Terms of Use
Effective Date: 4 April 2023
1. Introduction
Welcome to Merge! Merge is a mobile and web application owned and operated by Kindred, Inc. The application, Merge, and the company, Kindred, Inc. will be referenced interchangeably in this Agreement using the names “Company”, “Merge”, “Service”, “Provider”, and “We”. The user, or you who is reading this Agreement, will be referenced to as “User”, “Customer”, and “You”, (“your”). The other products owned and operated by the Company may be referenced throughout this document as “Property”, “Properties”, “App”, “Apps”, “Service”, and “Services”.
By accessing Merge, including the mobile application, the website, www.merge.fyi, and any and all Properties owned and operated by the Company, whether via a mobile device, mobile application, laptop computer, desktop computer, smart watch, smart device, tablet, phone, television device, or any other device that connects to the Internet, you agree fully and completely to these Terms of Use in their entirety and without exception, whether you have a Merge account or not. If you do not agree with any of the following information in this Terms of Use Agreement, do not use Merge or continue to access any of its Properties, whether mobile, web, or otherwise. The Company reserves the right to refuse access to the Service to any person, including you, at any time for any reason, and is not obligated to inform the user why they have been refused access, or may not be legally allowed to disclose this.
Furthermore, please refer to the Merge Privacy Policy. The Merge Privacy Policy is incorporated throughout this Terms of Use Agreement and will be referenced by this Agreement. You must agree to the Merge Privacy Policy and the Merge Terms of Use in order to access this Service. If you do not agree with any or all of this Agreement, you must not create a Merge account or continue to access any and all Properties owned and operated by Kindred, Inc.
2. Acceptance and Acknowledgement of Terms of Use Agreement
This Terms of Use Agreement is a legally binding electronic contract that establishes the legally binding terms and conditions that you, the user, must accept in order to use the Service. As mentioned above, this Agreement includes Merge’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which must both be read, accepted, and understood as a whole in order for you to access the Service.
By accessing Merge, you agree to accept this legally binding Agreement as a whole and in its electronic form as presented, including conditions, notices and disclaimers governing any and all features, promotions, trials, in-app purchases, offers, account creation, account suspension, account deletion, content creation, data collection, data dissemination, location tracking, data deletion, and community guidelines. If you would like a physical copy of this Agreement, please print this page or contact [email protected] with the subject “Physical copy of Terms of Use Agreement”.
Kindred, Inc. reserves the right to change this Agreement at any time for any reason. Changes will apply and go into effect immediately upon their public release via the Merge website, social media, and/or mobile application(s).
3. Eligibility
Merge is not intended for use by persons less than 13 years of age. You must be at least 13 years of age or older in order to access Merge, regardless of your nationality, country of access or origin. If you are under the age of 18, you must have received consent from a parent or legal guardian to sign up for and use Merge.
Any fraudulent misrepresentation of age will result in immediate account termination and blocking from all future access to the Service.
The nature of software is that it is sometimes flawed, therefore the Company does not guarantee the complete effectiveness of any of its software.
Use of the Service is legally void and invalid where it is deemed prohibited. You are responsible for adhering to and complying with the given laws of the country from which you access the Service.
Any violation that conflicts with this eligibility clause will result in immediate account termination and access to the Service.
The Company reserves the right to conduct background checks on any users with information made available through the public record and take appropriate action if the Company finds that a user is in violation of this Agreement.
The Company reserves the right to report any and all illegal activity to the proper authorities.
4. Account Creation
In order to create a personal account with Merge and access the Service at any future time, users must sign up and log in to the Service with a valid name, email address, and password. If creating an account as a couple’s account administrator, you will be required to subscribe. Failure to do so may result in adverse effects on the Service and its functionality, for which the Company cannot be held liable or accountable. Password can only be reset with the corresponding and given email address.
A user is prohibited from creating an account with another person’s email address. Such fraudulent activity will be considered as severely as identity theft and will be reported to the appropriate authorities.
For more information about the type of information that the Company accesses from your information, please refer to the Merge Privacy Policy.
5. Account Suspension
In order to personally suspend/disable or delete a personal account with Merge, the user must contact the Company at [email protected]. An in-app feature to do so is currently not available. In accordance with the EU’s GDPR, California's CCPA, and the Company’s position on personal privacy and data protection, a user may request to have certain identifiable information disabled or deleted. For more information, please refer to the Privacy Policy.
Upon account suspension or deletion for any reason, whether by you or by the Company, you will not be entitled to any refunds or access to the data you generated on or for the Service.
The Company reserves the right to maintain possession of certain information and data both generated by the suspended or deleted user for any period of time, without any limitations or obligations to the user. This typically has to do with users who violate this Agreement. For more details, please refer to the Privacy Policy.
Upon the suspension or deletion of your account on the Service, all terms of this Agreement survive such termination and continue in full force and effect, except for any terms within the Agreement that expire or become fully satisfied.
A user may reactivate a suspended account at any time if they are otherwise not blocked from use of the Service.
6. Reporting Other Users for Inappropriate Content and/or Behavior
The Service allows and encourages users to report other users of the Service if they are believed to have posted Content, or acted or behaved in any way that may violate this Agreement or the law. Please refer to Sections 15 and 16 for reference and a list of inappropriate and prohibited activities, including prohibited Content, actions and behavior.
7. Users Blocking Other Users
Blocking other users is currently not available. Please contact [email protected] for more information.
8. The Company Blocking/Suspending Violating Users and Deleting User Content
It is the sole discretion of the Company to determine whether or not a user is in violation of or has breached this Agreement. A user has no recourse against the company if they have been found to be in violation of this Agreement and are subsequently blocked or have their accounts suspended from the Service by the Company.
The Company reserves the right to refuse access to the Service to any violating user, including you, at any time for any reason, and is not obligated to inform the violating user why they have been refused access, or may not be legally allowed to disclose why the violating user has been refused access.
If a violating user is blocked or suspended from the Service, this does not necessarily mean that their account profile has been deleted from Merge’s database. The Company reserves the right to maintain possession of the violating user’s account information, in full or partial form, for any period of time, without any limitation or obligation to the violating user.
Violating users are not entitled to and will not receive any refund for any in-app purchases, and will not be granted access to their accounts for any reason.
The Company reserves the right to remove a violating user’s Content or entire account at any time for any reason without explanation.
Blocking/suspending a violating user from the Service DOES NOT constitute a termination of this Agreement. The Company is entitled to conduct an internal investigation, if any, of the blocked/suspended violating user’s account and Content and can and will contact the appropriate authorities if necessary. Upon completion of the internal investigation (if any), the Company is not obligated to delete the blocked/suspended violating user’s account profile information, and is entitled to maintain the violating user’s unique email address and other information provided.
If a violating user discovers that they have been blocked/suspended from the Service, the Company reserves the right to refuse them account re-instatement and/or account deletion.
This Agreement remains in tact and in full force even if the user’s account has been blocked/suspended or even completely terminated and deleted from its servers and database by the Company, except for any terms within the Agreement that, by their nature, expire or become fully satisfied.
9. Non-Commercial Use by Users
Merge is intended for personal, non-commercial use only.
10. Privacy
Please refer to the Merge Privacy Policy.
11. Security of Your User Account
Use of the Service and any of its features and components is entirely at your own risk and discretion. Maintaining the security of your account information, including but not limited to your login credentials and any and all information uploaded to the Merge network via your account, is entirely your own responsibility. In no way is the Company to ever be held accountable for lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised account information.
It is your duty to report any irregularities with your account immediately upon discovery to the Company by contacting [email protected].
The Company DOES NOT automatically log you out of the Service after each session. Therefore, in order to limit your risk, you agree to log out from your account after each session.
The Company is not responsible for compromised accounts in the event in which the device upon which you have Merge stored is lost, stolen, sold, given away, donated, or otherwise out of your possession.
The Company is not responsible for compromised accounts, or any information that is lost or stolen at any time from anywhere, whether from your device(s) upon which Merge is made available and accessed, or even the Company’s databases, servers, offices, company records, or otherwise.
12. User Interactions With Other Users
YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY AND ALL INTERACTIONS ON THE SERVICE.
The Company is not responsible for the behavior, Content, or conduct of its users. In no way shall the Company or any of its affiliates, partners, sponsors, owners, officers, agents, shareholders, employees, advertisers, or other users associated or unassociated with any incident be directly or indirectly held accountable or liable for any losses or damages to you or any users, whether direct, indirect, general, special, compensatory, consequential, and/or incidental, as a result of, rising out of, or in any way relating to the conduct of you or anyone else in connection with the use of Merge including, without limitation or exceptions, bodily injury, emotional distress, financial damages, personal loss, theft, destruction of property, and/or any and all other damages resulting from communications, interactions, electronic meetings, and meetings in person with other users made through or facilitated by the Service.
With the above-mentioned inherent risks, you agree to take all of the necessary steps and precautions to protect yourself from harm or damages of any kind.
The Company makes no promises or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, as to the legitimacy of its users with whom you interact, whether electronically through the Service, or in person.
13. Proprietary Information, Technology, and Rights
Kindred, Inc. owns and retains all proprietary rights and control of the Service, including but not limited to trademarks, service marks, patents, designs, logos, imagery, all forms of data, audio files, messaging, image files, video files, text Content, slogans, trade names, trade secrets, any and all Content created by the Company and its users, without limitation or obligation unless otherwise stated.
You agree not to modify, change, transmit, recreate, copy, clone, reproduce, manufacture, engineer, reverse engineer, decompile, sell, sublicense, decipher, disassemble, or create any derivative works of any portion of this Service, its features, or any of the Company’s associated intellectual property for any reason including, but not limited to, competing directly or indirectly with this Service.
You agree not to modify any portion of this Service, as is, in any way, shape or form, including creating, uploading, modifying, or deleting any Company-created Content, structures, infrastructure, code, scripts, physical assets, or digital assets of the Service.
14. Content You Create and Submit/Post/Distribute to/via Merge
The Service builds its business and database based on community- (and/or) crowd-curated information and data input. Everything an individual user adds, places, uploads, distributes, or provides to the Service, including in any of its features may be stored, aggregated, utilized, redistributed, and made available to the rest of the Service’s community as both personally identifiable and personally non-identifiable information. The Company does not verify the accuracy, reliability, or legitimacy of this information or data, and it is up to you, the user, to use your best judgment and discretion when making decisions and how to act on the information provided, both on the Service and in person. The information and data provided by the users of the Service does not necessarily represent the values and viewpoints of the Company, and is not a direct representation of the Company.
By posting any kind of Content to the Service (including ANY FEEDBACK, ADVICE, AND/OR IDEAS given by a user to the Company through any means of communication to improve, change, alter, or update the Service in any way), you, the user, automatically grant the Company, its affiliates, owners, licensees, and successors infinite, irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free, obligation-free, limitation-free, non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, fully paid-up, local, domestic, and worldwide rights and license to use, post, place, render, clone, sell, sublicense, copy, store, modify, alter, replicate, perform, reenact, display, stream, reproduce, record, beam, transmit, project, play, adapt, transfer and distribute the Content; to prepare derivative works and products of the Content and/or incorporate the Content into other works and products; and grant and authorize sublicenses of the Content in any media now known or hereafter created. You, the user, represent and warrant that any posting and use of your Content by the Company will not infringe or violate your rights or the rights of any third party.
You, the user, are solely responsible for the Content you upload to the Service that is transmitted, stored, and retransmitted to and from the Company’s databases and it’s own and/or third-party servers. This information includes any form of data that you post, publish, link, display, upload, store, or otherwise make available to the Service and its users.
You hereby verify that you are the owner of the email account with which you log in to and use the Service. Misrepresentation of this will be treated as severely and seriously as identify theft and will be reported to the appropriate authorities and result in immediate account suspension.
You are prohibited from uploading any Content that the Company may deem offensive and in violation of this Agreement or governing laws. Such Content includes but is not limited to any and all speech, text, video, audio, and Content:
You fully understand that, given the high volume and influx of Content, the Company does its best to monitor the information provided by its users, but cannot address everything. We ask for your help in maintaining the integrity of the platform and community by reporting any and all violating Content directly from within each applicable feature.
The Company reserves the right to report any user to law enforcement authorities for breaking any laws.
The Company reserves the right to suspend any user accounts it finds in violation of this or any other section of this Agreement.
All Content that you place, save, share, or upload must be deemed appropriate, viewable, and relevant by all users of the Service, within reason.
You agree to protect your rights and the rights of others using the Service, as dictated by governing law and this Agreement, to the fullest extent.
The Company does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any user-generated Content; nor does the company endorse, adopt, or accept any responsibility for any user-generated opinions. Under no circumstances will the Company be held liable for any loss or damage resulting from, or allegedly resulting from your reliance on any user-generated content.
15. Prohibited Activities
The following is a list of prohibited activities, Content, and actions when using and/or accessing the Service. Any violation will result in the immediate suspension of a user’s account, and if necessary, may involve contacting law enforcement authorities:
The Company reserves the right to interpret each piece of Content, activity, and/or action in the way it deems fit and, at its discretion, and determine whether or not it violates this Agreement. Furthermore, the company reserves the right to take any necessary action(s) against any users it deems as being in violation of this Agreement.
16. In-App Purchases
Merge may offer a variety of consumable and non-consumable in app purchases, including Subscriptions, made available to the users of the Service. All in app purchases are made via the user’s Apple account associated with the Apple App Store℠. A user will be charged the amount indicated. The Company does not store or hold any user payment information, only Apple does. Therefore, the Company cannot and will not ever refund any in app purchases. All in app purchase refund requests, including ending Subscriptions, must be made with Apple.
The Company does not apply monetary refunds for in-app purchases.
17. Modifications to Service
The Company reserves the right to update, change, pivot, modify, remove, disable, or apply any alterations at its discretion to any portion, component, or feature of the Service and/or the Service as a whole.
The Company reserves the right to update, change, pivot, modify, remove, disable, or apply any alterations at its discretion to any and all in-app purchases. Changes to in-app purchases will not result in refunds from the Company.
The Company reserves the right to suspend and/or block service to any user for any reason using a user’s uniquely identifiable information. Please reference the Merge Privacy Policy for more information.
18. Copyright Policy & Digitable Millenimm Copyright Act
You may not post, update, distribute, alter, or redistribute any Content deemed intellectual property without prior expressed written consent from the Content ‘s owner(s). If you discover copyrighted material on the Service that is in violation of yours or your agent’s property and you wish to report it, please see below and contact [email protected].
The Company has adopted the following policy towards copyright infringement in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA"). If you believe any Member Content or Our Content infringes upon your intellectual property rights, please submit a notification alleging such infringement ("DMCA Takedown Notice") including the following:
19. Customer Service
The Company offers complimentary customer service with support for all components of the Service. Merge Customer Service can be reached by emailing [email protected].
20. In-app Advertising
The Service may display third party advertisements, with links that take a user outside of the Service and into the domain of a third party, whether via a third party advertising provider service, a third party website, third party application, or any other kind of third party product or service. You understand and acknowledge that the Company is not responsible for any interaction that you may have with any third party advertisers within the Service, including information, imagery, and statements made or presented by third party advertisers. You furthermore acknowledge that content provided by third parties on the Merge platform do not necessarily reflect the views and business practices of the Company.
The Company is not responsible or liable for any content produced and presented by third party advertisers. Any outside interaction you have with third party advertisers, including participating in purchases, downloads, contests, sweepstakes, promotions, or any other potential dealings you may have with a third parties are entirely at your own discretion and between you and the third party.
You furthermore accept, understand, and acknowledge that the Company cannot and will not be held directly or indirectly liable for any losses, damages, physical or emotional distress, or an issues caused by any sort of interaction with a third party.
The Company does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any third party content; nor does the company endorse, adopt, or accept any responsibility for any third party opinions. Under no circumstances will the Company or its affiliates be held liable for any loss or damage resulting from your reliance on third party content.
21. Subscriptions
Merge offers two kinds of auto-renewable subscriptions: a one-month auto-renewable subscription and a one-year auto-renewable subscription. For pricing, please see the In-App Purchases section on this screen. A paid membership subscription to Merge enables access to the service beyond the trial period. It includes unlimited access to all features. You may cancel at anytime. If you cancel within the trial period, you will not be charged. Subscriptions are correlated with the administrative partner's Apple ID and the couple that was created when initially signing up. Only one subscription per couple is necessary/possible. Apple currently does not allow subscription charges to be shared across two or more Apple ID's, therefore only the administrative partner in the couple will be charged. The prices of said subscription are subject to change at the discretion of the Company for any reason and at any time. Prices are not guaranteed to be carried over from previous subscriptions. Payment will be charged to the iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hous prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of renewal. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user’s Account Settings after purchase. For more information, please visit http://www.merge.fyi/terms and http://www.merge.fyi/privacy. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication where applicable.
22. Disclaimers
You, the user, accept, understand, and acknowledge that when you use the Service and engage with any user of Merge and/or the Merge community, whether electronically or in person, that you are doing so completely and entirely at your own risk and choosing.
The Company, its owners, shareholders, employees, affiliates, and third parties shall not be held liable, directly or indirectly, for any loss or damage, including but not limited to bodily injury, emotional distress, theft, any violation of your person, kidnapping, death, or any other issue as a result of or alleged result of:
You the user acknowledge that, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the Service is provided on an “AS IS” basis. The Company grants no warranties of any kind and makes no quality guarantees of any kind. That is, the Service, including any of its related components, cannot be guaranteed to be free of bugs, errors or interruptions, nor that the Company will be able to fix or correct any and/or all bugs, errors, and interruptions to the Service.
The Company produces and maintains a consumer-facing application meant entirely for entertainment and recreational purposes only. The Company and its affiliates make no claims and express no opinions that are intended to replace or substitute for any professional advice. Now and then, the Company will express opinions in the form of advice that are purely for entertainment and recreational purposes. For professional advice on how to stay safe online, on mobile networking applications, or in public or private places, please consult the appropriate qualified professionals. The user should get alternate opinions on private and public safety, both digitally and in person, before using the Service.
You accept, understand, and fully agree that the Company reserves the right to make changes to its products and services to the extent that it sees fit, for any reason, at any time, with no obligation to the user.
23. Liability limitations
To the fullest extent allowed by the law, whether domestically or internationally, in no event and under no circumstances shall the Company, its owners, officers, agents, shareholders, employees, contractors, affiliates, business partners, licensors, service providers, and/or platform providers be liable or hold any obligation whatsoever to you, the user, or any third person or third party for any indirect, consequential, special, exemplary, reliance, incidental, or punitive damages, including, without limitation, loss of profits, bodily injury, emotional distress, loss of goodwill, damages for loss, damages for theft, any violation of your person, kidnapping, death, corruption or breaches of any data or software programs, service interruptions, or replacements or substitutes for services, even if the Company has been advised and is aware of the possibility of damages.
The maximum potential liability of the Company for any cause of damages, regardless of the circumstance in which damages arose or allegedly arose and any actual or alleged subsequent effects in the form of damages that came about from or allegedly came about from the original damages, shall be limited to the amount paid, if any, by you to the company for the Service while you have an account.
You hereby waive any and all claims arising out of or from your use of the Service, including the mobile application and website. Since certain jurisdiction forbid the disclaimer of implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages, these provision may not apply to you. If any portion of this limitation on liability is found to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, then the total liability of the company will not exceed one dollar ($1.00 USD).
You accept, understand, and fully agree that any claim against the Company must be filed within 12 months of the occurrence of such damages, otherwise such claim or cause of action will be forever barred and invalid.
The limitation of liability in this Agreement is a fundamental element of the basis of the bargain and reflects a fair allocation of the risk inherent to you and the users of the Service. The Service would not be provided without such limitations and you agree that the limitations and exclusions of liability, disclaimers and exclusive remedies specified in this Agreement will survive even if found to have failed in their essential purpose.
24. Governing law and binding arbitration agreement
Shall any dispute, claim, or issue arise as a result of, alleged result of, or relating to this Terms of Use Agreement, the single, exclusive, and only means of resolving such dispute, claim or issue, including any breach of this Agreement, shall and will only be binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association. You accept, understand, acknowledge, and fully agree that you give up your right to go to court. Furthermore, you accept, understand, acknowledge, and fully agree that your rights in any dispute, claim, or issue brought against the Company will be determined in a fair hearing only by a neutral arbitrator, and under no circumstances by a judge or jury. Arbitration proceedings may take place only in a court of competent jurisdiction.
ONLY EXCEPTION: The only exception to this binding arbitration agreement is that you have the right to bring an individual claim against the Company in a small claims court of competent jurisdiction. In the instance that this arbitration agreement is for any legitimate reason considered to be or held to be unenforceable by law, any litigation against the company, apart from small-claims court actions and proceedings, must only take place in a state or federal court located in Sonoma County, California. You hereby irrevocably consent to the jurisdiction of those courts for such purposes.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES may you commence, maintain, or partake in any class action, class arbitration, or other representative action or proceeding against the Company. You accept, understand, acknowledge, and fully agree that you give up all of your rights to participate in a class action or other class proceeding.
This Agreement, and any dispute between you and the Company, shall and will, without exception and regard to principles of conflicts of law, be governed by the laws of the State of California and the Federal Arbitration Act.
25. Indemnity by you
All the actions you take and information you post on the Service remain your responsibility. Therefore, you agree to indemnify, defend, release, and hold the Company, its owners, officers, agents, shareholders, subsidiaries, partners, licensors, affiliates, contractors, directors, employees, and representatives harmless from and against you and any third party claims, damages (actual and/or consequential), actions, proceedings, demands, losses, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) suffered or reasonably incurred by the Company arising as a result of, or in connection with:
The Company reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and complete control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, the user. The Company retains the exclusive right to settle, compromise and pay any and all claims or causes of action, which are brought against it without your prior consent. If asked, you will fully cooperate reasonably as required by the Company in the defense of any relevant claim.
26. Notice, messages, and notifications
The Company may announce changes to this Agreement via Push Notification, MMS, SMS, Email, standard mail, social media, and/or via updates to the Service. You agree, understand, acknowledge and consent fully and completely that you willingly and knowingly may and will receive messages and correspondence from the Company about the Service related matters.
Certain actions may cause you to not receive these important notifications. It is your responsibility to update the application and maintain all outlets of communication with which you may receive updates to this Agreement, as well as read the updated Agreements.
27. Agreement as a whole
The Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and any and all rules and guidelines regarding the use of the Service are legally binding. If any portion or provision of this agreement is deemed invalid, the remainder of this agreement shall continue in full force and effect.
Failure of the Company to enforce or exercise any right or provision of this Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
You agree, acknowledge, understand, and accept that your account is non-transferable. Your rights to your account terminate only upon your death.
The Agreement does not create any employment, joint venture, partnership, agency, or team with the Company, and you may not represent or invoke the Company in any way.
28. Amendments and changes
The Company reserves the right to make amendments to this Agreement at any time for any reason. Amendments will take immediate effect. The Company reserves the right to make changes to this Agreement at any time for any reason. The Company will always use the most current Terms of Use Agreement and Privacy Policy to govern its practices.
Welcome to Merge! Merge is a mobile and web application owned and operated by Kindred, Inc. The application, Merge, and the company, Kindred, Inc. will be referenced interchangeably in this Agreement using the names “Company”, “Merge”, “Service”, “Provider”, and “We”. The user, or you who is reading this Agreement, will be referenced to as “User”, “Customer”, and “You”, (“your”). The other products owned and operated by the Company may be referenced throughout this document as “Property”, “Properties”, “App”, “Apps”, “Service”, and “Services”.
By accessing Merge, including the mobile application, the website, www.merge.fyi, and any and all Properties owned and operated by the Company, whether via a mobile device, mobile application, laptop computer, desktop computer, smart watch, smart device, tablet, phone, television device, or any other device that connects to the Internet, you agree fully and completely to these Terms of Use in their entirety and without exception, whether you have a Merge account or not. If you do not agree with any of the following information in this Terms of Use Agreement, do not use Merge or continue to access any of its Properties, whether mobile, web, or otherwise. The Company reserves the right to refuse access to the Service to any person, including you, at any time for any reason, and is not obligated to inform the user why they have been refused access, or may not be legally allowed to disclose this.
Furthermore, please refer to the Merge Privacy Policy. The Merge Privacy Policy is incorporated throughout this Terms of Use Agreement and will be referenced by this Agreement. You must agree to the Merge Privacy Policy and the Merge Terms of Use in order to access this Service. If you do not agree with any or all of this Agreement, you must not create a Merge account or continue to access any and all Properties owned and operated by Kindred, Inc.
2. Acceptance and Acknowledgement of Terms of Use Agreement
This Terms of Use Agreement is a legally binding electronic contract that establishes the legally binding terms and conditions that you, the user, must accept in order to use the Service. As mentioned above, this Agreement includes Merge’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which must both be read, accepted, and understood as a whole in order for you to access the Service.
By accessing Merge, you agree to accept this legally binding Agreement as a whole and in its electronic form as presented, including conditions, notices and disclaimers governing any and all features, promotions, trials, in-app purchases, offers, account creation, account suspension, account deletion, content creation, data collection, data dissemination, location tracking, data deletion, and community guidelines. If you would like a physical copy of this Agreement, please print this page or contact [email protected] with the subject “Physical copy of Terms of Use Agreement”.
Kindred, Inc. reserves the right to change this Agreement at any time for any reason. Changes will apply and go into effect immediately upon their public release via the Merge website, social media, and/or mobile application(s).
3. Eligibility
Merge is not intended for use by persons less than 13 years of age. You must be at least 13 years of age or older in order to access Merge, regardless of your nationality, country of access or origin. If you are under the age of 18, you must have received consent from a parent or legal guardian to sign up for and use Merge.
Any fraudulent misrepresentation of age will result in immediate account termination and blocking from all future access to the Service.
The nature of software is that it is sometimes flawed, therefore the Company does not guarantee the complete effectiveness of any of its software.
Use of the Service is legally void and invalid where it is deemed prohibited. You are responsible for adhering to and complying with the given laws of the country from which you access the Service.
Any violation that conflicts with this eligibility clause will result in immediate account termination and access to the Service.
The Company reserves the right to conduct background checks on any users with information made available through the public record and take appropriate action if the Company finds that a user is in violation of this Agreement.
The Company reserves the right to report any and all illegal activity to the proper authorities.
4. Account Creation
In order to create a personal account with Merge and access the Service at any future time, users must sign up and log in to the Service with a valid name, email address, and password. If creating an account as a couple’s account administrator, you will be required to subscribe. Failure to do so may result in adverse effects on the Service and its functionality, for which the Company cannot be held liable or accountable. Password can only be reset with the corresponding and given email address.
A user is prohibited from creating an account with another person’s email address. Such fraudulent activity will be considered as severely as identity theft and will be reported to the appropriate authorities.
For more information about the type of information that the Company accesses from your information, please refer to the Merge Privacy Policy.
5. Account Suspension
In order to personally suspend/disable or delete a personal account with Merge, the user must contact the Company at [email protected]. An in-app feature to do so is currently not available. In accordance with the EU’s GDPR, California's CCPA, and the Company’s position on personal privacy and data protection, a user may request to have certain identifiable information disabled or deleted. For more information, please refer to the Privacy Policy.
Upon account suspension or deletion for any reason, whether by you or by the Company, you will not be entitled to any refunds or access to the data you generated on or for the Service.
The Company reserves the right to maintain possession of certain information and data both generated by the suspended or deleted user for any period of time, without any limitations or obligations to the user. This typically has to do with users who violate this Agreement. For more details, please refer to the Privacy Policy.
Upon the suspension or deletion of your account on the Service, all terms of this Agreement survive such termination and continue in full force and effect, except for any terms within the Agreement that expire or become fully satisfied.
A user may reactivate a suspended account at any time if they are otherwise not blocked from use of the Service.
6. Reporting Other Users for Inappropriate Content and/or Behavior
The Service allows and encourages users to report other users of the Service if they are believed to have posted Content, or acted or behaved in any way that may violate this Agreement or the law. Please refer to Sections 15 and 16 for reference and a list of inappropriate and prohibited activities, including prohibited Content, actions and behavior.
7. Users Blocking Other Users
Blocking other users is currently not available. Please contact [email protected] for more information.
8. The Company Blocking/Suspending Violating Users and Deleting User Content
It is the sole discretion of the Company to determine whether or not a user is in violation of or has breached this Agreement. A user has no recourse against the company if they have been found to be in violation of this Agreement and are subsequently blocked or have their accounts suspended from the Service by the Company.
The Company reserves the right to refuse access to the Service to any violating user, including you, at any time for any reason, and is not obligated to inform the violating user why they have been refused access, or may not be legally allowed to disclose why the violating user has been refused access.
If a violating user is blocked or suspended from the Service, this does not necessarily mean that their account profile has been deleted from Merge’s database. The Company reserves the right to maintain possession of the violating user’s account information, in full or partial form, for any period of time, without any limitation or obligation to the violating user.
Violating users are not entitled to and will not receive any refund for any in-app purchases, and will not be granted access to their accounts for any reason.
The Company reserves the right to remove a violating user’s Content or entire account at any time for any reason without explanation.
Blocking/suspending a violating user from the Service DOES NOT constitute a termination of this Agreement. The Company is entitled to conduct an internal investigation, if any, of the blocked/suspended violating user’s account and Content and can and will contact the appropriate authorities if necessary. Upon completion of the internal investigation (if any), the Company is not obligated to delete the blocked/suspended violating user’s account profile information, and is entitled to maintain the violating user’s unique email address and other information provided.
If a violating user discovers that they have been blocked/suspended from the Service, the Company reserves the right to refuse them account re-instatement and/or account deletion.
This Agreement remains in tact and in full force even if the user’s account has been blocked/suspended or even completely terminated and deleted from its servers and database by the Company, except for any terms within the Agreement that, by their nature, expire or become fully satisfied.
9. Non-Commercial Use by Users
Merge is intended for personal, non-commercial use only.
- No user shall use any feature, Content, or information in the Service for any commercial purposes.
- No user shall use any information obtained from the Service to contact, solicit, or advertise to any other user without first obtaining the other user’s prior expressed written consent.
- No user shall use any information obtained from the Service to sell, advertise, solicit or otherwise utilize for personal financial gain inside or outside of the Service.
- The Company reserves the right to investigate any and all illegal and unauthorized activity, whether in violation of this Agreement or the law, take action at its own discretion, and report its findings to the appropriate authorities.
- The Company reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to create exceptions for itself in the future for the purposes of bettering its business practices.
- Any unauthorized commercial use of any component of the Service will result in immediate and irreversible account suspension.
10. Privacy
Please refer to the Merge Privacy Policy.
11. Security of Your User Account
Use of the Service and any of its features and components is entirely at your own risk and discretion. Maintaining the security of your account information, including but not limited to your login credentials and any and all information uploaded to the Merge network via your account, is entirely your own responsibility. In no way is the Company to ever be held accountable for lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised account information.
It is your duty to report any irregularities with your account immediately upon discovery to the Company by contacting [email protected].
The Company DOES NOT automatically log you out of the Service after each session. Therefore, in order to limit your risk, you agree to log out from your account after each session.
The Company is not responsible for compromised accounts in the event in which the device upon which you have Merge stored is lost, stolen, sold, given away, donated, or otherwise out of your possession.
The Company is not responsible for compromised accounts, or any information that is lost or stolen at any time from anywhere, whether from your device(s) upon which Merge is made available and accessed, or even the Company’s databases, servers, offices, company records, or otherwise.
12. User Interactions With Other Users
YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY AND ALL INTERACTIONS ON THE SERVICE.
The Company is not responsible for the behavior, Content, or conduct of its users. In no way shall the Company or any of its affiliates, partners, sponsors, owners, officers, agents, shareholders, employees, advertisers, or other users associated or unassociated with any incident be directly or indirectly held accountable or liable for any losses or damages to you or any users, whether direct, indirect, general, special, compensatory, consequential, and/or incidental, as a result of, rising out of, or in any way relating to the conduct of you or anyone else in connection with the use of Merge including, without limitation or exceptions, bodily injury, emotional distress, financial damages, personal loss, theft, destruction of property, and/or any and all other damages resulting from communications, interactions, electronic meetings, and meetings in person with other users made through or facilitated by the Service.
With the above-mentioned inherent risks, you agree to take all of the necessary steps and precautions to protect yourself from harm or damages of any kind.
The Company makes no promises or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, as to the legitimacy of its users with whom you interact, whether electronically through the Service, or in person.
13. Proprietary Information, Technology, and Rights
Kindred, Inc. owns and retains all proprietary rights and control of the Service, including but not limited to trademarks, service marks, patents, designs, logos, imagery, all forms of data, audio files, messaging, image files, video files, text Content, slogans, trade names, trade secrets, any and all Content created by the Company and its users, without limitation or obligation unless otherwise stated.
You agree not to modify, change, transmit, recreate, copy, clone, reproduce, manufacture, engineer, reverse engineer, decompile, sell, sublicense, decipher, disassemble, or create any derivative works of any portion of this Service, its features, or any of the Company’s associated intellectual property for any reason including, but not limited to, competing directly or indirectly with this Service.
You agree not to modify any portion of this Service, as is, in any way, shape or form, including creating, uploading, modifying, or deleting any Company-created Content, structures, infrastructure, code, scripts, physical assets, or digital assets of the Service.
14. Content You Create and Submit/Post/Distribute to/via Merge
The Service builds its business and database based on community- (and/or) crowd-curated information and data input. Everything an individual user adds, places, uploads, distributes, or provides to the Service, including in any of its features may be stored, aggregated, utilized, redistributed, and made available to the rest of the Service’s community as both personally identifiable and personally non-identifiable information. The Company does not verify the accuracy, reliability, or legitimacy of this information or data, and it is up to you, the user, to use your best judgment and discretion when making decisions and how to act on the information provided, both on the Service and in person. The information and data provided by the users of the Service does not necessarily represent the values and viewpoints of the Company, and is not a direct representation of the Company.
By posting any kind of Content to the Service (including ANY FEEDBACK, ADVICE, AND/OR IDEAS given by a user to the Company through any means of communication to improve, change, alter, or update the Service in any way), you, the user, automatically grant the Company, its affiliates, owners, licensees, and successors infinite, irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free, obligation-free, limitation-free, non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, fully paid-up, local, domestic, and worldwide rights and license to use, post, place, render, clone, sell, sublicense, copy, store, modify, alter, replicate, perform, reenact, display, stream, reproduce, record, beam, transmit, project, play, adapt, transfer and distribute the Content; to prepare derivative works and products of the Content and/or incorporate the Content into other works and products; and grant and authorize sublicenses of the Content in any media now known or hereafter created. You, the user, represent and warrant that any posting and use of your Content by the Company will not infringe or violate your rights or the rights of any third party.
You, the user, are solely responsible for the Content you upload to the Service that is transmitted, stored, and retransmitted to and from the Company’s databases and it’s own and/or third-party servers. This information includes any form of data that you post, publish, link, display, upload, store, or otherwise make available to the Service and its users.
You hereby verify that you are the owner of the email account with which you log in to and use the Service. Misrepresentation of this will be treated as severely and seriously as identify theft and will be reported to the appropriate authorities and result in immediate account suspension.
You are prohibited from uploading any Content that the Company may deem offensive and in violation of this Agreement or governing laws. Such Content includes but is not limited to any and all speech, text, video, audio, and Content:
- Including or inciting racism, any form of bigotry, gender discrimination, discrimination against culture, religion, creed, social affiliation, and/or sexual orientation
- That insights fear, harm, panic, emotional distress, terror, and that may be deemed dangerous
- That may be libelous or slanderous speech, text, video, audio, or any Content deemed inaccurate or offensive to or about another user, person, persons, group, or organization.
- That may be abusive, obscene, profane, harassing, intimidating, threatening, and/or illegal
- That may depict, show, represent or otherwise present sexually graphic and/or sexually violent and offensive text, images, videos, audio recordings, or any form of Content of yourself, another user, or non-user, or pornography of any kind
- Considered bullying of any kind
- Depicting, portraying, discussing, encouraging, endorsing, or supporting any form of violence against anyone or anything.
- Considered spamming, scamming, trolling, and/or stalking
- Illegal or unauthorized copying of the Service’s or another’s intellectual property
- Illegal solicitation of banned or illegal products and services, including any and all drugs, weapons (including but not limited to guns, knives, bombs, etc.), all forms of human trafficking, prostitution, gambling, betting, schemes, scams, pyramid schemes
- That refer to or include contests, sweepstakes, and any form of advertising
- That falsely impersonates someone or something
- Promoting unauthorized commercial activities or solicitations, including for-profit and non-profit, except through designated features deemed legitimate by the Company
- Solicits any unverifiable, stolen, or compromised information not belonging to the user
- Software scripts or “hacks” that tamper with or disrupt the Service in any way
- Depicting, portraying, or otherwise making available personally identifiable information belonging to yourself or others, including credit card information, bank accounts, financial information, drivers license information, social security numbers, passport information, or any other information protected by fiduciary obligations and arrangements
- Containing malicious code or viruses meant to disrupt the Service or other users’ accounts and/or devices
You fully understand that, given the high volume and influx of Content, the Company does its best to monitor the information provided by its users, but cannot address everything. We ask for your help in maintaining the integrity of the platform and community by reporting any and all violating Content directly from within each applicable feature.
The Company reserves the right to report any user to law enforcement authorities for breaking any laws.
The Company reserves the right to suspend any user accounts it finds in violation of this or any other section of this Agreement.
All Content that you place, save, share, or upload must be deemed appropriate, viewable, and relevant by all users of the Service, within reason.
You agree to protect your rights and the rights of others using the Service, as dictated by governing law and this Agreement, to the fullest extent.
The Company does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any user-generated Content; nor does the company endorse, adopt, or accept any responsibility for any user-generated opinions. Under no circumstances will the Company be held liable for any loss or damage resulting from, or allegedly resulting from your reliance on any user-generated content.
15. Prohibited Activities
The following is a list of prohibited activities, Content, and actions when using and/or accessing the Service. Any violation will result in the immediate suspension of a user’s account, and if necessary, may involve contacting law enforcement authorities:
- Any violation of Section 14
- Anything deemed hateful, racist, bigoted, or violent
- Pornography of any kind
- Spamming, scamming, trolling, and stalking of any kind
- Impersonating someone or something other than yourself
- Accessing the Service where it is not allowed
- Using the Service to conduct or facilitate any illegal act
- Interfering with, hacking, disabling, or otherwise disrupting the Service
- Any violation of Section 13
- Forge the Service in any way
- Any form of “data mining”, whether manually or with software
- Accessing the Service with “bots” or computers and/or software powered robots and artificial intelligence
The Company reserves the right to interpret each piece of Content, activity, and/or action in the way it deems fit and, at its discretion, and determine whether or not it violates this Agreement. Furthermore, the company reserves the right to take any necessary action(s) against any users it deems as being in violation of this Agreement.
16. In-App Purchases
Merge may offer a variety of consumable and non-consumable in app purchases, including Subscriptions, made available to the users of the Service. All in app purchases are made via the user’s Apple account associated with the Apple App Store℠. A user will be charged the amount indicated. The Company does not store or hold any user payment information, only Apple does. Therefore, the Company cannot and will not ever refund any in app purchases. All in app purchase refund requests, including ending Subscriptions, must be made with Apple.
The Company does not apply monetary refunds for in-app purchases.
17. Modifications to Service
The Company reserves the right to update, change, pivot, modify, remove, disable, or apply any alterations at its discretion to any portion, component, or feature of the Service and/or the Service as a whole.
The Company reserves the right to update, change, pivot, modify, remove, disable, or apply any alterations at its discretion to any and all in-app purchases. Changes to in-app purchases will not result in refunds from the Company.
The Company reserves the right to suspend and/or block service to any user for any reason using a user’s uniquely identifiable information. Please reference the Merge Privacy Policy for more information.
18. Copyright Policy & Digitable Millenimm Copyright Act
You may not post, update, distribute, alter, or redistribute any Content deemed intellectual property without prior expressed written consent from the Content ‘s owner(s). If you discover copyrighted material on the Service that is in violation of yours or your agent’s property and you wish to report it, please see below and contact [email protected].
The Company has adopted the following policy towards copyright infringement in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA"). If you believe any Member Content or Our Content infringes upon your intellectual property rights, please submit a notification alleging such infringement ("DMCA Takedown Notice") including the following:
- A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed
- Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works
- Identification of the material claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access disabled and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material
- Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail
- A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law
- A statement that, under penalty of perjury, the information in the notification is accurate and you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed
19. Customer Service
The Company offers complimentary customer service with support for all components of the Service. Merge Customer Service can be reached by emailing [email protected].
20. In-app Advertising
The Service may display third party advertisements, with links that take a user outside of the Service and into the domain of a third party, whether via a third party advertising provider service, a third party website, third party application, or any other kind of third party product or service. You understand and acknowledge that the Company is not responsible for any interaction that you may have with any third party advertisers within the Service, including information, imagery, and statements made or presented by third party advertisers. You furthermore acknowledge that content provided by third parties on the Merge platform do not necessarily reflect the views and business practices of the Company.
The Company is not responsible or liable for any content produced and presented by third party advertisers. Any outside interaction you have with third party advertisers, including participating in purchases, downloads, contests, sweepstakes, promotions, or any other potential dealings you may have with a third parties are entirely at your own discretion and between you and the third party.
You furthermore accept, understand, and acknowledge that the Company cannot and will not be held directly or indirectly liable for any losses, damages, physical or emotional distress, or an issues caused by any sort of interaction with a third party.
The Company does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any third party content; nor does the company endorse, adopt, or accept any responsibility for any third party opinions. Under no circumstances will the Company or its affiliates be held liable for any loss or damage resulting from your reliance on third party content.
21. Subscriptions
Merge offers two kinds of auto-renewable subscriptions: a one-month auto-renewable subscription and a one-year auto-renewable subscription. For pricing, please see the In-App Purchases section on this screen. A paid membership subscription to Merge enables access to the service beyond the trial period. It includes unlimited access to all features. You may cancel at anytime. If you cancel within the trial period, you will not be charged. Subscriptions are correlated with the administrative partner's Apple ID and the couple that was created when initially signing up. Only one subscription per couple is necessary/possible. Apple currently does not allow subscription charges to be shared across two or more Apple ID's, therefore only the administrative partner in the couple will be charged. The prices of said subscription are subject to change at the discretion of the Company for any reason and at any time. Prices are not guaranteed to be carried over from previous subscriptions. Payment will be charged to the iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hous prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of renewal. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user’s Account Settings after purchase. For more information, please visit http://www.merge.fyi/terms and http://www.merge.fyi/privacy. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication where applicable.
22. Disclaimers
You, the user, accept, understand, and acknowledge that when you use the Service and engage with any user of Merge and/or the Merge community, whether electronically or in person, that you are doing so completely and entirely at your own risk and choosing.
The Company, its owners, shareholders, employees, affiliates, and third parties shall not be held liable, directly or indirectly, for any loss or damage, including but not limited to bodily injury, emotional distress, theft, any violation of your person, kidnapping, death, or any other issue as a result of or alleged result of:
- Posting or submitting accurate or inaccurate information about yourself to the Service
- Inaccurate information posted by the Service as a result of software programming or otherwise
- The creation, reading, updating, deletion, or transmission of any and all Content, whether by the user or the Company
- Any error in the transmission of any Content, information, or data on the part of the user or the Company
- Any error in saving or storing any Content, including data posted or passed by the user and stored with the Service that may or may not be personally identifiable
- Any error is saving personalized settings, including filters
- Any technical errors on the part of the Company
- Meeting others from the electronic Service outside the Service and in person
- Any outside hacks or breaches of security by outside entities, which may or may not result in the dissemination of personally identifiable information
You the user acknowledge that, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the Service is provided on an “AS IS” basis. The Company grants no warranties of any kind and makes no quality guarantees of any kind. That is, the Service, including any of its related components, cannot be guaranteed to be free of bugs, errors or interruptions, nor that the Company will be able to fix or correct any and/or all bugs, errors, and interruptions to the Service.
The Company produces and maintains a consumer-facing application meant entirely for entertainment and recreational purposes only. The Company and its affiliates make no claims and express no opinions that are intended to replace or substitute for any professional advice. Now and then, the Company will express opinions in the form of advice that are purely for entertainment and recreational purposes. For professional advice on how to stay safe online, on mobile networking applications, or in public or private places, please consult the appropriate qualified professionals. The user should get alternate opinions on private and public safety, both digitally and in person, before using the Service.
You accept, understand, and fully agree that the Company reserves the right to make changes to its products and services to the extent that it sees fit, for any reason, at any time, with no obligation to the user.
23. Liability limitations
To the fullest extent allowed by the law, whether domestically or internationally, in no event and under no circumstances shall the Company, its owners, officers, agents, shareholders, employees, contractors, affiliates, business partners, licensors, service providers, and/or platform providers be liable or hold any obligation whatsoever to you, the user, or any third person or third party for any indirect, consequential, special, exemplary, reliance, incidental, or punitive damages, including, without limitation, loss of profits, bodily injury, emotional distress, loss of goodwill, damages for loss, damages for theft, any violation of your person, kidnapping, death, corruption or breaches of any data or software programs, service interruptions, or replacements or substitutes for services, even if the Company has been advised and is aware of the possibility of damages.
The maximum potential liability of the Company for any cause of damages, regardless of the circumstance in which damages arose or allegedly arose and any actual or alleged subsequent effects in the form of damages that came about from or allegedly came about from the original damages, shall be limited to the amount paid, if any, by you to the company for the Service while you have an account.
You hereby waive any and all claims arising out of or from your use of the Service, including the mobile application and website. Since certain jurisdiction forbid the disclaimer of implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages, these provision may not apply to you. If any portion of this limitation on liability is found to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, then the total liability of the company will not exceed one dollar ($1.00 USD).
You accept, understand, and fully agree that any claim against the Company must be filed within 12 months of the occurrence of such damages, otherwise such claim or cause of action will be forever barred and invalid.
The limitation of liability in this Agreement is a fundamental element of the basis of the bargain and reflects a fair allocation of the risk inherent to you and the users of the Service. The Service would not be provided without such limitations and you agree that the limitations and exclusions of liability, disclaimers and exclusive remedies specified in this Agreement will survive even if found to have failed in their essential purpose.
24. Governing law and binding arbitration agreement
Shall any dispute, claim, or issue arise as a result of, alleged result of, or relating to this Terms of Use Agreement, the single, exclusive, and only means of resolving such dispute, claim or issue, including any breach of this Agreement, shall and will only be binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association. You accept, understand, acknowledge, and fully agree that you give up your right to go to court. Furthermore, you accept, understand, acknowledge, and fully agree that your rights in any dispute, claim, or issue brought against the Company will be determined in a fair hearing only by a neutral arbitrator, and under no circumstances by a judge or jury. Arbitration proceedings may take place only in a court of competent jurisdiction.
ONLY EXCEPTION: The only exception to this binding arbitration agreement is that you have the right to bring an individual claim against the Company in a small claims court of competent jurisdiction. In the instance that this arbitration agreement is for any legitimate reason considered to be or held to be unenforceable by law, any litigation against the company, apart from small-claims court actions and proceedings, must only take place in a state or federal court located in Sonoma County, California. You hereby irrevocably consent to the jurisdiction of those courts for such purposes.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES may you commence, maintain, or partake in any class action, class arbitration, or other representative action or proceeding against the Company. You accept, understand, acknowledge, and fully agree that you give up all of your rights to participate in a class action or other class proceeding.
This Agreement, and any dispute between you and the Company, shall and will, without exception and regard to principles of conflicts of law, be governed by the laws of the State of California and the Federal Arbitration Act.
25. Indemnity by you
All the actions you take and information you post on the Service remain your responsibility. Therefore, you agree to indemnify, defend, release, and hold the Company, its owners, officers, agents, shareholders, subsidiaries, partners, licensors, affiliates, contractors, directors, employees, and representatives harmless from and against you and any third party claims, damages (actual and/or consequential), actions, proceedings, demands, losses, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) suffered or reasonably incurred by the Company arising as a result of, or in connection with:
- Any negligent acts, omissions or willful misconduct by you
- Your access to and use of the Service
- The uploading or submission of Content to the Service by you
- Any breach of this Agreement by you
- Your violation of any law or of any rights of any third party
The Company reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and complete control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, the user. The Company retains the exclusive right to settle, compromise and pay any and all claims or causes of action, which are brought against it without your prior consent. If asked, you will fully cooperate reasonably as required by the Company in the defense of any relevant claim.
26. Notice, messages, and notifications
The Company may announce changes to this Agreement via Push Notification, MMS, SMS, Email, standard mail, social media, and/or via updates to the Service. You agree, understand, acknowledge and consent fully and completely that you willingly and knowingly may and will receive messages and correspondence from the Company about the Service related matters.
Certain actions may cause you to not receive these important notifications. It is your responsibility to update the application and maintain all outlets of communication with which you may receive updates to this Agreement, as well as read the updated Agreements.
27. Agreement as a whole
The Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and any and all rules and guidelines regarding the use of the Service are legally binding. If any portion or provision of this agreement is deemed invalid, the remainder of this agreement shall continue in full force and effect.
Failure of the Company to enforce or exercise any right or provision of this Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
You agree, acknowledge, understand, and accept that your account is non-transferable. Your rights to your account terminate only upon your death.
The Agreement does not create any employment, joint venture, partnership, agency, or team with the Company, and you may not represent or invoke the Company in any way.
28. Amendments and changes
The Company reserves the right to make amendments to this Agreement at any time for any reason. Amendments will take immediate effect. The Company reserves the right to make changes to this Agreement at any time for any reason. The Company will always use the most current Terms of Use Agreement and Privacy Policy to govern its practices.