1. Introduction
Earth Refuge, a service of Just Atonement Inc., is a web platform based in San Francisco, California that publishes content related to climate change, migration, displacement, international law, and human rights (“Earth Refuge” and, sometimes referred to herein as “us,” “our,” or “we”).
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) apply to the use of the Earth Refuge website at EarthRefgue.org (the “Site”), our existing or future applications, APIs, databases, communications and social media channels we use (including Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and email), other third party services incorporate into the Site, and the content that Contributors submit or provide (the “Services”). By using the Site and the Services, you agree to the legally binding rules in these Terms. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and any other rules related to using the Services.
Earth Refuge reserves the right to alter the Terms at any time. If we alter the Terms, we will notify you via email and/or through the Services or the Site.
Our Terms include mandatory dispute resolution. Please read more about Dispute Resolution in Section 6 below.
2. Definitions
Contributors.Any person who submits a Submission to Earth Refuge.
Submission(s). Any creative content in any form that a Contributor may submit to Earth Refuge for reproduction and display on Earth Refuge, subject to these Terms.
3. Submissions to Earth Refuge
You understand that the Submissions you submit to Earth Refuge are not confidential and are intended to be published on the Earth Refuge platform. If you are concerned about the content of your Submissions being public, please do not submit them. By submitting Submissions, you agree that there is no expectation of confidentiality with respect to them.
Upon your request, we can publish your Submission anonymously. If you do not wish to have your name publicly displayed in connection with a particular submission, please request that the Submission be published anonymously. If Earth Refuge decides to publish your Submission, Earth Refuge will do so under a pseudonym you provide, or will simply attribute it to “anonymous.”
The personal data you provide in your Submissions will be treated in accordance with our privacy policy. For more information on how we store and treat your personal data, please refer to that privacy policy.
Your Submissions remain yours, but we have a license to use it forever. By submitting your Submissions, you do not lose any ownership rights you may have over the intellectual property contained in that Submission. However, by submitting any Submission to Earth Refuge, you shall grant and hereby do grant to Earth Refuge an irrevocable, perpetual, universe-wide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable (in whole or in part), fully paid-up, sublicensable license to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display, and distribute your Submission and to create derivative works thereto (and any intellectual property contained thereto, including without limitation copyrighted or trademarkable materials) in any and all media or distribution methods (existing now or later developed) from the moment you submit your Submission and continuing indefinitely into the future.
This includes permitting Earth Refuge to share the Submission with anyone, distribute it on its Site and in any media, and to make modifications or edits to it as Earth Refuge sees fit. You also authorize Earth Refuge to allow others to do the same with your content including other companies, organizations, or individuals who partner with Earth Refuge for the syndication, broadcast, distribution, or publication of content on other media.
You represent and warrant that you own the Submission and have all legal rights to submit it subject to these Terms, without infringing any other rights of any other third parties. By submitting content, you represent and warrant that you have all the rights, power, and authority necessary to authorize Earth Refuge to use any content that you submit to the Site. You also agree to all such uses of your Submission with no compensation paid to you.
We encourage you to share your Submissions once they appear on Earth Refuge. Earth Refuge encourages you to link to, post to social media and third party services, such as Facebook or Twitter, share via email, or otherwise copy and share published Submissions but only for informational, non-commercial purposes. If you share another published Submission, questions, or other content, you must only do so by linking to the Earth Refuge publication url. When you post published Submissions to any third party service you will be subject to the terms of that third party service.
We make no guarantee that we will publish any given Submission. Earth Refuge retains sole and exclusive discretion as to whether or not to publish any given Submission on Earth Refuge. Earth Refuge may decide not to publish a Submission for any reason or for no reason.
While we may edit any given Submission for publication, our edits are never designed to materially alter the meaning of the Submission. We will endeavour to contact you once the Submission is published, but will not and cannot guarantee that we will do so. Instead, you agree to monitor the Site and will review the final Submission once published. If you believe that our edits have materially altered the meaning of the Submission, you agree to immediately contact us. If we have not heard from you within 15 calendar days after we have published your Submission, you agree and acknowledge that it is reasonable for us to assume that we have not materially altered the meaning of your Submission.
4. Earth Refuge’s Rights
All right, title, and interest in and to Earth Refuge, the Site, and the Services are and will remain the exclusive property of Earth Refuge. Nothing gives you a right to use the Earth Refuge name or any of the Earth Refuge published content, trademarks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features, other than as specified in these Terms. Any feedback, comments, or suggestions you may provide regarding Earth RefugeRP is entirely voluntary and will not create any obligation on behalf of Earth Refuge to you.
Do not do any of the following while accessing or using the Site or the Services:
- Access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the Site, Earth Refuge’s computer systems, or the technical delivery systems of Earth Refuge’s service providers.
- Disable, interfere with, or try to circumvent any of the features of the Site related to security or probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any of our systems or the Site.
- Copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, reverse assemble, or otherwise attempt to discover any source code of Earth Refuge or the Site.
- Access or search or attempt to access or search our Site by any means (automated or otherwise) other than through our currently available search functionalities that are provided via our website, mobile apps, or API (and only pursuant to those API terms and conditions).
- Crawling the Site is permissible if done in accordance with the provisions of the robots.txt file; however, scraping the Services, Site, and databases is expressly prohibited unless authorized in a written agreement between you and Earth Refuge.
- Use the Site or the Services to send altered, deceptive, or false source-identifying information (such as sending email communications falsely appearing as Earth Refuge); or interfere with, or disrupt, (or attempt to do so), the access of any user, host, or network, including, without limitation, sending a virus, overloading, flooding, spamming, mail-bombing the Site, or in any other manner interfering with or creating an undue burden on the Site.
Intellectual Property. Earth Refuge’s Services are legally protected in various ways, including copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, trade secrets, and other rights and laws. You agree to respect all copyright and other legal notices, information, and restrictions contained in any content accessed through the Site. You also agree not to change, translate, or otherwise create derivative works of the Service. Earth Refuge grants you a worldwide, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, and non-transferable license to reproduce content from the Services for the exclusive purpose of sharing published Submissions and by sharing information about Earth Refuge; this license is for no other purpose. Earth Refuge reserves the right to revoke that license at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all.
If you want to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, or store any of this content for a commercial purpose, you need prior written permission from Earth Refuge and/or the relevant copyright holder. A “commercial purpose” means you intend to use, sell, license, rent, or otherwise exploit content for commercial use, in any way.
5. Copyright
Earth Refuge respects the intellectual property of others, and Earth Refuge asks our Contributors to do the same. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or that your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, you should notify Earth Refuge of your infringement claim in accordance with the procedure set forth below.
Earth Refuge will process and investigate notices of alleged infringement and will take appropriate actions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) and other applicable intellectual property laws with respect to any alleged or actual infringement. A notification of claimed copyright infringement should be emailed to Earth Refuge’s Copyright Agent at: copyright@earthrefuge.org[YK1] (Subject line: “DMCA Takedown Request”). You may also contact Earth Refuge by mail or facsimile at:
Earth Refuge Copyright Agent:
c/o Just Atonement Inc.
Attn: Copyright Agent
1832 Buchanan Street, Suite 201 | San Francisco, CA 94115
To be effective, the notification must be in writing and contain the following information:
- an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;
- a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
- a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Services, with enough detail that Earth Refuge may find it on the Services;
- your address, telephone number, and email address;
- a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright or intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law;
- a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf.
Counter-Notice: If you believe that the Submission that was removed (or to which access was disabled) is not infringing, or that you have the authorization from the copyright owner, the copyright owner’s agent, or pursuant to the law, to upload and use the content in your Submission, you may send a written counter-notice containing the following information to the Copyright Agent:
- your physical or electronic signature;
- identification of the content that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the content appeared before it was removed or disabled;
- a statement that you have a good faith belief that the content was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or a misidentification of the content; and
- your name, address, telephone number, and email address, a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court located within Northern District of California and a statement that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.
If a counter-notice is received by the Copyright Agent, Earth Refuge will send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that it may replace the removed content or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the content provider, member or user, the removed content may be replaced, or access to it restored, in 10 to 14 business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice, at our sole discretion.
Repeat Infringer Policy: In accordance with the DMCA and other applicable law, Earth Refuge has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at Earth Refuge’s sole discretion, users who are deemed to be repeat infringers. Earth Refuge may also at its sole discretion limit access to the Services and/or terminate the memberships of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.
6. Everything Else
Name and Likeness. Contributors understand and acknowledge that Earth Refuge may list their image and name on the Site. Contributors grant Earth Refuge an irrevocable, worldwide, sub-licensable, fully paid up, non-exclusive right to use their name and image for display on the Site on the same terms that apply to a Submission.
Indemnification. If you do something that gets Earth Refuge, its affiliates, partners, or agents sued, or fail to abide by the Terms, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold Earth Refuge, its affiliates, partners and agents harmless from all liabilities, claims, and expenses (including attorneys’ fees and other legal costs) that arise from or relate to your use or misuse of Earth Refuge or the Site.
This indemnification expressly covers any claims made by third parties for alleged violations of intellectual property rights.
Earth Refuge reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to this indemnification clause, in which case you agree that you’ll cooperate and help Earth Refuge in asserting any defenses.
Limitation of Liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event will Earth Refuge, its directors, employees, partners, suppliers, agents, or content providers be liable for any indirect, incidental, punitive, consequential, special, or exemplary damages of any kind, including but not limited to damages (i) resulting from your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Services; (ii) for any lost profits, data loss, or cost of procurement or substitute goods or services; or (iii) for any conduct of content of any third party on the Site. In no event shall Earth Refuge’s liability for direct damages be in excess of (in the aggregate) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100.00).
Severability. The Terms together with any amendments and any additional agreements you may enter into with Earth Refuge in connection with the Services, will constitute the entire agreement between you and Earth Refuge. If a court of competent jurisdiction deems any provision of the Terms invalid, the invalidity of such provision will not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of the Terms, which will remain in full force and effect.
Governing Law. The Terms and your use of the Services will be interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of California and the United States of America, without regard to its conflict-of-law provisions.
Fully Integrated Agreement / No Variation. The Terms represent the entire agreement and understanding between Earth Refuge and any Contributor and any other agreements or understandings, whether oral or written, express or implied, shall be superseded by these Terms, as amended.
Venue. You and Earth Refuge agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of a state court located in the city and county of San Francisco, California, or the United States District Court located in the Northern District of California for any actions for which the parties retain the right to seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent the actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation or violation of a party’s copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents, or other intellectual property rights, as set forth in the Dispute Resolution provision below.
Dispute Resolution. In the event of any dispute with Earth Refuge, you agree to the following procedure:
First, you and Earth Refuge agree to discuss in good faith the nature of your dispute, claim or controversy.
Second, if you are not able to resolve the dispute through good faith discussions, you and Earth Refuge agree to locate and use a third party mediator who will help you resolve the dispute.
Finally, if these efforts fail, each side may seek relief in court pursuant to the Venue clause above. The party that prevails in court will be entitled to an award of its reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses, but only if they have attempted to settle the dispute through discussions and then through mediation.
One exception to the above is that each party retains the right to seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent the actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation or violation of a party’s copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents, or other intellectual property rights.
In addition, each party waives the right to a trial by jury or to participate as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class action or representative proceeding.
Any award must be consistent with the terms of the “Limitation of Liability” section above as to the types and the amounts of damages for which a party may be held liable.
Last updated: 15 November 2020
