Terms of Service
Last Updated: September 15, 2016
Welcome to the services of GOATherding, LLC (GOATHerding) with a website located at www.voteforthegoat.com (the “Site”).
Please read these Terms of Service (the “Terms”) and our Privacy Policy (http://www.voteforthegoat.com/privacy) carefully because they govern your use of our Site and our opinion sharing and comparison services accessible via our Site and our mobile device application (“App”). To make these Terms easier to read, the Site, our services and App are collectively called the “Services.”
Agreement to Terms
By using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you don’t agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy, do not use the Services.
Changes to Terms or Services
We may modify the Terms at any time, in our sole discretion. If we do so, we’ll let you know either by posting the modified Terms on the Site or through other communications. It’s important that you review the Terms whenever we modify them because if you continue to use the Services after we have posted modified Terms on the Site, you are indicating to us that you agree to be bound by the modified Terms. If you don’t agree to be bound by the modified Terms, then you may not use the Services anymore. Because our Services are evolving over time we may change or discontinue all or any part of the Services, at any time and without notice, at our sole discretion.
Informational Purposes Only
The information collected by Goatherding is for informational purposes only. Its goal is to measure public opinion and inform news media of its findings.
Trademarks
All trademarks, service marks, and logos appearing on the Site (the "Marks") are proprietary to GOATherding or its licensors, except as otherwise indicated herein. By way of illustration, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL®, MLB®, MLB.COM® and associated names, logos, brands, and indicia are registered trademarks of Major League Baseball Properties, LLC In the U.S., baseball team names, logos, brands, and indicia are the property of their respective club owners and designees. The same is also true of the NFL®, NHL®, NBA®, NCAA®, and IOC®. All other Marks not owned by GOATherding are the property of their respective owners, who may or may not be affiliated with, connected to, or sponsored by GOATherding. Use or misuse of the Marks without advance written consent from GOATherding or the respective Mark's owner is expressly prohibited. You shall not use any mark in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among customers as to source or sponsorship of your goods and services, or in any manner that disparages, tarnishes, dilutes, or discredits GOATherding. Further, to the extent that third party Marks used on this Site are the property of their respective owners, any mention on the Site should not be construed as a challenge to said Mark's status or ownership. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.
Who May Use the Services
Eligibility
You may use the Services only if you are 13 years or older and are not barred from using the Services under applicable law.
Registration and Your Information
If you want to use certain features of the Services you’ll have to create an account (“Account”). You can do this via certain third-party social networking services such as Facebook or Instagram (each, an “SNS Account”). If you choose the SNS Account option we’ll create your Account by extracting from your SNS Account certain personal information such as your name and email address and other personal information that your privacy settings on the SNS Account permit us to access.
It’s important that you provide us with accurate, complete and up-to-date information for your Account and you agree to update such information, as needed, to keep it accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you don’t, we might have to suspend or terminate your Account. You agree that you won’t disclose your Account password to anyone and you’ll notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your Account. You’re responsible for all activities that occur under your Account, whether or not you know about them.
Feedback
We welcome feedback, comments and suggestions for improvements to the Services (“Feedback”). You can submit Feedback by emailing us at info@voteforthegoat.com. You grant to us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, fully-paid, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable license under any and all intellectual property rights that you own or control to use, copy, modify, create derivative works based upon and otherwise exploit the Feedback for any purpose.
Privacy Policy
Please refer to our Privacy Policy (http://www.voteforthegoat.com/privacy) for information on how we collect, use and disclose information from our users.
Content and Content Rights
For purposes of these Terms: (i) “Content” means text, graphics, images, music, software, audio, video, works of authorship of any kind, and information or other materials that are posted, generated, provided or otherwise made available through the Services; and (ii) “User Content” means any Content that Account holders (including you) provide to be made available through the Services. Content includes without limitation User Content.
Content Ownership, Responsibility and Removal
Goatherding does not claim any ownership rights in any User Content and nothing in these Terms will be deemed to restrict any rights that you may have to use and exploit your User Content. Subject to the foregoing, Goatherding and its licensors exclusively own all right, title and interest in and to the Services and Content, including all associated intellectual property rights. You acknowledge that the Services and Content are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws of the United States and foreign countries. You agree not to remove, alter or obscure any copyright, trademark, service mark or other proprietary rights notices incorporated in or accompanying the Services or Content.
Rights in User Content Granted by You
By making any User Content available through Services you hereby grant to Goatherding a non-exclusive, transferable, sublicenseable, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, copy, modify, create derivative works based upon, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform and distribute your User Content in connection with operating and providing the Services and Content to you and to other Account holders.
You are solely responsible for all your User Content. You represent and warrant that you own all your User Content or you have all rights that are necessary to grant us the license rights in your User Content under these Terms. You also represent and warrant that neither your User Content, nor your use and provision of your User Content to be made available through the Services, nor any use of your User Content by Goatherding on or through the Services will infringe, misappropriate or violate a third party’s intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or result in the violation of any applicable law or regulation.
We are not responsible or liable for the removal or deletion of (or the failure to remove or delete) any of your User Content.
Rights in Content Granted by Goatherding
Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Goatherding grants you a limited, non-exclusive, nontransferable, non-sublicensable license to download, view, copy, display and print the Content solely in connection with your permitted use of the Services and solely for your personal and non-commercial purposes.
Rights and Terms for Apps
Rights in App Granted by Goatherding
Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Goatherding grants you a limited non-exclusive, nontransferable, non-sublicenseable license to download and install a copy of the App on a mobile device that you own or control and to run such copy of the App solely for your own personal non-commercial purposes. You may not copy the App, except for making a reasonable number of copies for backup or archival purposes. Except as expressly permitted in these Terms, you may not: (i) copy, modify or create derivative works based on the App; (ii) distribute, transfer, sublicense, lease, lend or rent the App to any third party; (iii) reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the App; or (iv) make the functionality of the App available to multiple users through any means without Goatherding’s express written consent. Goatherding reserves all rights in and to the App not expressly granted to you under these Terms.
General Prohibitions and Goatherding’s Enforcement Rights
You agree not to do any of the following:
· Post, upload, publish, submit or transmit any Content that: (i) infringes, misappropriates or violates a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy; (ii) violates, or encourages any conduct that would violate, any applicable law or regulation or would give rise to civil liability; (iii) is fraudulent, false, misleading or deceptive; (iv) is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, vulgar or offensive; (v) promotes discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, harassment or harm against any individual or group; (vi) is violent or threatening or promotes violence or actions that are threatening to any person or entity; or (vii) promotes illegal or harmful activities or substances.
· Use, display, mirror or frame the Services or any individual element within the Services, Goatherding’s name, any Goatherding trademark, logo or other proprietary information, or the layout and design of any page or form contained on a page, without Goatherding’s express written consent;
· Access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the Services, Goatherding’s computer systems, or the technical delivery systems of Goatherding’s providers;
· Attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of any Goatherding system or network or breach any security or authentication measures;
· Avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, impair, descramble or otherwise circumvent any technological measure implemented by Goatherding or any of Goatherding’s providers or any other third party (including another user) to protect the Services or Content;
· Attempt to access or search the Services or Content or download Content from the Services through the use of any engine, software, tool, agent, device or mechanism (including spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools or the like) other than the software and/or search agents provided by Goatherding or other generally available third-party web browsers;
· Send any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, email, junk mail, spam, chain letters or other form of solicitation;
· Use any meta tags or other hidden text or metadata utilizing a Goatherding trademark, logo URL or product name without Goatherding’s express written consent;
· Use the Services or Content, or any portion thereof, for any commercial purpose or for the benefit of any third party or in any manner not permitted by these Terms;
· Attempt to decipher, decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer any of the software used to provide the Services or Content;
· Interfere with, or attempt to interfere with, the access of any user, host or network, including, without limitation, sending a virus, overloading, flooding, spamming, or mail-bombing the Services;
· Collect or store any personally identifiable information from the Services from other users of the Services without their express permission;
· Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;
· Violate any applicable law or regulation; or
· Encourage or enable any other individual to do any of the foregoing.
Although we’re not obligated to monitor access to or use of the Services or Content or to review, display or edit any Content, we have the right to do so for the purpose of operating the Services, to ensure compliance with these Terms, and to comply with applicable law or other legal requirements. We reserve the right, but are not obligated, to remove or disable access to any Content, at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, if we, at our sole discretion, consider any Content to be objectionable or in violation of these Terms. We have the right to investigate violations of these Terms or conduct that affects the Services. We may also consult and cooperate with law enforcement authorities to prosecute users who violate the law.
DMCA/Copyright Policy
Goatherding respects copyright law and expects its users to do the same. It is Goatherding’s policy to terminate in appropriate circumstances Account holders who repeatedly infringe or are believed to be repeatedly infringing the rights of copyright holders. Please see Goatherding’s Copyright and IP Policy at http://www.voteforthegoat.com/copyright for further information.
Links to Third Party Websites or Resources
The Services and App may contain links to third-party websites or resources. We provide these links only as a convenience and are not responsible for the content, products or services on or available from those websites or resources or links displayed on such websites. You acknowledge sole responsibility for and assume all risk arising from, your use of any third-party websites or resources.
Termination
We may terminate your access to and use of the Services, at our sole discretion, at any time and without notice to you. You may cancel your Account at any time by sending an email with the subject line “terminate account” to us at info@voteforthegoat.com. Upon any termination, discontinuation or cancellation of Services or your Account, all provisions of these Terms which by their nature should survive will survive, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, limitations of liability, and dispute resolution provisions.
Warranty Disclaimers
THE SERVICES AND CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS,” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, WE EXPLICITLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, QUIET ENJOYMENT OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING OUT OF COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. We make no warranty that the Services will meet your requirements or be available on an uninterrupted, secure, or error-free basis. We make no warranty regarding the quality, accuracy, timeliness, truthfulness, completeness or reliability of any Content.
Indemnity
You will indemnify and hold harmless Goatherding and its officers, directors, employee and agents, from and against any claims, disputes, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, and costs and expenses, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees arising out of or in any way connected with (i) your access to or use of the Services or Content, (ii) your User Content, or (iii) your violation of these Terms.
Limitation of Liability
NEITHER GOATHERDING NOR ANY OTHER PARTY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING, OR DELIVERING THE SERVICES OR CONTENT WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA OR GOODWILL, SERVICE INTERRUPTION, COMPUTER DAMAGE OR SYSTEM FAILURE OR THE COST OF SUBSTITUTE SERVICES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TERMS OR FROM THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES OR CONTENT, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), PRODUCT LIABILITY OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT GOATHERDING HAS BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE, EVEN IF A LIMITED REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN NO EVENT WILL GOATHERDING’S TOTAL LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TERMS OR FROM THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES OR CONTENT EXCEED THE AMOUNTS YOU HAVE PAID TO GOATHERDING FOR USE OF THE SERVICES OR CONTENT OR ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100), IF YOU HAVE NOT HAD ANY PAYMENT OBLIGATIONS TO GOATHERDING, AS APPLICABLE. THE EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF DAMAGES SET FORTH ABOVE ARE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN GOATHERDING AND YOU.
Dispute Resolution
Governing Law
These Terms and any action related thereto will be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to its conflict of laws provisions.
Agreement to Arbitrate
You and Goatherding agree that any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the breach, termination, enforcement, interpretation or validity thereof or the use of the Services or Content (collectively, “Disputes”) will be settled by binding arbitration, except that each party retains the right: (i) to bring an individual action in small claims court and (ii) to seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent the actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation or violation of a party’s copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents or other intellectual property rights (the action described in the foregoing clause (ii), an “IP Protection Action”); and (iii) you retain the right to litigate any Dispute other than an IP Protection Action by providing Goatherding with written notice of your desire to do so by email or regular mail at INSERT COMPANY ADDRESS within thirty (30) days following the date you first accept these Terms (such notice, an “Arbitration Opt-out Notice”). If you don’t provide Goatherding with an Arbitration Opt-out Notice within the thirty (30) day period, you will be deemed to have knowingly and intentionally waived your right to litigate any Dispute except as expressly set forth in clauses (i) and (ii) above. The exclusive jurisdiction and venue of any IP Protection Action or, if you timely provides Goatherding with an Arbitration Opt-out Notice, will be the state and federal courts located in the Northern District of California and each of the parties hereto waives any objection to jurisdiction and venue in such courts. Unless you timely provide Goatherding with an Arbitration Opt-out Notice, you acknowledge and agree that you and Goatherding are each waiving the right to a trial by jury or to participate as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class action or representative proceeding. Further, unless both you and Goatherding otherwise agree in writing, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of any class or representative proceeding. If this specific paragraph is held unenforceable, then the entirety of this “Dispute Resolution” section will be deemed void. Except as provided in the preceding sentence, this “Dispute Resolution” section will survive any termination of these Terms.
Arbitration Rules
The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes (the “AAA Rules”) then in effect, except as modified by this “Dispute Resolution” section. (The AAA Rules are available at http://www.adr.org/arb_medor by calling the AAA at 1-800-778-7879.) The Federal Arbitration Act will govern the interpretation and enforcement of this Section.
Arbitration Process
A party who desires to initiate arbitration must provide the other party with a written Demand for Arbitration as specified in the AAA Rules. (The AAA provides a form Demand for Arbitration at http://www.adr.org/aaa/ShowPDF?doc=ADRSTG_015820and a separate form for California residents at http://www.adr.org/aaa/ShowPDF?doc=ADRSTG_015822.) The arbitrator will be either a retired judge or an attorney licensed to practice law and will be selected by the parties from the AAA’s roster of arbitrators. If the parties are unable to agree upon an arbitrator within seven (7) days of delivery of the Demand for Arbitration, then the AAA will appoint the arbitrator in accordance with the AAA Rules.
Arbitration Location and Procedure
Unless you and Goatherding otherwise agree, the arbitration will be conducted in the county where you reside. If your claim does not exceed $10,000, then the arbitration will be conducted solely on the basis of the documents that you and Goatherding submit to the arbitrator, unless you request a hearing or the arbitrator determines that a hearing is necessary. If your claim exceeds $10,000, your right to a hearing will be determined by the AAA Rules. Subject to the AAA Rules, the arbitrator will have the discretion to direct a reasonable exchange of information by the parties, consistent with the expedited nature of the arbitration.
Arbitrator’s Decision
The arbitrator will render an award within the time frame specified in the AAA Rules. The arbitrator’s decision will include the essential findings and conclusions upon which the arbitrator based the award. Judgment on the arbitration award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The arbitrator’s award of damages must be consistent with the terms of the “Limitation of Liability” section above as to the types and amounts of damages for which a party may be held liable. The arbitrator may award declaratory or injunctive relief only in favor of the claimant and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by the claimant’s individual claim. If you prevail in arbitration you will be entitled to an award of attorneys’ fees and expenses, to the extent provided under applicable law. Goatherding will not seek, and hereby waives all rights it may have under applicable law to recover, attorneys’ fees and expenses if it prevails in arbitration.
Fees
Your responsibility to pay any AAA filing, administrative and arbitrator fees will be solely as set forth in the AAA Rules. However, if your claim for damages does not exceed $75,000, Goatherding will pay all such fees unless the arbitrator finds that either the substance of your claim or the relief sought in your Demand for Arbitration was frivolous or was brought for an improper purpose (as measured by the standards set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)).
Changes
Notwithstanding the provisions of the “Modification” section above, if Goatherding changes this “Dispute Resolution” section after the date you first accepted these Terms (or accepted any subsequent changes to these Terms), you may reject any such change by sending us written notice (including by email to www.Goatherding.com) within 30 days of the date such change became effective, as indicated in the “Last Updated” date above or in the date of Goatherding’s email to you notifying you of such change. By rejecting any change, you are agreeing that you will arbitrate any Dispute between you and Goatherding in accordance with the provisions of this “Dispute Resolution” section as of the date you first accepted these Terms (or accepted any subsequent changes to these Terms).
General Terms
These Terms constitute the entire and exclusive understanding and agreement between Goatherding and you regarding the Services and Content, and these Terms supersede and replace any and all prior oral or written understandings or agreements between Goatherding and you regarding the Services and Content. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of these Terms invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the other provisions of these Terms will remain in full force and effect.
You may not assign or transfer these Terms, by operation of law or otherwise, without Goatherding’s prior written consent. Any attempt by you to assign or transfer these Terms, without such consent, will be null. Goatherding may freely assign or transfer these Terms without restriction. Subject to the foregoing, these Terms will bind and inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns.
Any notices or other communications provided by Goatherding under these Terms, including those regarding modifications to these Terms, will be given: (i) via email; or (ii) by posting to the Services. For notices made by e-mail, the date of receipt will be deemed the date on which such notice is transmitted.
Goatherding’s failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of such right or provision. The waiver of any such right or provision will be effective only if in writing and signed by a duly authorized representative of Goatherding. Except as expressly set forth in these Terms, the exercise by either party of any of its remedies under these Terms will be without prejudice to its other remedies under these Terms or otherwise.
Contact Information
If you have any questions about these Terms or the Services, please contact Goatherding at info@voteforthegoat.com.