The following terms and conditions (“Terms of Use”) govern your access to and use of the website, web applications and other properties, including our interactive services and other services provided through such properties (collectively the “Website”) operated by the Ounce of Prevention Fund (the “Ounce,” “we,” “us,” “our”) by visitors and other users directly or indirectly accessing the Website (each a “User,” “you,” “your”).

By using this Website, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Use. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, you must not access or use the Website.

Please refer to our Privacy Policy for information about how we process your personal information in connection with your use of our Website.

This Website is not intended for children under the age of 18.

Modifications

We may modify these Terms of Use in whole or in part, in our sole discretion, by posting amended terms to the Website. Every time you wish to use our Website, please check these Terms of Use to ensure you understand the Terms of Use that apply at that time. Your continued use of the Website indicates your acceptance of the amended Terms of Use.

Your Obligations

• As a condition of your use of our Website, you warrant to us that you will:
• Comply with the Acceptable Use standards set out below.
• Assume personal responsibility for your contributions posted on our Website.
• Be courteous and professional in the communication you transmit on our Website.
• Fully comply with all restrictions that apply to your reproduction, dissemination or any other ruse of User contributions.

If you notice any unlawful or prohibited use or abuse of our Website or any contribution that does not comply with our Acceptable Use standards, we ask that you notify us by email at info@theounce.org.  You may browse the Website without registering for an account, however, use of some features require account creation. To create an account, you must be 18 or older.

Do not disclose your login information to any third party, and in order to improve the security of your account, it is advised that a strong password is chosen to protect your account information. We have the right to disable any User identification code or password, whether chosen by you or assigned by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion, you have failed to comply with any provisions of these Terms of Use. 

Interactive Services

We may provide interactive services on our Website, including, without limitation:

Chat rooms	Bulletin boards
News groups	Forums
Communities Blogs	Personal web pages
Calendars and/or other message, communication or networking facilities designed to enable youto communicate with the public at large or with a group of Users (each an “interactive service”).

All discussion posts are public and may be indexed by internet search engines. Use caution when posting a new message. Private messages to individual Users are not indexed by search engines. We are under no obligation to oversee, monitor or moderate any interactive serve we provide on our Website, and we expressly exclude our liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of any interactive service by a User in violation of our Acceptable Use standards, whether the service is moderated or not. 

User Generated Content

All material which you post, send, upload, transmit, or otherwise make available on, or in connection with, our Website (each a “contribution”) must comply with our Acceptable Use standards set out below. 

By posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting your contributions you are granting us and our Users permission to use your contributions in connection with the operation of business and to draw attention to our Website including, without limitation, the rights to copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your contributions. Unless otherwise stated by the contributing User, each contribution will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. We also have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any contribution provided by you constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy. We always reserve the right to disclose any information necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request. We reserve the right to review your contributions and we have the right to remove any contribution, in whole or in part, from our Website if, in our opinion, your post does not comply with the content standards set out in our Acceptable Use standards. We are not responsible for viruses and you must not introduce them in your contributions. You are solely responsible for securing and backing up your contributions.

You warrant that (i) all your contributions comply with these Terms of Use, including our Acceptable Use standards, and (ii) you have all necessary authority, licenses and consents to provide your contributions and to grant us and our Users the license mentioned above. You will be liable to us and indemnify us and our officers, directors, employees, and agents, for any breach of these warranties. This means you will be responsible for any loss or damage that we or our officers, directors, employees, and agents suffer as a result of your breach of your warranties.

No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your contributions. We are under no obligation to post or use any contributions you may provide and may remove any contribution at any time in our sole discretion. We do not control or endorse the content, messages or other contributions found in any interactive service and we are not responsible for any contributions or the acts of our Users. We specifically disclaim any liability regarding your participation in any interactive service. Contributors are not Ounce authorized spokespersons and their views do not necessarily reflect our views.

Acceptable Use

The following Acceptable Use standards apply to every User. You must comply with the spirit and letter of the following standards which apply to each contribution or any part of it.

Contributions must:

• Be accurate (where facts are stated).
• Be genuinely held (where opinions are stated).
• Comply with applicable law, including the law in any country from which they are posted.
• Comply with data privacy laws and respect the data privacy rights of any individuals who are referred to in a contribution or whose personally identifiable information (PII) is included in a contribution. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for further information about PII.
• Communicate in an appropriate manner any mandatory notices or use restrictions that apply to your contributions to enable us and our User to comply with the same.

Contributions must not:

• Contain any defamatory material of any person.
• Contain obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory material.
• Promote sexually explicit material.
• Promote violence.
• Promote discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, disability, orientation, age or political affiliation.
• Infringe on any copyright, database right or trademark of any other person.
• Be deceptive.
• Promote any illegal activity.
• Give the impression that contributions originate from the Ounce, if this is not the case.
• Advocate, promote or assist in any unlawful act.
• Advertise or offer to sell or buy any goods or services for any business purpose.
• Be likely to restrict or inhibit any other User from using and enjoying the Website or otherwise interfering with the operation of the Website.

Prohibited Uses

You may use our Website for lawful purposes only. You may not use our Website:

• In any way that breaches applicable laws.
• In any way that is unlawful or fraudulent or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect.
• For the purpose of harming or attempting to harm other Users in any way.
• To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which does not comply with our content standards.
• To transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation.
• To knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware, malware or any other harmful programs  
• or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware.

You also agree you will not:

• Reproduce, duplicate, copy or resell any part of our Website in violation of the provisions of our Terms of Use.
• Harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including email addresses, without their consent.
• Use of Website for conducting any private business or commercial activity without our prior written consent. Commercial activities include, but are not limited to, job postings, surveys, promotional announcements, product-related press releases, advertising, promoting social media groups or promoting professional associations.
• To download any file posted by another User of an interactive service that you know, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally distributed in such a manner.
• To falsify or delete any author attributions, legal or other proper notices or proprietary designations or labels of the origin or source of material contained in a file that is uploaded.
• To access without authority, interfere with or disrupt any part of our Website, any equipment or network on which our Website is stored, any software used in the provision of our Website, or any equipment, network or software owned or used by any third party.

Our Content

We are the owner or licensee of all intellectual property rights in our Website, and in the materials published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and all such rights are reserved.

The content on our Website including any User contributions is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action based on the content on our Website. Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our Website, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our Website is accurate, complete or up to date.

The predominant purpose of the content on our Website is to share information among early education professionals. You must not use any part of the content on our Website for any commercial purposes whatsoever without obtaining a license to do so from us or our licensors. For the avoidance of doubt, the use of our directory information for marketing or recruitment purposes is strictly prohibited. 

You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our Website for your personal use, and, where enabled, you may share our content on social media with other professionals in order to draw the attention of others within your professional circles to content posted on our Website.

You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text. Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on our site must always be acknowledged.

If you print off, copy, download or otherwise use any part of our Website or contact any User in breach of  

these Terms of Use, your right to use our Website will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.

Links to Third Parties

Our Website may contain links or other access points to third party websites, services and resources (each a "Third Party Property"). Such Third-Party Properties are not under our control and we are not responsible for the contents or availability of any Third-Party Property, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Property, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Property. We provide links and other access to Third Party Properties to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply our endorsement of the site or any association with its operators. We shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with your use of or reliance on any content, goods or services available on or through any Third Party Property. Please refer to the terms and conditions in connection with your use of any Third-Party Property.

Suspension and Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to our Website and to remove any contribution at any time without notice for any reason whatsoever. In addition, failure to comply with our Acceptable Use standards constitutes a material breach of the Terms of Use upon which you are permitted to use our Website, and may result in our taking all or any of the following actions:

• Immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use our Website.
• Immediate, temporary or permanent removal of any contributions uploaded by you to our Website 
• Issue of a warning to you.
• Legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs on an indemnity basis (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs) resulting from the breach.
• Further legal action against you.
• Disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary or any other action we reasonably deem appropriate.

We exclude liability for actions taken in response to breaches of our Terms of Use.

Liability Disclaimer

We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, all information, software, products, services, content and related graphics are provided on our Website "as is" without warranty or condition of any kind including without warranty about the suitability, reliability, availability, timeliness, and accuracy. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we and our licensors hereby disclaim all warranties and conditions with regard to this information, software, products, services, content and related graphics, including all implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement.

You agree that we and our licensors will not be responsible to you for any indirect, consequential, special or punitive damages or losses you may incur in connection with our Website whatsoever or any content, data, contributions or other materials made available through or in connection with our Website, whether based on contract, tort, negligence, strict liability or otherwise, even if we or our licensors have been advised of the possibility of such damage or loss.

Because some states and countries do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitations may not apply to you. If you are dissatisfied with any portion of the Website, or with any of these Terms of Use, your sole and exclusive remedy is discontinuing use of the Website.

Copyright and Trademark Notices

Our name, logo and all related names and logos are trademarks of the Ounce, its affiliates or licensors. You must not use such marks without prior written permission. All other names logos, designs and slogans on this Website are the trademarks of their respective owners.  Content of the Website is Copyright © 2020 by Ounce of Prevention Fund and/or its licensors. All rights reserved.

DMCA Copyright Notice and Takedown Policy

If you are a copyright owner and you believe your work has been copied and used improperly on the Website, please contact our copyright agent. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(c), to be effective, the notification to us must include the following information: (1) physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner; (2) description of the work you claim has been infringed and the description and location of the alleged infringement on the Website; (3) your contact information including address, telephone number and email address; (4) a written statement that you have a good faith belief the accused usage is infringing; and (5) a statement by you under penalty of perjury that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are duly authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

 You may contact our copyright agent by mail at Ounce of Prevention Fund, c/o Copyright Agent 33 W. Monroe Street, STE 1200, Chicago, IL 60603; by email at compliance@ounceofprevention.org; or by phone at (312) 453-1935.

 Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing may be subject to liability. If you are unsure whether material on the Website is infringing, we suggest that you contact an attorney prior to sending notice.

Disputes and Jurisdiction

You agree that, to the extent permitted by law, the laws of Illinois will apply to all matters relating to our Website. You also agree and consent that if there is ever any legal action against us, the county of Cook in the State of Illinois will have exclusive jurisdiction and be the exclusive venue for any such legal action.

Relationship

You agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment or agency relationship exists between you and us as a result of your use of this Website.