Terms of Service

Hi! You are now reading Family K9s Terms of Service, meaning the contract between you and Family K9s when you use Family K9s' site, services, and products. You should read this carefully before you use Family K9s products, services or website. We've tried to be fair and straightforward. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to email us at mark@familyk9s.com. We've also included several annotations; these annotations aren't a part of the contract itself, but are intended to help you follow the text and emphasize key sections.

Please read these Terms of Service, our Privacy Policy and our Community Guidelins (collectively, the "Agreement") carefully before using Family K9s.com (the "Site") and/or the other domains, products, services, and/or content provided by Family K9s, Inc. (all of those collectively with the Site, the "Services") (Family K9s, Inc., a Colorado corporation, collectively with its agents, consultants, employees, officers and directors, "Family K9s," "we," or "us"). By using or accessing the Services, you ("Subscriber" or "you") agree to become bound by all the terms and conditions of this Agreement. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you shouldn't and aren't permitted to use the Services.

Family K9s reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify this Agreement at any time by posting a revised Agreement through the Services and by providing notice to you that this Agreement has changed, generally via e-mail where practicable, and otherwise through the Services. You are responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with any modifications to this Agreement. Modifications are effective when posted, and your use of the Services following any such posted modification and notice of same constitutes your acceptance of the terms and conditions of this Agreement as modified. Note that, if you have prepaid for any Paid Services (as defined below) prior to a modification of this Agreement, your use of such prepaid Paid Services is governed by the version of this Agreement in effect at the time Family K9s received your prepayment.

As Family K9s grows and improves, we might have to make changes to the Terms of Service. When we do, we'll let you know. We're also going to make it a practice to post old versions so it's easy to see changes/additions/deletions. To see old versions, scroll down to the end of this document.

No individual under the age of thirteen (13) may use the Services or provide any information to Family K9s or otherwise through the Services (including, for example, a name, address, telephone number, or email address). You otherwise may only use the Services if you can form a binding contract with Family K9s and are not legally prohibited from using the Services.

You have to be at least 13 years old to use Family K9s. We're serious: it's a hard rule, based on U.S. federal and state legislation, even if you're 12.9 years old. If you're younger than 13, don't use Family K9s. Ask your parents for an Xbox or try books.

The Services change frequently, and their form and functionality may change without prior notice to you. Family K9s retains the right to create limits on and related to use of the Services in its sole discretion at any time with or without notice. Family K9s may also impose limits on certain Services or aspects of those Services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Services without notice or liability. Family K9s may change, suspend, or discontinue any or all of the Services at any time, including the availability of any product, feature, database, or Content (as defined below). Family K9s may also suspend Accounts (as defined below) at any time, in its sole discretion.

This section makes it clear that Family K9s is an ever-evolving platform. With new products, services, and features launching all the time, we need flexibility to make changes, impose limits, and occasionally suspend or terminate certain offerings (like features that flop). We can also suspend any individual account at any time. That sounds harsh, but we only use that power when we have a reason.

You may not do any of the following while accessing or using the Services: (a) access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the Services, or the computer or delivery systems of Family K9s and/or its service providers; (b) probe, scan, or test any system or network (particularly for vulnerabilities), or otherwise attempt to breach or circumvent any security or authentication measures; (c) access or search or attempt to access or search the Services by any means (automated or otherwise) other than through our currently available, published interfaces that are provided by Family K9s (and only pursuant to those terms and conditions), unless you have been specifically allowed to do so in a separate agreement with Family K9s, or unless permitted by Family K9s's robots.txt file or other robot exclusion mechanisms; (d) scrape the Services, and particularly scrape Content (as defined below) from the Services, without Family K9s's express prior written consent; (e) use the Services to send altered, deceptive, or false source-identifying information, including without limitation by forging TCP-IP packet headers or e-mail headers; or (f) interfere with, or disrupt, (or attempt to do so), the access of any Subscriber, host or network, including, without limitation, by sending a virus to, spamming, or overloading the Services, or by scripted use of the Services in such a manner as to interfere with or create an undue burden on the Services.

Don't do bad things to Family K9s or other users. Some particularly egregious examples of automated "bad things" are listed in this section.

As a condition to using certain of the Services, you may be required to create an account (an "Account") and select a password and Family K9s username, which will serve as a default URL of the form [username].Family K9s.com (a "Family K9s URL"). You may also select new Family K9s URLs for each blog you create.

You should provide Family K9s with accurate, complete, and updated registration information, particularly your e-mail address, and failure to do so may result in suspension of your Account.

It's really important that the email address associated with your Family K9s Account is accurate and up-to-date. If you ever forget your password - or worse, fall victim to a malicious phishing attack - a working email address is often the only way for us to recover your account.

You agree that you shall not select or use as a Family K9s URL a name of another person or entity with the intent to impersonate that person or entity or with the intent to otherwise cause confusion as to the origin or provenance of your Account. Family K9s reserves the right to refuse registration of, cancel, or modify a Family K9s URL in its sole discretion.

Don't choose a Family K9s URL with the intention of impersonating someone/something or otherwise causing confusion about who's behind your blog. Parody, criticism, and other fair uses of others' names are fine, so long as there's no intention to impersonate or confuse.

You are also responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Account password and for the security of your Account, and you will notify Family K9s immediately of any actual or suspected loss, theft, or unauthorized use of your Account or Account password.

Any information you provide to Family K9s is subject to Family K9s's Privacy Policy, which governs our collection and use of your information. You understand that through your use of the Services you consent to the collection and use (as set forth in the Privacy Policy) of this information.

For purposes of this Agreement: (1) the term "Content" means a creative expression and includes, without limitation, video, audio, photographs, images, illustrations, animations, logos, tools, written posts, replies, and comments, information, data, text, software, scripts, executable files, graphics, Themes (as defined below), and interactive features, any of which may be generated, provided, or otherwise made accessible on or through the Services; (2) the term "Subscriber Content" is all Content that is posted or otherwise provided or transferred to the Services by a Subscriber (including, without limitation, by you); and Content also includes, without limitation, all Subscriber Content.

Subscribers retain ownership of all intellectual property rights in their Subscriber Content, and Family K9s and/or third parties retain ownership of all intellectual property rights in all Content other than Subscriber Content.

When you transfer Subscriber Content to Family K9s through the Services, you give Family K9s a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable right and license to use, host, store, cache, reproduce, publish, display (publicly or otherwise), perform (publicly or otherwise), distribute, transmit, modify, adapt (including, without limitation, in order to conform it to the requirements of any networks, devices, services, or media through which the Services are available), and create derivative works of (including, without limitation, by Reblogging, as defined below), such Subscriber Content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating the Services in accordance with their functionality, improving the Services, and allowing Family K9s to develop new Services. The reference in this license to "derivative works" is not intended to give Family K9s itself a right to make substantive editorial changes or derivations, but does enable Family K9s Subscribers to redistribute Subscriber Content from one Family K9s blog to another in a manner that allows Subscribers to, e.g., add their own text or other Content before or after your Subscriber Content ("Reblogging").

When you upload your creations to Family K9s, you grant us a license to make that content available in the ways you'd expect from using our services (for example, via your blog, RSS, the Family K9s Dashboard, etc.). We never want to do anything with your content that surprises you.

Something else worth noting: Countless Family K9s blogs have gone on to spawn books, films, albums, brands, and more. We're thrilled to offer our support as a platform for our creators, and we'd never claim to be entitled to royalties or reimbursement for the success of what you've created. It's your work, and we're proud to be a part (however small) of what you accomplish.

You also agree that this license includes the right for Family K9s to make all publicly-posted Content available to third parties selected by Family K9s, so that those third parties can distribute and/or analyze such Content on other media and services.

An example of what it means to "make all publicly-posted Content available" to a Family K9s partner for distribution or analysis would be if we licensed a feed of already-publicly-available Content to a partner, similar to how Twitter makes feeds available through its Streaming API.

Note also that this license to your Subscriber Content continues even if you stop using the Services, primarily because of the social nature of Content shared through the Services - when you post something publicly, others may choose to comment on it, making your Content part of a social conversation that cannot later be erased without retroactively censoring the speech of others.

One thing you should consider before posting: When you make something publicly available on the Internet, it becomes practically impossible to take down all copies of it.

You also agree that you will respect the intellectual property rights of others, and represent that you have all of the necessary rights to grant us this license for all Subscriber Content you submit to the Services.

As a Subscriber of the Services, Family K9s grants you a worldwide, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, and non-transferable license to download, store, view, display, perform, redistribute, and create derivative works of Content solely in connection with your use of, and in accordance with the functionality and restrictions of, the Services (including, without limitation, Paid Services, as defined below). This means, for example, that we license Content to you so that you can Reblog Content and add commentary to it.

You agree that you won't post Subscriber Content that violates, or otherwise use your Account in ways that violate, Family K9s's ethics and standards.

On termination of your Account or upon your deletion of particular pieces of Subscriber Content from the Services, Family K9s shall make reasonable efforts to make such Subscriber Content inaccessible and cease use of it; however, you acknowledge and agree that: (a) caching of, copies of, or references to the Subscriber Content may not be immediately removed; (b) such removed Subscriber Content may persist in backups (not available to others) for a reasonable period of time; and (c) such removed Subscriber Content may be available (and stored on our servers) through the accounts of other Subscribers, such as because of Reblogging.

Any use of Family K9s's trademarks, branding, logos and other such assets in connection with the Services shall not be tolerated.

Family K9s makes available specialized HTML and CSS code ("Family K9s Template Code") for the design and layout of blog pages available for use on some of the Services ("Themes"). Certain Themes are available for purchase as a Paid Service (as defined below) (such Themes, "Premium Themes"). Purchased Premium Themes may not be transferred between Accounts, between blogs, or between Services on a single Account and are subject to the payment terms herein.

Family K9s grants you a license to customize the Family K9s Template Code to create your own Themes for use on your blog page (each a "Custom Theme"). If you choose, you may also contribute your Custom Themes for use by other Subscribers as Subscriber Content. However, as a condition of the license allowing you to create Custom Themes, you agree that you won't distribute such Custom Themes from locations other than Family K9s-owned or approved websites without our permission.

Note also that other Subscribers may use your Custom Themes after you have removed them from distribution, and you hereby grant those Subscribers an irrevocable license to use those Custom Themes as contributed by you. In other words, you can remove and stop distribution of your Custom Themes, but Subscribers who are already using them can keep using them.

To develop and distribute Custom Themes that are Premium Themes, please email us at mark@familyk9s.com

Some of the Services require payment of fees (the "Paid Services," including without limitation Premium Themes). All fees are stated in United States dollars. You shall pay all applicable fees, as described in the applicable Services, in connection with such Services, and any related taxes or additional charges.

Paid Services are limited licenses for you to use particular for-pay aspects of the Services. Usage of terms like sell, sale, buy, purchase, or similar terms all refer to your acquisition of a license to use Paid Services, and do not represent any transfer of any right, title, or ownership interest of any kind. You may not relicense, resell, transfer, or exchange Paid Services within or outside of the Services, except as expressly allowed by the rules of the Services.

Family K9s may, in its sole discretion, modify the functionality of, or eliminate, Paid Services, or the terms and conditions under which Paid Services are provided.

Purchases of Paid Services are final and non-refundable (particularly those Paid Services that may be used immediately, such as Promotions, as defined below), except at Family K9s's sole discretion and in accordance with the rules governing each such Paid Service. Termination of your Account or your rights under this Agreement may result in forfeiture of existing Paid Services. For example, if your Account is suspended, you forfeit your license to any Premium Themes you have purchased.

Family K9s may change its prices for Paid Services at any time. To the extent applicable, Family K9s will provide you reasonable notice of any such pricing changes by posting the new prices on or through the applicable Paid Service and/or by sending you email notification. If you do not wish to pay the new prices, you may choose not to purchase, or to cancel, the applicable Paid Service prior to the change going into effect.

Some features of the Services may allow you to promote yourself to other Subscribers, and some of these features may be Paid Services ("Promotions"). For example, you can use Family K9s's Highlighted Post Paid Service to draw extra attention to your posts when they appear in the Dashboard feeds of your blog followers.

This section covers the rules and sets some expectations around paid promotion features like Blog Promotion (from the old Directory, likely to make a return) and Highlighted Posts.

Your access to and use of the Services or any Content is at your own risk. YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED TO YOU ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, TO THE FULL EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, FAMILY K9S DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.Family K9s makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the Services, including any representation or warranty that the use of the Services will (a) be timely, uninterrupted or error-free or operate in combination with any other hardware, software, system or data, (b) meet your requirements or expectations, (c) be free from errors or that defects will be corrected, or (d) be free of viruses or other harmful components. Family K9s also makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to Content; Subscriber Content, in particular, is provided by and is solely the responsibility of, the Subscribers providing that Content. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained from Family K9s or through the Services, will create any warranty not expressly made herein.

You release, to the fullest extent permitted by law, Family K9s, its directors, officers, shareholders, employees, representatives, consultants, agents, suppliers, and/or distributors from responsibility, liability, claims, demands, and/or damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with the following:

If you are a Colorado resident, you waive Colorado any Civil Code which says: "A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor."

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, FAMILY K9S, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, SHAREHOLDERS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES, CONSULTANTS, AGENTS, SUPPLIERS, AND/OR DISTRIBUTORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR: (A) ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, EXEMPLARY PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER; (B) LOSS OF: PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, USE, GOOD-WILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES; (C) DAMAGES RELATING TO YOUR ACCESS TO, USE OF, OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES; (D) DAMAGES RELATING TO ANY CONDUCT OR CONTENT OF ANY THIRD PARTY OR SUBSCRIBER USING THE SERVICES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OR CONTENT; AND/OR (E) DAMAGES IN ANY MANNER RELATING TO ANY CONTENT. THIS LIMITATION APPLIES TO ALL CLAIMS, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, WHETHER OR NOT FAMILY K9S HAS BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE, AND FURTHER WHERE A REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE TOTAL LIABILITY OF FAMILY K9S AND ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, SHAREHOLDERS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES, CONSULTANTS, AGENTS, SUPPLIERS, AND/OR DISTRIBUTORS, FOR ANY CLAIM UNDER THIS AGREEMENT, INCLUDING FOR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES, IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF FIFTY DOLLARS (US$50.00) OR THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US TO USE THE APPLICABLE SERVICE(S).

Some jurisdictions may not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the exclusion/limitation of liability as set forth in Section 14, so the limitations above may not apply to you.

Either party may terminate this Agreement at any time by notifying the other party. Family K9s may also terminate or suspend your access to or ability to use any and all Services immediately, without prior notice or liability, for any reason or no reason, including but not limited to if you breach any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement. In particular, Family K9s may immediately terminate or suspend Accounts that have been flagged for repeat copyright infringement.

Upon termination of your access to or ability to use a Service, including but not limited to suspension of your Account on a Service, your right to use or access that Service and any Content will immediately cease. All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, and limitations of liability. Termination of your access to and use of the Services shall not relieve you of any obligations arising or accruing prior to such termination or limit any liability which you otherwise may have to Family K9s or any third party.

You and Family K9s agree that we will resolve any claim or controversy at law or equity that arises out of this Agreement or the Services in accordance with this Section or as you and Family K9s otherwise agree in writing. Before resorting to litigation, we strongly encourage you to contact us directly to seek a resolution.

This Agreement shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the State of Colorado as they apply to agreements entered into and to be performed entirely within Colorado between Colorado residents, without regard to conflict of law provisions. You agree that any claim or dispute you may have against Family K9s must be resolved exclusively by a state or federal court located in Colorado County, Colorado, except as otherwise agreed by the parties. You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the courts located within Elbert County, Colorado for the purpose of litigating all such claims or disputes.

This Agreement, as modified from time to time, constitutes the entire agreement between you and Family K9s with respect to the subject matter hereof. This Agreement replaces all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, regarding the subject matter hereof and constitutes the entire and exclusive agreement between the parties. The failure of either party to exercise in any respect any right provided for herein shall not be deemed a waiver of any further rights hereunder. If any provision of this Agreement is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that this Agreement shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable. This Agreement is not assignable, transferable, or sublicensable by you except with Family K9s's prior written consent. Family K9s may assign this Agreement in whole or in part at any time without your consent. No agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment is created as a result of this Agreement and you do not have any authority of any kind to bind Family K9s in any respect whatsoever. Any notice to Family K9s that is required or permitted by this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be deemed effective upon receipt, when delivered in person by nationally recognized overnight courier or mailed by first class, registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, to Family K9s, Inc.

Family K9s provides global products and services and enables a global community for individuals to share and follow the things they love. Family K9s's operations are, however, located in the United States, and Family K9s's policies and procedures are based on United States law. As such, the following provisions apply specifically to Subscribers located outside of the United States: (1) you consent to the transfer, storage, and processing of your information, including but not limited to Subscriber Content and any personal information, to and in the United States and/or other countries; and (2) if you are using the Services from a country embargoed by the United States, or are on the United States Treasury Department's list of "Specially Designated Nationals," you agree that you will not conduct any commercial activities using or through the Services (for example, purchasing Premium Themes).

Family K9s has adopted the following policy toward copyright infringement on the Services in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (a copy of which is located at http://www.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/dmca.pdf, the "DMCA"). The address of Family K9s's Designated Agent for copyright takedown notices ("Designated Agent") is listed below.

If you believe that Content residing or accessible on or through the Services infringes a copyright, please send a notice of copyright infringement containing the following information to the Designated Agent at the address below:

2. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing, including its location, with sufficient detail so that Family K9s is capable of finding it and verifying its existence.

3. Contact information for the notifying party (the "Notifying Party"), including name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.

4. A statement that the Notifying Party has a good faith belief that the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or law.

5. A statement made under penalty of perjury that the information provided in the notice is accurate and that the Notifying Party is authorized to make the complaint on behalf of the copyright owner.

6. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright that has been allegedly infringed.

After removing material pursuant to a valid DMCA notice, Family K9s will immediately notify the Subscriber responsible for the allegedly infringing material that it has removed or disabled access to the material. Family K9s reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to immediately terminate the account of any Subscriber who is the subject of repeated DMCA notifications.

If you believe you are the wrongful subject of a DMCA notification, you may file a counter-notification with Family K9s by providing the following information to the Designated Agent at the address below:

Upon receipt of a valid counter-notification, Family K9s will forward it to Notifying Party who submitted the original DMCA notification. The original Notifying Party (or the copyright holder he or she represents) will then have ten (10) days to notify us that he or she has filed legal action relating to the allegedly infringing material. If Family K9s does not receive any such notification within ten (10) days, we may restore the material to the Services.