VERSION 4.0
The
Virtual World Web Network
TERMS
OF SERVICE
IF YOU DO NOT
AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THIS AGREEMENT YOU MUST DISCONTINUE USE OF THE SERVICE
IMMEDIATELY.
These Terms of
Service (TOS) are based on the principle that communities such as Virtual Worlds
only work when we all operate with mutual respect, understand our Rights and
Responsibilities and why these need to be enforced to be effective. We believe
we all share this obligation and together we can make the Virtual World
experience great for everyone.
This is an agreement between
the Virtual World Web Network ("We" and "Us")
- and You (and Your) which
includes: Members, VIP and
Universal VIP Members, individual Virtual World Members, the Virtual World
Master Developers, our Volunteers, and the Affiliates, Advertisers, and any
other person or entity who participates in our Worlds throughout the network,
or accesses our Web sites.
You agree that by
using or accessing any portion of our websites or Virtual World Web (VWW)
platform (called the "Service" throughout this agreement), you will
follow these TOS below. We may modify these TOS from time to time. Your
continued use of the Services following any such modification constitutes your
agreement to the modified changes. It is therefore important that you review
these TOS when the Version number above changes.
I. RESPECT AND
SAFETY
We try to keep the
Service safe, but we cannot guarantee it. We need your help to do that, which
includes complying with these rules, as well as participating in our World Justice
System and internal complaint processes designed to resolve disputes among
individuals about both personal and virtual property issues.
Specifically you
agree:
1. When using
the Service, you will not harm other members. You will not harass, bully, intimidate,
threaten, or stalk any member, or make rude, insulting or defamatory remarks
about any member or do anything else that a person, acting reasonably would
consider harmful. The VWW and the Service are virtual versions of the real
world, including its standards of behavior. You are not allowed to do anything
to another user of the Service that would be illegal if done in the non-virtual
world.
2. You will
not harm the Service or its resources (for example, design tools, hardware or software
that runs the Service, including chat rooms and forums, currency exchange,
public and private spaces). Prohibited activities include but are not limited
to: releasing viruses or other malicious code, disabling or impairing any of
the systems and services, conducting any form of denial of service attack,
phishing or using automated means of access (such as harvesting bots, robots,
spiders, or scrapers), fraudulent activities including but not limited to
defrauding the virtual currency (Rays) system. You will not acquire virtual
currency (Rays) or any other virtual item or use Rays or any other virtual item
acquired illegally whether through account fraud, phishing or by using
Auto-generator scripts. You agree not to promote, distribute information or
redistribute auto-generators to encourage or assist others to acquire Rays or
any other virtual item illegally or in violation of the TOS. Doing anything
that a person, exercising reasonable judgment, would consider inappropriate
constitutes harm to the Service. Where standards of conduct applicable to
specific areas of the VWW or the Service are posted, you must follow those
standards.
3. The
software (client and otherwise) that operates all aspects of the Service is
copyrighted and we can and will pursue either criminal or civil action against
anyone attempting to hack, decompile, disable or distribute unauthorized copies
of that code.
4. You will
not use the Service to send unsolicited bulk email (SPAM) or other
inappropriate messages, such as off-topic message board posts or bulk instant
or private messages.
5. You will
not attempt to sign up for more than five accounts without obtaining permission
from us. Holding multiple accounts may result in restrictions on the maximum
number of Rays that can be earned for certain activities whether daily, by
account, or in the aggregate. If you do have more than one account, you may
not take any steps to hide the relationship between those accounts from us.
6. We have
volunteers and staff participants who are authorized by us to moderate
activities in Virtual World environments and they may take appropriate action
when they see TOS violations. They operate under Volunteer Terms of
Service. The Volunteers and Staff will investigate violations of these TOS.
Filing false complaints shall be immediate grounds for termination of service.
II. MEMBER PRIVACY
Your privacy is very
important to us. Our Privacy
Policy sets out how you can use the
Service to interact with others. It also describes how we collect and use your
personal information. We encourage you to read the Privacy Policy, and to use
it to help you conduct yourself accordingly.
1. Your
profile is accessible by all other users on the Virtual World Web Network. You
can limit the display of your profile information by CHANGING YOUR PRIVACY
SETTING OF YOUR PROFILE here.
2. You should
consider issues of privacy and personal safety before disclosing your own
personal information. It is ABSOLUTELY prohibited to distribute or post any
other member's personal information without their consent. You may not post
photos of any other Member without their express written consent and a proper
copyright license. These restrictions apply to information or photographs
obtained using the Services, and to information or photographs distributed or
promoted using the Services.
3. Each
licensed Virtual World operator (World Master) is required to have and post a
Privacy Policy. If you have any concern about privacy within the Virtual World
worlds, you should direct your concerns to the World Master who manages that
world and only report it to Customer Support if you can't get a resolution. We
are not responsible for violations of any Privacy Policy by other members,
including World Masters.
III. ALL ABOUT
CONTENT AND VIRTUAL PROPERTY
1. We respect
each other's content, intellectual and other property ("Property")
rights. We follow the use and violation standards set out in International
Intellectual Property ("IP") Treaties and Conventions, to the extent
possible, since this is a global platform and people are operating Virtual
Worlds from many legal jurisdictions (countries). While we use the term
"Property" for convenience in discussing virtual items, it is important to note
that virtual items exist only as limited license rights to alter the
performance of certain features provided as part of the Services, and have no
real world value. "Property" as used herein for convenience does not require
that there be any value in the referenced items.
2. You will
at all times treat other people's Property with respect. To be more specific,
Property includes elements that belong to the Service and to other users
including but not limited to: information, data, software, scripts, codes,
animations, textures, props, Avatars, videos, photos, graphics, signs, text and
other creative content made as individual elements, or combined in compilation
forms such as streets, malls and other virtual premises, virtual currency
(Rays) and forum posts.
3. You will
not intentionally bump up (refresh) forum posts to alter viewer data.
4. You will
refrain from stealing (ripping), vandalizing, deleting or doing anything with
or to virtual Property that would be considered illegal or disrespectful to
real world Property.
5. You will
not use Property owned by others without written permission. This includes use
of our Property: our copyrighted materials (including but not limited to
software, code, scripts, designs, textures, props, signs, text, videos,
slogans, avatars, and other similar works) or our Service Marks of our web
properties and or otherwise (or other trade names or Logos we may subsequently
develop), or our Trade Marks (which in some countries may include Avatars); The
use of any confusingly similar marks is also prohibited, without our written
permission.
TO BE CLEAR THIS
MEANS A "WORLD", AN AFFILIATE OR OTHER WEB SITE MAY NOT MISLEAD BY
MIMICKING OR APPEARING TO BE THE VWW SERVICE. However, Affiliates are authorized to use supplied
Affiliate Materials and Worlds may use VWW badges to associate your services
with the network. These limitations are in addition to any other rights we
may hold to our intellectual property, and nothing in these TOS limits our
rights to that intellectual property, including our rights to bring enforcement
actions.
6. We do not
review the content posted by users on the Service and are not responsible for
such content. We are also not liable for any content uploaded or streamed by
our Members. We will enforce these TOS against illegal or offensive content
when reported to us. We specifically embrace the safe harbor provisions
provided under the laws of various nations and other jurisdictions (including,
for example, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act), and nothing in
these Terms of Service shall constitute a waiver of any safe harbor or similar
rights we may have.
7. We are not
responsible for any of the content on third party sites that we link to.
8. Should we
learn of material that is illegal, may be illegal, violates these TOS or is
otherwise unacceptable (all in our sole and absolute discretion), whether as a
result of an inquiry by law enforcement, a content owner, a Member or other
third party, or otherwise, we reserve the right to delete, block access or move
any such Content or to terminate a link. You remain solely responsible for all
Content posted by you.
9. We comply
with and have also taken some best practices from the United States Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and have now implemented two streams for
copyright infringement complaints. Please note that any notice of
infringement may become part of a court record, may be supplied to the
allegedly infringing party so that they may file a counter-notice, may be
obtained from us via subpoena, or may otherwise be made public.
i) IF YOU
ARE A COPYRIGHT OWNER or AUTHORIZED AGENT of the OWNER, FROM THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA:
We require a
"DMCA Compliant" notice from you if you discover that something you
believe you own is being used on the Service without your consent. Your
copyright infringement notification and any counter notification must be
provided in writing and sent to us by fax or regular mail, not by email. These
notices must include ALL THE REQUIRED INFORMATION UNDER THE DMCA. The specific
process is outlined in DMCA
Notices.
Please note that you may
be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) if you materially
misrepresent that any content on the Service is infringing your copyright.
Courts in the United States have provided some protection to certain kinds of
materials under the Fair Use doctrine, so you should consult with an attorney
to make sure the use you are notifying us about is not a fair use of the
materials.
ii) IF YOU ARE A COPYRIGHT
OWNER FROM ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD:
We require a Content
Complaint Notice. Be advised this is a sworn statement from you and is subject
to our good faith reliance on the information you provide.
NOTE: We
require that any copyright complaint include a statement that the use is not an
authorized use. We will not accept content complaints from third parties since
they are unable to determine which uses are authorized. If you are NOT THE
OWNER of the content or their authorized agent, do not file a content
complaint.
Regardless of what a
local country law may allow or require us to do when we receive a content
complaint or a DMCA compliant notice of infringement of copyright, our response
to these notices may include removing or disabling access to material claimed
to be the subject of infringing activity. If we remove or disable access
in response to such a Notice, we will make a good-faith attempt to contact the
owner or administrator of the affected page, site or Virtual World so that they
can make a counter notification. When we receive a counter notification, we may
permit the reinstatement of the material in question. Reposting content
we have removed without permission to do so will result in a termination of
service.
We will also document
notices and will suspend or terminate accounts as follows: For the first
breach by a member, unless deliberate, there will be a suspension of the
infringing member’s account. For the second breach by a member, there will be a
termination of service. Filing a false Notice will be subject to
immediate termination of service, and you may be liable for other penalties
under the laws of your local country, in particular under the DMCA in the
United States, where there are serious penalties for filing a false
Notification (complaint).
Nothing in these TOS
shall waive any rights we have under any statute or regulation to enforce
content rights, or to opt not to enforce them in the jurisdiction where we
operate the Service.
10. You will
only distribute content that belongs to you or does not violate someone else's
rights. If you do not own the content you wish to distribute, you must obtain
and be able to show proof of a license (or specific written permission) to use
content that you choose to distribute (post) in the Service.
11. We do not
have an obligation to protect your content or the content of another owner. You
must inform content owners who give you a license that it is you who is
responsible for anything that might happen to their content, and not us.
12. If you
distribute your own content or the licensed content of others (including
photos, music, or other audio files, videos, logos, personal identities etc)
("Your Content"), in the Service WE DO NOT CLAIM ANY OWNERSHIP IN
YOUR CONTENT but since you are publishing Your Content on our Service you
specifically give us the permission to do so: You grant us a
non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to
publish Your Content including your Avatar concept and design
("License"). This License ends when you delete Your Content, except
as follows: (a) It may take some time for Your Content to be removed from any
cached, preloaded, or compiled copies of software or other material used in the
Services, and the license extends through such time period, and (b) We may have
taken screen or action captures, compiled historical data, video or stills to
enable recreation of in-world events, or created promotional materials, and the
license shall not terminate with respect to such uses. We are not responsible
if you have shared Your Content with others through the Service and we cannot
compel any member to delete Your Content from the systems of other users.
13. We may
remove any content or information you distribute in public spaces or premises
that we have access to, if we believe that it is violating rights (such as
privacy, defamation, harassment or ownership rights or in extremely bad taste).
If we remove content or information you distributed because of a complaint and
you believe we removed it by mistake, you may provide us with a counter
notification as set out in "Reporting Content
Complaints".
IV. ALL ABOUT
ACCOUNTS
We rely on our
members to provide accurate account information. Here are some commitments you
make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your
account:
1. You are
over the age of 18. We will not accept any participants for the Service under
the age of 18. We are entitled to use any age verification method that we deem
acceptable.
2. You will
not provide any false personal information to us, or our billing partners, or
to any of our third party services.
3. You will
not create an account for any member other than yourself without written
permission from us.
4. Each VIP
and Universal VIP account comes with ONE FREE Zaby (personal space) that you
are licensed to use during the time you remain a paid-up Member. You shall not
sub-license your Zaby to other members, or acquire free Zabys from other
members and you shall not operate a commercial enterprise leasing or
sub-licensing such free Zabys.
If you wish to
operate a business involving virtual property contact:business@thevww.com
5. You will
keep your contact information accurate and up-to-date.
6. You will
not share your password; let any other member access your account, or do
anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account and personal
information.
7. You may
not transfer your account to any member and you are responsible for what
happens on your account, including the billing charges and the
conduct/behaviour of user(s).
8. We have
the final say about screen names. In the attempt to be fair, if a name or ID
conflicts with another user, is similarly confusing, impersonates staff or is
otherwise misleading or inappropriate we may ask you to change it and you agree
to do so, on request.
9. If you
violate these TOS, we can stop providing all or part of the Service to you
either temporarily or permanently. We will notify you at the current contact
information you have provided to us, but you will also become aware of any change
in service status the next time you attempt to access your account.
10. When your
Member Account is terminated (by us) or remains dormant (no longer in use) for
longer than 90 days, we reserve the right to continue to charge a license fee
of 20 Rays per month to keep the account active. After the trader account and
Ray bank accounts are depleted the Member Account may be permanently closed and
the user name may be re-issued to another member upon request. Dormant
accounts, older than six (6) months with less than 20 Rays in their trader
account may be provided with an opportunity to remain active, but if not
reactivated in the time frame offered, these accounts will be closed out
permanently and the screen name will be made available to other members. Section
VI(1) provides additional limitations on inactive accounts.
V. PAYMENTS
1. Basic use
is free. Upgraded (VIP and Universal VIP) services are available upon payment
of Service Fees. We have tried to make it possible for you to pay by several
means depending on the country you reside in, but not all payment methods are
available in every country. Generally we have established payments by: credit
card, SMS, phone service providers, cheques, money orders, wire transfers, and
other online payment solutions.
2. If you
upgrade from Basic to a VIP, Universal VIP or other paid memberships, or use
Rays within the Service, you agree to the Service Payment Terms as set out in
paragraph V (3) below). We utilize the services of a number of third party
payment providers. As it relates to payment policies and procedures their rules
also apply and we retain the right to settle any conflict between the rules.
3. Service
Payment Terms: You are responsible for keeping a current payment method on file
with us. Any amounts you owe us (for example: for a renewal, for increases in
population capacity etc.) may be automatically charged. If you are on a monthly
or other plan with recurring billing, you agree that we may make such charges
to the payment method you have on file with us, unless you provide us with
notice of cancellation at least five business days prior to the recurring
billing and/or renewal date.
4. If we
terminate the Service due to a violation of the TOS you are not entitled to a
refund of any advance payment that you have made to us.
VI. RAYS AND RAY
EXCHANGE
Rays are the virtual
currency ("Rays") that operate in the Service and are governed solely
by this Agreement.
1. We grant
you a limited license right (Limited License) to use this fictional feature in
whatever manner we determine. In our sole discretion, we may charge fees
for your use of Rays, we may give Rays out for free, or we may otherwise
determine how Rays are provided, acquired, used, or lost. We have the
absolute right to determine the maximum number of Rays that can be earned —
whether by activity, day, account or individual. This may result in
restrictions on multiple account holders to an aggregate or per account
maximum. Unless terminated earlier, the Limited License shall automatically
terminate when a member’s account is inactive for 364 consecutive days.
2. We retain
the right, in our absolute unfettered discretion to regulate, modify,
eliminate, manage, or otherwise control Rays as we see fit. We may, at
our option, terminate the Rays system entirely, terminate the Limited License, take
actions that would manipulate their value, or otherwise act entirely in keeping
with the fact that the Rays are a fictionalized, virtual currency without
inherent value and will have no liability to you for doing any of these
things.
3. We may
also provide for the ability to purchase goods or services, virtual or
otherwise, with Rays. However, we are not obligated to do so, and any
offer to sell goods and services shall be a fictionalized part of the Service
and is not enforceable.
4. In our
sole discretion, items purchased with Rays as a gift for another member may be
returned for a refund of the Rays used for their purchase when the recipient
member loses their membership due to a violation of these TOS. However,
we are not obligated to do so, and any such refund shall be done as a courtesy
only.
5. We may
provide for one or more exchanges whereby we facilitate and/or administer
transactions among users for the purchase and sale of the Limited License to
Rays (a "Rays Exchange"). We may regulate the Rays Exchange in any manner we
deem necessary in our sole discretion. Such regulations may include
trading limitations, floors, ceilings and/or any regulatory mechanism or tool
used by any actual or virtual currency, commodity or stock exchange anywhere in
the world. However, we are not required to regulate any such exchange.
6. This
Limited License to the fictional Rays feature does not permit the exchange of
Rays as part of a game of chance. Without limiting the foregoing, Rays are
specifically prohibited from being acquired in exchange for Chips (the term
"Chips" is described below).
7. Sales and
purchases of Rays are actually only the sale and purchase of the Limited
License with no other rights attached.
8. In the
case of suspected fraud, violations of these TOS, violation of laws or
regulation, or to protect the integrity of the Rays Exchange, we may at our
sole discretion, halt, suspend, terminate, reverse or otherwise modify or
cancel any exchange whether prospectively, retroactively, or otherwise.
9. All of the
Service participants may (but are not required to) engage in the purchase of
Rays, whether through the Rays Exchange or otherwise. Only VIP and Universal
VIP Members may sell Rays. VIP and Universal VIP Members' Trader Accounts may
be used to purchase virtual items or additional features of the Services, and,
in our discretion, we may refund this in-world credit as cash. In such a case,
we will either send you a cheque, or use online payment providers, such as
E-passporte or AlertPay. We may require conversion of the balance of any Trader
Accounts into Rays at any time, and we shall have the right to make this
conversion without any action by you.
10. We do not
guarantee that real world money shall be credited to you as a result of use of
the Rays Exchange or any other method of sale, trade, or acquisition of Rays in
any manner facilitated by or involving the Service. To the contrary, Rays are a
limited, personal, revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicenseable license to use
a virtual feature of the Service, and give rise to no right or title in any
features of the Service or to anything of value. Rays may be credited in
the form of an in-World credit that may be used to purchase goods and services
offered by the Service. However, under no circumstances shall we be
obligated to provide in-World credit for Rays. Refunds over certain
amounts and cashing out an amount that is more than you have funded may include
additional identity verification procedures, at our sole discretion, which is
generally to protect the integrity of the Service and/or comply with certain laws.
VII. PLAY GAMING AND
CHIPS:
1. The
Services may offer a virtual form of currency ("Chips") that may be symbolized
or nicknamed using fictional, play amounts of Dollars, Euros, other forms of
currency, Rays, coins, points, or in any other manner as we may determine.
Although nicknamed in this way, such name is strictly to enhance the enjoyment
of the Service, and Chips have no value and shall never be redeemable for cash
or anything of value. Chips are solely a virtual feature of the game. Without
limiting the foregoing, symbols on various virtual machines or games may
indicate some form of currency, such as a dollar sign on a slot machine.
Regardless of what the symbols, artwork, or other indications may state on a
machine or game, they always refer to play money Chips, and not to anything of
value.
2. Chips
shall constitute a limited, personal, revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicenseable
license to use Chips in conjunction with certain features of the Service, such
as play money gaming, You have no right or title in the Chips. All license
rights to any Chips associated with your account shall terminate immediately in
the event that you attempt to obtain anything of value in exchange for Chips.
3. We may
grant a license to some amount of Chips by giving them to you, selling them to
you, exchanging them for Rays, or otherwise. We shall not grant or pay you
anything of value in exchange for Chips, nor are you permitted to sell or trade
Chips with us or with any other party for anything of value. To be clear, while
we may permit you to purchase access to Chips in order to play the games, the
transaction can never happen in reverse. Chips may never be exchanged or
redeemed for any non-virtual item, for "real world" money or goods, or for any
other thing of value. If we sell Chips to you in exchange for Rays or cash, you
shall have no right to a refund. We have the right to discontinue some or all
of the features that utilize Chips at any time. We may, at our discretion,
within the game, allow you to exchange Chips for virtual, digital items within
the Service that have no value. The virtual, digital in-game items available
for redemption using Chips may be changed or eliminated at any time within our
sole discretion. In no event shall you ever be allowed to exchange such
virtual, digital in-game items for anything of value.
4. Except as
expressly permitted, and then only through the mechanisms that we specifically provide
as part of the Service, you are prohibited from transferring Chips to any other
person or entity.
5. Any Chips
obtained as a result of a malfunction, programming error, mistake, use of any
automated program or process, or violation of these TOS are considered void.
If such Chips have already been exchanged for other items, such items shall be void.
Such void Chips or virtual items shall be removed from whatever account they
are associated with. If void Chips were exchanged for time-limited virtual
items (such as time-limited access to an area of the virtual environment), additional
Chips may be removed from your account in place of the void Chips. Intentional
use of void Chips or other void items shall be a violation of the TOS.
6. Chips and
play gaming are for fun only. You do not have any right to keep the Chips you
have and you may not exchange the Chips for anything of value. Because games
need rules, we set out some basic rules in this paragraph. The presence of
rules may not be construed as creating any rights to enforce these rules, since
they govern a game where nothing of value may be won:
a. We
may have progressive jackpot machines. The progressive jackpot may refer to a
fixed jackpot, to a jackpot that varies randomly, to a jackpot that increases
relative to the amount of Chips played since the last win, or determined in
some other manner.
b. A
malfunction, software bug, or exploit voids all play.
c. A
symbol on progressive or other machines that does not appear on the pay out
tables may not be used as a "wildcard" in "any symbol-any symbol-any symbol"
type paylines.
d. When
you change the amount of Chips per coin bet, the number of coins or credits
indicated on the machine may change to reflect the new denomination.
7.
Because Chips have no value, and function only as part of a game, in running
the game, we may take any action we wish at any time with regard to Chips.
VII. USE of the SERVICE
1. Your
right to the Member License can be revoked for a breach of the TOS, or if you
break any other law in the country where we or any of the Virtual World worlds
operate or where the activity occurs.
VIII. LEGAL TERMS
1. WE TRY
TO KEEP THE SERVICE OPERATIONAL, BUG-FREE, AND SAFE, BUT THE SOFTWARE IS STILL
IN BETA, THEREFORE YOU USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. WE ARE PROVIDING THE SERVICE
"AS IS" WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE SAFE
OR SECURE. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS, CONTENT, INFORMATION, OR
DATA OF THIRD PARTIES, AND YOU RELEASE US, OUR DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES,
AND AGENTS FROM ANY CLAIMS AND DAMAGES, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, ARISING OUT OF OR IN
ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH ANY CLAIM YOU HAVE AGAINST ANY SUCH THIRD PARTIES. WE
WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL,
INDIRECT, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TOS
OR USE OF THE SERVICE, EVEN IF YOU ARE RUNNING A BUSINESS, AND EVEN IF WE HAVE
BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY
ARISING OUT OF THESE TOS OR PROVIDING THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER
OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100) OR THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID US IN THE PAST TWELVE
MONTHS. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY
OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION
MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN SUCH CASES, OUR LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO THE
FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW .
2. Each
current version of these TOS constitutes the entire agreement between all of
the participants, and replaces any prior agreements or promises anyone from the
Service may have made to you by any means, although we may choose to
grandfather certain benefits previously made available to you. You are
responsible for staying current with the latest version of these TOS as they
are revised from time to time and posted with the current version number under
the link "Terms of Service" on the access pages to the Service.
3. If we fail
to enforce any portion of these TOS it will not be considered a waiver. Any
temporary waiver or exception we might make of these TOS to an individual shall
be made in writing and will not be a permanent waiver.
4. If any
portion of these TOS is found to be unenforceable, the remaining parts will
remain in full force and effect.
5. For
changes that relate to World Masters, Affiliates, Business Licensees and
Advertisers we will attempt to give you a minimum of seven days notice except
where we are required to make changes immediately for legal reasons, where we
might not be able to provide any notice.
7. We reserve
the right, in our sole discretion, to restrict, suspend or terminate your
access to all or any part of the Service at any time for any reason without
prior notice or liability. We may change, suspend or discontinue all or any
aspect of the Service at any time, including the availability of any feature,
database, or content, without prior notice or liability.
8. We have
the right to report illegal activity to law enforcement. We retain the right to
require a subpoena or other legal process prior to providing any information to
law enforcement. However, should we decide to voluntarily initiate or cooperate
with a law enforcement investigation, you specifically give us the right to
provide any information to law enforcement at any time without requiring a
subpoena or other compulsory legal process. We currently intend to exercise our
rights in conjunction with laws intended for the protection of minors.
Similarly, if we have any reason to believe that you have engaged in any
behavior that is detrimental to any child, we may report such activity to law
enforcement and/or any agency or organization that is engaged in the protection
of children. Our policy is to report child sexual abuse to the
appropriate authorities in the relevant country and we will do so any time we
suspect such abuse may have occurred. By using this service, you expressly
agree that we are permitted to do all of this and give up any right you may
have to prevent such reporting or to be compensated for such reporting or any
consequential damages this might cause you. Law enforcement officers who have
identified a lawful authority to obtain the information may require us to
provide other information for the purpose of investigating an actual, serious
or imminent threat to the stability or integrity of the Internet; a risk to the
life of an individual, or a threat to personal or National Security under
anti-terrorism legislation. We reserve the right to respond to such requests
that comply with legal due process and we are not obliged to inform members of
such requests.
9. You will
resolve any claim, cause of action or dispute ("claim") you have with
us arising out of or relating to these TOS exclusively in an online dispute
resolution forum. The laws of the Province of British Columbia, Canada will
govern these TOS, as well as any claim that might arise between you and us,
without regard to conflict of law provisions. You agree to submit to the
exclusive personal jurisdiction of the courts and tribunals located in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for the purpose of pursuing any claims
against the Service.
Definitions
a. By
"VWW" we mean the Virtual World Web features and services we make
available, including through (i) our websites, and any other branded or
co-branded Virtual World Web service (including sub-domain Worlds licensed to
World Masters and any mobile versions); (ii) our Software Platform; and (iii)
our affiliates, advertisers and any agents we grant various kinds of permission
to offer services.
b. By
"us," "we" and "our" with respect to services we
mean the Virtual World Web Network (with operations in British Columbia,
Canada).
c.
By "Software Platform" we mean a set of APIs and services that enable
applications, such that World Masters, affiliates or advertisers can create
virtual world environments, retrieve data or provide data to us.
d. By
"distribute" we mean uploading information, content, or data using
the Software Platform or otherwise making such material available to us.
e. By
"use" we mean use, copy, publicly perform or display, distribute,
modify, translate, and create derivative works of.
f. By
"application" we mean any application, executable or website that
uses or accesses the Software Platform, as well as anything else that receives
data.
g. By
"VIP Member" and "Universal VIP Member" we mean any person
who has subscribed to the Services through our own or our third party payment
processor partners and who remains current with such payments.
You should also
review the following documents. You agree, as a material term of these TOS, to
comply with the rules and standards set forth in the documents listed below,
except that if these TOS and the documents listed below are in conflict, the
terms of these TOS shall prevail:
Privacy
Policy: The Privacy Policy is designed to help you understand how we
collect and use personal information
World Master Agreement: This section sets out
the policies for those who create Virtual World applications using our APIs.
Advertising and Promotional Guide: This
section outlines the policies that apply to advertisements placed on our
Virtual World environments as well as any promotions offered to members.
Affiliate Agreement: This section outlines the
policies that apply to web sites that link to the Service and Virtual World
environments.
Reporting Content Complaints: This section
outlines the process for copyright owners and other content owners to report
unauthorized uses of owned content.
Reporting DMCA Complaints: This section
outlines the process for copyright owners from the United States to report
copyright infringement.
Volunteer Agreement and Guidelines: This
section outlines the terms and policies upon which Volunteers agree to provide
their services to us.