Terms of Service

Effective Date: September 15, 2020

Hello and welcome to Paradigm’s Terms of Service!

These Terms of Service ("Terms") assert the legally binding terms and conditions for your use of and access to the sites, templates, products, applications, tools, services and features (collectively, the "Services") through the web portal known as “Paradigm”, which is provided by Podium Arts Communications, Inc. (“Podium Arts”), including without limitation all use of the websites and associated domains hosted with Paradigm and accessed in web, mobile and other applications.

Please read this Agreement (as defined below) carefully! It includes important information about your legal rights, and covers areas such as use restrictions, copyright policy, warranty disclaimers, and limitations of liability. By using or accessing the Services, you are agreeing to these Terms (collectively, this “Agreement”). If you are using the Services for an organization, you are agreeing to this Agreement on behalf of that organization, and you represent and warrant that you can do so. References to “you”, “your” and similar terms are construed accordingly in this Agreement. If you don’t agree to all the terms in this Agreement, you may not use or access the Services.

1.         Registration

1.1. Creating Login. To use many of the Services, you must first register a username and password (“Login”). You agree to provide us with accurate, complete and  up to date information for your Login. We may need to use this information to contact you.

1.2. Staying Safe. Please safeguard your Login and make sure others don't have access to your Login or passwords and other authentication credentials (collectively, "credentials"). You are solely responsible for any activity that occurs under your Login and for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your credentials. Podium Arts is not liable for any acts or omissions by you or anyone else in connection with your Login. You must immediately notify us if you know or have any reason to suspect that your Login or credentials have been stolen, misappropriated or otherwise compromised or in case of any actual or suspected unauthorized use of your Login.

1.3. Sixteen and Older. The Services are not intended for and may not be used by children under the age of 16. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 16. If you are under the age of 18, depending on where you live, you may need to have your parent or guardian’s consent to this Agreement and they may need to enter into this Agreement on your behalf. 

2.         Your Content

2.1. Your User Content Stays Yours. Users of the Services (whether you or others) may provide us with content, including without limitation text, photos, images, audio, video, fonts, logos, stickers, code and any other materials (“User Content"). Your User Content stays yours, except for the limited rights that enable us to provide, improve, promote and protect the Services as described in this Agreement.

2.2. Your License To Us. When you provide User Content via the Services, you grant Podium Arts (including our Third Party hosting providers acting on our behalf) a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable right and license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works of (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that User Content works better with the Services), communicate, publish, publicly display, publicly perform and distribute User Content for the limited purposes of allowing us to provide, improve, promote and protect the Services. This Section does not affect any rights you may have under applicable data protection laws.

3.         Paradigm Rules of Use

 This Acceptable Use Policy outlines examples of prohibited conduct in connection with our Services. Note that any capitalized terms not defined in this Acceptable Use Policy have the meanings set forth herein.

Our Services are used by people to express themselves, build their brands and expand their networks. We are proud of the creative and inspiring ways that people use our Services, but we expect our users to use our sites responsibly. As a Paradigm user you agree not to misuse the Services or help anyone else do so. Below are some guidelines for what you should not do with the Services.

3.1. Abusing and Disrupting The Services

3.1.1. Don’t probe, scan or test the vulnerability of any system or network.

3.1.2. Don’t breach or otherwise bypass any security or authentication measures.

3.1.3. Don’t access, tamper with or use non-public areas or parts of the Services, or shared areas of the Services you haven't been invited to access.

3.1.4. Don’t interfere with or disrupt any user, host or network (whether it’s Podium Arts’s or someone else’s), for example by distributing malware or overloading, flooding or mail-bombing any part of the Services.

3.1.5. Don’t take apart, decompile or reverse engineer any part of the Services in an effort to access things such as source code or algorithms.

3.1.6. Don’t access, search or create accounts for the Services by any means other than our publicly supported interfaces (for example, scraping, spidering or crawling).

3.1.7. Don’t take action that imposes an unreasonable load on our infrastructure or our third party providers. We reserve the right to determine what’s reasonable.

3.1.8. Don’t provide your credentials to any other person, use any other person’s username and password, or otherwise manage the Services through shared credentials.

3.1.9. Don’t avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, impair, descramble or otherwise circumvent any technological or other measure (including watermarks) used by Podium Arts or any other party (including another user) intended to protect the Services.

3.1.10. Don’t remove any copyright or other proprietary notices from the Services.

3.2. Spamming and Phishing

3.2.1. Don’t use our Services to send spam, emails or other messages that violate CAN-SPAM or other laws, emails or other messages to people who have not explicitly consented (where such consent is required) or other unsolicited communications (bulk or otherwise), promotions or advertisements. Note, we reserve the right to determine what constitutes spam.

3.2.2. Don’t send altered, deceptive or false source-identifying information (including any misleading or incorrect names, email addresses, subject lines), including without limitation phishing or spoofing.

3.3. Deceiving and Impersonating Others

3.3.1. Don’t do anything that's false, fraudulent, inaccurate or deceiving.

3.3.2. Don’t impersonate another person, company or entity.

3.3.3. Don’t engage in misleading or unethical marketing or advertising.

3.4. Stealing

3.4.1. Don’t use unauthorized credit cards, debit cards or other unauthorized payment devices on the Services.  

3.4.2. Don’t promote or advertise products or services other than your own without appropriate authorization.

3.4.3. Don’t sell the Services unless specifically authorized to do so, or publish or use the Services on any network or system other than those provided by Podium Arts unless previously authorized by Podium Arts.

3.5. Infringing, Misappropriating and Violating Rights

3.5.1. Don’t infringe or misappropriate anyone’s copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights.

3.5.2. Don’t violate anyone’s privacy or publicity rights.

3.6. Other Improper or Illegal Conduct

3.6.1. Don’t threaten, harass, or abuse any individuals.

3.6.2. Don’t incite violence.

3.6.3. Don’t publish sexually explicit or obscene material.

3.6.4. Don’t condone or promote self-harm.

3.6.5. Don’t condone or promote violence against any person or group based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual preference, age or disability.

3.6.6. Don’t violate any laws through the Services, including without limitation all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content.

If we conclude, in our discretion, that you have used the Services in violation of these Terms, we reserve the right to suspend your access to the Services, remove your User Content, and terminate your Login or block future Registration, without any refund of any amounts paid for the Services, without liability or notice to you, at any time and for any reason (except where prohibited by applicable law). We reserve the right to enforce, or not enforce, these Terms in our sole discretion.

You can report violations of these guidelines to us directly by emailing abuse@paradigmevents.live.

4.         Content

4.1. Only Post Content that You are Allowed to Use. You represent and warrant that you own all rights to your User Content or otherwise have (and will continue to have) all rights and permissions necessary to use, share, display, transfer and license your User Content via the Services and in the manner set forth in this Agreement. If we use your User Content in the ways described in this Agreement, you represent and warrant that such use will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including without limitation any copyrights, trademarks, privacy rights, publicity rights, contract rights, trade secrets or any other intellectual property or proprietary rights. Also, content on the Services may be protected by others' intellectual property, trade secret or other rights. You may not  copy, upload, download or share the content of other users unless you have the right to do so.

4.2. Follow the Law. You represent and warrant that your use of the Services complies with applicable laws, including without limitation applicable export or import controls and regulations and sanctions.

4.3. Share Responsibly. The Services let you share User Content including without limitation on social media and the open web, so please think carefully about what you share. We’re not responsible for what you share via the Services.

4.4. HIPAA Enabled Accounts. If your use of the Services requires you to comply with industry-specific regulations applicable to such use, such as HIPAA, you will be solely responsible for such compliance, except to the extent Podium Arts has agreed with you in writing otherwise. You are not permitted to use the Services in any way that would subject Podium Arts to such industry-specific regulations without obtaining Podium Arts’ prior written agreement. For example, you may not use any Services to collect, use, disclose, protect or otherwise handle “protected health information” (as defined in 45 C.F.R. §160.103 under US federal regulations) unless your account for such Services is designated as HIPAA-enabled and you enter into a separate associated agreement with Podium Arts.

5.         Third Party Services and Sites, and User Content

5.1. Third Party Services. The Services are integrated with various Third Party services and applications (collectively, “Third Party Services”) that may make their content, products or services available to you. Examples of Third Party Services include our domain registrar, social media platforms, eCommerce Payment Processors (as defined below) and other integrations or extensions, stock images and networking & engagement activities provide via the Services and other integration partners and service providers. These Third Party Services may have their own terms and policies, and your use of them will be governed by those terms and policies. We don't control Third Party Services, and we are not liable for Third Party Services or for any transaction you may enter into with them, or for what they do. When using Third Party Services, your security is your responsibility. You also agree that we may, at any time and in our sole discretion, and without any notice to you, suspend, disable access to or remove any Third Party Services. We are not liable for any such suspension, disabling or removal, including without limitation for any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill or other intangible losses, or business disruption, costs or expenses you may incur or otherwise experience as a result (except where prohibited by applicable law).  

5.2. Third Party Sites. The Services may contain links to third party sites. When you access third party sites, you do so at your own risk. We don’t control and aren’t liable for those sites and what those third parties do.

5.3. User Content. The Services or sites using the Services may contain User Content: (a) that is offensive or objectionable; (b) that contains errors; (c) that violates intellectual property, trade secret, privacy, publicity or other rights or the good name of you or third parties; (d) that is harmful to your or others’ computers or networks; (e) that is unlawful or illegal; or (f) the downloading, copying or use of which is subject to additional terms and policies of third parties or is protected by intellectual property, trade secret, privacy or other laws. By operating the Services, we don’t represent or imply that we endorse any User Content, or that we believe such User Content to be accurate, useful, lawful or non-harmful. We are not a publisher of, and we are not liable for, any User Content uploaded, posted, published or otherwise made available via the Services by you or other users. You are responsible for taking precautions to protect yourself, your Login, and your computer or network, from User Content accessed via the Services. 

6.         Podium Arts Intellectual Property

6.1. Podium Arts Owns Paradigm. The Services are, as between you and Podium Arts, owned by Podium Arts, and are protected by copyright, trade secret, trademark and other US and foreign laws. This Agreement does not grant you any right, title or interest in the Services, the User Content of other users, our trademarks, logos or other brand features or intellectual property or trade secrets that are incorporated or a part of the Services. You agree not to change, modify, translate or otherwise create derivative works of the Services or the User Content of others.

6.2. We Can Use Your Feedback For Free. We welcome your feedback, ideas or suggestions regarding the Services (collectively, “Feedback”), but you agree that we may use your Feedback without any restriction or obligation to you, even after this Agreement is terminated. This Section does not limit or affect any rights you may have under applicable data protection laws.

6.3. Our Sample Content. We may provide placeholders or other sample content, including without limitation text, photos, images, graphics, audio and video (collectively, “Sample Content”), to provide you with ideas or inspiration. Unless we tell you otherwise, Sample Content (or any portion of it) may not be distributed, publicly displayed, publicly performed or otherwise published. 

6.5. Our Betas Are Still In Beta. We may release services and features that we are still testing and evaluating. Those Services will be marked as beta, preview or early access (or a similar phrasing), and may not be as reliable as our other Services.

7.         Our Rights

7.1. Important Things We Can Do. We reserve these rights, which we may exercise at any time and in our sole discretion, and without liability or notice to you (except where prohibited by applicable law): (a) we may change parts or all of the Services and their functionality; (b) we may suspend or discontinue parts or all of the Services; (c) we may terminate, suspend, restrict or disable your access to or use of parts or all of the Services; (d) we may terminate, suspend, restrict or disable use of your Login or access to parts, some or all of our websites; and (e) we may change our eligibility criteria to use the Services (and if such eligibility criteria changes are prohibited by law where you live, we may revoke your right to use the Services in that jurisdiction).

7.2. Ownership Disputes. Sometimes ownership of a Login or User Content is disputed between parties, such as a business and its employees, or an agency and a client. We try not to get involved in these disputes. However, we reserve the right, at any time and in our sole discretion, and without notice to you, to determine rightful ownership and to transfer all Content or rights to such owner. Our decision in that respect is final. If we feel that we can’t reasonably determine the rightful owner, we reserve the right to suspend an Account or site until the disputing parties reach a resolution. We also may request documentation, such as a government-issued photo ID, credit card invoice or business license, to help determine the rightful owner.

7.3. HTTPS Encryption. We may offer HTTPS encryption for certain Services or Sites. By registering a custom domain via the Services, or pointing a custom domain to the Services, you authorize us to create and maintain a certificate for the limited purpose of providing HTTPS for Your Sites.

8.         Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and share your personal information for our own purposes. Be sure to read it carefully, but note it is not part of this Agreement and can change. It is really important that you comply with data protection laws when using the services, such as when you collect others’ personal information or use technologies (including those we provide for clients at their request, such as for web analytics).

8.1. Privacy Policy. By using the Services, you confirm that you have read and understood our Privacy Policy. However, it is not a contractual document and does not form part of this Agreement and we may change it from time to time.  If you are accessing and using this site for an event, you may have shared personal information with the host of that event, in which case, the use of your personal information is governed by the event host’s privacy policy.

8.2. You Must Comply With Data Protection, Security And Privacy Laws. You agree and warrant that you are solely responsible when using our websites or the Services for complying with applicable data protection, security and privacy laws and regulations, including any notice and consent requirements. This includes without limitation the collection and processing by you of any personal data, when you use our Sites and the Services to send any electronic communications to individuals as part of the Services. 

8.3. Protect And Improve The Services. You agree that we may protect and improve our Services through analysis of your use of the Services and your personal information in anonymized, pseudonymized, de-personalized and/or aggregated form. See our Privacy Policy for more information about how and what we do in this regard.

8.         Copyright

We respect the intellectual property of others and ask that you do too. We respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement if they comply with the law, and such notices should be reported directly by emailing copyright@paradigmevents.live. We reserve the right to delete or disable content alleged to be infringing, and to terminate Registrations of repeat infringers without any refunds. 

9.       Term and Termination

This Agreement will remain in effect until terminated by either you or us. You may terminate this Agreement at any time via the Services. We reserve the right to change, suspend or discontinue, or terminate, restrict or disable your use of or access to, parts or all of the Services or their functionality at any time at our sole discretion and without notice. For example, we may suspend or terminate your use of part or all of the Services if you are violating these Terms or our Acceptable Use Policy. We will endeavor to provide you reasonable notice upon suspending or terminating part or all of the Services. All sections of this Agreement that by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination.

10.       Warranty Disclaimers

10.1. Disclaimers. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Podium Arts makes no warranties, either express or implied, about the Services. The Services are provided “as is” and “as available”. Podium Arts also disclaims any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from Podium Arts, shall create any warranty. Podium Arts makes no warranty or representation that the Services will: (a) be timely, uninterrupted or error-free; (b) meet your requirements or expectations; or (c) be free from viruses or other harmful components.  

10.2. Exceptions. Under certain circumstances, some jurisdictions don't permit the disclaimers in this Section 10, so they may not apply to you. However, the disclaimers apply to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. You may have other statutory rights and nothing in this Agreement affects your statutory rights or rights under mandatory laws. The duration of statutorily required warranties, if any, shall be limited to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

11.       Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will Podium Arts and its affiliates and its and their directors, officers, employees and agents be liable with respect to any claims arising out of or related to the Services or this Agreement for: (a) any indirect, special, incidental, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages; (b) any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill or other intangible losses; (c) any Losses (as defined below) related to your access to, use of or inability to access or use parts, some or all of your Login, or parts or all of the Services, including without limitation interruption of use or cessation or modification of any aspect of the Services; (d) any Losses related to unavailability, degradation, loss, corruption, theft, unauthorized access or, unauthorized alteration of, any content, information or data, including without limitation User Content; (e) any User Content or other conduct or content of any user or third party using the Services, including without limitation defamatory, offensive or unlawful conduct or content; or (f) any Third Party Services or third party sites accessed via the Services. These limitations apply to any theory of liability, whether based on warranty, contract, tort, negligence, strict liability or any other legal theory, whether or not Podium Arts has been informed of the possibility of such damage, and even if a remedy set forth in this Agreement is found to have failed its essential purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall the aggregate liability of Podium Arts for all claims arising out of or related to the Services and this Agreement exceed the greater of twenty dollars ($20) or the amounts paid by the claimant to Podium Arts in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event that gave rise to such claim.

12.       Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Podium Arts and its affiliates and its and their directors, officers, employees and agents from and against all damages, losses, liabilities, costs, claims, demands, fines, awards and expenses of any kind (including without limitation reasonable attorneys' fees and costs) (collectively, "Losses") arising out of or related to: (a) your breach of this Agreement; (b) your User Content; (c) any claims by, on behalf of or against your use of the Services; and (d) your violation of any law or regulation or the rights or good name of any third party and other operations for which Podium Arts may be held jointly and severally liable. Your indemnification obligations under this Section shall not apply to the extent directly caused by our breach of this Agreement, to the extent that the consequences were not reasonably foreseeable.

13.       Additional Terms

13.1. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and Podium Arts regarding the subject matter of this Agreement, and supersedes and replaces any other prior or contemporaneous agreements, or terms and conditions applicable to the subject matter of this Agreement. You agree that you have not relied upon, and have no remedies in respect of, any term, condition, statement, warranty or representation except those expressly set out in this Agreement. You also may be subject to additional terms, policies or agreements that may apply when you use other services, including Third Party Services. This Agreement creates no Third Party beneficiary rights, and no third party shall have any right or standing to claim benefit or bring an action to enforce this Agreement.

13.2. Controlling Law; Judicial Forum For Disputes. This Agreement (including its existence, formation, operation and termination) and the Services as well as all disputes and matters arising out of or in connection with this Agreement and the Services (including non-contractual disputes and matters) shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the State of Maryland. You and Podium Arts agree that any judicial proceeding (other than small claims actions) arising out of or in connection with this Agreement (including its existence, formation, operation and termination) and/or the Services (including non-contractual disputes and matters) must be brought exclusively in the federal or state courts of Maryland, and you and Podium Arts consent to venue and personal jurisdiction in such courts.

13.3. Waiver, Severability and Assignment. Our failure or delay to enforce any provision of this Agreement is not a waiver of our right to do so later. If any provision of this Agreement is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full effect and an enforceable term will be substituted reflecting our intent as closely as possible. You may not delegate, transfer or assign this Agreement or any of your rights or obligations hereunder without our prior written consent, and any such attempt will be of no effect. We may delegate, transfer or assign this Agreement or some or all of our rights and obligations hereunder, in our sole discretion, to any of our affiliates or subsidiaries or to any purchaser of any of our business or assets associated with the Services, with thirty (30) days prior written notice.

13.4. Modifications. We may modify this Agreement from time to time, and will post the most current version on our sites. If a modification meaningfully reduces your rights, we’ll notify you (by, for example, sending you an email or displaying a prominent notice within the Services). The notice will designate a reasonable period after which the new terms will take effect. Modifications will not apply retroactively. By continuing to use or access the Services after any modifications come into effect, you agree to be bound by the modified Agreement and price changes. If you disagree with our changes, then you must stop using the Services.

13.5. Events Beyond Our Control. We are not in breach of this Agreement or liable to you if there is any total or partial failure of performance of the Services resulting from any act, circumstance, event or matter beyond our reasonable control. This may include where such results from any act of God, fire, act of government or state or regulation, war, civil commotion, terrorism, insurrection, inability to communicate with third parties for whatever reason, failure of any computer dealing or necessary system, failure or delay in transmission of communications, failure of any internet service provider, strike, industrial action or lock-out or any other reason beyond our reasonable control.

13.6. Translation. We may translate this Agreement into other languages. In the event of a conflict between a translated version and the English version, the English version will control except where prohibited by applicable law.