OpenStoryBoard | terms of service

Important Notices

These Terms and Conditions are a very important part of the Site and create legally binding obligations on you. In consideration of us making the Site available to you free of charge, you must accept and agree to these Terms and Conditions if you want to use the Site. Please take the time to read them carefully and use the Site only if you agree to be bound by them.

You should be aware that these Terms and Conditions incorporate policies and guidelines published elsewhere on the Site, such as the Privacy Policy, the Community Guidelines, and the various remuneration policies, and it is your responsibility also to read those and only to accept these Terms and Conditions if you also accept those other policies and guidelines.

IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OR ANY OF THE OTHER POLICIES REFERRED TO IN THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, YOU SHOULD NOT USE THE SITE AND YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BECOME A REGISTERED USER OF THE SITE.

You should in particular review carefully the sections in these Terms and Conditions headed Your Capacity, Content That You Publish To The Site, Ownership And Assignment Of Content, Revenues And Remuneration, Monitoring The Site, Content On The Site May Offend Or Be Unlawful, and Exclusion Of Liability.

Defined Terms

In these Terms and Conditions:

"Content" means all works of whatever nature that you or any other user of the Site may submit to or publish on the Site, including but not limited to text, pictures, drawings, photographs, illustrations, art, ideas, information, refinements, modifications, suggestions, comments, feedback, reviews, contributions, data and any other input of any kind whatsoever
"Intellectual Property Rights" means all intellectual property rights of whatever nature, including without limitation patents, copyright, designs, trade or service marks (whether or not registered), rights in inventions and confidential information, semiconductor topography rights, database rights or other similar rights in any country and any applications for registration of any of the foregoing)
"Site" means www.openstoryboard.com
"us", "we" or "our" means openstoryboard.com

Your Capacity

If you are not of legal age under the laws that apply to you (these could be the laws of the country in which you normally reside and/or are a citizen of and/or the laws of the country from which you access the Site), or if you are otherwise barred from, or incapable of, forming legally binding contractual commitments, you should not use this Site in any way whatsoever. By using the Site or registering as a registered user, you represent and warrant that you are of legal age and not barred from or incapable of forming legally binding contractual commitments.

Acceptance and Changes

These Terms and Conditions will apply to and bind you in one of two ways, depending on whether you become a registered user or not:

UNREGISTERED USERS: You do not have to become a registered user to use the Site, although the majority of the functionality on the Site is available only to registered users. For as long as you remain an unregistered user, you will be deemed to have accepted these Terms and Conditions if you access and use the Site. You understand and agree that we will consider your use of the Site to be acceptance these Terms and Conditions and the policies referred to in it. We may from time to time make changes to these Terms and Conditions. As an unregistered user, those changes will not be notified to you and it is your responsibility to check for changes to these Terms and Conditions from time to time. Your continued use of the Site after we have published any changes to these Terms and Conditions will be taken as your acceptance of any revised Terms and Conditions.
REGISTERED USERS: When you become a Registered User, you will be required to accept these Terms and Conditions as part of the registration process. You will not be able to become a registered user unless you accept these Terms and Conditions as part of the registration process. We may from time to time make changes to these Terms and Conditions. As a registered user, you will be notified of those changes by being asked to accept these Terms and Conditions again. If you refuse or fail to accept any changes to these Terms and Conditions when required, you will no longer be able to use the Site as a registered user but will be able to use it as an unregistered user with limited functionality. However if you use it as an unregistered user, your continued use of the Site will be deemed to be your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.

We reserve the right at any time to make changes to these Terms and Conditions. We may not give any advance notice of our intention to do so.

No Warranties, No Representations

The Site is made available "as is", which means that:

your use of the Site is at your own risk and responsibility. We do not warrant or represent that the Content of this Site is accurate, complete or fit for any purpose, or that the Site will be free from defects or viruses
we do not warrant or represent that the Site or its Content will be compatible with or displayed accurately on the computer systems that you may use
we do not warrant or represent that the Content published on the Site is free from infringement of the rights of others (including intellectual property rights) or that you will always be able to use or access Content that may be have been published on the Site from time to time
the Site may from time to time not be available, for any number of reasons. We do not warrant or represent the availability of the Site at any time and in particular we reserve the right to suspend or close the Site or parts thereof temporarily or permanently, without notice
we do not take responsibility for third party sites which may be linked to from the Site. Where links to third party sites are published on the Site from time to time, they are published for your convenience only. We do not accept responsibility for any third party sites or for any services or products offered, promoted or made available through them (and we do not endorse any such services or products). You should also note that your use of third party sites which you may access via links from the Site may be governed by separate terms and conditions

Any warranties which would otherwise be implied by any applicable law (including, without limitation, warranties as to satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose or skill and care) are hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Ownership of the Site

All rights in the Site (which includes all Content published to this Site, all registered and unregistered trademarks and other marks) are owned by us and are protected by copyright, trade mark laws and other intellectual property rights in many countries in the world.

Content That You Publish to the Site

IT IS A FUNDAMENTAL REQUIREMENT AND CONDITION OF YOUR USE OF THE SITE THAT ALL CONTENT THAT YOU PUBLISH ON OR SUBMIT TO THE SITE MUST BE YOUR ORIGINAL WORK (OR, WHERE YOU ARE A CONSORTIUM OF WRITERS, THE ORIGINAL WORK OF THAT CONSORTIUM).

You should not under any circumstances infringe the rights of third parties anywhere in the world, and you hereby represent and warrant that you will not do so. This means, amongst other things, that you should not plagiarise or copy the work of others or create derivative works that are not allowed.
You must ensure that any and all Content that you publish onto or submit to the Site complies with the following requirements:

The Content must not contain personal information (that is, information by which a person can be identified, and includes names, addresses, contact details and photographs or likenesses) about any natural person anywhere in the world, unless you have obtained that person's prior irrevocable consent
The Content must not contain contact details of any legal entity anywhere in the world, unless you have obtained that entity's prior irrevocable consent
The Content must not violate the right of privacy or any other rights of any third party
The Content must not include material that is unlawful under any applicable laws, defamatory, harassing, harmful, abusive, or otherwise objectionable to us
The Content must not include any code or software of whatever description
The Content must not promote or any products or services of any person or legal entity

Without prejudice to any other rights or remedies that we may have, we reserve the right without notice to remove any Content that we, in or sole discretion, consider to be in breach of the above or any other provision of these Terms and Conditions or any other policies or guidelines on this Site.
You acknowledge that a failure by you to comply with the above requirements could result in us terminating your use of the Site and that it would lead to a forfeiture by you of any royalties or other amounts that would otherwise have been owing to you under the applicable remuneration policy/ies.
In addition, you hereby indemnify us against each loss, liability and cost arising from or in respect of any claim that any part of the Content that you may publish onto or submit to the Site breaches any of the above requirements.

Ownership and Assignment of Content

We require all users of the Site to agree that we will own the rights in all Content that they may publish on the Site. This is to maximise our ability to best commercialise the content. Accordingly, in consideration of us making the Site available free of charge and agreeing to each remuneration policy that may apply to the Content submitted or published by you, you hereby agree as follows:

That the worldwide rights, title and other interest in and to all Intellectual Property Rights that may from time to time subsist in any and all Content that you may upload or submit to the Site, shall vest in us, and you hereby assign to us (in advance, with full title guarantee and at no additional cost to us) all such rights, title and other interest, immediately from the moment of publication or submission of that Content onto the Site, free of all encumbrances and attachments
To the extent that the above assignment and transfer does not have full force and effect in any jurisdiction for whatever reason, to grant to us, immediately from the moment of publication or submission of that Content, and at no additional cost to us, an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty free, freely transferable, world-wide, sole and exclusive (including, for the avoidance of doubt, exclusive as against you) licence to do any and all such things as the proprietor itself as owner would be entitled to do in relation to such Intellectual Property Rights, without restriction, including the right to reproduce, perform, translate, adapt, publish, manufacture, market, sell, use, copy, maintain, modify, enhance, optimise, configure, test and create derivative works and adaptations of such Intellectual Property Rights without any restriction whatsoever, with the right to sub-license any third parties to do any of the foregoing
That any derivatives or adaptations of any of the Content that you may from time to time publish onto or submit to the Site, including any modifications, enhancements, additions or changes thereto, shall vest and remain vested exclusively in us immediately on their creation
Upon first request, at no additional cost to us, to do all such things and perform all such acts, including the execution of any agreements, deeds, confirmations, notices and other instruments that may be required to give full legal effect to the transfer of rights, title and other interest and/or the grant of any licence referred to above, in any jurisdiction, at our request from time to time
Irrevocably to waive, to the extent permitted under any laws that apply to you, all moral or other non-transferable rights in any of the Content that you may from time to time publish onto or submit to the Site (including the right to be identified as the author and the right to object to derogatory treatment of such Content), and at our request, at no additional cost to us, to execute such instruments, deeds, documents and/or take such other steps as may reasonably be necessary to procure any such waiver

The fact that we own all Content on the Site does not mean we never want to hear from you again once you have submitted your Content: to the contrary, we want our community members to be involved in this. If you have any ideas about how we could work together to make best use of Content on the Site ? including Content submitted by other members ? please do let us know. You can find more information in the Opportunities section of the Site.

Our Right to Exploit the Content

You acknowledge that we will be entitled to use all Content that you may publish onto or submit to the Site in whatever way we choose, including without limitation modifying, adapting, editing, removing, selling, licensing, copying, publishing or in any other way exploiting it, and that we may create derivative works based on it. You further acknowledge that the Content you submit may be adapted, and that other users of the Site may use Content that you have created as the basis for Content that they may submit. The Community Guidelines contains further information about this.

Revenues and Remuneration

Each book, when it is started, will identify the remuneration policy that governs any proceeds generated through the sale, licensing or other commercialisation of the content of that book. Before you contribute Content, you should read through the remuneration policy that applies to that book and only contribute Content if you agree to the terms of the relevant remuneration policy. If you contribute Content, you will be deemed to have accepted the relevant remuneration policy.
You should note that different remuneration policies may apply to different books and Content, and it is your responsibility to make sure you are aware of the terms of the remuneration policy that applies to the book to which you contribute Content.
You acknowledge and agree that we are under no obligation of any nature to sell, license or in any other way whatsoever to commercialise, or to endeavour to do so, any of the Content that you publish on or submit to the Site.
We may also from time to time generate other revenues through the Site, including (as examples only) through advertising. You are not entitled to share in any such other revenues and hereby irrevocably waive any right that you may have to do so. The only proceeds in which you are able to share are the proceeds generated through the sale, licensing or other commercialisation of Content which you have published on the Site and which is subsequently sold, licensed or otherwise commercialised by us, and then only in accordance with the remuneration policy applicable to that Content and subject to these Terms and Conditions.

Limited Personal Use Licence

You are authorised to download copies of some of the Content published onto this Site, as provided for on the Site. You agree to use the Content on this Site only for your personal, private use. You may not copy, distribute, use, sell, license or in any way exploit any of the Content on this Site other than as expressly allowed. However, if you have any ideas about how we could work together to make best use of Content on the Site ? including Content submitted by other members ? please do let us know. You can find more information in the Opportunities section of the Site.
Under no circumstances may you copy, use, or in any way exploit any of the marks that appear on this Site.

Monitoring the Site

We DO NOT actively monitor all of the Content that is submitted to the Site. Instead, we rely on our community of users to report inappropriate behaviour or Content or notify us if any of these Terms and Conditions or any of the other policies and guidelines on the Site have been violated. The Site includes mechanisms that would enable you to notify us if this is the case. We ask all of our users, you included, to notify us if any Content has been submitted, or if any other users act, in violation of any of these Terms and Conditions or any of the other policies and guidelines on the Site.
If we are notified through the mechanisms provided on the Site, we will endeavour to investigate the incident as quickly as we are able to, and we reserve the right to take any action we deem appropriate in the circumstances. This may include, without limitation, removing Content from the Site, giving warnings to users, suspending a user's access to the Site, barring a user from using the Site, or taking any other action, including legal action, that we may have at our disposal.

Content on the Site May Offend or Be Unlawful

Warning: Some Content on the Site may be objectionable or offensive to some of our users (for example, it may depict violence, prejudice or themes of an adult nature). We ask our users to flag all Content based on the subject matter and the views of the user community will be displayed in relation to all Content. However, we do not warrant or represent that the views of the user community will correspond to your own personal views or that they will be accurate. Where you flag any Content, you agree to do so to the best of your ability.
Content is published to the Site from all parts of the world. In some cases, the same Content may be legal in one part of the world but may be illegal in other parts of the world, or may only be viewed legally by persons above a certain minimum age.
It is not possible for us to monitor the legality or suitability of the Content in all parts of the world or to make a judgment as to whether any particular Content falls in restricted categories in any part of the world. It is your responsibility to comply with the laws that apply to you insofar as you read or contribute Content to the Site.
You must not read or otherwise use any Content on the Site, or publish or contribute to any Content on the Site, which is illegal for you to do under any laws that apply to you. It is your responsibility to be aware of what the laws applicable to you provide in this regard. In addition, you may not use any part of the Site if it would be unlawful for you to do so, or if you are prohibited by the laws that apply to you from doing so.

General Prohibitions

You may not circumvent, disable, reverse engineer, or otherwise interfere with the Site, any of the security features of the Site, or features of the Site that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Content, or attempt to do any of the foregoing.
You may not employ a robot, spider or other software, process or device to obtain personal information about any of the users of the Site, or to monitor activity on the Site.
You may not upload any software or code onto the Site or include code (including executable code) in any Content that you may publish onto or submit to the Site.

Termination of Your Use of the Site

We may terminate your use of the Site, at any time, without any prior notice to you, for any of the following reasons:

If you violate these Terms and Conditions or any of the other policies or guidelines published on the Site (including, without limitation, the Community Guidelines) in a material or persistent way
If you violate the following provisions of these Terms and Conditions: Content That You Publish To The Site, Limited Personal Use Licence, and General Prohibitions
If your continued use of the Site would, in our opinion, put us at risk of violating any laws or regulations anywhere in the world
If your continued use of the Site would or could, in our opinion, cause us to have claims made against us, or penalties, fines or damages imposed on or claimed against us, or cause us reputational damage
If we are required by any applicable laws or regulators to do so
If you become insolvent, you are declared bankrupt, or if any insolvency- or bankruptcy-related event should occur in relation to you under any laws that apply to you

We may also terminate your use of the Site at any time without cause.
Termination of your use of the Site does not affect the continued validity of these Terms and Conditions, which shall remain in force indefinitely. However, termination of your use of the Site may affect your right to remuneration. This is described more fully in the various remuneration policy/ies that apply to the Content that you may submit to or publish on the Site.

Exclusion of Liability

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL WE OR ANY OF OUR DIRECTORS, MEMBERS, STAFF, OFFICES, EMPLOYEES, SHAREHOLDERS, AFFILIATES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE, WHETHER FOR NEGLIGENCE, BREACH OF CONTRACT, MISREPRESENTATION, TORT, REPUDIATION OR OTHERWISE HOWSOEVER, FOR ANY LOSS, DAMAGE, COST, CLAIM, PENALTY, FINE OR EXPENSE OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL LOSS OR DAMAGE, OR LOSS OF GOODWILL, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, PROFITS, REVENUE, ANTICIPATED SAVINGS OR DATA), ARISING FROM:

YOUR USE OF THIS SITE OR ANY RELIANCE PLACED ON ANY OF THE CONTENT ON THE SITE
YOUR USE OF OR RELIANCE ON THIRD PARTY WEB SITES TO WHICH YOU HAVE GAINED ACCESS BY MEANS OF LINKS PUBLISHED ON THIS SITE
ANY COMPUTER VIRUSES THAT MAY BE TRANSMITTED THROUGH THE SITE
THE UNAVAILABILITY OF THE SITE FOR ANY REASON OR ANY INABILITY TO LOG ON TO THE SITE,

EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN MADE AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS OR DAMAGE. NOTHING HEREIN SHALL EXCLUDE OR RESTRICT LIABILITY FOR (1) FRAUD; OR (2) DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY RESULTING FROM NEGLIGENCE; OR (3) LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Severability

If any part of these Terms and Conditions is found to be invalid or unenforceable, it will to that extent be severed from the remainder of these Terms and Conditions and not affect the continued validity of the remainder of these Terms and Conditions.

Governing Law and Jurisdication

These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales and, without prejudicing any rights you may have as a consumer, you hereby submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

Effective Date

These Terms of Service are effective as at 2010-01-01.