Website Terms of Use and Payment Policy

Last updated: March 11 2021

This is a binding agreement

1. These terms of use (the “terms of use”) govern your use of all of the webpages posted at this domain, being ratcreek.org (the “website”), including any product or service offered by Rat Creek Press (the “Publisher”) arising from the use of the website. If you are paying a fee for any services arising from the website, you may also be bound by an additional subscription agreement of similar sort of arrangement (the “subscription agreement”).
2. By accessing the website, you are agreeing to accept the terms of use and this forms a binding contract between you and the Publisher. If you do not accept the terms of use, any applicable subscription agreement and the Publisher’s Privacy Policy,  then please do not access the website.
3. You specifically acknowledge that Publisher is providing you with access to the website in reliance on the terms of use as well as any applicable subscription agreement and the Publisher’s privacy policy.

Accessing the website

4. You acknowledge that there are risks with accessing any website and that accessing the website is no different. You acknowledge that it is your sole responsibility to protect yourself against computer viruses, malware, spyware and any other risk inherent in accessing information online. Moreover, you agree that it is also your sole responsibility to back-up your data in the event that these sorts of risks manifest themselves.
5. You also acknowledge that the Publisher is not responsible for any charges that you incur for accessing the website, including (but not limited to) data plan charges from providers of telecommunication services.

Creating an account

6. You may create an account to facilitate your use of the website by being prompted to do so by the website or by visiting https://ratcreek.org. By creating such an account, you are agreeing to the collection and use of your personal information by the Publisher for this purpose.
7. When creating this account, you are representing to the Publisher that all of the information provided in the registration process is accurate and that you will keep it up-to-date. You will not pretend to be someone else or engage in other deceptive tactics such as spoofing the identity of others.
8. In the course of creating your account, you will be required to select a password. You agree and acknowledge that this password is to be held in strict confidence and not shared with anyone else.
9. You agree that the Publisher is entitled to terminate or suspend your account without any notice to you at any time. Such action may be taken where the Publisher, in its sole discretion, determines that your user information is incorrect or not up-to-date or if you are in breach of any terms of this agreement, the privacy policy or any applicable subscription agreement. However, you also agree that Publisher can terminate or suspend your account for any other reason – in its sole discretion.

Copyright and trademarks

10. You agree that all of the literary, musical, dramatic and artistic works, including but not limited to computer programs, software, databases, text, information, data, code, sounds, sound effects, sound recordings, audio, musical compositions, performances, video, cinematographic works, photographs, pictures, illustrations and graphics associated with the website are the exclusive property of the Publisher (or licensed by the Publisher from a third party) – all of which are protected by intellectual property laws in Canada and elsewhere.
11. Similarly you agree that all trademarks (including, but not limited to trade names, logos, word and design marks) are the property of the Publisher (or licenced to the Publisher from a third party). The use of any of these trademarks without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited.

User generated content

12. As a user of the website, you may have the opportunity to submit text, photographs, video, sound recordings, comments or other contributions to the website (the “User Generated Content”).
13. If you choose to provide the Publisher with User Generated Content, you are warranting that you are the sole copyright owner of the User Generated Content and that you have the right to grant the Publisher all intellectual property rights required to include the User Generated Content on the website.
14. Moreover, by providing the User Generated Content, you also grant Publisher a perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable worldwide, non-exclusive licence (but not obligation) to use the User Generated Content in any material form, in any media on any platform, including blogs, Twitter feeds, Facebook posts now and in the future and for all purposes (including advertising and promotions) and to unilaterally sublicense such User Generated Content to any licensee of the Publisher.
15. By providing the User Generated Content, you are also waiving all moral rights in the content in favour of Publisher and acknowledge that Publisher may edit, remove, modify or alter the User Generated Content in its sole discretion and without attribution to you.
16. In addition, you hereby grant the Publisher an irrevocable right to use your name, user name, persona, image, likeness and photograph that you provide in connection with any User Generated Content, without any obligation or remuneration to you.

Your authorized use of the website

17. You are permitted to use the website only for your personal, private and non-commercial use.
18. You may not modify, sell, resell, make derivative works, create a database, create a media monitoring service, aggregate, deep link, republish, retransmit, distribute, transfer, communicate or broadcast the website by caching, scraping, harvesting, framing or otherwise without the prior written consent of the Publisher.
19. You agree that:
    • you will not use the website in an unlawful manner;
    • the Publisher may reveal your identity and any of your user information in its possession to any law enforcement authority in the event of a violation or suspected violation arising from your use of the website;
    • you will not use the website to engage in conduct that is defamatory, libellous, offensive, abusive, stalking, threatening, demeaning, obscene, promotes hatred, bigotry, discrimination, is pornographic, indecent, unlawful, profane, harmful to minors, false, misleading, would constitute spam, promotes, advocates or otherwise encourages illegal activities or give rise to civil liability;
    • you will not infringe the intellectual property rights of the Publisher or third parties, including copyrights, trademarks, privacy rights;
    • you will not introduce any software to the website that is designed to compromise the functionality of it, including Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, computer viruses, code or corrupted files;
    • you will not access any aspect of the website or its underlying architecture that you are not explicitly authorized to access; and
    • you will not impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the infrastructure of the website.

Disclaimers/Limitations of liability

20. The content of the website is not necessarily reflective of the views of the Publisher, including the publisher, staff, contributors or advertisers.
21. You agree that Publisher and its licensors are not liable to you, either directly or indirectly, for your reliance on any of the content of the website.
22. f you download any material from the website, you acknowledge that the Publisher makes no warranties regarding the downloaded material and will not be responsible for any loss or damage arising from the download either directly or indirectly.
23. You expressly agree that in no event shall the publisher be responsible to you or anyone else for any claim, loss or damage whatsoever, including without limitation any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, special, punitive or consequential damages or any damages for loss of profits, goodwill, business interruption, loss of information or data or other intangible losses arising from or in any way connected with the website.
24. In any event, and notwithstanding the foregoing, in no event shall the Publisher’s aggregate liability to you exceed CAD$20.

Indemnity

25. You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Publisher and each of its respective officers, directors, affiliates, business partners, employees, agents licensors from any and all claims, actions, losses demands related to your breach of these terms of use; your access and use of the website; your reliance on the website; your publication, communication, distribution, or transmission of the website; or your violation of any law of legal right of a third party. The Publisher reserves the right to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you.

Jurisdiction

26. Your use of the website shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Canada and of the Province of Alberta. Any dispute arising with respect to this agreement including, but not limited to, non-payment of our account(s), shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of the Province of Alberta, situated in the City of Edmonton.

General

27. These terms and conditions supersede any prior agreements between you and the Publisher in respect of the applicable subject matter and constitute the entire agreement between you and the Publisher. 
28. You may not assign or otherwise subcontract your rights or obligations to anyone.
29. If any part(s) of these terms of use are determined to be void, invalid or otherwise unenforceable by a court, such determination shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.

Payment Policy – Processing through Stripe, INC.

30. To the extent that you make any payments arising from or relating to the website, you acknowledge that such payments are made by you to a third party, namely through Stripe, Inc. (“Stripe”) (see www.stripe.com). 
31. In making such payment, you irrevocably agree that you are contracting solely with Stripe and you acknowledge that any issues that may arise relating to the processing of such payment are strictly between you and Stripe and, explicitly, that these issues are in no way related to the Publisher and that the Publisher does not form any part of the agreement for payment processing.
32. To the extent that Stripe receives any such payment, the processing of same is a contract solely between you and Stripe and governed by the terms of use of Stripe as they relate to the payment processing that is undertaken by Stripe.
33. You acknowledge and accept that Publisher receives no information from Stripe with respect to your credit card details.
34. Without limiting the generality of these terms of use, you specifically acknowledge that the disclaimers, limitations of liability and indemnity provided in these terms of service apply to your payment of any amounts relating to the use of the website.