The Living Church News Service Terms of Service
PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE
The Living Church Foundation (hereinafter referred to as "the Foundation" or "us" or "we") provides this website, www.livingchurch.org and all related content and services (collectively, “The Living Church News Service” or the "Site") subject to your compliance with the terms and conditions set forth in this Terms of Service ("TOS"). The Foundation reserves the right at any time to:
- change the terms and conditions of this TOS;
- change the Site, including eliminating or discontinuing any content on or feature of the Site;
- change any fees or charges associated with use of the Site or for any products or services offered for sale or otherwise available on the Site.
Any changes we make will be effective immediately upon notice, which we may provide by posting on the Site or via electronic mail. Your use of the Site after such notice will be deemed acceptance of such changes. Be sure to review this TOS periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version. You acknowledge that you are bound by this TOS. Upon our request you agree to sign a non-electronic version of this TOS.
BY USING THE SITE YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF SERVICE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF SERVICE, PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SITE. BY USING THE SITE YOU ARE INDICATING THAT YOU ARE AT LEAST 13 YEARS OLD. IF YOU ARE NOT 13 YEARS OLD PLEASE DO NOT ENTER THE SITE.
1. Description of Services
Making Purchases. Certain products or services may be offered for sale on the Site. You may be asked by the Foundation or the applicable third party to supply certain information, including, but not limited to, credit card or other payment information. You agree to provide the Foundation or such third party with information that is accurate, complete and current, and to comply with the terms and conditions of any agreement that you enter in connection with your purchase of any product or service. You are responsible for all charges incurred by users of your account, credit card or other payment mechanism, as well as for paying any applicable taxes.
Descriptions, images or listings of, or links or references to, products or services on the Site ("Product Offerings") do not imply the Foundation's endorsement of such products or services. We reserve the right, without prior notification, to change such Product Offerings (including without limitation any prices or available quantities), or to limit the order quantity on any product or service and/or refuse service to you.
Message Boards. The Living Church News Service hosts public forums on the Site. Members are expected to refrain from engaging in any of the conduct prohibited by the Code of Conduct (Section 3) set forth in this TOS. Any Member failing to comply with the TOS may be prohibited from posting comments on forums. The Foundation also may terminate or restrict such Member's continued access to the Site.
Monitoring. We have no obligation to monitor comments or any other materials that you or third parties transmit or post on or to the Site. However, you acknowledge and agree that we have the right (but not the obligation) to monitor all materials you transmit or post; to alter or remove any such materials (including, without limitation, any posting); and to disclose such materials and the circumstances surrounding their transmission to any third party in order to operate the Site properly; to protect ourselves, our sponsors, and our Members and visitors; and to comply with legal obligations or governmental requests.
2. Your Registration Obligations
When and if you register to become a The Living Church News Service Member, you agree to (a) provide true, accurate, complete, and current information (such information being the "Registration Data") and (b) maintain and promptly update the Registration Data to keep it true, accurate, current, and complete. You acknowledge and agree that, if any information provided by you is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, we reserve the right to terminate this TOS and your use of the Site if applicable.
As part of the registration process, you will be asked to select a username and password. We may refuse to grant you a username or password name that impersonates someone else, is or may be illegal, is or may be protected by trademark or other proprietary rights law, is already in current use, is vulgar or otherwise offensive, may cause confusion, or for any other reason as determined by us in our sole discretion. You are responsible for ensuring the confidentiality of your username and password, and you agree not to transfer or resell your use of or access to the Site to any third party. If you have reason to believe that your account is no longer secure, you must promptly change your password by immediately emailing us at foundation@livingchurch.org. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF YOUR USERNAME AND PASSWORD AND FOR ANY AND ALL ACTIVITIES, WHETHER BY YOU OR ANYONE ELSE (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION PURCHASES) THAT ARE CONDUCTED THROUGH YOUR ACCOUNT.
3. Code of Conduct
While using the Site or any services offered on or through the Site, you agree not to:
(a) Restrict or otherwise interfere with the use of the Site (including without limitation any interference by means of "hacking" or "cracking" or defacing any portion of the Site) or disobey any requirements of any networks connected to message boards;
(b) upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any content that is unlawful, harmful, fraudulent, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy or publicity rights, hateful, or racially, ethnically sexually or otherwise harmful, or harms minors in any way or exploit images of children or is otherwise objectionable;
(c) express or imply that any content or materials you make, submit or post are endorsed by the Foundation; impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Foundation official, forum leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
(d) upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party or remove any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary rights notices contained in the Site;
(e) upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam" (unsolicited e-mail), "chain letter," "pyramid schemes," mail fraud schemes, or engage on "flooding" or any other form of solicitation;
(f) upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit any material that contains software viruses, worms, timebombs, Trojan Horses or any other harmful or disruptive computer code, files or programs;
(g) violate any applicable local, state, national or international law;
(h) modify, adapt, sublicense, translate, sell, lease, reverse engineer, decompile, frame, mirror or disassemble any portion of the Site (or offer to do any of the above);
(i) use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device or process or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Site or any content to retrieve, index, "data mine," harvest, collect or use information about users of the Site without their express consent;
(j) use message boards to post personal phone numbers and addresses;
(k) forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any content ;
4. Jurisdictional Issues
The Foundation makes no representation that materials on the Site are appropriate or available for use in locations other than the United States. Those who choose to access the Site from other locations do so on their own initiative and at their own risk, and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent applicable. We reserve the right to limit the availability of the Site and/or the provision of any service or product described thereon to any person, geographic area, or jurisdiction we so desire, at any time and in our sole discretion, and to limit the quantities of any such service or product that we provide.
5. Disclaimer Regarding Links
The Site may provide links to other Internet websites or resources ("Linked Sites"). The Foundation neither controls nor endorses such Linked Sites, nor do we control the content that appears on such Linked Sites.
6. Termination
The TOS shall remain effective until terminated in accordance with its own terms. You agree that the Foundation, in its sole discretion, may terminate your password, account (or any part thereof), or use of the Site, and remove and discard any content within the Site at any time and for any reason. You agree that any actions taken under this Section may be effective without prior notice to you.
7. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold The Living Church News Service and The Living Church Foundation, its officers, directors, agents, co-branders or other partners, employees, and representatives harmless from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, costs or expenses (including attorneys' fees) that arise directly or indirectly out of or from (a) your breach of these TOS, including any violation of the Code of Conduct (Section 3), (b) any allegation that any materials that you submit to the Foundation or post to the website infringe or otherwise violate the copyright, trade secret, trademark or other intellectual property rights of a third party, and (c) your activities in connection with the Site.
8. Proprietary Rights
You acknowledge and agree that the Site contains proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws, and are the sole property of The Living Church News Service or The Living Church Foundation. You further acknowledge and agree that content contained in advertisements or information presented to you through the Site or advertisers is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents or other proprietary rights and laws.
By sending or transmitting to us creative suggestions, ideas, notes, concepts, information, or other materials (collectively, "Materials"), by posting such Materials to any area of the Site, or by submitting content to The Living Church News Service for inclusion on the Site you grant us and our designees a worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicensable (through multiple tiers), assignable, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to use, reproduce, distribute (through multiple tiers), create derivative works of, publicly perform, publicly display, digitally perform, make, have made, sell, offer for sale and import such Materials in any media now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to the provider of the Materials. In no event shall the Foundation have any obligation to pay a fee to a Member in connection with any transfer of the Foundation's business, including without limitation any merger or sale or transfer of all or substantially all of the assets of The Living Church News Service, nor shall the sale of advertising on the The Living Church News Service site give rise to any obligation to pay a fee to a Member.
None of the Materials disclosed in Site postings shall be subject to any obligation, whether of confidentiality, attribution, or otherwise, on our part and we shall not be liable for any use or disclosure of any Materials.
9. The Living Church News Service Privacy Policy
Our policy with respect to the collection and use of personal information is set forth elsewhere on this Site.
10. Copyright Policy
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 the U.S. copyright law. If you believe in good faith that materials hosted by the Foundation infringe your copyright, you, or your agent may send the Foundation notice requesting that the material be removed or access to it be blocked. Any notification by a copyright owner or a person authorized to act on its behalf that fails to comply with requirements of the DMCA shall not be considered sufficient notice and shall not be deemed to confer upon the Foundation actual knowledge of facts or circumstances from which infringing material or acts are evident. If you believe in good faith that a notice of copyright infringement has been wrongly filed against you, the DMCA permits you to send the Foundation a counter-notice. All notices and counter notices must meet the then current statutory requirements imposed by the DMCA; see http://www.loc.gov/copyright for details.
The Foundation’s Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement or counter notice can be reached as follows:
| Designated Agent: | Betty Glatzel |
| Address of Agent: | P.O. Box 514036 Milwaukee, WI 53203-3436 |
| Telephone: | (414) 276-5420 |
| Fax: | (414) 276-7483 |
| E-mail for notice: | foundation@livingchurch.org |
We suggest that you consult your legal advisor before filing a notice or counter-notice. Also, be aware that there can be penalties for false claims under the DMCA.
11. Disclaimer of Warranties
THE SITE, ANY CONTENT, ALL TOOLS, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES DISPLAYED ON, OR ACCESSED OR OBTAINED ON OR THROUGH THE SITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS", "AS AVAILABLE", AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, THE FOUNDATION AND ITS AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, AND AGENTS DO NOT WARRANT THAT YOUR USE OF THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE, THAT ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED THEREIN IS ACCURATE, RELIABLE OR COMPLETE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT ANY SOFTWARE, THE SITE , OR THE SERVER(S) ON WHICH THE SITE IS HOSTED ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE SITE IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.
12. Professional Advice Disclaimer
Your use of the Site is at your own risk. The relationship between you and The Living Church News Service is not a physician-patient relationship or a psychotherapist-patient relationship or a priest-penitent relationship. The Site contains information, data, advice, text and other content compiled from a variety of third party sources ("Third Party Materials"). The Foundation in no way endorses any of the Third Party Materials. Such Third Party Materials are provided for your convenience, and are solely intended to broaden user understanding and knowledge of religious and spiritual topics.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE SITE IS INTENDED TO BE, AND MUST NOT BE TAKEN TO BE, THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, INCLUDING PSYCHOLOGY, PSYCHIATRY, OR PSYCHOTHERAPY, OR PROVIDING HEALTH CARE ADVICE OR INSTRUCTION FOR DIAGNOSIS OR TREATMENT.
The Foundation does not recommend the self-management of health or mental health problems. The Third Party Materials are not exhaustive and do not cover all diseases, ailments, physical or mental conditions or their treatments. The Third Party Materials should not be considered complete or up-to-date. You should never disregard medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on the Site.
13. Limitation of Liability
NEITHER THE LIVING CHURCH NEWS SERVICE NOR ITS AGENTS OR SPONSORS ARE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY LOSS OR INJURY OR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE OR OTHER DAMAGES UNDER ANY CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHER THEORY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING IN ANY WAY TO (I) THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE; (II) ANY CONTENT CONTAINED ON THE SITE; (III) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT ON THE SITE; (IV) ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE PURCHASED OR OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITE; (V) ANY ACTION TAKEN IN RESPONSE TO OR AS A RESULT OF ANY INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE SITE; (VI) ANY DAMAGE CAUSED BY LOSS OF ACCESS TO, DELETION OF, FAILURE TO STORE, FAILURE TO BACK UP, OR ALTERATION OF ANY CONTENT OR, (VII) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO THE SITE. YOUR SOLE REMEDY FOR DISSATISFACTION WITH THE SITE IS TO STOP USING THE SITE.
15. General Information
The TOS constitute the entire agreement between you and the Foundation and governs your use of the Site, superseding any prior agreements between you and the Foundation. The TOS and the relationship between you and the Foundation shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Wisconsin without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You and the Foundation agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the federal and state courts located within the County of Milwaukee in the State of Wisconsin and any jurisdictional, venue, or inconvenient forum objections to such courts. The failure of the Foundation to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the TOS shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the TOS is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this TOS and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. The section titles in the TOS are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. This TOS is not assignable, transferable or sublicensable by you except with our prior written consent. No waiver by either party of any breach or default hereunder shall be deemed a waiver of any preceding or subsequent breach of default.
Legal Notices. Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California residents are entitled to the following specific consumer rights information:
Complaints. The Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 400 R Street, Suite 1080, Sacramento, California 95814, or by telephone at (916) 445-1254 or (800) 952-5210.
