BibleGateway.com - Terms

BibleGateway.com Terms of Use Agreement

Effective September 9, 2010

Description of Company Services and Acceptance of Terms of Use

Welcome to the Web site www.biblegateway.com (the "Site"), which is operated by The Zondervan Corporation, L.L.C. ("Company" or "we). The services Company provides on www.biblegateway.com include Bible content and related reference material, mobile services, and any other features, content, or applications offered from time to time by Company in connection with the Site (collectively, the "Company Services"). Company is based in the United States and the Company Services are hosted in the United States. Company is a part of the United States based operations of News Corporation.

Company furnishes the Site and the Company Services for your personal enjoyment and entertainment. By visiting the Site (whether or not you are a registered member) or using the Company Services, you accept and agree to be bound by this Agreement, including any future modifications ("Agreement"), and to abide by all applicable laws, rules and regulations ("Applicable Law"). Please read through this Agreement carefully. Company may modify this Agreement at any time, and each such modification will be effective upon posting on the Site. All material modifications will apply prospectively only. Your continued use of the Site or the Company Services following any such modification constitutes your acceptance and agreement to be bound by the Agreement as so modified. It is therefore important that you review this Agreement regularly. If you do not agree to be bound by this Agreement and to abide by all Applicable Law, you must discontinue use of the Company Services immediately. You may receive a copy of this Agreement by emailing us at: dmca@biblegateway.com ; Subject: Terms of Use Agreement. Your access to and use of certain Company Services may require you to accept additional terms and conditions applicable to such Company Services, in addition to this Agreement, and may require you to download Software or Content (each as defined below).

Purchasing Services or Products

If you purchase any service or product on the Site, ("Site Product"), you may be required to provide personal information, including credit card and billing information ("Personal Financial Information"), to an independent third party company (or companies) selected by, but not affiliated with, Company (the "Processor"). Where the Processor is responsible for collecting, transmitting and/or processing your Personal Financial Information and, in some instances, for fulfilling your order, all payment obligations for Site Products shall be governed by the terms of use/service and privacy policy(ies) of the Processor. If you make a purchase from the Site you are warranting that you are authorized to make the purchase using the form of payment card that you provide to the Processor. You must be 18 years of age or older to purchase a Site Product.

Company makes no warranty, and accepts no liability for any loss or damages whatsoever, relating to or in connection with your placement of an order for a Site Product with the Processor. Company provides no refunds for purchases you make on the Site. You are solely responsible for any and all transactions utilizing your Personal Financial Information, including, but not limited to, any and all charges. You acknowledge and agree that in the event Processor experiences a data breach that affects your Personal Financial Information, Company will in no way be responsible or liable to you for any such breach.

The Company will not store any record of Personal Financial Information related to purchases or other transactions you make through the Company Services. You should therefore maintain records of all your transactions. If you have any questions regarding your transactions or believe that there is an error or unauthorized transaction or activity associated with transactions utilizing your Personal Financial Information, you must contact the Processor.

Company Content

The Company Services contain information, text, files, images, images, video, sounds, audio works, works of authorship, applications, and any other materials or content (collectively, "Content") of Company ("Company Content"). Company Content is protected by copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret and other laws, and as between you and Company, Company owns and retains all rights in the Company Content and the Company Services. Company hereby grants you a limited, revocable, nonsublicensable license to access and display the Company Content (excluding any software code), which is intended for your personal, non-commercial use in connection with viewing the Company Site and using the Company Services. The Company Services may also contain Content of users and other Company licensors. Except as provided in this Agreement or as explicitly allowed on the Company Services, you may not copy, download, stream capture, reproduce, duplicate, archive, upload, modify, translate, publish, broadcast, transmit, retransmit, distribute, perform, display, sell or otherwise use any Content appearing on or through the Company Services.

Material from the Site may be quoted in any form (written, visual, electronic or audio), up to and inclusive of two hundred fifty (250) verses or five hundred (500) words of non-biblical text without express written permission of the Zondervan, providing the verses do not amount to a complete book of the Bible nor do the verses quoted account for twenty-five (25) percent or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted.

When the text is quoted in accordance with the requirements above, notice of copyright must appear on the title or copyright page or opening screen of the work.

When quotations from the Site are used for non-commercial purposes, such as church bulletins, research projects, or similar uses, a complete copyright notice is not required, but at minimum the initials for the translation quoted (i.e. NIV®) must appear at the end of each quotation.

Except as explicitly and expressly permitted by the Company, you are strictly prohibited from creating works or materials (including but not limited to fonts, icons, link buttons, wallpaper, desktop themes, on-line postcards, montages, mash-ups and similar videos, greeting cards and unlicensed merchandise) that derive from or are based on the design elements, branding, and trade dress of the Company Content. This prohibition applies regardless of whether the derivative works or materials are sold, bartered or given away. You may not either directly or through the use of any device, software, internet site, web-based service or other means remove, alter, bypass, avoid, interfere with, or circumvent any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices marked on the Content or any digital rights management mechanism, device, or other content protection or access control measure associated with the Content including geo-filtering mechanisms.

Your Use of Company Services

The Company Services are offered for your personal use only and may not be used for commercial purposes, unless specifically endorsed or authorized by Company. Company reserves the right to remove commercial content in its sole discretion. You understand that you are responsible for all Content that you post, upload, transmit, email or otherwise make available on, through or in connection with the Company Services (collectively, "User Content"). Accordingly, please choose carefully the information that you post on, through or in connection with the Company Services. You understand that Company does not control the User Content posted by users via the Company Services and, as such, you understand you may be exposed to offensive, indecent, inaccurate or otherwise objectionable Content. Company assumes no responsibility or liability for this type of Content. If you become aware of misuse of the Company Services, please report this immediately to the Company at info@biblegateway.com. The Company assumes no responsibility for monitoring the Company Services for inappropriate Content or conduct. If at any time, the Company chooses in its sole discretion to monitor the Company Services, the Company nonetheless assumes no responsibility for Content other than Company Content, assumes no obligation to modify or remove any inappropriate Content, and no responsibility for the conduct of any user.

You agree not to use the Company Services to:

  • Post, upload or otherwise transmit or link to Content that is: unlawful; threatening; harmful; abusive; pornographic or includes nudity; offensive; harassing; excessively violent; tortuous; defamatory; invasive of another's privacy, publicity, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, contract or other rights; false or misleading; obscene; vulgar; libelous; hateful; or discriminatory;
  • Violate the rights of others including patent, trademark, trademark, trade secret, copyright, privacy, publicity or other proprietary rights;
  • Harass or harm another person;
  • Exploit or endanger a minor;
  • Impersonate or attempt to impersonate any person or entity;
  • Introduce or engage in activity that involves the use of viruses, bots, worms, or any other computer code, files or programs that interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment, or otherwise permit the unauthorized use of or access to a computer or a computer network;
  • Interfere with, damage, disable, disrupt, impair, create an undue burden on, or gain unauthorized access to the Company Services, including Company's servers, networks or accounts;
  • Cover, remove, disable, block or obscure advertisements or other portions of the Company Services;
  • Use technology or any automated system such as scripts or bots in order to collect usernames, passwords, email addresses or other data from the Company Services, or to circumvent or modify any security technology or software that is part of the Company Services;
  • Send or cause to send (directly or indirectly) unsolicited bulk messages or other unsolicited bulk communications of any kind through the Company Services. If you do so, you acknowledge you will have caused substantial harm to Company, but that the amount of harm would be extremely difficult to measure. As a reasonable estimation of such harm, you agree to pay Company $50 for each actual or intended recipient of such communication;
  • Solicit, collect or request any personal information for commercial or unlawful purposes;
  • Post, upload or otherwise transmit an image or video of another person without that person's consent;
  • Engage in commercial activity (including but not limited to sales, contests, or sweepstakes) without Company's prior written consent;
  • Use the Company Services to advertise or promote competing services;
  • Use the Company Services in a manner inconsistent with any and all Applicable Law;
  • Attempt, facilitate or encourage others to do any of the foregoing.

Company reserves the right, but disclaims any obligation or responsibility, to remove User Content that violates this Agreement, as determined by Company in its sole discretion. You acknowledge the Company reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in Company's sole discretion, violates this Agreement, including but not limited to, terminating their user account and/or reporting such User Content, conduct, or activity to law enforcement authorities.

You acknowledge, consent and agree that Company may access, preserve or disclose information you provide to the Site, including User Content, when Company has a good faith belief that such access, preservation or disclosure is necessary in order to: (i) protect or defend the legal rights or property of Company, our parents, subsidiaries or affiliates ("Affiliated Companies"), or their employees, agents and contractors (including enforcement of our agreements); (ii) protect the safety and security of Users of the Company Services or members of the public including acting in urgent circumstances; (iii) protect against fraud or for risk management purposes; or (iv) comply with the law or legal process.

Message Boards and Public Forums

The Site may offer users the ability to post public messages on message boards and forums ("Forum"), which may be open to the public generally, to all members of The Site, or to a select group of members to a specific Forum group. You acknowledge that messages posted on such Forums are public, and Company cannot guarantee the security of any information you disclose through any Forum; you make such disclosures at your own risk. Company is not responsible for the content or accuracy of any information posted on a Forum, and shall not be responsible for any decisions made based on such information. Company reserves the right, but disclaims any obligation or responsibility, to prevent you from posting User Content to any Forum and to restrict or remove your User Content from a Forum for any reason at any time.

Your Proprietary Rights

Company does not claim any ownership rights in the User Content that you post, upload, email transmit, or otherwise make available on, through or in connection with the Company Services; provided, however, that User Content shall not include any Content posted by a user that is already owned by Company or any Affiliated Company. By posting any User Content on, through or in connection with the Company Services, you hereby grant to Company and our Affiliated Companies, licensees and authorized users, a perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable (in whole or in part), worldwide license to use, modify, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and compilations based upon, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such User Content on, through or in connection with the Company Services or in connection with any distribution or syndication thereof to Third Party Services (as defined below), on and through all media formats now known or hereafter devised, for any and all purposes including, but not limited to, promotional, marketing, trade or commercial purposes. Company's use of such User Content shall not require any further notice to you and such use shall be without the requirement of any permission from or payment to you or to any other person or entity. Company reserves the right to limit the storage capacity of User Content that you post on, through or in connection with the Company Services.

You represent and warrant that: (i) you own the User Content posted by you on, through or in connection with the Company Services, or otherwise have the right to grant the license set forth in this Section, and (ii) the posting of User Content by you on, through or in connection with the Company Services and Third Party Services does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights or any other rights of any person or entity. You agree to pay for all royalties, fees, and any other monies owing any person or entity by reason of the use of any User Content posted by you on or through the Company Services or Third Party Services.

Copyrights and Other Intellectual Property

Company respects the intellectual property of others, and requires that our users do the same. You may not upload, embed, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any material that infringes any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights of any person or entity. Company has a policy of terminating repeat infringers' access to the Company Services in appropriate circumstances.

If you believe that any material residing on or linked to from the Site infringes your copyright, please send Company a notification of claimed infringement with all of the following information: (a) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works; (b) identification of the claimed infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material on the Company Services (such as the URL(s) of the claimed infringing material); (c) information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an email address; (d) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; (e) a statement by you that the above information in your notification is accurate and a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed or are authorized to act on the owner's behalf; and (f) your physical or electronic signature.

ZONDERVAN will process notices of alleged infringement which it receives and will take appropriate actions as required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA") and other applicable intellectual property laws. Pursuant to the DMCA, notifications of claimed copyright infringement should be sent to ZONDERVAN's Designated Agent.

Service Provider(s): The Zondervan Corporation

Name/Contact Information of Designated Agent:
Kyran Cassidy, Esq.
Associate General Counsel
HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street
New York, New York 10022
Telephone: (212) 207-7969 Note: This contact information is not for customer support. To report a problem or request assistance with BibleGateway.com, Bible Gateway Plus, or other Bible Gateway services, please contact our customer support team by clicking here.
Fax: (212) 207-7552
E-mail: dmca@biblegateway.com

Third Party Links and Services

The Company Services may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other websites, applications, resources or other services created by third parties ("Third Party Services"). When you engage with a Third Party Service, you are interacting with the third party, not with Company. If you choose to use a Third Party Service and share information with it, the Third Party Services may use and share your data in accordance with the Third Party Service's privacy policy and your privacy settings on such Third Party Service. In addition, the third party providing the Third Party Service may use other parties to provide portions of the application or service to you, such as technology, development or payment services. Company is not responsible for and makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the Third Party Services or the providers of such Third Party Services (including, but not limited to, the accuracy or completeness of the information provided by such Third Party Service or the privacy practices thereof). Inclusion of any Third Party Service or a link thereto on the Company Services does not imply approval or endorsement of the Third Party Service. Company is not responsible for the content or practices of any websites other than the Site, even if the website links to the Site and even if it is operated by an Affiliated Company or a company otherwise connected with the Site. By using the Company Services, you acknowledge and agree that Company is not responsible or liable to you for any content or other materials hosted and served from any website other than the Site. When you access Third Party Services, you do so at your own risk. Company encourages you not to provide any personally identifiable information to any Third Party Service unless you know and are comfortable with the party with whom you are interacting.

Disputes
You are solely responsible for your interactions with other Company users, providers of Third Party Services or any other parties with whom you interact on, through or in connection with the Company Services. Company reserves the right, but has no obligation, to become involved in any way with these disputes.

Privacy
Use of the Company Services is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into this Agreement by this reference.

Disclaimers
The Company Services are provided "AS-IS" and "as available" and Company does not guarantee or promise any specific results from use of the Company Services. Company expressly disclaims any warranties and conditions of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. In particular, Company makes no warranty that your use of the Company Services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free or that any information obtained by you on, through or in connection with the Company Services or Third Party Services (including but not limited to, through User Content or third party advertisements) will be accurate or reliable. Under no circumstances will Company be responsible for any loss or damage, including but not limited to, property damage, personal injury or death, resulting from use of the Company Services, problems or technical malfunction in connection with use of the Company Services, attendance at a Company event, any material downloaded or otherwise obtained in connection with the Company Services, any User Content, third party advertisement or Third Party Service posted on, through or in connection with the Company Services, or the conduct of any users of the Company Services, whether online or offline. Your use of User Content, third party advertisements, Third Party Services and the goods or services provided by any third parties is solely your responsibility and at your own risk. User Content, third party advertisements and Third Party Services do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Company.

Limitation on Liability
IN NO EVENT WILL COMPANY BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST PROFIT DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE COMPANY SERVICES, EVEN IF COMPANY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN, COMPANY'S LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE ACTION, WILL AT ALL TIMES BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID, IF ANY, BY YOU TO COMPANY FOR THE COMPANY SERVICES DURING THE TERM OF YOUR USE OF THE COMPANY SERVICES.

U.S. Export Controls
Software available in connection with the Company Services (the "Software") is further subject to United States export controls. No Software may be downloaded from the Company Services or otherwise exported or re-exported in violation of U.S. export laws. Downloading or using the Software is at your sole risk.

Disputes
The Agreement will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You and Company agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in New York, New York to resolve any dispute arising out of the Agreement or the Company Services. YOU HEREBY KNOWINGLY, VOLUNTARILY AND INTENTIONALLY WAIVE ANY RIGHT YOU MAY HAVE TO A TRIAL BY JURY IN RESPECT OF ANY LITIGATION (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY CLAIMS, COUNTERCLAIMS, CROSS-CLAIMS, OR THIRD PARTY CLAIMS) ARISING OUT OF, UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT.

Indemnity
You agree to indemnify and hold Company, its Affiliated Companies, subcontractors and other partners, and their respective officers, agents, partners and employees, harmless from any loss, liability, claim, or demand, including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your use of the Site or the Company Services, your breach of this Agreement, your violation of any rights of another or any Content that you post or otherwise submit on, through or in connection with the Company Services.

Unsolicited Submissions

Company does not knowingly accept, via the Company Services or otherwise, unsolicited submissions including, without limitation, submissions of blog ideas, articles, scripts, story lines, fan fiction, characters, drawings, information, suggestions, proposals, ideas or concepts. Company's policy is to simply delete any such submission without reading it or forwarding it to other Company staff or staff of its Affiliated Companies. Therefore, any similarity between an unsolicited submission and any elements in any Company or Affiliated Company creative work including, without limitation, a film, series, story, title or concept would be purely coincidental. If unsolicited submissions are sent to Company via the Company Services (including but not limited to any public forum), however, such submissions and copyright become the property of Company and may be used, copied, sublicensed, adapted, transmitted, distributed, publicly performed, published, displayed or deleted as Company sees fit. You agree that you are not entitled to any compensation, credit or notice whatsoever and that by sending an unsolicited submission you waive the right to make any claim against Company or Affiliated Company relating to unsolicited submissions, including, without limitation, unfair competition, breach of implied contract or breach of confidentiality.

Other
The failure of Company to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement will not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. The Section titles in this Agreement are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. Company is a trademark of Company, Inc. This Agreement operates to the fullest extent permissible by law. If any provision of this Agreement is unlawful, void or unenforceable, that provision is deemed severable from this Agreement and does not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Please contact us at: info@biblegateway.com with any questions regarding this Agreement.

I HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT AND AGREE TO ALL OF THE PROVISIONS CONTAINED ABOVE.

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