BASESwiki:Terms of Use

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PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY. YOUR USE OF THE SITE CONSTITUTES YOUR AGREEMENT TO THESE TERMS OF USE.

These Terms of Use (this "Agreement") is between you ("you") and HarvardUniversity ("Harvard," "we," "us"), and governs your use of the Internet site currently located at http://www.baseswiki.org/ (together with any successor site(s) and all Services (as defined below), the "Site").

1.

Acceptance of Terms. The Site is made available by Harvard subject to the terms of this Agreement. We reserve the right to update or make changes to this Agreement from time to time in our sole discretion. We may notify you of changes to this Agreement by reasonable means, including by posting the revised version of this Agreement on the Site. You can determine when we last revised this Agreement by referring to the "LAST UPDATED" date at the top of this Agreement. When using the Site, you agree that you are subject to any additional posted guidelines, rules, terms and conditions that apply to the Site or a particular section of the Site.

We reserve the right, at any time and from time to time, temporarily or permanently, in whole or in part, to: modify or discontinue the Site, with or without notice; charge fees in connection with the use of the Site; and/or offer opportunities to some or all users of the Site. You agree that neither we nor any of our affiliates or their respective employees, officers, directors, shareholders, affiliates, agents, representatives, licensors, suppliers and service providers (collectively, “Harvard Entities”) will be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Site, in whole or in part. Your continued use of the Site after such changes indicates your acceptance of those changes.

2.

Jurisdictional Issues. The Site is controlled and operated by Harvard from the United States, and is not intended to subject Harvard to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than that of the United States. Harvard does not represent or warrant that the Site or any part thereof is appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction. Those who choose to access the Site do so on their own initiative and at their own risk, and are responsible for complying with all local laws, rules and regulations. We may limit the Site's availability, in whole or in part, to any person, geographic area or jurisdiction we choose, at any time and in our sole discretion.

3.

Description of the Services. We provide users of the Site with access to specialized services and content related to information about non-judicial grievance mechanisms around the world, including: (a) services such as “wiki”-style collaborative online content-creation and editing tools, registration functionality, profiles, news feeds and links to third party websites; and (b) content such as text, audio, images, photographs, video clips, data, user comments, opinions, postings and other similar content (such content and services, collectively, the "Services"). All content and services made available through the Site that were not made available as of the "LAST UPDATED" date above, will automatically be deemed to be part of the Services when they are first made available through the Site.

4.

Information Submitted Through the Site. Your submission of information through the Site is governed by the BASES Wiki Privacy Statement, which is located at http://baseswiki.org/en/BASESwiki:Privacy_statement (the "Privacy Statement"), which is hereby incorporated herein by this reference. You agree that any information you provide about yourself in connection with your use of the Site is and shall remain true, accurate and complete, and that you will maintain and update such information regularly. You agree that we may terminate your use of the Site and/or the Services if you provide any information that you know to be (or believe may be) false, inaccurate, obsolete or incomplete.

5.

Rules of Conduct. While using the Site, you are required to comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. In addition, we expect users of the Site to respect the rights and dignity of others. Your use of the Site is conditioned on your compliance with the rules of conduct set forth in this section.

You agree not to:

  • Post, transmit or otherwise make available, through or in connection with the Site:
    • Anything that is or may be (a) threatening, harassing, degrading, abusive, hateful or intimidating; (b) defamatory; (c) fraudulent or tortious; (d) obscene, indecent, pornographic or otherwise objectionable; (e) protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of publicity or other proprietary right without the express prior consent of the owner of such right; or (f) information protected by contractual non-disclosure obligations.
    • Any material that would give rise to criminal or civil liability; that encourages conduct that constitutes a criminal offense; or that encourages or provides instructional information about illegal activities or activities such as "hacking," "cracking," or "phreaking."
    • Any virus, worm, Trojan Horse, easter egg, time bomb, spyware or other computer code, file or program that is harmful or invasive or may or is intended to damage or hijack the operation of, or to monitor the use of, any hardware, software or equipment.
    • Any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional material, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letter," "pyramid scheme" or investment opportunity, or any other form of solicitation.
    • Any material, non-public information about a company without the proper authorization to do so.
  • Use the Site for any fraudulent or unlawful purpose.
  • Use the Site to threaten, harass, degrade, abuse, stalk, defame or otherwise violate the legal rights of others, including others' privacy rights or rights of publicity, or harvest or collect personally identifiable information about other users of the Site.
  • Impersonate any person or entity, including any representative of Harvard; falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity in connection with the Site; or express or imply that we endorse any statement you make.
  • Interfere with or disrupt the operation of the Site, or the servers or networks used to make the Site available; or violate any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of such networks.
  • Restrict or inhibit any other person from using the Site (including by hacking or defacing any portion of the Site).
  • Use the Site to advertise or offer to sell or buy any goods or services, without Harvard's express prior written consent.
  • Reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or otherwise exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of, use of, or access to the Site.
  • Except with respect to Wiki Content (as defined below) or as otherwise expressly authorized in writing in advance by Harvard, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of the Site.
  • Remove any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notice from the Site or materials originating from the Site.
  • Frame or mirror any part of the Site without Harvard's express prior written consent.
  • Create a database by systematically downloading and storing Site content.
  • Use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application or other manual or automatic device to retrieve, index, "scrape," "data mine" or in any way gather Site content or reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Site without Harvard's express prior written consent.
6.

Registration; User Names and Passwords. You are required to register for a user name and/or password in order to access certain Services or areas of the Site. With respect to any such registration, you may not use a user name (or email address) that is already being used by another user; that may be construed as impersonating another person; that belongs to another person; that violates the intellectual property or other rights of any person; that is offensive; or that we reject for any other reason in our sole discretion.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any password you may use to access the Site, and you agree not to transfer your password or user name, or lend or otherwise transfer your use of or access to the Site, to any third party. You are fully responsible for all interaction with the Site that occurs in connection with your password or user name. You agree to immediately notify Harvard of any unauthorized use of your password or user name or any other breach of security related to your account or the Site, and to ensure that you "log off"/exit from your account with the Site (if applicable) at the end of each session. We are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with any of the foregoing obligations.

7.

Profiles, Forums and Groups. You may post certain information and materials on your “profile page” (your “Profile”). In addition, we and/or our third party service provider(s) may make services available through the Site to which you may post information and materials (each, a "Forum"). We may also provide services through the Site which allow our users to form groups of users with similar interests around similar topics (each, a “Group”). If you choose to make any of your personally identifiable or other information publicly available ON YOUR PROFILE OR in a Forum OR GROUP, you do so at your own risk.

8.

License. You retain ownership of any materials you submit through your Profile, a Forum, a Group or otherwise through the Site (each, a "Submission"). However, you hereby grant to Harvard a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable (through multiple tiers), royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works of, transmit, display, perform and otherwise exploit such Submission, in any media now known or hereafter developed, for Harvard’s and/or its designees’ business purposes. For each Submission, you represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary for you to grant the licenses granted in this section, and that such Submission, and your provision thereof to and through the Site, comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. To the extent permissible under applicable law, you irrevocably waive any "moral rights" or other rights with respect to attribution of authorship or integrity of materials for each Submission.

9.

Monitoring. You acknowledge and agree that we have the right, but not the obligation, to (a) evaluate each Submission before allowing it to be posted on the Site; (b) monitor Submissions; (c) alter, remove or refuse to post or allow to be posted any Submission; and/or (d) disclose any Submissions, in order to operate the Site, to protect Harvard and the Harvard Affiliates, to comply with legal obligations, or for any other reason or purpose.

10.

License-Back to Wiki Content. The content available on the Site consists primarily of “wiki” content that is created collaboratively by members of the Site community (“Wiki Content”). If you submit material to such Wiki Content, your submission of such material is governed by the license set forth in Section 8 above. In addition, subject to your compliance with this Agreement, and except where otherwise noted on the Site, Harvard hereby grants you a non-exclusive license to the Wiki Content pursuant to the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License (available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/), which is hereby incorporated herein by this reference. In the event of any conflict between the foregoing Creative Commons license and this Agreement, this Agreement shall control.

11.

Harvard’s Proprietary Rights. The Services, the information and materials made available through the Site and all software used to make the Site available are and shall remain the property of Harvard and its licensors, suppliers and service providers, and are protected by copyright, trademark, patent and/or other proprietary rights and laws. Subject to your compliance with this Agreement, and solely for so long as you are permitted by Harvard to access and use the Site, you may download and view one (1) copy of any content on the Site to which we provide you access hereunder (other than Wiki Content, which is governed by Section 10 above), on any single computer solely for your personal, non-commercial home use, provided that you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. Except with respect to Wiki Content or as otherwise expressly authorized in writing in advance by Harvard, you agree not to reproduce, modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based (whether in whole or in part) on any Services, all or any part of the Site, or any materials made available through the Site.

Harvard’s trade names, trademarks and service marks include: “HarvardUniversity,” “HarvardKennedySchool,” “BASESwiki,” and any associated logos and domain names. All trademarks and service marks on the Site not owned by Harvard are the property of their respective owners. The trade names, trademarks and service marks owned by Harvard, whether registered or unregistered, may not be used in connection with any product or service that is not Harvard’s. Nothing contained on the Site should be construed as granting any license or right to use any of Harvard’s trade names, trademarks or service marks without our express prior written consent; further, nothing contained on the Site should be construed as granting any license or right to use any third party’s trade names, trademarks or service marks without such third party’s prior written consent.

12.

Third Party Web Sites; Links. The Site may provide links to other web sites and online resources. Because Harvard has no control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that Harvard and the Harvard Entities are not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and do not endorse and are not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products or other materials on or available through linked sites or resources. Other web sites may provide links to the Site with or without our authorization. You acknowledge and agree that Harvard and the Harvard Entities do not endorse such sites, and are not and shall not be responsible or liable for, any links from those sites to the Site, any content, advertising, products or other materials available on or through such other sites, or any loss or damages incurred in connection with such content, advertising, products or other materials. Harvard shall have the right, at any time and in its sole discretion, to block links to the Site through technological or other means without prior notice.

YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THIRD PARTY WEB SITES AND RESOURCES, INCLUDING YOUR USE OF ANY CONTENT, INFORMATION, DATA, ADVERTISING, PRODUCTS OR OTHER MATERIALS ON OR AVAILABLE THROUGH SUCH WEB SITES AND RESOURCES, IS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND IS SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE APPLICABLE TO SUCH SITES AND RESOURCES.

13.

Disclaimer of Warranties. THE SITE AND THE SERVICES MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE ARE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY. YOU AGREE THAT YOU MUST EVALUATE, AND THAT YOU BEAR ALL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH, THE USE OF THE SITE, INCLUDING ANY RELIANCE ON THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR USEFULNESS OF ANY MATERIALS AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE. HARVARD AND THE HARVARD ENTITIES DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE SITE AND ANY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES OBTAINED OR MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE (INCLUDING ANY THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES), TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HARVARD AND THE HARVARD ENTITIES DO NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF THE INFORMATION AND CONTENT MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE.

YOU ALSO HEREBY AGREE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT (A) NEITHER HARVARD NOR ANY HARVARD ENTITY IS UNDERTAKING TO PROVIDE LEGAL SERVICES OR LEGAL REPRESENTATION TO YOU OR FOR YOUR BENEFIT; (B) NO ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP IS HEREBY FORMED BETWEEN YOU AND HARVARD AND/OR ANY HARVARD ENTITY; AND (C) THE SITE AND SERVICES (INCLUDING ANY CONTENT AND INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SITE) ARE NOT INTENDED AS, AND DO NOT CONSTITUTE, LEGAL ADVICE, AND ARE NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR SEEKING ADVICE FROM LEGAL COUNSEL.

Information contained on the Site may be provided by Harvard’s and/or the Harvard Entities’ employees, as well as by third party visitors to the Site. Please note that Site visitors may post messages or make statements in Profiles, Forums, Groups and/or Wiki Content that are inaccurate, misleading or deceptive. Harvard and the Harvard Entities do not endorse, and are not responsible for, any opinions, advice, information or statements made on or through the Site by third parties, and cannot guarantee their accuracy or veracity. Further, Harvard and the Harvard Entities are not responsible for, and have no control over, any information or materials made available on or through the Site, or for results obtained (or not obtained) by using any such information or materials. Under no circumstances will Harvard or the Harvard Entities be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on, or your use (including republication) or misuse of, such information or materials. The opinions and reviews provided in Profiles, Forums and Groups reflect solely the opinions of the individuals who submitted such opinions and reviews, and do not reflect the opinions of Harvard.

14.

Limitations of Liability. HARVARD and the HARVARD Entities SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND IN CONNECTION WITH THE SITE OR SERVICES, UNDER ANY CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHER THEORY, INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, USE, DATA, LOSS OF OTHER INTANGIBLES, LOSS OF SECURITY OF INFORMATION YOU HAVE PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE, OR UNAUTHORIZED INTERCEPTION OF ANY SUCH INFORMATION BY THIRD PARTIES, EVEN IF ADVISED IN ADVANCE OF SUCH DAMAGES OR LOSSES. IN PARTICULAR, HARVARD and THE HARVARD Entities WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR (A) ANY ERRORS, INACCURACIES, INCOMPLETENESS, UNTIMELINESS, DEFECTS, OMISSIONS OR ANY OTHER PROBLEMS IN THE SITE OR THE SERVICES, OR (B) FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE, FROM ANY CONTENT POSTED ON THE SITE BY Harvard OR ANY THIRD PARTY or from Harvard’s enforcment of (or failure to enforce) this agreement and/or any additional posted guidelines and/or rules APPLICABLE TO THE SITE. YOUR SOLE REMEDY FOR DISSATISFACTION WITH THE SITE IS TO STOP USING THE SITE. THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE MAXIMUM LIABILITY OF Harvard FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES AND CAUSES OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHERWISE, SHALL BE THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, TO ACCESS AND USE THE SITE.

While we try to maintain the integrity and security of the Site and the servers from which the Site is operated, we do not guarantee that the Site will be or remain secure, complete or correct, or that access to the Site will be uninterrupted.

15.

Indemnity. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Harvard and the Harvard Entities from and against all claims, losses, costs and expenses (including attorney’s fees) arising out of (a) your use of, or activities in connection with, the Site; (b) any violation of this Agreement by you or in connection with your user name and/or password; or (c) any allegation that any Submission or other materials that you make available through the Site or Services infringe or otherwise violate the copyright, trademark, trade secret, privacy or other intellectual property or other rights of any third party.

16.

Termination. This Agreement is effective until terminated. Harvard may, in its sole discretion, terminate your access to or use of the Site, at any time and for any reason, and without prior notice. Upon any such termination, your right to use the Site will immediately cease and Harvard may immediately deactivate or delete your password and user name, and all related information and files associated with it, and/or bar any further access to such information or files. You agree that Harvard shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your access to the Site or to any such information or files, and shall not be required to make such information or files available to you after any such termination. Sections 2, 8, 11 and 13-21 shall survive expiration or termination of this Agreement.

17.

Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Massachusetts and the United States of America, without regard to their principles of conflicts of laws.

18.

Arbitration. THIS SECTION PROVIDES FOR RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES THROUGH FINAL AND BINDING ARBITRATION BEFORE A PANEL OF NEUTRAL ARBITRATORS INSTEAD OF IN A COURT BY A JUDGE OR JURY. All disputes arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the breach thereof shall be settled by arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules (the “Arbitration Rules”), as modified by this Agreement. The Arbitration Rules are available online at http://www.adr.org/sp.asp?id=22440. The number of arbitrators shall be three. Two arbitrators shall be selected by the respective parties, one by the claimant(s) and one by the respondent(s). The third arbitrator shall be the chair and shall be appointed by the two party-appointed arbitrators or by the American Arbitration Association if they cannot agree. To the extent that the arbitrators deem reasonable, they shall conduct hearings, if any, by teleconference or videoconference, rather than by personal appearances. Any in-person appearances requested by the arbitrators shall be held in the State of Massachusetts. Arbitration proceedings shall be conducted in English and shall be conducted in a manner that preserves confidentiality. The arbitrators’ decision shall be final and binding. The award rendered by the arbitrators may be confirmed and enforced in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, nothing herein shall preclude Harvard from seeking injunctive relief or other provisional remedy in U.S. state or federal courts, including but not limited to actions for protection of its intellectual property rights (including the rights of its licensors), and you agree to exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts located in Boston, Massachusetts, and waive any jurisdictional, venue or inconvenient forum objections to such courts.

19.

Miscellaneous. This Agreement does not, and shall not be construed to, create any partnership, joint venture, employer-employee, agency or franchisor-franchisee relationship between you and Harvard. If any provision of this Agreement is found to be unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, that provision will be deemed severable from this Agreement and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provision. You may not assign, transfer or sublicense any or all of your rights or obligations under this Agreement without our express prior written consent. Harvard reserves the right to assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement in its sole discretion. No waiver by either party of any breach or default hereunder will be deemed to be a waiver of any preceding or subsequent breach or default. Any heading, caption or section title contained herein is inserted only as a matter of convenience, and in no way defines or explains any section or provision hereof. This, together with all policies referred to herein, is the entire Agreement between you and Harvard relating to the subject matter hereof and supersedes any and all prior or contemporaneous written or oral agreements or understandings between you and Harvard relating to such subject matter. Notices to you may be made via posting to the Site, by email, or by regular mail, in Harvard’s discretion. The Site may also provide notices of changes to this Agreement or other matters by displaying such notices or by providing links to such notices. You agree that a printed version of this Agreement and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this Agreement to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.

20.

Filtering. Pursuant to 47 U.S.C. Section 230(d) (as amended), we hereby notify you that parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software or filtering services) are commercially available that may assist you in limiting access to material that is harmful to minors. Information identifying current providers of such protections is available at http://www.netparents.org/parentstips/browsers.html.

21.

Claims of Copyright Infringement. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the "DMCA") provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law. If you believe in good faith that materials available on the Site infringe your copyright, you (or your agent) may send Harvard a notice requesting that Harvard remove the material or block access to it. If you believe in good faith that someone has wrongly filed a notice of copyright infringement against you, the DMCA permits you to send Harvard a counter-notice. Notices and counter-notices must meet the then-current statutory requirements imposed by the DMCA. See http://www.copyright.gov/ for details. Notices and counter-notices should be sent to:

Liz Eagan
HarvardUniversity
HolyokeCenter, Suite 562
Cambridge, MA02138
Email: dmca@harvard.edu

We suggest that you consult your legal advisor before filing a notice or counter-notice. Also, please be aware that there are penalties for false claims under the DMCA.

22.

Contact us. If you have any questions regarding the meaning or application of this Agreement, please direct such questions to admin@baseswiki.org. Please note that e-mail communications will not necessarily be secure; accordingly you should not include credit card information or other sensitive information in your e-mail correspondence with us.

Site © 2008 Harvard University unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.