Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

Effective January 1, 2008

 

General Rules

Use of any software or services offered by The Internet Marketing Center (“IMC”) (“IMC Software and Services“) and including any Merchant Website, Merchant Weblink and Merchant Content as defined in the applicable IMC terms and conditions, must be lawful, ethical, and respectful of the legal rights and interests of all other persons. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following rules apply to the use of all IMC Software and Services:

• Lawful Use. Use of IMC Software and Services must comply with all applicable laws and all orders, policies and directives applicable to Internet users and domain name owners.
• Other Person's Rights. Use of IMC Software and Services must not infringe the rights (including without limitation personal information privacy and personality rights and intellectual property rights) of any other person, or assist any person to infringe the rights of any other person. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Merchant Content must not include any material that is or could be considered to be unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another person's privacy, promoting or providing instructional information about illegal activities, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable.
• No Disruptive Use. IMC Software and Services must not be used or permitted to be used, directly or indirectly, in any manner or for any purpose that damages, disables, harms, overburdens or impairs any portion of IMC's software, hardware, systems and services or any other person's use and enjoyment of IMC's software, hardware, systems and services or the Internet generally, or has the potential to do any of the foregoing (as determined by IMC in its discretion), including without limitation an excessive amount of traffic to the Merchant Website or Merchant Weblink, an excessive distribution of data by or through the Merchant Website or Merchant Weblink, or any other uses that may damage, disrupt, compromise or degrade the integrity, efficiency, performance or security of the IMC Software and Services or that may otherwise or result in the circumvention or breach of any user authentication, password, security or control measures regarding the IMC Software and Services or any other Internet resource or computer system.
• No Harmful Content. IMC Software and Services must not be used to directly or indirectly distribute, transmit, communicate, or otherwise make available any materials that contain any intentional or unintentional virus, trojan horse, worm, time bomb, cancelbot, spyware, malware, disabling device or other computer code that may damage, disrupt, disable, compromise, degrade, harm, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate, interrupt, lock, disable, erase, limit the functionality or use of, or otherwise adversely affect, or facilitate unauthorized access to or use of, the IMC Software and Services or any other computer system, hardware, software, telecommunications equipment, or data, or any materials that have had any copyright management information or controls altered or removed without the express permission of the owner of the materials.
• No Spam. IMC Software and Services must not be used to directly or indirectly post, upload, reproduce, distribute or otherwise transmit, or collect responses from, any unauthorized or unsolicited email messages, unsolicited junk or bulk messages, unsolicited commercial messages, chain letters, and other forms of spam, and IMC reserves the right to determine in its discretion whether a message constitutes spam. Users of IMC Software and Services must not forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any content transmitted through the IMC Software and Services.
• Prohibited Products or Services. IMC Software and Services must not be used to sell or promote escort services; firearms; illegal drugs; information used to circumvent copy-protection devices; pharmaceutical or other controlled substances; sexual or adult paraphernalia; unauthorized copies of computer programs; weapons or instructions how to assemble, make or use weapons; or any products or services that are unlawful under any applicable laws. IMC Software and Services must not be used to provide material support or resources, or to disguise or conceal the nature, location, source or ownership of support or resources, to any organization designated by the United States government as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
• No Gaming. IMC Software and Services must not be used to directly or indirectly offer or participate in gambling or other forms of gaming (including without limitation sweepstakes, raffles, lotteries, contests, or pyramid or Ponzi schemes).
• Prohibited Purposes. IMC Software and Services must not be used, directly or indirectly, for any purpose or in any manner that is or may be abusive, contain nudity, deceptive, defamatory, derogatory, discriminatory, false, fraudulent (including impersonation of others), harassing, harmful, hateful, indecent, intimidating, invasive of the privacy rights of others, libelous, misleading, objectionable, obscene, offensive, pornographic, profane, racist, sexist, sexually explicit, slanderous, threatening, violent, vulgar, unlawful or otherwise objectionable (as determined by IMC its discretion), or which advocate, depict, encourage, or tend to incite any such conduct, the commission of a crime or other unlawful activities. IMC Software and Services may not be used to create websites or directories that act as storage for remote loading or as a door or signpost to another website or directory.
• Dealings with Minors. IMC Software and Services must not be used to sell any product or service to minors or in any manner that may be exploitive of or harmful to minors.
• Notices. Use of IMC Software and Services must comply with all notices IMC may send to Merchant or post on the IMC Website regarding proper use of the IMC Software and Services.

 

Complaints

IMC may take such action as it considers appropriate in its discretion if it becomes aware of any inappropriate uses of IMC Software and Services, without any notice or liability to Merchant or any other person. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, IMC's responses may include immediately blocking access to the Merchant Website or Merchant Weblink or deleting Merchant Content.

Violations of this IMC Acceptable Use Policy may be reported by sending to abuse@marketingtips.com an email containing your name, email address, postal address, telephone number, the subject matter of your complaint, and a concise summary of your complaint.

 

Compliance, Consequences, and Law Enforcement Disclosure

IMC may in its discretion determine whether this IMC Acceptable Use Policy has been violated, and may take such technological and other steps as it considers appropriate in its discretion to stop the violation of this IMC Acceptable Use Policy.

Violations of this IMC Acceptable Use Policy constitute a breach of the Terms and Conditions for IMC Software and Services, and may result in termination or suspension of IMC Software and Services and other consequences, and may subject the responsible persons to criminal and civil liability.

IMC's failure to enforce this IMC Acceptable Use Policy, for whatever reason, will not be construed as a waiver of any preceding or subsequent violation of this IMC Acceptable Use Policy. IMC will not be liable to Merchant or any other person for failure to enforce this IMC Acceptable Use Policy.

IMC may in its discretion report perceived violations of this IMC Acceptable Use Policy or applicable laws to law enforcement authorities. IMC will co-operate fully with law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected unlawful conduct, including providing Merchants' and Users' personal information (including email account information and payment information) and copies of materials used in connection with IMC Software and Services, including Merchant Content, without any notice or liability to Merchant or any other person.

Nothing in this IMC Acceptable Use Policy limits IMC's rights or remedies in any way with respect to a failure to comply with any of the foregoing provisions (including, without limitation, IMC's rights or remedies under the Terms and Conditions for IMC Software and Services) and IMC reserves all rights and remedies available to it with respect to such activities at law or in equity.