Terms of Use

Effective as of 30 December 2008

Green by Design Terms of Use

Welcome to Green by Design!

Please read the following terms and conditions (”Terms of Use“) carefully. Green by Design, Inc. (”Green by Design“) provides this website located at www.greenbydesign.com (the “Site“) for our users to research and access green products and services and for our users to submit, post and share comments and information with the Green by Design community (”Services“). These Terms of Use are a legal agreement between you and Green by Design and apply to you whether you are a user posting or submitting User Submissions (defined below) or a visitor just browsing the Site (collectively, “Green by Design Users“).

YOU UNDERSTAND THAT BY USING THE SITE, SERVICES OR POSTING OR SUBMITTING ANY USER SUBMISSIONS (DEFINED BELOW), YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS OF USE. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE TERMS OF USE IN THEIR ENTIRETY, YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SITE OR SERVICES. If you agree to these Terms of Use on behalf of a business, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that business to these Terms of Use and your agreement to these terms will be treated as the agreement of the business. In that event, “you” and “your” will refer and apply to that business.

• 1.  Content and User Submissions.
  • a.  Definitions. Certain types of content are made available through the Site. “Content” as used in these Terms of Use means, collectively, the text, data, messages, communications, graphics, images, photos and video files made available through the Site, excluding User Submissions. “User Submissions” as used in these Terms of Use means, collectively, the text, data, messages, communications and any other content and information which Green by Design Users post, upload and otherwise submit to the Site. Green by Design reserves the right to remove and permanently delete any Content or User Submissions from the Site without notice. We will fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity of anyone posting, publishing or otherwise making available any User Submissions or other materials that are believed to violate these Terms of Use.
  • b.  Content. You may access and use the Site, Services, Content and User Submissions for your own personal use. You will not remove, alter or conceal any copyright, trademark, service mark or other proprietary rights notices incorporated in or accompanying the Site, Content, User Submissions or related products and services and you will not reproduce, modify, adapt, prepare derivative works based on, perform, display, publish, distribute, transmit, broadcast, sell, license or otherwise exploit the Site, Content, User Submissions (other than your User Submissions). Green by Design and its licensors own all right, title and interest, including all worldwide intellectual property rights in the Site, Content and the trademarks, service marks and logos contained therein, other than your User Submissions.
  • c.  User Submissions.
    • (i)  Responsibility of Green by Design Users. Green by Design Users may make comments about other content made available through the Site or Services (including Content or the User Submissions of other Green by Design Users). Green by Design advises you to exercise caution and good judgment when posting User Submissions. Once you complete and submit a User Submission to the Site or Services you will not be able to go back and edit your User Submission. You should also be aware that you could be held legally responsible for damages to someone’s reputation if your User Submissions are deemed to be defamatory. Green by Design may, but is under no obligation to, monitor or censor User Submissions and disclaims any and all liability relating thereto. Green by Design is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, appropriateness, legality or applicability of User Submissions or anything said, depicted or written by Green by Design Users, including, without limitation, any information obtained by using the Site. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Green by Design does reserve the right, in its sole discretion, to remove any User Submission that it deems to be improper, inappropriate or inconsistent with these Terms of Use. Green by Design does not endorse any User Submission or any opinion, recommendation, or advice expressed therein and you agree to waive, and hereby do waive, any legal or equitable rights or remedies you have or may have against Green by Design with respect thereto.
    • (ii)  License Grant. Green by Design does not claim ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by uploading, submitting, emailing, posting, publishing or otherwise transmitting any User Submission to Green by Design or on the Site, you hereby grant Green by Design a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, perpetual and irrevocable right and license to reproduce, modify, adapt, prepare derivative works based on, perform, display, publish, distribute, transmit and otherwise use such User Submissions in any form, medium or technology now known or later developed, including, without limitation, on the Internet and in connection with the promotion and marketing of Green by Design’s business. You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents and permissions to grant the foregoing licenses to Green by Design. You agree Green by Design will own all right, title and interest in and to all derivative works and compilations of User Submissions that are created by Green by Design, including all worldwide intellectual property rights therein. You agree to execute and deliver such documents and provide all assistance reasonably requested by Green by Design to give Green by Design the full benefit of the rights granted to Green by Design by you and all of the rights Green by Design obtains resulting from these Terms of Use.
    • (iii)  Limitations. You acknowledge and agree that Green by Design may, at its option, establish limits concerning User Submissions, including, without limitation, the maximum number of days that User Submissions will remain on the Site, the maximum size of any files that may be stored on or uploaded to the Site, and the maximum disk space that will be allotted to you for the storage of User Submissions on Green by Design’s servers. Green by Design will have no responsibility or liability for creating back-ups of your User Submissions and you are solely responsible for doing so.
• 2.  Copyrighted Materials – No Unauthorized Use.

  YOU WILL NOT USE THE SITE OR SERVICES TO TRANSMIT, ROUTE, PROVIDE CONNECTIONS TO OR STORE ANY MATERIAL THAT INFRINGES COPYRIGHTED WORKS OR OTHERWISE VIOLATES OR PROMOTES THE VIOLATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OF ANY THIRD PARTY. Green by Design has adopted and implemented a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of the access of users who repeatedly infringe or are believed to be infringing the rights of copyright holders. For further information please see the Green by Design Copyright and IP Policy.

• 3.  Interactions between Green by Design Users.

  You are solely responsible for your interactions (including any disputes) with other Green by Design Users. You understand that Green by Design does not in any way screen Green by Design Users. You are solely responsible for, and will exercise caution, discretion, common sense and judgment in, using the Site and Services and disclosing personal information to other Green by Design Users. You agree to take reasonable precautions in all interactions with other Green by Design Users, particularly if you decide to meet a Green by Design User offline, or in person. Your use of the Site, Services, Content, User Submissions and any other information or other materials made available through the Site or Services is at your sole risk and discretion and Green by Design hereby disclaims any and all liability to you or any third party related thereto. Green by Design reserves the right to contact Green by Design Users in compliance with applicable law, in order to evaluate compliance with the rules and policies in these Terms of Use. You agree to cooperate fully with Green by Design to investigate any suspected unlawful, fraudulent or improper activity.

• 4.  Third Party Websites, Products and services.

  Green by Design may make recommendations regarding certain websites or services and the Site and Services may provide hyperlinks to third party websites or resources.? These recommendations and links are provided merely as a courtesy. You acknowledge and agree that Green by Design is not responsible for the availability or accuracy of such websites or resources or the content, products, or services on or available from such websites or resources. You acknowledge sole responsibility for and assume all risk arising from your use of any such websites or resources or the goods and services available therein.? If you have any questions about or issues with regard to any such products or services, you should contact the third party entity that provided such products or services to you.

• 5.  Obligations for Green by Design Users.
  The Site and Services may be used and accessed for lawful, non-commercial purposes only. You agree to abide by all applicable local, state, national and foreign laws, treatises and regulations in connection with your use of the Site and Services. In addition, without limitation, you agree that you will not do any of the following while using or accessing the Site or Services:
  • a.  Circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security related features of the Site or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Content;
  • b.  Upload, post, submit or otherwise transmit (i) any User Submission to which you do not have the lawful right to copy, transmit and display (including any User Submission that would violate any confidentiality or fiduciary obligations that you might have with respect to the User Submission); (ii) any User Submission for which you do not have the consent or permission of each identifiable person in the User Submission to use the name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness of each such person (to the extent each is implicated by the User Submission) and such consent or permission is necessary; or (iii) any User Submission that infringes the intellectual property rights or violates the privacy rights of any third party (including without limitation copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other intellectual property right, or moral right or right of publicity);
  • c.  Use any meta tags or other hidden text or metadata utilizing a Green by Design name, trademark, URL or product name;
  • d.  Upload, post, submit or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, junk mail, spam, chain letters, “pyramid schemes” or any other form of solicitation;
  • e.  Forge any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any posting or in any way use the Site or Services to send altered, deceptive or false source-identifying information;
  • f.  Upload, post, submit or otherwise transmit, via the Site or Services, any User Submissions that are unlawful, obscene, harmful, threatening, harassing, defamatory or hateful or that contain objects or symbols of hate, invade the privacy of any third party, contain nudity (including without limitation any pornography, erotica, child pornography or child erotica), are deceptive, threatening, abusive, inciting of unlawful action, defamatory, libelous, vulgar or violent or constitute hate speech or are otherwise objectionable in the opinion of Green by Design;
  • g.  Upload, post, submit or otherwise transmit any User Submissions that contain software viruses or any other computer code, files, or programs designed to (i)?interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software; or (ii) interfere with the access of any user, host or network, including without limitation sending a virus, overloading, flooding, spamming or mail-bombing the Site;
  • h.  Interfere with or disrupt (or attempt to interfere with or disrupt) any web pages available at the Site, servers or networks connected to the Site or the technical delivery systems of Green by Design’s providers or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Site;
  • i.  Attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of any Green by Design system or network or breach or impair or circumvent any security or authentication measures protecting the Site or Services;
  • j.  Attempt to decipher, decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer any of the software used to provide the Site or Services;
  • k.  Attempt to access, search or meta-search the Site with any engine, software, tool, agent, device or mechanism other than software and/or search agents provided by Green by Design or other generally available third party web browsers (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, or Opera);
  • l.  Collect or store personal data about other users without their express permission;
  • m.  Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, through pretexting or some other form of social engineering or otherwise commit fraud;
  • n.  Use the Site or Services in any manner not permitted by these Terms of Use; or
  • o.  Encourage or instruct any other individual to do any of the foregoing or to violate any term of these Terms of Use.
• 6.  Termination or Suspension of the Site or Services & Modification of these Terms of Use.
  • a.  Green by Design reserves the right, in its sole discretion, at any time to modify, discontinue or terminate the Site and Services, or modify these Terms of Use without advance notice. All modified terms and conditions will be effective after they are posted on the Site (unless a longer notice period is required by applicable law). If any modified terms and conditions are not acceptable to you, your sole remedy is to cease using the Site and Services. By continuing to access or use the Site and Services after Green by Design makes any such revision, you agree to be bound by the revised Terms of Use.
  • b.  Without limiting other remedies, Green by Design may immediately terminate or suspend your access to the Site and Services and remove any material (including User Submissions) from the Site or our servers. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we also reserve the right to terminate the Site, Services or your access thereto at any time and for any reason. In addition, Green by Design may notify authorities or take any actions it deems appropriate, without notice to you, if Green by Design suspects or determines, in its own discretion, that you may have or there is a significant risk that you have: (i) failed to comply with any provision of these Terms of Use or any policies or rules established by Green by Design; or (ii) engaged in actions relating to or in the course of using the Site or Services that may be illegal or cause liability, harm, embarrassment, harassment, abuse or disruption for you, Green by Design Users, Green by Design or any other third parties or the Site or Services.
  • c.  You may stop using the Site and Services at any time and for any reason.
  • d.  After any termination, you understand and acknowledge that we will have no further obligation to provide the Services. Upon termination, all licenses and other rights granted to you by these Terms of Use will immediately cease. Green by Design is not liable to you or any third party for termination of the Services or termination of your use of the Services. UPON ANY TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION, ANY INFORMATION (INCLUDING USER SUBMISSIONS) THAT YOU HAVE SUBMITTED ON THE SITE MAY NO LONGER BE ACCESSED BY YOU. Furthermore, Green by Design will have no obligation to maintain any information stored in our database related to your account or to forward any information to you or any third party. Any suspension, termination or cancellation will not affect your obligations to Green by Design under these Terms of Use (including but not limited to ownership, indemnification and limitation of liability), which by their sense and context are intended to survive such suspension, termination or cancellation.
• 7.  Disclaimer of Warranties.

  GREEN BY DESIGN MAKES NO WARRANTIES TO YOU, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THE SITE, SERVICES, CONTENT, USER SUBMISSIONS OR OTHERWISE, AND DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE SITE, SERVICES, CONTENT OR USER SUBMISSIONS AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGMENT. Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties, so the foregoing disclaimers may not apply to you.

• 8.  Limitation of Liability.

  IN NO EVENT WILL GREEN BY DESIGN, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE, SERVICES, CONTENT AND USER SUBMISSIONS WHETHER THE DAMAGES ARE FORESEEABLE AND WHETHER OR NOT GREEN BY DESIGN HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY WILL APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW IN THE APPLICABLE JURISDICTION AND IN NO EVENT WILL GREEN BY DESIGN’S CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU EXCEED $25.

• 9.  Indemnification.
  You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold Green by Design, its officers, directors, employees and agents, harmless from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including without limitation reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, arising out of or in any way connected with
  • (i)  your access to or use of the Site, Services and Content;
  • (ii)  your User Submissions,
  • (iii)  your violation of these Terms of Use; and
  • (iv)  your violation of any third party right, including without limitation any intellectual property right, publicity, confidentiality, property or privacy right.
• 10.  General.
  In the event that any provision in these Terms of Use is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect. The failure of a party to enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Use will not be deemed a waiver of such right or provision. You may not assign these Terms of Use (by operation of law or otherwise) without the prior written consent of Green by Design and any prohibited assignment will be null and void. Green by Design may assign these Terms of Use or any rights hereunder without your consent. The relationship of the parties under these Terms of Use is that of independent contractors, and these Terms of Use will not be construed to imply that either party is the agent, employee, or joint venturer of the other. These Terms of Use shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of California excluding that body of law pertaining to conflict of laws. Any legal action or proceeding arising under these Terms of Use will be brought exclusively in courts located in California and the parties hereby irrevocably consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue therein. You agree that these Terms of Use and the rules, restrictions and policies contained herein, and Green by Design’s enforcement thereof, are not intended to confer and do not confer any rights or remedies upon any person other than you and Green by Design. These Terms of Use together with the rules and policies of Green by Design constitutes the entire Terms of Use between Green by Design and you with respect to the subject matter hereof. Any notice or other communication to be given hereunder will be in writing and given
  • (a)  by Green by Design via email (in each case to the address that you provide),
  • (b)  a posting on this Site, or
  • (c)  by you via email to notice@greenbydesign.com or to such other addresses as Green by Design may specify in writing.

  The date of receipt shall be deemed the date on which such notice is transmitted.

• 11.  Feedback.
  Your feedback is welcomed and encouraged. You may submit feedback by emailing us at feedback@greenbydesign.com. You agree, however, that:
  • (i)  by submitting unsolicited ideas to Green by Design or any of its employees or representatives, you automatically forfeit your right to any intellectual property rights in these ideas; and
  • (ii)  unsolicited ideas submitted to Green by Design or any of its employees or representatives automatically become the property of Green by Design.

  You hereby assign and agree to assign all rights, title and interest you have in such feedback and ideas to Green by Design together with all intellectual property rights therein.