Terms of Service
Acts of Sharing
Terms of Use
Thank you for your interest
in Acts of Sharing. Acts of Sharing, Inc., a Texas corporation (hereinafter,
“AOS”, or “we”, “our” or “us”)
provides a collection of services and tools (hereinafter the “Services”),
including without limitation providing an online presence for users
to view, post, lend, and/or borrow items and other Content (as defined
below), subject to the following Terms of Use. These Terms of Use must
be read in conjunction with and to include all other AOS policies available
on the Site (the “Policies”). You can review the Policies
through the following links:
Before you may become
a Member, you must read and accept the terms of use and the Policies.
By using the Site in any way, you are agreeing to comply with the Terms
of Use and the Policies.
Should you object to
any of the Terms of Use or guidelines, or any subsequent modifications
thereto or become dissatisfied with AOS in any way, your only recourse
is to immediately discontinue use of AOS. AOS has the right, but is
not obligated, to strictly enforce the Terms of Use through self-help,
community moderation, active investigation, litigation and prosecution.
Ownership of Site
and Content
The [www.actsofsharing.com] website, including any subdomains, and any
replacement or successor website, or portions thereof (hereinafter referred
to as the “Site”) is the property of AOS. All content, including,
without limitation, all text, including descriptions and feedback, graphics,
photographs, trademarks, logos, sounds, music, artwork and the computer
code comprising the same (collectively, “Content”), and the
design and arrangement of such Content, on the Site is owned, controlled
or licensed by or to AOS, and is protected by trade dress, copyright,
patent and trademark laws, and various other intellectual property rights
and unfair competition laws.
If you post Content on
the Site, you grant AOS a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable,
fully-paid, royalty-free, sub-licensable right to use, modify, perform
and/or display, reproduce and distribute and any other copyright rights
you have in such Content, in any media and any form. By posting Content
on the Site, you represent and warrant to AOS that you have the right
to grant AOS the rights above.
You acknowledge that
AOS does not pre-screen or approve Content, but that AOS shall have
the right (but not the obligation except as required by law) in its
sole discretion to refuse, delete or move any Content that is available
through the Site for violating the letter or spirit of the Terms of
Use or for any other reason. You understand that by using the Site,
you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent, inaccurate,
illegal, misleading, or otherwise objectionable.
Conditions of Use
of Site and Services
While using the Site
and Services you will not:
- Post Content or items in an inappropriate category or areas on our Site and Services;
- Post any items or Services that are on our Prohibited Items List;
- Violate any laws, third party rights or these Terms of Use;
- Use our Site, Services, or tools if you are not able to form legally binding contracts, are under the age of [18], or are temporarily or indefinitely suspended from using our Site, or Services;
- Interfere with other AOS Members’ (hereinafter a “Member”) listings;
- Take any action that imposes or may impose (in our sole discretion) an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
- Interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site, Services, or any activities conducted on or with the Site, Services, or tools;
- Bypass any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Site;
- Post false, inaccurate, misleading, defamatory, or libelous Content (including personal information);
- Take any action that may undermine the feedback or ratings systems (such as displaying, importing or exporting feedback information off of the Site or using it for purposes unrelated to AOS);
- Transfer your AOS Member Account (including feedback) and Member ID to a third party without our consent;
- Distribute or post spam, unsolicited, or bulk electronic communications, chain letters, or pyramid schemes;
- Distribute viruses or any other technologies that may harm AOS, or the interests or property of AOS users;
- Export or re-export any AOS tools except in compliance with the export control laws of any relevant jurisdictions;
- Copy, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, or publicly display rights or Content (except your own information) from the Site, Services or AOS’s copyrights and trademarks without AOS’s express written permission and the appropriate third party, as applicable;
- Harvest or otherwise collect information about users and/or Members, including email addresses, without their consent.
Member Account Access
and Password
You shall keep your password
to your Member Account confidential. Your Member Account and your password
are personal and cannot be shared, communicated or transferred to any
other individual or entity, except as required by law. You recognize
and accept to be solely responsible for use of your password and Member
Account. You accept being held solely responsible for all consequences
and obligations generated by use of your password and Member Account
by a third party. You recognize and accept that AOS considers the usage
of your Member Account, username or password as proof of the usage of
the Site by you and any actions made by a Member Account, including
but not limited to, all evaluations, ratings information and comments,
are considered to be made by you.
Member Account Information
Upon registration of
a Member Account, you shall provide a valid email address that will
be used to communicate between you and the Site, and will be used as
the unique identifier for the Member Account. All notifications for
your attention will be sent to the email address that is associated
with your Member Account. Messages and notifications are considered
received 24 hours after the email has been sent, unless we receive a
notification stating that the email address is not valid or functioning.
From time to time, AOS may send notifications about the site and services to the email addresses given upon registration. You may unsubscribe from these informative emails at any time.
You accept to provide
your physical address, which is required by AOS upon registration of
the Member Account. You herby grant AOS permission to post a general
description of your physical address (i.e., City, State and Zip Code)
to be displayed on any Owned Item posted by your Member Account. Further,
you hereby grant AOS permission to deliver your physical address to:
- the owner of an item proposed to be borrowed by you;
- the borrower of an item after the completion of a loan request.
Any change of your personal
information (including your email address) requested when creating and
completing a Member Account must be declared to AOS within 10 days of
the change.
Termination of Member
Account
Without limiting other
remedies, AOS may limit, suspend, or terminate your Member Account,
prohibit access to our Site and its Content, Services, delay or remove
Content and take technical and legal steps to keep you off the Site
if we think that you are creating problems or possible legal liabilities,
infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, or acting
inconsistently with the letter or spirit of these Terms of Use, including,
but not limited to, the Policies. AOS also reserves the right to cancel
unconfirmed accounts or accounts that that have been inactive for a
long time, or to modify or discontinue the Site or Services. You will
not hold AOS (including its officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries,
joint ventures or employees) liable for claims, demands or damages (actual
and consequential) of any kind for the closing of a Member Account.
Privacy
Except as explicitly
provided in our Privacy Policy, we do not sell or rent your personal
information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your
explicit consent. We use your information only as described in the AOS
Privacy Policy. We view protection of our users’ privacy as very important.
You can access and modify the information you provide us and choose
not to receive certain communications by signing in to your Member Account.
For a complete description of how we use and protect your personal information,
see the AOS Privacy Policy. If you object to your information being
transferred or used in this way please do not use our services.
Take Down Notification
AOS cannot be aware of
all the Content published on the site in all the Owned or Wanted Items
Postings or in the comments. However, AOS commits to remove as quickly
as possible any copyright protected material once notified.
We respect the intellectual
property of others, and we ask you to do the same. If you or any user
of the Site believe its copyright, trademark or other property rights
have been infringed by a posting on the Site, you or the user should
send notification to our Designated Agent (as identified below) immediately.
To be effective, the notification must include:
- A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
- Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
- Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party, such as address, telephone number and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted;
- Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be subject to infringing activity and that is to be removed and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the materials;
- A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, agent, or the law;
- A statement that the information in the notification is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringing.
Pursuant to the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. Sec. 512(c), our Designated Agent
for Notice of claims of copyright infringement can be reached as indicated
below. Service of repeat infringers of copyright or of users about whom
repeat claims of copyright infringement are received will be terminated.
Designated Agent for Claimed Infringement:
Acts of Sharing, Inc.
Attn: DMCA Designated Agent
809 Baylor Avenue
Austin, Texas 78703
USA
You acknowledge and agree
that upon receipt of a notice of a claim of copyright infringement,
we may immediately remove the identified materials from our Site without
liability to you or any other party and that the claims of the complaining
party and the party that originally posted the materials may be referred
to the United States Copyright Office for adjudication as provided in
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Links to Third Party
Sites
Furthermore, the Content
available on or through the Site may contain links to other websites
that are completely independent of AOS. AOS makes no representation
or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the
information contained in any such website. Your linking to any other
websites is at your own risk. You agree that you must evaluate, and
bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, that you may
not rely on the Content, and that under no circumstances will AOS be
liable for any Content or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred
as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed or otherwise made
available on or through the Site.
Disclaimers
You agree that your use
of the Site and the Services is entirely at your own risk and you assume
total responsibility for your use of the Site and the Services and any
lending or borrowing transaction you enter into through the Site or
the Services. Your sole remedy against AOS for dissatisfaction with
the Site, the Services, or any content is to stop using the Site and
the Services. The Site and the Services are provided on an “as is”
or “as available” basis, without any representations or warranties
of any kind. AOS expressly disclaims all expressed and implied warranties,
including, without limitation, the warranties of accuracy, merchantability,
fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement of proprietary
rights. AOS does not represent or warrant that the Site or any contents,
Services, or features will be error-free or uninterrupted, that any
defects will be corrected, that your use of the Site will provide specific
results, or that any files or other data you download from the Site
will be free of viruses or contamination or destructive features. AOS
disclaims any and all liability for the acts, omissions and conduct
of any third parties, including other users, in connection with or related
to your use of the Site, including, but not limited to, items loaned
to or borrowed from you in connection with your use of the Site, Services
obtained or given by you in connection with your use of the Site, and/or
any Services. AOS shall not be liable for the deletion or failure
to store any Content maintained or transmitted by the Service.
Limited Liability
Under no circumstances
shall AOS be liable for direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential
or exemplary damages (even if AOS has been advised of the possibility
of such damages), resulting from your use of the Site or the Services,
or resulting from any lending or borrowing transaction made or facilitated
through the Site or the Services, including, but not limited to, damages
or injury resulting from a borrowed item or non-returned item, damages
which arise from use or misuse of the Site or the Services, from inability
to use the Site or the Services, or the interruption, suspension, modification,
alteration, or termination of the Site, the Services or Member account.
Such limitation shall also apply with respect to damages incurred by
reason of other Services or products received through or advertised
in connection with the Site or the Services or any links on the Site,
as well as by reason of any information or advice received through or
advertised in connection with the Site or the Services or any links
on the Site. These limitations shall apply to the fullest extent permitted
by law.
If, notwithstanding the
other provisions of these Terms of Use, AOS is found to be liable to
you for any damage or loss which arises out of or is in any way connected
with your use of the Site or any Services, AOS’s liability shall in
no event exceed US $100.00. Some jurisdictions do not allow limitations
of liability, so the forgoing limitations may not apply to you.
Indemnification and
Release
You agree to indemnify
and hold AOS, its officers, directors, shareholders, predecessors, successors
in interest, employees, agents, subsidiaries and affiliates, harmless
from any demands, loss, liability, claims or expenses (including attorneys’
fees), made against AOS by any third party due to or arising out of
or in connection with your use of the Site, any lending or borrowing
transaction, or violation of any the Terms of Use or Policies.
If you have a dispute
with another user(s), you agree to release AOS and its officers, directors,
agents, employees and representatives from any claims, demands, actions,
losses, damages of every kind and nature, whether known or unknown,
arising out of such dispute. If you are a California resident, you are
to waive the application of California Civil Code Section 1542 which
states: “A general release does not extent to claims which the creditor
does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of
executing the release, which if known by him or her must have materially
affected his or her settlement with the debtor.”
No Agency
AOS and you are independent
parties, each acting in its name and for its own purpose. Nothing in
this Terms of Use or the Policies shall be deemed to constitute, create,
give effect to or otherwise recognize a partnership, agency, joint venture
or formal business entity of any kind or create a fiduciary or similar
relationship among these parties, and the rights and obligations of
the parties shall be limited to those expressly set forth herein.
Governing law; Dispute
resolution
You agree that all matters
relating to your access to or use of the Site, including all disputes,
will be governed by the laws of the United States and by the laws of
the State of Texas, without regard to its conflicts of law provisions.
You agree to the personal jurisdiction by and venue in the state and
federal courts in Austin, Texas, and waive any objection to such jurisdiction
or venue. Any claim under these Terms of Service must be brought within
one (1) year after the cause of action arises, or such claim or cause
of action is barred. No recovery may be sought or received for damages
other than out-of-pocket expenses, except that the prevailing party
will be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees.
If a dispute arises out
of or relates to this Agreement, or the breach thereof, you agree to
try in good faith to settle the dispute by contacting the AOS directly.
If a dispute arises out
of or relates to this Agreement, or the breach thereof, and if the dispute
cannot be settled through negotiation, you agree to try in good faith
to settle the dispute by mediation administered by the American Arbitration
Association (http://www.adr.org/fileacase) under its Commercial
Mediation Procedures before resorting to arbitration, litigation, or
some other dispute resolution procedure.
If a dispute arising out of or relating to this Agreement, or the breach thereof, and if the dispute cannot not be solved through negotiation, or mediation, you agree to settle the dispute by arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (http://www.adr.org/fileacase) under its Commercial Mediation Procedures and its Consumer-Related Disputes Supplementary Procedures before resorting to litigation, or some other dispute resolution procedure. Judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.
If the dispute cannot
be resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, then the
parties shall be free to pursue any right or remedy available to them
under applicable law.
Void where prohibited
Although the Site is
accessible worldwide, not all features, products or services discussed,
referenced, provided or offered through or on the Site are available
to all persons or in all geographic locations, or appropriate or available
for use outside the United States of America. Any offer for any feature,
product or service made on the Site is void where prohibited. You are
solely responsible for complying with applicable local laws.
Updates; Termination
or Suspension of Access
The information contained
in this Site, including these Terms of Use, the Policies and Services,
is subject to change at any time and without notice, and AOS makes no
commitment to update the materials on the Site, including information
that may be out of date.
AOS reserves the right
to, at any time and without notice, modify, suspend or terminate operation
of or access to the Site, or any portion thereof, or interrupt the operation
of the Site, or any portion thereof.
Miscellaneous
You may not use the Site or any Content in violation of any applicable laws or regulations, including without limitation United States export laws and regulations. If any of the provisions of these Terms of Use are held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be void or unenforceable, such provisions shall be limited to the minimum extent necessary and replaced with a valid provision that best embodies the intent of these Terms of Use, so that these Terms of Use shall remain in full force and effect. These Terms of Use, and the Policies referenced herein constitute the entire agreement between you and AOS with regard to your use of the Site, and any and all other written or oral agreements or understandings previously existing between you and AOS with respect to such use are hereby superseded and cancelled. AOS will not accept any counter-offers to these Terms of Use, and all such offers are hereby categorically rejected. AOS’s failure to insist on or enforce strict performance of these Terms of Use shall not be construed as a waiver by AOS of any provision or any right it has to enforce these Terms of Use, nor shall any course of conduct between AOS and you or any other party be deemed to modify any provision of these Terms of Use. These Terms of Use shall not be interpreted or construed to confer any rights or remedies on any third parties.