The Atlantic Online | Terms Of Service and Legal Disclaimer

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Please note that this site is under constant development. New services are added frequently and this agreement may therefore be modified in the near future. It is important to check back to this page the next time you visit.

General Rules

Your access to and use of the www.theatlantic.com web site (the "Atlantic web site") and all products and services of The Atlantic Monthly, regardless of media, is subject to the terms, conditions and disclaimers set forth below and from time to time throughout the Atlantic web site, to our Online Privacy Policy, and to all applicable laws and regulations. In addition, The Atlantic Monthly reserves the right to terminate access to the Atlantic web site for any reason, and to take any other actions that The Atlantic Monthly, in its sole discretion, believes to be in the interest of the company and of its users and customers as a whole. The Atlantic Monthly reserves the right to modify these disclaimers, terms and conditions of access, without advance notice.

This is a binding contract between The Atlantic Monthly and you. By your acceptance of this agreement and use of the Atlantic web site, and as a material condition of such use, you warrant that you are over the age of eighteen and that you have provided accurate and complete information in any communication with The Atlantic Monthly including your login and user profile.

Access and Passwords

Access to the Atlantic web site is provided free of charge and does not create a professional services relationship or any other relationship with The Atlantic Monthly. Access to many pages on the Atlantic web site is limited to registered users, who are issued user names and passwords. Use of any password-protected area of the Atlantic web site is restricted to the registered user who has been given permission and a password to enter such area. This password may not be distributed to others, and the registered user is responsible for any and all damages to The Atlantic Monthly resulting from the distribution of his or her password.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password. You shall be responsible for all uses of your registration, whether or not authorized by you. You agree to notify The Atlantic Monthly immediately of any unauthorized use of your registration or password.

License and Termination

Your access to the Atlantic web site is licensed to you, not sold. This license immediately terminates upon your breach of this agreement and, in addition, The Atlantic Monthly may terminate the license immediately at any time, at will and for the convenience of The Atlantic Monthly. If you do not abide by the disclaimers, terms, or conditions herein, you are not authorized to use the Atlantic web site.

The Atlantic web site may be used only by you, and you may not rent, lend, sub-license, or transfer the Atlantic web site or any data residing on it or any of your rights under this agreement to anyone else. You may not develop or derive for commercial sale any data in machine-readable or other form that incorporates or uses any substantial part of the Atlantic web site. You may not transfer to or store any data residing or exchanged over the Atlantic web site in any electronic network for use by more than one user unless you obtain prior written permission from The Atlantic Monthly.

For any images, text, data or other information (referred to here as "Content") you submit to The Atlantic Monthly, including profile information, chat room or forum pages, and any e-mail, you warrant that you own the right to utilize, to license and to sublicense the Content and you grant to The Atlantic Monthly a non-exclusive, worldwide, paid-up and royalty-free perpetual license, including right of sublicense, to use, display, distribute, perform, reproduce in whole or in part, modify and create derivative works from the Content, in any media.

Intellectual Property

The Atlantic Monthly and the Atlantic web site, and all other text and images contained on the Atlantic web site and in The Atlantic Monthly's products are protected by United States trademark and copyright law and other applicable law and are the property of The Atlantic Monthly, except as otherwise identified. All copyrights and trademarks not the property of The Atlantic Monthly that are used or referred to in the Atlantic web site and The Atlantic Monthly's products are the property of their respective owners. Nothing contained in the site or other products shall be construed as granting any license or other rights to any copyright, trademark, patent or other property of The Atlantic Monthly or any third party, whether by implication, laches, estoppel or explicit grant. Because the content is proprietary, any unauthorized use of materials on the site or other products may violate the law.

The Atlantic Monthly's products, including third party and licensed materials on the site, may not be modified, reproduced, republished, retransmitted, or displayed except for personal use. Any use for a commercial or public purpose requires specific written permission from The Atlantic Monthly.

Acceptable Use Policy

You are solely responsible for any and all acts and omissions that occur during or relating to your use of the Atlantic web site, and you agree not to engage in unacceptable use of the Atlantic web site, which includes, without limitation, use of the Atlantic web site to:

Disseminate or transmit "spam," unsolicited messages, chain letters, any advertisements, solicitations, pyramid schemes, investment opportunities or other unsolicited commercial communication,

Disseminate or transmit material that to a reasonable person may be abusive, obscene, defamatory, harassing, grossly offensive, vulgar, threatening or malicious, or any Content that is unlawful, is intended to be used for any unlawful purpose, is false or misleading, or that actually or potentially infringes the copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or other right of any person, including The Atlantic Monthly; (b) any material, non-public information about companies without the authorization to do so;

Create a false identity or otherwise attempt to mislead any person as to the identity or origin of any communication;

Purchase, sell, or offer to purchase or sell any equity or security or market instrument, or to provide information designed to manipulate any equity or security or market;

Interfere, disrupt, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to other profiles or accounts on the Atlantic web site or any other computer network;

Print out or otherwise copy or use any personally identifiable information about other users;

Disseminate or transmit viruses, Trojan horses, worms, defects, date bombs, time bombs or other items of a destructive nature or any other malicious code or program;

Express or imply that any statements you make are endorsed by us;

Restrict or inhibit any other visitor or member from using the Atlantic web site, including, without limitation, by means of "hacking" or defacing any portion of the Atlantic web site;

Modify, adapt, sub-license, translate, sell, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of the Atlantic web site;

Remove any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices contained in the Atlantic web site;

"Frame" or "mirror" any part of the Atlantic web site;

Engage in any other activity deemed by The Atlantic Monthly to be in conflict with the spirit or intent of this agreement.

You understand that by using the Atlantic web site, you may be exposed to Content that may offend you or challenge your beliefs. Your remedy is to avoid such Content by discontinuing your access.

Content and Non-Endorsement

Opinions and other statements expressed by users and third parties are theirs alone, not opinions of The Atlantic Monthly. Content created by third parties is the sole responsibility of the third parties and its accuracy and completeness are not endorsed or guaranteed. The Atlantic web site and third parties may provide links to web pages, web sites, and various resources or locations on the web. The Atlantic Monthly has no control over the information you access via such links, does not endorse that information, and shall not be responsible for it or for the consequences of your use of that information.

If you have a copyright complaint about any information on the Atlantic web site, follow the procedure at this page. If you are aware of any communication in a chat room or forum on the Atlantic web site that is unlawful, infringes the property rights of The Atlantic Monthly, a user, or a third party, or otherwise fails to conform to these Terms of Service, please send an e-mail notification with the subject "Inappropriate Use" to [email protected].

The Atlantic Monthly does not initiate, edit, modify, select, or designate specific recipients for any messages or other data entered into the chat rooms or online forums or any other part of the Atlantic web site, except that (i) The Atlantic Monthly may consolidate and edit for clarity any Content posted to chat rooms or online forums, (ii) The Atlantic Monthly may inform registered users or third parties of particular content, ask for their response, or ask them to host discussions, and (iii) The Atlantic Monthly reserves the right to monitor the Atlantic web site and to remove any information that The Atlantic Monthly, in its sole discretion, considers to be inappropriate or unlawful. The exercise of such rights shall not create an obligation for The Atlantic Monthly to monitor, screen or edit Content on the Atlantic web site in any way.

Please note that, because The Atlantic Monthly and its designees host message boards, reviews and feedback areas and other forums found on the Atlantic web site (collectively, the "Forums") and, therefore, redistribute materials you give to us, The Atlantic Monthly requires certain rights in those materials. Accordingly, by sending or transmitting to The Atlantic Monthly creative suggestions, ideas, notes, concepts, information or other materials (collectively, "Submissions"), or by posting such Submissions to any area of the Atlantic web site, you grant The Atlantic Monthly and its designees a worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicenseable (through multiple tiers), assignable, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to use, reproduce, distribute (through multiple tiers), create derivative works of, publicly perform, publicly display, digitally perform, make, have made, sell, offer for sale and import such Submissions in any media now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to the provider of the Submissions. None of the Submissions will be subject to any obligation, whether of confidentiality, attribution or otherwise, on the part of The Atlantic Monthly and The Atlantic Monthly will not be liable for any use or disclosure of any Submissions.

Forums

The Forums are designed to permit you to share your ideas and opinions. Information on the Forums is provided by our staff and other contributors, some of whom use anonymous screen names and are people not otherwise connected with us. You acknowledge that a large volume of information is available in our Forums and that people participating in such Forums occasionally post messages or make statements, whether intentionally or unintentionally, that are inaccurate, misleading or deceptive. The Atlantic Monthly neither endorses nor is responsible for such messages or statements, or for any opinion, advice, information or other utterance made or displayed on the Atlantic web site or Forums by third parties. The opinions expressed in the Forums reflect solely the opinion(s) of the participants and may not reflect the opinion(s) of The Atlantic Monthly. The Atlantic Monthly is not responsible for any errors or omissions in postings in the Forums, for hyperlinks embedded in messages or for any results obtained from the use of such information. Under no circumstances will The Atlantic Monthly or its affiliates, be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on such information obtained through the Atlantic web site or the Forums.

We have no obligation to monitor the Forums, or any Submissions or other materials that you or other third parties transmit or post on the Forums. You acknowledge and agree that The Atlantic Monthly has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the Forums and the materials you transmit or post; to alter or remove any such materials (including, without limitation, any posting to a Forum); to disclose such materials and the circumstances surrounding their transmission to any third party in order to operate the Atlantic web site properly; to protect ourselves, and our visitors; and to comply with legal obligations or governmental requests.

Additional terms applicable specifically to Post & Riposte are incorporated here by reference, and can be found in full via this hyperlink.

Limitation of Liability and Use

The Atlantic Monthly has worked to ensure the accuracy of the information it provides through its products and services, including through the Atlantic web site. This information frequently relies on data obtained from many sources, however, and The Atlantic Monthly cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information provided or any analysis based thereon.

YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT THE USE OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY'S PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, INCLUDING THE ATLANTIC WEB SITE, IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. SUCH PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AND DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE OR ERROR FREE. NO ADVICE, OPINION OR OTHER INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH THE ATLANTIC WEB SITE OR FROM THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, ORALLY OR IN ANY MEDIA, SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY FROM THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THIS AGREEMENT.

THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY SHALL NOT BE LIABLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE OR OTHER DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS OR COSTS OR ATTORNEY'S FEES, UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO BREACH OF CONTRACT, BREACH OF WARRANTY, NEGLIGENCE, OR STRICT LIABILITY, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY WAS INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold The Atlantic Monthly, its affiliates, licensors, suppliers, advertisers and sponsors, and its and their directors, officers, employees, consultants, agents and other representatives, harmless from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, costs (including reasonable attorneys' fees) and other expenses that arise directly or indirectly out of or from (a) your breach of this agreement, including any violation of the Terms of Service; (b) any allegation that any Content or other materials you submit to us or transmit to the Atlantic web site infringe or otherwise violate the copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property or other rights of any third party; and/or (c) your activities in connection with the Atlantic web site.

Special Agreement on Fee-Shifting and Choice of Law

If you attempt to bring any legal action against The Atlantic Monthly based in any way on its products or services, including the Atlantic web site, you agree that, in the event you do not prevail or The Atlantic Monthly does prevail, you will reimburse The Atlantic Monthly for any costs and attorneys fees associated with their defense of the action.

The use of the Atlantic web site and any claim or dispute relating to the Atlantic web site shall be governed by the laws of the District of Columbia, without regard to its conflicts of law principles. Exclusive venue for any claim shall be in the state and federal courts located in the District of Columbia. Use of the Atlantic web site is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not effect to all provisions of these Terms of Service, including without limitation this paragraph.

Severability

If any provision or portion of these Terms of Service is held in whole or in part to be unenforceable for any reason, the remainder of that provision and of the entire agreement will be severable and will remain in effect, to the fullest degree consistent with the intent of this document.