see Contact Information below) to attempt an informal resolution. We will make reasonable efforts to address your concern.
13.5. Consumer arbitration. We are not obligated and currently not willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board (Verbraucherschlichtungsstelle) within the meaning of § 36 VSBG.
14.1. Severability (Salvatorische Klausel). If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect. The invalid provision is replaced in accordance with applicable statutory provisions (§ 306(2) BGB).
14.2. Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and the Company with respect to your use of Hackboard. They supersede all prior agreements, communications, and proposals (whether oral or written) regarding this subject matter. Individual agreements between you and the Company take precedence over these Terms (§ 305b BGB).
14.3. No waiver. The failure of the Company to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. Any waiver must be made in writing and signed by the Company to be effective.
For questions about these Terms, please contact:
Farbe Software UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
Brauhausstr. 16
13086 Berlin, Germany
Managing Director (Geschäftsführer): Arndt Haßel-Kurz
Commercial Register: Amtsgericht Charlottenburg, HRB 277917
Email: contact@farbe-software.com