General Terms and Conditions

YOU MUST READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE

This Website is fully controlled and operated by America's Stories, Inc. By accessing and using this Website, you agree to be legally bound by these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree to these terms, DO NOT use the Website. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add to, or otherwise alter these Terms and Conditions at any time. Such changes and/or modifications shall become effective immediately upon their posting, so please review the Terms and Conditions posted at this link periodically. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes and/or modifications will constitute your acceptance of the revised Terms and Conditions. This also includes the site’s Privacy Policy.

USER ACCOUNT ACTIVATION

All Users

StoryTrax reserves the right to refuse registration to any potential user. All potential users agree and warrant that all information provided as part of the registration process is true and accurate. Any falsification of information as part of a user registration is immediate grounds for termination of the account and potential blocking of any future account registrations for IP Addresses involved in the fraudulent registration.

Some features and services of the Website may require the submission of financial information, such as credit card or bank account information. Fraudulent use of financial information as part of any transaction is a crime under federal and state law and StoryTrax will provide any and all information, including any and all correspondence and access related information to law enforcement personnel in the event of any such fraudulent activity. StoryTrax has no obligation or responsibility to protect user information in the event of fraudulent activities. You (the User) hereby relieve and hold harmless StoryTrax, its affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, representatives, and third party providers from and against any and all liabilities, costs, fees, damages, awards, and penalties which may result from the disclosure of information to law enforcement personnel, and their agents or assigns, related to any investigation of fraudulent activity on the Site.

OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY; RESTRICTIONS ON USE

All site software, designs, text, images, photographs, illustrations, audio clips, video clips, artwork, graphic material, or other copyrightable elements, and the selection and arrangements thereof, and trademarks, service marks and trade names (the "Materials") are the property of StoryTrax and/or its subsidiaries, affiliates, assigns, licensors or other respective owners, and are protected, without limitation, pursuant to U.S. and foreign copyright and trademark laws.

Users are not permitted or authorized to copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, or distribute Materials (or any portion thereof) in any way or by any means. Modification of Materials or use of Materials for any purpose is a violation of StoryTrax copyright and other proprietary rights.

For purposes of these Terms and Conditions, use of any Materials in any unauthorized manner (including, without limitation, on web pages or sites that contain paid or free advertisements, third-party endorsements of any kind or nature (including without limitation, endorsements of a religious, political, or social orientation nature), promotions, products, games, services, or other inappropriate content) is strictly prohibited.

StoryTrax hereby grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-assignable, revocable, non-transferable license to use and display, for noncommercial and personal use only, one copy of appropriately limited portions of the Materials and/or software that are downloadable from this Site, including, without limitation, any files, codes, audio, or images incorporated in or generated by or in conjunction with the Site and/or StoryTrax, provided that "Copyright 2006 America's Stories, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission" or "© 2006 America's Stories, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission" accompanies all copyrightable Materials and other notices are properly maintained. You agree not to reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, display, perform, publish, distribute, disseminate, broadcast, sell, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, or circulate any Materials to any third party (including, without limitation, display and distribute the Materials via a third party website) without StoryTrax’s express prior written consent. Unauthorized or prohibited exploitation of Materials will result in deletion of the offender's account from the Site, and may subject the offender to civil liability and criminal prosecution under applicable federal and state laws.

StoryTrax respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. StoryTrax may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, terminate the accounts of users who infringe the intellectual property rights of others.

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide StoryTrax's Copyright Agent with the following information (pursuant to the DMCA):

1. an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;

2. a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;

3. a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;

4. your address, telephone number, and email address;

5. a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;

6. a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

BLOGS, CHATROOMS, MESSAGE BOARDS, AND USER INTERACTIVE COMPONENTS

To the extent that portions of this Website provide users an opportunity to post and/or exchange information, ideas, and opinions ("Postings") in blogs, chatrooms and message boards ("Forums"). Be advised that Postings do not necessarily reflect the views of StoryTrax. Although we periodically monitor exchanged and posted information, StoryTrax does not assume or have any responsibility or liability for any Postings or for any claims, damages or losses resulting from their use and/or appearance on or in conjunction with this Site or elsewhere. Thus, users remain solely responsible for the content of their messages and postings. Nonetheless, StoryTrax will make reasonable efforts to ensure that the Forums serve the best interests of all users and, therefore, StoryTrax reserves the right to edit, delete, or refuse to post any Posting that violates these Terms and Conditions, as well as revoke the privileges of any user who does not comply with these Terms and Conditions. StoryTrax also reserves the right to contact any third party who may have an interest in preserving the safety of users (such as a school or law enforcement) regarding the content of any post and supplying identifying information regarding such poster to such third party. See the Privacy Policy.

You hereby understand and agree that StoryTrax does not allow Postings that contain:

* profanity, obscenities, or sexual content (express or implied)

* personal attacks on other people (individually or as a group)

* slanderous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, threatening and harassing suggestions, comments and/or images

* account usernames that would be considered inappropriate under our Terms and Conditions.

* materials created by someone else without their express written permission to do so

* "cheat" or "hack" programs or information or links to sites claiming to have these solicitations of user passwords

* solicitation of user passwords

* private or personal information that might identify a user links to third party commercial Web sites, unless given written permission by StoryTrax to do so. [our business members’ sites OK]?

* online chat rooms anywhere on our site or links to sites with chat rooms that contain objectionable content

* Promotions anywhere on the Site offering prizes of any kind. Promotions include, but are not limited to, contests, raffles, lotteries or giveaways, and "anywhere on our site" includes but is not limited to all user communication areas WebPages. This does not include fundraising activities by non-profit organizations

* other information that StoryTrax deems, in its sole discretion, to be inappropriate for this site.

You hereby further agree that you will not upload to, distribute through, or otherwise publish through or in conjunction with the Site, any Postings that are libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, threatening, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, illegal, or otherwise objectionable, or that would constitute or encourage a criminal offense, violate the rights of any person, or otherwise violate any law or give rise to liability. Further, you agree not to abuse our message board service by "spamming" (posting numerous identical messages) or by creating multiple accounts for the user. Moreover, you hereby represent and warrant that you have all necessary rights in and to all Postings you provide and all information they contain.

The user interactive portions of the Site may be used for noncommercial purposes only. You are not permitted, without our express written approval, to distribute or otherwise publish any Postings containing any solicitation of funds, endorsements (including of a religious, political, sexual orientation, or social cause nature), promotions, or advertising (free or paid in money), or solicitations of any kind or nature. You specifically acknowledge that soliciting other StoryTrax users to join or become members of any commercial online service or other organization or group (profit, non-profit, religious, social, political, or otherwise) is expressly prohibited. In the event of any soliciting of other users or members, StoryTrax reserves the right to seek damages, including, but not limited to, attorney's fees and any and all profits obtained by the misuse of the Site. [What about our business members? Does this limit their opportunities?] I think that this whole paragraph could be deleted?

You hereby authorize us to use, and to authorize others to use, your Postings and submitted opinions and materials in whole or in part, throughout the universe in perpetuity in any form, medium, or technology (now known or hereafter developed or devised throughout the universe) alone or together or as part of other Materials of any kind or nature. Without limiting the foregoing, you hereby grant to StoryTrax the right to use and change the Postings in any manner that StoryTrax may determine.

DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

THIS SITE AND ALL MATERIALS CONTAINED ON IT ARE DISTRIBUTED AND TRANSMITTED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, STORYTRAX DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. STORYTRAX DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN THE SITE OR MATERIALS WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THIS SITE OR THE SERVERS THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. STORYTRAX DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE MATERIALS IN THIS SITE WITH REGARD TO THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY, ACCURACY, ADEQUACY, COMPLETENESS, CORRECTNESS AND VALIDITY OF ANY MATERIAL RESTS WITH YOU. YOU (THE USER) ASSUME THE COMPLETE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR CORRECTION. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, STORYTRAX, ITS AFFILIATES, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, LICENSORS, REPRESENTATIVES, AND THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS TO THE SITE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, COMPENSATORY, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR SIMILAR DAMAGES, THAT MAY RESULT FROM THE USE OF, OR THE INABILITY TO USE, THE MATERIALS CONTAINED ON THIS SITE, WHETHER THE MATERIAL IS PROVIDED OR OTHERWISE SUPPLIED BY STORYTRAX OR ANY THIRD PARTY.

NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL STORYTRAX HAVE ANY LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIMS, DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE) EXCEEDING THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESSING THIS SITE.

THIRD PARTY LINKS

The appearance of external hyperlinks and/or other materials generated by third parties does not constitute an endorsement by StoryTrax, its subsidiaries and affiliates, of the opinions or views expressed by these third party web sites. StoryTrax explicitly disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy, content, availability, currency, completeness or quality of the content contained at these sites. Further, StoryTrax is not responsible for the quality or delivery of the products or services offered, accessed, obtained by or advertised at such sites. As such, neither StoryTrax nor its subsidiaries and affiliates are responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information contained in these sites.

StoryTrax encourages discretion when browsing the Internet using anyone's service. Because some sites employ automated search results or otherwise link you to sites containing information that may be deemed inappropriate or offensive, StoryTrax cannot be held responsible for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality, or decency of material contained in third-party sites, and you hereby irrevocably waive any claim against StoryTrax with respect to such sites. THEREFORE, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL STORYTRAX BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL OR SPECIAL LOSS OR OTHER DAMAGE, WHETHER ARISING FROM NEGLIGENCE, BREACH OF CONTRACT, DEFAMATION, INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, CAUSED BY THE EXHIBITION, DISTRIBUTION OR EXPLOITATION OF ANY INFORMATION OR CONTENT CONTAINED WITHIN THESE THIRD PARTY HYPERLINKED SITES.

StoryTrax cannot ensure that you will be satisfied with any products or services that you obtain from a third-party site that links to or from StoryTrax, since such sites are owned and operated by third parties. StoryTrax does however provide a guarantee that users will be satisfied with any product that is directly affiliated with StoryTrax, This includes products sold on this site that are from StoryTrax Affiliated Businesses and ANY products sold by StoryTrax.com StoryTrax does not endorse any of the merchandise or services, unless expressly stated otherwise, nor has StoryTrax taken any steps to confirm the accuracy or reliability of any of the information contained on such third-party sites. StoryTrax does not make any representations or warranties as to the security of any information (including without limitation, credit card and other personal information) you may be required to provide on a third-party site, and you hereby irrevocably waive any claim against StoryTrax with respect to such sites. We strongly encourage you to make whatever investigation you feel necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any online or offline transaction with any of these third parties. StoryTrax never gives or sells e-mail addresses or other personal information supplied by its users to sponsors without permission, provided, however that if a user chooses to "opt-in" (click on a checkbox) for sponsor information, or to register with a sponsor, by doing so he has given permission to StoryTrax to transmit his personal information to that sponsor. Please make sure you review the Privacy Policy for all details regarding StoryTrax use of your personal information.

DENIAL OF ACCESS

StoryTrax, for any reason and at its sole discretion, may decide that any person shall be denied access to any part of the StoryTrax.com site. The sending of an e-mail notice by StoryTrax to any e-mail address used by a person who is subject to the denial shall constitute complete and sufficient notice of the denial. By agreeing to these Terms and Conditions, you agree to cease and desist immediately from any attempt to access the site upon issuance of a denial. If you do not cease and desist, you hereby consent to an injunction to be entered against you by a court of competent jurisdiction, as provided herein, permanently enjoining you from attempting to access the StoryTrax.com site.

INDEMNIFICATION

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless StoryTrax, its affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, representatives, and third party providers to the site from and against all losses, expenses, damages and costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, resulting from any violation of these Terms and Conditions by you. StoryTrax reserves the right to assume, at its sole expense, the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will fully cooperate with StoryTrax in asserting any available defenses.

MISCELLANEOUS

StoryTrax reserves the right to revise or otherwise modify these terms and conditions at any and all times. Continued use of the Site after posting of any revised terms and conditions on the Site constitutes your acceptance of the new terms and conditions. StoryTrax has no obligation or responsibility to provide personal notice of any alteration or changes in the terms and conditions upon which use of this Site shall be governed. Users wishing to reject any revised terms and conditions must delete their User account immediately.