Vance Publishing Corporation

Terms of Use Agreement

(Effective Date: ______05/01/2009________)

IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ THIS TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE WEB SITE.  THESE TERMS AFFECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS.  BY ACCESSING OR USING THIS WEB SITE, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS.  IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THESE TERMS, DO NOT USE THIS WEB SITE.

About This Agreement

This Terms of Use Agreement (“Agreement”) governs your use of this web site and its associated services (the “Site”).  Vance Publishing Corporation and/or its affiliates, subsidiaries and related entities (“Vance,” “we” “our” or “us”) owns and operates this Site. 

This Agreement is between you and Vance.  Please review this Agreement carefully.  This Agreement is legally-binding and cannot be modified except as specifically described below.  By accessing, browsing, or using the Site you agree to all the terms and conditions of this Agreement, and any additional terms that govern certain registrations, products or services offered via the Site that you take advantage of or participate in, which are presented in conjunction with such registrations, products or services.  To the extent there is a conflict between this Agreement and any such additional terms, the additional terms will control unless they expressly state otherwise.  

In addition, please review the Site’s Privacy Policy, which explains our information collection practices, such as the types of information we collect regarding visitors to the Site and how we may use that information. 

Registration 

This Site may require you to register as a member or subscriber of the Site in order to take advantage of certain features or services of the Site.  If you elect to take advantage of such features or services, you must register on the Site by completing the applicable registration form and creating an account (“Account”) with a unique User ID and password.  By registering with the Site, you represent and warrant that the information you provide on the registration form is complete and accurate, and acknowledge that it is your responsibility to keep registration and credit card information current.  You also agree that –

·         your User ID is only for your personal use, that you will not sell, transfer or assign your Account, and that you will not allow others to use your Account or your User ID or password to access the Site under any circumstances;

·         you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your User ID and password, and for notifying Vance at security@vancepublishing.com if you believe there is or may have been a compromise of your User ID or password, or any unauthorized use of your Account; and 

·         you are fully responsible for all transactions and other activities that are undertaken using your User ID or password, including unauthorized use, until you terminate your Account or notify Vance that your User ID or password has been lost, stolen or otherwise compromised.

Ownership and Rights to Use Site Content

The Site contains a variety of (1) copyrighted materials, such as information, articles, opinions, other text, directories, guides, graphics, photographs, illustrations, images, video and audio clips, music, advertising and promotional materials, data, software, compilations, designs, graphical interface, and overall “look and feel”, and (2) trademarks, logos, trade names, service marks, and trade identities, and the domain names and URLs associated therewith, whether registered or unregistered (collectively the "Trademarks"), and (3) other forms of intellectual property (all of the foregoing collectively and individually are referred to as "Site Content").

Ownership.  All right, title, and interest in and to the Site Content is the property of Vance or its licensors, and is protected by U.S. and international copyright, trademark, patent, or other proprietary rights and laws.  You do not acquire any ownership rights in any Site Content by using the Site or by virtue of downloading, printing, or using Site Content.

License.  We grant you a nonexclusive, nontransferable, revocable, limited license to view, download, copy, and print Site Content only for your personal, non-commercial use.  You may not remove or obscure any copyright notice, trademark notice, or other proprietary rights notice displayed on or in conjunction with the Site Content.  Except to the minimum extent otherwise expressly permitted under applicable law, you may not use any Site Content in any other manner or for any other purpose without the prior express written permission of Vance or its licensor, as applicable.  This applies to copyrighted Site Content regardless of whether or not a copyright notice appears on such materials, and applies to Trademarks, whether registered or unregistered, and regardless of whether or not a trademark notice appears on such materials.  All rights not expressly granted in this Agreement are reserved to Vance or its licensors.

Submissions Policy – User Forums, Postings, and User Generated Content

We may provide forums, message boards, chat rooms or other interactive areas on the Site ("User Forums") to give users of the Site (“Users”) a forum to express their opinions and share their ideas, information, materials, and other user-generated content (collectively “Submissions”) 

Rights You Grant to Us.  Whenever you submit a Submission to a User Forum or some other aspect of the Site or directly to Vance (including by e-mail) you: (1) grant to Vance an irrevocable worldwide, nonexclusive, perpetual, fully sub-licensable and assignable, royalty-free right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, incorporate in other works, and otherwise create derivative works from, publish, distribute, transmit, broadcast, perform, display, and otherwise exercise all rights in and to such Submission, via the Site or otherwise, in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed, and (2) consent to all relevant acts or omissions in relation to your moral rights in such Submission (if any) which may or might otherwise constitute a breach or infringement of those moral rights, and to the extent permitted by law waive all your moral rights in such Submission.

No Responsibility.    We are not responsible for, and we do not endorse, the Submissions posted in User Forums by Users of the Site.  We do not have, and do not undertake, any obligation to prescreen, monitor, edit, or remove any Submission that is posted on any User Forum or is otherwise available through the Site.  However, we retain the right (but not the obligation), in our sole discretion and for any reason, to prescreen, monitor, edit, refuse to accept, remove, or move any Submission submitted by any User to a User Forum.  We specifically disclaim any responsibility or liability to any person or entity for any loss, damage, injury, claim, liability or other cause of any kind or nature or character based upon or resulting from any Submission.

Representations You Make to Us.  You are solely responsible for all Submissions that you submit to a User Forum or some other aspect of the Site or directly to Vance (including by e-mail).  By doing so, you represent and warrant to Vance that each such Submission: (1) is not confidential and that you have all necessary permission to Submit such Submission; and (2) does not infringe upon, misappropriate or violate the rights of any third parties, including, without limitation, any intellectual property rights, rights of publicity or privacy, or any other proprietary rights.

User Conduct

You may use the Site only be for lawful purposes and you agree that you shall at all times comply with all local, state, national, and international laws, statutes, and regulations applicable to your use of the Site.  In addition, while using the Site, you agree that you will not do any of the following:

·         Submit via the Site (or any User Forum) anything that is or may be: (i) harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, degrading, hateful, or intimidating; (ii) defamatory, libelous, or disparaging of any person or entity; (iii) misleading, false, fraudulent, or tortious; (iv) obscene, indecent, pornographic, vulgar, profane, or sexually explicit; (v) intended to promote (or have the effect of promoting) violence, racial hatred, terrorism or illegal acts; (vi) infringing, or in violation or misappropriation of, any patent, trademark, trade identity right, trade secret, publicity right, privacy right, copyright or any other intellectual property or any other rights of any third party; (vii) in violation of any other rights of any person or entity; (viii) violative of any law or regulation; or (ix) otherwise objectionable, in our sole discretion. 

·         Submit any virus, worm, “Trojan Horse,” “time bomb,” spyware, or any other computer code, file, or program that may or is intended to damage, hijack or otherwise interfere with the operation of the Site or any hardware, software, or telecommunications equipment or with any third party's uninterrupted use and enjoyment of the Site.

·         Submit any advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” investment opportunities, or any other form of solicitation. 

·         Collect, transmit or harvest personally identifiable information about other users of the Site or “stalk” or otherwise harass other persons.

·         Impersonate any person or entity; falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, including Vance; forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any submissions to us or through the Site; or expressly state or imply that we endorse any statement you make.

·         Breach or attempt to breach the security of any portion of the Site, including but not limited to: (i) access Site Content that you are not authorized to access; (ii) log into a server or account that you are not authorized to access; (iii) attempt to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization; (iv) attempt to interfere with or disrupt the Site or the servers or networks that support the Site, including, without limitation, via means of submitting a virus to the Site or overloading, “flooding,” “mailbombing” or “crashing” the Site; or (v) restrict or inhibit any other user from accessing or using the Site, including, without limitation, by means of hacking or defacing any portion of the Site. 

·         Modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any portion of the Site.

·         Except for search engines presenting links to users searching for the Site or related content, use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device or process to retrieve, index, “data mine,” scrape, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Site or its contents, unless otherwise permitted by Vance in writing in advance.

·         Use the Site for commercial or business purposes without our express, written, prior permission, including, without limitation, for advertising, marketing, or offering goods or services, whether or not for financial or any other form of compensation, or through linking with or artificially generating traffic to any other web site or web page.

·         Use the Site in any way that would adversely affect Vance or reflect negatively on Vance or the our goodwill, name or reputation.

Vance reserves the right to monitor the Site for conduct in violation of this Agreement. However, Vance specifically disclaims all responsibility or liability for its acts or omissions in doing so.

Contests, Sweepstakes, Auctions and Other Promotions

From time to time, Vance may conduct promotions on or through the Site, including without limitation, contests, sweepstakes, auctions and other promotions (“Promotions”).  Each Promotion may have additional terms and/or rules of participation (“Rules”), which will be posted or otherwise made available to you.  The Rules for each Promotion in which you participate will be deemed incorporated into and form a part of this Agreement.  It is your responsibility to read the Rules to determine whether or not your participation, registration, or entry will be valid or restricted, and to determine your participation requirements.

Third Party Advertisers

Third party advertisers (“Advertisers”) may offer goods, services and other materials to you on the Site. Your dealings with advertisers found on or through the Site are solely between you and the advertiser.  Descriptions of, or references to, products or publications within the Site do not imply endorsement of that product or publication.  Vance will not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or the offering of such goods, services and other materials on the Site.  Please review carefully all policies and practices before you engage in any business dealings with any third party.  Any complaints, concerns or questions you may have relating to materials provided by third parties should be forwarded directly to the third party.

Links to Third-Party Sites

This Site contains links to third-party sites, which are not under our control.  Vance is not responsible for the contents of, nor does it endorse, any third-party sites that are linked to from this Site.  

User Warranties

By use of the Site, you represent, warrant, and covenant to Vance that: (a) all of the information, Submissions, and other content you provide to Vance through the Site is correct, complete, and current, and you hold all rights necessary to provide them; and (b) your use of the Site does not violate any applicable law or regulation.

Disclaimer of Warranties

THIS SITE AND ALL CONTENT AND OTHER MATERIALS MADE AVAILABLE ON THE SITE, ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, “WITH ALL FAULTS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.  TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, VANCE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, REPRESENTATIONS, AND UNDERTAKINGS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  YOU ASSUME TOTAL RESPONSIBILITY AND RISK FOR YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND YOUR RELIANCE THEREON.  NO OPINION, ADVICE, OR STATEMENT OF VANCE, WHETHER MADE ON THE SITE, OR OTHERWISE, SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED HEREIN.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, VANCE DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL BE AVAILABLE; THAT YOUR USE OF THE SITE WILL BE TIMELY, UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE; THAT DEFECTS OR ERRORS WILL BE CORRECTED; OR THAT THE SITE (OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE) IS FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

Some jurisdictions may not allow the exclusion of implied or other warranties, so the above exclusions may not apply to you.

Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL VANCE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, ECONOMIC, EXEMPLARY OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR WITH THE DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE, OR FOR ANY INFORMATION, CONTENT, PRODUCTS, AND/OR SERVICES OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITE, OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF THE SITE, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF VANCE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES. 

YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SITE IS AT YOUR RISK. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH THE SITE OR ANY OF THE CONTENT, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE ACCESSING AND USING THE SITE OR THE CONTENT.  Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of some types of damages, so some of the above may not apply to you.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Vance Publishing Corporation, its officers, agents, employees, licensees, successors, and assignees, affiliated merchants, content, technology and service providers, advertisers and sponsors, from and against any and all third-party claims, demands, losses, liability, damages or expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) arising out of breach of these Terms of Use or the use of the Site or any materials, products or services available at this Site, by you or under your control.

Notice and Procedure for Making Complaints Regarding Content

We respect the intellectual property of others and we require that our users do the same.  In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have designated a Copyright Agent to receive notice of claims of copyright infringement with respect to Site Content.  To notify us of any Site Content that you believe infringes your rights or the rights of others, please provide the following information to the Vance Copyright Agent listed below:

(a)    Your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address;

(b)   A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed or, if multiple copyrighted works on the Site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works on the Site;

(c)    Identification of the material claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Vance to locate the material, such as the URL or a reasonable description of where the alleged infringing material is located on the Site;

(d)   A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;

(e)    A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate, and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf; and

(f)    An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest.

Vance's Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement, can be reached as follows:

By e-mail: security@vancepublishing.com (with subject “Copyright Complaints”);

By phone: (847) 634-2600

By postal mail:

Vance Publishing Corporation

400 Knightsbridge Pkwy

Lincolnshire, IL 60069

Attn: Copyright Agent

(with subject “Copyright Complaints”)

Governing law and jurisdiction

This Site is located in the Untied States, and this Agreement and the interpretation of this Agreement will be governed by and construed under the laws of the United States and the State of Illinois, without regard to conflict of law principles. You agree and submit to the exclusive and mandatory jurisdiction and venue of the State and Federal Courts situated in Cook County, Illinois and agree you will not object to such jurisdiction or venue on the grounds of lack of personal jurisdiction, forum non conveniens, or otherwise. Any cause of action or claim arising out of this Agreement or your use of the Site, regardless of form or the basis of the claim, must be brought within one (1) year after the cause of action arose or, if multiple causes, from the date the first such cause of action arose.

Term and Termination

If you have registered with this Site, you may terminate your Account at any time and for any reason. Vance may terminate your Account or use of the Site at any time and for any reason, with or without cause, without prior notice to you and without any liability or further obligation of any kind whatsoever to you or any other party.  Vance also reserves the right to use any technological, legal, operational, or other means available to enforce the terms of this Agreement, including without limitation, blocking specific IP addresses or access to this Site using your e-mail address, User ID or password.

Modifications of This Agreement

Vance reserves the right, at any time and for any reason in its sole discretion, to change, modify, amend and/or update the terms of this Agreement.  Whenever a change is made the new Agreement will be posted on the Site, and will specify its effective date.  Therefore, you should review this Agreement before using the Site.  Your use of the Site after the new terms are posted will signify your agreement to be bound by the new terms.

Miscellaneous

This Agreement cannot be changed or terminated orally.  Any failure of Vance to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.  No waiver by Vance of any provision of this Agreement will be of any force or effect unless made in writing and signed by a duly authorized officer of Vance.

If any provision of this Agreement is held to be illegal, invalid, or unenforceable, then the provision will be deemed severable from the Agreement and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.  The section titles in this Agreement are inserted only as a matter of convenience and have no legal or contractual effect.  You agree that these terms will not be construed against Vance by virtue of having drafted them.

Vance reserves the right to deny access to all or part of the Site to you or any person in its sole discretion without notice or liability of any kind.  Any violation of this Agreement may be referred to law enforcement authorities.

This Agreement, together with any Rules, constitutes the entire understanding and agreement between you and Vance and supersedes any and all prior or inconsistent understandings relating to the Site and your use of the Site and services provided by the Site.

Questions

If you have questions about this Agreement you may contact us at security@vancepublishing.com or:

Vance Publishing Corporation
400 Knightsbridge Pkwy
Lincolnshire, IL 60069
(847) 634-2600