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Terms of Use

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1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS

ProEquest LLC (“ProEquest”) provides a collection of online resources, including classified ads, forums, and industry discount possibilities, (collectively, "the Service") subject to the following Terms of Use (“TOU”). By using the Service in any way, you are agreeing to comply with the TOU. In addition, when using particular ProEquest services, you agree to abide by any applicable posted guidelines for all ProEquest services, which may change from time to time. Should you object to any term or condition of the TOU, any guidelines, or any subsequent modifications thereto or become dissatisfied with ProEquest in any way, your only recourse is to immediately discontinue use of the Service. ProEquest has the right, but is not obligated, to strictly enforce the TOU through self-help, community moderation, active investigation, litigation, and prosecution.

2. MODIFICATIONS TO THIS AGREEMENT

From time to time this TOU may be modified or revised by updating this document, posting it on the ProEquest.com site, and alerting users to the existence of a new version. Such modifications are effective immediately. It is your obligation to review the TOU when updates or revisions have been posted. Your continued use of the ProEquest.com site and Service will constitute your agreement to the most current version of the TOU. If at any time you do agree to the TOU, you must cease your use of the ProEquest.com site and Service.

3. MEMBER REGISTRATION AND ACCOUNTS

To register with ProEquest.com, you must be of legal age to form a binding contract and must not be a person barred from receiving such services under the laws of the United States or other applicable jurisdiction. You must provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself during registration, and at all times while using the Service, including, without limitation, information regarding your status as a Professional or Non-professional member. You must keep all such information true, accurate, current and complete. If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, or ProEquest has reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, ProEquest has the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Service, or any portion thereof. You understand that you will receive a password and account designation upon completing the registration process. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and account, and are fully responsible for all activities, whether authorized by you or not, that occur under your password or account. You agree to (a) immediately notify ProEquest of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security, and (b) ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. ProEquest shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with these guidelines including, but not limited to, any unauthorized use of your account on ProEquest.com. ProEquest reserves the right to log off accounts that are inactive for an extended period of time.

If you register for our Service as a business, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind such businesses and otherwise act on its behalf. If you lack such authority, you will be held personally liable for all transactions into which you enter on the Site on behalf of such business.

You understand that ProEquest’s Service consists of three distinct levels of membership: Professional, Vendor, and Non-Professional. Professional members have a right to use all aspects of the Service. Vendor members have a right to use all aspects of the Service, including the posting of goods and services for sale and the posting of coupons and other Content related to the sale and marketing of their goods and services, other than the ability to list horses for sale. Non-professional members have a right to use all aspects of the Service other than the ability to post goods and services for sale, list horses for sale, and receive and redeem coupons. Use of the Service by all users is subject to ProEquest’s ability to suspend or terminate such use. You can register as a Professional member if you meet at least one of the following criteria: (1) you are a member of the United States Equestrian Federation, (2) you are a member of a comparable federation or licensing body in a foreign country, or (3) you market and sell goods or services within, produce an event related to, or are a vendor to the horse industry. The ultimate determination of whether you can register as a Professional member or a Vendor member is to be made by ProEquest at its sole discretion. You can register as a Non-professional member if you are not a member of the United States Equestrian Federation, a comparable federation or licensing body in a foreign country, and you otherwise are not in the business of selling or producing any goods or services within the horse industry. The fees applicable to Professional and Vendor members are set forth in the Fee Schedule [hyperlink]. The terms and conditions applicable to the payment of such fees are set forth in more detail below. Failure to register in the proper category is grounds for suspension or revocation of your account. By registering as a Non-professional member when, in fact, you are a Professional or a Vendor, you are thereby authorizing ProEquest.com, upon discovery thereof, to charge you the fees applicable to professionals retroactively from the date of your registration, including, without limitation any transaction fees resulting from the miscategorization, as set forth in the Fee Schedule [hyperlink].

4. FEES, REFUNDS, AND CANCELLATION POLICIES

By registering on the ProEquest.com site, you are authorizing ProEquest to bill you in accordance with the Fee Schedule[hyperlink], which ProEquest may modify from time to time in accordance herewith. Fees are stated in US dollars. Not all functions of the Service carry a fee. In order to access certain features and services available on the Service, you may be required to become a registered member of the ProEquest.com site and pay a fee. By providing your credit card or bank account information to ProEquest, you are giving permission to debit your account from time to time in the amounts of the fees accrued by you in connection with your use of the Service and your engaging in actions on the ProEquest.com site that carry such fees pursuant to the Fee Schedule [hyperlink]. You represent and warrant that the credit card information supplied to us is true, correct, and complete, that payments made by you will be honored by your credit card company, and that you shall pay for all charges incurred through use of your login credential. You are solely responsible for payment of all sales and other taxes arising from your use and access of Service. All sales are final and all payments are nonrefundable.

If you are a Professional or Vendor member, you will have seven (7) day Free Trial Period from the date of your registration as a member to cancel your account and receive a refund of the quarterly or annual Initial Fee. ProEquest has sole discretion to process requests for refunding of the Initial Fee after seven (7) days beyond the date of your registration. If you are a Professional or Vendor member and thus subject to the annual or quarterly fee, your credit card will be charged during the applicable annual or quarterly Renewal Fee period. You may cancel your membership and receive a refund of your Renewal Fee by emailing [email protected] [hyperlink] within seven (7) days of the date of the Renewal Fee. It is your sole responsibility to know when your Renewal Fee is due and to inform ProEquest of your decision not to renew your membership. ProEquest has sole discretion to process requests for refunding of the Renewal Fee after seven (7) days beyond the date of the Renewal Fee. You may cancel your membership at anytime. Fees will not be prorated upon cancellation.

5. CONTENT

You understand that ProEquest.com is only a service provider of a platform upon which you and others can participate in the exchange of information, including statements of fact and opinions. ProEquest has no obligation to exercise any editorial control over any and all postings, messages, text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, or other materials (collectively, "Content") posted on the ProEquest.com site and Service. You understand that all Content posted on, transmitted through, or linked from the ProEquest.com site and Service, is the sole responsibility of the person from whom such Content originated. More specifically, you are entirely responsible for each individual item of Content that you post, email, or otherwise make available via the Service. By listing a product, service, or horse on the ProEquest.com site, you agree to assume full responsibility for the content of the listing and item offered, and accept the conditions set out in the TOU. By submitting any content to our site, you represent and warrant to us that such Content is true and correct in all respects, that you have the right to submit such Content, and that ProEquest’s use of the Content through the Service, and as described in the TOU, will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including without limitation any intellectual property rights and rights of privacy.

No brokerage, agency, or other fiduciary relationship is created between you (or any other party) and ProEquest, by virtue of your (or such party’s) use of the Service, or reliance on Content made available through the service. ProEquest does not control, and is not responsible for, Content made available through the Service, and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such content. In particular, but without limitation, ProEquest does not guarantee or warrant the owner or seller's products, horses, services, or representations. ProEquest does not guarantee a product’s or horse's performance or fitness for a particular purpose. ProEquest strongly recommends that, in the case of the purchase of a horse, a pre-purchase exam be performed by the buyer's equine veterinarian of choice on any horse prior to purchase. ProEquest.com does not guarantee or warrant the performance of any person or entity advertising on its site.

You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, that you may not rely on said Content, and that under no circumstances will ProEquest.com be liable in any way for any Content or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed, or otherwise made available via the Service. You acknowledge that ProEquest does not pre-screen or approve Content, but that ProEquest shall have the right (but not the obligation) in its sole discretion to refuse, delete or move any Content that is available via the Service, for violating the letter or spirit of the TOU or for any other reason.

ProEquest does not endorse or ratify any statements made by any user of this service. ProEquest may ( but shall not be obligated to) report to appropriate governing bodies any act or omission of any person that is in violation for the TOU or the rules, regulations, canons of conduct, or other licensing requirements of such bodies. ProEquest may (but has no obligation to) remove any content posted on our site at any time for any reason. The Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. 230, provides that ProEquest, as the provider of service, shall not be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by the users of the site. You shall have no claim against ProEquest for Content posted by users.

6. THIRD PARTY CONTENT, SITES, AND SERVICES

The ProEquest.com site and Content available through the Service may contain features and functionalities that may link you or provide you with access to third party content which is completely independent of ProEquest, including web sites, directories, servers, networks, systems, information and databases, applications, software, programs, products or services, and the Internet as a whole. Your linking to any other websites is at your own risk. ProEquest makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the information contained in any such site. Your interactions with organizations and/or individuals found on or through the Service, including payment and delivery of goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such organizations and/or individuals. You should make whatever investigation you feel necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any online or offline transaction with any other user or third party.

7. USER CONDUCT

You agree not to post, email, or otherwise make available Content:

  1. that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, or is harmful to minors in any way;
  2. that is pornographic or depicts a human being or animal engaged in sexual conduct;
  3. that harasses, degrades, intimidates or is hateful toward an individual or group of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age, or disability;
  4. that violates the Fair Housing Act by stating, in any notice or ad for the sale or rental of any dwelling, a discriminatory preference based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap (or violates any state or local law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of these or other characteristics);
  5. that violates federal, state, or local equal employment opportunity laws, including but not limited to, stating in any advertisement for employment a preference or requirement based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability;
  6. with respect to employers that employ four or more employees, that violates the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, including requiring U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency (green card status) as a condition for employment, unless otherwise required in order to comply with law, regulation, executive order, or federal, state, or local government contract;
  7. that impersonates any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a ProEquest employee, or falsely states or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity;
  8. that includes personal or identifying information about another person without that person's explicit consent;
  9. that is false, deceptive, misleading, deceitful, misinformative, or constitutes “bait and switch”;
  10. that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party, or Content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships;
  11. that constitutes or contains “affiliate marketing,” “link referral code,” “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or unsolicited commercial advertisement;
  12. that constitutes or contains any form of advertising or solicitation posted in areas of the ProEquest.com site which is not designated for such purposes, or emailed to ProEquest.com users who have not indicated in writing that it is ok to contact them about other services, products, or commercial interests;
  13. that includes links to commercial services or web sites, except as allowed in “"services”;
  14. that advertises any illegal service or the sale of any items the sale of which is prohibited or restricted by any applicable law, including without limitation items the sale of which is prohibited or regulated by California law;
  15. that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
  16. that disrupts the normal flow of dialogue with an excessive amount of Content (“flooding attack”) to the Service, or that otherwise negatively affects other users' ability to use the Service; or
  17. that employs misleading email addresses, or forged headers or otherwise manipulated identifiers in order to disguise the origin of Content transmitted through the Service.

Additionally, you agree not to:

  1. contact anyone who has asked not to be contacted, or make unsolicited contact with anyone for any commercial purpose;
  2. “stalk” or otherwise harass anyone;
  3. collect personal data about other users for commercial or unlawful purposes;
  4. use automated means, including spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools, or the like to download data from the Service - unless expressly permitted by ProEquest;
  5. post irrelevant Content, repeatedly post the same or similar Content or otherwise impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
  6. attempt to gain unauthorized access to ProEquest’s computer systems or engage in any activity that disrupts, diminishes the quality of, interferes with the performance of, or impairs the functionality of, the Service or the ProEquest website; or
  7. use any form of automated device or computer program that enables the submission of postings on ProEquest without each posting being manually entered by the author thereof (an “automated posting device”), including without limitation, the use of any such automated posting device to submit postings in bulk, or for automatic submission of postings at regular intervals.
  8. use any form of automated device or computer program (“flagging tool”) that enables the use of ProEquest's "flagging system" or other community moderation systems without each flag being manually entered by the person that initiates the flag (an “automated flagging device”), or use the flagging tool to remove posts of competitors, or to remove posts without a good faith belief that the post being flagged violates these TOU;

8. POSTING AGENTS

A “Posting Agent” is a third-party agent, service, or intermediary that offers to post Content to the Service on behalf of others. To moderate demands on ProEquest’s resources, you may not use a Posting Agent to post Content to the Service without express permission or license from ProEquest. Correspondingly, Posting Agents are not permitted to post Content on behalf of others, to cause Content to be so posted, or otherwise access the Service to facilitate posting Content on behalf of others, except with express permission or license from ProEquest.

9. NO SPAM POLICY

You understand and agree that sending unsolicited email advertisements to ProEquest email addresses or through ProEquest computer systems, which is expressly prohibited by these Terms, will use or cause to be used servers located in California. Any unauthorized use of ProEquest computer systems is a violation of these Terms and certain federal and state laws, including without limitation the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. § 1030 et seq.), Section 502 of the California Penal Code and Section 17538.45 of the California Business and Professions Code. Such violations may subject the sender and his or her agents to civil and criminal penalties.

10. NOTIFICATION OF CLAIMS OF INFRINGEMENT

ProEquest does not necessarily monitor any materials posted, transmitted, or communicated to or within the ProEquest.com site. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please notify ProEquest’s agent for notice of claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement (“Agent”), at [email protected].

Please provide our Agent with the following Notice:

  1. Identify the material on the ProEquest.com site that you claim is infringing, with enough detail so that we may locate it on the website;
  2. A 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;
  3. A statement by you declaring under penalty of perjury that (1) the above information in your Notice is accurate, and (2) that you are the owner of the copyright interest involved or that you are authorized to act on behalf of that owner;
  4. Your address, telephone number, and email address; and
  5. Your physical or electronic signature.
  6. ProEquest will remove the infringing posting(s), subject to the procedures outlined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

11. LIMITATIONS ON SERVICE

You acknowledge that ProEquest may establish limits concerning use of the Service, including the maximum number of days that Content will be retained by the Service, the maximum number and size of postings, email messages, or other Content that may be transmitted or stored by the Service, and the frequency with which you may access the Service. You agree that ProEquest has no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to store any Content maintained or transmitted by the Service. You acknowledge that ProEquest reserves the right at any time to modify or discontinue the Service (or any part thereof) with or without notice, and that ProEquest shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.

12. ACCESS TO THE SERVICE

ProEquest grants you a limited, revocable, nonexclusive license to access the Service for your own personal use. This license does not include:

  1. access to the Service by Posting Agents; or
  2. any collection, aggregation, copying, duplication, display or derivative use of the Service nor any use of data mining, robots, spiders, or similar data gathering and extraction tools for any purpose unless expressly permitted by ProEquest. A limited exception to (b) is provided to general purpose internet search engines and non-commercial public archives that use such tools to gather information for the sole purpose of displaying hyperlinks to the Service, provided they each do so from a stable IP address or range of IP addresses using an easily identifiable agent. “General purpose internet search engine” does not include a website or search engine or other service that specializes in classified listings or in any subset of classifieds listings such as jobs, housing, for sale, services, or personals, or which is in the business of providing classified ad listing services.

ProEquest permits you to display on your website, or create a hyperlink on your website to, individual postings on the Service so long as such use is for noncommercial and/or news reporting purposes only (e.g., for use in personal web blogs or personal online media). If the total number of such postings displayed or linked to on your website exceeds one hundred (100) postings, your use will be presumed to be in violation of the TOU, absent express permission granted by ProEquest to do so. You may also create a hyperlink to the home page of ProEquest.com site so long as the link does not portray ProEquest, its employees, or its affiliates in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive matter.

Use of the Service beyond the scope of authorized access granted to you by ProEquest immediately terminates said permission or license. In order to collect, aggregate, copy, duplicate, display or make derivative use of the Service or any Content made available via the Service for other purposes (including commercial purposes) not stated herein, you must first obtain a license from ProEquest.

13. TERMINATION OF SERVICE

You agree that ProEquest, in its sole discretion, has the right (but not the obligation) to delete or deactivate your account, block your email or IP address, or otherwise terminate your access to or use of the Service (or any part thereof), immediately and without notice, and remove and discard any Content within the Service, for any reason, including, without limitation, if ProEquest believes that you have acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the TOU. All fees paid will be non-refundable in the event that Content is removed from the Service or your account is terminated for violating the TOU. Further, you agree that ProEquest shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination of your access to the Service. Further, you agree not to attempt to use the Service after said termination. This Sections shall survive termination of the TOU.

14. PRIVACY AND INFORMATION DISCLOSURE

ProEquest will use your information only as described in the ProEquest Privacy Policy, which is available at proequest.com/privacy. ProEquest views protection of users' privacy as a very important community principle. ProEquest stores and processes your information on computers located in the United States that are protected by physical as well as technological security devices. If you provide contact information to users or third parties interested in your product(s), horse(s), or services, ProEquest is not responsible for any misuse of this information by those users or third parties. For a complete description of how ProEquest uses and protects your personal information, see the ProEquest Privacy Policy. Your use of the ProEquest.com website or the Service signifies acknowledgement of and agreement to our Privacy Policy. If you object to your information being transferred or used in this way please do not use our services.

15. PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

The Service is protected to the maximum extent permitted by copyright laws and international treaties. Content displayed on or through the Service is protected by copyright as a collective work and/or compilation, pursuant to copyrights laws, and international conventions. Any reproduction, modification, creation of derivative works from or redistribution of the site or the collective work, and/or copying or reproducing the sites or any portion thereof to any other server or location for further reproduction or redistribution is prohibited without the express written consent of ProEquest. You further agree not to reproduce, duplicate or copy Content from the Service without the express written consent of ProEquest, and agree to abide by any and all copyright notices displayed on the Service. You may not decompile or disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise attempt to discover any source code contained in the Service.

Although ProEquest does not claim ownership of content that its users post, by posting Content to any public area of the Service, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to ProEquest an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, and distribute said Content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, said Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses (through multiple tiers) of the foregoing. Furthermore, by posting Content to any public area of the Service, you automatically grant ProEquest all rights necessary to prohibit any subsequent aggregation, display, copying, duplication, reproduction, or exploitation of the Content on the Service by any party for any purpose.

16. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

YOU AGREE THAT USE OF THE PROEQUEST.COM SITE AND THE SERVICE IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE PROEQUEST.COM SITE AND THE SERVICE ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" OR "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. ALL EXPRESS AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, PROEQUEST DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES FOR THE SECURITY, RELIABILITY, TIMELINESS, ACCURACY, AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROEQUEST.COM SITE AND THE SERVICE. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, PROEQUEST DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES FOR OTHER SERVICES OR GOODS RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED ON THE PROEQUEST.COM SITE OR THE SERVICE, OR ACCESSED THROUGH ANY LINKS ON THE PROEQUEST.COM SITE. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, PROEQUEST DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES FOR VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROEQUEST.COM SITE OR THE SERVICE.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties. In such jurisdictions, some of the foregoing disclaimers may not apply to you insofar as they relate to implied warranties.

17. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

You will not hold ProEquest responsible for other users' content, actions or inactions, items they list, or their destruction of allegedly fake or damaged items. The site is a venue to allow users to offer, sell, and buy goods and services related to the horse industry from other users or third parties. ProEquest is not involved in the actual transaction between buyers and sellers. ProEquest does not transfer legal ownership of items from the seller to the buyer.

If there is a dispute between users of the Service, or between users and any third party, you understand and agree that ProEquest is under no obligation to become involved. In the event that you have a dispute with one or more other users, you hereby release ProEquest, its officers, employees, agents and successors in rights from claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and/or our service in so far as such claims, demands, and damages are based on the conduct of other users or third parties. If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code Section 1542, which says: “A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which, if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor.”

YOUR USE OF THE SITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. NEITHER SIMPSON STRONG-TIE, NOR ANY OF ITS PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES OR AFFILIATES, NOR ANY OF THEIR EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS OR DIRECTORS, ARE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE SITE OR ITS CONTENT, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF PROEQUEST IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of warranties or exclusion of damages, so such disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you.

18. INDEMNITY

You agree to indemnify and hold ProEquest, its officers, subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, assigns, directors, officers, agents, service providers, suppliers and employees, harmless from any judgments, losses, deficiencies, damages, liabilities, costs, claims, demands, suits, and expenses, including without limitation reasonable attorney fees and costs, due to, arising out of, or in any way related to Content you submit, post, or make available through the Service, your use of the Service, your violation of the TOU, your breach of any of the representations and warranties herein, or your violation of any rights of another.

19. COMPLAINTS

If there are problems with the ProEquest.com site and Service or with the conduct or content of a particular user, we want to know about them so that we can attempt to address and fix them. You agree to report community-related complaints and problems promptly. To report a violation of the TOU or to complain about a comment, e-mail your complaint to our staff at [email protected] [hyperlink], who will review your complaint and take appropriate action. You agree not to post problem reports and complaints publically on the site, or to comment publicly on host or staff actions. You agree you will not harass our staff. You will not engage in behavior that requires our staff to expend excessive time and/or resources. In addition, these Rules of Conduct apply to anything you upload to or create on our sites, including comments, screen names, member profiles, and any other text or images. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your membership for violation of the above rules.

20. INTERNATIONAL USE

As a consequence of the global nature of the Internet, some users of the ProEquest.com site and Service may reside outside the United States. Users residing outside the United States agree to comply with all local rules regarding user conduct on the Internet and acceptable content. Specifically, such users agree to comply with all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside.

22. GENERAL INFORMATION

This TOU constitutes the entire agreement between the user and ProEquest with respect to this website and it supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals, whether electronic, oral or written, between the user and ProEquest with respect to this website. This TOU is governed by the laws of the State of California, USA. You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of courts in Marin County, California, USA, in all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of the ProEquest site and the Service. The prevailing party in any such dispute will have the right to payment of its attorneys fees and costs of suit by the non-prevailing party or parties. You agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between you and ProEquest.com as a result of this agreement or use of this website. ProEquest.com’s performance of this agreement is subject to existing laws and legal process, and nothing contained in this agreement is in derogation of ProEquest.com’s right to comply with law enforcement requests or requirements relating to your use of this website or information provided to or gathered by ProEquest.com with respect to such use. If any part of this agreement is determined to be invalid or unenforceable pursuant to applicable law including, but not limited to, the warranty disclaimers and liability limitations set forth above, then the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision and the remainder of this agreement shall continue in effect. Use of the ProEquest.com website is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these terms and conditions, including without limitation this paragraph. A printed version of this agreement and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this agreement to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.