1. General

1.1 NOTICE: PLEASE READ THIS CONTRACT CAREFULLY. BY USING ALL OR ANY PORTION
OF THIS WEBSITE (HTTP://WWW.NYGBS.ORG, HTTP://WWW.NYGBS.COM, HTTP://WWW.NYFAMILYHISTORY.ORG,
HTTP://WWW.NEWYORKFAMILYHISTORY.ORG AND HTTP://WWW.NEWYORKFAMILYHISTORY.COM),
ASSOCIATED SOFTWARE, ANY AND ALL RELATED CONTENT, RESEARCH TOOLS, AND SERVICES
(HEREAFTER COLLECTIVELY REFERRED TO AS "SERVICES") AS PROVIDED BY
THE NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (HEREAFTER "THE NYG&B")
OR ITS LICENSORS, YOU, AS USER AND/OR A MEMBER OF THE NYG&B, ACCEPT ALL
THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT(HEREAFTER "THE AGREEMENT").
YOU FURTHER AGREE THAT THIS AGREEMENT IS ENFORCEABLE LIKE ANY WRITTEN NEGOTIATED
AGREEMENT SIGNED BY YOU. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT USE ANY OF THE SERVICES.
YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE, IN THIS AGREEMENT, IN THEIR ENTIRETY
EACH AND EVERY TIME YOU USE THE SERVICES.

1.2 By using the Services as provided and operated by the NYG&B and its licensors, you agree to abide and be bound by this Agreement which includes all terms, conditions, provisions and applicable usage guidelines related to the Services. You are also bound by any and all other guidelines, by-laws, rules and governances set forth by the NYG&B whether directly related to the Services or otherwise. Furthermore, you agree to abide by the copyright restrictions and general terms and conditions of any and all third parties and their licensors as set forth below.

1.3 Your interaction with the Services will be logged via your logon (use of "username" and "password") and/or Internet Protocol address. Such user "logs" will be reviewed periodically to ensure that the Services are being used in accordance with this Agreement.

1.4 The NYG&B will never sell, rent, exchange, share or otherwise provide your personal information to other people, companies or entities, without your express permission, unless otherwise specified below in the section labeled "4. Bulletin Boards" or as required by law. This applies to all information that you provide through any method of communication with the NYG&B. As such, your individual information is confidential. Any data that we gather are used by the NYG&B solely for the purpose of helping us serve you better. While the NYG&B may share summaries and analyses of combined user demographics, traffic and usage patterns with third parties, such data-groupings are always anonymous and thus contain no specific names, contact information, credit card information or any other individual data. In such cases, even these anonymous, gathered statistics are shared with only our sponsors or business partners.

2. Modification

2.1 The NYG&B may change, add or remove portions of the Agreement at any time. If it does so, it will post such changes on this Terms and Conditions of Use page and on the Agreement page for the Services, or send them to you via e-mail. Such modifications and revisions are effective immediately upon publication on this Web page. By using the Services you agree to be bound by such modifications and revisions. Your continued use after any change indicates your acceptance of that change. If you do not want to be bound by a change, discontinue use of the Services immediately. Please be sure to check this Agreement frequently.

3. Limitations of Use

3.1 You affirm that you are an adult (eighteen (18) years of age or older) and you agree to abide by all terms of the Agreement. If you are using the portion of the Services provided by the NYG&B for its members, you affirm that you are a current member in good standing of the NYG&B. If you are using the portion of the Services provided by the NYG&B from third parties and their licensors, you further affirm that you are a "individual" or "joint" member of the NYG&B. Remote access to the portion of the Services provided by third parties and their licensors are not available to corporate or institutional members of the NYG&B through the http://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org website.

3.2 The NYG&B is pleased to offer Services to its members. However, access to said portion of the Services is for your personal use only. You agree that you will not, at any time, share your account information, username or password, nor grant access to the Services through any means, to any other person, entity or organization. You shall neither accept any solicitation or request, nor shall you offer, to "look-up" or conduct research on behalf of any other party. Professional genealogists who are members in good standing of the NYG&B, may, upon the express, prior written permission of the NYG&B, use the Services to conduct professional research on behalf of their clients. Please see the section below, labeled "13. Miscellaneous," for contact information.

3.3 All materials published via the Services (including, but not limited to articles, photographs, advertisements, images, illustrations, audio clips and video clips, hereafter the "Content") are protected by copyright, and owned or controlled by their respective owners, licensors or the party credited as the provider of the Content. You shall abide by all additional copyright notices, information, or restrictions contained in any Content accessed through the Services.

3.4 You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in elsewhere in this Agreement), create new or derivative works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Services (including software) in whole or in part. Except as noted below, users may not modify, publish, transmit, transfer, sell, reproduce, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit any of the Content of the Services. Use of electronic means of copying such products-of-use of the Services and distributing such products either privately or via electronic means constitutes a breach of this agreement.

3.5 The download of the whole or significant portions of any work or database accessed via the Services is prohibited.

3.6 Permission is granted to electronically copy, download, and/or print in hard copy portions of the Services for the sole purpose of your individual research. Any other use of materials derived by use of the Services-including reproduction for purposes other than those noted above, modification, distribution, or republication-without the express, prior written permission of the NYG&B and its licensors is strictly prohibited. If you download or copy the Content and other downloadable items displayed on the Services for personal use, you must maintain all copyright and other notices contained therein.

4. Bulletin Boards

4.1 The NYG&B's bulletin boards portion of the Services is provided by the NYG&B to you subject to the terms of this Agreement. By participating, reading or posting in the bulletin boards portion of the Services, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

4.2 You are entirely responsible and liable for all activities conducted via your access to the Services. Below is a list of violations related to use of the bulletin boards portion of the Services that may result in the termination of your access and/or membership. You agree to refrain from the following actions while using the bulletin boards:

• i) posting of any message, information, data, text, files, links, software, chat, communication or other materials that is unlawful, harassing, libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, hateful, harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, invasive of a person's privacy, threatening, racially offensive, knowingly false, inaccurate, or otherwise objectionable in any kind or nature or that encourages behavior that could constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or violate any regulations having the force of law;
• ii) impersonation via any posting of any person, including, but not limited to, any official, guide or host; and
• iii) posting or transmission of any unsolicited advertising, promotional materials, or any other forms of solicitation.

4.4 You shall bear the risk associated with any content you display in the bulletin boards portion of the Services and the NYG&B shall not be responsible for any such content. While the NYG&B does not monitor all content displayed on the bulletin board portion of the Services as a matter of policy, the NYG&B shall have the right, but not the responsibility or obligation, to remove, delete, move or edit such content that it feels is harmful, false, inappropriate, abusive, defamatory, obscene, offensive, or in violation of this Agreement or any rules that the NYG&B has set at that time. You expressly acknowledge that your submissions may be edited, removed, modified, published, re-published, transmitted and displayed by the NYG&B at its sole discretion. The NYG&B retains the right, but not the responsibility or obligation, to monitor areas of any portion of the bulletin boards so that this Agreement and its rules are adhered to.

4.5 If you witness any violation of any term of this Agreement, in the bulletin boards or any other portion of the Services, or if you feel that a posting in the bulletin boards portion of the Services is objectionable for any reason, please cut and paste an example of the particular content into an email message, along with your reason for calling it to the NYG&B's attention, and send it to support@nygbs.org. The NYG&B cannot guarantee that any action will be taken as a result of such email, nor the timeliness of such action if and when taken.

4.6 You, as author or creator of any and all submissions in print or other forms or other uploads to any bulletin board, transfer and assign to the NYG&B the entire copyright of your submission, throughout the universe, in any and all media and forms of publication, reproduction, transmission, distribution, performance, or display, now in existence or hereafter developed, in such work or other original materials; without separate, retained or reversionary rights being held by you. The foregoing grant shall include but not be limited to the right to publish the work or submission within the Services and any other medium or outlet that the NYG&B may now or hereafter own, operate, or commission. The NYG&B may exercise the rights granted herein in such form as the NYG&B may in its sole discretion determine; such that the submitted material may be published, reproduced, reprinted, distributed, performed, displayed, included in anthologies and compilations, and/or otherwise transmitted (including but not limited to electronic and optical versions and in any other media now in existence or hereafter developed) in whole or in part, whether or not combined with the work of others. In addition, the NYG&B may use your name in publishing, promoting, advertising, and publicizing such publications, information products and services, and in merchandising or marketing materials.

4.7 In addition to the disclaimer listed below (labeled "8. Disclaimer"), no agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer or franchisor-franchisee relationship is established, created, intended or contemplated between you, any other user, and/or the NYG&B, where you or another user posts, or replies to or interacts with a posting, in the bulletin boards portion of the Services. The NYG&B does not under any circumstance accept responsibility for the accuracy, validity, or otherwise of any posting, message, or advertisement in the bulletin boards portion of the Services (or any other portion of the Services), nor is any kind of warranty expressed or implied by such publication or display.

5. Termination

5.1 If found in violation of any of the above, the NYG&B may, at its discretion, terminate your access and/or your membership, and charge you for any damages incurred by the NYG&B due to your actions. Nonetheless, the NYG&B reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to immediately, without notice, suspend, discontinue, or terminate your access to the Services in whole or part, including the availability of any Services feature, database, or content.

5.2 The NYG&B shall not be liable for any such limitations or terminations that it imposes.

6. Intellectual Property

6.1 The NYG&B vigorously protects its intellectual property, including but not limited to, its copyrights and trademarks, trade secrets, trade dress and any other proprietary content and materials regardless of registration. The NYG&B reserves all rights and privileges guaranteed by the laws of the United States and other applicable governments, treaties and conventions. No portion of the Services may be copied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form for the purpose of use or transferring or selling the copy to another party.

6.2 All non-NYG&B trademarks, copyrights, product names and company names or logos cited on this site are the property of their respective owners.

6.3 All site design, text, graphics, audio and video clips, links, the selection and arrangement thereof, interfaces and all software employed on this website (http://www.nygbs.org, http://www.nygbs.com, http://www.nyfamilyhistory.org, http://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org and http://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.com) are, both as a collective whole and individual portions thereof, Copyright © 2000-2007, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

6.4 You agree to report any copyright violations of this Agreement to the NYG&B as soon as you become aware of them. In the event you have a claim of copyright infringement with respect to material that is contained in the Services, please notify support@nygbs.org

7. Access and Availability of the Services and Other Links

7.1 The NYG&B website and Services may contain links to other related Internet sites and resources that are owned and operated by other entities and third parties. The NYG&B is neither responsible nor liable for any availability or unavailability of the Services or any other outside resources or their contents.

7.2 The NYG&B makes no representation as to the availability, veracity, security or trustworthiness of these other sites or their contents and is not responsible for anything occurring to users while visiting such other sites.

8. Disclaimer

8.1 The NYG&B, provides this site, its contents, and access to the Services, including but not limited to information, connectivity, and any and all content, on an "AS IS" basis and makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to this site, the Services or their contents. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the NYG&B disclaims all such representations and warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from the NYG&B, its licensors or its users, freedom from computer virus, and implied warranties arising from course of dealing or course of performance.

8.2 The NYG&B does not represent or warrant that the information accessible via this site and the Services is accurate, complete or current. The NYG&B does not endorse or ensure the accuracy or reliability of any content posted by, or accessed via, the NYG&B or its licensors either on this website or via the Services. You acknowledge that reliance upon such content is at your sole risk.

8.3 Any content found on the website or the Services can not be construed to express the opinions of the NYG&B's advisors, trustees, employees, sponsors, officers, affiliates, business partners, or other representatives.

9. Limitation of Liability

9.1 Neither the NYG&B nor any of its advisors, trustees, employees, sponsors, officers, affiliates, business partners, or other representatives will be liable for damages arising out of or in connection with the use of this site or the Services. This is a comprehensive limitation of liability that applies to all damages of any kind, including, without limitation, compensatory, direct, indirect, exemplary, consequential or punitive damages, loss of data, income or profit, loss of or damage to property, and claims of third parties. The NYG&B shall not be liable for such damages even if the NYG&B has been previously advised of the possibility of such damages, whether in an action under contract, negligence, or any other theory, arising out of or in connection with the use, inability to use, or performance of the information, services, products, and materials available on and from this site or the Services. These limitations shall apply notwithstanding any failure of essential purpose of any limited remedy.

10. Indemnification

10.1 You agree to indemnify and hold the NYG&B, its advisors, trustees, employees, sponsors, officers, affiliates, business partners, or other representatives, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of use of your account or the infringement by you, or any other user, authorized or otherwise, of your account, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity.

11. Username & Password Usage

11.1 You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your username information, username and password. You shall be accountable for all uses of your username and password, whether or not authorized by you. You agree to notify the NYG&B immediately of any unauthorized use of your username and password or any known or suspected breach of security, including loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of such logon information.

11.2 You are responsible for all usage or activity on your membership account, including use of the account by any third party authorized by you to use your username and password in violation of this agreement. Any fraudulent, abusive, or otherwise illegal activity may be grounds for termination of your account, at the NYG&B's sole discretion, and the NYG&B may refer you to appropriate law enforcement agencies if such referral is warranted. The NYG&B reserves the right to reveal your identity in the event of a complaint, legal action, subpoena, warrant, or any other valid authorization by a court of competent jurisdiction, arising from any message posted on the NYG&B bulletin board by you, or from any other action committed by you while using the Services.

12. Fees and payments

12.1 The NYG&B reserves the right at a future time to charge separately for the Services. However, you will be notified of any pricing changes prior to their institution. In no case will you be charged without your approval.

13. Miscellaneous

13.1 This Agreement has been made in and shall be construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of New York State. Any action to enforce this agreement shall be brought in the federal or state courts located in New York County, New York.

13.2 Correspondence should be sent to:
support@nygbs.org
or
The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society
36 West 44th Street, 7th Floor
New York, New York 10036-8105 USA.

Copyright © by The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society All Rights Reserved.

Published on: 2003-07-24    Printer Friendly Page