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Terms of Use
Welcome to Adopting.com's Terms and Conditions of Use ("Terms"). This is a contract between you and Adoption Connect Technologies Inc. Please read and know yours and our rights before you use the Adopting.com service. Please take a few moments to read these Terms because once you access, view or use the service, you are legally bound by these Terms.
1. Adopting.com Rules
Before you can use our service, you will need to register for an account ("Account"). In order to create an Account you must:
1. create a username
2. provide a valid email address
3. provide your state of residence
You cannot use another person's Account without permission.
You can delete your Account at any time by sending us an email and notifying us. Deleting your account will permanently remove all your profile data and communications. Adopting.com Technologies Inc reserves the right at our sole discretion to terminate or suspend any Account, or make use of any operational, technological, legal or other means available to enforce the Terms (including without limitation blocking specific IP addresses), at any time without liability and without the need to give you prior notice.
You may not access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the service or our systems.
2. TYPES OF CONTENT
There are three types of content that you will be able to access on the service:
1. content that you upload and provide ("Your Content”) through our messaging system;
2. content that our families provide ("Member Content"); and
3. content that Adopting.com provides ("Our Content”).
There is certain content that we can't allow on Adopting.com.
Here is the content that we impose restrictions upon:
• language or content that is fraudulent, untruthful, and added for the purpose of deceiving another member;
• language which could be deemed offensive or is likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person;
• obscene, pornographic language;
• abusive, insulting or threatening language or language which promotes or encourages racism, sexism, hatred or bigotry;
• language that encourages any illegal activity including, without limitation, terrorism, inciting racial hatred or the submission of which in itself constitutes committing a criminal offense;
• language that is defamatory or libelous;
• content that involves the transmission of "junk" mail or "spam";
• content that contains any spy ware, adware, viruses, corrupt files, worm programs or other malicious code designed to interrupt, damage or limit the functionality of or disrupt any software, hardware, telecommunications, networks, servers or other equipment, Trojan horse or any other material designed to damage, interfere with, wrongly intercept or expropriate any data or personal information whether from Adopting.com or otherwise;
• content or language that infringes any third party's rights (including, without limitation, intellectual property rights and privacy rights);
Adopting.com operates a zero-tolerance policy for this kind of content.
Your Content
As Your Content is unique, you are responsible and liable for Your Content and will indemnify, defend, release, and hold us harmless from any claims made in connection with Your Content.
When messaging other users please do not share any banking information whether in relation to you or any other person (for example, credit/debit card or other banking details). Please do not share any personal contact information (for example, your home address). If you do choose to reveal any personal information about yourself to other users, whether via email or otherwise, it is at your own risk. We encourage you to use the same caution in disclosing details about yourself to third parties online as you would under any other circumstances.
As Adopting.com is a public community, Your Content will be visible to any users you contact, instantly . So please make sure you are comfortable sharing Your Content before you post it. As such, you agree that Your Content may be viewed and possibly shared by other users. By uploading Your Content on Adopting.com, you represent and warrant to us that you have all necessary rights and licenses to do so.
We have the right to remove, edit, limit or block access to any of Your Content at any time, and we have no obligation to display or review Your Content.
Member Content
Other members of Adopting.com will also share content via the service. Member Content belongs to the user who posted the content and is stored on our servers and displayed via the service at the direction of the user providing the Member Content.
You do not have any rights in relation to other users' Member Content, and you may only use other Adopting.com users' personal information to the extent that your use of it matches Adopting.com's purpose of allowing people to meet one another. You may not use other users' information for commercial purposes, to spam, to harass, or to make unlawful threats. We reserve the right to terminate your Account if you misuse other users' information.
Member Content is subject to the terms and conditions of Sections 512(c) and/or 512(d) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998. If you have a complaint about Member Content, please see the Digital Millennium Copyright Act section below for more information.
By submitting photos, text, video, and any other information to the website application, you agree that Adopting.com has the right to retain and reprint this content on the Internet in the form of advertising, via e-mail, and in print form.
Our Content
Any other text, content, graphics, user interfaces, trademarks, logos, sounds, artwork, and other intellectual property appearing on Adopting.com are owned, controlled or licensed by us and are protected by copyright, trademark and other intellectual property law rights. All right, title and interest in and to Our Content remains with us at all times.
We grant you a non-exclusive, limited, personal, non-transferable, revocable, license to access and use Our Content, without the right to sublicense, under the following conditions:
1. you shall not use, sell, modify, or distribute Our Content except as permitted by the functionality of the service;
2. you shall not use our name in metatags, keywords and/or hidden text;
3. you shall not create derivative works from Our Content or commercially exploit Our Content, in whole or in part, in any way; and
4. you shall use Our Content for lawful purposes only.
We reserve all other rights.
3. RESTRICTIONS ON THE SERVICE
You can report any abuse or complain about Member Content by contacting us, outlining the abuse and/or complaint.
Scraping or replicating any part of the service without our prior consent is expressly prohibited. This includes by any means (automated or otherwise) other than through our currently available, published interfaces - unless you have been specifically allowed to do so
in a separate agreement with us.
4. PRIVACY
For information about how Adopting.com collects, uses, and shares your personal data, please check out our Privacy Policy . By using Adopting.com, you agree that we can use such data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
5. PUSH NOTIFICATIONS
We may provide you with emails, text messages, push notifications, alerts and other messages related to the service and/or the Adopting.com services, such as enhancements, products, events, and other promotions. After downloading the service, you will be asked to accept
or deny push notifications/alerts. If you deny, you will not receive any push notifications/alerts. If you accept, push notifications/alerts will be automatically sent to you. If you no longer wish to receive push notifications/alerts from the service, you may opt out
by changing your notification settings on your mobile device. With respect to other types of messaging or communications, such as emails, text messages, etc., you can unsubscribe or opt out by either following the specific instructions included in such
communications, or by emailing us with your request.
6. DISCLAIMER
THE service, SITE, OUR CONTENT, AND MEMBER CONTENT ARE ALL PROVIDED TO YOU "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.
SHOULD APPLICABLE LAW NOT PERMIT THE FOREGOING EXCLUSION OF EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, THEN WE GRANT THE MINIMUM EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY, REPRESENTATION
OR GUARANTEE NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THIS SECTION. ADDITIONALLY, WE DO NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTIES THAT THE SERVICE OR SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE OR ERROR FREE OR THAT YOUR USE OF THE service OR SITE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, OR THAT THE service, SITE, OUR CONTENT, ANY
MEMBER CONTENT, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, IS CORRECT, ACCURATE, OR RELIABLE. YOUR USE OF THE service OR SITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER MEMBERS. ADOPTING.COM IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONDUCT OF ANY USER.
NEITHER US NOR ANY OWNER WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF DATA, INCOME, PROFIT OR GOODWILL, LOSS OF OR DAMAGE TO PROPERTY AND CLAIMS OF THIRD PARTIES ARISING OUT
OF YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE service, SITE, OUR CONTENT, OR ANY MEMBER CONTENT, HOWEVER CAUSED, WHETHER BASED ON BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), PROPRIETARY RIGHTS INFRINGEMENT, PRODUCT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE.
THE FOREGOING SHALL APPLY EVEN IF WE WERE ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IF YOU BECOME DISSATISFIED IN ANY WAY WITH THE SERVICE OR SITE, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO STOP YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE AND SITE.
YOU HEREBY WAIVE ANY AND ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE OR SITE. BECAUSE SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN TYPES OF DAMAGES, THESE PROVISIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IF ANY PORTION OF
THIS LIMITATION ON LIABILITY IS FOUND TO BE INVALID OR UNENFORCEABLE FOR ANY REASON, THEN OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY SHALL NOT EXCEED ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100).
THE LIMITATION OF LIABILITY HEREIN IS A FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENT OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN AND REFLECTS A FAIR ALLOCATION OF RISK. THE SERVICE AND SITE WOULD NOT BE PROVIDED WITHOUT SUCH LIMITATIONS AND YOU AGREE THAT THE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS OF LIABILITY,
DISCLAIMERS AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES SPECIFIED HEREIN WILL SURVIVE EVEN IF FOUND TO HAVE FAILED IN THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.
7. INDEMNITY
All the actions you make and information you post on Adopting.com remain your responsibility. Therefore, you agree to indemnify, defend, release, and hold us, and our partners, licensors, affiliates, contractors, officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents, harmless, from and against any third party claims, damages (actual and/or consequential), actions, proceedings, demands, losses, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) suffered or reasonably incurred by us arising as a result of, or in connection with:
1. any negligent acts, omissions or willful misconduct by you;
2. your access to and use of the service;
3. the uploading or submission of Content to the service by you;
4. any breach of these Terms by you; and/or
5. your violation of any law or of any rights of any third party.
We retain the exclusive right to settle, compromise and pay any and all claims or causes of action which are brought against us without your prior consent. If we ask, you will cooperate fully and reasonably as required by us in the defense of any relevant claim.
8. DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT
Adopting.com has adopted the following policy towards copyright infringement in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA"). If you believe any Member Content or Our Content infringes upon your intellectual property
rights, please submit a notification alleging such infringement ("DMCA Takedown Notice") including the following:
1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works;
3. Identification of the material claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access disabled and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material;
4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail;
5. A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
6. A statement that, under penalty of perjury, the information in the notification is accurate and you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Any DMCA Takedown Notices should be sent to us via email.
9. MISCELLANEOUS
Before you can use Adopting.com, please read the following:
Our Terms, which we may amend from time to time, constitute the entire agreement between you and Adopting.com . The Terms supersede all previous agreements, representations and arrangements between us (written or oral). Nothing in this clauseshall limit or exclude any liability for fraudulent misrepresentation.
Adopting.com has taken reasonable steps to ensure the currency, availability, correctness and completeness of the information contained on Adopting.com and provides that information on an "as is", "as available" basis. Adopting.com does not give or make any warranty or representation of any kind about the information contained on Adopting.com, whether express or implied. Use of Adopting.com and the materials available on it is at your sole risk. Adopting.com can not be held responsible for any loss arising from the transmission, use of data, or inaccurate User Content.
You are responsible for taking all necessary precautions to ensure that any material you may obtain from Adopting.com is free of viruses or other harmful components. You accept that Adopting.com will not be provided uninterrupted or error free, that defects may not be corrected or that Adopting.com , or the server that makes it available, are free of viruses or bugs, spyware, Trojan horse or any similar malicious software. Adopting.com is not responsible for any damage to your computer hardware, computer software, or other equipment or technology including, but without limitation damage from any security breach or from any virus, bugs, tampering, fraud, error, omission, interruption, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer line or network failure or any other technical or other malfunction.
As Adopting.com grows, we might have to make changes to these Terms so we reserve the right to modify, amend or change the Terms at any time (a "Change"). If we do this then the Changes will be posted on this page and we will indicate the Effective Date of the updates at the bottom of the Terms. In certain circumstances, we may send an email to you notifying you of a Change. You should regularly check this page for notice of any Changes – we want our users to be as informed as possible.
Your continued use of Adopting.com following any Change constitutes your acceptance of the Change and you will be legally bound by the new updated Terms. If you do not accept any Changes to the Terms, you should stop using Adopting.com immediately.
If, for any reason, any of the Terms are declared illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable by a court of a competent jurisdiction, then to the extent that term is illegal, invalid or unenforceable, it shall be severed and deleted from the Terms and the remainder of the Terms shall survive, remain in full force and effect and continue to be binding and enforceable.
No failure or delay in exercising any right, power or privilege under the Terms shall operate as a waiver of such right or acceptance of any variation of the Terms and nor shall any single or partial exercise by either party of any right, power or privilege preclude any further exercise of the right or the exercise of any other right, power or privilege.
You represent and warrant that:
1. you are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo, or that has been designated by the U.S. Government as a "terrorist supporting" country; and
2. you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
By using the service, you agree and acknowledge that Adopting.com is a service operating through servers located in a number of countries around the world, including the United States. If you live in a country with data protection laws, the storage of your personal data may not provide you with the same protections as you enjoy in your country of residence. By submitting your personal information, or by choosing to upgrade the services you use, or by making use of the applications available on Adopting.com, you agree to the transfer of your personal information to, and storage and processing of your personal information in, any such countries and destinations.
The service may contain links to third-party websites or resources. In such cases, you acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible or liable for:
1. the availability or accuracy of such websites or resources; or
2. the content, products, or services on or available from such websites or resources.
Links to such websites or resources do not imply any endorsement. You acknowledge sole responsibility for and assume all risk arising from your use of any such websites or resources. Framing, in-line linking or other methods of association with the service are expressly prohibited without first obtaining our prior written approval.
These Terms, and any rights and licenses granted hereunder, may not be transferred or assigned by you, but may be assigned by us without restriction.
10. ABOUT US
Your access to the service, Our Content, and any Member Content, as well as these Terms are governed and interpreted by the laws of the State of California, other than such laws, rules, regulations and case law that would result in the application of the laws of a jurisdiction other than the State of California. By using the service, you are consenting to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the United States and the State of California. You agree that such courts shall have in personam jurisdiction and venue and waive any objection based on inconvenient forum. You agree that you will not file or participate in a class action against us. In the event there is a discrepancy between this English language version and any translated copies of the Terms, the English version shall prevail.
Adopting.com is registered in the United States. Our registered address is 2244 Faraday Avenue Suite 138 Carlsbad CA 92008.
Effective date
The Terms were last updated on: 13 February 2020.