Terms of Service

1. GENERAL RULES AND DEFINITIONS

1.1 If you choose to use NRHS.com, or any of the features of this site, including but not limited to page views, RSS, API, widget downloads, discussion forums (the “Service”), you will be agreeing to abide by all of the terms and conditions of these Terms of Service between you and NRHS.com (“NRHS.com”), an Internet service of The National Railway Historical Society, Inc., a Maryland not-for-profit Corporation (“NRHS”) (the “Service”).

1.2 NRHS.com may at any time change, add or remove portions of these Terms of Service, which shall become effective immediately upon posting. It is your responsibility to review these Terms of Service prior to each use of the Site and by continuing to use this Site, you agree to any changes.

1.3 IF ANY OF THESE RULES OR ANY FUTURE CHANGES ARE UNACCEPTABLE TO YOU, YOU MAY CANCEL YOUR MEMBERSHIP BY SENDING E-MAIL TO:cancel@NRHS.com (SEE SECTION 10.1 REGARDING TERMINATION OF SERVICE). YOUR CONTINUED USE OF THE SERVICE NOW, OR FOLLOWING THE POSTING OF NOTICE OF ANY CHANGES IN THESE OPERATING RULES, WILL INDICATE ACCEPTANCE BY YOU OF SUCH RULES, CHANGES, OR MODIFICATIONS.

1.4 NRHS.com may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the Service at any time, including the availability of any Service feature, database, or content. NRHS.com may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Service without notice or liability.

2. NRHS.COM CONTENT

2.1 The contents of the NRHS.com sites are intended for your personal, noncommercial use. All materials published on NRHS.com (including, but not limited to news articles, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips, and video clips, also known as the “Content”) are protected by copyright, and owned or controlled by NRHS, NRHS.com, 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 Service.

2.2 The Service and its Contents are protected by copyright pursuant to the U.S. and international copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in Section 2.3 of these Terms of Service), create new works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Service (including software) in whole or in part.

2.3 You may download or copy the Content and other downloadable items displayed on the Service for personal use only, provided that you maintain all copyright and other notices contained therein. Copying or storing of any Content for other than personal use is expressly prohibited without prior written permission from the NRHS, or the copyright holder identified in the copyright notice contained in the Content.

2.4 The Content of the Service is owned or licensed to NRHS.com.

2.5 Podcasts. NRHS.com’s podcasting service (the “Podcast Service”) consists of news and information files (the “Podcast Content”) that may be downloaded to your computer and/or transferred to your portable MP3 player.

The Podcast Service is available only for private, non-commercial use. Any other uses, including without limitation the incorporation of advertising into or the placement of advertising associated with or targeted towards the Podcast Content, are strictly prohibited. You may not edit or modify or redistribute the Podcast Content or links supplied by NRHS.com.

Ownership: NRHS.com’s Podcast Service and the Podcast Content are protected by the U.S. and international copyright laws. NRHS owns all rights including copyright to the Podcast Content, and to NRHS logos and trademarks used in connection with the Podcast Service.

Right to Discontinue Podcast Service: NRHS.com reserves the right to discontinue providing any or all of the Podcast Service at any time and to require you to cease displaying, distributing, or otherwise using any or all of the Podcast Content for any reason including, without limitation, your violation of any provision of these Terms of Service.

NRHS assumes no liability for any of your activities in connection with the Podcast Content and/or the Podcast Service or for your use of the Podcast Content and/or the Podcast Service in connection with your Web site, computer, or MP3 player.

3. USER GENERATED CONTENT: SUBMISSIONS INCLUDING COMMENTS, AND MORE

3.1 (a) You shall not upload to, or distribute or otherwise publish on to the Service any libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, or otherwise illegal material.

3.1 (b) Be courteous. You agree that you will not threaten or verbally abuse other Members, use defamatory language, or deliberately disrupt discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages, or “spam.”

3.1 (c) Use respectful language. Like any community, the online conversation flourishes only when our Members feel welcome and safe. You agree not to use language that abuses or discriminates on the basis of race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual preference, age, region, disability, etc. Hate speech of any kind is grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of access to all or part of the Service.

3.1 (d) Debate, but don’t attack. In a community full of opinions and preferences, people always disagree. NRHS.com encourages active discussions and welcomes heated debate on the Service. But personal attacks are a direct violation of these Terms of Service and are grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of access to all or part of the Service.

3.2 The Service shall be used only in a noncommercial manner. You shall not, without the express approval of NRHS, distribute or otherwise publish on the Service any material containing any solicitation of funds, advertising or solicitation for goods or services.

3.3 You acknowledge that any submissions you make to the Service (i.e., user-generated content including but not limited to: comments, forum messages, reviews, text, video, audio, and photographs, as well as computer code and applications) (each, a “Submission”) may be edited, removed, modified, published, transmitted, and displayed by The National Railway Historical Society, Inc., and you waive any rights you may have in having the material altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you. Submissions made to the Service may also be included in our RSS feeds and APIs and made available for republishing through other formats.

3.4 You grant NRHS a perpetual, nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sub-licensable license to the Submissions, which includes without limitation the right for NRHS.com or any third party NRHS designates, to use, copy, transmit, excerpt, publish, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, modify and adapt (including without limitation the right to adapt to streaming, downloading, broadcast, mobile, digital, thumbnail, scanning or other technologies) in any form or media now known or hereinafter developed, any Submission posted by you on or to NRHS.com or any other Web site owned by NRHS, including any Submission posted on NRHS.com through a third party.

3.5 You are solely responsible for the content of your Submissions. However, while NRHS.com does not and cannot review every Submission and is not responsible for the content of these messages, NRHS.com reserves the right to delete, move, or edit Submissions that it, in its sole discretion, deems abusive, defamatory, obscene, in violation of copyright or trademark laws, or otherwise unacceptable. Without limiting the foregoing, NRHS and its designees shall have the right to remove any Content that violates the TOS or is otherwise objectionable.

3.6 By making a Submission, you are consenting to its display on the site and for related online and offline promotional uses.

4. ACCESS AND AVAILABILITY OF SERVICE AND LINKS

4.1 NRHS.com contains links to other related World Wide Web Internet sites, resources, and sponsors of NRHS.com. Since NRHS.com is not responsible for the availability of these outside resources, or their contents, you should direct any concerns regarding any external link to the site administrator or Webmaster of such site.

5. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES

5.1 You represent, warrant, and covenant (a) that no materials of any kind submitted through your account will (i) violate, plagiarize, or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, or other personal or proprietary rights; or (ii) contain libelous or otherwise unlawful material; and (b) that you are at least thirteen years old. You hereby indemnify, defend and hold harmless NRHS and NRHS.com, and all officers, directors, owners, agents, information providers, affiliates, licensors, and licensees (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”) from and against any and all liability and costs, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees, incurred by the Indemnified Parties in connection with any claim arising out of any breach by you or any user of your account of these Terms of Service or the foregoing representations, warranties and covenants. You shall cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any such claim. NRHS reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you.

5.2 You understand and agree that NRHS.com is provided “AS-IS” and that NRHS assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, misdelivery, or failure to store any user communications or personalization settings. You are responsible for obtaining access to the NRHS.com Service, and that access may involve third-party fees (such as Internet service provider or airtime charges). You are responsible for those fees, including those fees associated with the display or delivery of advertisements. In addition, you must provide and are responsible for all equipment necessary to access the Service.

5.3 Neither NRHS nor NRHS.com represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement, or other information displayed, uploaded, or distributed through the Service by any user, information provider, or any other person or entity. You acknowledge that any reliance upon any such opinion, advice, statement, memorandum, or information shall be at your sole risk. THE SERVICE AND ALL DOWNLOADABLE SOFTWARE ARE DISTRIBUTED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

5.4 You understand that the technical processing and transmission of the Service, including your Content, may involve (a) transmissions over various networks; and (b) changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices.

6. REGISTRATION AND SECURITY

6.1 As part of the registration process, you will select a password and a Member ID. You also have to provide certain registration information, all of which must be accurate and updated.

(a) You may not (i) select or use a Member ID of another person with the intent to impersonate that person; (ii) use a Member ID in which another person has rights without such person’s authorization; or (iii) use a Member ID that NRHS.com, in its sole discretion, deems offensive. Failure to comply with the foregoing shall constitute a breach of these Terms of Service, which may result in immediate termination of your account.

(b) You shall be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password, which you will not have to reveal to any representative or agent of NRHS.com.

6.2 (a) You shall notify help@NRHS.com of any known or suspected unauthorized use(s) of your account, or any known or suspected breach of security, including loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of your password or credit card information.

6.3 You must be 13 years or older to subscribe to all parts of the Service.

6.4 You are responsible for all usage or activity on your NRHS.com account, including the use of the account by any third party authorized by you to use your Member ID and password. Any fraudulent, abusive, or otherwise illegal activity may be grounds for termination of your account, at NRHS.com’s sole discretion, and NRHS.com may refer you to appropriate law enforcement agencies.

6.5 You agree to not use NRHS.com to:

a. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;

b. harm minors in any way;

c. impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, an NRHS official, forum leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;

d. forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through NRHS.com;

e. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);

f. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights (“Rights”) of any party;

g. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any other form of solicitation;

h. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files, or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;

i. disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, cause a screen to “scroll” faster than other users of the NRHS.com service are able to type, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users’ ability to engage in real-time exchanges;

j. interfere with or disrupt the NRHS.com service or servers or networks connected to the NRHS.com Service, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies, or regulations of networks connected to the NRHS.com service, including using any device, software, or routine to bypass our robot exclusion headers;

k. intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including, but not limited to, regulations promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, any rules of any national or other securities exchange, including, without limitation, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ, and any regulations having the force of law;

l. provide material support or resources (or to conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, or ownership of material support or resources) to any organization(s) designated by the United States government as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act;

m. “stalk” or otherwise harass another; and/or

n. collect or store personal data about other users in connection with the prohibited conduct and activities set forth in paragraphs a through m above.

7. FEES AND PAYMENTS

7.1. NRHS.com reserves the right at any time to charge fees for access to portions of the Service or the Service as a whole. However, in no event will you be charged for access to the Service unless we obtain your prior agreement to pay such charges. Thus, if at any time NRHS.com requires a fee for portions of the Service that are now free (e.g., a domestic subscription fee), NRHS.com will give you advance notice of such fees and the opportunity to cancel the account before such charges are imposed.

7.2 All new fees, if any, will be posted in appropriate locations on the Service. You shall pay all fees and charges incurred through your account at the rates in effect for the billing period in which such fees and charges are incurred, including, but not limited to charges for any products or services offered for sale through the Service by NRHS.com or by any other vendor or service provider. All fees and charges shall be billed to and paid for by you. You shall pay all applicable taxes relating to the use of the Service through your account.

8. COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN NRHS.COM AND MEMBERS

8.1 If you indicate on your registration form that you want to receive such information, NRHS.com, its owners and assigns, will allow certain third party vendors to provide you with information about products and services.

8.2 NRHS.com reserves the right to send electronic mail to you for the purpose of informing you of changes or additions to the Service.

8.3 NRHS.com reserves the right to disclose information about your usage and demographics, provided that it will not reveal your personal identity in connection with the disclosure of such information. Advertisers and/or Licensees on our Web site may collect and share information about you only if you indicate your acceptance. For more information please read the Privacy Policy of NRHS.com.

8.4 NRHS.com may contact you via e-mail regarding your participation in user surveys, asking for feedback on the Web site and existing or prospective products and services. This information will be used to improve our Web site and better understand our users, and any information we obtain in such surveys will not be shared with third parties, except in aggregate form.

9. SOFTWARE LICENSES

9.1 You shall have no rights to the proprietary software and related documentation, or any enhancements or modifications thereto, provided to you in order to access the Service (“Access Software”). You may not sublicense, assign or transfer any licenses granted by NRHS.com, and any attempt at such sublicense, assignment or transfer shall be null and void. You may make one copy of such software for archival purposes only. You may not otherwise copy, distribute, modify, reverse engineer, or create derivative works from Access Software.

10. TERMINATION

10.1 You may terminate your account at any time by sending an e-mail to: cancel@NRHS.com. Upon termination, you will receive an automated confirmation via e-mail that the request was received, and your access will be suspended within 24 hours. You are responsible for any and all charges incurred (for products or services purchased) up to the time the account is deactivated.

10.2 NRHS.com may, in its sole discretion, terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Service for any reason, including, without limitation, breach or assignment of these Terms of Service.

11. MISCELLANEOUS

11.1 These Terms of Service have been made in and shall be construed and enforced in accordance with New York law. Any action to enforce these Terms of Service shall be brought in the federal or state courts located in the state, city, and county of New York.

11.2 Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, nothing in these Terms of Service will serve to preempt the promises made in The NRHS Privacy Policy.

11.3 Correspondence should be sent to help@NRHS.com.