Linear TOS Changed
Friday, October 23, 2026
What this means for you
They added new rules about who pays if someone sues over stolen ideas or content—basically if the service itself gets hit with an IP lawsuit, they'll cover your legal costs, but if your stuff causes problems for them, you'd need to cover theirs. They're also introducing separate pricing for their AI features that might charge you based on how much you actually use it, and there's a whole separate document (the AI Addendum) that sets those specific AI rules, which overrides the main agreement if there's any conflict.
Plain-English explanation, not legal advice.
What changed
A new Indemnification section was added covering both parties' obligations for IP infringement and user submission claims, and new provisions governing AI Services fees and usage were introduced, along with an AI Services Addendum reference in the Data section.
Details
- •A new standalone Indemnification section (Section 8) was added, which was absent from the previous version. It includes Linear's obligation to defend customers against third-party intellectual property infringement claims related to the Service, Customer's obligation to defend Linear against claims arising from User Submissions, procedures for handling indemnification claims, options Linear may take if the Service becomes subject to an infringement claim, and a statement that this section represents the sole remedy for IP infringement claims.
- •The Limitation of Liability section was modified to add explicit carve-outs: the liability limitations no longer apply to claims arising from Customer's breach of Use Restrictions, either party's obligations under the new Indemnification section, or either party's gross negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud.
- •A new subsection on AI Services fees (Section 4.5) was added, stating that fees for AI Services are governed by a separate AI Addendum, which may include usage-based billing based on consumption metrics such as tokens, API calls, or compute units, and that the AI Addendum controls in the event of any conflict with the main Agreement on this topic.
- •A new subsection on AI Services (Section 10.5) was added to the Data section, stating that use of any AI or machine learning features is governed by a separate AI Services Addendum available at linear.app/legal/ai-addendum, which is incorporated into the Agreement by reference, and that in conflicts between the Agreement and the Addendum regarding AI Services, the Addendum controls.
- •Section numbering throughout the document was updated to accommodate the new Indemnification section, shifting the former Confidentiality (Section 8) and Data (Section 9) sections to Sections 9 and 10 respectively, and General Terms from Section 10 to Section 11.
- •The effective date was updated from November 14, 2025 to June 09, 2026.
Disclaimer: Change summaries are generated by AI and may not capture every detail. Severity ratings reflect our assessment of potential user impact, not legal significance. Always refer to the original Terms of Service for authoritative terms.