Terms of Use

AGREEMENT BETWEEN USER AND OCLC

OCLC, Inc. (OCLC) offers a number of online community engagement platforms, email discussion lists, and online forums operated or hosted exclusively by OCLC (the “Services”). To use the Services, you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years of age.

The Services are offered to you conditioned on your acceptance without modification of the terms, conditions, and notices contained herein and in the OCLC Engagement Code of Conduct. Your use of the Services constitutes your agreement to all such terms, conditions, and notices, and the OCLC Engagement Code of Conduct.

MODIFICATION OF THESE TERMS OF USE

OCLC reserves the right to change the terms, conditions, and notices under which the Services are offered at our sole discretion, including but not limited to the changes associated with the use of the Services. Your continued use of the Services following the posting of a revised Terms of Use means that you accept and agree to such changes.

You may not use the Services and may not accept the Terms of Use (“Terms”) if you are a person barred from using services that OCLC provides under the laws of any country in which you are resident or from which you use the Services.

OCLC reserves the right to disclose aggregated data, or information or statements we publish without attribution to any identifiable individual, or specific data or statements that you separately and specifically agree we can share with the larger public or media, without infringing upon the user’s confidentiality.

LINKS TO THIRD-PARTY SITES

The Services may contain links to other websites (“Linked Websites”). Linked Websites are not under the control of OCLC, and OCLC is not responsible for the contents of any Linked Websites, including without limitation any link contained in Linked Websites, or any changes or updates to Linked Websites. OCLC is not responsible for webcasting or any other form of transmission received from any Linked Websites, and Linked Websites may have privacy policies and practices that differ from those of OCLC. Such links are provided to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by OCLC of the site or any association with its operators.

NO UNLAWFUL OR PROHIBITED USE

As a condition of your use of the Services, you warrant to OCLC that you will not use the Services for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these terms, conditions, and notices. You may not use the Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the Services or interfere with any other party’s use and enjoyment of the Services. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available or provided for through the Services, including, but not limited to, data mining, robots, or similar data-gathering and extraction tools.

PASSWORDS AND ACCOUNT SECURITY

You agree to not share access to the Services. As applicable, you agree and understand that you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of passwords associated with any account you use to access the Services. Accordingly, you agree that you will be solely responsible to OCLC for all activities that occur under your account(s). If you become aware of any unauthorized use of your password(s) or of your account(s), you agree to immediately notify OCLC.

PRIVACY AND PERSONAL INFORMATION

For information about OCLC data protection practices, please read OCLC’s Privacy Statement. The Privacy Statement, together with the information in these Terms, explain how OCLC treats your personal information, and protects your privacy, when you use the Services. By using the Services, you consent to the use of your personal data in accordance with OCLC’s Privacy Statement and these Terms. If you become aware of any unauthorized use of your password or of your account, you agree to immediately notify OCLC.

MATERIALS PROVIDED TO OCLC OR POSTED TO ANY OCLC SERVICE

OCLC does not claim ownership of the materials you provide to OCLC (including feedback and suggestions or posts that are uploaded, input, or submitted to any of the Services (collectively “Submissions”). However, by posting, uploading, inputting, providing, or submitting your Submission you are granting OCLC and necessary sub-licensees permission to use your Submission in connection with the operation of their businesses including, without limitation, the rights to copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate, and reformat your Submission.

No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission, as provided herein. OCLC is under no obligation to post or use any Submission you may provide and may remove any Submission at any time at OCLC’s sole discretion.

By posting, uploading, inputting, providing, or submitting your Submission you warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to your Submission as described in this section including, without limitation, all the rights necessary for you to provide, post, upload, input, or submit the Submissions.

DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT (DMCA) NOTICES

OCLC respects the intellectual property of others, and, particularly as to user-generated content in comments, discussion boards, or in other user contributed content, as applicable, we ask our users to do the same. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide the following information using the report an incident form:

An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of intellectual property owner (e.g., the copyright owner);
A description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed, including any registrations (as applicable);
A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located;
Your address, telephone number, and email address;
A statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law; and
A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf.

TERMINATION/ACCESS RESTRICTION

OCLC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to edit, refuse to post, or remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, or to terminate your access to the Services and the related services or any portion thereof at any time, without notice.

LIABILITY DISCLAIMER

The Services and their content are provided “AS IS” and OCLC EXCLUDES TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The functions embodied on, or in the materials of, these Services are not warranted to be uninterrupted or without error. You, not OCLC assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair, or correction due to your use of this website.

The information, software products, and services included in or available through the Services may include inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically added to the information herein. OCLC and/or its suppliers may make improvements and/or changes to the Services at any time. Advice received via the Services should not be relied upon for personal, medical, legal, or financial decisions and you should consult an appropriate professional for specific advice tailored to your situation.

OCLC and/or its suppliers make no representations about the suitability, reliability, availability, timeliness, and accuracy of the information, software, products, services, and related graphics contained on the Services for any purpose. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, all such information, software, products, services, and related graphics are provided “AS IS” without warranty or condition of any kind. OCLC and/or its suppliers hereby DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THIS INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND RELATED GRAPHICS, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall OCLC and/or its suppliers be liable for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever including, without limitation, damages for loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in any way connected with the use or performance of the Services, with the delay or inability to use the Services, the provision of or failure to provide Services, or for any information, software, products, services, and related graphics obtained through the Services, or otherwise arising out of use of the Services, whether based on contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or otherwise, even if OCLC (or any of its suppliers) has been advised of the possibility of damages. Because some states/jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation may not apply to you. If you are dissatisfied with any portion of the Services, or with any of these terms of use, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue using the Services.

Except as specifically stated in these Terms, or elsewhere within any Services, or as otherwise required by applicable law, neither OCLC nor its directors, employees, content providers, affiliates, or other representatives will be liable for damages of any kind (including, without limitation, lost profits, direct, indirect, compensatory, consequential, exemplary, special, incidental, or punitive damages) arising out of your use of, inability to use, or the performance of these Services or their content, whether or not we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. OCLC uses reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy, correctness, and reliability of the content, but we make no representations or warranties as to the content’s accuracy, correctness, or reliability.

Some US states and foreign countries do not permit the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties or liability for certain categories of damages. Therefore, some or all of the limitations above may not apply to you to the extent they are prohibited or superseded by state or national provisions.

INDEMNIFICATION

Except as prohibited by law, you will hold OCLC and its officers, directors, employees, and agents harmless for any indirect, punitive, special, incidental, or consequential damage, however it arises (including attorneys’ fees and all related costs and expenses of litigation and arbitration, or at trial or on appeal, if any, whether or not litigation or arbitration is instituted), whether in an action of contract, negligence, or other tortious action, or arising out of or in connection with these Terms, including without limitation any claim for personal injury or property damage, arising from (i) your use of and access to the Services; (ii) your violation of any of these Terms; (iii) your violation of any third-party right, including without limitation any copyright, property, or privacy right; or (iv) any claim that your content caused damage to a third party. This defense and indemnification obligation will survive these Terms and your use of the Services.

INTERNATIONAL USERS

OCLC makes no claims regarding access or use of the Services or OCLC content outside of the United States. If you use or access the Services or OCLC content outside of the United States, you are responsible for compliance with the laws and regulations of your jurisdiction as well as these Terms of Use.

PERPETUITY RIGHTS

When these Terms come to an end, all of the legal rights, obligations, and liabilities that you and OCLC have benefited from, been subject to (or which have accrued over time whilst the Terms have been in force), or which are expressed to continue indefinitely, shall be unaffected by this cessation, and the provisions of this agreement shall continue to apply to such rights, obligations, and liabilities indefinitely.

COPYRIGHT

TRADEMARKS

All OCLC trademarks are strictly owned by OCLC, and nothing in these terms can be construed to transfer ownership rights or grant any permission, license, or other rights to any OCLC trademark without written authorization from OCLC.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned within the Services may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.

GENERAL LEGAL TERMS

The Terms constitute the whole legal agreement between you and OCLC and govern your use of the Services (but excluding any services that OCLC may provide to you under a separate written agreement), and completely replace any prior agreements between you and OCLC in relation to the Services.

You acknowledge and agree that the form and nature of the Services, which OCLC provides, may change from time to time with or without prior notice to you.

OCLC has divisions and affiliated legal entities around the world (“Subsidiaries and Affiliates”). Sometimes, these organizations will be providing the Services to you on behalf of OCLC. You acknowledge and agree that Subsidiaries and Affiliates will be entitled to provide the Services to you.

As part of OCLC’s continuing innovation, you acknowledge and agree that OCLC may stop (permanently or temporarily) providing the Services (or any features within the Services) to you or to users generally at OCLC’s sole discretion, without prior notice to you. You may stop using the Services at any time. You do not need to specifically inform OCLC when you stop using the Services.

You acknowledge and agree that if OCLC disables access to your account, you may be prevented from accessing the Services, your account details, or any files or other content, that is contained in your account.

Unless you have been specifically permitted to do so in a separate agreement with OCLC, you agree that you will not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, trade, or resell the Services for any purpose, most especially including not sharing the data supplied by other OCLC members to law firms or other vendors that are not OCLC members. You agree that you are solely responsible for (and that OCLC has no responsibility to you or to any third party for) any breach of your obligations under the Terms and for the consequences (including any loss or damage which OCLC may suffer) of any such breach.

You acknowledge and agree that while OCLC may not currently have set a fixed limit on the number of transmissions you may send, receive, or store/manage through the Services, such fixed limits may be set by OCLC at any time, at OCLC’s discretion.

You agree that if OCLC does not exercise or enforce any legal right or remedy that is contained in the Terms (or of which OCLC has the benefit of under any applicable law), this will not be taken to be a formal waiver of OCLC’s rights and that those rights or remedies will still be available to OCLC.

Unless OCLC has given you specific written permission to do so, you may not assign (or grant a sub-license of) your rights to use the Services, grant a security interest in or over your rights to use the Services, or otherwise transfer any part of your rights to use the Software. This means also that you shall not share your password or member access with non-members or ineligible members.

If any disagreement or dispute arises regarding these Terms or any rights or obligations conveyed hereunder, the disagreement shall be resolved, whenever possible, by meeting and conferring. If such efforts are unsuccessful, either you or OCLC (collectively “Parties” or individually “Party”) shall seek a resolution via binding arbitration in accordance with the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association. Any such controversy or claim shall be arbitrated on an individual basis and shall not be consolidated in any arbitration with any claim or controversy of any other party. The decision of the arbitrator shall be final and unappealable. The arbitration shall be conducted in Columbus, Ohio, USA, and judgment on the arbitration award may be entered into any court having jurisdiction thereof. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, OCLC may at any time seek injunctions or other forms of equitable relief from any court of competent jurisdiction.

Parties agree that any dispute resolution proceedings will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated, or representative action. If for any reason a claim proceeds in court rather than in arbitration, both Parties each waive any right to a jury trial. Parties both agree that either Party may bring suit in court to enjoin infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights.

The Terms, and your relationship with OCLC under the Terms, shall be governed by the laws of the State of Ohio, USA, without regard to conflict of laws provisions. You and OCLC agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within the State of Ohio to resolve any legal matter arising from the Terms. Notwithstanding this, you agree that OCLC shall still be allowed to apply for injunctive remedies (or an equivalent type of urgent legal relief) in any jurisdiction. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sales of Goods shall not apply.

If any court of law, having the jurisdiction to decide on this matter, rules that any provision of these Terms is invalid, then that provision will be removed from the Terms without affecting the rest of the Terms, which will remain in full force and effect.

Last Updated: 2023-28-08