Terms & Conditions

1. The Service

Mr. Doot is a free, daily music guessing game starring an enthusiastic but clumsy recorder player. Each day he plays a familiar melody with a few notes fumbled to the wrong pitch, and you help him by spotting and fixing them by ear. The Service is offered for personal, non-commercial entertainment and may change, pause, or end at any time without notice.

2. No account required

You do not need to register or sign in to play. Your puzzle progress, win streak, and stats are stored locally in your own browser (see our Privacy Policy). Clearing your browser storage or switching devices will reset them.

3. Acceptable use

You agree to use the Service only for lawful purposes and not to: interfere with or disrupt the Service or its servers; attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Service; or use automated means to scrape, copy, or overload the Service. We may restrict or block access if the Service is misused.

4. Our intellectual property

The Mr. Doot name, logo, mascot, visual design, sound design, and original software are owned by us and protected by applicable intellectual-property laws. You may share your daily results, but you may not copy, redistribute, or build upon the Service’s code or artwork without permission.

5. Use of musical works and fair use

Some daily puzzles are built around short, recognizable fragments of well-known musical compositions. Where a composition is not in the public domain and we do not hold a separate license, we present that fragment in good faith as a transformative fair use under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 107). We do not claim ownership of, or any endorsement by, the rights holders of those works, and all trademarks and song titles remain the property of their respective owners.

Our good-faith assessment weighs the four statutory fair-use factors as follows:

(a) Purpose and character of the use. The Service is a free puzzle and ear-training game offered for personal, non-commercial entertainment. A melody is not performed for its own musical enjoyment; it is repurposed as the raw material of an interactive game in which a few notes are deliberately altered to the wrong pitch and the player’s task is to detect and correct those errors by ear. This adds new expression, meaning, and function — a game mechanic and an educational listening exercise — rather than substituting for the original. The use is therefore highly transformative.

(b) Nature of the copyrighted work. The works are creative and published. We acknowledge this factor can weigh against fair use, but it is rarely decisive and is outweighed here by the transformative, non-substitutive character of the use.

(c) Amount and substantiality used. Each puzzle uses only a brief opening phrase (on the order of a single melodic line of roughly thirty notes), reduced to a monophonic melody and re-synthesized from note data on a single recorder-style voice. We use no original sound recordings — no master recording, performance, or vocal is reproduced, so no sound-recording (master) rights are implicated — and we use no lyrics. Even the melodic fragment is presented in a deliberately incorrect, altered form until the player fixes it. We take no more of the work than the puzzle needs to be recognizable.

(d) Effect on the potential market. The Service does not serve as a substitute for any song, recording, or sheet music, sells none of them, and does not compete in any market the rights holders occupy. It reproduces no recording a listener would play for enjoyment and, if anything, drives recognition of and renewed interest in the original works. We see no cognizable harm to the market for, or value of, the compositions.

Fair use is a fact-specific doctrine and this analysis reflects our good-faith position, not a determination by any court and not legal advice. It is grounded in U.S. law; other jurisdictions treat quotation, pastiche, and parody differently. We respect the rights of creators and address any concern promptly under Section 6 below.

6. Rights holders — notice and takedown

If you are a rights holder (or their authorized agent) and believe a puzzle uses your work in a way you do not consider permissible, we want to hear from you. Email us at contact@mrdoot.com identifying the work and the puzzle in question, and we will review the request in good faith and, where appropriate, promptly remove or replace the affected content. We would rather remove a tune than use one against a creator’s wishes.

7. Disclaimer of warranties

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful components, and we make no guarantees about the accuracy of any melody or content.

8. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Mr. Doot and its operators will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of or relating to your use of (or inability to use) the Service.

9. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date above. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

10. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email us at contact@mrdoot.com.