Pitchfork: Terms & Conditions

TERMS OF USE

Last Updated: September 21, 2007

Please read these terms of use carefully. This is a contract. By using this website, you accept all terms, conditions and responsibilities of this agreement.

1. Introduction

This Website (“Website”) located at the URL www.pitchforkmedia.com is operated by Pitchfork Media, Inc. (“Pitchfork”, “we” or “us”). In this agreement, the term Website includes all websites and web pages within the Website as well as any equivalent, mirror, replacement, substitute or backup websites and web pages thereto and thereof. Please also review the terms of our Privacy Policy which forms parts of these Terms of Use. Your use of this Website is subject to the following Terms of Use. You agree to the Terms of Use by accessing this Website and/or by accepting any information from this Website. If you do not agree with any of these Terms of Use, do not use this Website. Pitchfork reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, alter or otherwise change the Terms of Use at any time. Please check these Terms of Use periodically for changes. By using this Website after any changes to these Terms of Use are posted, you are indicating your acceptance of those changes. Pitchfork assumes (and by using this Website you warrant that) you have legal capacity to enter into the agreement set out in theses Terms of Use. Pitchfork will assume (and by using this Website you warrant that) you have legal capacity to enter into the agreement set out in these Terms of Use.

This agreement does not cover your rights or responsibilities with respect to third party content or sites or any links that may direct your browser or your connection to third party sites or pages. This is the entire and exclusive agreement between you and us regarding use of the Website and it cannot be modified, except as specifically described herein.

This Website is offered and made available only to users 13 years of age or older. If you are not yet 13 years old, please discontinue using this Website immediately. If, for any reason, you do not agree with all of the terms and conditions contained herein, please discontinue using the Website immediately.

The Website and the information contained in reference herein are for informational and entertainment purposes only. Despite our efforts to provide useful and accurate information, errors may appear from time to time. Before you act on information you’ve found on the Website, you should confirm any facts that are important to your decision. This Website and its information providers make no warranty as to the reliability, accuracy, timeliness, usefulness or completeness of the information on the Website. Pitchfork is not responsible for, and cannot guarantee the performance of, goods and services provided by our advertisers or others to whose Websites we link.

2. Ownership of Intellectual Property

All Website software, design, text, images, photographs, illustrations, audio and video material, artwork, graphic material, database, proprietary information and all copyrightable or otherwise legally protectible elements of the Website including, without limitation, the selection, sequence and “look and fee” and arrangement of items, (individually and/or collectively “Material”), are the property of Pitchfork, its subsidiaries, affiliates, licensors or suppliers and are legally protected, without limitation, under the U.S. federal and state, as well as applicable foreign, laws, regulations and treaties. Pitchfork may add, change, discontinue, remove or suspend any of the Material at any time, without notice and without liability. Any reproduction, copying or redistribution of the Materials or design elements of the Website for any purpose are strictly prohibited without the express written consent of Pitchfork or its owner if Pitchfork is not the owner. This prohibition includes, without limitation, the reposting of RSS feeds of the Website or any portion thereof on other websites for any purpose whatsoever. All rights in the product names, company names, trade names, logos, product packaging and designs of Pitchfork or third-party products or services whether or not appearing in large print or with the trademark symbol, belong exclusively to Pitchfork, as applicable, or their respective owners, and are protected from reproduction, imitation, dilution or confusing or misleading uses under national and international trademark and copyright laws, as applicable. The use or misuse of these trademarks or any materials, except as permitted herein, is expressly prohibited and nothing stated or implied on this Website confers on you any license or right under any patent, copyright or trademark of Pitchfork or any third party. Decompiling, reverse engineering, disassembling or otherwise reducing the code used in any software on this Website into a readable form in order to examine the construction of such software and/or to copy or create other products based (in whole or in part) on such software, is prohibited.

3. Copyright Agent

Pursuant to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Pitchfork has designated a Copyright Agent to receive notice of claims of copyright infringement on the Website. Pitchfork’s Copyright Agent may be reached by e-mail at scott@pitchforkmedia.com

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement please promptly provide the Copyright Agent the following information:

(a) an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
(b) a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
(c) a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Website;
(d) your address, telephone number and e-mail address;
(e) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and
(f) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are either the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.

4. Links

This Website may contain links to other Website (“Linked Sites”). The Linked Sites are not under the control of Pitchfork and Pitchfork is not responsible for the contents of the Linked Sites. Pitchfork provides any Linked Sites to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any such Linked Sites is not an endorsement by Pitchfork in favor of any company offering Internet services, products or services on the Linked Sites.

Other sites may link without prior permission to the Website’s home page only through a plain-text link. Permission must otherwise be granted by Pitchfork for any other type of link to the Website. To seek our permission, you may write to Pitchfork Media, Inc., 1834 W. North Avenue, #2, Chicago, IL 60622 ATTN: Scott Plagenhoef, Associate Editor-in-Chief. Any third party Website that links to the Website (a) shall not create a frame, browse or border environment around any of the content of the Website; (b) may link to, but not replicate, Website content; (c) shall not state directly or imply that Pitchfork is endorsing or sponsoring it or its products or services; (d) shall not present false information about Pitchfork or its products or services; (e) shall not use Pitchfork trademarks without the prior written permission of Pitchfork; and (f) shall not contain content that could be construed as distasteful, offensive, obscene or controversial.

5. No Solicitation

You agree not to use the Website to advertise or to solicit anyone to buy or sell products or services or to make donations of any kind without the express written approval of Pitchfork.

6. No Spamming

In the future, users of this Website may include chat rooms, forums and/or other public-posting areas and users may post their e-mail addresses in those public areas. In the event such posting are made, you agree not to utilize these e-mail addresses for purposes of spamming (i.e., unsolicited e-mail).

7. Chat Rooms, Bulletin Boards, Other Forums

If, in the future, this Website includes chat rooms, forums and/or other public-posting areas such as user comments, Pitchfork will not and cannot review every posting that may be made in those public areas. Pitchfork will not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of any posting regardless of whether the posting comes from a user, from a celebrity or “expert” guest or from a member of Pitchfork’s staff. Pitchfork will not be responsible for any material posted in any chat room or on any bulletin board or forum and will not be responsible or liable to any person or entity for any loss, damage (whether actual, consequential, punitive or otherwise), injury, claim, liability or other cause of any kind or character based upon or resulting from any material provided through this Website.

Pitchfork shall have the right but not the obligation to monitor, from time to time, the content of the Website including, without limitation, the chat room, bulletin boards and forums to determine compliance with this Agreement and any operating rules established by Pitchfork and to satisfy any law, regulation or authorized government request. Pitchfork shall have the right in its sole and absolute discretion to edit, refuse to post or remove any material submitted to or posted on the Website.

By using the Website, you agree not to post any content which libels, defames, invades privacy or is indecent, obscene, pornographic, abusive, threatening, illegal, solicits gambling or engages in any gambling activity, contains a virus or other harmful component, infringes on the ability of others to enjoy the Website or that infringes on the rights of others including, without limitation, any intellectual property rights of any entity or person, impersonates or misrepresents your connection to any other entity or person or otherwise manipulates headers or identifiers to disguise the origin of the content, contains links to other sites that contain the kind of content which falls within the description set out above. Pitchfork reserves the right to delete, move or edit any content and refuse access to anyone who Pitchfork believes in its sole and absolute discretion has violated these terms or any other term of this Agreement. You hereby waive any and all rights you may have with respect to the alteration, modification or removal of any such content. Pitchfork additionally reserves the right to terminate this Agreement against any further use of any person or entity who violates any term of this Agreement. If Pitchfork receives a request to disclose the identities of users who post content to the Website and if Pitchfork discloses the identify of a user pursuant to the Terms of Use or Pitchfork’s Privacy Policy, you understand and agree that we may do so and you waive all rights in connection therewith.

By submitting material to the Website, you are representing that you are the owner of the material or are making your submission with the express consent of the owner. Submitting material that is the property of another, without the consent of its owner, is not only a violation of this Agreement but may also subject you to legal liability for copyright, trademark or other intellectual property infringement.

All material you submit to the Website, including e-mails, becomes the sole and exclusive property of Pitchfork. Pitchfork may reproduce, distribute, display, exhibit and otherwise exploit that material in all markets and media now known or hereafter devised throughout the Universe in perpetuity without payment of any compensation or other consideration to you. You hereby waive all moral rights you may have in and to that material. Pitchfork does not consider any material you submit to the Website to be confidential or proprietary.

8. Promotions and contests

The Website may, from time to time, contain sweepstakes and other contests and promotions that require you to send material or information about yourself. Those sweepstakes, contests or promotions may be governed by a separate set of rules that may have eligibility requirements. It is your responsibility to read such rules to determine whether your participation, registration and/or entry are valid. You agree to read and comply with such rules before entering any sweepstakes, contest or promotion on this Website.

9. Membership and registration

Certain areas of this Website may, in the future, require you to register or ask you to provide information to participate in certain features or access certain content. Your decision to provide that information is purely optional. If you elect not to provide that information, however, you may not be able to access that area, feature or content. If you elect to provide that information, you agree to provide information that is true and accurate. You may also be required to choose a user name and password. It is your responsibility alone to ensure the confidentiality of that name and password. You agree not to register under the name of any other person. Pitchfork reserves the right to reject any user name that is, in Pitchfork’s sole and absolute judgment, offensive. You agree to notify Pitchfork of any unauthorized use of your user name and/or password. You must be at least 13 years old to register on the Website.

10. Purchase of merchandise

In the event any merchandise or services are offered for sale via this Website which are listed at an incorrect price or contain other incorrect information, Pitchfork shall have the absolute right to refuse or cancel any order placed for such merchandise or services and Pitchfork is released from liability for same. Your only remedy is to return to Pitchfork or a third party offering that merchandise for a refund, at Pitchfork’s or the third party’s sole discretion.

11. Submissions

Pitchfork welcomes your comments but does not accept unsolicited submissions for programming, Websites and other products and we cannot review your submissions. Pitchfork has adopted this policy to avoid misunderstandings about projects Pitchfork develops which may appear to be similar to someone else’s idea, suggestion or material. If you choose to submit material to Pitchfork despite this request not to submit ideas for programming, Websites and other products, Pitchfork will not treat any submission as confidential. Pitchfork will not be liable for any use or disclosure of that submission to any third party and/or for loss of any material submitted and may use it for any purpose. By submitting material to this Website you acknowledge that the material may be identical with or similar to themes, plots, ideas, formats or other elements that Pitchfork has independently developed or that has or may come to Pitchfork from other sources. You represent and warrant that the submission is wholly original to you and its use will not violate the rights, common law or otherwise, of any kind or nature whatsoever of any third party or entity. Any submission will become the sole property of Pitchfork and will not be returned to you and Pitchfork shall not be required to respond to any submission received. You agree that you are not entitled to any compensation by reason of Pitchfork’s use of similar or identical material.

12. Disclaimer and release of liability

YOU AGREE THAT USE OF THIS WEBSITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. NEITHER PITCHFORK, ITS AFFILIATES OR PARENT COMPANIES NOR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, SHAREHOLDERS, INVESTORS, THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS OR LICENSORS WARRANT THAT THE WEBSITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE; NOR DO THEY MAKE ANY WARRANT AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE WEBSITE OR AS TO THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY OR CONTENT OF ANY INFORMATION, SERVICE OR MERCHANDISE PROVIDED THROUGH THE WEBSITE. PITCHFORK DOES NOT REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT THE WEBSITE WILL BE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. YOU ARE SOLELY RESONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM ANY MATERIAL AND/OR DATA DOWNLOADED FROM OR OTHERWISE PROVIDED THORUGH THE WEBSITE.

PITCHFORK DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABLITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE FOR ANY INFORMATION, PRODUCT OR SERVICE OFFERED ON THIS WEBSITE.

PITCHFORK IS NOT LIABILE FOR ANY INJURY ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS WEBSITE INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR SIMILAR DAMAGES EVEN IF WE ARE ADVISED BEFOREHAND OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. PITCHFORK IS NOT LIABILE FOR THE DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF OTHER USERS OR THIRD PARTIES AND THAT THE RISK OF INJURY FROM THE FOREGOING RESTS ENTIRELY WITH YOU. YOU AGREE THAT PITCHFORK’S LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF ANY KIND OF LEGAL CLAIM IN ANY WAY CONNECTED TO THIS WEBSITE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO PITCHFORK FOR THE USE OF THE WEBSITE.

13. Indemnification

You agree, at all times, to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Pitchfork, its respective affiliates and parent companies and each of their respective directors, officers, employees, shareholders and agents from and against any and all claims, losses, actions, liabilities, damages, injuries, costs and expenses (including, without limitation, attorneys’ fees, disbursements and court costs) arising out of, directly or indirectly, any use you make of the Website or your use of material on the Website and any violation by you of these Terms of Use. You agree not to take any action that interferes with the proper working of the Website, imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the Website’s infrastructure, might compromise the security of the Website, render the Website inaccessible to others or otherwise cause damage to the Website or any content in the Website.

14. Governing Law

This Website originates from and is maintained in the United States of America. This Agreement has been made in and shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois. You consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Chicago, Illinois in all disputes arising out of or relating to this Agreement or use of this Website without regard to conflict of laws or choice of law principles. This Agreement shall not be governed by the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Any cause of action you may have with respect to your use of this Website must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arises and you hereby expressly waive any right you may have under applicable federal, state or local statutes of limitations. Pitchfork makes no representations regarding the legality of access to or use of the Website or the materials contained herein from other countries. Access in countries where the materials contained herein are illegal is prohibited. Users who access the Website from outside the United States do so at their own risk.

15. Severability

If any portion of this Agreement is found to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, such invalidity or unenforceability shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other portion of this Agreement which shall remain in full force and affect.

16. Entire Agreement

This Agreement and any rules for the Website established by Pitchfork constitutes the entire agreement between the parties concerning the subject matter hereof and supersedes all previous written or oral agreements between the parties with respect to that subject matter.

17. Headings

The paragraph headings used herein are for convenience only and shall not be used to limit any portion of this Agreement.

Measured over the past 3 months (Last update: 11/27/2007)