Effective Date: March 8, 2013
These Terms of Use (the "Agreement") constitute an agreement between you and ShoutAbout, Inc. ("ShoutAbout") and governs your use of shoutabout.org and any other functionality or services offered by ShoutAbout (collectively, the "Services"). Please read the terms contained in this Agreement carefully. You can access this Agreement at any time at shoutabout.org/legal/?p=user. Your use of any aspect of the Services constitutes your acceptance of the terms contained in this Agreement. If you cannot agree with the terms contained in this Agreement, please do not use the Services.
1.1 ShoutAbout may change the terms of this Agreement from time to time and will post any changes to this page, so you should check back often to ensure that you are aware of the terms that govern your use of the Services. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page. Continued use of the Services by you will constitute your acceptance of any changes to or revisions of the Agreement. There may be additional terms that may apply to specific services offered by ShoutAbout ("Additional Terms"). Those Additional Terms will be made available to you when you choose to use the functionality or services that they apply to. Any conflict between any Additional Terms and this Agreement will be resolved in favor of the Additional Terms.
1.2 Your privacy is important to us. In addition to reviewing this Agreement, please read our Privacy Policy, which identifies how ShoutAbout uses, collects, and stores information it collects through the Services. By using the Services, you additionally agree that you are comfortable with ShoutAbout's Privacy Policy.
2.1 In order to use some features of the Services, you will need to register with ShoutAbout and create an account. When registering for a personal account, you will be asked to provide certain personal information, such as your full name, email address, gender, birthdate and zip code. If you are registering on behalf of a company, news organization, non-profit or other type of organization (each an "Organization"), you may seek approval to use the Services, subject to your Organization's compliance and agreement with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. To seek approval, click on the sign-up button targeted toward your type of Organization on the homepage. Please see ShoutAbout's Privacy Policy for ShoutAbout's data retention and usage policies.
2.2 You agree not to create an account on behalf of someone other than yourself and not to use a username that is offensive, vulgar, or obscene. Accounts created using misleading or offensive information are subject to termination at ShoutAbout's sole discretion. If you were previously banned or had your account revoked at any time, you may not register for another account.
2.3 If you register or set up an account with ShoutAbout, you will be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your username and password. You may not share, transfer or authorize others to use your username and password or your account without prior written approval from ShoutAbout. Any attempt to do so will be considered a violation of these Terms of Use.
2.4 You are solely responsible for all usage or activity on your account including, but not limited to, use of the account by any other person, with or without authorization.
2.5 If you have reason to believe that your account is no longer secure (for example, in the event of a loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of your password), you must promptly secure your account by using the appropriate update mechanism on the Services, if available, or notify us at support@shoutabout.org.
3.1 Your use of the Services is subject to the following restrictions and obligations:
3.2 You must be 13 years old or older to register to use the Services. As a result, ShoutAbout does not specifically collect information about children. If we learn that ShoutAbout has collected information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete that information promptly.
4.1 Some portions of the Services provide you with the ability to upload, post, and link to content while using the Services ("User Content"). You represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary to upload, post, or link the User Content to the Services and to grant the rights granted by you to ShoutAbout pursuant to these Terms of Use.
4.2 By submitting your User Content to the Services you grant ShoutAbout a perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, enhance, transmit, distribute, publicly perform, or display your User Content in any medium (now in existence or hereinafter developed) and for any purpose, including for commercial and marketing purposes, and to authorize others to do so.
4.3 We welcome your feedback. By submitting feedback or other comments regarding ShoutAbout to us, you grant ShoutAbout a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, enhance, transmit, distribute, publicly perform, display, or sublicense any such communication in any medium (now in existence or hereinafter developed) and for any purpose, including commercial purposes, and to authorize others to do so.
4.4 ShoutAbout reserves the right, but is not obligated, to monitor your usage of the Services, and to review, edit, move or delete any User Content, in its sole discretion, without notice, at any time. User Content that is flagged by other users may be reviewed by ShoutAbout and taken down if ShoutAbout believes that the flagged User Content violates these Terms of Use.
5.1 Except for any User Content, ShoutAbout owns and retains all rights in and to the Services, including, but not limited to, the design, functionality and architecture of the Services, as well as any software, logos, or content provided through the Services, including any intellectual property or other proprietary rights contained therein (collectively, "ShoutAbout IP"). You must seek permission from ShoutAbout if you desire to use the Services in a way that is not outlined in these Terms of Use. Except for any rights explicitly granted under these Terms of Use, you are not granted any rights in and to any ShoutAbout IP.
5.2 As part of the Services, ShoutAbout offers embeddable software that allows you to embed ShoutAbout's ranking functionality into an article on a third party website (the "Embeddable Widget"). ShoutAbout hereby grants you a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid-up, limited, revocable license, to embed the widget on your websites, solely as necessary for you to use the Services. If you use the Embeddable Widget on your website, you may not modify, build upon, or block any portion or functionality of the Embeddable Widget.
6.1 ShoutAbout respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. ShoutAbout may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, suspend or terminate the access of and take other action against users who infringe the copyrights of others.
If you believe that your work is accessible on the Services in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, you may notify ShoutAbout by providing the following information (as required by the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. sec. 512) to our copyright agent identified below:
Note: Only copyright complaints should be sent to the agent. For communications on other matters, please contact ShoutAbout as described on the Services, or e-mail support@shoutabout.org.
7.1 ShoutAbout has the right to terminate or suspend your account or your ability to access any part of the Services, for any or no reason, without notice, at any time. You may choose to delete or temporarily disable your account by emailing support@shoutabout.org.
7.2 ShoutAbout may change, suspend or discontinue any part of the Services including any content offered through the Services (including, but not limited to, text, user comments, messages, data, information, graphics, news articles, photographs, images, illustrations, software, audio clips, and video clips) for any reason, at any time, in its sole discretion. ShoutAbout may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Services without notice or liability.
ShoutAbout does not endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify, or agree with the comments, opinions, or statements posted or otherwise provided by any individual or other entity through the Services. Any information or material placed online, including advice and opinions, are the views and responsibility of those who post the statements and do not necessarily represent the views of ShoutAbout or its third party service providers. You agree that ShoutAbout and its third party service providers are not responsible, and shall have no liability to you, with respect to any information or materials posted by others, including defamatory, offensive or illicit material, even material that violates this Agreement.
9.1 Certain functions of the Services may allow you to link to or provide you access to functions, content, sites, or services operated by third parties (collectively, "Third-Party Services"). Those Third-Party Services are subject to the terms and conditions and privacy policies of the third parties that provide them, and ShoutAbout is not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or functionality of the Third-Party Services. You are solely responsible for reading and complying with any licenses, restrictions, privacy policies or other terms and conditions that govern the use of any Third-Party Services you choose to access, visit or link to through your use of the Services, and are solely liable for any violations of those terms and conditions that arise out of or relate to your use of Third-Party Services.
9.2 ShoutAbout does not endorse the content of Third-Party Services and is not responsible for the content or actions of such sites or services. Visiting any such sites or services is at your sole risk.
You agree to indemnify ShoutAbout and its affiliates, employees, agents, representatives and third party service providers, and to defend and hold each of them harmless, from any and all claims and liabilities (including attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to your breach of this Agreement or your use of the Services.
YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE USING THE SERVICES AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS," AND SHOUTABOUT, ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS THIRD PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS AND IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR ANY OTHER WARRANTY, CONDITION, GUARANTEE OR REPRESENTATION, WHETHER ORAL, IN WRITING OR IN ELECTRONIC FORM, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN OR PROVIDED BY THE SERVICES. SHOUTABOUT, ITS AFFILIATES, AND ITS THIRD PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT ACCESS TO THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR THAT THERE WILL BE NO FAILURES, ERRORS OR OMISSIONS OR LOSS OF TRANSMITTED INFORMATION, OR THAT NO VIRUSES WILL BE TRANSMITTED THROUGH THE SERVICES.
SHOUTABOUT, ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS THIRD PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTIES FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, REGARDLESS OF THE TYPE OF CLAIM OR THE NATURE OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION, EVEN IF SHOUTABOUT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
The Services are offered by ShoutAbout from its facilities in the United States. ShoutAbout makes no representations that the Services are appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who access or use the Services are responsible for compliance with local law.
You agree that this Agreement, for all purposes, shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts applicable to contracts to be wholly performed therein, and any action based on, relating to, or alleging a breach of this Agreement must be brought in a state or federal court in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. In addition, both parties agree to submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction and venue of such courts.
If ShoutAbout provides you with a translation of the English language version of these Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy, or any other policy, then you agree that the translation is provided for informational purposes only and does not modify the English language version. In the event of a conflict between a translation and the English version, the English version will govern.
No waiver of any term of these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or any other term, and ShoutAbout's failure to assert any right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties and supersedes all previous agreements relating to the use of the Services.