Terms and Conditions

1. Agreement and General Terms of Use

1.1This User Agreement constitutes the agreement between Encyclopedia.com and you as a user who accesses or establishes a connection ("user," "you," or "your") to our services, including but not limited to those at www.encyclopedia.com and/or other services based on these services ("Service" or collectively the "Services").

1.2You agree to abide by all of the provisions in this Agreement in order to remain an authorized user of the Services, and your use of the Services constitutes your agreement to abide by these provisions.

1.3Encyclopedia.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to change any or all of the provisions of this Agreement at any time. Encyclopedia.com will make the current Agreement available at this URL, as well as from a link at the bottom of each Service's home page. The Agreement in effect at the time you use the Service shall govern your use and your use of the Service after the effective date of any changes to this Agreement will be deemed your acceptance of the changes.

1.4Encyclopedia.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to change, limit, or discontinue any aspect, content, tool, or feature that is a part of the Services. Encyclopedia.com further reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to restrict the use of the Service as well as suspend or revoke your rights to use the Services based on Encyclopedia.com's belief that your use of the Services violates that permitted by this Agreement or applicable law.

1.5IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT OR ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THE SERVICE, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES.

2. Rights in Service Content and the Service

2.1All content and tools provided by Encyclopedia.com on the Services are protected by copyright, trademark and/or other applicable intellectual property and proprietary rights laws and are owned, controlled, and/or licensed by Encyclopedia.com. The Services are also protected by copyright, patent, trademark, and other applicable intellectual property and proprietary rights laws. All trademarks appearing on the Services are the property of their respective owners. You agree not to use any trademarks or copyrighted material without express written permission of Encyclopedia.com.

2.2You may search, retrieve, display, download, and print content from the Services solely for your personal use. You shall make no other use of the content without the express written permission of Encyclopedia.com. You will not modify, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, translate, create derivative works, or in any way exploit other than as set forth herein, any of the content, tools or technology, in whole or in part, found on the Services. Further, you shall not engage in any systematic downloading or other activity directed towards any of the content, in whole or in part, found on the Services that would create any electronic database or archive containing such content. You shall not make any changes to any content that you are permitted to download under this Agreement, and in particular you will not delete or alter any proprietary rights or attribution notices in any content. You also will not "frame" any of the content, tools or technology on the Services or the Services themselves without the express written permission of Encyclopedia.com. You agree that you do not acquire any ownership rights in any downloaded content. Your further agree that all rights in the Service and any of the content found on the Service not granted to you under this Agreement are expressly reserved to Encyclopedia.com and/or its licensors.

2.3In searching the Services, you shall not employ any automated search tools, including so called "crawlers," "bots" and "spiders" that programmatically access and extract content in order to repurpose or resell the Services content and tools, nor may you "scrape" and/or reformat any information off the services HTML pages or XML interface, including meta tags, results pages, abstracts, and documents without the express written permission of Encyclopedia.com. Those seeking more information on permission for systematic access (automated queries meta-search, etc.) shall go to the FAQ area for each Service.

3. User Activities and Privacy of User Information on the Service

3.1You will use the Services and any tools, content, material, or information found on the Services solely for lawful purposes. You shall not upload to, distribute to or through, or otherwise disseminate through the Service any material or information of any kind that is libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, or otherwise violates any law or infringes or violates any privacy or other rights of any other person or entity, or contains a solicitation of funds, advertising, or a solicitation for goods or services.

3.2Encyclopedia.com reserves the right to collect and use data about you and your use of the Service for purposes such as, for example, performing statistical analyses to assist us in improving the Service. Encyclopedia.com further reserves the right to distribute such data in forms that do not identify you individually or reveal your identity. Encyclopedia.com may also distribute such data in forms that identify you individually or reveal your identity to affiliates, partners and to third parties with a contractual relationship with Encyclopedia.com. All such use and distribution shall be in accordance with Encyclopedia.com's privacy policy, which is incorporated herein by reference. Please familiarize yourself with the privacy policy by clicking on Privacy Policy at the bottom of the Services' home pages. Nothing herein shall prevent Encyclopedia.com and its marketing partners from contacting you by e-mail, phone, or direct mail with offers, information, and other communications and all such contact is expressly approved by you. Nothing herein shall prevent Encyclopedia.com from complying with valid requests by governmental authorities investigating civil or criminal matters.

4. Disclaimer of Warranties & Limitation of Liability

4.1YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. NEITHER Encyclopedia.com NOR ANY OF ITS PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, DISTRIBUTORS, THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS, OR LICENSORS (AND THEIR RESPECTIVE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS) WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE OR THAT THEY WILL BE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. NOR DO THEY MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE, OR AS TO THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, COMPLETENESS, OR CONTENTS OF ANY CONTENT, INFORMATION, MATERIAL, POSTINGS, OR POSTING RESPONSES FOUND ON THE SERVICE, ANY MERCHANDISE OR SERVICES PROVIDED THROUGH THE SERVICES, OR ANY LINKS TO OTHER SITES OR SERVICES MADE AVAILABLE ON THE SERVICES.

4.2THE SERVICES, ALL TOOLS, CONTENT, MATERIAL, INFORMATION, POSTINGS, OR POSTING RESPONSES FOUND ON THE SERVICE ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

4.3UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE OR GROSS OR WILLFUL NEGLIGENCE, SHALL Encyclopedia.com (OR ANY OF ITS PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, DISTRIBUTORS, THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS, OR LICENSORS (AND THEIR RESPECTIVE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS), BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OF, OR THE INABILITY TO USE, ANY CONTENT, INFORMATION, MATERIAL, POSTINGS, OR POSTING RESPONSES ON THE SERVICE, OR THE SERVICE ITSELF. THESE LIMITATIONS APPLY REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE PARTY LIABLE OR ALLEGEDLY LIABLE WAS ADVISED, HAD OTHER REASON TO KNOW, OR IN FACT KNEW OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT Encyclopedia.com (AND ANY OF ITS PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, DISTRIBUTORS, THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS, OR (AND THEIR RESPECTIVE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS), IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY USER, INCLUDING YOU. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE TOTAL LIABILITY OF Encyclopedia.com (OR ANY OF ITS PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, DISTRIBUTORS, THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS, OR LICENSORS (AND THEIR RESPECTIVE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS)) TO YOU EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO Encyclopedia.com DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRIOR TO ANY CLAIM OF INJURY OR DAMAGE.

5. Indemnification

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you will defend, indemnify and hold harmless Encyclopedia.com (and any of its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, distributors, third party providers, and licensors (and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents)) from and against all claims, liability, and expenses, including attorneys' fees and legal fees and costs, arising out of your use of the Service or your breach of any provision of this Agreement. Encyclopedia.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion and at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you. You will cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any claim.

6. Third Party Content, Third-Party Providers, Advertising and Links.

The Services include a number of third party providers for content, technology and other features, including the opportunity for users of the Services to purchase goods or services from third parties ("Third Party"). Encyclopedia.com makes no warranty concerning content, technology, goods or services provided by Third Party providers. YOU AGREE THAT ANY RECOURSE FOR DISSATISFACTION OR PROBLEMS WITH THOSE GOODS OR SERVICES WILL BE SOUGHT FROM THE THIRD PARTY PROVIDER DIRECTLY, NOT FROM Encyclopedia.com.

7. Notices between Us

You may contact us by sending electronic mail to [email protected]. If a response is necessary, we will contact you by sending electronic mail to the address you provide to us, or by posting a notice on the Services.

8. Termination

Encyclopedia.com may terminate this Agreement and your use of the Services, or discontinue the Services, at any time. Encyclopedia.com shall have the right immediately upon notice to you to terminate your use of the Services in the event of any conduct by you which Encyclopedia.com, in its sole discretion, considers to be unacceptable, or in the event of any breach by you of this Agreement or violation of applicable law.

9. Law Governing Performance and Disputes

This Agreement, your performance under it, and any disputes arising under it shall be governed exclusively by the laws of the United States of America and the State of Illinois, without giving effect to their conflict of laws principles. You expressly consent to the exclusive forum, jurisdiction, and venue of the Courts of the State of Illinois in Cook County and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in any and all actions, disputes, or controversies relating to this Agreement.

10. General Terms

This Agreement and any policies and rules posted on the Services by Encyclopedia.com constitute the complete and exclusive and final expression of the agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof. No waiver by either Encyclopedia.com or you of any breach or default under this Agreement shall be deemed to be a waiver of any preceding or subsequent breach or default. This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of Encyclopedia.com and its successors, trustees, and permitted assigns. Encyclopedia.com may assign this Agreement, or any of its rights or obligations under this Agreement, with or without notice to you. Any such assignment by Encyclopedia.com does not relieve you of your obligations under this Agreement.