1. AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE
You and MDcells agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to the Platform, the Terms, or this addendum (a "Dispute") will be resolved by binding individual arbitration, and not in court, except as stated in §5. The Federal Arbitration Act governs interpretation and enforcement.
2. CLASS-ACTION & REPRESENTATIVE WAIVER
You and MDcells agree to bring claims only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims or preside over any class or representative proceeding. If this waiver is found unenforceable as to a particular claim, that claim (and only that claim) will proceed in court; the rest remains in arbitration.
3. 30-DAY RIGHT TO OPT OUT
You may opt out of this arbitration addendum within 30 days of first accepting it by emailing optout@mdcells.com with your name and account email and the statement "I opt out of arbitration." Opting out does not affect any other part of the Terms. If you opt out, disputes are resolved under the general dispute-resolution section of the Terms.
4. DELEGATION
The arbitrator has exclusive authority to resolve threshold questions of the arbitrability, scope, enforceability, and formation of this addendum, except that a court decides the enforceability of the class-action waiver in §2.
5. CARVE-OUTS
Either party may (a) bring an individual claim in small-claims court if it qualifies, and (b) seek injunctive or equitable relief in court for actual or threatened infringement or misuse of intellectual property (e.g., scraping, piracy, IP theft) without waiving arbitration for other claims.
6. PROCEDURE & COSTS
Arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its consumer rules, by a single arbitrator, conducted remotely, or in the locale of your residence where the rules allow.
7. MASS-ARBITRATION / BATCHING
If 25 or more similar demands are filed by or with coordinated counsel, the parties agree the demands will be batched and resolved in staged bellwether proceedings, with tolling for un-batched claims, to promote efficiency and fair cost allocation.
8. SEVERABILITY & SURVIVAL
If any part of this addendum (other than §2, governed by §2's own rule) is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. This addendum survives termination of your account.