The Gist
We (the Board Members of The Meadows of Chestnut Ridge) are on a mission to make the web a better place.
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) describe our commitments to you, and your rights and responsibilities when using our services. Please read them carefully and reach out to us if you have any questions. If you don’t agree to these Terms, don’t use our services.
Terms of Service
These Terms govern your access to and use of the products and services we provide through WordPress.com,
Please read these Terms carefully before accessing or using our Services. By accessing or using any part of our Services, you agree to be bound by all of the Terms and all other operating rules, policies, and procedures that we may publish via the Services from time to time (collectively, the “Agreement”). You also agree that we may automatically change, update, or add on to our Services as stated in the Terms, and the Agreement will apply to any changes.
1. Who’s Who
“You” means any individual or entity using our Services. If you use our Services on behalf of another person or entity, you represent and warrant that you’re authorized to accept the Agreement on that person’s or entity’s behalf, that by using our Services you’re accepting the Agreement on behalf of that person or entity, and that if you, or that person or entity, violates the Agreement, you and that person or entity agree to be responsible to us.
2. Your Account
When using our Services requires an account, you agree to provide us with complete and accurate information and to keep the information current so that we can communicate with you about your account. We may need to send you emails about notable updates (like changes to our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy), or to let you know about legal inquiries or complaints we receive about the ways you use our Services so you can make informed choices in response.
We may limit your access to our Services until we’re able to verify your account information, like your email address.
You’re solely responsible and liable for all activity under your account. You’re also fully responsible for maintaining the security of your account (which includes keeping your password secure). We’re not liable for any acts or omissions by you, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of your acts or omissions. If you get fired because of a blog post you write about your boss, that’s on you.
Don’t share or misuse your access credentials. And notify us immediately of any unauthorized uses of your account, store, or website, or of any other breach of security. If we believe your account has been compromised, we may suspend or disable it.
If you’d like to learn about how we handle the data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.
3. Minimum Age Requirements
Our Services are not directed to children. You’re not allowed to access or use our Services if you’re under the age of 18. If you register as a user or otherwise use our Services, you represent that you’re at least 18. You may use our Services only if you can legally form a binding contract with us. In other words, if you’re under 18 years of age (or the legal age of majority where you live), you can only use our Services under the supervision of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to the Agreement.
4. Responsibility of Visitors and Users
We haven’t reviewed, and can’t review, all of the content (like text, photo, video, audio, code, computer software, items for sale, and other materials) posted to or made available through our Services by users or anyone else (“Content”) or on websites that link to, or are linked from, our Services. We’re not responsible for any use or effects of Content or third-party websites. So, for example:
- We don’t have any control over third-party websites.
- A link to or from one of our Services does not represent or imply that we endorse any third-party website.
- We don’t endorse any Content or represent that Content is accurate, useful, or not harmful. Content could be offensive, indecent, or objectionable; include technical inaccuracies, typographical mistakes, or other errors; or violate or infringe the privacy, publicity rights, intellectual property rights, or other proprietary rights of third parties.
- You’re fully responsible for the Content you post on our website, and any harm resulting from that Content. It’s your responsibility to ensure that your Content abides by applicable laws and by the Agreement.
- We aren’t responsible for any harm resulting from anyone’s access, use, purchase, or downloading of Content, or for any harm resulting from third-party websites. You’re responsible for taking the necessary precautions to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content.
- Any Content that’s for sale through any of our Services is the seller’s sole responsibility, so you must look solely to the seller for any damages that result from your purchase or use of Content.
- We are not a party to, and will have no responsibility or liability for, any communications, transactions, interactions, or disputes between you and the provider of any Content.
Please note that additional third-party terms and conditions may apply to Content you download, copy, purchase, or use.
5. Feedback
We love hearing from you and are always looking to improve our Services. When you share comments, ideas, or feedback with us, you agree that we’re free to use them without any restriction or compensation to you.
6. General Representation and Warranty
Our mission is to make the web a better place, and our Services are designed to give you control and ownership over your Content. We encourage you to express yourself freely, subject to a few requirements. In particular, you represent and warrant that your use of our Services:
- Will be in strict accordance with the Agreement;
- Will comply with all applicable laws and regulations (including, without limitation, all applicable laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content, privacy, data protection, the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside, the use or provision of financial services, notification and consumer protection, unfair competition, and false advertising);
- Will not be for any unlawful purposes, to publish illegal content, or in furtherance of illegal activities;
- Will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge or any third party;
- Will not overburden or interfere with our systems or impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure, as determined by us in our sole discretion;
- Will not disclose the personal information of others;
- Will not be used to send spam or bulk unsolicited messages;
- Will not interfere with, disrupt, or attack any service or network;
- Will not be used to create, distribute, or enable material that is, facilitates, or operates in conjunction with, malware, spyware, adware, or other malicious programs or code;
- Will not involve reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, deciphering, or otherwise attempting to derive the source code for the Services or any related technology that is not open source; and
- Will not involve renting, leasing, loaning, selling, or reselling the Services or related data without our consent.
7. Specific Service Terms
a. Website and Account
We don’t own your content, and you retain all ownership rights you have in the content you post to your our website. However, be responsible in what you publish. In particular, make sure that nothing prohibited (like spam, viruses, or serious threats of violence) appears on your website.
License. By uploading or sharing Content, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, and non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, adapt, publicly display, and publish the Content solely for the purpose of providing and improving our products and Services. You also give other WordPress.com users permission to share your Content on other WordPress.com websites and add their own Content to it (aka to “reblog” your Content), so long as they use only a portion of your post and they give you credit as the original author by linking back to your website, which the reblogging function on WordPress.com does automatically.
Removing Content. If you delete Content, we’ll use reasonable efforts to remove it from public view (or in the case of a private website, from view by the authorized visitors) on WordPress.com, but you acknowledge that cached versions of the Content or references to the Content may not be immediately unavailable.
Prohibited Uses. Your Content and conduct must not violate the WordPress.com User Guidelines or the VideoPress Service Guidelines if you use our Services to upload videos.
Advertisements. We may display advertisements on your website and domain.
8. Copyright Policy
As we ask others to respect our intellectual property rights, we respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe any Content violates your copyright, please see our Copyright Policy and send us a notice.
9. Intellectual Property
The Agreement doesn’t transfer any The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge or third-party intellectual property to you, and all right, title, and interest in and to such property remains (as between The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge and you) solely with The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge, WordPress, WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, VaultPress, Happy Tools, Jetpack CRM, MailPoet, and all other trademarks, service marks, graphics, and logos used in connection with our websites or Services are trademarks or registered trademarks of Automattic (or Automattic’s licensors). Other trademarks, service marks, graphics, and logos used in connection with our Services may be the trademarks of other third parties. Using our Services doesn’t grant you any right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any Automattic or third-party trademarks.
10. Changes
We may modify the Terms from time to time, for example, to reflect changes to our Services (e.g., adding new features or benefits to our Services or retiring certain features of certain Services) or for legal, regulatory, or security reasons. If we do this, we’ll provide notice of the changes, such as by posting the amended Terms and updating the “Last Updated” date or, if the changes, in our sole discretion, are material, we may notify you through our Services or other communications. Any changes will apply on a going-forward basis, and, unless we say otherwise, the amended Terms will be effective immediately. By continuing to use our Services after we’ve notified you, you agree to be bound by the new Terms. You have the right to object to any changes at any time by ceasing your use of our Services and by deleting your account.
11. Termination
We may terminate your access to all or any part of our Services at any time, with or without cause or notice, effective immediately, including if we believe, in our sole discretion, that you have violated this Agreement, any service guidelines, or other applicable terms. We have the right (though not the obligation) to (i) reclaim your username due to prolonged inactivity, (ii) refuse or remove any content that, in our reasonable opinion, violates any part of this Agreement or any The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge policy, or is in any way harmful or objectionable, (iii) ask you to make adjustments, restrict the resources your website uses, or terminate your access to the Services, if we believe your website’s storage or bandwidth usage burdens our systems (which is rare and typically only occurs when a website is used for file sharing or storage), or (iv) terminate or deny access to and use of any of our Services to any individual or entity for any reason.
12. Disclaimers
Our Services are provided “as is.” The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge and its suppliers and licensors hereby disclaim all warranties of any kind, express or implied, to the maximum extent allowed by applicable law, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Neither The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge, nor its suppliers and licensors, makes any warranty that our Services will be error free or that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted. If you’re reading this, here’s a treat. You understand that you download from, or otherwise obtain content or services through, our Services at your own discretion and risk.
13. Jurisdiction and Applicable Law.
Except to the extent any applicable law provides otherwise, the Agreement and any access to or use of our Services will be governed by the laws of the state of Delaware, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of law provisions and the application of the United Nations Convention of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, and the proper venue for any disputes arising out of or relating to the Agreement and any access to or use of our Services will be the state and federal courts located in Kent County, DE, U.S.A. Nothing in this Agreement affects your rights as a consumer to rely on mandatory provisions in your country of residence.
14. Limitation of Liability
In no event will The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge, or its suppliers, partners, or licensors, be liable (including for any third-party products or services purchased or used through our Services) with respect to any subject matter of the Agreement under any contract, negligence, strict liability or other legal or equitable theory for: (i) any special, incidental or consequential damages; (ii) the cost of procurement for substitute products or services; (iii) for interruption of use or loss or corruption of data; or (iv) for any amounts that exceed $50 or the fees paid by you to The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge under the Agreement during the twelve (12) month period prior to the cause of action, whichever is greater. The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge shall have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond its reasonable control. The foregoing shall not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law.
Liability will be limited to foreseeable damages arising due to a breach of material contractual obligations typical for this type of contract. The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge isn’t liable for damages that result from a non-material breach of any other applicable duty of care. This limitation of liability will not apply to any statutory liability that cannot be limited, to liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, liability caused by our willful misconduct or gross negligence, or our responsibility for something we have specifically promised to you.
15. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge, its members, contractors, and its licensors, and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against any and all losses, liabilities, demands, damages, costs, claims, and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to your use of our Services, including but not limited to your violation of the Agreement or any agreement with a provider of third-party services used in connection with the Services, Content that you post.
16. US Economic Sanctions
You agree that our ability to provide our Services to you is subject to compliance with US sanctions that restrict or prohibit who or from where our Services can be accessed. By using the Services, you represent and warrant that you (i) are not located or residing in any country or territory subject to comprehensive US sanctions (currently Cuba, Crimea, Iran, North Korea, Donetsk People’s Republic, Luhansk People’s Republic, and Syria); (ii) are not listed on any United States list of prohibited or restricted parties, such as OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Persons List, or otherwise subject to US sanctions that would prohibit your access to or use of our Services; and (iii) shall not use or allow access by any of your customers or potential customers (if applicable) to the Services in any manner that may cause The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge to violate US export controls and sanctions. We reserve the right to restrict or block your access, or access by any of your customers or potential customers (if applicable), to the Services and/or to terminate the Agreement at any time without notice if we determine, at our sole discretion, that such access may cause a violation or create unacceptable risk to us under export controls or sanctions.
17. Translation
These Terms were originally written in English (US). We may translate these terms into other languages, and in the event of a conflict between a translated version of these Terms and the English version, the English version will control.
18. Miscellaneous
The Agreement (together with any other terms we provide that apply to any specific Service) constitutes the entire agreement between The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge and you concerning our Services. If any part of the Agreement is unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that part is severable from the Agreement, and does not affect the validity or enforceability of the rest of the Agreement. A waiver by either party of any term or condition of the Agreement or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof.
The Meadow of Chestnut Ridge may assign its rights under the Agreement without condition. You may only assign your rights under the Agreement with our prior written consent.