Terms and conditions

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE AS THEY CONTAIN THE LEGAL TERMS THAT GOVERN YOUR USE OF THIS WEBSITE (THE ÒWEBSITEÓ).

 

Access to and use of this Website is subject to TSNLÕs Privacy Code, Commenting Guidelines and the terms and conditions set out below (collectively, the "Terms and Conditions"). If you do not agree with these Terms and Conditions, please do not access or use this  Website.

 

We reserve the right to change these Terms and Conditions from time to time by updating this posting. Please check the Terms and Conditions periodically for changes. Your continued use of the Website following the posting of these Terms and Conditions will mean you accept those changes.

 

Restrictions on Use of Materials

This Website and its contents are the property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited ("TSNL") or its licensors and are protected, without limitation, pursuant to Canadian and foreign copyright and trademark laws.

 

Reproduction, duplication, or distribution of the Website and/or all or any part of its contents for anything other than your personal, non-commercial use is a violation not only of these Terms and Conditions but also of copyright and trademark laws (unless you have written permission from TSNL). The content on the Website is made available to you for non-commercial, personal, or educational purposes only. The content may not be modified in any manner and the intellectual property notice must be included on every display and copy of the content. No other use is permitted. Nothing contained herein shall be construed as conferring any right under any copyright of TSNL or any other person who owns the copyright in the content provided on the Website.

All trademarks and trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of TSNL or its affiliated companies or are the trademarks of their respective owners. The display of trademarks or trade names on the Website does not convey or create any license or other rights in these marks or names. Any unauthorized use of these trademarks and trade names is strictly prohibited.

 

Jurisdiction and Governing Law

These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Ontario, Canada, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law. You agree that any action at law or in equity arising out of or in connection with these Terms and Conditions or the Website shall be filed only in the provincial or federal courts located in Ontario, Canada and hereby submit to the nonexclusive jurisdiction of such courts. You also agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of the Website or the Terms and Conditions must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

Except where prohibited by applicable law, you agree to waive any right you may have to commence or participate in any class action against us related to any claim and, where applicable, you also agree to opt out of any class proceedings against us.


User Conduct, Indemnification and Licence Granted

Postings created by users on any part of the Website, including but not limited to its Comment forums, live chats and blogs, ("Postings") are the responsibility of the user creating the Postings. TSNL HAS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR POSTINGS. However, TSNL retains the right, which it may or may not exercise, in its sole discretion, to review, edit, refuse or delete any Postings for any reason whatsoever.   TSNL will not be liable to you or any third-party for any modification or discontinuance of your Postings.

You acknowledge and agree that TSNL may preserve Postings and may also disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any law, regulation or governmental request, comply with legal process, enforce these Terms and Conditions or to protect itself, its users and/or the public.

You hereby represent and warrant that you have all necessary rights in and to all Postings you provide and that such Postings shall not infringe any proprietary or other rights of third parties or contain any libellous, tortious, or otherwise unlawful information.  Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you agree not to:

á       Infringe any proprietary or other rights of third parties, including any copyright, trademark, patents, trade secrets, privacy or other proprietary or property right;

á       Contain any libelous, tortious or otherwise unlawful information;

á       Defame, abuse, stalk, harass, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights of others, including, without limitation, rights relating to privacy and publicity;

á       Are inappropriate, profane, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent or unlawful;

á       Denigrate a class of people because of their race, religion, country of origin, sexual orientation or gender;

á       Depict violent or criminal acts, or seek to incite violence or crime;

á       Relate or pertain to any "hate group," for example, groups that are organized in part to promote the oppression of or assert the supremacy of any class of people;

á       Include a photograph of another person or personal information of another person or use that person's correspondence, diaries or personal documents without that person's consent; 

á       Post, transmit, link to, or otherwise distribute any Postings that involve or promote commercial activities or seek solicitations on behalf of charities or donations of any kind, including but not limited to, promoting any contests, sweepstakes, barter, advertising or franchise, pyramid scheme, multi-level marketing opportunity, "club membership", distributorship or sales representative agency arrangement or other business opportunity. 

á       Further or promote any criminal activity or enterprise or provide 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;

á       Could constitute a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable law.

YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY AND HOLD HARMLESS EACH OF TSNL, ITS PARENT, AFFILIATES, AND RELATED COMPANIES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES AND AGENTS FROM AND AGAINST ANY AND ALL CLAIMS, ACTIONS OR DEMANDS, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION REASONABLE LEGAL AND ACCOUNTING FEES RESULTING FROM OR RELATED TO ANY BREACH OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR YOUR USE OF OR RELIANCE ON OR PUBLICATION, COMMUNICATION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ANYTHING FROM THE WEBSITE. You shall use your best efforts to cooperate with us in the defence of any claim. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you.

By contributing Postings to the Website, you give (or warrant that the owner of such rights has expressly given) to TSNL and its affiliates a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable and nonexclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, edit, adapt, publish, translate, broadcast, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display and publicize such content anywhere, for any purpose and in any form, media or technology now known or later developed, without any compensation to you. In addition, you acknowledge and agree that you have waived any moral rights in your Postings. You further agree that TSNL is free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in any of the Postings for any purpose whatsoever including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing and marketing products using such information, without compensation to you.

Termination of Access

You agree that TSNL, in its sole discretion, may suspend or terminate your use of the Website and remove and discard any Postings at its convenience or for any reason. You agree that any suspension and/or termination of your access to the Website may be effected without prior notice and that TSNL will not be liable to you or to any other person as a result of any such suspension or termination.  

Links to Third Party Sites

Users may, through hypertext or other computer "links," gain access to other sites on the Internet which are not part of the Website and which are not controlled by TSNL. TSNL is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by TSNL of the site. TSNL ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY MATERIAL OUTSIDE OF THE WEBSITE WHICH MAY BE ACCESSED THROUGH ANY SUCH LINK.

Unless otherwise indicated on the Website, TSNL is not sponsored by or affiliated with the linked sites, and trademarks used in connection with linked sites are not trademarks of TSNL.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, TSNL IS PROVIDING THE WEBSITE ON AN "AS IS" AND ÒAS AVAILABLEÓ BASIS AND MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, IN ANY CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITE, THEIR CONTENTS, OR ANY WEB SITE OR CONTENTS WITH WHICH IT IS LINKED.  TSNL DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTION OF THE WEBSITE OR ITS CONTENTS WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THE WEBSITE OR THE SERVERS THAT MAKE IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE, SHALL TSNL BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF INCOME OR PROFIT, LOSS OF OR DAMAGE TO PROPERTY, OR FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND OR CHARACTER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY COMPENSATORY, INCIDENTAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES), EVEN IF TSNL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE WEBSITE, THEIR CONTENTS, OR ANY WEBSITE OR CONTENTS WITH WHICH IT IS LINKED. IN NO EVENT SHALL TSNLÕS TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU FOR ACCESSING THIS SITE.