BY USING ANY OF THE HERITAGE POLONIA FOUNDATION WEBSITES (each, a “Site;” collectively, the “Sites”) YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT USE ANY OF THE SITES. THESE TERMS CONTAIN A MANDATORY ARBITRATION PROVISION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER. PLEASE REVIEW SECTION 19. The agreement to arbitrate in Section 19, with limited exceptions, requires you to submit claims you have against us or our agents to binding and final arbitration, unless you opt out of the agreement to arbitrate as provided in Section 19. If you do not opt out: (1) you will only be permitted to pursue claims against us or our agents on an individual basis, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class or representative action or proceeding; and (2) you will only be permitted to seek relief (including monetary, injunctive, and declaratory relief) on an individual basis.

 

These Terms are a legal agreement between The Heritage Polonia Foundation together with its affiliates, subsidiaries, and related entities, and all of their respective employees, directors, officers, and agents (collectively, “Heritage Polonia,” “our,” “us,” and “we”), and you (also referred to as “your”). The Terms cover your use of the Sites as well as all Site Updates (defined in Section 4 below), related documentation, and information and Content (defined in Section 7 below) provided through the Sites.

 

By using a Site you also authorize Heritage Polonia to collect, use, transmit, process, store, and share information about you as well as, but not limited to, information about your use of a Site and the device you use to access a Site, as further described in the Heritage Polonia Foundation Privacy Policy.

 

1. Site Functionality. The Sites incorporate functionality that allow you to: i) make a donation through a through a third-party payment processor (the “Payment Processor”); ii) send inquiries to us; iii) subscribe to receive email or mail from us; iv) share your personal stories with us; v) download various Heritage Polonia resources, including our financial statements; vi) register to participate in an in-person event (the “In-Person Event(s)”); vii) register for and participate in a virtual informational or educational session (the “Virtual Session(s)”); and viii) to take additional actions connected to future Site functionalities made available through Site updates (please see Section 4 for more information about updates).

 

2. No Account Registration. The Sites allow access to full Site functionality without needing to register an account.

 

3. Eligibility. By using the Sites you certify that you are 13 years of age or older.

 

4. Updates, Modified Terms, & Additional Terms. Heritage Polonia may from time-to-time provide updates, supplements, additional functionality, or add-on components to the Sites (the “Update(s)”); these Terms will apply to each Update. Heritage Polonia reserves the right to modify these Terms at any time, in which case it will notify you in accordance with the notification provisions contained in Section 16 and it will post the modified Terms on this Site page with a new effective date. Modified Terms are binding on you as of the date you have been notified in accordance with Section 16 or the effective date noted on this Site page, whichever occurs later. Your continued use of any of the Sites after the modified Terms have become binding on you indicates your acceptance of the modified Terms, even if you have not reviewed them. If, at any time, you do not agree to the Terms, you must stop using the Sites. Any modifications to the Terms will not apply retroactively. Heritage Polonia may also incorporate additional terms throughout the Site, including in connection with your registration for/participation in a Heritage Polonia Program, an In-Person Event, or a Virtual Session (the “Additional Terms”). When presented with Additional Terms you will be required to explicitly agree to such Additional Terms in order to register for/participate in the relevant program, event, or activity that such Additional Terms are attached to. Heritage Polonia reserves the right to discontinue your access to the Sites at any time and for any reason, including but not limited to your failure to adhere to these Terms or your failure to agree to any Additional Terms.

 

5. License to Use of the Sites. Conditioned on your compliance with these Terms, Heritage Polonia grants you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, revocable, and nontransferable license to use the Sites for your personal, non-commercial purposes on a device owned or otherwise controlled by you. Heritage Polonia reserves the right to terminate these Terms and to suspend or discontinue the Sites or your access thereto at any time with or without prior notice. All Sections of these Terms which, by their nature, are intended to survive the termination of these Terms, your cessation of accessing the Sites, or the suspension/discontinuation of the Sites, shall so survive, including Sections 4-20.

 

6. License Restrictions. The license granted in Section 5 is conditioned on your compliance with the following:

 

- You must not attempt to work around, disable, bypass, modify, or defeat any technical limitations on the Sites or to use the Sites in an attempt to, or in conjunction with any device, program, or service designed to circumvent any security features or any technical measures employed to control access to, or the rights in, the Content (defined in Section 7 below);

- You must not reverse engineer, decompile, decipher, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to access source code of the Sites, except and only to the extent that applicable law expressly permits so despite this limitation;

- You must not download or copy the Sites;

- You must not rent, lease, lend, sell, sublicense, assign, distribute, publish, perform, display, broadcast, transfer, exploit, or otherwise make available the Sites or any features or functionality of the Sites to any third-party for any reason;

- You must not modify or make any derivative works of the Sites, in whole or in part;

- You must not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Sites or any copy thereof;

- You must not use the Sites in, or in association with, the operation of any hazardous environments or systems, including any aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control systems, or any other transport management systems; safety-critical applications, including medical or life-support systems, vehicle operation applications, or any police, fire, or other safety response systems; or military or aerospace applications, weapons systems, or environments;

- You must not interfere with the proper functioning of the Sites or use it as a platform for external applications to develop applications, services, websites, or any other functionalities that leverage the Sites or any portion thereof;

- You must not make any use of the Sites in any manner not permitted by these Terms; and

- You must use the Sites in compliance with all applicable laws.

 

7. Content.

 

7.1 Content Generally. The Sites and all information, graphics, text, images, video and audio recordings, and other materials accessible through the Sites (collectively, “Content”) are for general information, discussion, and entertainment purposes only and may only be used by you in connection with your use of the Sites as permitted by Section 5.

 

7.1.1 Ownership of Content. All the Content is either owned and controlled by Heritage Polonia or licensed by a third-party for use by Heritage Polonia in connection with the Sites. You acknowledge and agree that the Sites are provided to you under license as noted in Section 5. You do not acquire any ownership interest or other rights to the Sites or to any Content other than the right to use the Sites in accordance with the license in Section 5. Heritage Polonia reserves and retains its entire right, title, and interest in and to the Sites and the Content, including all copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property and proprietary rights therein or relating thereto. To the extent that any Content appearing on the Sites includes opinions expressed by third-party authors, such opinions are those of the authors and do not express the opinions of Heritage Polonia.

 

7.2 Your Content. When using certain Site functionalities, you may be asked to upload various information, graphics, text, images, video and audio recordings, and/or other material to a Site (“Your Content”). Whenever you provide Your Content, you acknowledge that you do so voluntarily, that you are the sole owner of all copyrights and other proprietary rights in Your Content, that you are solely responsible for all of Your Content.

 

7.2.1 License to Your Content. You grant to Heritage Polonia a worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferrable, sub-licensable, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable license, under all of your intellectual property rights regardless of jurisdiction, to copy, download, store, modify, adapt, create derivative works of, publicly perform and display, import, broadcast, transmit, distribute, license, publish, translate, share, and otherwise use Your Content, in any and all ways and in any and all manners, in connection with the operation of the Sites and for its business purposes. You represent and warrant that you possess rights in Your Content that enable you to grant the rights in this Section and that Your Content does not: i) infringe the intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other rights of any third-party; ii) violate any agreement with or policy of Heritage Polonia or any third-party; or iii) violate any applicable law. If Heritage Polonia suspects any violation of the foregoing, Heritage Polonia may institute legal action and cooperate with law enforcement authorities in bringing legal proceedings against violators.

 

7.1.2 Personal Information Within Your Content. Heritage Polonia’s right to collect, use, process, transmit, store, and share any personal information contained within Your Content shall be governed by the Heritage Polonia Foundation Privacy Policy.

 

8. External Websites; Payment Processing. Within the Sites you may encounter links and references to external third-party websites or you may be automatically redirected to an external third-party website (e.g., when making a donation through a Payment Processor) (the “External Site(s)”). Heritage Polonia is not responsible for the content available on any External Sites nor does Heritage Polonia endorse or sponsor any External Sites, or the information, products, or services contained on any External Sites. Any views or opinions expressed on External Sites are the views and opinions of the authors and publishers of the material on such External Sites and do not represent the views or opinions of Heritage Polonia. External Sites are governed by their own terms of use and privacy policies that you shall be subject to and that you should review. Any information you provide via an External Site is at your own risk.

 

9. Site Availability and Support. Heritage Polonia has no obligation to and may not provide support in relation to the Sites. Heritage Polonia does not guarantee availability of the Sites and your access is permitted only if and when they are available. Your use of the may occasionally be restricted for service, upgrades, maintenance, or for other reasons. To the maximum extent authorized under applicable law, Heritage Polonia reserves the right to suspend your use of the Sites at any time and without notice.

 

10. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. THE SITES ARE OFFERED “AS-IS.” HERITAGE POLONIA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE SITES, INCLUDING ALL EXPRESS, IMPLIED, AND STATUTORY WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS. IN PARTICULAR, HERITAGE POLONIA HEREBY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, MERCHANTABLE QUALITY, DURABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, QUIET ENJOYMENT, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY OR CLAIM THAT THE SITES: (A) WILL BE AVAILABLE OR PROVIDED ON AN UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, OR SECURE BASIS; (B) WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, OR FUNCTION PROPERLY; (C) WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS; OR (D) WILL BE ERROR-FREE OR FREE FROM VIRUSES, WORMS, OR OTHER HARMFUL OR MALICIOUS COMPONENTS.

 

11. DISCLAIMER OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT WILL HERITAGE POLONIA BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY DAMAGES TO OR FOR LOSS OF DATA, PRIVACY, REVENUE, PROFITS, PROPERTY, OR PERSONAL INJURY OR DEATH, ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS, YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITES OR ANY SITE FUNCTIONALITY.

 

12. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW AND TO THE EXTENT THEY ARE NOT EXCLUDED OR DISCLAIMED UNDER SECTION 11, HERITAGE POLONIA’S MAXIMUM, AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU, AND YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY UNDER THESE TERMS FOR ANY AND ALL DAMAGES, INJURIES, AND LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF ANY CLAIMS OR CAUSES OF ACTION BASED ON, RESULTING FROM, OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THESE TERMS, YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITES OR ANY SITE FUNCTIONALITY, OR YOUR ACCESSING OF AN EXTERNAL SITE AND/OR USE OF A PAYMENT PROCESSOR, WILL NOT EXCEED ONE DOLLAR ($1).

 

13. IMPORTANT CONSUMER NOTICE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN DAMAGE LIMITATIONS SUCH AS THE LIMITATION OF LOSS OR LIABILITY FROM INTENTIONAL ACTS (INCLUDING FRAUD, FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION, AND FAILURE TO DISCLOSE DEFECTS), PRODUCT LIABILITY, OR FOR DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY, OR CERTAIN WARRANTY DISCLAIMERS. NOTHING IN SECTIONS 10-12 WILL BE INTERPRETED AS EXCLUDING LIABILITY OR DISCLAIMING WARRANTIES WHICH CANNOT, UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, BE EXCLUDED OR DISCLAIMED. IF YOU LIVE OR ARE OTHERWISE SUBJECT TO THE LAWS IN ONE OF THOSE JURISDICTIONS ANY STATUTORY ENTITLEMENT AVAILABLE TO YOU WILL BE DEEMED LIMITED OR DISCLAIMED TO THE EXTENT (IF AT ALL) PERMISSIBLE UNDER THAT LAW AND, IF ANY LIMITATION OR DISCLAIMER IS NOT PERMITTED, THE EXCLUSIONS AND DISCLAIMERS IN SECTIONS 10-12 MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

 

14. Independent Remedies. The disclaimer and limitation of warranties and the exclusion of damages under Sections 10 and 11 are independent of your exclusive remedies in these Terms and the disclaimer and limitations of warranties and exclusion of damages survive even if the exclusive remedies fail of their essential purpose or otherwise are deemed unenforceable. Each of the limitations in Sections 10 and 11 apply without regard to whether loss, liability, or damage arise from: i) breach of contract; ii) breach of warranty; iii) fault or tort, including negligence and misrepresentation; iv) strict liability; or v) any other cause of action, to the extent the exclusions and limitations are not prohibited by applicable law.

 

15. Indemnity. You agree to defend, indemnify, exculpate, and hold harmless Heritage Polonia from any third-party claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, relating to, arising from, or allegedly arising from: i) Heritage Polonia’s use of Your Content; ii) your use of the Sites or any Site functionality; iii) your accessing of an External Site, including your use of a Payment Processor; iv) your violation of these Terms; v) your violation of any other third-party rights; and vi) your violation of any applicable law. Heritage Polonia reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will fully cooperate with Heritage Polonia in asserting any available defenses and shall reimburse Heritage Polonia for its reasonable attorneys’ fees.

 

16. Notices. Heritage Polonia may give you all required notices (including legal process) by any lawful method, including sending it via email to the email address provided by you in connection with a donation or other inquiry. You agree to send Heritage Polonia notices by emailing them to the following address: contact@heritagepolonia.com

 

17. DMCA Copyright Notice and Takedown Procedures. Heritage Polonia respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that any Content or other material available on the Sites infringes your copyright or the copyright of any third-party, please send written notice in accordance with the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) to contact@heritagepolonia.com .

 

To be effective, notice must include the following in compliance with Section 512(c) of the DMCA:

 

- A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;

- Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works on a single Site page are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works on that page;

- Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing, or to be the subject of infringing activity, and that is to be removed, or access to which is to be disabled, and specific information sufficient to permit us to locate the material;

- Information sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and email address;

- A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and

- A statement that the information in the notification is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

 

This process only relates to reporting a claim of copyright infringement. Messages related to other matters will not receive a response through this process. Please note that under Section 512(f) of the DMCA, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing may be subject to liability. If you are unsure whether material within the Site is infringing, you should contact an attorney prior to sending notice. After receiving notice, Heritage Polonia may remove or disable access to the infringing material.

 

18. Governing Law. These Terms are governed by the laws of District of Columbia, and the federal laws of the United States of America, without regard to any conflict of law provisions thereof.

 

19. AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE; CLASS ACTION WAIVER; AND LOCATION OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION. You and Heritage Polonia each agree that all claims, controversies, and disputes between You and Heritage Polonia, including those arising out of or related to the Sites or these Terms (each a “Dispute;” collectively the “Disputes”), will be resolved by binding arbitration by a single neutral arbitrator, provided, however, that you and Heritage Polonia are not precluded from asserting in small claims court any Dispute that is eligible to be brought in small claims court. BY AGREEING, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU AND HERITAGE POLONIA ARE EACH AGREEING TO FOREGO THE ABILITY TO PURSUE DISPUTES IN COURT, OTHER THAN SMALL CLAIMS COURT, INCLUDING THE ABILITY TO HAVE A JURY DECIDE DISPUTES. Unless you and Heritage Polonia otherwise agree, Judicial Arbitration & Mediation Services (“JAMS”) will arbitrate all disputes and JAMS rules will apply. You and Heritage Polonia each agree to only pursue Disputes on an individual basis and you each agree not to pursue Disputes, whether in arbitration or otherwise, on a class, consolidated, or representative basis, regardless of the application of procedural rules. BY AGREEING, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU AND HERITAGE POLONIA ARE EACH AGREEING TO FOREGO THE ABILITY TO PROCEED IN CLASS ACTIONS, CONSOLIDATED ACTIONS, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTIONS, EITHER AS A REPRESENTATIVE OR MEMBER OF A CLASS. Notwithstanding any JAMS rule to the contrary, or any other provision in arbitration rules chosen by agreement to govern the arbitration, you and Heritage Polonia each agree that any challenges to the validity or enforceability of the class action waiver in this Section will be decided by a federal court or a court of competent jurisdiction, and not by an arbitrator. If any court holds that the class action waiver in this Section is unenforceable, then the Dispute must be brought in a federal court, and not in arbitration. You and Heritage Polonia each agree that the location of the arbitration or court where the Dispute will be resolved will be District of Columbia. You and Heritage Polonia each also agree that for arbitrated Disputes, the arbitrator’s award will be final and binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. An arbitrator may award, on an individual basis, any relief authorized by law, including injunctive or declaratory relief and reasonable attorneys’ fees. You and Heritage Polonia each are responsible for your or its respective costs relating to the arbitration, except that Heritage Polonia will pay all arbitration administrative or filing fees, including the arbitrator fees (other than arbitrator fees up to the amount of the then-applicable fee for filing a civil action in federal court in the judicial district where you live or that has jurisdiction over you in any Dispute where you assert a claim against Heritage Polonia, unless you demonstrate to the arbitrator that you would be entitled to file that civil action in federal court without payment of the then-applicable fee). To begin arbitration, you must send a letter requesting arbitration and describing your Dispute to the contact listed for Heritage Polonia in Section 16. You may opt-out of the agreement to arbitrate in this Section by mailing Heritage Polonia written notice of your election to opt-out at Heritage Polonia Foundation, 4400 Q street NW, Washington DC 20007, within thirty (30) days of your becoming subject to arbitration, expressly indicating that you are opting out of the agreement to arbitrate in this Section and including your name and address, provided that the election will not be effective until it is received by Heritage Polonia. Your election to opt-out of the agreement to arbitrate in this Section will not otherwise affect your rights and obligations under these Terms. You and Heritage Polonia each also agree that these Terms affect interstate commerce, so the US Federal Arbitration Act, not individual state law, applies, including with respect to any question of whether a Dispute is subject to arbitration (despite the choice of governing law in Section 18).

 

20. General. If any provision of these Terms is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be illegal, invalid, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in full force and effect. You and Heritage Polonia intend that the provisions of these Terms be enforced to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. Accordingly, you and Heritage Polonia agree that if any provision is deemed unenforceable, where possible, it will be modified to the extent necessary to make it enforceable, which may include its deletion. Section titles are only for convenience and have no legal or contractual significance. Any list of examples following “including” or “e.g.,” is illustrative and not exhaustive, unless qualified by terms like “only” or “solely.” Heritage Polonia may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, at any time, with or without notice to you. You may not assign, transfer, or sublicense your rights, if any, to the Sites, or under these Terms. If, at any time, Heritage Polonia fails to respond to a breach of these Terms by you or others, that failure will not waive Heritage Polonia’s right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. A waiver will only be binding on Heritage Polonia if it is in writing and signed by Heritage Polonia. These Terms and any Additional Terms you agree to constitute the entire agreement between you and Heritage Polonia.

 

Polonia with respect to the Sites. Both you and Heritage Polonia warrant to each other that neither Heritage Polonia nor you have relied on or will have any right or remedy based upon any statement, representation, warranty, or assurance other than those expressly stated in these Terms. The preceding sentence will not limit or exclude any liability that cannot be limited or excluded under applicable law. No one other than you and Heritage Polonia, or Heritage Polonia’s successors and permitted assigns, will have any right to enforce any of these Terms.