Terms And Conditions
The Terms and Conditions detailed below govern the relationship between the ‘User’ (hereafter also referred to as ‘You’ or ‘Your’) and the site AroundtheHouse.org (hereafter also referred to as ‘Company’ or the ‘Site’)
Your use of the site and the Member Benefits constitutes Your agreement to be bound by this Agreement and the Policies, therefore, We encourage You to review them periodically. If You do not agree to this Agreement, do not access or use the site, Member Benefits, or Premium Services.
Before using/accessing the site, the member benefits, premium services, or any other feature of membership, please carefully read the following, because this agreement governs your membership and contains important information.
Section 1. MODIFICATION OF THIS AGREEMENT
The Company may, in its sole discretion, change or modify this Agreement, the Member Benefits, the Premium Services, the Community Terms, or the Policies at any time and from time to time without notice. If the Company does change this Agreement, a notice of the changes will be posted on the Policies Site and will indicate the effective date of each new version of this Agreement along with a list of the affected sections which were changed or modified. The changes or modifications of this Agreement will be effective immediately upon posting them unless otherwise provided in writing. In addition, the Company may, but does not have an obligation, to notify You of changes or modifications to this Agreement by email to Your email address listed in connection with Your account. Your continued use of the Member Benefits, Premium Services, or the site following the posting of a new version of this Agreement constitutes acceptance and agreement to the posted version of the Agreement and its incorporated changes. It is therefore important that You keep Your Account Information current, as detailed in Section 6 below. You will not hold the Company liable and the Company assumes no liability or responsibility for Your failure to receive an email notification. You acknowledge and agree that the Company has no obligation to provide You with an email notification of any modifications to the Policies and that any email notification provided at any time shall not obligate or create an expectation for the Company to do so in the future. the Company reserves the right to modify, change, or discontinue any aspect of membership in the Community at any time. Only a specific, written waiver signed by an authorized representative of the Company shall have any legal effect as a waiver by the Company of any terms of this Agreement or any other policy.
Section 2. MEMBER BENEFITS
2.1 Member Benefits Generally: The Member Benefits are included in Your Membership Fee. We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that the Member Benefits existing at the time of Your acceptance for membership will remain available throughout the then-current term of Your membership, however, the Member Benefits are subject to change without notice at any time, and from time to time, depending on the needs and value to the Community as determined by the Company from time to time. The Member Benefits are personal to the Member and shall not be resold, assigned, offered, or transferred to any party except as expressly provided herein or otherwise as approved by the Company in writing. If You are in breach of the Policies, including the failure to pay amounts due to the Company hereunder, Your membership and/or Your ability to utilize the Member Benefits may be suspended or terminated.
2.2 Media and Personal Brand Building: The opportunity to participate in media and branding opportunities, including writing articles and directory listing. The Media and Personal Brand Building is only an opportunity to potentially participate or submit materials and Your membership does not guarantee Your article acceptance or any favorable or beneficial results from acceptance or participation. Your acceptance or participation in any opportunity does not constitute Your acceptance or right to participate in any future opportunity. The determination of whether or not You shall be involved with or Your submission shall be published and/or utilized in connection may be determined by the editorial team. You may be required to agree to additional guidelines and/or editorial revisions prior to the publication. The Company makes no guarantee as to the timing, viewership, publicity of, or results derived from any marketing or promotional material, including, but not limited to, Member Content and Personal Brand Building opportunities.
All content submitted is member content and subject to all conditions set forth in section 10.2. Please be aware that once your member content is published or otherwise posted, the company may not be able to remove such publication or post and shall have no obligation or liability for failure to do so.
You will not solicit, market, or resell access to the site, any member benefits, or premium services to third parties, including, but not limited to, offering to include a third party’s services, products or links in member content, or to positively portray a third party’s products or services for a fee.
2.3 Courses: In connection with membership, the Company may make available a elearning platform. The information, videos, and materials are made available solely for general information and opinion purposes. The Company does not warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of this information. Any reliance You place on such information is strictly at Your own risk. the Company disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance or actions based on such information and materials by You or any other visitor to the Site, or by anyone who may be informed of such content. The Site may include content provided by third parties. All statements and/or opinions expressed in these materials, and all articles and responses to questions and other content, are solely the opinions and the responsibility of the person or entity providing those materials. These materials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Company or its licensors. Neither the Company nor its licensors are responsible, or liable to You or any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials provided by any third parties.
Section 3. MEMBERSHIP ELIGIBILITY
3.1 Eligibility. The Member Benefits, Premium Services, and use of the site are available only to Members who possess the legal right, capacity and ability to enter into this Agreement. By accessing or using the Site Member Benefits, or Premium Services, You represent and warrant that You are (a) a Member in good standing of the Community; (b) at least eighteen (18) years of age (or older if otherwise provided herein); (c) otherwise recognized as being able to form legally binding contracts under applicable law; (d) are not a person barred from purchasing or receiving any of the Member Benefits or Premium Services under the laws of the United States; and (e) located in the United States.
Section 4. MEMBER TERM, TERMINATION, AND MEMBERSHIP FEE
4.1 Membership Term: A membership shall be effective upon receipt by the Company of applicable membership fee, and shall continue for a term of which is indicated on your membership checkout(for example, one month or one year)(“Initial Membership Term”). Upon the expiration of the Membership Term, the membership shall automatically renew for the same term as the Initial Membership Term (for example, one (1) month or one (1) year terms) unless either You or the Company terminate the Renewal Term by cancelling through the site or by written notice.
4.2 Termination: Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company may terminate Your membership on the Site and this Agreement immediately on notice in the event You (a) violate this Agreement (b) fail to pay any amount due to the Company when due (c) violate any rules of professional conduct to which You are subject; (d) become the subject of a federal criminal investigation or civil investigation for actions a felony or any acts of moral turpitude or dishonesty; (e) are charged with or convicted of any felony or any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude or dishonesty; (f) solicits, markets, or sells access to Community or any Member Benefits to third parties, including, but not limited to, offering to include a third party’s services, products or links in Member Content, or to positively portray a third party’s products or services for a fee, or offering, promoting, or advertising introductions or access to any other Members; or (g) do anything which, in the Company’s reasonable discretion, is harmful to the Company’s reputation or goodwill.
4.3 Membership Fee: You agree to pay the then-current membership fee for each Term in which You are a Member (the “Membership Fee”). The Membership Fee associated with Your membership does not guarantee any benefits or results in connection with Your membership and, except as provided hereunder. All fees for Member Benefits are non-refundable unless otherwise noted even if Your access or use of the site or Member Benefits are suspended, terminated, or transferred prior to the end of the membership period. the Company reserves the right to change or modify its Membership Fee for the next term upon thirty (30) days’ electronic notice to You, which such changes or modifications shall be posted online at the Site and effective without need for further notice to You. Changes in prices and fees will be effective when Your membership is renewed, except that if Your membership is not for a set term, the change will be effective no less than thirty (30) days after posting of the change.
The Membership Fee shall be due in full upon the commencement of the Initial Membership Term and upon the commencement of each Renewal Term.
You shall provide a valid credit card to be stored on file in order to pay the Membership Fee (“Payment Method”). You hereby authorize the Company to charge Your Payment Method for the Membership Fee when due without additional notice. You hereby represent and warrant that in the event that Your Payment Method belongs to or is provided by an employer or other third party, that You are authorized to provide such Payment Method, that if such Payment Method is revoked You are still liable for payments due hereunder and that You shall indemnify the Company against any claim by a third party that the Company was not authorized to utilize the Payment Method provided by You or on Your behalf.
In addition to your membership, Company may offer an automatic renewal option. In the event that an automatic renewal option is available and you do not opt-out of such an option as set forth in section 4.1, the company will keep your payment method information on file, and you hereby authorize company to charge your payment method when your membership term is up for renewal thereby automatically renewing the same for the same period of time as the prior term.
If for any reason the Company is unable to charge Your Payment Method for the full amount owed or if the Company receives notification of a chargeback, reversal, payment dispute, or is charged a penalty for any fee it previously charged to Your Payment Method, You agree that the Company may (a) pursue all available lawful remedies in order to obtain payment, including but not limited to, immediate cancellation of Your membership or any Member Benefit in connection thereto, without notice to You; (b) suspend Your account; and (c) in the event that the Company pursues any action for the collection of monies due to the Company from You hereunder, the Company will be entitled to reimbursement of its costs and expenses in connection with such actions include any attorneys or arbitrator fees.
In the event of suspected fraudulent activity or erroneous charges on or in connection with Your account or Payment Method, You will contact the site as soon as possible with the subject line “Suspected Fraudulent Activity” or “Erroneous Charges”.
4.4 Refunds. If Your membership is terminated for any reason, You shall not be entitled to a refund of any portion of Your Membership Fee, though the Company may refund all or a portion of Your Annual Membership Fee with or without the requirement of the execution of a release. You shall not be entitled to a refund of Your Membership Fee on the belief that Your membership was unsatisfactory or did not live up to Your expectations. If refunds are issued to Your Payment Method, the Company’s issuance of a refund receipt is only confirmation that the Company has submitted Your refund to the Payment Method charged at the time of the original sale and that the Company has absolutely no control over when the refund will be applied toward Your Payment Method’s available balance. The payment provider and/or individual issuing bank associated with Your Payment Method establish and regulate the time frames for posting Your refund, and that such refund posting time frames may range from five (5) business days to a full billing cycle, or longer.
4.5 Credit Card Authorization. For any payments made by credit card, by providing the Company your credit card information, You authorize the Company to store Your credit card information and You further authorize the Company to charge the full amount to Your credit card. the Company may charge $1.00 or less against your credit card to test the validity of Your credit card account at any time during Your membership or prior to a charge. Once your credit card account is verified, the small charge will be refunded to such credit card.
Section 5. TRANSFER OF MEMBERSHIP
Your membership, use of the Site, Member Benefits, or Premium Services You acquire pursuant to this Agreement are for Your benefit alone. No other individual or corporate entity acquires any interest in Your membership, use of the site, or any Member Benefits or Premium Services whether or not You entered into this Agreement or obtained membership with or without its authority or on its behalf. Your membership is personal to You and not the property of Your employer or your company, even if Your employer or company pays for the membership on Your behalf. Therefore, if Your employment status changes or if You transfer employers, Your membership in the Site will not be affected, regardless if a third party paid any fees associated with Your membership. Additionally, if Your contact information or employment status changes during the Term of Your membership, You must notify the Company of such change.
Your membership is not transferable, except in limited circumstances, the Company may, in its sole and absolute discretion, transfer Your membership, use of the site, or any Member Benefits or Premium Services to another individual, but is in no event obligated or required to do so.
Section 6. ACCOUNT INFORMATION
6.1 Account Information Generally. In order to access the Member Benefits, Premium Services and some features of the site, You will be required to create a profile or account, which shall include, but not be limited to, Your username, password, contact information, as well as Payment Method (“Account Information”). You represent and warrant to the Company that all information You submit when You create Your profile or account is current, accurate, complete, and that You will keep Your Account Information current, accurate and complete and notify the Company of any changes to your Account Information. In the creation of Your profile or account, You are not impersonating any third party or otherwise using any third party’s information without their written approval. If the Company has reason to believe that Your Account information is untrue, inaccurate, out-of-date or incomplete, the Company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to suspend or terminate Your membership, and/or suspend Your use of the site, Your membership and any Member Benefits or Premium Services. At all times, You shall keep your profile or account personal to You and not permit any third party to access your profile, account, or Account Information.
6.2 Member Profile. Each new Member must complete and keep their profile up-to-date on the Site. If within thirty (30) days of a Member’s membership, a Member has not completed their profile, such Member grants the Company the right and authority to complete the Member’s profile based upon the information given by the Member to the Company and other such information that is publically available, including, but not limited to such information on the Member’s social media accounts. While the Company will attempt to present the Member’s information accurately, it is the Member’s responsibility to correct and update all information on the Member’s profile. You agree that the Company will not be responsible for and you will hold the Company harmless from and against any inaccuracy or misrepresentation appearing on Your profile.
6.3 Account Information Security. You are solely responsible for the activity that occurs in connection with Your account, whether authorized by You or not, and You must keep Your Account Information secure, including, without limitation, Your user name and password. You must notify the Company immediately of any breach of security or unauthorized use of Your Account by emailing the Community Contact and writing “Unauthorized Use of Account Information” in the subject line. the Company will not be liable for any loss You incur due to any unauthorized or improper use of Your Account Information by You or third parties. You, however, may be liable for any loss the Company or others incur caused by use of Your Account Information, whether caused by You, or by an authorized person, or by an unauthorized person.
6.4 Communications with the Company. You agree that the Company may from time-to-time email or otherwise communicate with You about Your account. You further acknowledge and agree that, to the extent permitted by applicable law, any such communication(s) may be submitted in evidence in any legal proceeding in which the Company is a party.
6.5 Privacy Policy. Your submission of personal information through the site and use by the Company thereof is governed by the Company’s privacy policy, which can be reviewed on the Polices Site (the “Privacy Policy”).
Section 7. AVAILABILITY OF THE SITE AND MEMBER BENEFITS
Except as otherwise set forth in the Policies, We shall use commercially reasonable efforts to provide uninterrupted access to the site and Member Benefits each and every day. From time to time the site or Member Benefits may be inaccessible or inoperable for any reasons within or outside of the Company’s control including, but not limited to, maintenance, repairs, updates, upgrades, equipment malfunctions or other reasons that are not reasonably foreseeable such as interruption or failure of telecommunication or digital transmission links, network congestion or other failures. We have no control over the availability of the site or Member Benefits on a continuous or uninterrupted basis, and that We assume no liability to You or any other party with regard thereto. You shall not be entitled to any refund, credits or set-offs of or against Your Membership Fee or other fees incurred in connection herewith for any interruption of the site or Member Benefits or lack of availability of any Member Benefits whether due to unavailability, suspension or termination of Your membership or otherwise.
Section 8. MARKETING MATERIALS AND PROMOTIONAL SERVICES
From time to time, the Company may send marketing materials and/or offer additional Member Benefits to You at no cost or at an additional fee (“Promotional Services”). You hereby agree that the Company may send You such marketing and promotional materials via electronic transmission, e-mail, mail, or otherwise, provided, that You may unsubscribe to such materials at any time by notifying the Company pursuant to the Privacy Policy or by emailing the site with the subject line “Unsubscribe to Marketing Materials”. the Company may modify the scope of the Promotional Services it offers at any time without additional notice to You. The Company may offer Promotional Services only to new Members or select Members based on specific criteria determined by the Company in its sole discretion and that You may not be eligible for some or all of the Promotional Service offerings. If You are offered promotional or special pricing by the Company on any of the Member Benefits, You agree to keep the pricing information strictly confidential and shall not disclose such information to any third party without the written consent of the Company. You understand and agree that the fees associated with Promotional Services may be non-refundable as defined in the terms of any agreement accompanying any Promotional Services.
Section 9. MEMBER CODE OF CONDUCT
9.1 Your membership in the Community as well as Your use of the Member Benefits, Premium Services, and the Site are subject to and must comply with, the Community Terms, including this Agreement. Your use of the site, Member Benefits, and Premium Services: (a) will comply with all terms of this Agreement and the Policies; (b) will comply with all applicable local, state, and federal laws, rules and regulations; (c) will not be utilized for any illegal purposes or promotion or encouragement of any illegal activity, including, but not limited to, any acts of terrorism, violence against people or property; (d) will not be used for any libelous, defamatory, unlawful, illegal, pornographic, indecent, offensive, obscene, bigoted, hateful or discriminatory purposes; (e) will not infringe the intellectual property or other right of any person or entity or otherwise violate any privacy or publicity rights or impersonate any other person; (f) will not be in a manner which infringes any duty of confidentiality that You owe to another person or entity; (g) will not be used for anti-social, disruptive, or illegal purposes including but not limited to “spamming”, “trolling”, “flooding”, “bullying” or otherwise to harvest (or permit anyone else to harvest) any content contained on the site or any non-public or personally identifiable information about another user or entity; (h) will not include any direct or indirect, general or open, solicitations of other Members for the purposes of selling products or services or seeking employment, investment or other business opportunities; (i) will not interfere with the operation of the site or the Member Benefits or otherwise introduce any viruses, worms, bugs, “Trojan Horses” or other codes or programs designed to, or capable of disrupting, damaging or limiting the functionality of any software or hardware; (j) will not be used for the purposes of producing false, deceptive or unsubstantiated or comparative claims about the Community, Member Benefits, or the Marketplace Providers; (k) will not be used with the intention to or be reasonably expected to harass, demean or negatively affect the personal or professional reputation of the Community or any other Member.
Additionally, as part of the Member Code of Conduct, You: (l) will refrain from sharing Your passwords for use of the site; (m) will at all times reflect positively on the Site and You will not take any action which will in the Company’s sole opinion reflect negatively on the Company and the Community; (n) will not, nor induce any third party to, attempt to disable or circumvent any security mechanisms used by the Company or otherwise attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the site or to any Member Benefit for which You have not subscribed, or to any other systems or networks connected to the site, or to any server of the Company or its third party service providers, by hacking, password “mining,” or any other illegal means; (o) will not, nor induce any third party to, use any “deep-link,” “page-scrape,” “robot,” “spider,” or other automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology, or any comparable manual process, to access, acquire, copy, or monitor any portion of the site or any Member Benefits; (p) will not, nor induce any third party to, use any device, software or routine to interrupt or interfere with, or attempt to interrupt or interfere with, the proper operation and working of the site or with any other person’s use of the site; (q) will not, nor induce any third party to, track or seek to trace any information on any other person who visits the site; (r) will not, nor induce any third party to, use the site in any connection with any illegal purpose under state or federal law; (s) will not, nor induce any third party to, copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise attempt to extract the source code of any proprietary software used to provide, maintain, or otherwise apply to the site, Member Content, the Company Content, Member Benefits, or Premium Services; (t) will not publish or reproduce any screenshots which include any personally identifying information of any the Company representative or employee; (u) will not publish, reproduce or describe the contents of any communications from the Company, including, but not limited to any descriptions or content describing the Member Benefits, Premium Services, or anything related to membership; (v) will not use the site for the purposes of developing or operating a product or service which is competitive with the Company or otherwise with the intent to solicit Members or otherwise encourage Members to discontinue their use of the membership.
9.2 You represent and warrant that (a) You are liable for any and all uses of the site or Member Benefits utilizing Your Account Information; (b) You will not copy or distribute in any medium any part of the site, including but not limited to the Company Content (as defined below) except where expressly authorized by the Company; (c) You will not re-sell, provide any part or portion of, or otherwise advertise access to the Community or Members, the Member Benefits, or the Premium Services to third parties for a fee or otherwise to compete with the Company, including, but not limited, offering to include a third party’s services, products or links in Member Content, to positively portray a third party’s products or services for a fee; and (d) You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with the security-related features of the site, including without limitation those features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any content or enforce limitations on the use of the site.
9.3 The Company does not guarantee that other Members are or will be complying with the Member Code of Conduct or any other portion of the Policies, and Your use of the site and Member Benefits or Premium Services are at Your own risk. Should You have a good faith belief that any Member is engaged in any activity which violates the Member Code of Conduct, We encourage You to contact the Community Contact and in the subject line, please type “Member Code Of Conduct”.
9.4 In addition to any and all other remedies at law, the Company may suspend or terminate Your membership at any time in the event that the Company believes in its sole discretion that You have violated the Member Code of Conduct, including during interactions with the Company, with other Members, or with third parties.
Section 10. USE OF COMPANY CONTENT AND MEMBER CONTENT
10.1 Member Content. Some of the features of the Site, Member Benefits, or Premium Services may allow users to submit, post, publish, share, store, or manage certain text, stories, artwork, images, photographs, videos, messages, ideas, concepts, opinions, musical compositions, audio-visual works or other materials (“Member Content”). Any and all materials or content submitted through Your account or using Your Account Information shall be considered Member Content. By posting or publishing Member Content to the site, or otherwise making such Member Content publicly available in connection with the Member Benefits, You represent and warrant to the Company that (a) submission of Member Content is entirely voluntary; (b) You have all necessary rights to distribute Member Content via the site or otherwise as publicly published, either because You are the sole author of the Member Content and have the right to distribute the same, or because You have the appropriate distribution rights, licenses, consents, and/or permissions to use, in writing, from the copyright or other owners of the Member Content without any restriction; (c) the Member Content is original and not previously published in any form; (d) the Member Content will not knowingly contain any untrue statements or material that is deceptive, fraudulent or intentionally misleading, and all statements in the Member Content which are asserted as facts are true and based upon reasonable research for accuracy; (e) the Member Content does not violate any rights of privacy or infringe upon any statutory or common law copyright or otherwise violate the rights of any third party or any applicable law or regulation; and (f) the posting or publishing of the Member Content shall not violate the Member Code of Conduct as provided herein. You shall indemnify the Company and hold the Company harmless against any liability, cost or expense, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, incurred as a result of any breach of the foregoing representations or warranties. For the purposes of this Section, any public communications between You and another Member using the site shall be deemed to be Member Content and shall not be reproduced, republished or otherwise utilized by You in contravention to this Section or the Member Code of Conduct. If You use third party content in the Member Content, it is Your responsibility, at your expense, to obtain all approvals, consents, licenses, or otherwise clear the third party content in the Member Content. If such third party content is not cleared, You shall not use it in the Member Content. Notwithstanding, the Company has no obligation to remove any published Member Content, except in its sole and absolute discretion.
Further, if You submit, post, or publish Member Content, it is at Your own risk, and that You shall be solely responsible for any liability related thereto and further that the Company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to: (a) review, edit, remove or refuse to post any Member Content for any or no reason; (b) take any action with respect to any Member Content that We deem necessary or appropriate, including if We believe that such Member Content violates these Terms, infringes any intellectual property right or other rights of any person or entity, threatens the personal safety of other Members, users of the site or the public or could create liability for the Company; (c) disclose Your identity or other information about You to any third party who claims that material posted by You violates their rights, including but not limited to their intellectual property rights or their right to privacy; (d) take appropriate legal action, including, without limitation, referral to law enforcement; (e) terminate or suspend Your access to all or part of the site or Member Benefits for any or no reason, including without limitation, any violation of these terms or the Policies.
Without limiting the foregoing, the Company has the right to fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity or other information of anyone posting any materials on or through the site. YOU WAIVE AND HOLD HARMLESS COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, LICENSEES AND SERVICE PROVIDERS FROM ANY CLAIMS RESULTING FROM ANY ACTION TAKEN BY THE FOREGOING PARTIES DURING OR AS A RESULT OF ITS INVESTIGATIONS AND FROM ANY ACTIONS TAKEN AS A CONSEQUENCE OF INVESTIGATIONS BY EITHER SUCH PARTIES OR LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY.
You agree to cooperate in the defense of any legal action brought against the Company arising from the publication of the Member Content and You agree to retain all notes, drafts, and copies relating to the Member Content for three (3) years after publication.
10.2 License in Member Content: By posting or publishing Member Content to the site, You hereby grant the Company and its licensees a perpetual worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable, and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, combine with other works, display, modify, and perform Your Member Content in connection with the site or otherwise as the Company determines in its sole discretion in any medium or manner without restrictions of any kind and without payment or other consideration of any kind, or permission or notification, to You or any third party. The above licenses granted by You in Your Member Content are perpetual and irrevocable and shall continue whether or not You are still a Member of the Community, and neither the Company nor any media platform to which it publishes shall be required to remove such Member Content upon a Member request or liable for the refusal or failure to do so. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, the Company shall not use any Member Content that has been explicitly marked or designed in writing as “private” or “password protected”. Except as set forth in the preceding sentence, any other Member Content may be used, reproduced, displayed, modified, deleted, added to, adapted, and published by company for its own use.
10.3 The Company Content. Except for Member Content, the content on the site and in connection with the Member Benefits, including without limitation text, stories, artwork, images, photographs, videos, messages, ideas, concepts, opinions, musical compositions, audio-visual works interactive features and the trademarks, service marks and logos contained therein (“the Company Content”), are owned by or licensed to the Company, and are subject to copyright, trademark, and/or patent protection in the United States, and other intellectual property rights under United States laws. the Company Content is provided to You “as is”, “as available” and “with all faults” for Your information and personal, non-commercial use only and may not be downloaded, copied, reproduced, distributed, transmitted, broadcast, displayed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any purposes whatsoever without the express prior written consent of the Company. The Company Content shall be provided for informational and aesthetic purposes only. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of the Company Content. Any reliance You place on the Company Content is strictly at Your own risk. We disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the Company Content by You or any other visitor to the site, or by anyone who may be informed of any of the site’ contents. No right or license under any copyright, trademark, patent, or other proprietary right or license is granted by this Agreement. the Company reserves all rights not granted in and to the Company Content, and Your membership in the Community and this Agreement do not transfer ownership of any of these rights.
Section 11. MONITORING OF CONTENT
The Company reserves the right (but undertakes no duty) to review Member Content and decide whether any item of Member Content is appropriate and/or complies with this Agreement or the Policies. The Company may with or without notice, in its sole discretion, remove any item of Member Content and/or terminate a Member’s access to the site or a Member’s membership in the Community for posting or publishing any material in violation of this Agreement or the Policies. The Company may also terminate or suspend a Member’s access to the site or its membership in the Site if the Company has reason to believe the Member has repeatedly violated this Agreement. If the Company terminates or suspends Your membership or access to the site or Member Benefits, the Company may, in its sole discretion, remove and destroy any data and files stored by You on its servers.
Section 12. ADDITIONAL RESERVATION OF RIGHTS
The Company reserves the right to deny, cancel, terminate, suspend, lock, or modify access to the site or control of any account or Member Benefits for any reason as determined by the Company in its sole discretion, including, but not limited to, the following: (a) to correct mistakes made by the Company in offering or delivering any Member Benefits, (b) to assist with our fraud and abuse detection and prevention efforts, (c) to comply with court orders against You or other Members and applicable local, state, and federal laws, rules and regulations, (d) to comply with requests of law enforcement, including subpoena requests, (e) to comply with any dispute resolution process, (f) to defend any legal action or threatened legal action without consideration for whether such legal action or threatened legal action is eventually determined to be with or without merit, (g) to avoid any civil or criminal liability on the part of the Company, its officers, directors, employees, licensors or partners, including, but not limited to, instances where You have sued or threatened to sue the Company or its licensors; or (h) if the Company has reason to believe that any account is being used or intended to be used for a reason which would violate the Member Code of Conduct. the Company reserves the right to terminate, without advance notice to You, any and all Member Benefits or Your membership in the Community where, in the Company’s sole discretion, You are harassing or threatening the Company, and/or any of its employees, contractors, licensors or other Members or otherwise violating any terms of this Agreement without refund of any portion of Your Annual Membership Fee.
Section 13. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
The site and Member Benefits and their entire contents, features and functionality, including, but not limited to, all information, software, text, displays, images, video and audio, and the design selection and arrangement thereof, are owned by the Company, its licensors or other providers of such material and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws.
Section 14. TRADEMARK AND/OR COPYRIGHT CLAIMS
The Company supports the protection of intellectual property, including, but not limited to, the notice-and-takedown procedures set out in the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), which applies to content reported and removed for violating U.S. copyrights. In the event You have a good faith belief that Your work has been copied or that any Member Content, the Company Content, the Member Benefits, or Premium Services infringe Your intellectual property rights, including trademarks and copyrights, please provide the following information in writing to the Site, with the subject line “Intellectual Property Claims”:
- Identification and description of the infringing material or activity along with information sufficient to identify the location on the site of such material or activity;
- Identification and description of the trademark or copyrighted work that You claim has been infringed;
- Your name, address, telephone number, and email address;
- A statement by You that You have a good faith belief that such use in the manner complained of is not authorized by the trademark/copyright owner, its agent or the law;
- A statement made by You, under the penalty of perjury that the information in the notification is accurate and that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right which is being infringed;
- An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the trademark/copyright.
If You fail to comply with all of the requirements set forth above, Your notice may not be effective.
Please be aware that if You knowingly materially misrepresent that any content on the site is infringing Your copyright, You may be held liable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) under Section 512(f) of the DMCA.
If Your Member Content is removed from the site, the Company may give You notice that it has removed or disabled access to such Member Content by means of a general notice on the site, electronic mail to a user’s e-mail address in our records. If You receive such a notice, You may provide counter-notification in writing to the Company’s Community Contact within the time period prescribed therein that includes the following:
- An identification of the Member Content or material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled, and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;
- A statement from You under the penalty of perjury, that You are the trademark or copyright owner, licensee or otherwise have a good faith belief that the Member Content or material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled;
- Your name, address, telephone number, and email address;
- A statement that You consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court located in the Southern District of New York, and that You will accept service of process at the address above from the person who provided notification of allegedly infringing material or an agent of such person in connection with such claims.
- Your electronic or physical signature.
You should only submit a counter-notification if the cited Member Content was removed because of a mistake or misidentification. When we receive an effective DMCA counter-notification, we may forward it, along with Your contact information contained in the counter-notification, to the party that reported the infringing Member Content, and which they may use to contact You.
It is our policy in appropriate circumstances to disable and/or to terminate the memberships of Members who infringe on the intellectual property rights of others.
Section 15. RELIANCE ON INFORMATION POSTED
The information presented on or through the site and Member Benefits is made available solely for general information purposes. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of this information. Any reliance You place on such information is strictly at Your own risk. We disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by You or any other visitor to the site, or by anyone who may be informed of any of the site’ contents.
The site include content provided by third parties, including materials provided by other Members, users, bloggers, and third-party licensors, syndicators, aggregators and/or reporting services. All statements and/or opinions expressed in these materials, and all articles and responses to questions and other content, other than the content provided by the Company, are solely the opinions and the responsibility of the person or entity providing those materials. These materials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Company. We are not responsible, or liable to You or any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials provided by any third parties.
Section 16. LINKS TO THIRD-PARTY WEBsite
The site and the Member Benefits may contain links to third-party website that are not owned or controlled by the Company. the Company assumes no responsibility for the content, terms, and conditions, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party website. By using the site or Member Benefits, You release the Company from any and all liability arising from Your use of any third-party website. Accordingly, the Company encourages You to be aware when You leave the site and to review the terms and conditions, privacy policies, and other governing documents of each other website that You may visit.
Section 17. DISCLAIMER OF REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES
Your membership in the community, use of the site and the member benefits or premium services are at your own risk and that the site, the member benefits, and premium services found at the site are provided “as is”, “as available” and “with all faults”. Company, its officers, directors, employees, agents, and all third parties including company partners disclaim all warranties, statutory, express or implied, including, but not limited to, any implied warranties of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Company, its officers, directors, employees, company licensors, partners and agents make no representations or warranties about (a) the accuracy, completeness, or content of the site; or (b) the accuracy, completeness, or content of any third-party website linked (through hyperlinks, banner advertising or otherwise) to the site, and/or (c) the services found at the site or any third-party website linked (through hyperlinks, banner advertising or otherwise) to the site, and company assumes no liability or responsibility for the same.
In addition, no oral or written information or advice provided by company, its officers, directors, employees, company partners or agents, except as set forth in the policies, shall in any way limit the disclaimers set forth herein.
The foregoing disclaimer of representations and warranties shall apply to the fullest extent permitted by law and shall survive any termination or expiration of this agreement or your membership or your use of the site or the member benefits found at the site.
Section 18. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
To the fullest extent allowable under applicable law, in no event shall company, its officers, directors, employees, agents, or any company partner, be liable to you or any other person or entity for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, punitive, or consequential damages whatsoever, including any that may result from (a) the accuracy, completeness, or content of the site, (b) the accuracy, completeness, or content of any third-party website linked (through hyperlinks, banner advertising or otherwise) to the site, (c) the member benefits found at the site or any third-party website linked (through hyperlinks, banner advertising or otherwise) to the site, (d) personal injury or property damage of any nature whatsoever, (e) third-party conduct of any nature whatsoever, (f) any unauthorized access to or use of our servers and/or any and all content, personal information, financial information or other information and data stored therein, (g) any interruption or cessation of the site or member benefits, (h) any viruses, worms, bugs, trojan horses, or the like, which may be transmitted to or from the site or any site linked (through hyperlinks, banner advertising or otherwise) to the site, (I) any user content or content that is defamatory, harassing, abusive, harmful to minors or any protected class, pornographic, “x-rated”, obscene or otherwise objectionable, (j) termination of your membership based on a violation of this agreement or the policies as determined by company in its sole discretion, and/or (k) any loss or damage of any kind incurred by you as a result of your use of the site or the member benefits, whether based on warranty, contract, tort, or any other legal or equitable theory, and whether or not company is advised of the possibility of such damages. In addition, company’s total aggregate liability exceeds the total annual membership fees paid to company by you.
The foregoing limitation of liability shall apply to the fullest extent permitted by law and shall survive any termination or expiration of this agreement or your use of the site, the services found at the site or any of the member benefits.
If, notwithstanding the foregoing, company or any of its directors, officers, employees, or agents is found to be liable for any economic damage or loss which arises under or in connection with your use of the site, member benefits or other services, the cumulative total liability of any and all such parties found liable shall not exceed the amount you paid to company for annual membership fees during the 12 month period preceding the occurrence of the liability or claim. This limitation expressly applies to economic damages arising from the use of the site, member services, and your membership in general and does not apply to personal injury caused by intentional acts or any injury caused by alleged fraud.
Section 19. INDEMNITY
You agree to protect, defend, indemnify and hold the Company and its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, related companies and their officers, directors, members, managers, employees, agents, successors and assigns, as well as the Company licensors (collectively the “Company Parties”) harmless from and against any and all claims, demands, costs, expenses, losses, liabilities and damages of every kind and nature (including, without limitation, reasonable outside attorneys’ fees) imposed upon or incurred by the Company Parties directly or indirectly arising from (a) Your use of and access to the site or the Member Benefits; (b) Your violation of any provision of this Agreement or the Policies; and/or (c) Your violation of any third-party right, including without limitation any intellectual property or other proprietary right. The indemnification obligations under this Section shall survive any termination or expiration of this Agreement or Your use of the site or the Member Benefits.
Section 20. SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS
This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective heirs, successors and assigns.
Section 21. INDIVIDUALS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Our site and Community membership, in general, are for residents of the United States and are not intended for residents of the European Union or for the monitoring of the activities of European resident’s behavior as far as that behavior takes place within the European Union. We are not located in the European Union and are not subject to any provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR). If You are a resident of the European Union, You should not be using our site or services.
Section 22. COMPLIANCE WITH LOCAL LAWS
the Company makes no representation or warranty that the content available on the site or any of the Member Benefits are appropriate in every country, state or jurisdiction, and access to the site or the Member Benefits from countries or jurisdictions where its content is illegal is prohibited. Members who choose to access the site or the Member Benefits are responsible for compliance with all local laws, rules and regulations and the Company shall not be liable in any way in the event any Member Benefits or the site are not permitted in any jurisdiction.
Section 23. MINOR USE OF THE SITE
Membership and the site are not directed to children under the age of 13, and We will not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. Further, You must be 18 years or older to apply for membership and register or use the site or take advantage of the Member Benefits. You agree to abide by any such restrictions and not help anyone avoid such restrictions. We strongly recommend that parents participate in their children’s exploration of the internet and any online services and use their browser’s parental controls to limit the areas of the internet to which their children have access.
Section 24 GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION/ AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE
24.1 Applicable Law: You agree that, except to the extent inconsistent with or preempted by federal law, the laws of the State of New York, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern this Agreement and the Policies and any claim or dispute that has arisen or may arise between You and the Company, except as otherwise stated in the Policies.
24.2 Agreement to Arbitrate: Except for any claim for emergency injunctive relief, any and all disputes or claims that have arisen, or may arise, between You and the Company relating in any way to or arising out of this or previous versions of the Agreement, Your use of or access to Member Benefits, Premium Services, or membership shall be resolved exclusively through final and binding arbitration. The Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this Agreement to Arbitrate under procedures as set forth herein.
24.3 Prohibition of Class and Representative Actions and Non-Individualized Relief: You and the company agree that each of us may bring claims against the other only on an individual basis and not as a class member in any purported class, or representative or private attorney general action or proceeding. Unless both you and company agree otherwise, the arbitrator may not consolidate or join more than one person’s or party’s claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of a consolidated, representative, class, or private attorney general action or proceeding. Also, the arbitrator may award relief (including monetary, injunctive, and declaratory relief) only in favor of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief necessitated by that party’s individual claim(s). Any relief awarded cannot affect other members.
If a court decides that applicable law precludes enforcement of any of this Section’s limitations as to a particular claim for relief, then that claim (and only that claim) must be severed from the arbitration and may be brought in court, subject to Your and the Company’s right to appeal the court’s decision. All other claims will be arbitrated.
24.4 Arbitration Procedures: Arbitration is more informal than a lawsuit in court. Arbitration uses a neutral arbitrator instead of a judge or jury, and court review of an arbitration award is very limited. However, an arbitrator can award the same damages and relief on an individual basis that a court can award to an individual. An arbitrator should apply the terms of this Agreement, and/or the Policies as a court would. All issues are for the arbitrator to decide, except that issues relating to arbitrability, the scope or enforceability of this Agreement to Arbitrate, or the interpretation of Section 24.3, shall be for a court of competent jurisdiction to decide.
The arbitration will be conducted by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its rules and procedures, including the AAA’s Consumer Arbitration Rules (as applicable), as modified by this Agreement to Arbitrate. The AAA’s rules are available at www.adr.org or by calling the AAA at 1-800-778-7879. The use of the word “arbitrator” in this provision shall not be construed to prohibit more than one arbitrator from presiding over arbitration; rather, the AAA’s rules will govern the number of arbitrators that may preside over an arbitration conducted under this Agreement to Arbitrate.
A form for initiating arbitration proceedings is available on the AAA’s site at www.adr.org. In addition to filing this form with the AAA in accordance with its rules and procedures, the party initiating the arbitration must mail a copy of the completed form to the opposing party. In the event the Company initiates arbitration against You, it will send a copy of the completed form to the physical address we have on file associated with Your membership. Any settlement offer made by You or the Company shall not be disclosed to the arbitrator.
The arbitration hearing shall be held in New York County, New York. If the value of the relief sought is $10,000 or less, You or the Company may elect to have the arbitration conducted by telephone or based solely on written submissions, which election shall be binding on You and the Company subject to the arbitrator’s discretion to require an in-person hearing, if the circumstances warrant. In cases where an in-person hearing is held, You and/or the Company may attend by telephone, unless the arbitrator requires otherwise.
The arbitrator will decide the substance of all claims in accordance with applicable law, including recognized principles of equity, and will honor all claims of privilege recognized by law. The arbitrator shall not be bound by rulings in prior arbitrations involving different users but is bound by rulings in prior arbitrations involving the same the Company user to the extent required by applicable law. The arbitrator’s award shall be final and binding and judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.
24.5 Severability: With the exception of any of the provisions in Section 24.3 of this Agreement to Arbitrate, if an arbitrator or court decides that any part of this Agreement to Arbitrate is invalid or unenforceable, the other parts of this Agreement to Arbitrate shall still apply.
24.6 Opt-Out Procedure: You can choose to reject this agreement to arbitrate (“opt-out”) by emailing opt-out notice (“opt-out notice”) to the website within 30 days of the commencement of the initial membership term, by not opting out, of this agreement to arbitrate, you agree to surrender your right to have a claim adjudicated in a court of law.
You must complete the Opt-Out Notice by providing Your name, address (including street address, city, state, and zip code), and the user ID(s) and email address(es) associated with the membership to which the opt-out applies. You must sign the Opt-Out Notice for it to be effective. This procedure is the only way You can opt-out of the Agreement to Arbitrate. If You opt-out of the Agreement to Arbitrate, all other parts of the Agreement continue to apply to You. Opting out of this Agreement to Arbitrate has no effect on any previous, other, or future arbitration agreements that You may have with us.
26.7 Venue and Jury Waiver: In the event that the Agreement to Arbitrate above is found not to apply to You or to a particular claim or dispute, either as a result of Your decision to opt-out of the Agreement to Arbitrate or as a result of a decision by the arbitrator or a court order, or otherwise as expressly permitted herein, including for claims for emergency injunctive relief, You agree that any claim or dispute that has arisen or may arise between You and the Company must be resolved exclusively by a state or federal court located in the state, city, and county of New York, New York. You and the Company agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the courts located within the state, city, and county of New York, New York for the purpose of litigating all such claims or disputes and waive all defenses of lack of personal jurisdiction and forum non-conveniens thereto. You agree to waive the right to trial by jury in any action or proceeding that takes place relating to or arising out of this agreement.
Section 27. ENTIRE AGREEMENT
This Agreement and the Policies constitute the sole and entire agreement between You and the Company with respect to Your membership the Site and any services thereon and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to the site and any services thereon.
Section 28. TITLES AND HEADINGS; INDEPENDENT COVENANTS; SEVERABILITY
The titles and headings of this Agreement are for convenience and ease of reference only and shall not be utilized in any way to construe or interpret the agreement of the parties as otherwise set forth herein. Each covenant and agreement in this Agreement shall be construed for all purposes to be a separate and independent covenant or agreement. If a court of competent jurisdiction holds any provision (or portion of a provision) of this Agreement to be illegal, invalid, or otherwise unenforceable, the remaining provisions (or portions of provisions) of this Agreement shall not be affected thereby and shall be found to be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Section 29. CONTACT INFORMATION
If You have any questions regarding the use of the site, this Agreement, Your membership, the Policies, the Member Benefits, payments and refunds, the Privacy Policy, opt-out issues, intellectual property (copyright/trademark) infringement, or any other questions, please feel free to contact the Site.
Section 30. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS
Whenever You visit the site or send emails to the Company, You are communicating with the Company electronically. For that reason, You also consent to receive communications from the Company electronically. the Company will communicate with You by email at the email address which You provide when You apply to become a Member, or through notices on Your dashboard on the site. You agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications that we provide to You electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing, to the extent permitted by applicable law.