Terms of Use

The CBCS discussion forum and message board [the "Forum" or "CBCS Message Board"] accessible through the cbcscomics.com Web site [the "Site"] [collectively the "Forum Services"] is brought to you by Comic Book Certification Service, LLC ["CBCS," "we," "our," or "Company"]. In addition to any other Terms of Use and/or Terms and Conditions applicable to your use of the Site, the following additional Terms of Use [the "Additional Terms of Use"] will apply to your use of the Forum Services.

Your continued use of the Forum Services constitutes your binding acceptance of these Additional Terms of Use, and any modifications made thereto. By accessing or using the Forum Services, Site and software provided through or in connection with the Forum Services you signify that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by this Additional Terms of Use Agreement ["Agreement"], CBCS' Privacy Policy, and any additional terms and conditions, notices and disclaimers displayed through the Forum Services, whether or not you are a registered user of our Forum Services.

We reserve the right to amend this Agreement at any time and without notice. If we do this, we will post the amended Agreement on this page and indicate at the top of the page the date the Agreement was last revised. Your continued use of the Forum Services after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms of Use. If you do not agree to any of these terms or any future Terms of Use, do not use or access [or continue to access] the Forum Services This Agreement applies to all visitors, users, and others who access the Forum Services [the "Users"].

CBCS MESSAGE BOARD ADDITIONAL TERMS OF USE

1. General Rules

• We reserve the right to remove, at any time and without notice, any content from the CBCS Message Board.
• You must read and follow the board etiquette and any stickied forum rules threads at the top of each forum in which you post.
• Refrain from using inappropriate language, including language that may look, sound like, stand for, hint at, abbreviate, or insinuate profanity, hate speech [including but not limited to racial, ethnic, or religious slurs], illegal drugs/controlled substances or illegal activities.
• You must be at least 16 years old to register for the CBCS Message Board. We do not knowingly collect any information from any users under 16 years of age, and if it is found that an underage user has fraudulently registered, their account will be blocked from using the site any further. CBCS may terminate your account or profile, delete any content or information that you have posted on the Forum, and/or prohibit you from using or accessing the Forum Services [or any portion, aspect or feature of the Forum Services for any reason or no reason, at any time in its sole discretion, with or without notice, including without limitation if it believes that you are under 16. If you are a minor in the jurisdiction in which you reside [e.g. under 18 years of age], you may only use the Forum Services if: [a] you either are an emancipated minor or obtain parental or legal guardian consent after review of this Agreement prior to you using any of the Forum Services provided by CBCS, and [b] you are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in this Agreement, and to abide by and comply with this Agreement.
• We reserve the right to contact your ISP regarding any inappropriate activities by you on the CBCS Message Board.
• Your subscription to the CBCS Message Board is intended for your individual and personal use only. You may not share, license, sub-license, sub-lease, parse, pass-on or in any other way attempt to share, extend or monetize your access to the CBCS Message Board.
• We reserve the right to immediately terminate or suspend the message board account of anyone who fails to abide by these Additional Terms of Use. The decision to suspend or terminate accounts will be made at the sole discretion of the Site administrators. All account terminations [bannings] are final.

2. Protecting Your Password and Unauthorized Access

Users are solely responsible for protecting their accounts from access by others. You are strongly encouraged to select a hard-to-guess password and not re-use that password on any other sites where it may be read by the owners or administrators of that site. Accessing or attempting to access any user account not belonging to you without permission is prohibited. Accessing another user's account in this manner is grounds for a permanent ban of your account from the CBCS Message Board.

3. Registration

In order to post messages on the CBCS Message Board and use other advanced services, you must register for a free account through CBCScomics.com using a valid e-mail address and follow all required registration confirmation procedures. No posting privileges will be granted until the account is fully activated and you have chosen a unique forum user name.

4. Posting Content

By posting, you are providing content to the CBCS Message Board. You agree to grant us worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive right and license, including any moral rights or other necessary rights, to use, display, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, perform, archive, distribute, translate, and creative derivative works and compilations, in whole or in part. This license will apply with respect to any form, media, or technology both known or later developed. You warrant and represent that you have all legal, moral, and other rights that may be necessary to grant us with this license.

Users agree that all information, data, text, software, code, photographs, graphics, music, sound, or any other content, publicly or privately provided, shall be the sole responsibility of the person providing the content to the CBCS Message Board, or the responsibility of the person whose user account was used to post the content. By using the CBCS Message Board, users may be exposed to content that may be objectionable or offensive. Neither CBCS, nor the moderators of the CBCS Message Board shall be responsible to you in any way for the content that appears on this Site, nor for any error or omission.

Users acknowledge, consent, and agree that CBCS or the moderators of the CBCS Message Board may access, preserve, and disclose your account information and content if required to do so by law, or in a good faith belief that access is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process, enforce the Terms of Use and/or Additional Terms of Use, respond to claims that content violates the rights of third-parties, respond to your service requests, or to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of the users of this Site.

5. Offensive Material

Users may not transmit or encourage others to transmit material or links to content considered patently offensive in nature. This includes, but is not limited to, using vulgar, profane, or sexually explicit language in reference to race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity, disability, nationality, or gender as a means of insult; violent material; using threatening, harassing, defamatory, hate-speech, or libelous language; and posting, requesting, linking to, or otherwise sharing material considered pornographic, obscene, graphic, or hate speech. Likewise, a user may not post malicious content including, but not limited to, being infected with a virus or other destructive programming, or compromising and/or attempting to compromise the programming data of CBCScomics.com or the CBCS Message Board. Failing to abide by a warning that material or terms are offensive or prohibited is a violation. The decision on what materials are offensive is ultimately decided by the moderators of the forum, and their decision is final. Attempting to undermine or cause unrest about the decision of a moderator is a violation.

6. Contacting You

By registering on the CBCS Message Board, you agree that we may contact you via e-mail or postal mail to provide you with information about the CBCS Message Board or your account or to provide you with special announcements or information about special offers available to CBCS members.

7. No Warranty; Limitation of Liability

The CBCS Message Board, any software we may provide for the purpose of interacting with the CBCS Message Board [the "Software"] and all related documentation are being provided to you "as is" and without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. We do not warrant that the functions contained in the Software or on Service will meet your requirements. We do not warrant that the CBCS Message Board or the Software will be uninterrupted, error free or free of viruses or other harmful components. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTENT POSTED BY OUR USERS. No oral or written information or advice given by us or any of our authorized representatives shall create a warranty or in any way increase the scope of this warranty. The above exclusions will not apply in any jurisdiction that does not allow the exclusion of implied warranties.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, NEGLIGENCE, SHALL COMIC BOOK CERTIFICATION SERVICE, OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, DIRECTORS, AGENTS, LICENSEES, SUB-LICENSEE, MODERATOR OR ASSIGNS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE CBCS MESSAGE BOARD, THE SOFTWARE OR RELATED DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF SUCH PARTIES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THOSE DAMAGES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS WILL NOT APPLY IN ANY JURISDICTION THAT DOES NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES. IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION [WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE] EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU FOR THE USE OF THE CBCS MESSAGE BOARD SOFTWARE.

8. Indemnification

USERS AGREE TO INDEMNIFY AND HOLD CBCS, OR ANY OF ITS RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, DIRECTORS, AGENTS, LICENSEES, SUB-LICENSEES, MODERATORS OR ASSIGNS HARMLESS FROM ANY CLAIM OR DEMAND, INCLUDING REASONABLE ATTORNEY'S FEES, THAT MAY BE MADE BY ANY THIRD-PARTY, THAT IS DUE TO, OR ARISING OUT OF YOUR CONDUCT ON THE CBCS MESSAGE BOARD OR ANY CONNECTION WITH THIS SITE OR FORUM SERVICES. YOUR PROVISION OF CONTENT, YOUR VIOLATION OF THE TERMS OF USE AND/OR ADDITIONAL TERMS OF USE, OR ANY OTHER VIOLATION OF THE RIGHTS OF ANOTHER PERSON OR PARTY.

In some jurisdictions, it is not permitted to limit liability and therefore such limitations may not apply to you.

9. CBCS' Proprietary Rights

Except for your User content, the Forum Services and all materials therein or transferred thereby, including, without limitation, software, images, text, graphics, illustrations, logos, patents, trademarks, service marks, copyrights, photographs, audio, videos, music, and User content [the "Company Content"], and all Intellectual Property Rights related thereto, are the exclusive property of CBCS and its licensors.

Except as explicitly provided herein, nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to create a license in or under any such Intellectual Property Rights, and you agree not to sell, license, rent, modify, distribute, copy, reproduce, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, publish, adapt, edit or create derivative works from any materials or content accessible on the Site. Use of the Company Content or materials on the Site for any purpose not expressly permitted by this Agreement is strictly prohibited.

You may choose to or we may invite you to submit comments or ideas about the Forum Services, including without limitation about how to improve the Forum Services or our products ["Ideas"]. By submitting any Idea, you agree that your disclosure is gratuitous, unsolicited and without restriction and will not place CBCS under any fiduciary or other obligation, that we are free to disclose the Ideas on a non-confidential basis to anyone or otherwise use the Ideas without any additional compensation to you. You acknowledge that, by acceptance of your submission, CBCS does not waive any rights to use similar or related ideas previously known to CBCS, or developed by its employees, or obtained from sources other than you.

10. Privacy

We care about the privacy of our Users. Please see our posted Privacy Policy. By using the Forum Services you grant CBCS the right to collect, store, use and/or disclose information in the manner permitted by the Privacy Policy and you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.

11. Security

We have implemented commercially reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration or disclosure. However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will never be able to defeat those measures or use your personal information for improper purposes. You acknowledge that you provide your personal information at your own risk.

12. DMCA Notice

If you believe that your copyrighted work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement and is accessible via the Site, please notify CBCS' copyright agent, as set forth in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 ["DMCA"]. For your complaint to be valid under the DMCA, you must provide the following information in writing:

1. An electronic or physical signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner;
2. Identification of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and where it is located on the Site;
4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit CBCS to contact you, such as your address, telephone number, and, e-mail address;
5. A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or law; and
6. A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information is accurate, and that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the owner.

The above information must be submitted to the following DMCA Agent:

Comic Book Certification Service, LLC
2400 31st Street South
St. Petersburg, FL 33712
Attn: Steve Borock
Email: sborock@cbcscomics.com
Phone: [727] 803-6822

UNDER FEDERAL LAW, IF YOU KNOWINGLY MISREPRESENT THAT ONLINE MATERIAL IS INFRINGING, YOU MAY BE SUBJECT TO CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOR PERJURY AND CIVIL PENALTIES, INCLUDING MONETARY DAMAGES, COURT COSTS, AND ATTORNEYS' FEES.

Please note that this procedure is exclusively for notifying CBCS and its affiliates that your copyrighted material has been infringed. The preceding requirements are intended to comply with CBCS' rights and obligations under the DMCA, including 17 U.S.C. §512[c], but do not constitute legal advice. It may be advisable to contact an attorney regarding your rights and obligations under the DMCA and other applicable laws.

In accordance with the DMCA and other applicable law, CBCS has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at CBCS' sole discretion, members who are deemed to be repeat infringers. CBCS may also at its sole discretion limit access to the Forum Services and/or terminate the accounts or profiles of any Users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.

13. Third-Party Websites, Advertisers or Services

The Site may contain links to third-party websites, advertisers, or services that are not owned or controlled by CBCS. CBCS has no control over, and assumes no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third party websites or services. If you access a third party website from the Site, you do so at your own risk, and you understand that this Agreement and CBCS' Privacy Policy do not apply to your use of such sites. You expressly release CBCS from any and all liability arising from your use of any third-party website or services or third party owned content. Additionally, your dealings with or participation in promotions of advertisers found on the Site, including payment and delivery of goods, and any other terms [such as warranties] are solely between you and such advertisers. You agree that CBCS shall not be responsible for any loss or damage of any sort relating to your dealings with such advertisers.

We encourage you to be aware of when you leave the Site, and to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of any third-party website or service that you visit.

14. Assignment

This Agreement, and any rights and licenses granted hereunder, may not be transferred or assigned by you, but may be assigned by CBCS without restriction.

15. General

1. Governing Law. You agree that:
1. The Forum Services shall be deemed solely based in Florida; and
2. The Forum Services shall be deemed a passive one that does not give rise to personal jurisdiction over CBCS, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than Florida.
3. This Agreement shall be governed by the internal substantive laws of the State of Florida, without respect to its conflict of laws principles. Any claim or dispute between you and CBCS that arises in whole or in part from the Forum Services shall be decided exclusively by a court of competent jurisdiction located in Sarasota County, Florida.
2. Notification Procedures. CBCS may provide notifications, whether such notifications are required by law or are for marketing or other business related purposes, to you via email notice, written or hard copy notice, or through conspicuous posting of such notice on the Site, as determined by Company in our sole discretion. Company reserves the right to determine the form and means of providing notifications to our Users, provided that you may opt out of certain means of notification as described in this Agreement.
3. Entire Agreement/Severability. This Agreement, together with any other legal notices and agreements published by CBCS via the Site, shall constitute the entire agreement between you and Company concerning the Forum Services If any provision of this Agreement is deemed invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this Agreement, which shall remain in full force and effect.
4. No Waiver. No waiver of any term of this Agreement shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or any other term, and CBCS' failure to assert any right or provision under this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.