Legals

Terms & Conditions of Service

The Agreement

The following agreement (“this Agreement”) describes the terms and conditions on which the University of Exeter (“the University”) offers you access and use of material found on this website (“the Service”). This offer is conditional on your agreement to all the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement, including your compliance with policies, guidelines and terms linked by way of URLs in this Agreement (“Terms & Conditions of Service”).

By using the Service or by exercising any rights provided to parts of it, you accept and agree to be bound by the Terms and Conditions of Service. The University only grants you the rights contained in this Agreement in consideration of your acceptance of the Terms and Conditions of Service.

If you do not agree to the Terms and Conditions of Service you should not use the Service and therefore decline this Agreement, in which case you are prohibited from accessing and/or using the Service. The University may amend this Agreement at any time at its sole discretion, effective upon posting the amended agreement on followthethings.com. No variation or counter offer of this Agreement will be accepted by the University.

1. The Service

1.1 The Service provides access to a database of ‘follow the things’ films, art work, journalism and academic writing (followthethings.com), to an online news-feed about ‘follow the things’ work (http://twitter.com/#!/followthethings), to online fora where this work can be discussed (http://www.facebook.com/pages/followthethingscom/132471660166786 and http://iwanttodiscussthat.wordpress.com/), and to sites associated with the online distribution and photographing of followthethings.com shopping bags in use (http://ebay.co.uk and http://www.flickr.com/groups/followthethings/).

1.2 You acknowledge that the University is a service provider that may allow people to interact online regarding topics and content chosen by users of the Service, and that users can alter and add to the Service environment on a real time basis. The Service may include hyperlinks to other web sites that the University does not own or control. As part of the nature of the Service, the University does not always or will not always be able to regulate the content/communications created and made available by users of the Service or otherwise and has no control over, and assumes no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third party websites.. As a result the University has limited control, if any, over the quality, morality, legality, completeness, truthfulness or accuracy of various aspects of the Service and is not responsible for the availability of any hyperlinked external sites or resources, and does not endorse any advertising, products or other materials on or available from such web sites or resources.

1.3 You acknowledge that: (1) by using the Service you may have access to graphics, sound effects, music, video, audio, computer programmes, animations, text and other creative output (“Content”); and (2) Content may be provided by the University or by others such as the users of the Service (“Content Providers”).

1.4 You acknowledge that the University and other Content Providers have rights in their respective Content under copyright and other applicable laws, and that except as described in this Agreement that such rights are not transferred by mere use of the Service. You accept full responsibility and liability for your use of any Content in violation of any such rights. You agree that your creation of Content is not in any way based upon any expectation of compensation from the University. You acknowledge that this Agreement does not assign or transfer ownership, title or interest of the Intellectual Property rights in the Service to you.

2. Licences and IPR

2.1 Subject to the terms of this Agreement, the University hereby grants you a non-exclusive, royalty free and revocable licence to access and use the Service and use the Content in the Service in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of Service for as long as you are in compliance with such Terms & Conditions of Service.

2.2 Content owned or licensed to the University as part of the Service can be used by any user of the Service solely for purposes that are non-commercial and conducive to education, teaching, learning, private study, and/or research.

2.3 Users of the Service can create Content in the Service in various forms. The University acknowledges and agrees that, subject to the Terms and Conditions of Service, you will retain any and all applicable copyright and any other intellectual property rights with respect to any Content you create using the Service, to the extent that you have such rights under applicable law.

2.4 Notwithstanding the foregoing, you understand and agree that by submitting your Content to any area of the Service, you automatically grant (and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant) to the University: (1) a non-exclusive, royalty free, perpetual licence to: (a) use, reproduce and communicate your Content within the Service and a right to sub-license such use to users of the Service as long as the Content is used by such user within the Service and/or in accordance with clause 2.2; and (b) to use and reproduce and to authorise third parties to use and reproduce any of your Content in any or all media for marketing and/or promotional purposes in connection with the Service.

2.5 If as a user of the Service you wish to use the Content outside the Service and/or for purposes beyond those licensed to you under these Terms and Conditions of Service, you acknowledge and agree that you will need to contact the relevant copyright owner of the Content to seek any required permissions.

2.6 You agree to use all best efforts to ensure that your Content does not infringe any Intellectual Property rights of a third party.

2.7 You agree that even though you may retain certain copyright or other intellectual property rights with respect of the Content you create while using the Service you do not own any data the University stores on its servers submitted by others. Your intellectual property rights do not confer ownership of others' data stored by or on behalf of the University.

3. Community Guidelines and Policies

3.1 You agree to read and comply with the Guidelines and Policies as posted on www.followthethings.com/legals.shtml being the disclaimer and notice and takedown policy.

3.2 In addition to abiding at all times to the Guidelines and Policies, you agree that you shall not: (a) take any action of upload post, e-mail or otherwise transmit Content that infringes or violates any third party rights; (b) impersonate any person or entity without their consent, including but not limited to a University employee, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or an entity; (c) upload, e-mail or otherwise transmit Content that violates any United Kingdom law or regulation; (d)  upload, e-mail or otherwise transmit Content  determined by the University in its reasonable opinion to be libellous. You agree that the University may take whatever steps it deems necessary to abridge, or delete material on the Service in its sole discretion, without notice to you.

4. Releases, Disclaimers of Warranties, Limitation of Liability and Indemnification

4.1 As a condition of access to the Service, you release the University from claims, demands, damages of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with any dispute you have or claim to have with one or more users of the Service. You further understand and agree that the University will have the rights but not the obligation to resolve disputes between users relating to the Service.

4.2 Any Content or other data residing on the University’s servers or the Service may be deleted, altered, moved or transferred at any time for any reason at the University’s sole discretion without notice and without liability to you or any third party.

4.3 The University provides the Service and Content strictly on an “as is” basis and use of the Service and/or Content is at your own risk. The University hereby expressly disclaims all warranties or conditions of any kind to the extent permitted by law, including without limitation any merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. To the extent permitted by law, the University accepts no liability for loss suffered or incurred by the user or any third party as a result of their reliance on the Service and/or Content.

4.4 To the extent permitted by law, in no circumstances will the University be liable to you or you liable to the University for any loss resulting from a cause over which the University or you do not have direct control, including but not limited to failure of electronic or mechanical equipment or communication lines, telephone or other interconnect problems.

4.5  In no event shall the University be liable to you or to any third party for any special, incidental, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages, including without limitation any damages for loss of profits arising (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) out of or in connection with the Service and or Content. In addition, in no event will the University’s cumulative liability to you for direct damages of any kind or nature exceed £500.00.

4.6 You agree to indemnify and keep indemnified the University and users of the Service and Content from all damages, liabilities, claims and expenses, including without limitation reasonable legal fees and costs, arising from any breach of this Agreement by you, or from your use of the Service. You agree to indemnify and keep indemnified the University from all damages, liabilities, claims and expenses, including without limitation reasonable legal fees and costs, arising from any claims by third parties that your activity or Content in the Service infringes upon or violates any of their intellectual property or proprietary rights.

5. Privacy

5.1 You acknowledge and agree that the University, in its sole discretion, may track, record, observe or follow any and all of your interactions within the Service. The University may share general, demographic or aggregated information with third parties about the University’s user base and Service usage, but that information will not include or be linked to any personal information without consent. The University agrees that when exercising these rights, it shall abide by the Data Protection Act, 1998 at all times.

6. Termination

6.1 The University may terminate this Agreement immediately by written notice to you if you commit a material or persistent breach of this Agreement which you fail to remedy (if remediable) within 14 days after the service on you of written notice requiring you to do so.

6.2 Upon termination for any reason:

(a) all rights granted to you under this Agreement shall cease;

(b) you must cease all activities authorised by this Agreement;

(c) you must immediately delete or remove the Content and all copies of the Content from all computer equipment in your possession and certify in writing to the University that you have done so.

For the avoidance of doubt, this does not affect the licences you have granted pursuant to clauses 2.4 and 2.5 which remain in full force and effect.

7. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

7.1 This Agreement and the relationship between you and the University shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law. You and the University agree that any dispute arising out of or in connection with this Agreement will be subject to and within the jurisdiction of the English courts.

7.2 You and the University agree to use best efforts to resolve disputes in an informal manner. If any dispute arises in connection with this Agreement which cannot be resolved in this way, you and the University will next attempt to settle it by mediation in accordance with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) Model Mediation Procedure. Unless otherwise agreed between you and the University, the mediator will be nominated by CEDR.

8. General Provisions

8.1 This Agreement and the Guidelines and Policies constitute the entire understanding and agreement between you and the University with respect of the subject matter hereof.

8.2 The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this Agreement shall not affect the continuation in force of the remainder of this Agreement.

8.3 No failure or delay by a party to exercise any right or remedy provided under this Agreement or by law shall constitute a waiver of that or any other right or remedy, nor shall it preclude or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy. No single or partial exercise of such right or remedy shall preclude or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy.

8.4 Neither you nor the University shall assign, transfer, mortgage, charge, subcontract or deal in any other manner with any or all of its rights and obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of the other party (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed.