Terms of Use

Acceptance of Terms

CivicScience, Inc. ("CivicScience") welcomes you ("the User") and thanks you for using our software. CivicScience provides its software to you subject to the following Terms of Use ("TOU"), which may be updated by us from time to time without notice to you. In addition, when using particular CivicScience services, you and CivicScience shall be subject to any posted guidelines or rules applicable to such services, which may be posted from time to time. All such guidelines or rules are hereby incorporated by reference into the TOU.

Description of Service

CivicScience has developed proprietary polling software which is a lightweight "widget" (the "Ballot Box") which can be integrated into the design and architecture of third-party web-sites or delivered inside an HTML e-mail message.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any new features and enhancements to the current Ballot Box, including the release of new Civic properties, shall be subject to the TOU. You understand and agree that the Ballot Box is provided "AS-IS" and that CivicScience assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, mis-delivery or failure to store any user communications or personalization settings. You are responsible for obtaining access to the Ballot Box, and that access may involve third-party fees (such as Internet service provider or airtime charges). In addition, you must provide and are responsible for all equipment necessary to access the Ballot Box.

Registration Obligations

In consideration of your use of the Ballot Box, you represent that you are of legal age to form a binding contract and are not a person barred from receiving services under the laws of the United States or other applicable jurisdiction. You also agree to: (a) provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the Service's registration form (the "Registration Data") and (b) maintain and promptly update the Registration Data to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, or CivicScience has reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, CivicScience has the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Service (or any portion thereof).

CivicScience Privacy Policy

We at CivicScience have developed a comprehensive privacy policy that can be viewed by clicking here.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold CivicScience and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, employees, partners and licensors harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of Content you submit, post, transmit or otherwise make available through the Ballot Box, your use of the Ballot Box, your connection to the Ballot Box, your violation of the TOU, or your violation of any rights of another.

Rights

User hereby acknowledges and agrees that CivicScience owns and shall retain proprietary rights, including, without limitation, all patent, copyright, trade secret, database rights, trademark and other intellectual property rights in and to the Ballot Box, and any corrections, bug fixes, enhancements, updates or other modifications to the Ballot Box, whether made by User, CivicScience or any third party. Additionally, User hereby acknowledges and agrees that the license granted under this Agreement does not provide User with title to or ownership of the Ballot Box, but only a right of limited use thereof under the terms and conditions of this Agreement. User shall keep the Ballot Box free and clear of all claims, liens and encumbrances. Under no circumstances shall User sell, license, sublicense, publish, display, distribute, assign or otherwise transfer to a third party the Ballot Box or any copy thereof, in whole or in part.

User acknowledges and agrees that CivicScience may develop one or more databases containing the Data and may analyze, sell, redistribute the Data or any part thereof; provided, however, that CivicScience shall not (1) disclose the name, email address, or any personally identifying information related to the person to whom the particular data field relates, (2) distribute the Data in any way (other than to User or with User's permission) which identifies User as the source of such Data, and (3) violate the provisions of CivicScience's Privacy Protection Policies and Confidentiality Agreements.

Subject to the terms hereof, CivicScience hereby grants to the User a perpetual, non-exclusive and royalty free license to use the Data, which includes sharing the Data with internal employees, the media, or outside contractors, so long as the Data is being utilized solely for the User's own purposes; provided, however, that User shall not have any right to sublicense or offer for sale to or use by any third-party without CivicScience's express written consent.

User agrees that the Data and Databases and analysis thereof prepared by CivicScience are the sole and exclusive property of CivicScience, and User, in the use of such information, shall not violate any applicable data protection and privacy legislation in force from time to time anywhere in the country of the User, including, without limitation, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999.

CivicScience may supply to User information which CivicScience has developed through the use and application of the Ballot Box and other proprietary rights of CivicScience, or which CivicScience maintains in one or more proprietary databases (the "Databases"). User further acknowledges and agrees that:

1. A. the Databases and Data are the exclusive property of CivicScience, not within the public domain and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights;
2. B. the Databases and Data are created by CivicScience or obtained from third parties who provide any information or data included in the Databases or necessary for maintenance of the Databases (collectively, "Sources"), and that User is not obtaining any ownership rights of any kind to the Databases and Data, which rights shall remain at all times with CivicScience and its Sources, as the case may be; and
3. C. User will not contest the ownership or validity of any rights of Licensor in the Databases and Data or the intellectual property relating thereto.

Confidential Information

The User hereby acknowledges and agrees that the Ballot Box and other documentation or information provided to the User hereunder contains trade secrets, know-how and other confidential and proprietary information (the "Confidential Information") that is the exclusive property of CivicScience. Except as expressly provided herein, during the period this Agreement is in effect and at all times after its termination, the User shall not use or disclose the Confidential Information without CivicScience's express prior written consent. In addition to the foregoing nondisclosure obligations, the User hereby acknowledges and agrees to use at least the same care and precaution in protecting such Confidential Information as the User uses to protect the User's own confidential and proprietary information and trade secrets, and in no event less than reasonable care. The User shall return all Confidential Information promptly upon the earlier of CivicScience's request therefore or termination of this Agreement. The User acknowledges that due to the unique nature of the Confidential Information, CivicScience will not have an adequate remedy in money or damages in the event of any unauthorized use or disclosure of such Confidential Information. In addition to any other remedies that may be available in law, in equity or otherwise, CivicScience shall be entitled to obtain any injunctive relief that may be appropriate to prevent such unauthorized use or disclosure.

Disclaimer of Warranties

USER HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGES AND UNDERSTANDS THAT THE BALLOT BOX AND ANY SUPPORT FROM CivicScience IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. CivicScience SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Limitation of Liability

IN NO EVENT WILL CivicScience BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR EXEMPLARY, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, IMPAIRED OR LOST DATA, SOFTWARE OF COMPUTER FAILURE OR COSTS OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, OR ANY OTHER CAUSE, OR FOR ANY OTHER CLAIM BY USER OR FOR ANY THIRD PARTY CLAIM, HOWEVER CAUSED AND UNDER ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE USE OF THE BALLOT BOX, EVEN IF CivicScience OR USER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. USER AGREES THAT THESE LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY REMEDY.

Publicity

The User grants CivicScience the right, to be exercised in CivicScience's sole discretion, to use the User's trade name and trademark in CivicScience's promotions, press releases, public relations, advertisements, and other sales and marketing activities. Such right shall be unlimited in duration, and no compensation shall be required for CivicScience's exercise of such right.

Miscellaneous

Assignment: All the terms and provisions of this TOU shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties to this TOU and to their respective heirs, successors, assigns and legal representatives; provided, however, that the User shall not assign or otherwise transfer the Ballot Box or this TOU to anyone, including, without limitation, any parent, subsidiaries, affiliated entities or third parties, or as part of the sale of any portion of its business, or pursuant to any merger, consolidation or reorganization, without CivicScience's express prior written consent. CivicScience shall be entitled to assign this TOU without restriction in the event of any merger, consolidation or transfer of all or substantially all of its assets.

Entire Agreement: This TOU represents the entire agreement between the parties, may only be amended by a written agreement signed by both parties, and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings with respect to the matters covered by this TOU. The User agrees that it has not entered in this TOU based on any representations other than those contained herein.

Expenses: The parties will bear their own expenses with respect to their obligations set forth under these TOU.

Governing Law: This TOU shall in all respects be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania without reference to its principles of conflicts of laws. The parties hereby agree that all disputes arising out of this TOU shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of and venue in the federal and state courts within Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The User hereby consents to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction and venue of these courts.

Severability: If any of the provisions of this TOU are held to be invalid under any applicable statute or rule of law, they are, to that extent, deemed omitted.

Waiver: The waiver of one breach or default or any delay in exercising any rights shall not constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach or default.

Notices: All notices permitted or required under this TOU shall be in writing and shall be delivered in person or mailed by first class, registered or certified mail, postage prepaid. Such notice shall be deemed to have been given upon receipt.

Counterparts: This Agreement may be executed in counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original and all of which together shall constitute one instrument.

No Third Party Beneficiaries: Except where expressly provided herein, this TOU is solely and exclusively for the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors, and nothing in this Agreement, express or implied, is intended to or shall confer on any other person or entity (including, without limitation, any third party who uses the Ballot Box or any of the Data), any rights, benefits or remedies of any nature whatsoever under or by reason of this TOU.

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The Service, Web site, and the community tools featured herein are brought to you by CivicScience Inc. In addition to the general Terms of Use applicable to your use of any CivicScience Inc. site (the "CivicScience Terms of Use"), the following additional Terms of Use (the "Additional Terms of Use") will apply to your use of the Service. Your continued use of the Service constitutes your binding acceptance of these Additional Terms of Use, the CivicScience Terms of Use, CivicScience Privacy Policy and any modifications made thereto.

Forum / Messageboard Terms of Use

Some General Rules

We reserve the right to remove, at any time and without notice, any content from the Service.

Refrain from using inappropriate language, including language that may look, sound like, stand for, hint at, abbreviate, or insinuate profanity, hate speech (including but not limited to racial, ethnic, or religious slurs), illegal drugs/controlled substances or illegal activities.

You must be at least 13 years old to register for the Service. We do not knowingly collect any information from any users under 13 years of age, and if it is found that an underage user has fraudulently registered, their account will immediately be terminated.

Cheating of any kind (including by exploiting any bug or error) is expressly prohibited, this includes exploiting any deficiency in our code or design, or in the code or design of any third party product or service used in connection with the Service, to gain an unfair advantage or to gain unearned or unauthorized privileges, access or abilities not clearly intended by the product's design. Communicating information about such activities to others will also be considered cheating.

We reserve the right to contact your ISP regarding any inappropriate activities by you on the Service.

Your subscription to the Service is intended for your individual and personal use only. You may not share, license, sub-license, sub-lease, parse, pass-on or in any other way attempt to share, extend or monetize your access to the Service.

We reserve the right to immediately terminate or suspend anyone who fails to abide by these Additional Terms of Use. The decision to suspend or terminate accounts will be made at the sole discretion of the site administrators. All account terminations (bannings) are final.

Protection of Your Password; Unauthorized Access

Users are solely responsible for protecting their accounts from access by others. You are strongly encouraged to select a hard-to-guess password and not re-use that password on any other sites where it may be read by the owners or administrators of that site. Accessing or attempting to access any user account not belonging to you without permission is prohibited. Accessing another user's account in this manner is grounds for a permanent ban of all accounts from the site.

Community Rules

The following conduct is not allowed on our message boards:

• Offensive Material - Users may not transmit or encourage others to transmit material or links to material considered patently offensive in nature. This includes, but is not limited to using vulgar, profane, or sexually explicit language; using race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity, disability, nationality, or gender as a means of insult; using threatening, harassing, defamatory, hate-speech, or libelous language; and posting, requesting, linking to, or otherwise sharing material considered pornographic, obscene, graphic, or hate speech. Failing to abide by a warning that material or terms are offensive or prohibited is a violation. Some additional notes on the Offensive rule:
  • Using terms for homosexuality or mental or physical disability as a means of insult in any way towards anyone or anything is considered offensive. This includes, but is not limited to, insinuating certain people are homosexual or disabled in an insulting way, calling things "gay" or "retarded" as a synonym for "stupid", or using offensive slang terms. The use of any such derogatory language will result in an automatic suspension.
  • Jokes or humor about rape or incest are generally considered patently offensive.
  • Vulgar Language or Substitutes for Such - Our Service is programmed with a list of words that are considered vulgar under any context, and these words are not allowed to be used under any circumstances. Attempting to bypass the censor by misspelling, inserting spaces or symbols, transposing letters, using look-alike symbols, or any other method is not allowed. The only acceptable method of posting one of these vulgar words is to completely obscure it, making it impossible to determine what the word is without context. Additionally, certain words are prohibited from being used in topic titles and user information pages; bypassing the censor to post those words where they are restricted is also disallowed. For example, if "gris" is a banned word, the following are examples of bypassing that are not allowed: g***, ***s, g-r-i-s, gr*s, 9|-1$, girs, gryeeeas, Allowed: ****, , ****ed, ****ing, g'ed, g-word. (Note: Neither -ed nor -ing are parts of the banned word "gris".) Taking advantage of any limits in the Service's language filtering capabilities is not allowed. Any limits in such filters shall not be taken as permission to bypass rules regarding vulgar language. Some additional notes on the Vulgar Language/Censor Bypass rule:
    • Just because a word is blotted out does not mean it cannot be a violation. If a posting is self-censored but still is in clear violation another rule (i.e. calling someone an obscured racial term, insulting a user with "**** you"), it is still a violation.
  • In certain cases, some legitimate, inoffensive words may be inadvertently flagged due to constraints of the censoring system. In these cases, a user should still take steps to ensure that their message does not contain the disallowed word, and report the inadvertent flagging to a moderator or administrator.
  • Cursing in foreign languages also falls under the vulgar language rule, and is not an acceptable substitute.
• Flaming - Communications clearly insulting other users, individually or as a group, directly or indirectly, are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to: name-calling ("You're an idiot", "You moron"); direct insults and orders ("Screw you", "Go kill yourself"); insinuations ("Are you stupid or something?"); or insults towards family ("Your mom...").
• Trolling (Inciting Flames) - Messages intended solely to annoy and/or offend other users by going against the clear nature of a board, topic or chat room are not allowed.
• Advertising - Messages that clearly advertise a service or product are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to: unsolicited commercial or personal web site advertisements; For-Sale/For-Trade/For-Auction/Wanted notices; "Make Money Fast" scams, chain letters, and pyramid schemes; or any referrer-ID based sites. Users are allowed to include their web site address in a signature, request comments on their personal site in a social setting, or provide an interesting or relevant link to another site. If a user directly or indirectly profits from a site or link, it may not be posted on the Service.
• Off-Topic Postings - The main purpose of the message boards and chat rooms within the Service is to provide discussion forums and opportunities for various topics covered on CivicScience.com. Topicality is expected and will be enforced on all message boards and chat rooms not noted as purely social in nature.
• Disruptive Behavior - Behavior that disrupts the Service for other users, intentional or not, are prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: messages or topic titles that force browsers to scroll horizontally; large blank or content-free messages, including quoting another user without adding any additional content and posts that consist only of one or more smiley faces; “rick rolls” (posting misleading or disruptive links); "bumping" older topics (posting in them well after the last post); posting identical or near-identical messages or topics, including "fad" posts or topics; intentionally hard-to-read topic titles or posts (i.e. ALL CAPS, AlTeRnAtE cApS, no spaces, no or excessive punctuation); posting hard-to-read or nonsensical messages in a single or multiple topics; posting large ASCII art (except in social topics specifically calling for it); or post counting (i.e. "First", "100th Post"). Shouting or otherwise creating noise in an active voice channel is considered disruptive behavior. Some additional notes on the Disruptive rule:
  • Extra-harsh penalties will be applied for posting any link that overtakes a person's browser or computer when clicked on.
• Flooding, Invading, and Board Wars - Flooding a board or chat room with disruptive topics or messages; invading another board (flooding a board as a group with topics or messages); instigating, participating in, or retaliating in an invasion of a message board or any other online service; announcing or inciting a "war" or any conflict with the regular members of another board. Posting a link to a third-party site that allows modification (i.e. posting comments) in a situation where an invasion is even remotely implied (i.e. "Look at this stupid blog") will be considered an invasion.
• Impersonation - Impersonating other users by creating and/or using a user account with a name clearly intended to impersonate, mock, or antagonize another user, or otherwise falsely claiming to be another member is strictly prohibited.
• Harassment/Stalking/Privacy - Continual harassing behavior directed towards a certain individual or group with the intent of creating an intimidating, offensive, or hostile environment on the Service, with or without use of explicit or implicit threats, is strictly prohibited. Posting contact or other private information of any person (Service user or not) is also prohibited.

Multiple Accounts

While it is acceptable for users to maintain multiple accounts, we can and do track all accounts used on the same computer(s) and consider them one account for the purpose of monitoring violations of these Additional Terms of Use. If these Additional Terms of Use are violated severely enough to warrant the termination of one account, all known accounts held by that user and/or all accounts using the same computer(s) may also be banned at the administrators' discretion.

Violations and Penalties

Topics and messages that violate these Additional Terms of Use will be deleted from the boards and additional penalties may be applied at our moderators' discretion. Re-posting deleted violations (yours or those of others) is also considered a violation.

Messages and topics may be removed at any time and for any reason at the sole discretion of our editors and designated moderators. User accounts may be warned, suspended, or revoked at any time and for any reason at the sole discretion of our editors and our designated moderators. All determinations of what is "acceptable" and "unacceptable" content will be determined solely by our editors and moderators.

Intentional, repeated, or severe violations are cause for the banning of your account, all use of the boards from your IP address or your entire ISP. In such event, we also reserve the right to contact your ISP concerning your activities.

No Warranty; Limitation of Liabiity

The Service, any software we may provide for the purpose of interacting with the Service (the "Software") and all related documentation are being provided to you "as is" and without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. We do not warrant that the functions contained in the Software or on Service will meet your requirements. We do not warrant that the Service or the Software will be uninterrupted, error free or free of viruses or other harmful components. We are not responsible for content posted by our users. No oral or written information or advice given by us or any of our authorized representatives shall create a warranty or in any way increase the scope of this warranty. The above exclusions will not apply in any jurisdiction that does not allow the exclusion of implied warranties.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, NEGLIGENCE, SHALL CIVICSCIENCE, ANY PARTNER OF CIVICSCIENCE THAT MAY BE INVOLVED IN THE DISTRIBUTION OR PROVISION OF THE SOFTWARE OR THE SERVICE, OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, DIRECTORS, AGENTS, LICENSEES, SUBLICENSEE OR ASSIGNS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE, THE SOFTWARE OR RELATED DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF SUCH PARTIES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THOSE DAMAGES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS WILL NOT APPLY IN ANY JURISDICTION THAT DOES NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES. IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE) EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU FOR THE SOFTWARE.