These TESOL Connect Terms of Use are the terms that apply to your use of TESOL Connect. We hope that these will help ensure the TESOL Connect community is valuable to you and serves as a platform where we can all become better together. The Terms of Use also protect the interests of all of our members, as well as our goodwill and reputation. These terms are so important that we cannot permit you to use TESOL Connect unless you agree to them. By using TESOL Connect, you are agreeing to these terms. All prior representations and understandings, whether written or oral, are excluded.
Every TESOL Connect community user of ours agrees to abide by these Terms of Use and is responsible for any violations. You are not allowed to assist or engage others in a way that would violate these Terms of Use. We will enforce and ensure compliance with these Terms of Use by using methods we consider to be appropriate.
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace any part of these Terms without giving you prior notice. You can find the most recent version here. Your use of the community following any such modification constitutes your agreement to follow and be bound by these Terms of Use as modified. We may offer new features, functionality or services through the Site. Such new features and functionality, if offered, are offered subject to these Terms. You agree to review the Terms of Use on a regular basis and always remain in compliance.
1. Definitions
“Agreement” or “Terms of Use” means these Terms of Use and all materials referred or linked to in here.
“Community Content” means all content, including without limitation, language, data, information, and images, provided through or disclosed by use of TESOL Connect, whether by us, our customers, or other users of TESOL Connect. “Community Content” does not include Your Content.
“TESOL Connect Community” means the online community accessible at tesolconnect.com
"TESOL Connect", "we", "us" or “our” means TESOL Connect and our affiliates.
"You" or "your" means the person or entity using TESOL Connect Community.
"Your Content” means all content, including without limitation, language, data, information, and images, direct messaging, provided through or disclosed by use of the TESOL Connect Community, by you.
2. Your Conduct and Content
Acceptable Use. You will use the TESOL Connect Community for its intended purpose only, and will not use it for solicitation or advertising or job posting purposes, unless we otherwise agree. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy or completeness of your content.
TESOL Connect is meant for public discussion, so you may not disclose or solicit anyone's private information or disclose confidential information. You are responsible for the use by third parties of any personal information disclosed by you to the TESOL Connect Community, whether or not you permitted such use. This means that no private or personal information should be exchanged within the TESOL Connect Community. Upon our consent, certain users may be permitted to include a link as part of their signature information, which another user may click to leave the TESOL Connect Community and obtain or share additional information. If you share your information by following one of these links, then you grant us the right to further share your information with trusted partners so that they may contact you.
You are not permitted to sell, rent, lease, assign, sublicense, distribute, transmit, broadcast, commercially exploit, grant a security interest in, or otherwise transfer any right in the TESOL Connect Community or Community Content. In addition, and without limiting the other requirements in this Community Terms of Use, you may not (directly or indirectly) use the TESOL Connect Community with content, or in a manner that:
• is in violation of this Agreement;
• is confidential, proprietary or discloses Sensitive Information;
• discloses or solicits the private information of any person;
• is threatening, abusive, harassing, stalking, or defamatory;
• is deceptive, false, misleading or fraudulent;
• is invasive of another's privacy or otherwise violates another’s legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity);
• contains hate speech, sexual, violent, vulgar, obscene, indecent or unlawful material or language;
• uses a false email address, impersonates others, misrepresents your affiliation with others or misrepresents yourself;
• infringes a third party's intellectual property right(s);
• publishes, posts, uploads, or otherwise distributes any software, music, videos, or other material protected by intellectual property laws (or by rights of privacy or publicity) unless you have all necessary rights and consents to do so;
• uploads files that contain viruses, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another person's computer;
• downloads any file that you know, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally distributed in that way;
• falsifies or deletes any author attributions, legal or proprietary designations, labels of the origin or source of software, or other material contained in a file that is uploaded;
• restricts or inhibits any other user of the TESOL Connect Community from using and enjoying our website and/or the TESOL Connect service and/or product;
• harvests or otherwise collects information about others, including e-mail addresses, without their consent;
• damages, disables, overburdens, or impairs the TESOL Connect website or interferes with any other party's use and enjoyment of the TESOL Connect Community;
• mirrors or frames the TESOL Connect Community website, or any part of it, on any other website or webpage;
• attempts to gain unauthorized access to TESOL Connect, or access TESOL Connect by any means other than through the interface that we provide to you;
• violates the usage standards or rules of an entity affected by your use, including without limitation, any ISP, ESP, or news or user group (and including, by way of example, and not limitation, circumventing or exceeding equipment use rights and restrictions and/or location and path identification detail);
• is legally actionable between private parties; and/or
• is in violation of any applicable law or regulation.
Suspension and Notice of Violations. We may immediately suspend or restrict your use of the TESOL Connect Community, without notice or refund, for actual or suspected violations of the terms contained in this Section 2 (Your Conduct and Content). If you know of usage that is in violation of this Agreement, please let us know by contacting us at [email protected], and following the process for claims of copyright infringement described below.
Claims of Copyright Infringement. We respect the intellectual property rights of others, and we ask our users to do the same. We may, in its sole discretion, suspend the access or terminate the accounts of users who violate others' intellectual property rights with no refund.
Our Use of Your Content. You grant to us all rights, licenses and permissions necessary to display, reproduce, disseminate, and otherwise use Your Content in connection with the TESOL Connect Community. We may edit or remove Your Content, or block or disable replies on a topic, at any time in our sole discretion. You also grant us the rights to re-use Your Content to market and promote TESOL Connect, such as on our website, emails, in public or private presentations, press releases and interviews, or in connection with our sales and marketing and other publicity efforts. We will endeavour to work with you before re-using Your Content.
Site Access. There is no charge for you to access or view the content on the public TESOL Connect page. You may consent to receive electronic communications from us by providing us with your email address. You agree that any notices, agreements, disclosures or other communications that we send to you electronically will satisfy any legal communication requirements, including, but not limited to, that such communications be in writing. You should maintain copies of electronic communications from us by printing a paper copy or saving an electronic copy. We may also send you promotional communications via email, including, but not limited to, newsletters, special offers, surveys and other news and information we think will be of interest to you. You may opt-out of receiving our emails at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in the email.
Surveys. From time to time, we may ask you to complete a survey relating to your use of the community. Any survey sent to you is voluntary and is not required to be completed by you in order to continue using the community. However, we do encourage you to complete each survey as it helps us to be more informed about the provision of the services and products to you. If you complete a survey then we reserve the right to display any information provided to us from your survey. We may display this information (in whole or in part), on our Site, related Sites or promotional materials. Any information published by us may be used for the purposes of marketing, promotion or improvement of our services. We reserve the right to adjust, refuse or remove information contained in your survey at our sole discretion. You grant to us a perpetual and irrevocable licence to use, host and publish the information provided to us in your survey. The information in your survey must not contain content that is fraudulent, abusive, illegal, obscene, indecent, defamatory, incites racial or ethnic hatred, violates the rights of others or is in any other way objectionable.
3. Intellectual Property
All right, title, and interest in and to the intellectual property subsisting in the community remains with us and/or our licensors. No right or licence to reproduce or otherwise use such intellectual property is granted to you by these Terms. All specialty software, applications, and services, and products offered or may be offered by us are maintained by us based on your agreement with us. You may not claim ownership of any products or services created and owned by us and hosted within the community or Services; such are the sole property of us including all intellectual property associated with such products or services. You authorise us to use, store, reproduce and manipulate your data stored within the community and Related Sites in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
4. Third-Party Sites and Products
Third-Party Sites and Products are provided to you only as a convenience, and the availability of any Third-Party Site or Product does not mean we control, endorse, support, adopt or warranty the Third-Party Site or Product and we make no representations of any kind regarding such Third-Party Content, including, without limitation, regarding its accuracy or completeness. You acknowledge and agree that your interactions with third parties providing Third-Party Content are solely between you and such third parties, and that we are not responsible or liable in any manner for such interactions or Third-Party Content.
5. Termination
Termination and Suspension. We may terminate this Agreement and/or suspend your access to the TESOL Connect Community immediately with no refund if you: (i) violate any of the terms of this Agreement, (ii) use TESOL Connect in a way which has or may negatively reflect on or affect us, our prospects, or our customers, or (iii) if we determine it to be necessary or desirable in our sole discretion. We are not obligated to provide you with any of Your Content used in connection with the TESOL Connect Community after termination.
6. Your Representations and Warranties
You represent and warrant that: (i) your participation in the TESOL Connect Community will not conflict with any of your existing agreements or arrangements, (ii) you have sufficient rights to share all Your Content with us for our use and with other users of the TESOL Connect Community, and that you are not violating any confidentiality obligations by submitting Your Content to the TESOL Connect Community, and (iii) that Your Content does not violate or constitute the infringement of any intellectual property right, right of privacy, right of publicity or other proprietary right.
7. Indemnification
You will indemnify, defend and hold us harmless, at your expense, against any third-party claim, suit, action, or proceeding (each, an "Action") brought against us (and our officers, directors, employees, agents, service providers, licensors, and affiliates) by a third party to the extent that such Action is based upon or arises out of (a) your use of the TESOL Connect Community, (b) your disclosure or solicitation of personal information, (c) any use of personal information that you disclosed, whether this use is by you or a third party, (d) your noncompliance with or breach of this Agreement, or (e) your use of Third-Party Products or Third-Party Sites. We will: notify you in writing within thirty (30) days of our becoming aware of any such claim; give you sole control of the defence or settlement of such a claim; and provide you (at your expense) with any and all information and assistance reasonably requested by you to handle the defence or settlement of the claim. You shall not accept any settlement that (i) imposes an obligation on us; (ii) requires us to make an admission; or (iii) imposes liability not covered by these indemnifications or places restrictions on us without our prior written consent.
8. Site Availability
We cannot guarantee 100% server uptime. Servers and systems must be brought down (offline) at times for routine maintenance and upgrades to ensure that the community will run and perform optimally. However, we strive to keep such interruptions to a minimum, and, if possible, to give you advanced notice of scheduled maintenance routines; as well as perform such activities as outside of normal operating business hours as possible. You may not be able to use the tesolconnect.com due to traffic conditions on the internet, problems occurring at our upstream providers’ facilities, or due to hardware or software component failure. These conditions are entirely out of our control; however, we will endeavour to restore access to the Site in a timely manner.
9. Disclaimers; Limitations of Liability
We are only responsible for providing the community in accordance with these Terms. Information provided on the community is for general purposes only and not as specific advice to any particular person. Any advice contained on the community or provided by representatives of us is general advice and does not take into account your particular objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information obtained from your use of our community, you should seek assistance from your legal and financial advisers as to whether it is appropriate to your particular needs, objectives and financial circumstances. We and its officers, employees and agents disclaim all liability, for any costs, damages, error, inaccuracy in, or omission from any information discussed with or provided to any person or any loss or damage suffered by any person directly or indirectly through relying on any discussions, whether through the community, Related Sites or otherwise. The community is provided on an ‘as-is’ or ‘as-available’ basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. We disclaim all other warranties, express or implied, including, without limitation, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement as to the community. You will exercise and rely solely on your own skill and judgment in your use of this community and use and interpretation of the Information. You are responsible to ensure that your use of the community and the Information complies with all applicable legal requirements. The limitation of liability contained in these Terms of Use will apply to the fullest extent permitted by applicable laws.
10. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
These Terms of Use shall be governed by the law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Hong Kong Court.
