VERTICLANS TERMS OF USE
1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS
Verticlans provides a collection of online resources, including
classified ads, forums, and various email services, (referred
to hereafter as "the Service") subject to the following
Terms of Use ("TOU"). By using the Service in any way,
you are agreeing to comply with the TOU. In addition, when using
particular Verticlans services, you agree to abide by any applicable
posted guidelines for all Verticlans services, which may change
from time to time. Should you object to any term or condition
of the TOU, any guidelines, or any subsequent modifications thereto
or become dissatisfied with Verticlans in any way, your only
recourse is to immediately discontinue use of Verticlans.
2.
MODIFICATIONS TO THIS AGREEMENT
We reserve the right, at our
sole discretion, to change, modify or otherwise alter these terms
and conditions at any time. Such modifications shall become effective
immediately upon the posting thereof. You must review this agreement
on a regular basis to keep yourself apprised of any changes.
You can find the most recent version of the TOU at: http://marketplace.verticlans.com/tos.html
3. CONTENT
You understand that all postings, messages, text,
files, images, photos, video, sounds, or other materials ("Content")
posted on, transmitted through, or linked from the Service, are
the sole responsibility of the person from whom such Content
originated. More specifically, you are entirely responsible for
each individual item ("Item") of Content that you post,
email or otherwise make available via the Service. You understand
that Verticlans does not control, and is not responsible for
Content made available through the Service, and that by using
the Service, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive,
indecent, inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise bjectionable.
Furthermore, the Verticlans site and Content available through
the Service may contain links to other websites, which are completely
independent of Verticlans. Verticlans makes no representation
or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity
of the information contained in any such site. Your linking to
any other webites 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 said Content, and that under
no circumstances will Verticlans be liable in any way 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
via the Service. You acknowledge that Verticlans does not pre-screen
or approve Content, but that Verticlans shall have the right
(but not the obligation) in its sole discretion to refuse, delete
or move any Content that is available via the Service, for violating
the letter or spirit of the TOU or for any other reason.
4. THIRD
PARTY CONTENT, SITES, AND SERVICES
The Verticlans site and Content
available through the Service may contain features and functionalities
that may link you or provide you with access to third party content
which is completely independent of Verticlans, including web
sites, directories, servers, networks, systems, information and
databases, applications, software, programs, products or services,
and the Internet as a whole. Your interactions with organizations
and/or individuals found on or through the Service, including
payment and delivery of goods or services, and any other terms,
conditions, warranties or representations associated with such
dealings, are solely between you and such organizations and/or
individuals. You should make whatever investigation you feel
necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any online or
offline transaction with any of these third parties. You agree
that Verticlans shall not be responsible or liable for any loss
or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings.
If there is a dispute between participants on this site, or between
users and any third party, you understand and agree that Verticlans
is under no obligation to become involved. In the event that
you have a dispute with one or more other users, you hereby release
Verticlans, its officers, employees, agents and successors in
rights from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential)
of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected and unsuspected,
disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related
to such disputes and / or our service. If you are a California
resident, you waive California Civil Code Section 1542, which
says: "A general release does not extend to claims which
the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at
the time of executing the release, which, if known by him must
have materially affected his settlement with the debtor."
5.
PRIVACY AND INFORMATION DISCLOSURE
Verticlans has established
a Privacy Policy to explain to users how their information is
collected and used, which is located at the following web address:
http://marketplace.verticlans.com/privacy.html Your use of the
Verticlans website or the Service signifies acknowledgement of
and agreement to our Privacy Policy. You further acknowledge
and agree that Verticlans may, in its sole discretion, preserve
or disclose your Content, as well as your information, such as
email addresses, IP addresses, timestamps, and other user information,
if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that
such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: comply
with legal process; enforce the TOU; respond to claims that any
Content violates the rights of third-parties; respond to claims
that contact information (e.g. phone number, street address)
of a third-party has been posted or transmitted without their
consent or as a form of harassment; protect the rights, property,
or personal safety of Verticlans, its users or the general public.
6. CONDUCT
You agree not to post, email, or otherwise make available
Content: a) that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive,
harassing, defamatory,libelous, invasive of another's privacy,
or is harmful to minors in any way; b) that is pornographic or
depicts a human being engaged in actual sexual conduct including
but not limited to (i) sexual intercourse, including genital-genital,
oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons
of the same or opposite sex, or (ii) bestiality, or (iii) masturbation,
or (iv) sadistic or masochistic abuse, or (v) lascivious exhibition
of the genitals or pubic area of any person; c) that harasses,
degrades, intimidates or is hateful toward an individual or group
of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation,
race, ethnicity, age, or disability; d) that violates the Fair
Housing Act by stating, in any notice or ad for the sale or rental
of any dwelling, a discriminatory preference based on race, color,
national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap (or
violates any state or local law prohibiting discrimination on
the basis of these or other characteristics); e) that violates
federal, state, or local equal employment opportunity laws, including
but not limited to, stating in any advertisement for employment
a preference or requirement based on race, color, religion, sex,
national origin, age, or disability. f) with respect to employers
that employ four or more employees, that violates the anti-discrimination
provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, including requiring
U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency (green card status)
as a condition for employment, unless otherwise required in order
to comply with law, regulation, executive order, or federal,
state, or local government contract. g) that impersonates any
person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Verticlans
employee, or falsely states or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation
with a person or entity (this provision does not apply to Content
that constitutes lawful non-deceptive parody of public figures.);
h) that includes personal or identifying information about another
person without that person's explicit consent; i) that is false,
deceptive, misleading, deceitful, misinformative, or constitutes "bait
and switch"; j) that infringes any patent, trademark, trade
secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party, or
Content that you do not have a right to make available under
any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships; k) that
constitutes or contains "affiliate marketing," "link
referral code," "junk mail," "spam," "chain
letters," "pyramid schemes," or unsolicited commercial
advertisement; l) that constitutes or contains any form of advertising
or solicitation if: posted in areas of the Verticlans sites which
are not designated for such purposes; or emailed to Verticlans
users who have not indicated in writing that it is ok to contact
them about other services, products or commercial interests.
m) that includes links to commercial services or web sites, except
as allowed in "services"; n) that advertises any illegal
service or the sale of any items the sale of which is prohibited
or restricted by any applicable law, including without limitation
items the sale of which is prohibited or regulated by Pennsylvania
law. o) that contains software viruses or any other computer
code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit
the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications
equipment; p) that disrupts the normal flow of dialogue with
an excessive amount of Content (flooding attack) to the Service,
or that otherwise negatively affects other users' ability to
use the Service; or q) that employs misleading email addresses,
or forged headers or otherwise manipulated identifiers in order
to disguise the origin of Content transmitted through the Service.
Additionally, you agree not to: r) contact anyone who has asked
not to be contacted; s) "stalk" or otherwise harass
anyone; t) collect personal data about other users for commercial
or unlawful purposes; u) use automated means, including spiders,
robots, crawlers, data mining tools, or the like to download
data from the Service - unless expressly permitted by Verticlans;
v) post non-local or otherwise irrelevant Content, repeatedly
post the same or similar Content or otherwise impose an unreasonable
or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure; w) post
the same item or service in more than one classified category
or forum, or in more than one metropolitan area; x) attempt to
gain unauthorized access to Verticlans's computer systems or
engage in any activity that disrupts, diminishes the quality
of, interferes with the performance of, or impairs the functionality
of, the Service or the Verticlans website; or y) use any form
of automated device or computer program that enables the submission
of postings on Verticlans without each posting being manually
entered by the author thereof (an "automated posting device"),
including without limitation, the use of any such automated posting
device to submit postings in bulk, or for automatic submission
of postings at regular intervals.
7. POSTING AGENTS
A "Posting
Agent" is a third-party agent, service, or intermediary
that offers to post Content to the Service on behalf of others.
To moderate demands on Verticlans's resources, you may not use
a Posting Agent to post Content to the Service without express
permission or license from Verticlans. Correspondingly, Posting
Agents are not permitted to post Content on behalf of others,
to cause Content to be so posted, or otherwise access the Service
to facilitate posting Content on behalf of others, except with
express permission or license from Verticlans.
8. NO SPAM POLICY
You understand and agree that sending unsolicited email advertisements
to Verticlans email addresses or through Verticlans computer
systems, which is expressly prohibited by these TOU, will use
or cause to be used servers. Any unauthorized use of Verticlans
computer systems is a violation of the TOU and certain federal
and state laws, including without limitation the Computer Fraud
and Abuse Act.
9. LIMITATIONS ON SERVICE
You acknowledge that
Verticlans may establish limits concerning use of the Service,
including the maximum number of days that Content will be retained
by the Service, the maximum number and size of postings, email
messages, or other Content that may be transmitted or stored
by the Service, and the frequency with which you may access the
Service. You agree that Verticlans has no responsibility or liability
for the deletion or failure to store any Content maintained or
transmitted by the Service. You acknowledge that Verticlans reserves
the right at any time to modify or discontinue the Service (or
any part thereof) with or without notice, and that Verticlans
shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification,
suspension or discontinuance of the Service.
10. ACCESS TO THE
SERVICE
Verticlans grants you a limited, revocable, nonexclusive
license to access the Service for your own personal use. This
license does not include: (a) access to the Service by Posting
Agents; or (b) any collection, aggregation, copying, duplication,
display or derivative use of the Service nor any use of data
mining, robots, spiders, or similar data gathering and extraction
tools for any purpose unless expressly permitted by Verticlans.
A limited exception to (b) is provided to general purpose internet
search engines and non-commercial public archives that use such
tools to gather information for the sole purpose of displaying
hyperlinks to the Service, provided they each do so from a stable
IP address or range of IP addresses using an easily identifiable
agent and comply with our robots.txt file. "General purpose
internet search engine" does not include a website or search
engine or other service that specializes in classified listings
or in any subset of classifieds listings such as jobs, housing,
for sale, services, or personals, or which is in the business
of providing classified ad listing services. Verticlans permits
you to display on your website, or create a hyperlink on your
website to, individual postings on the Service so long as such
use is for noncommercial and/or news reporting purposes only
(e.g., for use in personal web blogs or personal online media).
If the total number of such postings displayed or linked to on
your website exceeds one hundred (100) postings, your use will
be presumed to be in violation of the TOU, absent express permission
granted by Verticlans to do so. You may also create a hyperlink
to the home page of Verticlans sites so long as the link does
not portray Verticlans, its employees, or its affiliates in a
false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive matter.
Use of the Service beyond the scope of authorized access granted
to you by Verticlans immediately terminates said permission or
license. In order to collect, aggregate, copy, duplicate, display
or make derivative use of the the Service or any Content made
available via the Service for other purposes (including commercial
purposes) not stated herein, you must first obtain a license
from Verticlans.
11. TERMINATION OF SERVICE
You agree that Verticlans,
in its sole discretion, has the right (but not the obligation)
to delete or deactivate your account, block your email or IP
address, or otherwise terminate your access to or use of the
Service (or any part thereof), immediately and without notice,
and remove and discard any Content within the Service, for any
reason, including, without limitation, if Verticlans believes
that you have acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit
of the TOU. Further, you agree that Verticlans shall not be liable
to you or any third-party for any termination of your access
to the Service. Further, you agree not to attempt to use the
Service after said termination. Sections 2, 4, 6 and 12-18 shall
survive termination of the TOU.
12. PROPRIETARY RIGHTS
The Service
is protected to the maximum extent permitted by copyright laws
and international treaties. Content displayed on or through the
Service is protected by copyright as a collective work and/or
compilation, pursuant to copyrights laws, and international conventions.
Any reproduction, modification, creation of derivative works
from or redistribution of the site or the collective work, and/or
copying or reproducing the sites or any portion thereof to any
other server or location for further reproduction or redistribution
is prohibited without the express written consent of Verticlans.
You further agree not to reproduce, duplicate or copy Content
from the Service without the express written consent of Verticlans,
and agree to abide by any and all copyright notices displayed
on the Service. You may not decompile or disassemble, reverse
engineer or otherwise attempt to discover any source code contained
in the Service. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree not
to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit for any
commercial purposes, any aspect of the Service. VERTICLANS is
a registered mark in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Although
Verticlans does not claim ownership of content that its users
post, by posting Content to any public area of the Service, you
automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have
the right to grant, to Verticlans an irrevocable, perpetual,
non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform,
display, and distribute said Content and to prepare derivative
works of, or incorporate into other works, said Content, and
to grant and authorize sublicenses (through multiple tiers) of
the foregoing. Furthermore, by posting Content to any public
area of the Service, you automatically grant Verticlans all rights
necessary to prohibit any subsequent aggregation, display, copying,
duplication, reproduction, or exploitation of the Content on
the Service by any party for any purpose.
13. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES
YOU AGREE THAT USE OF THE VERTICLANS SITE AND THE SERVICE IS
ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE VERTICLANS SITE AND THE SERVICE
ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" OR "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS,
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. ALL EXPRESS AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF PROPRIETARY
RIGHTS ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED
BY LAW. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, VERTICLANS DISCLAIMS
ANY WARRANTIES FOR THE SECURITY, RELIABILITY, TIMELINESS, ACCURACY,
AND PERFORMANCE OF THE VERTICLANS SITE AND THE SERVICE. TO THE
FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, VERTICLANS DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES
FOR OTHER SERVICES OR GOODS RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED ON
THE VERTICLANS SITE OR THE SITES OR SERVICE, OR ACCESSED THROUGH
ANY LINKS ON THE VERTICLANS SITE. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED
BY LAW, VERTICLANS DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES FOR VIRUSES OR OTHER
HARMFUL COMPONENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE VERTICLANS SITE OR
THE SERVICE. Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of
implied warranties. In such jurisdictions, some of the foregoing
disclaimers may not apply to you insofar as they relate to implied
warranties.
14. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES
SHALL VERTICLANS BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES (EVEN IF VERTICLANS
HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING
FROM ANY ASPECT OF YOUR USE OF THE VERTICLANS SITE OR THE SERVICE,
WHETHER THE DAMAGES ARISE FROM USE OR MISUSE OF THE VERTICLANS
SITE OR THE SERVICE, FROM INABILITY TO USE THE VERTICLANS SITE
OR THE SERVICE, OR THE INTERRUPTION, SUSPENSION, MODIFICATION,
ALTERATION, OR TERMINATION OF THE VERTICLANS SITE OR THE SERVICE.
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 VERTICLANS SITE OR THE SERVICE OR ANY
LINKS ON THE VERTICLANS SITE, AS WELL AS BY REASON OF ANY INFORMATION
OR ADVICE RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED IN CONNECTION WITH THE
VERTICLANS SITE OR THE SERVICE OR ANY LINKS ON THE VERTICLANS
SITE. THESE LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED
BY LAW. In some jurisdictions, limitations of liability are not
permitted. In such jurisdictions, some of the foregoing limitation
may not apply to you.
15. INDEMNITY
You agree to indemnify and
hold Verticlans, its officers, subsidiaries, affiliates, successors,
assigns, directors, officers, agents, service providers, suppliers
and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable
attorney fees and court costs, made by any third party due to
or arising out of Content you submit, post or make available
through the Service, your use of the Service, your violation
of the TOU, your breach of any of the representations and warranties
herein, or your violation of any rights of another.
16. GENERAL
INFORMATION
The TOU constitute the entire agreement between you
and Verticlans and govern your use of the Service, superseding
any prior agreements between you and Verticlans. The TOU and
the relationship between you and Verticlans shall be governed
by the laws of the State of Pennsylvania without regard to its
conflict of law provisions. You and Verticlans agree to submit
to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located
within the county of Chester, Pennsylvania. The failure of Verticlans
to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the TOU shall
not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision
of the TOU is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be
invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should
endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected
in the provision, and the other provisions of the TOU remain
in full force and effect. You agree that regardless of any statute
or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising
out of or related to use of the Service or the TOU must be filed
within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose
or be forever barred.
17. VIOLATION OF TERMS AND LIQUIDATED DAMAGES
Please report any violations of the TOU, by flagging the posting(s)
for review, or by emailing to: abuse@verticlans.com Our failure
to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive
our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches.
You understand and agree that, because damages are often difficult
to quantify, if it becomes necessary for Verticlans to pursue
legal action to enforce the TOU, you will be liable to pay Verticlans
the following amounts as liquidated damages, which you accept
as reasonable estimates of Verticlans' damages for the specified
breaches of the TOU: a. If you post a message that (1) impersonates
any person or entity; (2) falsely states or otherwise misrepresents
your affiliation with a person or entity; or (3) that includes
personal or identifying information about another person without
that person's explicit consent, you agree to pay Verticlans one
thousand dollars ($1,000) for each such message. This provision
does not apply to messages that are lawful non-deceptive parodies
of public figures. b. If Verticlans establishes limits on the
frequency with which you may access the Service, or terminates
your access to or use of the Service, you agree to pay Verticlans
one hundred dollars ($100) for each message posted in excess
of such limits or for each day on which you access Verticlans
in excess of such limits, whichever is higher. c. If you send
unsolicited email advertisements to Verticlans email addresses
or through Verticlans computer systems, you agree to pay Verticlans
twenty five dollars ($25) for each such email. d. If you post
Content in violation of the TOU, other than as described above,
you agree to pay Verticlans one hundred dollars ($100) for each
Item of Content posted. In its sole discretion, Verticlans may
elect to issue a warning before assessing damages. e. If you
are a Posting Agent that uses the Service in violation of the
TOU, in addition to any liquidated damages under clause (d),
you agree to pay Verticlans one hundred dollars ($100) for each
and every Item of Conent posted in violation of the TOU. A Posting
Agent will also be deemed an agent of the party engaging the
Posting Agent to access the Service (the "Principal"),
and the Principal (by engaging the Posting Agent in violation
of the TOU) agrees to pay Verticlans an additional one hundred
dollars ($100) for each Item of Conent posted by the Posting
Agent on behalf of the principal in violation of the TOU. f.
If you aggregate, display, copy, duplicate, reproduce, or otherwise
exploit for any purpose any Content (except for your own Content)
in violation of the TOU without Verticlans's express written
permission, you agree to pay Verticlans three thousand dollars
($3,000) for each day on which you engage in such conduct. Otherwise,
you agree to pay Verticlans's actual damages, to the extent such
actual damages can be reasonably calculated. Notwithstanding
any other provision of the TOU, Verticlans retains the right
to seek the remedy of specific performance of any term contained
in the TOU, or a preliminary or permanent injunction against
the breach of any such term or in aid of the exercise of any
power granted in the TOU, or any combination thereof. |