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GAMEPIPE TERMS & CONDITIONS (Last Updated: 2-7-09)
SECTION ONE - GENERAL INFORMATION
1.1 Terms and Conditions Binding
Registering for an account and/or participating in any game, tournament or contest (“Game”) offered on GamePipe.com (“the Site”) signifies your knowledge of and agreement to be bound by the most current version of these Terms and Conditions. The Site may modify these Terms and Conditions at any time. Your continued use of the Site following such modifications signifies your acceptance of those modifications. You are responsible for reviewing these Terms and Conditions periodically for any such modifications.
1.2 Governing Law and Disputes
These Terms and Conditions will be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Connecticut, irrespective of any principles of conflicts of law.
By registering for an account and/or participating in any Game offered on the Site, you agree that any dispute that cannot be resolved between the parties shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action. You further agree that any legal action arising from any dispute shall be resolved by binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association, with such arbitration to take place in the State of Connecticut. The arbitrators shall have the right to determine the scope of any arbitration. You agree that the Site can seek enforcement of this agreement to arbitrate in the state or federal courts located in the State of Connecticut, and you hereby submit to personal jurisdiction and venue in such courts for the purposes of any such action.
1.3 Entire Agreement
These Terms and Conditions, in connection with the other obligations and rules detailed in writing on the Site, constitute the entire agreement between you and the Site and cannot be modified by you. These Terms and Conditions cannot be modified on an individual basis by any person affiliated, or claiming affiliation, with the Site. Nothing in this subsection will prevent the Site from modifying the terms of these Terms and Conditions and posting such modifications on the Site.
1.4 Severability
If any portion of these Terms and Conditions is deemed void or unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these Terms and Conditions and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions.
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SECTION TWO - CONDITIONS AND OBLIGATIONS
2.1a Eligibility (United States)
To open an account and/or participate in any Game offered on the Site, you must:
a) be a natural person, at least 18 years old, who is assigned to the e-mail address submitted on your account registration form;
b) be a U.S. citizen or resident alien with a U.S. address;
c) be physically located within the U.S.; and
d) be physically located in a U.S. state in which participation in the Games offered on the Site is unrestricted by law.
The rules governing games, contests, and tournaments with prizes are set up by each individual state. The Site does not require the payment of any entry or similar fee as a condition to participating in any Game offered by the Site. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW.
2.1b Eligibility (Non-U.S.)
a) be a natural person, at least 18 years old, who is assigned to the e-mail address submitted on your account registration form. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW.
2.2 Additional Persons Not Eligible
Notwithstanding Section 2.1, the following persons are ineligible to receive any prize offered on the Site: employees, officers, and directors (and their immediate family members) of the Site, its parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliates; and any other person with access to non-public information regarding the operation of any Game offered on the Site. For purposes of this section, immediate family members include parents, siblings, spouses, children, or any other person permanently residing in the same household with such employee, officer, or director.
2.3 Legality and Taxes
You are subject to all laws of the state, province and/or country in which you reside and from which you access the Site and are solely responsible for obeying those laws. You agree the Site cannot be held liable if laws applicable to you restrict or prohibit your participation. The Site makes no representations or warranties, implicit or explicit, as to your legal right to participate in any Game offered on the Site nor shall any person affiliated, or claiming affiliation, with the Site have authority to make any such representations or warranties.
The Site reserves the right to monitor the location from which you access the Site and to block access from any jurisdiction in which participation is illegal or restricted. The Site may require any participant receiving any prize to provide the Site with proof that he or she is eligible to participate according to Sections 2.1 and 2.2 above.
It is the policy of the Site, in compliance with United States Internal Revenue Service regulations, to send a Form 1099 to any person who wins in excess of $600 (USD) on the Site in any given year. However, you remain solely responsible for paying all federal and other taxes in accordance with the laws that apply in your state, province, and/or country of residence.
2.4 Acknowledgment of Proprietary Rights
By registering for an account and/or participating in any Game offered on the Site, you acknowledge that all information contained on the Site may be protected, in all forms and media, by one or more valid copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, or other proprietary rights, and that all such rights are owned by the Site. You may not modify, publish, participate in the transfer or sale of, create derivative works from, or in any way exploit this information, except that you may download one copy for your personal, non-commercial use per machine, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. The Site neither warrants nor represents that your use of materials displayed on the Site will not infringe rights of third parties. While the Site uses reasonable efforts to include accurate and up-to-date information, the Site makes no warranties or representations as to its accuracy. The Site assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the content of the Site.
Any communication or material you transmit to the Site by electronic mail or otherwise, including any data, questions, comments, suggestions, or the like, is and will be treated as, non-confidential and non-proprietary. Anything you transmit or post may be used by the Site or its affiliates for any purpose, including, but not limited to, reproduction, disclosure, transmission, publication, broadcast and posting. Furthermore, the Site is free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques contained in any communication you send to Site for any purpose whatsoever including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing and marketing products using such information, without any additional compensation to you.
The trademarks, logos, and service marks (collectively the “Trademarks”) displayed on the Site, including the names of all games and puzzles, are registered and unregistered Trademarks of the Site and/or others. Nothing contained on the Site should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel or otherwise, any license or right to use any Trademark displayed on the Site without the written permission of the Site or such third party that owns the Trademark displayed on the Site. Your misuse of any Trademark displayed on the Site, or any other content on the Site, except as provided in these Terms and Conditions, is strictly prohibited. You are also advised that the Site will aggressively enforce its intellectual property rights to the fullest extent of the law, including the seeking of criminal prosecution where appropriate.
2.5 Promotional Activities
By registering for an account, you agree that the Site may display your user name and Game records. By accepting any prize from the Site, you agree to allow the Site to print, publish, broadcast and use, worldwide, in any media and at any time, your name, picture, voice, likeness, and/or biographical information for promotional purposes without additional compensation.
2.6 Submissions
If you send comments or suggestions, including, but not limited to, notes, text, drawings, or computer programs, to the Site, such submissions shall become, and shall remain, the sole property of the Site. No submission shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of the Site. The Site shall exclusively own all rights to, and shall be entitled to unrestricted use of, all such submissions without compensation to you.
2.7 Information Required (U.S. players only)
At registration, you are required to submit the following information: an alias that will be your user name, a password and your e-mail address. The Site reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to change and/or suspend/terminate offensive aliases. In the event you receive winnings or prizes in any given year of or valued at $600, the Site will request that you submit your social security number in order to send you a Form 1099, as required by Internal Revenue Service regulations. Failure to provide your social security number at that time may result in the loss of any prize or award.
2.8 Accuracy of Information
You represent and warrant that all information you supply to the Site is complete and accurate. Knowingly submitting incomplete or inaccurate information will result in immediate termination of your account and forfeiture of any prizes to which you are otherwise entitled.
2.9 Privacy Policy
By using the Site, you agree to and acknowledge that the Site may choose to collect general demographic and other market information that does not personally identify you and distribute such information to any person without your consent, including but not limited to statistics concerning the use of the Site and your software and configuration. In addition, the Site may disclose certain personally identifying information, including information provided in your registration, to certain third parties for the purposes of target advertising, provided that if this information is to include your name you will be given an advance opportunity to request that your name be omitted, and provided further that you will always have the opportunity to request that any such third party omit your name and information from its records. The Site reserves the right to disclose any information obtained by it to third parties where the Site, in good faith, believes that such disclosure is necessary to comply with the law or to enforce these Terms and Conditions or other rules of the Site.
2.10 Chat & Message Board Policy
Rules of Conduct:
- The Site reserves the right to ban users who violate these standards, or who in any way abuse the community purpose of the chat areas.
- The Site reserves the right to remove any posts for any reason.
- You must be at least 18 years old to participate in any part on the Site.
- Profanity, obscenities, or the use of **asterisks** or other "masking" characters to disguise such words, is not permitted.
- Obscene, lewd, slanderous, pornographic, abusive, violent, insulting, indecent, threatening and harassing language of any kind will not be tolerated.
- Site player names will be displayed as ‘Your Name’; impersonating other players is not allowed.
- Opinions or comments on the subject at hand are welcomed, but attacking (flaming) individuals, companies or products is not allowed.
- Advertising or promotion of other companies or URLs is not allowed.
- Please limit posting to the subject of the Site’s games, message board or site.
- Do not share personal information (your name, phone number, home address, password) with others on the site.
- No advertising of any kind is allowed in messages.
- No copyrighted materials are allowed in messages.
- Information disclosed in the Site chat rooms or message boards becomes property of the Site and is revealed to the public. The Site is not responsible for any information you choose to disclose to others.
- Advanced fonts, java, tables, html, or other programming codes or commands are not allowed in messages.
2.11 Anti-Spam Policy
The Site is vigorously against the practice commonly referred to as “Spam”. Users who are reported and whose claims of “Spam” are validated by the Site, will have their respective accounts either immediately TERMINATED or SUSPENDED, at the sole discretion of the Site. The Site defines “Spam” as:
- Electronic mail messages addressed to a recipient with whom the initiator does not have an existing business or personal relationship or is not sent at the request of, or with the express consent of, the recipient;
- Messages posted to message boards that are off-topic (unrelated to the topic of discussion), cross-posted to unrelated message boards, or posted in excessive volume;
- Solicitations posted to chat rooms, or to groups or individuals via Internet Relay Chat or “Instant Messaging” system (such as ICQ);
The Site may undertake, at its sole discretion and with or without prior notice, the following enforcement actions described in detail below:
- Account Suspension: Upon the receipt of a credible and validated complaint, the Site may elect to immediately suspend the membership of the user implicated in the abuse. Suspension serves as a “Final” warning and will prevent the abuser from continuing their abusive “Spamming” behavior. The Site will evaluate each validated abuse incident on a case-by-case basis and impose Termination or Suspension at its sole discretion. The Site reserves the right to lift the suspension of a user at any time, at its sole discretion.
- Account Termination: Upon the receipt of a credible and validated complaint, the Site may immediately terminate the membership of the individual user implicated in the abuse. Termination results in the immediate closure of the referral account, the loss of all referrals, the forfeiture of any uncollected prizes or awards, a prohibition against any future membership, and the user will lose the right to compete in any future Games.
ABUSE REPORTING: If you wish to report a violation of our Anti-Spam Policy, please forward all evidence of abuse to info@gamepipe.com.
2.12 Limitations on Participation
You may establish only one player account per person, and up to two player accounts per computer or address, to participate in the activities offered on the Site. The Site reserves the right to monitor any effort to establish multiple accounts; in the event the Site discovers that you have opened more than one player account per person, all additional accounts will be closed without notice and continued violation will result in the termination of any and all of your accounts. The Site also reserves the right to deny access to anyone, including, but not limited to those players who use proxy servers and/or IP addresses residing in certain geographical areas outside of the U.S.
The Site reserves the right to set expiration dates or other limits on all GamePipe Points or other promotional credits. The Site reserves the right to expire the GamePipe Points balance of any dormant account. A dormant account shall be defined as any account that has been inactive for greater than 180 days.
2.13 Abuse
Anyone who displays behavior consistent with the use of unfair methods on the Site, including but not limited to the opening and/or use of multiple accounts, the use of unauthorized or altered software or hardware to assist play, intentionally poor play in certain games in order to achieve a broader competitive advantage (i.e. "sandbagging"), harassment of other participants, posting of objectionable material, any breach of the terms of the agreement between you and the Site, or any breach of the security of your account or the Site (collectively, "Abuse"), shall be subject to immediate sanction (as determined by the Site in its sole discretion), up to and including account termination and blocking of Site access. Additionally, all uncollected prizes or awards may be voided at the sole discretion of the Site.
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SECTION THREE - DISCLOSURES
3.1 Odds and Prizes
The results of all Games offered on the Site depend on the number and skill level of the players participating in such Games; precise odds of winning are therefore unavailable.
The Site does not require the payment of any entry or similar fee as a condition to participating in any Game offered by the Site.
Prizes are determined and offered by the Site in its sole discretion, and the Site reserves the right to determine the amount and manner in which any such prizes shall be awarded or distributed.
3.2 Winners Lists
The Site may post lists of winners of Games, and may also in its sole discretion delay the posting of such winners to allow the Site to verify the results in order to help prevent potential abuse.
3.3 Determination of Winners
The results and winners of each Game offered on the Site will be determined by the Site. By registering and/or participating in any Game, you agree to be bound by these determinations.
3.4 Game Rules
Rules for each specific Game offered on the Site can be found at the Site.
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SECTION FOUR - LIMITATION ON LIABILITY
4.1 General Disclaimer
BY REGISTERING FOR AN ACCOUNT AND/OR PARTICIPATING IN ANY GAME OFFERED ON THE SITE, YOU AGREE THAT THE SITE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE, LOSS, OR INJURY RESULTING FROM USE, ACCESS, OR ATTEMPTED USE OR ACCESS OF THE SITE. YOU FURTHER AGREE THAT THE SITE IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE, LOSS, OR INJURY CAUSED BY DOWNLOADING ANY INFORMATION FROM THE SITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, YOU AGREE THAT THE SITE IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER, ANY DAMAGE, LOSS, OR CORRUPTION OF DATA, OR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM USE OF THE SITE.
The Site also assumes no responsibility, and shall not be liable for, any damages to, or viruses that may infect, your computer equipment or other property on account of your access to, use of, or browsing in the Site or your downloading of any materials, data, text, images, video or audio from the Site.
The Site does not warrant or guarantee that the functions or services performed by the Site will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that defects in the Site will be corrected. You acknowledge and agree that you are aware of the security and privacy limitations associated with the use of the Site, including but not limited to (1) the limitation of security, privacy and authentication measures used by the Site, and (2) the possibility that data and information on the Site or transmitted to the Site may be subject to eavesdropping, harvesting, harassment or other security or privacy hazards, or may reach an erroneous address or recipient.
In case of a malfunction or disruption of service the Site reserves the right to adjust any points, prizes or award in its sole discretion, including the cancellation of any Game and any points, prizes or awards associated with such Game.
4.2 No Warranty
ALL GOODS AND SERVICES PROVIDED ON THE SITE ARE PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. NO PERSON AFFILIATED, OR CLAIMING AFFILIATION, WITH THE SITE HAS AUTHORITY TO EXTEND SUCH WARRANTIES.
4.4 Hacking, Tampering, or Unauthorized Access
By registering for an account and/or participating in any Game offered on the Site, you agree that the Site is not responsible for any damage, loss, or injury resulting from hacking, tampering, or other unauthorized access or use of the Site or your account.
Any attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site’s systems or any account, interfere with procedures or performance of the Site, or deliberately damage or undermine the Site is subject to civil and/or criminal prosecution and will result in immediate termination of your account and forfeiture of any prizes to which you are otherwise entitled.
Any attempt to participate in any Game offered on the Site by means of automatic, macro, programmed, or similar methods, or to otherwise commit fraud with regard to the Site, will result in civil and/or criminal prosecution, termination of your account, and forfeiture of all prizes to which your are otherwise entitled.
4.5 Accounts for Individual Use Only
You, as the holder of your account, are solely responsible for all obligations and (assuming compliance with all other Terms and Conditions of the Site) entitled to all benefits accruing thereto. You may not allow any other person to access your account, access the Site, accept any winnings, or participate in any Game using your account information. Your account is not transferable to any other person. By registering and/or participating in any Game offered on the Site, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold the Site harmless from or for any claims, liability, damages, and/or costs (including attorneys' fees) arising from any use of your account by any person.
4.6 Account Termination
The Site reserves the right to terminate your account, limit or prohibit your participation in any Game, or to modify or reduce any GamePipe Points awarded to any account for any reason, including but not limited to any Abuse by you.
By registering for an account and/or participating in any Game offered on the Site, you consent to allow the Site to access your account information to investigate complaints or other allegations of abuse.
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SECTION FIVE - MERCHANDISE PRIZES
5.1 General Disclaimer
The Site may from time to time offer merchandise prizes in its sole discretion. Terms and Conditions for Games with merchandise prizes are the same as the terms and conditions for cash prizes, with the following exceptions:
5.2 Substitution
Players may request from the Site an offer of cash payment in lieu of any prize won, although the Site is under no obligation to grant such request. If the Site elects, in its sole discretion, to offer a cash payment in lieu of any prize won, the Site reserves the right to determine the exact amount of the cash offer, even if such cash offer may be less than the value of the prize. The player may then elect to accept the Site's cash offer, accept the original prize, or decline both and take nothing.
The Site has the right to substitute a similar prize or a cash equivalent (to be determined by the Site in its sole discretion) for any merchandise prize. Players cannot return or exchange prizes that have already been delivered or awarded.
5.3 Limits of Play
The Site reserves the right to limit the participation by players in certain Games to ensure that other players have the opportunity to win, and to implement such policies or rules as the Site deems necessary to achieve this goal.
5.4 Taxes
Users are responsible for applicable income taxes for merchandise prizes. Either the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price, or Site acquisition price, at our discretion, will be used as the cash value of the merchandise prize.
5.5 Delivery Time
Unless otherwise specified, merchandise will ship within 14 days of the date the prize is claimed by the winning player. All goods are shipped F.O.B. Origin, and accordingly the Site takes no responsibility for any damage incurred during shipping. Costs of shipping shall be borne by the user, and the user will be required to make arrangements for the shipping as a condition to receiving any prize. The Site may, in its sole discretion, choose to bear the cost of shipping within the continental U.S., although the Site is under no obligation to do so.
5.6 Warranties
In the case of merchandise covered by a manufacturer’s warranty, the manufacturer and not the Site is responsible for initial defects, subsequent use or misuse or covered repairs. In the case of merchandise not covered by a manufacturer‘s warranty, the merchandise is offered “as is”, and the Site is not responsible for any defects, use or misuse or repairs. The Site makes no representations or warranties with respect to the authenticity or genuineness of any merchandise prizes, particularly collectible prizes.
5.9 Other Conditions
For prizes requiring any local, state or federal approvals or eligibility, players must provide evidence of such approval or eligibility within one week of the initial request for such information by the Site, or the prize may be voided.
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