Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyEffective Date: November 1, 2008 Introduction 500 BC.com is an eco-knowledge exchange where subject-matter experts and members alike share ideas and experiences to explore smart ways for us all to live more sustainably. The 500 BC service is operated by 500 BC, Inc. (‘500 BC'), and consists of the 500 BC website and other features and services offered by 500 BC, such as e-mail, instant messaging, online seminars, video and travel programs (collectively the ‘500 BC Service'). 500 BC may be accessed through the Internet and expects to be available through WAP services provided by certain mobile network providers by January 1, 2009. By accessing or using the 500 BC Service, you signify that you have read the following terms and conditions (the 'Terms of Service') and accept and agree to be bound by them, whether or not you register with 500 BC. Where applicable under law, these Terms constitute a ‘writing signed by you.' Changes to 500 BC and the Terms of Service We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or delete portions of these Terms of Service at any time without further notice. If we do this, we will post the changes to these Terms of Service on this page and we may send registered users an email notifying you of the change. IF ANY MODIFICATION IS UNACCEPTABLE TO YOU, YOU SHALL STOP USING THE 500 BC SERVICE. YOUR CONTINUED USE OF THE 500 BC SERVICE FOLLOWING OUR POSTING OF A CHANGE NOTICE OR NEW AGREEMENT ON OUR SITE OR RECEIVING OUR EMAIL NOTIFYING YOU OF THE CHANGE WILL CONSTITUTE YOUR BINDING ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHANGE. Eligibility and Registration You must be 13 years or older to use the 500 BC Service. By registering for the 500 BC Service, you represent and warrant that you are 13 or older and that you have the capacity to understand, agree to and comply with these Terms of Service. You should provide true, accurate and complete registration information to be a 500 BC member ('Member'), and also maintain the accuracy of this information. As part of the registration process, you will be asked to select a username and password and you will be responsible for all activities occurring under your username and for keeping your password secure. We may refuse to grant you a username that impersonates someone else, is or may be protected by trademark or proprietary rights law, or is vulgar, offensive or otherwise inappropriate, as determined by us in our sole discretion. Use or membership with the 500 BC Service is void where prohibited. Member Conduct and Appropriate Content The 500 BC Service is made available for your personal, non-commercial use only. You may not use the 500 BC Service for any illegal or unauthorized purpose. International users agree to comply with all local rules regarding online conduct and acceptable content, including laws regulating the export of data from the United States or your country of residence. You are solely responsible for your conduct and any data, text, information, graphics, photos, profiles, audio and video clips, links and other content (‘Materials') that you submit, post, and display on the 500 BC Service. We may, but shall have no obligation to, remove or limit access to Materials originating from any 500 BC user that we determine in our sole discretion are unlawful, fraudulent, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable, or infringes or violates any party's intellectual property or other proprietary rights or these Terms of Service. Further, under no circumstances does 500 BC have any obligation to check the accuracy or truthfulness of any Materials, nor to monitor any Member's use of the 500 BC Service. 500 BC reserves the right to deactivate user accounts and user names that have been inactive for more than 180 days. Conditions for Use You agree to abide by all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations and are solely responsible for all acts or omissions that occur under your account made by you including the content of your transmissions through the 500 BC Service. By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree NOT to:
Proprietary Rights 500 BC does not claim any ownership rights in any Materials that you submit, post, or display on or through the 500 BC Service. After submitting, posting or displaying Materials on or through 500 BC or the 500 BC Service, you continue to retain all ownership rights in such Materials, and you continue to have the right to use your Materials in any way you choose. By submitting, posting or displaying any Materials on or through the 500 BC Service, you hereby grant to 500 BC and its agents and assigns a limited license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Materials solely in connection with the 500 BC Service or the promotion thereof. Without this license, 500 BC would be unable to provide the 500 BC Service. For example, without the right to modify your Materials, 500 BC would not be able to digitally compress music files that you or other Members submit or otherwise format Materials to satisfy technical requirements, and without the right to publicly perform Materials, 500 BC could not allow users and Members to listen to music posted by Members. The license you grant to 500 BC is non-exclusive (meaning you are free to license your Materials to anyone else in addition to 500 BC), fully-paid and royalty-free (meaning that 500 BC is not required to pay you for the use on the 500 BC Service of the Materials that you post), sub licensable (so that 500 BC is able to use its affiliates and subcontractors such as Internet and WAP content delivery networks to provide the 500 BC Service), and worldwide (because the Internet and the 500 BC Service are global in reach). This license will terminate at the time you remove your Materials from the 500 BC Service, except that you agree that the license will continue solely with respect to other Members' continued use of your Materials that are not music or videos (i.e. photos or skins); provided, however if you remove any of the Materials from the 500 BC Service, 500 BC reserves the right to remove all of your Materials from other Member's pages. The license does not grant 500 BC the right to sell your Materials. You represent and warrant that: (i) you own the Materials posted by you on or through the 500 BC Service or otherwise have the right to grant the license set forth in this section, and (ii) the posting of your Materials on or through the 500 BC Service does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights or any other rights of any person. You agree to pay for all royalties, fees, and any other monies owing any person by reason of any Materials posted by you to or through the 500 BC Service. The hosting of certain items that you post, such as video, may require your agreement to a separate license agreement or terms of use. 500 BC, Inc. and its affiliates and licensors own and retain all rights in the 500 BC Web site and 500 BC Service, which contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws, including without limitation all (1) text, (2) software, (3) photographs, (4) graphics, (5) page layout, and (6) design presented through and as part of the 500 BC Service by 500 BC. Except as expressly authorized by 500 BC, you may not copy, modify, publish, transmit, distribute, perform, display or sell any of 500 BC's proprietary information. 500 BC, Inc. is the owner of the '500 BC' and '500 BC.com' marks, among others. Privacy Policy 500 BC will occasionally update its privacy statement to reflect company and customer feedback. 500 BC encourages you to periodically review this page to be informed of how we are protecting your information. Information collected in connection with your use of the 500 BC Service may be processed and stored in the United States, or other countries where 500 BC or its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries or service providers maintain facilities. If you live outside the United States and use 500 BC, you expressly consent to the transfer to the United States of the personal information you provide 500 BC, or such other countries as we may disclose from time to time. Additionally, you agree that we may use your 500 BC user name to authenticate you on any service provided by 500 BC or its affiliates. The only time 500 BC will disclose personal information is when required to by law or with the good-faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the law. If you have any questions about this privacy statement or concerns about policy changes, please contact the 500 BC Customer Service department at service@500bc.com or at 1-866-77-500BC (1-866-775-0022).
How we use the information we gather 500 BC may request personal information, including your name, shipping address, telephone number, email address, billing address, credit card number, and expiration date. 500 BC collects this information in order to:
Copyright Policy You may not post, modify, distribute, or reproduce in any way any copyright material, trademarks, or other proprietary information belonging to others without obtaining the prior written consent of the owner of such proprietary rights. 500 BC respects the intellectual property rights of others and reserves the right to terminate any user's access to the 500 BC Service according to these terms of use if 500 BC is notified that such user's activities infringe the rights of third parties on more than one occasion. If you believe that your work (or the work of a third party on whose behalf you are entitled to act) has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please file a copyright infringement notification (Notice) with us, by sending a written communication which should include the following information, in the same order as is set out in (i) to (x) below: (i) statement that you have identified material on the 500 BC Service which infringes your copyright (or infringes the copyright of a third party on whose behalf you are entitled to act, if applicable); (ii) a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed, which should include the type of work (such as a book or a sound recording) and any relevant further details (such as the title and date of publication, as applicable); (iii) the country or countries to which your copyright applies; (iv) a description of the way in which the copyright material has been infringed; (v) a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the 500 BC Service (including a URL and/or screen shot); (vi) your address, telephone number, and email address so that we may get in contact with you; (vii) the contact details that you would like us to provide to the alleged infringer so that they may contact you directly, in order to attempt to resolve the complaint; (viii) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use of the copyright work is not authorized by the copyright owner (or by a third party who is legally entitled to do so on behalf of the copyright owner) and is not otherwise permitted by law; (ix) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in the Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf and (x) an electronic or physical signature (which may be a scanned copy) of the copyright owner.
Once you have completed the Notice, having included all of the information set out above, please send it to:
500 BC, Inc. If you are unsure as to your rights in respect of your copyright material, or whether there has been an infringement of your rights, we suggest that you take legal advice before sending a Notice to 500 BC. This 'notice and takedown' process is regulated by statute. There may be negative consequences if you falsely allege copyright infringement or send a Notice to 500 BC in bad faith. If you believe that any material that you have uploaded on to the 500 BC Service has been removed in error, or that the content in question does not infringe the copyright of any third party, you may file a counter-notice (‘Counter-Notice') with us, by sending a written communication which should include the following information, in the same order as is set out in (i) to (iv) below: (i) specific details of the material that has been removed or to which 500 BC has disabled access and the accompanying location of such material; (ii) your name, address, telephone number, email address and a statement that you will accept service from the person (or an authorized representative of such person) who provided 500 BC with the complaint in question; (iii) a statement by you that you believe (acting in good faith) that the material identified above was removed as a result of a mistake or incorrect identification of the material to be removed and (iv) an electronic or physical copy of your signature (which may be a scanned copy).
Once you have completed the Counter-Notice, having included all of the information set out above, please send it to:
If you are unsure as to your rights in respect of your material, or whether there has been an infringement of copyright, we suggest that you take legal advice before sending a Counter-Notice to 500 BC. This 'notice and takedown' process is regulated by statute. There may be negative consequences if you make false allegations or send a Counter-Notice to 500 BC in bad faith. Third Party Privacy Policies 500 BC may give you access to third party partners to provide you with certain services. 500 BC will provide that third party with your transaction information and then that third party will collect additional information that it needs to provide you with the requested service. 500 BC encourages you to review the privacy statements you to choose to link to from 500 BC so that you can understand how those websites collect, use, and share your information. 500 BC is not responsible for the privacy statements or content on the websites outside of 500 BC's website.
Tracking of Advertising Links, Action Tags, and Cookies 500 BC works with third party advertising companies to collect information on advertising performance and website usage. These companies service 500 BC ad banners on our behalf which use action tags and cookies to measure how many times users view and click on an ad and which specific pages on our website users visit (e.g. a registration or checkout page). To do so, these companies may use information about your visits to the 500 BC website and other websites. Unless otherwise notified, these third party advertising companies do not use names, addresses, email addresses, or telephone numbers and do not link any online actions or cookies to an unidentifiable person. The use of your cookies is subject to the privacy policy of these third party advertising companies' privacy practices. Sending this Product to a Friend When you email a product to a friend, you and your friends names and email addresses are requested. This ensures that your friend will know that you have requested that 500 BC send them an email. You and your friends' email addresses will only be used for this purpose unless permission is otherwise granted.
Refer a Friend Using a 500 BC form, you can also refer a friend to the 500 BC Web site. You and your friends' names and email addresses are requested to insure that your friend will know that you have requested that 500 BC send them an email. You and your friends' email addresses will only be used for this purpose unless permission is otherwise granted.
Surveys 500 BC occasionally requests information from our users and customers via surveys. Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary, and all participants have a choice whether or not to disclose information. The requested information typically includes the customer's first name, as well as information relating to the customer's experience at 500 BC, or their opinions on products they have purchased. Survey information will be used internally to monitor or improve this site, and after attaining user permission, may be posted on the site to provide information about our products to the users. Users' personally identifiable information is not shared with third parties unless 500 BC gives prior notice in choice.
Opt out Policy To opt out of receiving communications from 500 BC, just send us an email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line at service@500bc.com. If the personal information in 500 BC has gathered from you changes or you no longer desire our service, we will gladly correct, update, or remove any personal data you have previously provided to us. To request a change or removal of your personal information, send an email to service@500bc.com. 500 BC is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information. To protect the information you send from your computer to 500 BC's e-commerce system, this information including your credit card number, name, and address is encrypted using secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software. Internally we use encryption and Web security technologies to protect the privacy of your personal data. Only parties responsibly for processing your order have access to your credit card and bank information. 500 BC continuously reviews its policies and practices to ensure that all customer information remains secure. "Cookies" are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer hard drive. You must have cookies enabled in order for you to be able to perform many of the general functions on the 500 BC Web site. With cookies enabled, the 500 BC Web site will have the capacity to deliver you a more customized and complete shopping experience to track visits from our affiliates and partners and to enable the use of our shopping cart. 500 BC does not use cookies to store or collect any personal information such as names, addresses, or payment information. 500 BC collects your IP address, which cannot be used to identify you personally, to help diagnose problems with its server, to administer and tune the operation of its site, and to log your browser type and referring URL information. Your IP address may also be used to help 500 BC collect statistical data or in gathering broad information that may be shared with 500 BC partners, but your IP address will not be shared. Termination of the 500 BC Service These Terms of Service will apply to your use of the 500 BC Service. At any time, you can terminate your account which will remove your profile and other personal information from view. To cancel your account click here. We may terminate your membership immediately at any time, for any reason. Once your membership terminates, you will have no right to use the 500 BC Service. Our proprietary rights, disclaimer of warranties, indemnities, limitations of liability and miscellaneous provisions shall survive any termination of your membership. 500 BC may also, in its sole discretion and at any time, discontinue temporarily or permanently providing the 500 BC Service, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that any termination of access to the 500 BC Service under any provision of the Terms of Service may be effected without notice, and acknowledge and agree that 500 BC may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all related information and files in your account and/or bar any further access to such files or the 500 BC Service. Where possible, 500 BC will use reasonable efforts to give Members fair notice of termination or suspension of their access to the 500 BC Service. Further you agree that 500 BC shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination or suspension of access to the 500 BC Service or modification of the 500 BC Service. Internet/WAP Access 500 BC shall not be responsible for any connection or access to the 500 BC Service by you or the quality of the transmission of any information passing between you and the website. You will be responsible for providing your own communications equipment to access the 500 BC Service via the Internet or WAP service, and the Internet/WAP access charges thereon. You recognize that 500 BC shall not be responsible for any reduced functionality resulting from, or in connection with, your use of the 500 BC Service via WAP. Disclaimer of Warranties 500 BC and its affiliates, licensors, partners, members, suppliers, employees, consultants and agents (collectively, '500 BC and its Affiliates') disclaim any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, reliability, or operability or availability of information, content or Materials displayed on the 500 BC Service. 500 BC and its Affiliates further expressly disclaims (1) that the 500 BC Service will meet your requirements and will be uninterrupted, error-free, timely, or secure, (2) that defects or errors will be corrected, (3) that the 500 BC Service or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or other harmful components, and (4) that the use of or the results of the use of the 500 BC Service or the content made available as part of the 500 BC Service will be correct, accurate, timely, or otherwise reliable. 500 BC and its Affiliates expressly disclaims any and all responsibility and liability for the conduct of any other Member, and expressly disclaims that the content and Materials of the 500 BC Service input by other Members is correct or accurate. 500 BC, ON BEHALF OF ITSELF, AND ITS LICENSEES, PROVIDES THE 500 BC SERVICE, AND ALL MATERIALS, INFORMATION (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, TEXT, GRAPHICS, LINKS OR ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS OBTAINED OR ACCESSED THROUGH THE 500 BC SERVICES), PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES INCLUDED THEREIN ARE PROVIDED 'AS IS,' 'WITH ALL FAULTS', 'AS AVAILABLE', WITH NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER. 500 BC EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW ALL EXPRESS, IMPLIED, AND STATUTORY WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, FREEDOM FROM COMPUTER VIRUS, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties, so the above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you. YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE 500 BC SERVICE IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. Hold Harmless and Indemnity You agree to hold harmless and indemnify, and, at 500 BC's request, defend 500 BC, its parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and their respective owners, officers, managers, members, agents, and employees, from and against any third party claim arising from or in any way related to your use of or conduct on the 500 BC Service, or your Materials, including any liability or expense arising from all claims, liabilities, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs, expenses, and attorneys' fees, of every kind and nature. In such a case, 500 BC will provide you with written notice of such claim, suit or action. Limitation of Liability YOUR USE OF THE 500 BC SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL 500 BC, ITS PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, AND AFFILIATES, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS, OFFICERS, MANAGERS, MEMBERS, AGENTS, AND EMPLOYEES, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OR LOSSES (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES), WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE 500 BC SERVICE, WHETHER OR NOT 500 BC HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR LOSS. SUCH LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY (I) WHETHER THE DAMAGES ARISE FROM USE OR MISUSE OF AND RELIANCE ON THE 500 BC SERVICE, FROM INABILITY TO USE THE 500 BC SERVICE, OR FROM THE INTERRUPTION, SUSPENSION, OR TERMINATION OF THE 500 BC SERVICE OR ANY COMPONENT THEREOF (INCLUDING SUCH DAMAGES INCURRED BY THIRD PARTIES), AND (II) NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY AND TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH THE 500 BC SERVICE OR ANY PART OF THE 500 BC SERVICE YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USING THE 500 BC SERVICE AND ITS RELATED WEBSITE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL 500 BC BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY AMOUNT EXCEEDING ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,000.00). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN LIABILITIES (INCLUDING, IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, IN RESPECT OF (I) DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY CAUSED BY THE NEGLIGENCE OF 500 BC OR (II) THE TORT OF DECEIT OR FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION), SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION AND EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU IN SO FAR AS SUCH EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS ARE NOT PERMITTED. Notices 500 BC may provide you with notices regarding the 500 BC Service or these Terms of 500 BC Service by regular mail, email, or postings to this Web site. Legal Compliance You shall comply with all applicable domestic and international laws, statutes, ordinances, regulations, contracts and applicable licenses regarding your use of the 500 BC Service. 500 BC reserves the right to take any legal or technical remedies to prevent the violation of these Terms and to protect the 500 BC Service, 500 BC users, and the rights and property of 500 BC and its affiliates. Miscellaneous These Terms of Service will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Virginia, without giving effect to its conflict of laws provisions or your actual state or country of residence. The parties agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in the County of Fairfax, Virginia. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision or portion of the Terms of Service to be unenforceable, the remainder of the Terms of Service will continue in full force and effect. You shall not assign these Terms of Service or assign any rights or delegate any obligations hereunder, in whole or in part, whether voluntarily or by operation of law, without our prior written consent. Any such purported assignment or delegation will be null and void and of no force or effect. Each of 500 BC's affiliates are express and intended third party beneficiaries of these Terms of Service and may enforce any of its terms and exercise any of the rights to the same extent as 500 BC. Without limiting the foregoing, under no circumstances shall 500 BC be held liable for any delay or failure in performance resulting directly or indirectly from acts of nature, forces, or causes beyond its reasonable control, including, without limitation, Internet failures, computer equipment failures, telecommunication equipment failures, other equipment failures, electrical power failures, strikes, labor disputes, riots, insurrections, civil disturbances, shortages of labor or materials, fires, floods, storms, explosions, acts of God, war, governmental actions, orders of domestic or foreign courts or tribunals, non-performance of third parties, or loss of or fluctuations in heat, light, or air conditioning. These Terms of Service constitute the entire agreement between you and 500 BC with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes and replaces all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, regarding such subject matter. Any waiver of any provision of the Terms of Service by a party will be effective only if in writing and signed by a party. Contacting 500 BC To provide the best customer service possible, 500 BC provides multiple methods for customers to ask questions and provide feedback. Visit the "Contact Us" link or email service@500bc.com. You may also send your comments to: 500 BC Customer Service P.O. Box 764 Great Falls, VA 22066
Effective Date November 1, 2008 Last Updated: October 30, 2008
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