Guidelines
TERMS OF USE
The International Palm Society, Inc.
Version Date [April 10, 2024]
Previous Version Date: [March 28, 2014]
TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT
This Terms of Use Agreement (“Agreement”) constitutes a legally binding agreement made between you, whether personally or on behalf of an entity (“user” or “you”) and The International Palm Society, Inc. and its affiliated companies (collectively, “Company” or “we” or “us” or “our”), concerning your access to and use of the www.palms.org (“Palms Site”) and www.palmtalk.org (“PalmTalk Site”) websites as well as any other media form or media channel related or connected thereto (collectively, the “Websites”). The Palms Site allows users to review information and materials relating to palms horticulture, join our society and access other services that may be available from time to time. The PalmTalk Site provides a discussion forum allowing users to interact with other people with similar interests in palm horticulture. Registration on PalmTalk.org without an existing membership in our society will constitute joining our society at a free membership level with associated benefits. The features and services offered on the Websites are collectively referred to in this Agreement as the “Company Services”. Operating rules, acceptable use policies, forum rules, membership fee schedules and other supplemental terms and conditions or documents that may be posted on the Websites or within the PalmTalk Site discussion areas from time to time are hereby expressly incorporated into this Agreement by reference.
The Websites are hosted in the United States. Company makes no representation that the Websites are appropriate or available in other locations. The information provided on the Websites is not intended for distribution to or use by any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject Company to any registration requirement within such jurisdiction or country. Accordingly, those persons who choose to access the Websites from other locations do so on their own initiative and are solely responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable.
All users who are minors in the jurisdiction in which they reside (generally under the age of 18) must have the permission of, and be directly supervised by, their parent or guardian to use the Websites. If you are a minor, you must have your parent or guardian read and agree to this Agreement prior to you using the Websites. Persons under the age of 13 are not permitted to register for the Websites or use the Company Services.
YOU ACCEPT AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THIS AGREEMENT BY ACKNOWLEDGING SUCH ACCEPTANCE DURING THE REGISTRATION PROCESS (IF APPLICABLE) AND ALSO BY CONTINUING TO USE THE WEBSITES. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ABIDE BY THIS AGREEMENT, OR TO MODIFICATIONS THAT COMPANY MAY MAKE TO THIS AGREEMENT IN THE FUTURE, DO NOT USE OR ACCESS OR CONTINUE TO USE OR ACCESS THE COMPANY SERVICES OR THE WEBSITES.
USER REPRESENTATIONS
Regarding Your Registration
By using the Company Services, you represent and warrant that:
a. all registration information you submit is truthful and accurate;
b. you will maintain the accuracy of such information;
c. you will keep your password confidential and will be responsible for all use of your password and account;
d. you are not a minor in the jurisdiction in which you reside, or if a minor, you have received parental permission to use the Websites; and
e. your use of the Company Services does not violate any applicable law or regulation.
You also agree to: (a) provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the Websites’ registration form and (b) maintain and promptly update registration data to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, or Company has reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, Company has the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Websites (or any portion thereof).
We reserve the right to remove or reclaim or change a user name you select if we determine appropriate in our discretion, such as when the user name is obscene or otherwise objectionable or when a trademark owner complains about a username that does not closely relate to a user's actual name.
Regarding Content You Provide
The Websites may invite you to chat or participate in blogs, message boards, online forums and other functionality and may provide you with the opportunity to create, submit, post, display, transmit, perform, publish, distribute or broadcast content and materials to Company and/or to or via the Websites, including, without limitation, text, writings, video, audio, photographs, graphics, comments, suggestions or personally identifiable information or other material (collectively "Contributions"). Any Contributions you transmit to Company will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. When you create or make available a Contribution, you thereby represent and warrant that:
a. the creation, distribution, transmission, public display and performance, accessing, downloading and copying of your Contribution does not and will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or moral rights of any third party;
b. you are the creator and owner of or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, releases and permissions to use and to authorize Company and the Websites users to use your Contributions as necessary to exercise the licenses granted by you under this Agreement;
c. you have the written consent, release, and/or permission of each and every identifiable individual person and property in the Contribution to use the name, likeness or image of each and every such identifiable individual person or property to enable inclusion and use of the Contribution in the manner contemplated by the Websites;
d. your Contribution does not contain any viruses, worms, Trojan horses, malicious code or other harmful or destructive content;
e. your Contribution is not obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable (as determined by Company in its sole discretion), libelous or slanderous, does not ridicule, mock, disparage, intimidate or abuse anyone, does not advocate the violent overthrow of the government of the United States, does not incite, encourage or threaten physical harm against another, does not violate any applicable law, regulation, or rule, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party;
f. your Contribution does not contain material that solicits personal information from anyone under 18 or exploit people under the age of 18 in a sexual or violent manner, and does not violate any federal or state law concerning child pornography or otherwise intended to protect the health or wellbeing of minors;
g. your Contribution does not include any offensive comments that are connected to race, national origin, gender, sexual preference or physical handicap;
h. if your employer has rights to intellectual property you create, you have either (i) received permission from your employer to make available the Contribution, or (ii) secured from your employer a waiver as to all rights in or to your Contribution;
i. your Contribution does not violate any state or federal law designed to regulate electronic advertising;
j. your Contribution does not amount to trolling, or the making of provocative statements for the sole purpose of generating responses by others;
k. your Contribution does not constitute, contain, install or attempt to install or promote spyware, malware or other computer code, whether on Company’s or others’ computers or equipment, designed to enable you or others to gather information about or monitor the online or other activities of another party;
l. your Contribution does not inundate the Websites with communications or other traffic suggesting no serious intent to use the Websites for its stated purpose;
m. your Contribution does not otherwise violate, or link to material that violates, any provision of this Agreement or any applicable law or regulation; and
n. your Contribution does not contain pictures, data, audio or visual files, or any other content that is excessive in size, as determined by Company in its sole discretion.
CONTRIBUTION LICENSE
By posting Contributions to any part of the Websites, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, fully-paid, worldwide right and license to host, use, copy, reproduce, disclose, publish, broadcast, retitle, archive, store, cache, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, transmit, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such Contributions for the purpose of and as necessary to operate the Websites and not for sale or other commercial exploitation of any kind. By uploading your Contributions, you hereby warrant that your Contributions are free of any digital rights management, including any software designed to limit the number of times the Contributions may be copied or played. Company may retain archived copies of your Contributions. Company does not assert any ownership over your Contributions; rather, as between us and you, subject to the rights granted to us in this Agreement, you retain full ownership of all of your Contributions and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your Contributions.
Company has the right, in our sole and absolute discretion, to (i) edit, redact or otherwise change any Contributions, (ii) re-categorize any Contributions to place them in more appropriate locations or (iii) pre-screen or delete any Contributions that are determined to be inappropriate or otherwise in violation of this Agreement. By uploading your Contributions to the Websites, you hereby authorize Company to grant to each end user a personal, limited, non-transferable, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully-paid license to access, download, print and otherwise use your Contributions for their internal purposes and not for distribution, transfer, sale or commercial exploitation of any kind. SUBMISSIONS
You acknowledge and agree that any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback or other information about the Websites or the Company Services ("Submissions") provided by you to Company are non-confidential and Company (as well as any designee of Company) shall be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of these Submissions for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgment or compensation to you.
PAYMENTS
Membership, products and other items may be purchased through the Websites. All purchases you make through the Websites shall be subject to purchase terms, conditions and warranties as indicated by the product manufacturer or as otherwise set forth on the Website.
Company bills you through an online billing account for purchases of products. You agree to pay Company all charges at the prices then in effect for the products you or other persons using your billing account may purchase, and you authorize Company to charge your chosen payment provider for any such purchases. You agree to make payment using that selected payment method. Company reserves the right to correct any errors or mistakes in pricing that it makes even if it has already requested or received payment. Sales tax will be added to the sales price of purchases as deemed required by Company.
REFUNDS
Unless otherwise indicated at the time of purchase, all purchases are final and non-refundable.
PALMTALK SITE FORUM RULES
You agree that by participating in the "Palm Exchange" or otherwise engaging in commerce facilitated by the PalmTalk Site you shall not violate any applicable local, state, federal, or international law or regulation, including without limitation, all laws and regulations applicable to trading, transporting and importing/exporting any and all agricultural material. Company will cooperate with governmental and law enforcement authorities and Company reserves the right to disclose to applicable governmental and law enforcement authorities any information and content transmitted through the PalmTalk Site. You acknowledge that you are responsible for the consequences of your participation in the PalmTalk Site and any agreements or transactions you enter into with other participants in the PalmTalk Site are at your own risk.
All policies pertaining to acceptable behavior on the PalmTalk Site also apply to the private messaging system (“PM”). Company does not routinely monitor or read PMs. However, Company reserves this right, and accordingly users acknowledge that there is no expectation of privacy applicable to PMs. Additionally, there are situations when "snippets" of PMs can inadvertently become visible to the moderator and administrators. Furthermore, if a report is received of serious policy violations occurring in PMs, Company may exercise its right to review selected PMs to confirm these violations. Anything that you wish to remain confidential should always be communicated through other means.
The basic ground rules for discussions on the PalmTalk Site are simple: be polite, use common sense, and don't break the law. We don't intend to censor messages based on the opinions expressed within posts, but we will enforce the policies outlined both in this Agreement and in the PalmTalk Site forum. We reserve the right to remove, modify or move posts or topics at our discretion and without explanation. Please contact the moderator if you do not understand any of the rules, guidelines or policies. Suspension of your account is a definite consequence of not adhering to the guidelines. In addition to the rules posted here, you are required to read any individual PalmTalk Site forum rules which may be posted at the top of specific forums such as important threads or announcements. The IPS assumes members have read all rules and will not take ignorance of any rules as an excuse for not following the rules, policies, and guidelines outlined in this Agreement and in the forum specific rules.
We take the "Be Polite" rule very seriously. We do not tolerate any rudeness. Any member who is intentionally unpleasant or disruptive may be banned without warning. However, as a general rule we will follow the "3 strikes and you're out" approach: first warning comes with an automatic one week suspension. Second warning comes with an automatic two week suspension. Third violation will result in immediate, and permanent, suspension. However, depending upon the violation, we may vary such consequences in our sole discretion.
Threads dealing with controversial issues, such as politics, religion, sexual preference/activity to name a few are not allowed on the PalmTalk Site forum. Remain on topic. Major deviation from the topic will result in the deletion of the post or even the entire thread, depending on circumstances. Numerous transgressions could result in a warning.
Your account is yours alone. You are limited to one account only. Multiple accounts using different Usernames and Logins are not allowed. You are responsible for any activity created with your sole account. You may not share your account login with anyone. If you choose to ignore this important restriction your account, and any accounts associated with it, will be disabled. You may not link, in any manner, to sites or images containing pornography, violence, political messages, or other topics that are determined by moderators to be controversial or offensive.
Additional rules and guidelines applicable to the PalmTalk Site forum may be posted from time to time in the forum, and are binding upon users.
The PalmTalk Site contains a listing of vendors. Company does not investigate vendors or validate any reviews or claims of vendors. Company does not endorse any vendors. Accordingly, before entering into any transaction with a listed vendor, it is the user’s responsibility to act in a prudent manner. Company has no responsibility to play any role in resolving any dispute arising between a vendor and any user.
PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES
You may not access or use the Websites for any other purpose other than that for which Company makes them available. The Websites are for the personal use of users only and may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by Company. Prohibited activity includes, but is not limited to:
a. criminal or tortious activity, including child pornography, fraud, trafficking in obscene material, drug dealing, gambling, harassment, stalking, spamming, copyright infringement, patent infringement, or theft of trade secrets;
b. advertising to, or solicitation of, any user to buy or sell any products or services, unless authorized by Company;
c. systematic retrieval of data or other content from the Websites to create or compile, directly or indirectly, a collection, compilation, database or directory without written permission from Company;
d. making any unauthorized use of the Company Services, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of users by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email, or creating user accounts by automated means or under false pretenses;
e. disguising the origin of any information or inquiry transmitted through the Websites or using tools which anonymize your internet protocol address (e.g. anonymous proxy) to access the Service;
f. engaging in unlawful multi-level marketing (such as a pyramid scheme);
g. offering any contest, giveaway or sweepstakes without Company’s prior written consent;
h. posting anyone’s identification documents or financial information, or otherwise revealing any personal information about another individual, including another person's address, phone number, e-mail address, credit card number or any information that may be used to track, contact or impersonate that individual;
i. engaging in unauthorized framing of or linking to the Websites;
j. using any information obtained from the Websites in order to contact (except for private messaging functionality provided through the Website), advertise to, solicit, or sell to any user without their prior explicit consent;
k. tricking, defrauding or misleading Company and other users, especially in any attempt to learn sensitive account information such as passwords;
l. making improper use of Company’s support services or submitting false reports of abuse or misconduct;
m. engaging in any automated use of the system, such as using scripts to send comments or messages, or using any data mining, robots or similar data gathering and extraction tools;
n. interfering with, disrupting, or creating an undue burden on the Websites or the networks or services connected to the Websites;
o. attempting to impersonate another user or person or using the username of another user;
p. selling or otherwise transferring your profile;
q. using any information obtained from the Websites in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person;
r. using the Company Service as part of any effort to compete with Company or to provide services as a service bureau;
s. attempting to bypass any measures of the Websites designed to prevent or restrict access to the Websites, or any portion of the Websites;
t. harassing, annoying, intimidating or threatening any Company employees or agents engaged in providing any portion of the Company Services to you;
u. deleting the copyright or other proprietary rights notice from any Contribution or Company Content;
v. except as may be the result of standard search engine or Internet browser usage, using or launching, developing or distributing any automated system, including, without limitation, any spider, robot (or "bot"), cheat utility, scraper or offline reader that accesses the Websites, or using or launching any unauthorized script or other software;
w. engaging in cheating or any other activity deemed by Company to be in conflict with the spirit or intent of the Websites;
x. disparaging, tarnishing, or otherwise harming, in Company’s opinion, Company and/or the Websites; and
y. using the Websites in a manner inconsistent with any and all applicable laws and regulations.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
The content on the Websites (“Company Content”) and the trademarks, service marks and logos contained therein (“Marks”) are owned by or licensed to Company, and are subject to copyright and other intellectual property rights under United States and foreign laws and international conventions. Company Content, includes, without limitation, all source code, databases, functionality, software, website designs, audio, video, text, photographs and graphics. All Company graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts and service names are registered trademarks, common law trademarks or trade dress of Company in the U.S. and/or other countries. Company's trademarks and trade dress may not be used, including as part of trademarks and/or as part of domain names, in connection with any product or service in any manner that is likely to cause confusion and may not be copied, imitated, or used, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the Company.
Company Content on the Websites is provided to you “AS IS” for your information and personal use only and may not be used, copied, reproduced, aggregated, distributed, transmitted, broadcast, displayed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any other purposes whatsoever without the prior written consent of the respective owners. Systematic retrieval of data or other content from the Websites to create or compile, directly or indirectly, a collection, compilation, database or directory without written permission from Company is prohibited. Provided that you are eligible to use the Websites, you are granted a limited license to access and use the Websites and the Company Content and to download or print a copy of any portion of the Company Content to which you have properly gained access solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Company reserves all rights not expressly granted to you in and to the Websites and Company Content and Marks. If you download or print a copy of the Company Content for personal use, you must retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained therein. You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security related features of the Websites or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Company Content or enforce limitations on use of the Websites or the Company Content therein. The use and access rights granted herein do not include any right to use of data mining, robots, spiders or similar data gathering and extraction tools without our prior written permission; provided, however, that a limited exception from the foregoing exclusion is provided to general purpose internet search engines and non-commercial public archives that use tools to gather information for the sole purpose of displaying hyperlinks to the Websites, provided they each do so from a stable IP address or range of IP addresses using an easily identifiable agent and comply with our robots.txt file. “General purpose internet search engine” does not include a website or search engine or other service that is competitive with the Websites.
THIRD PARTY WEBSITES AND CONTENT
The Websites contain (or you may be sent through the Websites or the Company Service) links to other websites ("Third Party Websites") as well as articles, photographs, text, graphics, pictures, designs, music, sound, video, information, applications, software and other content or items belonging to or originating from third parties (the "Third Party Content"). Such Third Party Websites and Third Party Content are not investigated, monitored or checked for accuracy, appropriateness, or completeness by us, and we are not responsible for any Third Party Websites accessed through the Websites or any Third Party Content posted on, available through or installed from the Websites, including the content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions, reliability, privacy practices or other policies of or contained in the Third Party Websites or the Third Party Content. Inclusion of, linking to or permitting the use or installation of any Third Party Website or any Third Party Content does not imply approval or endorsement thereof by us. If you decide to leave the Websites and access the Third Party Websites or to use or install any Third Party Content, you do so at your own risk and you should be aware that our terms and policies no longer govern. You should review the applicable terms and policies, including privacy and data gathering practices, of any website to which you navigate from the Websites or relating to any applications you use or install from the Websites. Any purchases you make through Third Party Websites will be through other websites and from other companies, and Company takes no responsibility whatsoever in relation to such purchases which are exclusively between you and the applicable third party.
SITE MANAGEMENT
Company reserves the right but does not have the obligation to:
a. monitor the Websites for violations of this Agreement;
b. take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in Company’s sole discretion, violates this Agreement, including without limitation, reporting such user to law enforcement authorities;
c. in Company’s sole discretion and without limitation, refuse, restrict access to or availability of, or disable (to the extent technologically feasible) any user’s Contribution or any portion thereof that may violate this Agreement or any Company policy;
d. in Company’s sole discretion and without limitation, notice or liability to remove from the Websites or otherwise disable all files and content that are excessive in size or are in any way burdensome to Company’s systems;
e. terminate the accounts of repeat infringers; and
f. otherwise manage the Websites in a manner designed to protect the rights and property of Company and others and to facilitate the proper functioning of the Websites.
PRIVACY
We care about the privacy of our users. Please review the Company Privacy Policy. By using the Company Services, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. By using the Websites or the Company Services, you are consenting to the terms of Privacy Policy.
TERM AND TERMINATION
This Agreement shall remain in full force and effect while you use the Websites or are otherwise a user or member of the Websites, as applicable. You may terminate your use or participation at any time, for any reason, by following the instructions for terminating user accounts in your account settings.
WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS AGREEMENT, COMPANY RESERVES THE RIGHT TO, IN COMPANY’S SOLE DISCRETION AND WITHOUT NOTICE OR LIABILITY, DENY ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE WEBSITES AND THE COMPANY SERVICES, TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON AT ALL, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION FOR BREACH OF ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY OR COVENANT CONTAINED IN THIS AGREEMENT, OR OF ANY APPLICABLE LAW OR REGULATION, AND COMPANY MAY TERMINATE YOUR USE OR PARTICIPATION IN THE WEBSITES AND THE COMPANY SERVICES, DELETE YOUR PROFILE AND ANY CONTENT OR INFORMATION THAT YOU HAVE POSTED AT ANY TIME, WITHOUT WARNING, IN COMPANY’S SOLE DISCRETION.
In order to protect the integrity of the Websites and Company Services, Company reserves the right at any time in its sole discretion to block certain IP addresses from accessing the Websites and Company Services.
Any provisions of this Agreement that, in order to fulfill the purposes of such provisions, need to survive the termination or expiration of this Agreement, shall be deemed to survive for as long as necessary to fulfill such purposes.
YOU UNDERSTAND THAT CERTAIN STATES ALLOW YOU TO CANCEL THIS AGREEMENT, WITHOUT ANY PENALTY OR OBLIGATION, AT ANY TIME PRIOR TO MIDNIGHT OF COMPANY’S THIRD BUSINESS DAY FOLLOWING THE DATE OF THIS AGREEMENT, EXCLUDING SUNDAYS AND HOLIDAYS. TO CANCEL, CALL A COMPANY CUSTOMER CARE REPRESENTATIVE DURING NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS USING THE CONTACT INFORMATION LISTING BELOW IN THIS AGREEMENT OR BY ACCESSING YOUR ACCOUNT SETTINGS. THIS SECTION APPLIES ONLY TO INDIVIDUALS RESIDING IN STATES WITH SUCH LAWS.
MODIFICATIONS
To Agreement
Company may modify this Agreement from time to time. Any and all changes to this Agreement will be posted on the Websites and revisions will be indicated by date. You agree to be bound to any changes to this Agreement when you use the Company Services after any such modification becomes effective. Company may also, in its discretion, choose to alert all users with whom it maintains email information of such modifications by means of an email to their most recently provided email address. It is therefore important that you regularly review this Agreement and keep your contact information current in your account settings to ensure you are informed of changes. You agree that you will periodically check the Websites for updates to this Agreement and you will read the messages we send you to inform you of any changes. Modifications to this Agreement shall be effective after posting. Modifications made to this Agreement applicable to dispute resolution shall not apply to disputes arising prior to the effective date of the modification.
To Services
Company reserves the right at any time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Company Services (or any part thereof) with or without notice. You agree that Company shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Company Services.
DISPUTES
Between Users
If there is a dispute between users of the Websites, or between users and any third party, you understand and agree that Company is under no obligation to become involved. In the event that you have a dispute with one or more other users, you hereby release Company, its officers, employees, agents and successors in rights from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and/or the Company Services.
With Company
All questions of law, rights, and remedies regarding any act, event or occurrence undertaken pursuant or relating to the Websites or the Company Services shall be governed and construed by the law of the State of California, excluding such state’s conflicts of law rules. Any legal action of whatever nature by or against Company arising out of or related in any respect to the Websites and the Company Services shall be brought solely in either the applicable federal or state courts located in or with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, California; subject, however, to the right of Company, at the Company's sole discretion, to bring an action to seek injunctive relief to enforce this Agreement or to stop or prevent an infringement of proprietary or other third party rights (or any similar cause of action) in any applicable court in any jurisdiction where jurisdiction exists with regard to a user. You hereby consent to (and waive any challenge or objection to) personal jurisdiction and venue in the above-referenced courts. Application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is excluded from this Agreement. Additionally, application of the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA) is excluded from this Agreement. In no event shall any claim, action or proceeding by you related in any way to the Websites and/or the Company Service (including your visit to or use of the Websites and/or the Company Service) be instituted more than two (2) years after the cause of action arose.
CORRECTIONS
Occasionally there may be information on the Websites that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies or omissions that may relate to service descriptions, pricing, availability, and various other information. Company reserves the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions and to change or update the information at any time, without prior notice.
DISCLAIMERS
Company cannot control the nature of all of the content available on the Websites. By operating the Websites, Company does not represent or imply that Company endorses any blogs, Contributions or other content available on or linked to by the Websites, including without limitation content hosted on third party websites or provided by third party applications, or that Company believes Contributions, blogs or other content to be accurate, useful or non-harmful. We do not control and are not responsible for unlawful or otherwise objectionable content you may encounter on the Websites or in connection with any Contributions. The Company is not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any user of the Websites or Company Services.
YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITES AND COMPANY SERVICES WILL BE AT YOUR SOLE RISK. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, COMPANY, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITES AND THE COMPANY SERVICES AND YOUR USE THEREOF, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. COMPANY MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE WEBSITES’ CONTENT OR THE CONTENT OF ANY WEBSITES LINKED TO THE WEBSITES AND ASSUMES NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY (A) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT AND MATERIALS, (B) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF OUR WEBSITES, (C) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (D) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM THE WEBSITES, (E) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH THE WEBSITES BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (F) ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT AND MATERIALS OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THE WEBSITES. COMPANY DOES NOT WARRANT, ENDORSE, GUARANTEE, OR ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE ADVERTISED OR OFFERED BY A THIRD PARTY THROUGH THE WEBSITE OR ANY HYPERLINKED WEBSITES OR FEATURED IN ANY BANNER OR OTHER ADVERTISING, AND COMPANY WILL NOT BE A PARTY TO OR IN ANY WAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING ANY TRANSACTION BETWEEN YOU AND THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES. AS WITH THE PURCHASE OF A PRODUCT OR SERVICE THROUGH ANY MEDIUM OR IN ANY ENVIRONMENT, YOU SHOULD USE YOUR BEST JUDGMENT AND EXERCISE CAUTION WHERE APPROPRIATE.
The Company reserves the right to change any and all content, software and other items used or contained in the Websites and any Company Services offered through the Websites at any time without notice.
LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY
IN NO EVENT SHALL COMPANY OR ITS DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFIT DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITES OR COMPANY SERVICES, EVEN IF COMPANY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN, COMPANY’S LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE ACTION, WILL AT ALL TIMES BE LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNT PAID, IF ANY, BY YOU TO COMPANY FOR THE COMPANY SERVICES DURING THE PERIOD OF 3 MONTHS PRIOR TO ANY CAUSE OF ACTION ARISING AND $50.
CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.
IF YOU ARE A CALIFORNIA RESIDENT, YOU WAIVE CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE SECTION 1542, WHICH SAYS: "A GENERAL RELEASE DOES NOT EXTEND TO CLAIMS WHICH THE CREDITOR DOES NOT KNOW OR SUSPECT TO EXIST IN HIS FAVOR AT THE TIME OF EXECUTING THE RELEASE, WHICH, IF KNOWN BY HIM MUST HAVE MATERIALLY AFFECTED HIS SETTLEMENT WITH THE DEBTOR."
INDEMNITY
You agree to defend, indemnify and hold Company, its subsidiaries, and affiliates, and their respective officers, agents, partners, employees, and forum moderators, harmless from and against, any loss, damage, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses, made by any third party due to or arising out of your Contributions, use of the Company Services, and/or arising from a breach of this Agreement and/or any breach of your representations and warranties set forth above. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Company reserves the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify Company, and you agree to cooperate, at your expense, with Company’s defense of such claims. Company will use reasonable efforts to notify you of any such claim, action, or proceeding which is subject to this indemnification upon becoming aware of it.
SWEEPSTAKES
From time to time, Company may conduct sweepstakes that entitle the winners to prizes. Each sweepstakes has its own terms and conditions, set forth in the official rules for that sweepstakes.
NOTICES
Except as explicitly stated otherwise, any notices given to Company shall be given by email to the address listed below. Any notices given to you shall be given to the email address you provided during the registration process, or such other address as each party may specify. Notice shall be deemed to be given 24 hours after the email is sent, unless the sending party is notified that the email address is invalid. We may also choose to send notices by regular mail or discussion forum postings.
BACKUP YOUR CONTENT
You are responsible for backing up, to your own computer or other device, any important documents, images or other content that you store or access via the Company Service. Company does not guarantee or warrant that any content you may store or access through the Company Service will not be subject to inadvertent damage, corruption or loss, and Company shall have no liability to a user for any such damage, corruption or loss.
ELECTRONIC CONTRACTING
Your use of the Company Service includes the ability to enter into agreements and/or to make transactions electronically. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOUR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS CONSTITUTE YOUR AGREEMENT AND INTENT TO BE BOUND BY AND TO PAY FOR SUCH AGREEMENTS AND TRANSACTIONS. YOUR AGREEMENT AND INTENT TO BE BOUND BY ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS APPLIES TO ALL RECORDS RELATING TO ALL TRANSACTIONS YOU ENTER INTO RELATING TO THE COMPANY SERVICE, INCLUDING NOTICES OF CANCELLATION, POLICIES, CONTRACTS, AND APPLICATIONS. In order to access and retain your electronic records, you may be required to have certain hardware and software, which are your sole responsibility.
MISCELLANEOUS
This Agreement (as may be modified from time to time in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement) constitutes the entire agreement between you and Company regarding the use of the Company Services. The failure of Company to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. The section titles in this Agreement are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. This Agreement operates to the fullest extent permissible by law. This Agreement and your account may not be assigned by you without our express written consent. Company may assign any or all of its rights and obligations to others at any time. Company shall not be responsible or liable for any loss, damage, delay or failure to act caused by any cause beyond Company's reasonable control. If any provision or part of a provision of this Agreement is unlawful, void or unenforceable, that provision or part of the provision is deemed severable from this Agreement and does not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. Upon Company’s request, you will furnish Company any documentation, substantiation or releases necessary to verify your compliance with this Agreement. You agree that this Agreement will not be construed against Company by virtue of having drafted it. You hereby waive any and all defenses you may have based on the electronic form of this Agreement and the lack of signing by the parties hereto to execute this Agreement.
CONTACT US
In order to resolve a complaint regarding the Company Services or to receive further information regarding use of the Company Services, please contact Company as set forth below or, if any complaint with us is not satisfactorily resolved, and you are a California resident, you can contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 400 "R" Street, Sacramento, California 95814 or by telephone at 1-916-445-1254.
The International Palm Society, Inc.
c/o Dr. Larry Noblick
Montgomery Botanical Center
11901 Old Cutler Road
Miami, FL 33156 USA
lnob@montgomerybotanical.org
305-667-3800 ext. 104