Near Media Terms of Service

Adapted from Automattic under Creative Commons License.

Terms of Service

These Terms govern your access to and use of nearmedia.co, as well as all content and Near Media products and services available at or through this website (collectively, “Services”). Our Services are offered subject to your acceptance, without modification, of all of the terms and conditions contained herein and all other operating rules, policies (including, without limitation, Near Media's Privacy Policy), and procedures that may be published from time to time by Near Media (collectively, the “Agreement”). You agree that we may automatically upgrade our Services, and the Agreement will apply to any upgrades. Please read the Agreement carefully before accessing or using our Services. By accessing or using any part of our Services, you agree to become bound by the Agreement. If you do not agree to all the terms of the Agreement, then you may not access or use our Services.

1. Who’s Who

Throughout these Terms, “you” applies to both individuals and entities that access or use our Services. If you are an individual using our Services on behalf of an entity, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that entity to the Agreement and that by using our Service(s), you are accepting the Agreement on behalf of that entity.

2. Your Account

Where use of our Services requires an account, you agree to provide us with complete and accurate information when you register for an account and keep the information current. This is important because sometimes we may need to send you notable updates (for example, about changes to our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy), or we may want to let you know about and make informed choices in response to legal inquiries or complaints.

You will be solely responsible and liable for any activity that occurs under your account. You are responsible for keeping your account information up-to-date and for keeping your password secure.

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and any Service-related activity that occurs under your account and any other actions taken in connection with our Services. You shall not share or misuse your access credentials. You must immediately notify us of any unauthorized uses of your account or of any other breach of security. We will not be liable for any acts or omissions by you, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of such acts or omissions.

When you create a Near Media account, we consider that to be an inquiry about our products and services, which means that we may contact you to share more details about what we have to offer. Don't worry -- if you aren't interested in learning more, you can opt out of the marketing communication, whether it's an email, phone call, or text message.

3. Minimum Age Requirements

Our Services are not directed to children. Access to and use of our Services is only for those over the age of 16. If you are younger than this, you may not register for or use our Services. Any person who registers as a user or provides their personal information to our Services represents that they are 16 years of age or older.

4. Responsibility of Visitors and Users

We have not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the content (such as, but not limited to, text, photo, video, audio, code, computer software, items for sale, or other materials) posted to our Services by users or anyone else (“Content”) and are not responsible for any use or effects of such Content. So, for example:

  • We do not endorse any Content or represent that Content is accurate, useful, or non-harmful. Content could be offensive, indecent, or objectionable; include technical inaccuracies, typographical mistakes, or other errors; or violate or infringe the privacy, publicity rights, intellectual property rights (see our Copyright Infringement and DMCA Policy section to submit copyright complaints), or other proprietary rights of third parties.
  • If you post Content, comment on a website, or otherwise make (or allow any third party to make) Content available on our Services, you are entirely responsible for the Content, and any harm resulting from, that Content or your conduct.
  • We disclaim any responsibility for any harm resulting from anyone’s use, purchase, or downloading of Content. If you access or use any Content, you are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content.
  • Any Content offered for sale through any of our Services are the seller’s sole responsibility, and you agree that you will look solely to the seller for any damages that result from your purchase or use of Content.
  • We are not a party to, and will have no responsibility or liability for, any communications, transactions, interactions, or disputes between you and the provider of any Content.
  • Please note that additional third party terms and conditions may apply to the downloading, copying, purchase, or use of Content.

We also have not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, made available through the websites and web pages that link to, or are linked from, Nearmedia.co or our other Services. For example:

  • We may not control those websites and are not responsible for their contents or their use.
  • The existence of a link to or from one of our Services does not represent or imply that we endorse such website.
  • You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content.
  • We disclaim any responsibility for any harm resulting from non-Near-Media websites.

5. Fees, Payment, and Renewal

a. Near Media Fees

Fees for Paid Services. Some of our Services are offered for a fee, such as our Premium subscription. By using a Paid Service, you agree to pay the specified fees. These fees may be one-time fees, recurring fees, or revenue-based fees. For recurring fees, we’ll bill or charge you for in regular automatically-renewing intervals (such as monthly, annually, or biennially), on a pre-pay basis until you cancel, which you can do at any time by contacting the relevant support team.

Depending on which billing option you choose (like monthly vs. annually), there may be different features available or policies that apply to your Paid Service.

Taxes. To the extent permitted by law, or unless explicitly stated otherwise, all fees are exclusive of applicable federal, provincial, state, local or other governmental sales, goods and services, harmonized or other taxes, fees, or charges now in force or enacted in the future (“Taxes”). You are responsible for payment of all applicable Taxes relating to your use of our Services, your payments, or your purchases. If we are obligated to pay or collect Taxes on the Fees you’ve paid or will pay, you are responsible for such Taxes, and we may collect payment for such Taxes.

Payment. If your payment fails, Paid Services are otherwise not paid for or paid for on time, or we suspect a payment is fraudulent, we may immediately cancel or revoke your access to Paid Services without notice to you. If you contact your bank or credit card company to decline or reverse the charge of fees for Paid Services, we may revoke your access to our Services.

Automatic Renewal. To ensure uninterrupted service, recurring Paid Services are automatically renewed. This means that unless you cancel a Paid Service before the end of the applicable subscription period, it will automatically renew, and you authorize us to invoice you or use any payment mechanism we have on record for you to collect the then-applicable subscription fee (as well as any Taxes). By default, your Paid Services will be renewed for the same interval of time as your original subscription period. For example, if you purchase a Near Media annual plan, you will be charged each year for the following 12-month period. We may charge your account up to one month before the end of the subscription period. It is your responsibility to make sure you are checking your email (including any spam or other filters) in order to receive any reminder email we send to you in advance of renewal. The date for the automatic renewal is determined automatically based on the date of the original purchase and cannot be changed. You can view your renewal date for Near Media Paid Services by visiting your Account page on the Nearmedia.co website.

Cancelling Automatic Renewal. You can manage and cancel your Paid Services at the respective Service’s site. For example, you can manage all of your Near Media plans through your Near Media Account page. To cancel a Near Media plan, log in to your Near Media account, click on the plan you wish to cancel, then follow the instructions to “cancel the subscription.” You must repeat this process for each subscription you wish to cancel.

Fee Changes. We may change our fees at any time, or start charging fees for Services that were previously free. When applicable, we may give you advance notice of the fee changes. If you don’t agree with the fee changes, you must cancel your Paid Service.

No-Show Policy. We may have a “no-show policy” for some Paid Services, which means that if you fail to show up or are late for a scheduled session, we may withhold the Service without a refund.

Refunds. While you may cancel a Paid Service at any time, refunds are issued in our sole discretion, unless otherwise required by applicable law.

6. General Representation and Warranty

You represent and warrant that your use of our Services:

  • Will be in strict accordance with these Terms;
  • Will comply with all applicable laws and regulations (including, without limitation, all applicable laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content, privacy, data protection, the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside, the use of financial services, notification and consumer protection, unfair competition, and false advertising);
  • Will not use the Services for any unlawful purposes, to publish illegal content, or in furtherance of illegal activities;
  • Will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party;
  • Will not overburden Near Media's systems, as determined by us in our sole discretion;
  • Will not disclose sensitive personal information of others;
  • Will not be used to send spam or bulk unsolicited messages;
  • Will not interfere with, disrupt, or attack any service or network; and
  • Will not be used to create, distribute, or enable material that is - or that facilitates or operates in conjunction with - malware, spyware, adware, or other malicious programs or code.

7. Specific Service Terms

License. If you submit Content to Near Media for inclusion on our website, you grant Near Media a world-wide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, modify, adapt, and publish the Content. This license also allows Near Media to make any publicly-posted Content available to third parties selected by Near Media.

Removing Content. If you delete Content, we will use reasonable efforts to remove it from public view, but you acknowledge that caching or references to the Content may not be made immediately unavailable.

Advertisements. We reserve the right to display advertisements on our website unless you have purchased a plan that includes the removal of ads.

As we ask others to respect our intellectual property rights, we respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that material located on or associated with a Near Media product or service violates your copyright, please notify us at dmca {at} nearmedia.co. Please include

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Address
  • City
  • State/Region/Province
  • Country
  • ZIP/Postal Code
  • Phone Number
  • Name of Copyright Holder
  • Description of Copyrighted work
  • URL on which unauthorized material appears
  • URL on which original material appears

We will record and respond to all such notices, including as required or appropriate by removing the infringing material or disabling all links to the infringing material.

9. Changes

We are constantly updating our Services and that means sometimes we have to change the legal terms under which our Services are offered. These Terms may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized executive of Near Media, or by the posting by Near Media of a revised version. If we make changes that are material, we will let you know by posting on one of our blogs, or by sending you an email or other communication before the changes take effect. The notice will designate a reasonable period of time after which the new terms will take effect. If you disagree with our changes, then you should stop using our Services within the designated notice period, or once the changes become effective. Your continued use of our Services will be subject to the new terms. However, any dispute that arose before the changes shall be governed by the Terms (including the binding individual arbitration clause) that were in place when the dispute arose.

10. Termination

We may terminate your access to all or any part of our Services at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. We have the right (though not the obligation) to, in our sole discretion, (i) refuse or remove any content that, in our reasonable opinion, violates any Near Media policy or is in any way harmful or objectionable, (ii) ask you to make some adjustments or terminate your Services, or (iv) terminate or deny access to and use of any of our Services to any individual or entity for any reason. We will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid.

If you wish to terminate the Agreement or your Near Media account, you may simply discontinue using our Services, or, if you are using a paid service, you may cancel at any time, subject to the Fees, Payment, and Renewal section in these Terms.

All provisions of the Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.

11. Disclaimer of Warranties

Our Services are provided “as is.” Near Media and its suppliers and licensors hereby disclaim all warranties of any kind, express or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Neither Near Media, nor its suppliers and licensors, makes any warranty that our Services will be error free or that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted. You understand that you download from, or otherwise obtain content or services through, our Services at your own discretion and risk.

12. Jurisdiction and Applicable Law.

Except to the extent any applicable law provides otherwise, the Agreement and any access to or use of our Services will be governed by the laws of the state of Oregon, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of law provisions. The proper venue for any disputes arising out of or relating to the Agreement and any access to or use of our Services will be the state and federal courts located in Multnomah County, Oregon.

13. Arbitration Agreement

Except for claims for injunctive or equitable relief or claims regarding intellectual property rights (which may be brought in any competent court without the posting of a bond), any dispute arising under the Agreement shall be finally settled in accordance with the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules of the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service, Inc. (“JAMS”) by three arbitrators appointed in accordance with such Rules. The arbitration shall take place in Portland, Oregon, in the English language and the arbitral decision may be enforced in any court. The prevailing party in any action or proceeding to enforce the Agreement shall be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees.

14. Limitation of Liability

In no event will Near Media, or its suppliers, partners, or licensors, be liable with respect to any subject matter of the Agreement under any contract, negligence, strict liability or other legal or equitable theory for: (i) any special, incidental or consequential damages; (ii) the cost of procurement for substitute products or services; (iii) for interruption of use or loss or corruption of data; or (iv) for any amounts that exceed $50 or the fees paid by you to Near Media under the Agreement during the twelve (12) month period prior to the cause of action, whichever is greater. Near Media shall have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond their reasonable control. The foregoing shall not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Near Media, its contractors, and its licensors, and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against any and all losses, liabilities, demands, damages, costs, claims, and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to your use of our Services, including but not limited to your violation of the Agreement or any agreement with a provider of third-party services used in connection with the Services, Content that you post, and any ecommerce activities conducted through our website.

16. US Economic Sanctions

You expressly represent and warrant that your use of our Services and/or associated services and products is not contrary to applicable U.S. Sanctions. Such use is prohibited, and we reserve the right to terminate accounts or access of those in the event of a breach of this condition.

17. Miscellaneous

The Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between Near Media and you concerning the subject matter hereof. If any part of the Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. A waiver by either party of any term or condition of the Agreement or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof. You may assign your rights under the Agreement to any party that consents to, and agrees to be bound by, its terms and conditions; Near Media may assign its rights under the Agreement without condition. The Agreement will be binding upon and will inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns.