The State of the USA, Inc. ("Company") maintains this website (the "website") as a source of information about Company and its activities. By using the website, you agree to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions (this "Agreement"), which we may change at any time by posting notice on the website.
PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY, AND PLEASE CHECK THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS PERIODICALLY FOR CHANGES.
If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, please do not use the website.
1. Conditions on Using the Website
All the text, images, marks, logos, compilations (meaning the collection, arrangement and assembly of information) and other content of the website, including any Submissions (as defined below), and any of the foregoing sent to you by e-mail or other means (collectively, the "Site Content") are proprietary to us or to third parties.
Company authorizes you to view, download, and print the Site Content subject to the following conditions: (a) you may only download and print the Site Content in limited quantities for your personal, non-commercial use; (a) you may not modify the Site Content; (a) any displays or print outs of the Site Content must be marked "© 2010 State of the USA. All rights reserved."; and (d) you may not remove any copyright, trademark or other proprietary notices that have been placed in the Site Content. Except as expressly permitted above, modification, reproduction, redistribution, republication, uploading, posting, transmitting, distributing or otherwise exploiting in any way the Site Content, or any portion of the Site Content, is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Company. In addition, you may not link to any part of the website or any Site Content or frame or otherwise display in any manner the Site Content at any other website or elsewhere.
All software used on the website is proprietary to us or to third parties, and except as may be required to exercise the foregoing license grant, any use, redistribution, sale, decompilation, reverse engineering, disassembly, translation or other reduction of such software to human-readable form is prohibited.
The mark STATE OF THE USA is an unregistered trademark of Company or its affiliates, and it may not be used in connection with any service or products other than those provided by Company, in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among customers, or in any manner that disparages or discredits Company. Any use of such mark, or any others displayed on the website, will inure solely to the benefit of their respective owners.
You agree, and represent and warrant, that your use of the website and the Site Content, or any portion thereof, will be consistent with the foregoing license, covenants and restrictions and will neither infringe nor violate the rights of any other party or breach any contract or legal duty to any other parties. In addition, you agree that you will comply with all applicable laws, regulations and ordinances relating to the website, the Site Content or your use of them, and you will be solely responsible for your own individual violations of any of them.
2. User Comments
If you use the "Comments" feature to submit any text, photographs, or other material to the website, such material ("User Content") remains your property, and the Company does not claim any ownership of the copyright or other proprietary rights in such User Content.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, you agree that the Company may use User Content as reasonably necessary for, or incidental to, its operation of the website and as described in these Terms and the Company Privacy Policy, and you grant the Company the non-exclusive, worldwide, transferable, perpetual, irrevocable right to publish, distribute, publicly display and perform the User Content on the website. You acknowledge that third parties will gain access to your User Content through the website, and the Company shall in no event be liable to you for any use or misuse of your User Content by any third party. The Company does not edit or control User Content that you and other users post to or distribute through the website, and will not be in any way responsible or liable for User Content. The Company does not vet or control the individuals that use the website, and the Company shall in no event be responsible for any User Content. No user of the website's Comment feature shall:
(a) Use the Comment feature in violation of, or in connection with any violation of, any local, state, national or international laws;
(b) Impersonate any person or entity, or forge or manipulate headers to disguise the origin of any User Content;
(c) Except as otherwise permitted by this Agreement, harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including e-mail addresses, without their consent;
(d) Post any material more than once or "spam"; or
(e) Engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the website, or which, in the Company's sole judgment , exposes the Company or any officer, director, employee or agent of the Company (each an "Company Affiliate") to any liability or detriment of any type.
3. Website Restrictions
No user of this website shall submit, upload to, distribute through or otherwise post to the website (including the Comments feature) any material that:
(a) Is libelous, defamatory, threatening, abusive, scandalous, obscene, pornographic or unlawful or that encourages a criminal offense;
(b) Contains any advertising, promotional, solicitation or other commercial material;
(c) Contains material from other copyrighted works without the written consent of the owner of such copyrighted material, other than reasonable excerpts permitted under the copyright doctrine of fair use;
(d) Infringes any copyright or violates any property rights, rights of privacy or publicity, or any other rights of any third party;
(e) Contains any statement, formula, direction, recipe, prescription or other matter that involves a reasonably foreseeable risk of injury or damage to the material's readers or others; or
(f) Contains any software viruses or any other code, file or program that is designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software, hardware or telecommunications equipment.
The Company reserves the right (but is not obligated) to do any or all of the following:
(g) record User Content;
(h) Investigate an allegation that User Content does not conform to the terms and conditions of this Agreement;
(i) remove User Content that is abusive, illegal or disruptive, or that otherwise fails to conform with the terms and conditions of this Agreement;
(j) monitor, edit or disclose any User Content; or
(k) delete any User Content, regardless of whether such content violates any terms and conditions of this Agreement.
The Company and Company Affiliates have no liability or responsibility to users of the website or any other person or entity for performance or nonperformance of the aforementioned activities.
4. Submissions Made Directly to Company Belong to Company
In the event that you choose to submit to the Company ideas or suggestions to improve the website or add new features, or otherwise relating to the operation of the Company or the website (all of the foregoing being "Submissions"), the Submissions will be deemed, and will remain, the sole property of Company. None of the Submissions will be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of Company, and Company and Company Affiliates (as defined below) will not be liable for any use or disclosure of any Submissions. Without limiting the foregoing, Company will be entitled to unrestricted use and other exploitation of the Submissions for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, by any means, by any media, without compensation to the provider, author, creator or inventor of the Submissions.
5. Links to Third Party Websites Are Not Endorsements
The website contains links to third-party website. The linked sites are not under our control, and we are not responsible for the contents of any linked site. We provide these links as a convenience only, and a link does not imply endorsement of, sponsorship of, or affiliation with the linked site by Company. Links to merchants or advertisers are owned and operated by independent retailers or service providers, and therefore, we are unable to ensure that you will be satisfied with their products, services or business practices. You should make whatever investigation you feel necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any transaction with any of these third parties.
6. Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Company complies with the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act applicable to internet service providers (17 U.S.C. §512, as amended). If you have any complaints or objections to material posted on the website you may contact our Designated Agent at the following address:
Howard Parnell
The State of the USA, Inc.
1146 19th St. NW
Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20036
Telephone: (202) 540-5400
e-mail: hparnell@stateoftheusa.org
Any notice alleging that materials on this website infringe intellectual property rights must include the following information:
(a) an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other right being infringed;
(b) a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
(c) a description of the material that you claim is infringing and where it is located on the website;
(d) your address, telephone number, and e-mail address;
(e) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the use of the materials on the website of which you are complaining is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
(f) a statement by you that the above information in your notice is accurate and that, under penalty of perjury, you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner's behalf.
Counter Notices
If material that you have posted to the website has been removed or disabled, you may file a counter notice pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §512 (g). To be effective, the counter notice must be a written communication sent to the designated agent address listed above that includes the following:
(g) a physical or electronic signature of the subscriber;
(h) identification of the 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;
(i) a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled; and
(j) your name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located or, if your address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the Company may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection 17 U.S.C. §512 (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
7. Warranty Disclaimers and Limitations of Liability
Company and Company Affiliates make no representations or warranties of any kind regarding the website and the Site Content. The website and Site Content are provided in "AS IS" condition, and Company and Company Affiliates EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING: (i) ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NONINFRINGEMENT, AND ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING AND USAGE OF TRADE; (i) THAT THE WEBSITE AND THE SITE CONTENT WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE, ACCESSIBLE, UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE OR OPERATE WITHOUT ERROR, (i) AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE OPERATION, USE OR OTHER EXPLOITATION OF THE WEBSITE OR THE SITE CONTENT, AND (iv) AS TO THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE WEBSITE OR THE SITE CONTENT. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from Company, any of Company Affiliates or through the website or Site Content will create any warranty not expressly stated herein.
YOU USE THE WEBSITE AND THE SITE CONTENT AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND NEITHER COMPANY NOR COMPANY AFFILIATES WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO ANY OF THEIR OPERATION, USE OR OTHER EXPLOITATION.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL YOU BE ENTITLED TO RECOVER FROM COMPANY OR COMPANY AFFILIATES ANY INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE OR SPECIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF PROFITS OR LOSS OF USE), WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THE WEBSITE OR SITE CONTENT, EVEN IF COMPANY OR COMPANY AFFILIATES HAS BEEN INFORMED OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF WARRANTIES OR OF LIABILITY, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
8. Link to the Privacy Policy
Company is concerned about user privacy and operates the website under the PRIVACY POLICY published at http://www.stateoftheusa.org/about/privacy-policy/. We urge you to read this policy now and, because the policy is updated from time to time, later at your convenience.
9. Applicable Law and Jurisdiction; Compliance
You and Company agree that all matters arising from or relating to the use and operation of the website will be governed by the substantive laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without regard to its conflicts of laws principles. You agree that all claims you may have arising from or relating to the operation, use or other exploitation of the website will be heard and resolved in the federal and state courts located in Massachusetts. You consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts over you, stipulate to the fairness and convenience of proceeding in such courts, and covenant not to assert any object to proceeding in such courts. If you choose to gain access to the website from locations other than Massachusetts, you will be responsible for compliance with all local laws of any such other location, and in no event will you use the website or Site Content in violation of U.S. export laws or regulations.
10. Miscellaneous Provisions
No delay or omission by Company in exercising any of its rights occurring upon any noncompliance or default by you with respect to any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement will impair any such right or be construed to be a waiver thereof, and a waiver by Company of any of the covenants, conditions or agreements to be performed by you will not be construed to be a waiver of any succeeding breach thereof or of any other covenant, condition or agreement hereof contained. As used in this Agreement, "including" means "including but not limited to." If any provision of this Agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, then this Agreement will remain in full force and effect and will be reformed to be valid and enforceable while reflecting the intent of the parties to the greatest extent permitted by law. Except as otherwise expressly provided herein, this Agreement sets forth the entire agreement between you and Company regarding its subject matter, and supersedes all prior promises, agreements or representations, whether written or oral, regarding such subject matter. You agree that the electronic text of this Agreement constitutes a writing and your assent to the terms and conditions hereof constitutes a "signing" for all purposes.
Effective Date of Terms: April 28, 2009