Terms of Use
Terms & Conditions
Date of Last revision: July 29, 2009
Thanks for becoming a part of OS Central, and Operation Smile online community. We’re glad you are here and encourage you to be inspired, creative and have fun. However, there are terms and conditions that you are acknowledging you have read, understand and agree to adhere to by visiting this website and any other website operated by Operation Smile. You are also agreeing to abide by any other applicable laws, whether or not you register on OS Central or Operation Smile. You agree to review these Terms of Use regularly to make yourself aware of any changes. Your continued use of the website shall be considered your acceptance to the revised Terms of Use. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, please do not use this website.
Intellectual Property
All material on webpages under the domain operationsmile.org or any other website owned by Operation Smile, including OSCentral.com is, unless otherwise stated, the property of Operation Smile Inc. These materials are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Information received through this website may be displayed, reformatted, and printed for your personal, noncommercial use only.
You may not reproduce or retransmit the materials, in whole or in part, in any manner, without the prior written consent of Operation Smile, Inc. with the following exception only: You may make single copies of the materials available through this website, solely for your personal, noncommercial use, and only if you preserve any copyright or other notices contained in or associated with them. You may not distribute such copies to others, whether or not in electronic form, whether or not for a charge or other consideration, without prior written consent of the owner of the materials.
Website Use Restrictions
You may use the Content only for your own non-commercial use to participate in the OS Central Community. Any other use is prohibited unless agreed to by Operation Smile in writing. You agree not to change or delete any ownership notices from materials downloaded or printed from the website. You agree not to modify, copy, translate, broadcast, perform, display, distribute, frame, reproduce, republish, download, display, post, transmit or sell any Intellectual Property or Content appearing on the Website, including User Generated Content (defined below), without Operation Smile's prior written consent, unless it is your own User Generated Content that you legally post on the website. You agree not to use any data mining, robots, scraping or similar data gathering methods. Nothing in these Terms of Use shall be interpreted as granting any license of intellectual property rights to you.
Protect your User Name and Password
You are responsible for any actions that take place while using your Operation Smile account. Keep your username/password secure and do not allow anyone else to use your username/password to access the website. You agree to notify Operation Smile immediately of any unauthorized use of your account. Operation Smile is not responsible for any loss that results from the unauthorized use of your username/password, with or without your knowledge.
User Generated Content
"User Generated Content" includes communications, materials, information, opinions, photos, profiles, messages, notes, website links, text information, music, videos, designs, graphics, sounds, and any other content that you and/or other website users publish, display, upload, disclose, transmit, store, share or otherwise make available ("post") on or through the website, except to the extent the content is owned by Operation Smile.
1. Posting Rules: User Generated Content and User Conduct
Be Inspired
We encourage you to be inspired while on our site and participate in ways that are creative, insightful, constructive and fun. Remember, you are here to help each other, help yourself and, most importantly, help change children’s lives around the world!
Be Responsible
You are solely responsible for your User Generated Content, your interactions with other users and your activity on the website. Do not take any action or post anything that may expose Operation Smile or its users to any harm or liability of any type.
Be Courteous and Appropriate
Flaming and insults are prohibited. Do not post User Generated Content, or a link to a website, that, in Operation Smile's sole discretion, is illegal, offensive, libelous, defamatory, infringing, inflammatory, deceptive, inaccurate, misleading, malicious, fraudulent, false, indecent, harmful, harassing, intimidating, threatening, hateful, abusive, vulgar, obscene, pornographic, violent, sexually explicit, invasive of privacy, publicity, intellectual property, proprietary or contractual rights, offensive in a sexual, racial, cultural, or ethnic context, will harm or threaten the safety of others, or is otherwise objectionable. Do not post photos or videos of another person without that person's consent. Do not "stalk," intimidate, abuse, harm or harass another Website user or person.
Be Private
Do not post personal information, including your email address, IM address, or phone number. Do not collect or solicit personally identifiable information from other website users or send unsolicited emails or other communications. Do not collect, use or post on the website the private information of anyone else without their consent or for illegal purposes, including without limitation addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, social security numbers and credit card information.
Be Personal
The website is not to be used for any commercial purpose. Do not post any advertising, solicitation or commercial content whatsoever on the website or accept payment from a third party in exchange for your performing commercial activity on the website. Do not post any User Generated Content that involves the transmission of "junk mail," "chain letters," or unsolicited mass mailing or "spamming." Do not use automated scripts to collect information from, or otherwise interact with, the website.
Be Yourself
Stay real and be yourself. Do not impersonate any person or entity. Do not misrepresent yourself, your age or your affiliation with any person or entity. Do not use or attempt to use another person's account, username or password.
Be Original
You have lots of great ideas and information that are your own, so no need to take someone else’s. You promise that you own or control all rights in any User Generated Content that you post on the website. You are responsible for ensuring that any User Generated Content that you post does not, and will not, infringe or violate anyone else's rights, including copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary rights. You promise not to submit User Generated Content unless you are the owner or have permission from the owner to post such User Generated Content and grant Operation Smile all of the license rights granted in these Terms of Use.
Be Legal
Do not post any User Generated Content, take any action or use the website in a way that violates any law, would create liability or promotes illegal activities. Do not take any action on the Website designed to interfere, disrupt, damage, disable, overburden or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware, telecommunications equipment or the website. Do not post User Generated Content that contains software viruses, programs or other computer code. Do not circumvent or modify any website security technology or software.
2. General Rules for User Generated Content
Content is Not Prescreened
Operation Smile does not guarantee to prescreen User Generated Content. Operation Smile does not guarantee the website will be free from User Generated Content that is inaccurate, deceptive, offensive, threatening, defamatory, unlawful or otherwise objectionable. Operation Smile is not undertaking any obligation or liability relating to any User Generated Content or activities of users on the website. Even in the event Operation Smile chooses to monitor any User Generated Content, Operation Smile assumes no responsibility for, or any obligation to monitor or remove, such User Generated Content. Operation Smile reserves the right to edit, remove, or refuse to post any User Generated Content or terminate your registered account for any reason.
Eligibility and Registration
To become a member of the OS Central Website, or post User Generated Content, you must register for an account. You agree to provide accurate and current information about yourself in all registration forms on the Website. If you are under 18 years of age, do not use this site unless you are an emancipated minor or have legal parental or guardian consent to accept these Terms & Conditions and are fully able to abide by them. Information collected from children under the age of 13 is related to their membership in an Operation Smile club, which has been approved by their parent or legal guardian. In this case, Operation Smile only collects information required to identify the child as a member of an Operation Smile School Club, and is often provided by the club sponsor of child’s parent/guardian on the child’s behalf. If you are under 13, please take part in this community only through a legal parent or guardian and please don't submit any personally identifiable information to Operation Smile on this site, and stay within the K-8 designated community. The K-8 community is a portal only for children in grades K-8, club sponsors and parents. Those not designated in this community should not interact within the K-8 community.
Operation Smile's Rights to Your Posting
Your User Generated Content is not confidential or proprietary. You grant, and warrant that you have the right to grant, to Operation Smile a non-exclusive, non-revocable, worldwide, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual right to use your User Generated Content in any manner or media now or later developed, for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, including the right to translate, display, reproduce, change, create derivative works, sublicense, distribute, assign and commercialize without any payment due to you.
Complaints
Immediately notify Operation Smile of any objectionable content appearing on the website. Operation Smile will make good faith efforts to investigate allegations that any User Generated Content violates these Terms of Use but makes no promise that it will edit or remove any specific User Generated Content.
Copyright Infringement Complaints
We respect the intellectual property rights of others and we prohibit users from posting on the Operation Smile Website any content that violates another party’s intellectual property rights. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) provides a complaint procedure for copyright owners who believe that website material infringe their rights under U.S. copyright law. If you believe that your work has been improperly copied and posted on the website, please provide us with the following information: (1) name, address, telephone number, email address and an electronic or physical signature of the copyright owner or of the person authorized to act on his/her behalf; (2) a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed; (3) a description of where on the Website the material that you claim is infringing is located; (4) a written statement that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and (5) 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. These requirements must be followed to give Operation Smile legally sufficient notice of infringement. Send copyright infringement complaints to:
Operation Smile (Copyright, Online)
6435 Tidewater Drive
Norfolk, VA 23509
Fax: 757-321-7660
We suggest that you consult your legal advisor before filing a DMCA notice with Operation Smile’s copyright agent. There can be penalties for false claims under the DMCA.
Links
This website may contain links to other sites. Unless we expressly state otherwise, Operation Smile makes no representations whatsoever concerning the content of those sites. The fact that Operation Smile has provided a link to a site is not an endorsement, authorization, sponsorship, or affiliation with respect to such site, its owners, or its providers. There are risks associated with using any information, software, or products found on the Internet, and Operation Smile cautions you to make sure that you understand these risks before retrieving, using, relying upon, or purchasing anything via the Internet. In addition, we encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. These other sites may collect or solicit personal data or send their own cookies to your computer. Please be aware that Operation Smile is not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites.
You may not create a link to this site that incorporates or relies upon, in whole or in part, any content from any page on this website, or that incorporates any copyrighted or otherwise intellectual property of Operation Smile Inc. without written permission from Operation Smile Inc.
Mobile Services
The Website contains services and features that are available to certain mobile phones. Your carrier’s normal rates and fees apply. Not all mobile services will work with all carriers or devices. You should check the rates and services offered by your carrier. By using Operation Smile’s mobile services, you agree that we may communicate with you by electronic means to your mobile device and that certain information about your use of these services may be shared with us. If you change or deactivate your mobile phone number, you must promptly update your account information to ensure that we don’t send your messages to a different person.
Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Operation Smile its officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors and suppliers from and against all claims, losses, liabilities, expenses, damages and costs, including, without limitation, attorneys’ fees, arising from or relating in any way to your User Generated Content, your use of Content, your use of the Website, your conduct in connection with the Website or with other Website users, or any violation of these Terms of Use, any law or the rights of any third party.
Privacy
Our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms of Use by this reference, further describes the collection and use of information on this Website.
User Interaction Disclaimer
You are solely responsible for your interactions with other Website users, whether online or offline in person. So b e nice! Operation Smile is not responsible or liable for any loss or damage resulting from any interaction with other Website users or persons you meet through the Website. You agree to take reasonable precautions in all interactions with other users on the Website, whether online or offline, and conduct any necessary investigation before meeting another person. In addition, you agree to review Operation Smile’s Privacy Policy prior to using this Website. Operation Smile is under no obligation to become involved with any user dispute, but may do so at its own discretion.
Warranty Disclaimer
Operation Smile is not responsible or liable for any User Generated Content or other Content posted on the Website or for any offensive, unlawful or objectionable content you may encounter on or through the Website. The Website, User Generated Content, Content, and the materials and products on this Website are provided “AS IS” and without warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Operation Smile disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Operation Smile does not represent or warrant that the Website will be uninterrupted or error-free, that any defects will be corrected, or that this Website or the server that makes the Website available are free of viruses or anything else harmful. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Operation Smile does not make any warranties or representations regarding the use of the materials or Content in the Website in terms of their correctness, accuracy, adequacy, usefulness, reliability or otherwise. You understand and agree that you download or otherwise obtain Content (including any mobile client) at your own risk, and that you will be solely responsible for your use and any damage to your mobile device or computer system, loss of data or other harm of any kind that may result. Operation Smile reserves the right to change any and all Content and other items used or contained in the Website at any time without notice. Some states do not permit limitations or exclusions on warranties, so the above limitations may not apply to you.
Severability
If any provision in these Terms of Use is held invalid, the remainder of these Terms of Use shall continue to be enforceable. If any provision in these Terms of Use is deemed unlawful, void or unenforceable, then that provision is deemed severable from these Terms of Use and the remaining provisions are still valid and enforceable.
Termination
Operation Smile reserves the right in its sole discretion to terminate your account, delete your profile and any of your User Generated Content, and restrict your use of all or any part of the Website for any or no reason, without notice, and without liability to you or anyone else. Operation Smile also reserves the right to block users from certain IP addresses and prevent access to the Website. You may terminate your account at anytime by clicking the “deactivate account” button in the Account Settings. You understand and agree that some of your User Generated Content, such as that which is displayed outside your profile, in activity feeds, in other parts of the Website, or on other social platforms (e.g., Facebook and Twitter), may continue to appear on the Website or on other social platforms even after your User Generated Content is removed or your account is terminated. These Terms of Use remain in effect even after your account is terminated. The Terms of Use relating to Intellectual Property, Indemnification, User Interaction Disclaimer, Warranty Disclaimer, Limitation of Liability, Miscellaneous, Severability and terms that by their nature may survive termination shall survive any termination.
