Utherverse Terms Of Service (TOS)

The Virtual World Web Network

TERMS OF SERVICE

Version No. 7 - Version Date April 15, 2014

THESE TERMS OF SERVICE ARE AN AGREEMENT THAT GOVERNS YOUR USE THE SERVICES OFFERED THROUGH THE VIRTUAL WORLD WEB NETWORK AND RELATED MATTERS. PLEASE CAREFULLY READ THIS AGREEMENT. BY CLICKING ON THE "I ACCEPT" BUTTON, REGISTERING FOR USE OF THE SERVICES, OR USING ANY OF THE SERVICES, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND SIGNIFY THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD, AND AGREED TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT AND AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE, YOU MUST DISCONTINUE USE OF THE SERVICES IMMEDIATELY.

IF YOU ARE NOT AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE AND THE AGE OF MAJORITY IN YOUR JURISDICTION OF RESIDENCE, YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE OUR SERVICES AND YOU MUST CEASE ANY ATTEMPT TO ACCESS OR USE OUR SERVICES IMMEDIATELY.

Communities such as Virtual Worlds work best when users and others operate with mutual respect, understand our Rights and Responsibilities and why these need to be enforced to be effective. We believe that setting out these terms of service in a clear way will help make the Virtual World experience great for everyone.

This is an agreement between the Virtual World Web Network ("We" and "Us") - and You (and Your) which includes: Members, VIP and Universal VIP Members, individual Virtual World Members, the Virtual World Master Developers, our Volunteers, and the Affiliates, Advertisers, and any other person or entity who uses our software, participates in our Worlds throughout the network, or accesses our Web sites.

You agree that by using or accessing any portion of our software, websites or Virtual World Web (VWW) platform (called the "Service" throughout this agreement), you will follow these TOS below. To be totally clear: This is a contract, and you are bound by its terms.

If you have suggestions to improve our Terms of Service, or if you wish to negotiate the terms, please feel free to do so. Note our "Unsolicited Ideas" policy addresses such negotiations. We do make changes to the TOS from time to time, whether in response to user comments, the introduction of new features, or for other reasons. Each time you use the Services, you agree to the TOS as they exist at the time. That means that we may modify these TOS from time to time and your continued use of the Services following any such modification constitutes your agreement to the modified changes. It is therefore important that you review these TOS when the Version number above changes. The rights and obligations of the parties with respect to an action taken before a modification are governed by the TOS as they existed at the time of the action unless we obtain your express agreement that the modifications are retroactive. Although we may obtain your express agreement in other ways, you agree that we are deemed to have obtained this express agreement if you click a link that says "I agree to the terms of service with regard to my past use of the services" or a variant of such a statement, such as "I agree to the terms of service with regard to my current, future and past use of the services".

I. RESPECT AND SAFETY

We try to keep the Service safe and fun, but we cannot guarantee it. A community effort will help keep the Service safe and fun, and this includes your compliance with our TOS and cooperation with our staff. Just like in the physical world, disputes may arise between users, including disputes over personal matters and virtual property. Our World Justice System and internal complaint processes are available to help resolve disputes when they arise. If you have a reasonable basis to believe that a minor is accessing our Service, you are obligated to report fact as soon as practicable.

Specifically you agree:

1.         When using the Service, you will not harm other members. You will not harass, bully, intimidate, threaten, or stalk any member, or make rude, insulting or defamatory remarks about any member, including deceased members recognized in the Memorial Gardens or do anything else that a person, acting reasonably would consider harmful. The VWW and the Service are virtual versions of the real world, including its standards of behavior. You are not allowed to do anything to another user of the Service that would be illegal if done in the non-virtual world. You are prohibited from using the Service for an unlawful purpose or to take an action for the primary purpose of reducing the enjoyment of the Service by another user.

2.         You will not harm the Service or its resources (for example, design tools, hardware or software that runs or interacts with the Service, including chat rooms and forums, currency exchange, public and private spaces). Prohibited activities include but are not limited to: releasing viruses or other malicious code, disabling or impairing any of the systems and services, conducting any form of denial of service attack, phishing or using automated means of access (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers), fraudulent activities including but not limited to defrauding the world currency (Rays) system. Auto-generator scripts or software for Rays are expressly prohibited. You will not acquire world currency (Rays) or any other virtual item or use Rays or any other virtual item acquired illegally whether through account fraud, phishing or by using Auto-generator scripts. You agree not to promote, distribute information or redistribute auto-generators to encourage or assist others to acquire Rays or any other virtual item illegally or in violation of the TOS. Doing anything that a person, exercising reasonable judgment, would consider inappropriate constitutes harm to the Service. Where standards of conduct applicable to specific areas of the VWW or the Service are posted, you must follow those standards. To be clear, and without restricting the foregoing, We consider our computer systems to be protected computer systems under U.S. and Canadian law, and any foreign counterparts, including criminal laws prohibiting unauthorized access to protected computer systems and computer data (such as The U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Canadian Criminal Code), and we consider circumvention of any access restrictions (including obtaining access to elements of the system that require payment of Rays or a membership where either have been obtained illegitimately or violating any of the restrictions in this Agreement) to be access that is "without authorization" and that "exceeds authorized access".

3.         The software (client and otherwise) that operates all aspects of the Service is copyrighted and we can and will pursue all lawful remedies against anyone attempting to hack, decompile, disable or distribute unauthorized copies of that code. You expressly agree that any attempt to hack, decompile, reverse engineer, disable or distribute unauthorized copies of the software is a violation of this Agreement. Interacting with our servers other than by using our own software or a standard web browser in a standard manner is also a violation of this agreement, and among other things this means you are prohibited from interacting with our game servers using third party software or altering the communications between our software and our game servers.

4.         You will not use the Service to violate any applicable laws. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you will not use the Service send unsolicited bulk email or messages (SPAM), unsolicited commercial electronic messages, or other inappropriate messages, such as off-topic message board posts or bulk instant or private messages.

5.         You will not attempt to sign up for more than five accounts without obtaining written permission from us. Holding multiple accounts may result in restrictions on the maximum number of Rays that can be earned for certain activities whether daily, by account, or in the aggregate, and/or in restrictions on the transfer of Rays. If you do have more than one account, you may not take any steps to hide the relationship between those accounts from us. Although other things also constitute hiding the relationship between accounts, using different names or contact information for different accounts always constitutes hiding the relationship between accounts.

6.         We have volunteers and staff participants who are authorized by us to moderate activities in Virtual World environments and they may take appropriate action when they see TOS violations. While every user of the Service is bound by this TOS, these individuals also operate under Volunteer Terms of Service. The Volunteers and Staff will investigate violations of these TOS. Filing false complaints shall be immediate grounds for termination of service.

7.         You are prohibited from, and shall not, modify, reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the software. You are also prohibited from attempting to directly use any of the components distributed with the software, except when used as part of the software as a whole and through the user interface we provide.

II. MEMBER PRIVACY

Your privacy is very important to us. Our Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, retain and disclose your personal information. We may amend our Privacy Policy from time to time. You hereby consent to our collection, use, retention and disclosure of your personal information as set forth in our Privacy Policy, as amended from time to time. We encourage you to read the Privacy Policy, and to use it to help you conduct yourself accordingly.

1.         Your profile is accessible by all other users on the Virtual World Web Network. You can limit the display of your profile information by CHANGING YOUR PRIVACY SETTING OF YOUR PROFILE here .

2.         You should consider issues of privacy and personal safety before disclosing your own personal information. It is prohibited to distribute or post any other member's personal information without their consent. You may not post photos of any other Member without their express written consent and a proper copyright license. These restrictions apply to information or photographs obtained using the Services, and to information or photographs distributed or promoted using the Services.

3.         Each licensed Virtual World operator (World Master) is required to have and post a Privacy Policy. If you have any concern about privacy within the Virtual World worlds, you should direct your concerns to the World Master who manages that world and only report it to Customer Support if you can't get a resolution. We are not responsible for violations of any Privacy Policy by other members, including World Masters, and shall under no circumstances have any liability in any manner related to such violations.

4.         It is possible to transmit real time or archived video or actions from within the Virtual World. You give us permission to do this, whether you or your avatar are in the video or not. You agree that other users of the Service may also transmit real time or archived video or actions from within the Virtual World. To the extent that you may hold or obtain copyright or any other right, title or interest in, to or associated with any such video or any content or elements thereof (including your avatar), you hereby grant to us and all other users of the Service a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, fully assignable and transferrable, fully sublicensable, royalty-free, fully paid, world-wide right and license to distribute and use such video or any content or elements thereof (including your avatar) for any and all purposes whatsoever and by means of any and all media and technologies now in existence or developed in the future, all without any remuneration or compensation to you or any other person and without any obligation to give credit or attribution to you or any other person, and you hereby waive in favour of us and all other users of the Service any and all non-transferable rights (including all moral rights and rights of authorship and attribution) that may have throughout the world in, to or associated with any such video or any content or elements thereof.

III. ALL ABOUT CONTENT AND VIRTUAL PROPERTY

1.         We respect each other's content, intellectual and other property ("Property") rights. We follow the use and violation standards set out in International Intellectual Property ("IP") Treaties and Conventions, to the extent possible, since this is a global platform and people are operating Virtual Worlds from many legal jurisdictions (countries). However, we do not agree that any law other than Canadian law, as it exists in British Columbia, shall apply (or, with respect to U.S. copyrights, U.S. law), nor do we submit to the jurisdiction of any courts other than those located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. While we use the term "Property" for convenience in discussing virtual items, it is important to note that virtual items exist only as limited license rights to alter the performance of certain features provided as part of the Services, and have no real world value. "Property" as used herein for convenience does not require that there be any value in the referenced items. We also do not grant an enforceable right, such as a copyright, by referencing anything herein as "Property".

2.         You will at all times treat other people's Property with respect. To be more specific, Property includes elements that belong to the Service and to other users including but not limited to: information, data, software, scripts, codes, animations, textures, props, Avatars, videos, photos, graphics, signs, text and other creative content made as individual elements, or combined in compilation forms such as streets, malls and other virtual premises, world currency (Rays) and forum posts.

3.         You will not intentionally bump up (refresh) forum posts to alter viewer data.

4.         You will refrain from stealing (ripping), vandalizing, deleting or doing anything with or to virtual Property that would be considered illegal or disrespectful to real world Property.

5.         You will not use Property owned by others without written permission. This includes use of our Property: our copyrighted materials (including but not limited to software, code, scripts, designs, textures, props, signs, text, videos, slogans, avatars, and other similar works) or our Service Marks of our web properties and or otherwise (or other trade names or Logos we may subsequently develop), or our Trade Marks (which in some countries may include Avatars); The use of any confusingly similar marks is also prohibited, without our written permission.

TO BE CLEAR THIS MEANS A "WORLD", AN AFFILIATE OR OTHER WEB SITE MAY NOT MISLEAD BY MIMICKING OR APPEARING TO BE THE VWW SERVICE OR ANY UTHERVERSE PROPERTY. However, Affiliates are authorized to use supplied Affiliate Materials and Worlds may use VWW badges to associate your services with the network. These limitations are in addition to any other rights we may hold to our intellectual property, and nothing in these TOS limits our rights to that intellectual property, including our rights to bring enforcement actions.

6.         We do not review the content posted by users on the Service and are not responsible for such content. We are also not liable for any content uploaded or streamed by our Members. We will enforce these TOS against illegal or offensive content when reported to us. We specifically embrace the safe harbor provisions provided under the laws of various nations and other jurisdictions (including, for example, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act), and nothing in these Terms of Service shall constitute a waiver of any safe harbor or similar rights we may have. You agree that the provisions of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (a U.S. law), shall apply as if it were a law in every nation in the world.

7.         We are not responsible for any of the content on third party sites that we link to.

8.         Should we learn of material that is illegal, may be illegal, violates these TOS or is otherwise unacceptable (all in our sole and absolute discretion), whether as a result of an inquiry by law enforcement, a content owner, a Member or other third party, or otherwise, we reserve the right to delete, block access or move any such Content or to terminate a link. You remain solely responsible for all Content posted by you.

9.         We comply with and have also taken some best practices from the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and have now implemented two streams for copyright infringement complaints. Please note that any notice of infringement may become part of a court record, may be supplied to the allegedly infringing party so that they may file a counter-notice, may be obtained from us via subpoena, or may otherwise be made public. Without limiting the foregoing, we may elect to publish such complaints on the internet, such as on chillingeffects.org, and you hereby consent to our doing so.

i)         IF YOU ARE A COPYRIGHT OWNER or AUTHORIZED AGENT of the OWNER, COMPLAINING OF A COPYRIGHT VIOLATION INVOLVING A VIOLATION OF COPYRIGHT LAW OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

We require a "DMCA Compliant" notice from you if you discover that something you believe you own is being used on the Service without your consent. Your copyright infringement notification and any counter notification must be provided in a way that complies with the DMCA (such as by fax or postal mail). These notices must include ALL THE REQUIRED INFORMATION UNDER THE DMCA. The specific process is outlined in DMCA Notices .

Because DMCA notices are required to be signed under penalty of perjury, there are serious consequences for submitting a false notice. In addition to any penalties for perjury, please note that you may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that any content on the Service is infringing your copyright. Courts in the United States have provided some protection to certain kinds of materials under the Fair Use doctrine, so you should consider whether the use of the materials is legally permitted under that doctrine or otherwise. Copyright law can be complicated, and we suggest that you consult with an attorney if you have any questions.

Note that a requirement for any DMCA complaint is that it come from the owner or the authorized agent of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Our copyright policy includes (i) termination of any account that has engaged in three unintentional or negligent acts of copyright infringement, (ii) termination of any account that has engaged in one intentional act of copyright infringement, and (iii) termination of any account that reposts material that we have taken down in response to a DMCA notice.

ii)         IF YOU ARE A COPYRIGHT OWNER FROM ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD:

We require a Content Complaint Notice . Be advised this is a sworn statement from you and is subject to our good faith reliance on the information you provide.

NOTE: We require that any copyright complaint include a statement that the use is not an authorized use. We will not accept content complaints from third parties since they are unable to determine which uses are authorized. If you are NOT THE OWNER of the content or their authorized agent or exclusive licensee, do not file a content complaint.

Regardless of what a local country law may allow or require us to do when we receive a content complaint or a DMCA compliant notice of infringement of copyright, our response to these notices may include removing or disabling access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity. If we remove or disable access in response to such a Notice, we will make a good-faith attempt to contact the owner or administrator of the affected page, site or Virtual World so that they can make a counter notification. When we receive a counter notification, we may permit the reinstatement of the material in question. Reposting content we have removed without permission to do so will result in a termination of service.

We will also document notices and will suspend or terminate accounts as follows: For the first breach by a member, unless deliberate, there will be a suspension of the infringing member's account. For the second breach by a member, there will be a termination of service. Filing a false Notice will be subject to immediate termination of service, and you may be liable for other penalties under the laws of your local country, in particular under the DMCA in the United States, where there are serious penalties for filing a false Notification (complaint).

Nothing in these TOS shall waive any rights we have under any statute or regulation to enforce content rights, or to opt not to enforce them in the jurisdiction where we operate the Service.

10.         You will only distribute content that belongs to you or does not violate someone else's rights. If you do not own the content you a to distribute, you must obtain and be able to show proof of a license (or specific written permission) to use content that you choose to distribute (post) in the Service.

11.         We do not have an obligation to protect your content or the content of another owner. You must inform content owners who give you a license that it is you who is responsible for anything that might happen to their content, and not us.

12.         If you distribute your own content or the licensed content of others (including photos, music, or other audio files, videos, logos, personal identities etc) ("Your Content"), in the Service WE DO NOT CLAIM ANY OWNERSHIP IN YOUR CONTENT but since you are publishing Your Content on our Service you specifically give us the permission to do so: You hereby grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, fully paid, worldwide right and license to distribute and use (including copy, distribute, display, perform, publish, communicate to the public, modify, adapt, translate, publish, create derivative works from) Your Content including your Avatar concept and design as may be required to operate the Service, and you hereby waive any and all non-transferable rights (including all moral rights and rights of authorship and attribution) that may have throughout the world in, to or associated with Your Content regarding all such authorized uses ("License"). This License ends when you delete Your Content, except as follows: (a) It may take some time for Your Content to be removed from any cached, preloaded, or compiled copies of software or other material used in the Services, and the license extends through such time period, and (b) We may have taken screen or action captures, compiled historical data, video or stills to enable recreation of in-world events, or created promotional materials, and the license shall not terminate with respect to such uses. You may not distribute or upload any content unless you have the legal right to grant us the foregoing license rights. We are not responsible if you have shared Your Content with others through the Service and we cannot compel any member to delete Your Content from the systems of other users (although nothing here supersedes the policy for submitting takedown notices, as described above).

13.         We may remove any content or information you distribute in public spaces or premises that we have access to, if we believe that it is violating rights (such as privacy, defamation, publicity, harassment or ownership rights or in extremely bad taste). If we remove content or information you distributed because of a complaint and you believe we removed it by mistake, you may provide us with a counter notification as set out in "Reporting Content Complaints".

IV. ALL ABOUT ACCOUNTS

We rely on our members to provide accurate account information. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:

1.         You are at least eighteen years of age and you have reached the age of majority in your jurisdiction of residence. We will not accept any participants for the Service who are not at least eighteen years of age and the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence. We are entitled to use any age verification method that we deem acceptable. You shall not provide access to the Service to any person who is not at least eighteen years of age and the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence, or allow any such person to any portion of the Service.

2.         You will not provide any false personal information to us, or our billing partners or services, or to any of our third party services.

3.         You will not create an account for any member other than yourself without written permission from us.

4.         Each VIP and Universal VIP account comes with ONE FREE Zaby (personal space) that you are licensed to use during the time you remain a paid-up Member. You shall not sub-license your Zaby to other members, or acquire free Zabys from other members and you shall not operate a commercial enterprise leasing or sub-licensing such free Zabys.

If you wish to operate a business involving virtual property contact: business@thevww.com

5.         You will keep your contact information accurate and up-to-date.

6.         You will not share your password; let any other member access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account and personal information.

7.         You may not transfer your account to any member and you are responsible for what happens on your account, including the billing charges and the conduct/behaviour of user(s).

8.         We have the final say about screen names. In the attempt to be fair, if a name or ID conflicts with another user, is confusingly similar, impersonates staff or is otherwise misleading or inappropriate we may ask you to change it and you agree to do so, on request. If you refuse, we may do it ourselves.

9.         If you violate these TOS, we can stop providing all or part of the Service to you either temporarily or permanently. We will notify you at the current contact information you have provided to us, but you will also become aware of any change in service status the next time you attempt to access your account. This is in addition to any rights or remedies we may have, all of which we expressly reserve. Our failure to take action or delay in taking action does not constitute a waiver of any right.

10.         When your Member Account is terminated (by us) or remains dormant (no longer in use) for longer than 90 days, we reserve the right to continue to charge a license fee of 20 Rays per month to keep the account active. After the trader account and Ray bank accounts are depleted the Member Account may be permanently closed and the user name may be re-issued to another member upon request. Dormant accounts, older than six (6) months with less than 20 Rays in their trader account may be provided with an opportunity to remain active, but if not reactivated in the time frame offered, these accounts will be closed out permanently and the screen name will be made available to other members. Section VI(1) provides additional limitations on inactive accounts.

V. PAYMENTS

1.         Basic use is free. Upgraded (VIP and Universal VIP) services are available upon payment of Service Fees. We have tried to make it possible for you to pay by several means depending on the country you reside in, but not all payment methods are available in every country. Generally we have established payments by: credit card, SMS, phone service providers, cheques, money orders, wire transfers, and other online payment solutions.

2.         If you upgrade from Basic to a VIP, Universal VIP or other paid memberships, or use Rays within the Service, you agree to the Service Payment Terms as set out in paragraph V (3) below). We utilize the services of a number of third party payment providers. As it relates to payment policies and procedures their rules also apply and we retain the right to determine which rules apply in the event of any conflict between the rules.

3.         Service Payment Terms: You are responsible for keeping a current payment method on file with us. Any amounts you owe us (for example: for a renewal, for increases in population capacity etc.) may be automatically charged. If you are on a monthly or other plan with recurring billing, you agree that we may make such charges to the payment method you have on file with us, unless you provide us with notice of cancellation at least five business days prior to the recurring billing and/or renewal date.

4.         If we terminate the Service due to a violation of the TOS you are not entitled to a refund of any advance payment that you have made to us.

VI. RAYS AND RAY EXCHANGE

Rays are the world currency ("Rays") that operate in the Service and are governed solely by this Agreement.

1.         We grant you a limited license right (Limited License) to use this fictional feature in whatever manner we determine. In our sole discretion, we may charge fees for your use of Rays, we may give Rays out for free, or we may otherwise determine how Rays are provided, acquired, used, or lost. We have the absolute right to determine the maximum number of Rays that can be earned — whether by activity, day, account or individual. This may result in restrictions on multiple account holders to an aggregate or per account maximum. Unless terminated earlier, the Limited License shall automatically terminate when a member's account is inactive for 364 consecutive days.

2.         We retain the right, in our absolute unfettered discretion to regulate, modify, eliminate, manage, or otherwise control Rays as we see fit. We may, at our option, terminate the Rays system entirely, terminate the Limited License, take actions that would manipulate their value, or otherwise act entirely in keeping with the fact that the Rays are a fictionalized, world currency without inherent value and will have no liability to you for doing any of these things.

3.         We may also provide for the ability to purchase goods or services, virtual or otherwise, with Rays. However, we are not obligated to do so, and any offer to sell goods and services shall be a fictionalized part of the Service and is not enforceable.

4.         In our sole discretion, items purchased with Rays as a gift for another member may be returned for a refund of the Rays used for their purchase when the recipient member loses their membership due to a violation of these TOS. However, we are not obligated to do so, and any such refund shall be done as a courtesy only.

5.         We may provide for one or more exchanges whereby we facilitate and/or administer transactions among users for the purchase and sale of the Limited License to Rays (a "Rays Exchange"). We may regulate the Rays Exchange in any manner we deem necessary in our sole discretion. Such regulations may include trading limitations, floors, ceilings and/or any regulatory mechanism or tool used by any actual or world currency, commodity or stock exchange anywhere in the world. However, we are not required to regulate any such exchange.

6.         This Limited License to the fictional Rays feature does not permit the exchange of Rays as part of a game of chance. Without limiting the foregoing, Rays are specifically prohibited from being acquired in exchange for Chips (the term "Chips" is described below).

7.         Sales and purchases of Rays are actually only the sale and purchase of the Limited License with no other rights attached.

8.         In the case of suspected fraud, violations of these TOS, violation of laws or regulation, or to protect the integrity of the Rays Exchange, we may at our sole discretion, halt, suspend, terminate, reverse or otherwise modify or cancel any exchange whether prospectively, retroactively, or otherwise.

9.         All of the Service participants may (but are not required to) engage in the purchase of Rays, whether through the Rays Exchange or otherwise. Only VIP and Universal VIP Members may sell Rays. VIP and Universal VIP Members' Trader Accounts may be used to purchase virtual items or additional features of the Services, and, in our discretion, we may refund this in-world credit as cash. As of Tuesday, April 15, 2014, each time you request a cashout you must complete the Application Form for Real-World Payment Program and upload it here or fax it to 604-357-5214. If accepted, we will send you funds by way of the method requested on the Application form For Real-World Payment Program. We may require conversion of the balance of any Trader Accounts into Rays at any time, and we shall have the right to make this conversion without any action by you.

10.         We do not guarantee that real world money shall be credited to you as a result of use of the Rays Exchange or any other method of sale, trade, or acquisition of Rays in any manner facilitated by or involving the Service. To the contrary, Rays are a limited, personal, revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicenseable license to use a virtual feature of the Service, and give rise to no right or title in any features of the Service or to anything of value. Rays may be credited in the form of an in-World credit that may be used to purchase goods and services offered by the Service. However, under no circumstances shall we be obligated to provide in-World credit for Rays. Refunds over certain amounts and cashing out an amount that is more than you have funded may include additional identity verification procedures, at our sole discretion, which is generally to protect the integrity of the Service and/or comply with certain laws.

VII. PLAY GAMING AND CHIPS:

1.         The Services may offer a virtual form of currency ("Chips") that may be symbolized or nicknamed using fictional, play amounts of Dollars, Euros, other forms of currency, Rays, coins, points, or in any other manner as we may determine. Although nicknamed in this way, such name is strictly to enhance the enjoyment of the Service, and Chips have no value and shall never be redeemable for cash or anything of value. Chips are solely a virtual feature of the game. Without limiting the foregoing, symbols on various virtual machines or games may indicate some form of currency, such as a dollar sign on a slot machine. Regardless of what the symbols, artwork, or other indications may state on a machine or game, they always refer to play money Chips, and not to anything of value.

2.         Chips shall constitute a limited, personal, revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicenseable license to use Chips in conjunction with certain features of the Service, such as play money gaming, You have no right or title in the Chips. All license rights to any Chips associated with your account shall terminate immediately in the event that you attempt to obtain anything of value in exchange for Chips.

3.         We may grant a license to some amount of Chips by giving them to you, selling them to you, exchanging them for Rays, or otherwise. We shall not grant or pay you anything of value in exchange for Chips, nor are you permitted to sell or trade Chips with us or with any other party for anything of value. To be clear, while we may permit you to purchase access to Chips in order to play the games, the transaction can never happen in reverse. Chips may never be exchanged or redeemed for any non-virtual item, for "real world" money or goods, or for any other thing of value. If we sell Chips to you in exchange for Rays or cash, you shall have no right to a refund. We have the right to discontinue some or all of the features that utilize Chips at any time. We may, at our discretion, within the game, allow you to exchange Chips for virtual, digital items within the Service that have no value. The virtual, digital in-game items available for redemption using Chips may be changed or eliminated at any time within our sole discretion. In no event shall you ever be allowed to exchange such virtual, digital in-game items for anything of value.

4.         Except as expressly permitted, and then only through the mechanisms that we specifically provide as part of the Service, you are prohibited from transferring Chips to any other person or entity.

5.         Any Chips obtained as a result of a malfunction, programming error, mistake, use of any automated program or process, or violation of these TOS are considered void. If such Chips have already been exchanged for other items, such items shall be void. Such void Chips or virtual items shall be removed from whatever account they are associated with. If void Chips were exchanged for time-limited virtual items (such as time-limited access to an area of the virtual environment), additional Chips may be removed from your account in place of the void Chips. Intentional use of void Chips or other void items shall be a violation of the TOS.

6.         Chips and play gaming are for fun only. You do not have any right to keep the Chips you have and you may not exchange the Chips for anything of value. Because games need rules, we set out some basic rules in this paragraph. The presence of rules may not be construed as creating any rights to enforce these rules, since they govern a game where nothing of value may be won:

a.         We may have progressive jackpot machines. The progressive jackpot may refer to a fixed jackpot, to a jackpot that varies randomly, to a jackpot that increases relative to the amount of Chips played since the last win, or determined in some other manner.

b.         A malfunction, software bug, or exploit voids all play.

c.         A symbol on progressive or other machines that does not appear on the pay out tables may not be used as a "wildcard" in "any symbol-any symbol-any symbol" type paylines.

d.         When you change the amount of Chips per coin bet, the number of coins or credits indicated on the machine may change to reflect the new denomination.

7.         Because Chips have no value, and function only as part of a game, in running the game, we may take any action we wish at any time with regard to Chips.

VII. USE of the SERVICE

1.         Your right to the Member License can be revoked for a breach of the TOS, or if you break any other law in the country where we or any of the Virtual World worlds operate or where the activity occurs.

VIII. ADDITIONAL LEGAL TERMS

1.         WE TRY TO KEEP THE SERVICE OPERATIONAL, BUG-FREE, AND SAFE, BUT THE SOFTWARE IS STILL IN BETA, THEREFORE YOU USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. WE ARE PROVIDING THE SERVICE "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE", WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, PERFORMANCE, AVAILABILITY, TIMELINESS, ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ALL OF WHICH ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE SAFE OR SECURE. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS, CONTENT, INFORMATION, OR DATA OF THIRD PARTIES, AND YOU RELEASE US, OUR DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS FROM ANY CLAIMS AND DAMAGES, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH ANY CLAIM YOU HAVE AGAINST ANY SUCH THIRD PARTIES. WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TOS OR USE OF THE SERVICE, EVEN IF YOU ARE RUNNING A BUSINESS, AND EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF THESE TOS OR PROVIDING THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100) OR THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID US IN THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN SUCH CASES, OUR LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

2.         The TOS (including the policies expressly incorporated by reference into the TOS) constitutes the entire agreement between you and us, and replaces any prior agreements or promises anyone from the Service may have made to you by any means. Modifications to the TOS may be made by us as described earlier in this TOS. You may not modify the TOS. You are responsible for staying current with the latest version of the TOS as they are revised from time to time and posted with the current version number under the link "Terms of Service" on the access pages to the Service.

3.         If we fail to enforce any portion of these TOS it will not be considered a waiver. Any temporary waiver or exception we might make of these TOS to an individual shall only be valid when made in writing and will not be a permanent waiver.

4.         If any portion of these TOS is found to be unenforceable, the remaining parts will remain in full force and effect.

5.         For changes that relate to World Masters, Affiliates, Business Licensees and Advertisers we will attempt to give you a minimum of seven days notice except where we are required to make changes immediately for legal reasons, where we might not be able to provide any notice.

7.         We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to restrict, suspend or terminate your access to all or any part of the Service at any time for any reason without prior notice or liability. We may change, suspend or discontinue all or any aspect of the Service at any time, including the availability of any feature, database, or content, without prior notice or liability.

8.         We have the right to report illegal activity to law enforcement. We retain the right to require a subpoena or other legal process prior to providing any information to law enforcement. However, should we decide to voluntarily initiate or cooperate with a law enforcement investigation, you specifically give us the right to provide any information to law enforcement at any time without requiring a subpoena or other compulsory legal process. We currently intend to exercise our rights in conjunction with laws intended for the protection of minors. Similarly, if we have any reason to believe that you have engaged in any behavior that is detrimental to any child, we may report such activity to law enforcement and/or any agency or organization that is engaged in the protection of children. Our policy is to report child sexual abuse to the appropriate authorities in the relevant country and we will do so any time we suspect such abuse may have occurred. By using the Service, you expressly agree that we are permitted to do all of this and give up any right you may have to prevent such reporting or to be compensated for such reporting or any consequential damages this might cause you. Law enforcement officers who have identified a lawful authority to obtain the information may require us to provide other information for the purpose of investigating an actual, serious or imminent threat to the stability or integrity of the Internet; a risk to the life of an individual, or a threat to personal or National Security under anti-terrorism legislation. We reserve the right to respond to such requests that comply with legal due process and we are not obliged to inform members of such requests. The provisions of this paragraph shall prevail over any contrary provisions of these TOS, any Privacy Policy, or any other policy.

9.         Our World Justice System and internal complaint processes are available to help resolve disputes when they arise. The Service, these TOS, the relationship between you and us, and all related matters will be governed by, and construed solely in accordance with, the laws of the Province of British Columbia, Canada and the federal laws of Canada applicable in British Columbia, excluding any rules of private international law or the conflict of laws that would lead to the application of any other laws. All disputes arising from, connected with or relating to the Service, these TOS, the relationship between you and us, and all related matters will be resolved before the Courts of British Columbia sitting in the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and you hereby irrevocably submit and attorn to the original and exclusive jurisdiction of those courts in respect of all disputes.

IX. Unsolicited Ideas Policy

1.         We do not accept or consider unsolicited ideas, nor do our employees or affiliates. This includes ideas for new promotions, advertising, products, processes, materials, marketing plans, product names, virtual items, virtual environments, or improvements to any of these elements.

2.         Negotiation of legal obligations shall not be hindered by this policy, and as a result the sole exception to our Unsolicited Ideas policy is with regard to negotiation of Your contractual relationship with Us, including this Agreement. This Agreement is not set in stone and its provisions are negotiable, so requests for contractual changes may be sent to termsofservicechanges@utherverse.com . With regard to such negotiations, the Terms of Unsolicited Idea Submission set out below applies to any communications that contain materials other than those directly related to negotiation of contractual terms. If you wish to obtain a waiver of the Terms of Unsolicited Idea Submission, with regard to contractual negotiations, such waivers should be requested from termsofservicechanges@utherverse.com and are valid only if such waiver is agreed to in a signed, written agreement.

3.         If you submit an unsolicited idea, despite our request that you not do so, the Terms of Unsolicited Idea Submission shall apply.

4.         Terms of Unsolicited Idea Submission: (a) Your submission, including its contents and other aspects ("Submission”) automatically become Our property, and We do not owe you any compensation; (b) We may use or redistribute your Submission for any purpose, in any way, in any medium, throughout the world; (c) We are not obligated to review the Submission; (d) We are not obligated to keep any Submission confidential; (e) To the extent your Submission may involve patentable or patented material, copyrighted materials, or any other intellectual property, You automatically grant us an exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, fully assignable and transferrable, fully sublicensable, royalty-free, fully paid, world-wide right and license to use the Submission and all related intellectual property rights for any and all purposes whatsoever and by means of any and all media and technologies now in existence or developed in the future, all without any remuneration or compensation to you or any other person and without any obligation to give credit or attribution to you or any other person, and you hereby waive in favour of us and our successors, assigns and licensees any and all non-transferable rights (including all moral rights and rights of authorship and attribution) that may have throughout the world in, to or associated with the Submission and all related intellectual property rights.

5.         Any waiver of this policy is not valid unless signed and in writing, and in any case any waiver shall apply only to Submissions made subsequent to the effective date of such waiver.

Definitions

a.         By "VWW" we mean the Virtual World Web features and services we make available, including through (i) our websites, and any other branded or co-branded Virtual World Web service (including sub-domain Worlds licensed to World Masters and any mobile versions); (ii) our Software Platform; and (iii) our affiliates, advertisers and any agents we grant various kinds of permission to offer services.

b.         By "us," "we" and "our" with respect to services we mean the Virtual World Web Network (with operations in British Columbia, Canada).

c.         By "Software Platform" we mean a set of APIs and services that enable applications, such that World Masters, affiliates or advertisers can create virtual world environments, retrieve data or provide data to us.

d.         By "distribute" we mean uploading information, content, or data using the Software Platform or otherwise making such material available to us.

e.         By "use" we mean use, copy, publicly perform or display, distribute, modify, translate, and create derivative works of.

f.         By "application" we mean any application, executable or website that uses or accesses the Software Platform, as well as anything else that receives data.

g.         By "VIP Member" and "Universal VIP Member" we mean any person who has subscribed to the Services through our own or our third party payment processor partners and who remains current with such payments.

You should also review the following documents. You agree, as a material term of these TOS, to comply with the rules and standards set forth in the documents listed below, except that if these TOS and the documents listed below are in conflict, the terms of these TOS shall prevail:

Privacy Policy : The Privacy Policy is designed to help you understand how we collect and use personal information

World Master Agreement: This section sets out the policies for those who create Virtual World applications using our APIs.

Advertising and Promotional Guide: This section outlines the policies that apply to advertisements placed on our Virtual World environments as well as any promotions offered to members.

Affiliate Agreement: This section outlines the policies that apply to web sites that link to the Service and Virtual World environments.

Reporting Content Complaints: This section outlines the process for copyright owners and other content owners to report unauthorized uses of owned content.

Reporting DMCA Complaints:  This section outlines the process for copyright owners from the United States to report copyright infringement.

Volunteer Agreement and Guidelines: This section outlines the terms and policies upon which Volunteers agree to provide their services to us.





Utherverse® 2024
RLC-IIS-1