Terms of Service
Last Updated: 13 April 2020
1. Introduction
Human Rights Pulse, a service of Just Atonement Inc., is a web platform based in San Francisco, California that publishes user-generated content related to global human rights concerns (“HRP” and, sometimes referred to herein as “us,” “our,” or “we”).
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) apply to the use of the Human Rights Pulse website at HumanRightsPulse.com (the “Site”), our existing or future applications, APIs, databases, communications and social media channels we use (including Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, email, and Slack), other third party services incorporate into the Site, and the content that Users submit or provide (the “Services”). By using the Site and the Services, you agree to the legally binding rules in these Terms. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and any other rules related to using the Services.
HRP reserves the right to alter the Terms at any time. If we alter the Terms, we will notify you via email and/or through the Services or the Site. If you are already a User of HRP, your continued use of the Services and/or submissions of content, as applicable, means you accept the new Terms following any alteration.
Our Terms include mandatory dispute resolution. Please read more about Dispute Resolution in Section 7 below.
2. Definitions
Contributors. Any person who submits a Submission to HRP.
Reader. Any person who engages with HRP other than as a Contributor.
Submission(s). Any creative content in any form that a Contributor may submit to HRP for reproduction and display on HRP, subject to these Terms.
User. A Reader, Contributor or Volunteer.
Volunteer. Any person who volunteers with HRP, including a student intern who may be receiving applicable course credit through a qualifying academic institution.
3. Submissions to HRP
You understand that the Submissions you submit to HRP are not confidential and are intended to be published on the HRP platform. If you are concerned about the content of your Submissions being public, please do not submit them. By submitting Submissions, you agree that there is no expectation of confidentiality with respect to them.
Upon your request, we can publish your Submission anonymously. If you do not wish to have your name publicly displayed in connection with a particular submission, please request that the Submission be published anonymously. If HRP decides to publish your Submission, HRP will do so under a pseudonym you provide, or will simply attribute it to “anonymous.”
The personal data you provide in your Submissions will be treated in accordance with our privacy policy. For more information on how we store and treat your personal data, please refer to that privacy policy.
Your Submissions remain yours, but we have a license to use it forever. By submitting your Submissions, you do not lose any ownership rights you may have over the intellectual property contained in that Submission. However, by submitting any Submission to HRP, you shall grant and hereby do grant to HRP an irrevocable, perpetual, universe-wide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable (in whole or in part), fully paid-up, sublicensable license to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display, and distribute your Submission and to create derivative works thereto (and any intellectual property contained thereto, including without limitation copyrighted or trademarkable materials) in any and all media or distribution methods (existing now or later developed) from the moment you submit your Submission and continuing indefinitely into the future.
This includes permitting HRP to share the Submission with anyone, distribute it on its Site and in any media, and to make modifications or edits to it as HRP sees fit. You also authorize HRP to allow others to do the same with your content including other companies, organizations, or individuals who partner with HRP for the syndication, broadcast, distribution, or publication of content on other media.
You represent and warrant that you own the Submission and have all legal rights to submit it subject to these Terms, without infringing any other rights of any other third parties. By submitting content, you represent and warrant that you have all the rights, power, and authority necessary to authorize HRP to use any content that you submit to the Site. You also agree to all such uses of your Submission with no compensation paid to you.
We encourage you to share your Submissions once they appear on HRP. HRP encourages you to link to, post to social media and third party services, such as Facebook or Twitter, share via email, or otherwise copy and share published Submissions but only for informational, non-commercial purposes. If you share another user’s published Submissions, questions, or other content, you must only do so by linking to the HRP publication url. When you post published Submissions to any third party service you will be subject to the terms of that third party service.
We make no guarantee that we will publish any given Submission. HRP retains sole and exclusive discretion as to whether or not to publish any given Submission on HRP. HRP may decide not to publish a Submission for any reason or for no reason.
While we may edit any given Submission for publication, our edits are never designed to materially alter the meaning of the Submission. We will endeavour to contact you once the Submission is published, but will not and cannot guarantee that we will do so. Instead, you agree to monitor the Site and will review the final Submission once published. If you believe that our edits have materially altered the meaning of the Submission, you agree to immediately contact us. If we have not heard from you within 15 calendar days after we have published your Submission, you agree and acknowledge that it is reasonable for us to assume that we have not materially altered the meaning of your Submission.
4. HRP’s Rights
All right, title, and interest in and to HRP, the Site, and the Services are and will remain the exclusive property of HRP. Nothing gives you a right to use the HRP name or any of the HRP published content, trademarks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features, other than as specified in these Terms. Any feedback, comments, or suggestions you may provide regarding HRP is entirely voluntary and will not create any obligation on behalf of HRP to you.
Do not do any of the following while accessing or using the Site or the Services:
· Access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the Site, HRP’s computer systems, or the technical delivery systems of HRP’s service providers.
· Disable, interfere with, or try to circumvent any of the features of the Site related to security or probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any of our systems or the Site.
· Copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, reverse assemble, or otherwise attempt to discover any source code of HRP or the Site.
· Access or search or attempt to access or search our Site by any means (automated or otherwise) other than through our currently available search functionalities that are provided via our website, mobile apps, or API (and only pursuant to those API terms and conditions).
· Crawling the Site is permissible if done in accordance with the provisions of the robots.txt file; however, scraping the Services, Site, and databases is expressly prohibited unless authorized in a written agreement between you and HRP.
· Use the Site or the Services to send altered, deceptive, or false source-identifying information (such as sending email communications falsely appearing as HRP); or interfere with, or disrupt, (or attempt to do so), the access of any user, host, or network, including, without limitation, sending a virus, overloading, flooding, spamming, mail-bombing the Site, or in any other manner interfering with or creating an undue burden on the Site.
· Engage with other Users in a manner disrespectful to them, or which would reflect poorly on HRP.
ANY USER MAY BE TERMINATED FROM USE OF THE SERVICES IN THE SOLE DISCRETION OF HRP, FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON.
Intellectual Property. HRP’s Services are legally protected in various ways, including copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, trade secrets, and other rights and laws. You agree to respect all copyright and other legal notices, information, and restrictions contained in any content accessed through the Site. You also agree not to change, translate, or otherwise create derivative works of the Service. HRP grants you a worldwide, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, and non-transferable license to reproduce content from the Services for the exclusive purpose of sharing published submissions and by sharing information about HRP; this license is for no other purpose. HRP reserves the right to revoke that license at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all.
If you want to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, or store any of this content for a commercial purpose, you need prior written permission from HRP and/or the relevant copyright holder. A “commercial purpose” means you intend to use, sell, license, rent, or otherwise exploit content for commercial use, in any way.
5. Copyright
HRP respects the intellectual property of others, and HRP asks our users to do the same. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or that your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, you should notify HRP of your infringement claim in accordance with the procedure set forth below.
HRP will process and investigate notices of alleged infringement and will take appropriate actions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) and other applicable intellectual property laws with respect to any alleged or actual infringement. A notification of claimed copyright infringement should be emailed to HRP’s Copyright Agent at: copyright@humanrightspulse.com (Subject line: “DMCA Takedown Request”). You may also contact HRP by mail or facsimile at:
Human Rights Pulse Copyright Agent:
c/o Just Atonement Inc.
Attn: Copyright Agent
1832 Buchanan Street, Suite 201 | San Francisco, CA 94115
To be effective, the notification must be in writing and contain the following information:
an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;
a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Services, with enough detail that HRP may find it on the Services;
your address, telephone number, and email address;
a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright or intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law;
a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner's behalf.
Counter-Notice: If you believe that the Submission that was removed (or to which access was disabled) is not infringing, or that you have the authorization from the copyright owner, the copyright owner’s agent, or pursuant to the law, to upload and use the content in your Submission, you may send a written counter-notice containing the following information to the Copyright Agent:
your physical or electronic signature;
identification of the content that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the content appeared before it was removed or disabled;
a statement that you have a good faith belief that the content was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or a misidentification of the content; and
your name, address, telephone number, and email address, a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court located within Northern District of California and a statement that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.
If a counter-notice is received by the Copyright Agent, HRP will send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that it may replace the removed content or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the content provider, member or user, the removed content may be replaced, or access to it restored, in 10 to 14 business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice, at our sole discretion.
Repeat Infringer Policy: In accordance with the DMCA and other applicable law, HRP has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at HRP’s sole discretion, users who are deemed to be repeat infringers. HRP may also at its sole discretion limit access to the Services and/or terminate the memberships of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.
6. Volunteers of HRP
If you are a Volunteer, the following terms apply:
Overview. The general nature and length of your volunteer or internship period will be described by a representative of HRP. You and HRP will mutually agree to the things you can do to volunteer for HRP. HRP representatives may ask you to modify those tasks, in which case, please clearly consent to those modifications in writing (electronic messages are acceptable). It may also be the case that HRP may no longer require your volunteer assistance, in which case a representative of HRP will let you know.
Ownership of intellectual property to HRP. Any intervention, discovery, concept, process, model, template, design or improvement in procedure and any other intellectual property made or discovered by yourself in the course and scope as a Volunteer with HRP relating to or in any way affecting the operations of HRP or capable of being used or adapted by HRP in connection with its operations, will be disclosed by yourself to HRP and will vest with and be the sole property of HRP without compensation to yourself.
Representation as to volunteer status. As a Volunteer, you represent and warrant that:
· you are not an employee or paid service provider and that you are not entitled to any benefits or compensation from HRP.
· you are free to enter into this agreement without restriction
· any and all information, advice and material provided by you to HRP shall be true and correct; and any document produced, or any reference to the project, or any conduct during the project, will not contain anything which is an infringement of copyright or any other right of any third party and will not expose HRP to any criminal or civil proceedings.
Confidentiality. You acknowledge that as a Volunteer, you may gain access to certain confidential information regarding HRP and its representatives, including through various aspects of the Services. In this regard you shall never disclose to any person or persons whatsoever any of the confidential information of or relating to HRP other than with prior written consent of HRP, or as required by applicable law. All work created by you as a Volunteer shall be the exclusive property of HRP and any information relating to such work shall constitute confidential information.
7. Everything Else
Name and Likeness. Contributors and Volunteers understand and acknowledge that HRP may list their image and name on the Site. Contributors and Volunteers grant HRP an irrevocable, worldwide, sub-licensable, fully paid up, non-exclusive right to use their name and image for display on the Site on the same terms that apply to a Submission.
Indemnification. If you do something that gets HRP, its affiliates, partners, or agents sued, or fail to abide by the Terms, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold HRP, its affiliates, partners and agents harmless from all liabilities, claims, and expenses (including attorneys’ fees and other legal costs) that arise from or relate to your use or misuse of HRP or the Site.
This indemnification expressly covers any claims made by third parties for alleged violations of intellectual property rights.
HRP reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to this indemnification clause, in which case you agree that you’ll cooperate and help HRP in asserting any defenses.
Limitation of Liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event will HRP, its directors, employees, partners, suppliers, agents, or content providers be liable for any indirect, incidental, punitive, consequential, special, or exemplary damages of any kind, including but not limited to damages (i) resulting from your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Services; (ii) for any lost profits, data loss, or cost of procurement or substitute goods or services; or (iii) for any conduct of content of any third party on the Site. In no event shall HRP’s liability for direct damages be in excess of (in the aggregate) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100.00).
Severability. The Terms together with any amendments and any additional agreements you may enter into with HRP in connection with the Services, will constitute the entire agreement between you and HRP. If a court of competent jurisdiction deems any provision of the Terms invalid, the invalidity of such provision will not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of the Terms, which will remain in full force and effect.
Governing Law. The Terms and your use of the Services will be interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of California and the United States of America, without regard to its conflict-of-law provisions.
Fully Integrated Agreement / No Variation. The Terms represent the entire agreement and understanding between HRP and any User and any other agreements or understandings, whether oral or written, express or implied, shall be superseded by these Terms, as amended.
Venue. You and HRP agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of a state court located in the city and county of San Francisco, California, or the United States District Court located in the Northern District of California for any actions for which the parties retain the right 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, as set forth in the Dispute Resolution provision below.
Dispute Resolution. In the event of any dispute with HRP, you agree to the following procedure:
First, you and HRP agree to discuss in good faith the nature of your dispute, claim or controversy.
Second, if you are not able to resolve the dispute through good faith discussions, you and HRP agree to locate and use a third party mediator who will help you resolve the dispute.
Finally, if these efforts fail, each side may seek relief in court pursuant to the Venue clause above. The party that prevails in court will be entitled to an award of its reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses, but only if they have attempted to settle the dispute through discussions and then through mediation.
One exception to the above is that each party retains the right 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.
In addition, each party waives the right to a trial by jury or to participate as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class action or representative proceeding.
Any award must be consistent with the terms of the "Limitation of Liability" section above as to the types and the amounts of damages for which a party may be held liable.
Previous Changes to Terms of Service
13 April 2020:
Added a new category of User, the “Volunteer”
Added applicable terms and conditions for volunteers
Included communication channels used by HRP as part of the definition of “Services”
Clarified that Users must engage in professional conduct in their use of HRP
Clarified that a User can lose access to HRP for any reason or for no reason
Added an integration clause
Added terms related to Contributors’ and Volunteers’ names and likenesses
Specified San Francisco as the location of any state court action in California.
1 December 2019: original Terms of Service released.