HDS.IE - TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT
August 1st, 2008
HDS.IE is a website for HDS Partnership, an established Practice of professional
advisors with offices at RiverPoint, Limerick, Ireland. The services offered by
HDS.IE ("HDS.IE " or "we") include the HDS.IE website, and any other features, content,
applications and spin-off websites offered by HDS.IE in connection with the HDS.IE
Website (collectively, the "HDS.IE Services"). The HDS.IE Services are hosted in
Ireland.
This Terms of Use Agreement ("Agreement") sets forth the legally binding terms for
your use of the HDS.IE Services. By using the HDS.IE Services, you agree to be bound
by this Agreement, whether you are a "Visitor" (which means that you simply browse
the HDS.IE Website) or you are a "Member" (which means that you have registered
with HDS.IE ) or you are a "Subscriber" (which means that you are a registered and
paying member). The term "User" refers to a Visitor, Member, or a Subscriber. You
are only authorized to use the HDS.IE Services (regardless of whether your access
or use is intended) if you agree to abide by all applicable laws and to this Agreement.
Please read this Agreement carefully and save it. If you do not agree with it, you
should leave the HDS.IE Website and discontinue use of the HDS.IE Services immediately.
If you wish to become a Member, communicate with other Members and make use of the
HDS.IE Services, you must read this Agreement and indicate your acceptance during
the Registration process.
This Agreement includes HDS.IE 's policy for acceptable use of the HDS.IE Services
and Content posted on the HDS.IE Website, your rights, obligations and restrictions
regarding your use of the HDS.IE Services and HDS.IE 's Privacy Policy. In order
to participate in certain HDS.IE Services, you may be notified that you are required
to download software or content and/or agree to additional terms and conditions.
Unless otherwise provided by the additional terms and conditions applicable to the
HDS.IE Services in which you choose to participate, those additional terms are hereby
incorporated into this Agreement. You may receive a copy of this Agreement by emailing
us at: admin@HDS.ie , Subject: Terms of Use Agreement.
HDS.IE may modify this Agreement from time to time and such modification shall be
effective upon posting by HDS.IE on the HDS.IE Website. You agree to be bound to
any changes to this Agreement when you use the HDS.IE Services after any such modification
is posted. It is therefore important that you review this Agreement regularly to
ensure you are updated as to any changes.
Please choose carefully the information you post on HDS.IE and that you provide
to other Users. Your HDS.IE profile may not include the following items: telephone
numbers, street addresses, and any photographs containing obscene, lewd, excessively
violent, harassing, sexually explicit or otherwise objectionable subject matter.
Despite this prohibition, information provided by other HDS.IE Members (for instance,
in their Profile) may contain inaccurate, inappropriate, offensive or sexually explicit
material, products or services, and HDS.IE assumes no responsibility or liability
for this material. If you become aware of misuse of the HDS.IE Services by any person,
please click on the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any HDS.IE page to notify
us.
HDS.IE reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject, refuse to post or
remove any posting (including private messages) by you, or to restrict, suspend,
or terminate your access to all or any part of the HDS.IE Services at any time,
for any or no reason, with or without prior notice, and without liability.
1. Eligibility. Use of and Membership in the HDS.IE Services is void where prohibited.
By using the HDS.IE Services, you represent and warrant that (a) all registration
information you submit is truthful and accurate; (b) you will maintain the accuracy
of such information; (c) you are 13 years of age or older; and (d) your use of the
HDS.IE Services does not violate any applicable law or regulation. Your profile
may be deleted and your Membership may be terminated without warning, if we believe
that you are under 13 years of age. 2. Term. This Agreement shall remain in full
force and effect while you use the HDS.IE Services or are a Member. You may terminate
your Membership at any time, for any reason, by no longer using HDS.IE. HDS.IE may
terminate your Membership at any time, without warning. Even after Membership is
terminated, this Agreement will remain in effect, including sections 5-17. 3. Fees.
You acknowledge that HDS.IE reserves the right to charge for the HDS.IE Services
and to change its fees from time to time in its discretion. If HDS.IE terminates
your Membership because you have breached the Agreement, you shall not be entitled
to the refund of any unused portion of subscription fees. 4. Password. When you
sign up to become a Member, you will also be asked to choose a password. You are
entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password. You agree
not to use the account, username, or password of another Member at any time or to
disclose your password to any third party. You agree to notify HDS.IE immediately
if you suspect any unauthorized use of your account or access to your password.
You are solely responsible for any and all use of your account. Also, HDS.IE will
not log you out of the website automatically, it is your responsibility to click
the "Log Out" link on the menu bar to to log out of HDS.IE. 5. Non-commercial Use
by Members. The HDS.IE Services are for the personal use of Members only and may
not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically
endorsed or approved by HDS.IE . Illegal and/or unauthorized use of the HDS.IE Services,
including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of Members by electronic or
other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email or unauthorized framing
of or linking to the HDS.IE Website is prohibited. Commercial advertisements, affiliate
links, and other forms of solicitation may be removed from Member profiles without
notice and may result in termination of Membership privileges. Appropriate legal
action will be taken for any illegal or unauthorized use of the HDS.IE Services.
6. Proprietary Rights in Content on HDS.IE . 1. HDS.IE does not claim any ownership
rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of
authorship, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") that you post to the
HDS.IE Services. After posting your Content to the HDS.IE Services, you continue
to retain all ownership rights in such Content, and you continue to have the right
to use your Content in any way you choose. By displaying or publishing ("posting")
any Content on or through the HDS.IE Services, you hereby grant to HDS.IE a permanent
license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute
such Content solely on and through the HDS.IE Services. We will not delete your
account or posts should you choose to no longer participate using HDS.IE Services,
however you may request your real name be changed to an anonymous name if needed.
To end your use of HDS.IE Services simply refrain from visiting HDS.IE .
Without this license, HDS.IE would be unable to provide the HDS.IE Services. The
license you grant to HDS.IE is non-exclusive (meaning you are free to license your
Content to anyone else in addition to HDS.IE ), fully-paid and royalty-free (meaning
that HDS.IE is not required to pay you for the use on the HDS.IE Services of the
Content that you post), sublicensable (so that HDS.IE is able to use its affiliates
and subcontractors such as Internet content delivery networks to provide the HDS.IE
Services), and worldwide (because the Internet and the HDS.IE Services are global
in reach). This license will remain in effect even if you decide to stop using HDS.IE
Services. The license does not grant HDS.IE the right to sell your Content, nor
does the license grant HDS.IE the right to distribute your Content outside of the
HDS.IE Services. 2. You represent and warrant that: (i) you own the Content posted
by you on or through the HDS.IE Services or otherwise have the right to grant the
license set forth in this section, and (ii) the posting of your Content on or through
the HDS.IE Services does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights,
contract rights or any other rights of any person. You agree to pay for all royalties,
fees, and any other monies owing any person by reason of any Content posted by you
to or through the HDS.IE Services. 3. The HDS.IE Services contain Content of HDS.IE
("HDS.IE Content"). HDS.IE Content is protected by copyright, trademark, patent,
trade secret and other laws, and HDS.IE owns and retains all rights in the HDS.IE
Content and the HDS.IE Services. HDS.IE hereby grants you a limited, revocable,
nonsublicensable license to reproduce and display the HDS.IE Content (excluding
any software code) solely for your personal use in connection with viewing the HDS.IE
Website and using the HDS.IE Services. 4. The HDS.IE Services contain Content of
Users and other HDS.IE licensors. Except for Content posted by you, you may not
copy, modify, translate, publish, broadcast, transmit, distribute, perform, display,
or sell any Content appearing on or through the HDS.IE Services. 7. Content Posted.
1. HDS.IE may delete any Content that in the sole judgment of HDS.IE violates this
Agreement or which may be offensive, illegal or violate the rights, harm, or threaten
the safety of any person. HDS.IE assumes no responsibility for monitoring the HDS.IE
Services for inappropriate Content or conduct. If at any time HDS.IE chooses, in
its sole discretion, to monitor the HDS.IE Services, HDS.IE nonetheless assumes
no responsibility for the Content, no obligation to modify or remove any inappropriate
Content, and no responsibility for the conduct of the User submitting any such Content.
2. You are solely responsible for the Content that you post on or through any of
the HDS.IE Services, and any material or information that you transmit to other
Members and for your interactions with other Users. HDS.IE does not endorse and
has no control over the Content. Content is not necessarily reviewed by HDS.IE prior
to posting and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of HDS.IE .
HDS.IE makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the Content or to the accuracy
and reliability of the Content or any material or information that you transmit
to other Members. 8. Content/Activity Prohibited. The following is a partial list
of the kind of Content that is illegal or prohibited to post on or through the HDS.IE
Services. HDS.IE reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action
against anyone who, in HDS.IE 's sole discretion, violates this provision, including
without limitation, removing the offending communication from the HDS.IE Services
and terminating the Membership of such violators. Prohibited Content includes, but
is not limited to Content that, in the sole discretion of HDS.IE : 1. is patently
offensive and promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against
any group or individual; 2. harasses or advocates harassment of another person;
3. exploits people in a sexual or violent manner; 4. contains nudity, violence,
or offensive subject matter or contains a link to an adult website; 5. solicits
personal information from anyone under 18; 6. provides any telephone numbers, street
addresses, last names, URLs or email addresses; 7. promotes information that you
know is false or misleading or promotes illegal activities or conduct that is abusive,
threatening, obscene, defamatory, volatile, or libelous; 8. promotes an illegal
or unauthorized copy of another person's copyrighted work, such as providing pirated
computer programs or links to them, providing information to circumvent manufacture-installed
copy-protect devices, or providing pirated music or links to pirated music files;
9. involves the transmission of "junk mail," "chain letters," or unsolicited mass
mailing, instant messaging, "spimming," or "spamming"; 10. contains restricted or
password only access pages or hidden pages or images (those not linked to or from
another accessible page); 11. furthers or promotes any criminal activity or enterprise
or provides instructional information about illegal activities including, but not
limited to making or buying illegal weapons, violating someone's privacy, or providing
or creating computer viruses; 12. solicits passwords or personal identifying information
for commercial or unlawful purposes from other Users; 13. involves commercial activities
and/or sales without our prior written consent such as contests, sweepstakes, barter,
workshops, advertising, or pyramid schemes; 14. includes a photograph of another
person that you have posted without that person's consent; or 15. for profiles,
uses sexually suggestive imagery or any other unfair, misleading or deceptive Content
intended to draw traffic to the profile.
The following is a partial list of the kind of activity that is illegal or prohibited
on the HDS.IE Website and through your use of the HDS.IE Services. HDS.IE reserves
the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in
HDS.IE 's sole discretion, violates this provision, including without limitation,
reporting you to law enforcement authorities. Prohibited activity includes, but
is not limited to: 1. criminal or tortious activity, including child pornography,
fraud, trafficking in obscene material, drug dealing, gambling, harassment, stalking,
spamming, spimming, sending of viruses or other harmful files, copyright infringement,
patent infringement, or theft of trade secrets; 2. advertising to, or solicitation
of, any Member to buy or sell any products or services through the HDS.IE Services.
You may not transmit any chain letters or junk email to other Members. It is also
a violation of these rules to use any information obtained from the HDS.IE Services
in order to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to any Member without their
prior explicit consent. In order to protect our Members from such advertising or
solicitation, HDS.IE reserves the right to restrict the number of emails which a
Member may send to other Members in any 24-hour period to a number which HDS.IE
deems appropriate in its sole discretion. If you breach this Agreement and send
unsolicited bulk email, instant messages or other unsolicited communications of
any kind through the HDS.IE Services, you acknowledge that you will have caused
substantial harm to HDS.IE , but that the amount of such harm would be extremely
difficult to ascertain. As a reasonable estimation of such harm, you agree to pay
HDS.IE $50 for each such unsolicited email or other unsolicited communication you
send through the HDS.IE Services; 3. covering or obscuring the banner advertisements
on HDS.IE , or any HDS.IE page via HTML/CSS or any other means is discouraged; 4.
any automated use of the system, such as using scripts to send comments or messages;
5. interfering with, disrupting, or creating an undue burden on the HDS.IE Services
or the networks or services connected to the HDS.IE Services; 6. attempting to impersonate
another Member or person; 7. for profiles, copying the code for your HDS.IE profile
and embedding it into other profiles or asking other Members to embed it into their
profiles; 8. using the account, username, or password of another Member at any time
or disclosing your password to any third party or permitting any third party to
access your account; 9. selling or otherwise transferring your profile; 10. using
any information obtained from the HDS.IE Services in order to harass, abuse, or
harm another person; 11. displaying an advertisement on your profile (contact us
if you are unsure), or accepting payment or anything of value from a third person
in exchange for your performing any commercial activity on or through the HDS.IE
Services on behalf of that person, such as placing commercial content on your profile,
posting blogs or bulletins with a commercial purpose, selecting a profile with a
commercial purpose as one of your friends, or sending private messages with a commercial
purpose; or 12. using the HDS.IE Services in a manner inconsistent with any and
all applicable laws and regulations. 9. Copyright Policy. You may not post, modify,
distribute, or reproduce in any way any copyrighted material, trademarks, or other
proprietary information belonging to others without obtaining the prior written
consent of the owner of such proprietary rights. It is the policy of HDS.IE to terminate
Membership privileges of any Member who repeatedly infringes the copyright rights
of others upon receipt of prompt notification to HDS.IE by the copyright owner or
the copyright owner's legal agent. Without limiting the foregoing, if you believe
that your work has been copied and posted on the HDS.IE Services in a way that constitutes
copyright infringement, please provide our Copyright Agent with the following information:
(i) an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf
of the owner of the copyright interest; (ii) a description of the copyrighted work
that you claim has been infringed; (iii) a description of where the material that
you claim is infringing is located on the HDS.IE Services; (iv) your address, telephone
number, and email address; (v) a written 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; (vi) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above
information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized
to act on the copyright owner's behalf. HDS.IE 's Copyright Agent for notice of
claims of copyright infringement can be reached as follows: Clicking the "Contact
Us" link at the bottom of every HDS.IE page 10. Member Disputes. You are solely
responsible for your interactions with other HDS.IE Members. HDS.IE reserves the
right, but has no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other Members
and intervene as we see fit. 11. Privacy. Use of the HDS.IE Services is also governed
by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into this Agreement by this reference.
12. Disclaimers. HDS.IE is not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate Content
posted on the HDS.IE Website or in connection with the HDS.IE Services, whether
caused by Users of the HDS.IE Services or by any of the equipment or programming
associated with or utilized in the HDS.IE Services. Profiles created and posted
by Members on the HDS.IE Website may contain links to other websites. HDS.IE is
not responsible for the Content, accuracy or opinions expressed on such websites,
and such websites are in no way investigated, monitored or checked for accuracy
or completeness by HDS.IE . Inclusion of any linked website on the HDS.IE Services
does not imply approval or endorsement of the linked website by HDS.IE . When you
access these third-party sites, you do so at your own risk. HDS.IE takes no responsibility
for third party advertisements which are posted on this HDS.IE Website or through
the HDS.IE Services, nor does it take any responsibility for the goods or services
provided by its advertisers. HDS.IE is not responsible for the conduct, whether
online or offline, of any User of the HDS.IE Services. HDS.IE assumes no responsibility
for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission,
communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or
alteration of, any User or Member communication. HDS.IE is not responsible for any
problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online
systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any email
or private messages due to technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet
or on any of the HDS.IE Services or combination thereof, including any injury or
damage to Users or to any person's computer related to or resulting from participation
or downloading materials in connection with the HDS.IE Services. Under no circumstances
shall HDS.IE be responsible for any loss or damage, including personal injury or
death, resulting from use of the HDS.IE Services, attendance at a HDS.IE event,
from any Content posted on or through the HDS.IE Services, or from the conduct of
any Users of the HDS.IE Services, whether online or offline. The HDS.IE Services
are provided "AS-IS" and as available and HDS.IE expressly disclaims any warranty
of fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. HDS.IE cannot guarantee
and does not promise any specific results from use of the HDS.IE Services. 13. Limitation
on Liability. IN NO EVENT SHALL HDS.IE BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY
INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING
LOST PROFIT DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES, EVEN IF HDS.IE HAS BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY
CONTAINED HEREIN, HDS.IE '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 HDS.IE FOR THE HDS.IE SERVICES DURING THE TERM OF MEMBERSHIP. 14. U.S.
Export Controls. Software available in connection with the HDS.IE Services (the
"Software") is further subject to United States export controls. No Software may
be downloaded from the HDS.IE Services or otherwise exported or re-exported in violation
of U.S. export laws. Downloading or using the Software is at your sole risk. 15.
Disputes. If there is any dispute about or involving the HDS.IE Services, you agree
that the dispute shall be governed by the laws of the State of California, USA,
without regard to conflict of law provisions and you agree to exclusive personal
jurisdiction and venue in the state and federal courts of the United States located
in the State of California, City of Los Angeles. Either HDS.IE or you may demand
that any dispute between HDS.IE and you about or involving the HDS.IE Services must
be settled by arbitration utilizing the dispute resolution procedures of the American
Arbitration Association (AAA) in Los Angeles, California, USA, provided that the
foregoing shall not prevent HDS.IE from seeking injunctive relief in a court of
competent jurisdiction. 16. Indemnity. You agree to indemnify and hold HDS.IE ,
its subsidiaries, and affiliates, and their respective officers, agents, partners
and employees, harmless from any loss, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable
attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your use of the
HDS.IE Services in violation of this Agreement and/or arising from a breach of this
Agreement and/or any breach of your representations and warranties set forth above
and/or if any Content that you post on the HDS.IE Website or through the HDS.IE
Services causes HDS.IE to be liable to another. 17. Other. This Agreement is accepted
upon your use of the HDS.IE Website or any of the HDS.IE Services and is further
affirmed by you becoming a Member. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement
between you and HDS.IE regarding the use of the HDS.IE Services. The failure of
HDS.IE to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall 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. 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: Use the "Contact Us" link on the bottom of every HDS.IE page
with any questions regarding this Agreement.
I HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT AND AGREE TO ALL OF THE PROVISIONS CONTAINED ABOVE.
HDS.ie GENERAL FORUM RULES
By using HDS.IE Services, you agree that:
Staff (includes owners and moderators)
- staff here will not be held responsible for anyone else’s actions.
- staff reserves the right to edit or delete posts without explanation, if they are
in violation of these rules or any law. We make every effort to give an explanation,
but depending on the nature of the thread one may not be needed.
- staff reserves the right to take any system action deemed necessary against those
that do not follow the rules below.
- staff reserves the right to move or delete threads that are not posted in the appropriate
forum.
- Although staff do not and cannot review every single message posted and are not
responsible for the content of any of these messages, we reserve the right to delete
any message for any or no reason whatsoever.
- any hostility or combative behavior towards our staff (online or offline) for a
moderation decision they have made will not be tolerated. All concerns regarding
a moderators decision should be directed to the site admin/owner via the HDS.ie
"contact us" link.
Members (includes standard members and subscribers)
- Please note that with each post, your IP address is recorded, in the event that
you need to be banned from this forum or your ISP contacted. This will only happen
in the event of a major violation of these rules.
- You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to
indemnify and hold harmless HDS.IE owners & staff with respect to any claim based
upon transmission of your message(s) or forum behavior. We also reserve the right
to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event
of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you.
- You agree to post only materials to which you have copyright, permission or references
to distribute electronically. You may not violate, plagiarize, or infringe on the
rights of third parties including copyright, trademark, trade secrets, privacy,
and publicity, personal or proprietary rights.
- When posting comments regarding organizations or individuals inside or outside of
HDS.IE, should those organizations or individuals ask for removal of that material
we may accommodate them in some cases.
- you will not post any messages or links that lead to obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated,
hateful, or threatening material, or material that violates any laws.
- HDS.IE does not tolerate personal attacks and will delete such posts and ban users
if necessary.
- If a staff member contacts you asking for changes in your posting style or habits,
abide by them or face the consequences.
- If you vehemently disagree with a moderators decision contact the site admin/owner
via the "contact us" link -DO NOT TAKE IT OUT ON THE MODERATOR. Do not post a thread
to discuss your disagreement, and do not send hostile messages to staff. We are
very protective of our moderation staff and will swiftly remove accounts that show
hostility towards them.
- Cursing/swearing is tolerated but not encouraged. Keep in mind that there may be
younger members visiting this site. Excessive swearing or swearing in topic titles
could result in being banned.
- You may not start fights or induce fights in the forums. Use private means to resolve
a dispute. Open flaming will result in removed posts, possible warnings and/or bans.
- Do not cross post a message in the forums (posting the same thread in multiple forums
for more help/attention). Pick a forum, post the message, and let it be.
- no general politics (if the thread involves photography it may be allowed until
it becomes unproductive, then it will be moved to the "Soap Box Forum")
- no religious discussions
- Spamming is not tolerated. If it becomes blatant that your signature and user account
are nothing more than a ploy for self promoting your products you may be warned
or banned. Active members who contribute to the community are allowed signature
links to their business or websites.
- If you are engaged in a constructive argument, make sure your posts are clear and
that you aren't inadvertently starting a flame war.
- In some extreme cases we may place you on a "watchlist", which means you can post
messages but we must approve them first. We will let you know if you have been placed
on the watchlist and explain why. Do not try to argue a case against being placed
on the watchlist, or how long you will be on the watchlist. Post approvals for watchlist
users happen several times a day, please do not ask when your post will be approved.
We will not waste time explaining why certain posts will not be approved.
- Use common sense when posting.