PLEASE REVIEW BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE – IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE, DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE.

1.) General Description

Welcome to OpenCourt (“OPENCOURT”) and the OpenCourt.us website, including the OpenCourt.us embeddable media player (the “Site”). The mission of OPENCOURT is to provide online access to live judicial proceedings, with the goal of enhancing citizen reporting and increasing transparency in the courtroom (the “Services”). To provide the Services, OPENCOURT has to set out some ground rules for using the Site in this document (the “Terms”). By accessing, using, or contributing to the Services or the Site, and in consideration for the Services OPENCOURT provides to you, you agree to abide by the Terms.

OPENCOURT may change the Terms from time to time, at OPENCOURT’s sole discretion. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of such changes will constitute your assent to all such changes. Please periodically visit this section of the Site to review the current version of the Terms.

The Site is merely a platform for viewing judicial proceedings. OPENCOURT does not provide or replace individualized legal advice, and nothing you see on the Site shall constitute legal advice or counsel. The Site, and the broadcasts contained therein, may include information which is out-of-date, jurisdiction-specific, or applicable only based on a specific set of facts and that may not apply to your situation. Use of the Services or Site does not create an attorney-client relationship between the user and OPENCOURT. If you are in need of legal advice, seek individual attorney advice and DO NOT rely on OPENCOURT or any of the broadcasts therein. NEITHER OPENCOURT NOR ANY ATTORNEY, JUDGE, OR OTHER PARTY YOU MAY VIEW ON THE SITE IS YOUR LAWYER.

2.) Electronic Communications

When you visit the Site or send e-mails to OPENCOURT, you are communicating with OPENCOURT electronically. You consent to receive communications from OPENCOURT electronically. OPENCOURT may communicate with you by e-mail or by posting notices on the Site. You agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that OPENCOURT provides to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.

3.) Account

Registration

To utilize the Site and Services, or certain portions thereof, you may be required to complete a registration process and establish an account with OPENCOURT (“OPENCOURT Account”). You represent and warrant that all information provided by you to OPENCOURT is current, accurate, and complete, and that you will maintain the accuracy and completeness of this information on a prompt, timely basis.

Password and Security
As a registered user of the Site and Services, you may receive or establish one or more passwords. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your password(s) and OPENCOURT Account(s). You understand and agree that you a fully responsible for all actions and postings made from your OPENCOURT Account(s). Any OPENCOURT Account(s) that you create are not transferrable. You agree to notify OPENCOURT immediately if you become aware of any unauthorized use of your OPENCOURT Account(s).

Privacy
OPENCOURT respects the privacy of its users, as set forth in OPENCOURT’s Privacy Policy.

Termination
OPENCOURT reserves the right to terminate your OPENCOURT Account(s) or restrict access to your OPENCOURT Account(s), or to delete any content posted through your OPENCOURT Account(s), with or without notice, for any or for no reason, and without any liability to you.

4.) Community Participation

Browsing

You understand that material made available by OPENCOURT is the product of judicial proceedings, court activities, and community efforts and does not necessarily represent the views of OPENCOURT. OPENCOURT assumes no responsibility for the accuracy, suitability, or completeness of any content provided.

Links to Third Party Sites
The Site may contain links to third party web sites (“Third Party Sites”). Because OPENCOURT has no control over Third Party Sites, OPENCOURT does not endorse, has not reviewed, and is not responsible for the availability of Third Party Sites. You acknowledge that use of Third Party Sites is at your own risk and that OPENCOURT is not responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss you incur in connection with products or services available on Third Party Sites, nor for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality, decency, or any other aspect of Third Party Sites.

Acts Against the Site/Services
You shall not attempt or engage in potentially harmful acts that are directed against the Site or Services including, without limitation, the following: (a) using the Site or Services in contravention of any other agreement to which you are a party, including without limitation any employment agreement to which you may be a party; (b) causing, allowing, or assisting any other person to use your OPENCOURT Account(s) or impersonate you; (c) sharing your password or login with any other person; (d) logging onto a server or OPENCOURT Account(s) that you are not authorized to access; (e) forging user names, manipulating identifiers, or otherwise impersonating any other person or misrepresenting your identity or affiliation with any person or entity; (f) emulating or faking usage of the Site or Services; (g) violating or attempting to violate any security features of the Site; (h) using manual or automated software, devices, scripts, robots, or other means or processes to access, “scrape,” “crawl,” or “spider” any pages contained in the Site; (i) introducing viruses, worms, software, Trojan horses, or other similar harmful code into the Site or Services; (j) interfering or attempting to interfere with the use of the Site by any other user, host, or network, including without limitation by means of submitting a virus, overloading, “flooding,” “spamming,” “mail bombing,” “pinging,” or “crashing” the Site; (k) causing, allowing, or assisting machines, bots, or automated services to access or use the Site or Services without the express written permission of OPENCOURT; (l) tampering with the operation, functionality, or the security of the Site or Services; (m) attempting to override or circumvent any security or usage rules embedded into the Site or Services that permit digital materials to be protected; (n) attempting to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Site, or any associated system or network, or breach any security or authentication measures; (o) misusing, tricking, disrupting, or otherwise interfering with the functioning of the Site or Services; (p) harvesting or collecting email addresses or other contact information of other users or clients from the Site by electronic or other means; (q) reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, deciphering, or otherwise attempting to derive the source code for any underlying intellectual property used to provide the Site or Services; (r) engaging in “framing,” “mirroring,” or otherwise simulating the appearance or function of the Site; and (s) forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or newsgroup posting.

Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. You agree that it is your responsibility to install anti-virus software and related protections against viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, or other computer programming routines or engines that are intended to damage, destroy, disrupt, or otherwise impair a computer’s functionality or operation.

Parental Notice
Pursuant to 47 U.S.C. Section 230(d) as amended, OPENCOURT hereby notifies you that parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filter services) are commercially available that may assist you in limiting access to material that is harmful to minors. Information identifying current providers of such protection is available on the Internet (e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_content-control_software).

5.) Content

Contributed Content
Any content that you contribute to the Site should be relevant to the subject scope of OPENCOURT. Content may not be illegal, obscene, defamatory, threatening, infringing of intellectual property rights, invasive of privacy or otherwise injurious or objectionable.

OPENCOURT does not pre-screen or regularly review any contributed content, but OPENCOURT has the right (though not the obligation) to remove, without notice, any content posted which OPENCOURT considers, for any reason, to violate these Terms or to be outside the subject scope of the Services. OPENCOURT may terminate any OPENCOURT Account, with or without notice, for posting such content.

Licenses Applicable to Contributed Content
Visitors may post comments and other content; send URLs and other communications; and submit suggestions, ideas, comments, questions, or other information, so long as the content is not illegal, obscene, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, infringing of intellectual property rights, or otherwise injurious to third parties or objectionable and does not consist of or contain software viruses, political campaigning, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of “spam.” You may not use a false e-mail address, impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise mislead as to the origin of content.

Except where otherwise noted, any and all content contributed by you to the Services or the Site is submitted under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License.

If you do post content or submit material, and unless we indicate otherwise in writing, you grant OPENCOURT a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media. You grant OPENCOURT and sublicensees the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such content, if they choose.   By posting any content, you represent and warrant that (a) you have all right, title, and interest to such posted content, including but not limited to any consent, authorization, release, clearance or license from any third party (such as, but not limited to, any release related to rights of privacy or publicity) necessary for you to provide, post, upload, input or submit the content, or (b) that such content is in the public domain or that your use of such content constitutes fair use. You further represent and warrant that posting such content does not violate or constitute the infringement of any patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of privacy, right of publicity, moral rights, or other intellectual property right recognized by any applicable jurisdiction of any person or entity, or otherwise constitute the breach of any agreement with any other person or entity. You further represent and warrant that you are who you say you are, that you have not submitted fictitious, false or inaccurate information about yourself, and that all information contained in the posted content is true and your own work or work you are authorized to submit, and that the posted content does not contain any threatening, harassing, libelous, false, defamatory, offensive, obscene, or pornographic, material, or other material that would violate any other applicable law or regulation. You agree that you will not knowingly and with intent to defraud provide material and misleading information. You represent and warrant that the content you supply does not violate the Terms. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you post; that the content is accurate; that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify OPENCOURT for all claims resulting from content you supply. OPENCOURT takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content posted by you or any third party.

Copyright

All content included on the Site, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads, data compilations, and software is the property of OPENCOURT or its content suppliers and is protected by United States and international copyright laws.  The compilation of all content on the Site is the exclusive property of OPENCOURT and is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws.  Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 License. All software used on this site is the property of OPENCOURT or its software suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws.

Copyright Complaints

OPENCOURT respects the intellectual property of others. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please contact us as set forth more fully in the accompanying DMCA policy.

Trademarks

OPENCOURT graphics logos, page headers, button icons, scripts, and service names are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade dress of OPENCOURT in the U.S. and/or other countries. OPENCOURT’s trademarks and trade dress may not be used in connection with any product or service that is not OPENCOURT’s, in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among viewers, or in any manner that discredits OPENCOURT. All other trademarks not owned by OPENCOURT that appear on this site are the property of their respective owners, who may or may not be affiliated with, connected to, or sponsored by OPENCOURT.

License and Site Access

You are permitted to access streaming broadcasts of court proceedings and not to download (other than page caching) or modify such streaming broadcasts, or any portions thereof, except with express written consent of OPENCOURT. You may not frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information (including images, text, page layout, or form) of OPENCOURT without express written consent. You may not use any meta tags or any other “hidden text” utilizing OPENCOURT’s name or trademarks without the express written consent of OPENCOURT. Any unauthorized use terminates the permission or license granted by OPENCOURT.

6.) DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY and LIMITATION OF LIABILITIES

THE SITE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR OTHERWISE. WITHOUT LIMITATION, WE DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES REGARDING THE SECURITY, RELIABILITY, TIMELINESS, AND PERFORMANCE OF ALL SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH USE OF THE SITE. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, THAT YOUR USE OF THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, OR ERROR-FREE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, SO PORTIONS OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMER MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

TO THE EXTENT NOT PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW, OPENCOURT WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL OPENCOURT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF PROFITS, INCOME, OR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, REGARDLESS OF THE NATURE OF THE CLAIM OR THE FORM OF ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR CONNECTED WITH THE SITE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ITS OPERATION, ITS CONTENTS, OR THE INFORMATION OR MATERIALS CONTAINED THEREIN, OR THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE ANY OTHER SITE LINKED TO THE SITE, OR ANY CONTENT CONTAINED IN ANY SUCH SITE, OR THESE TERMS, OR THE PRIVACY POLICY APPLICABLE TO THE SITE) EVEN IF OPENCOURT, ITS SUPPLIERS, OR LICENSORS HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY DAMAGES.

7.) Other Terms

Indemnities
You acknowledge and agree to indemnify and hold OPENCOURT and its affiliates, officers, employees and agents, harmless, including costs and attorneys’ fees, from any claim or demand made by any third party due to or arising out of your use of the Site or Services, your violation of these Terms, or the infringement by you or made under your OPENCOURT Account(s), of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity.

Modifications
OPENCOURT reserves the right to change, at any time, at our sole discretion, the Terms under which these Services are offered. You are responsible for regularly reviewing the Terms. Your continued use of the Site and Services constitutes your agreement to all such Terms.

Termination of Service
OPENCOURT disclaims all responsibility and liability for the availability, timeliness, security or reliability of the Services or Site, or any software provided through the Site. OPENCOURT reserves the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue the Services or access to the Site without any notice at any time and without any liability to you.

Scope of Terms
The Terms apply to use of and contribution to the Site and any account provided therefore. OPENCOURT may operate additional projects or services that require separate or additional terms. Such different terms are made available through the individual project or service and are not addressed further herein.

No Waiver of Terms
Failure of OPENCOURT to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not be deemed a waiver of such right or provision in that or any other instance.

Governing Law and Entire Agreement
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without regard to the rules of conflict of law that may cause the laws of another jurisdiction to apply. You agree to the sole and exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the federal or state courts serving Suffolk County in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the event of any dispute of any kind arising from or relating to the Site or Services, or your use or review of it. The Terms constitute the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes and replaces all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, regarding such subject matter. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision or portion of these Terms to be unenforceable, the remainder of the Terms will continue in full force and effect.

Effective Date: May 2, 2011.