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Terms of Service

Sphere Related Content

The Gist:

We (the folks at Sphere Source, Inc ["Sphere"]) run a service called Sphere Related Content and would love for you to use it on your site. Our basic service is free, and we offer paid upgrades for advanced features such as customizing the look & feel or crawling your site’s content.

Our service is designed to add to your site’s user experience by connecting readers to contextually relevant content from other sites on the Web. The Sphere Related Content service gives you control over the icon placement and description. In return, we ask that you please be responsible in how you add Sphere Related Content to your site. In particular, please make sure you read through the guidelines around placement, icon and description terms and agree with them before you get started.

Creative Commons License (Note, the generous folks at Automattic decided to make their Terms of Service available under a Creative Commons Sharealike license, which means they’ve given us their permission to re-purpose it for our own use. We have modified that agreement to fit with our needs. You are welcome to re-purpose it but just make sure to replace references to Sphere with ones to you. It would be downright neighborly of you to put a link to Sphere.com on your site; and if you want, the Automattic folks would appreciate a link to WordPress.com somewhere on your site. They spent a lot of money and time on their TOS, and it’s super generous of them to share it with the rest of us so we don’t need to spend the time and energy creating one from scratch.)

Sphere Related Content Terms of Service:

The following terms and conditions govern all use of the services and products available at or through the Sphere.com website, including, but not limited to, the hosted Sphere Related Content service. The Sphere Related Content service is owned and operated by Sphere Source, Inc. ("Sphere"). The service is offered subject to your acceptance without modification of all of the terms and conditions contained herein and all other operating rules, policies (including, without limitation, Sphere’s Privacy Policy) and procedures that may be published from time to time on this Site by Sphere (collectively, the "Agreement").

Please read this Agreement carefully before accessing or adding the Sphere Related Content service on your site. By accessing or adding the Sphere Related Content service on your site, you agree to become bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this agreement, then you may not add the Sphere Related Content service to your site. If these terms and conditions are considered an offer by Sphere, acceptance is expressly limited to these terms.

1. Your Sphere Related Content service. If you add the Sphere Related Content service to your site, you are responsible for maintaining the service, and you are fully responsible for describing the service according to our below guidelines. Sphere may change or remove any Sphere Related Content service that it considers inappropriate or unlawful, or otherwise likely to cause Sphere liability.
   • Service Description. When deploying Sphere Related Content service on your site, you agree to display the Sphere Icon logo and to add one of the following descriptions next to the logo:
     • Icon + Sphere Related Content
     • Icon + Sphere Related Blogs and Articles
     • Icon + Sphere – more related content
     • Icon + Sphere It!
   • Service Icon/ Logo Display. When deploying Sphere Related Content service on your site, you agree not to make any changes to the shape and size of the Sphere logo. You may change the Sphere Icon/ Logo color to better integrate into the look and feel of your site.
   • Service User Interface Display. When a reader clicks on the Sphere Related Content icon and link, a three (3) quadrant widget is displayed next to your content. The widget user interface includes the following content:
     • Top Left Quadrant: Related Blog Posts from the Blogosphere
     • Top Right Quadrant: Related Articles from Mainstream Media publishers
     • Bottom Right Quadrant: Sponsorship
   • Sphere maintains the right to modify the widget user interface as it feels appropriate. This may include adding quadrants (for example, making it a 4+ quadrant widget), changing colors, font sizes, content sources or sponsors.
2. Responsibility of Contributors. The Sphere Related Content service operates on the content on your site’s pages (together, "the Content"). The Sphere Related Content service is only available to legitimate sites. By making the Sphere Related Content service available on your site, you represent and warrant that:
   • The downloading, copying and use of the Content will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret rights, of any third party;
   • If your employer has rights to intellectual property you create, you have either (i) received permission from your employer to post or make available the Content, including but not limited to any software, or (ii) secured from your employer a waiver as to all rights in or to the Content;
   • You have fully complied with any third-party licenses relating to the Content, and have done all things necessary to successfully pass through to end users any required terms;
   • The Content does not contain or install any viruses, worms, malware, Trojan horses or other harmful or destructive content;
   • The Content is not spam, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third-party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing);
   • The Content is not obscene, libelous or defamatory, hateful or racially or ethnically objectionable, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party;
   • You have, in the case of Content that includes computer code, accurately categorized and/or described the type, nature, uses and effects of the materials, whether requested to do so by Sphere or otherwise; and
   • You must immediately notify Sphere of any unauthorized uses of your site, your account or any other breaches of security. Sphere will not be liable for any acts or omissions by You, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of such acts or omissions.
3. Sponsorship. There is significant cost for Sphere to make the Sphere Related Content service available to partner sites. In order to support the service, Sphere will offer Advertising space to sponsors. Sphere has sole discretion in it’s choice of sponsors. Sphere is committed to including only high quality brands/ services. Sphere is also committed to it’s partner-site needs to run a high quality service and generous sponsorship is what enables Sphere to offer and maintain the service. If your site is generating 5+ million monthly page-views, you are eligible to join Sphere Related Content VIP Services irrespective of deploying the above described standard widget or a customized interface. As a member, Sphere will share a portion of the sponsorship dollars with you. Please email us at vip at sphere dot com for more information.
5. Service Removal. Without limiting any of the above representations or warranties, Sphere has the right (though not the obligation) to, in Sphere’s sole discretion (i) refuse or remove the Sphere Related Content service on your site if your site, in Sphere’s reasonable opinion, violates any Sphere policy or is in any way harmful or objectionable, or (ii) terminate or deny access to and use of the Sphere Related Content service to any individual or entity for any reason, in Sphere’s sole discretion. Sphere will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid.
6. Fees and Payment. Optional premium paid services, such as customizing the look & feel, content sources or crawling your site’s content, are available. By selecting a premium service you agree to pay Sphere the monthly or annual subscription fees indicated for that service (the payment terms for VIP Sphere Related Content service are described below). Payments will be charged on the day you sign up for a premium service and will cover the use of that service for a monthly or annual period as indicated. Premium service fees are not refundable.
7. VIP Services. Sphere is often asked to customize it’s Related Content service. To do so requires an agreement between Sphere and the partner site.
   • Customization. The Sphere VIP Service gives partner sites the ability to add their content to the widget interface, customize the look & feel and identify content sources.
   • Fees; Payment. By signing up for a Sphere Related Content VIP Service account, you agree to pay Sphere a one time $500 setup fee plus a monthly fee of $10 in exchange for a customized Sphere Related Content service. Applicable fees will be invoiced starting from the day your VIP Sphere Related Content Services are established and in advance of using such services. Sphere reserves the right to change the payment terms and fees upon thirty (30) days prior written notice to you. VIP Services can be canceled by you at anytime on 30 days written notice to Sphere.
   • Support. Sphere Related Content VIP Services include access to priority email support. "Email support" means the ability to make requests for technical support assistance by email at any time (with reasonable efforts by Sphere to respond within three business days) concerning the use of the VIP Sphere Related Content Services. "Priority" means that support for VIP Sphere Related Content Services customers takes priority over support for users of the standard, free Sphere Related Content service. All VIP Services support will be provided in accordance with Sphere standard VIP Services practices, procedures and policies.
   • Sponsorship. As a VIP partner, Sphere will share 25% of any sponsorship dollars realized as a direct result of your site. You may refuse inclusion in any ad campaign by notifying Sphere via email at nosponsor at sphere dot com.
8. Responsibility of Website Visitors. Sphere has not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, displayed in the Sphere Related Content Service, and cannot therefore be responsible for that material’s content, use or effects. By operating the Sphere Related Content service, Sphere does not represent or imply that it endorses the material there displayed, or that it believes such material to be accurate, useful or non-harmful. The Sphere Related Content service may display content that is offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable, as well as content containing technical inaccuracies, typographical mistakes, and other errors. The Sphere Related Content service may also contain material from websites that violate the privacy or publicity rights, or infringes the intellectual property and other proprietary rights, of third parties, or the downloading, copying or use of which is subject to additional terms and conditions, stated or unstated. Sphere disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from the use by visitors of the Website, or from any downloading by those visitors of content there posted.
9. Content Posted on Other Websites. We have not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, made available through the websites and web-pages to which Sphere.com links, or that link to Spher-.com. Sphere does not have any control over those websites and web-pages, and is not responsible for their contents or their use. By linking to a website or webpage, Sphere does not represent or imply that it endorses such website or webpage. You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. Sphere disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from your linking to websites and web-pages via the Sphere Related Content service.
10. Copyright Infringement and DMCA Policy. As Sphere asks others to respect its intellectual property rights, it respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that material located on or linked to by the Sphere Related Content service violates your copyright, you are encouraged to notify Sphere in accordance with Sphere’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") Policy. Sphere will respond to all such notices, including as required or appropriate by removing the infringing material or disabling all links to the infringing material. In the case of a visitor who may infringe or repeatedly infringes the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of Sphere or others, Sphere may, in its discretion, terminate or deny access to and use of the Sphere Related Content service. In the case of such termination, Sphere will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid to Sphere.
11. Intellectual Property. This Agreement does not transfer from Sphere to you any Sphere or third party intellectual property, and all right, title and interest in and to such property will remain (as between the parties) solely with Sphere. Sphere, Sphere.com, the Sphere.com logo, and all other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with the Sphere Related Content service, or the Website are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sphere or Sphere’s licensors. Other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with the Website may be the trademarks of other third parties. Your use of the Website grants you no right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any Sphere or third-party trademarks.
12. Changes. Sphere reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or replace any part of this Agreement. It is your responsibility to check this Agreement periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to the Sphere Related Content service following the posting of any changes to this Agreement constitutes acceptance of those changes. Sphere may also, in the future, offer new services and/or features through the Website (including, the release of new tools and resources). Such new features and/or services shall be subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
13. Termination. Sphere may terminate your access to all or any part of the Sphere Related Content service at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. If you wish to terminate this Agreement or your subscription to the Sphere Related Content service (if you have one), you may simply remove the service from your site. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if you have a VIP Services account, such account can only be terminated by Sphere if you materially breach this Agreement and fail to cure such breach within thirty (30) days from Sphere’s notice to you thereof; provided that, Sphere can terminate the Website immediately as part of a general shut down of our service. All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.
14. Disclaimer of Warranties. The Sphere Related Content service is provided "as is." Sphere and its suppliers and licensors hereby disclaim all warranties of any kind, express or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Neither Sphere nor its suppliers and licensors makes any warranty that the Sphere Related Content service will be error free or that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted. If you’re actually reading this, here’s a treat.
15. Limitation of Liability. In no event will Sphere, or its suppliers or licensors, be liable with respect to any subject matter of this agreement under any contract, negligence, strict liability or other legal or equitable theory for: (i) any special, incidental, or consequential damages; (ii) the cost of procurement or substitute products or services; (iii) for interruption of use or loss or corruption of data; or (iv) for any amounts that increase the fees paid by you to Sphere under this agreement during the twelve (12) month period prior to the date the cause of the action accrues. Sphere shall have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond its reasonable control. The foregoing shall not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law.
16. General Representation and Warranty. You represent and warrant that (i) your use of the Sphere Related Content service will be in strict accordance with the Sphere Privacy Policy, with this Agreement and with all applicable laws and regulations (including without limitation any local laws or regulations in your country, state, city, or other governmental area, regarding online conduct and acceptable content, and including all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United States of America or the country in which you reside) and (ii) your use of the Sphere Related Content service will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party.
17. Indemnification. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Sphere, its contractors, and its licensors, and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of your use of the Sphere Related Content service, including but not limited to out of your violation this Agreement.
18. Miscellaneous. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between Sphere and you concerning the subject matter hereof, and they may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized executive of Sphere, or by the posting by Sphere of a revised version. Except to the extent applicable law, if any, provides otherwise, this Agreement, any access to or use of the Sphere Related Content service will be governed by the laws of the state of California, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of law provisions, and the proper venue for any disputes arising out of or relating to any of the same will be the state and federal courts located in San Francisco County, California. Except for claims for injunctive or equitable relief or claims regarding intellectual property rights (which may be brought in any competent court without the posting of a bond), any dispute arising under this Agreement shall be finally settled in accordance with the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules of the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service, Inc. ("JAMS") by three arbitrators appointed in accordance with such Rules. The arbitration shall take place in San Francisco, California, in the English language and the arbitral decision may be enforced in any court. The prevailing party in any action or proceeding to enforce this Agreement shall be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees. If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. A waiver by either party of any term or condition of this Agreement or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof. You may assign your rights under this Agreement to any party that consents to, and agrees to be bound by, its terms and conditions; Sphere may assign its rights under this Agreement without condition. This Agreement will be binding upon and will inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns.

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