Usage Policy, Terms and Conditions

Version 1.0, May 2018


Background

These Terms and Conditions, together with any and all other documents referred to herein, set out the terms of use under which you may use our websites, www.ecoscentric.com, bugzilla.ecoscentric.com and bugs.ecos.sourceware.org (“Our Sites”). Please read these Terms and Conditions carefully and ensure that you understand them. Your agreement to comply with and be bound by these Terms and Conditions is deemed to occur upon your first use of Our Sites AND You will be required to read and accept these Terms and Conditions when signing up for an Account. If you do not agree to comply with and be bound by these Terms and Conditions, you must stop using Our Sites immediately.

1. Definitions and Interpretation

In these Terms and Conditions, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the following meanings:

“Account”
means an account required for a User to access certain areas of Our Sites, as detailed in Clause 4;
“Commercial Support”
means any Submission made by Our staff in response to an issue raised in the Issue Management System under an active support contract between You and Us;
“Content”
means any and all text, images, audio, video, scripts, code, software, databases and any other form of information capable of being stored on a computer that appears on, or forms part of, Our Sites;
“Forum”
means a discussion forum hosted on Our Sites;
“Issue”
means an issue or bug report made on one of Our Sites;
“Non-Commercial”
means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation. “Commercial” has the opposite meaning.
“Patent License”
means any express agreement or commitment, however denominated, not to enforce a patent (such as an express permission to practice a patent or covenant not to sue for patent infringement). Similarly, to “grant” a Patent License to Us means to make an agreement or commitment not to enforce a patent against Us;
“Submission”
means the contribution of Content to Our Sites (and includes any and all content in posts to a Forum and submissions of or against an Issue, including, but not limited to, comments, questions, answers, ideas, suggestions, issues, articles, blogs, bug fixes, media and contributions constituting code or documentation);
“System”
means any online communications infrastructure that We make available through Our Sites either now or in the future. This may include, but is not limited to, contact forms, email, live chat, Issue Submissions, and Forums;
“User/You”
means a user of Our Sites. Your has a corresponding meaning; and
“We/Us/Our”

means eCosCentric Limited, a company registered in England and Wales under registration number 04422071, whose registered and legal trading address is:

eCosCentric Limited
The Maltings, High Street
Cambridge
CB25 0HB
Cambridgeshire
United Kingdom

2. Information About Us

  1. Our Sites, www.ecoscentric.com, bugzilla.ecoscentric.com and bugs.ecos.sourceware.org, are owned and operated by eCosCentric Limited, a company registered in England and Wales under registration number 04422071, whose registered and legal trading address is:

    eCosCentric Limited
    The Maltings, High Street
    Cambridge
    CB25 0HB
    Cambridgeshire
    United Kingdom

    Website: https://www.ecoscentric.com/

    VAT number: GB811627842.

  2. We are a member of the Federation Of Small Businesses.

3. Access to Our Sites

  1. Access to Our Sites is either:

    1. free of charge. 
      Free access to Our Sites is provided “as is” and on an “as available” basis. We may alter, suspend or discontinue Our Sites (or any part of them) at any time and without notice. We will not be liable to You in any way if Our Sites (or any part of them) are unavailable at any time and for any period; or

    2. charged for (Commercial Support). 
      Commercial access to Our Sites (e.g. bugzilla.ecoscentric.com) is provided under the terms and conditions of a support contract which shall take precedence over these Terms and Conditions if explicitly stated or where there is a conflict.

  2. It is Your responsibility to make any and all arrangements necessary in order to access Our Sites.

4. Accounts

  1. Certain parts of Our Sites (including the ability to submit posts to a Forum, submit or comment on an Issue) may require an Account in order to access them.
  2. You may not create an Account if you are under 13 years of age. If you are under 13 years of age and wish to use the parts of Our Sites that require an Account, your parent or guardian should create the Account for you and you must only use the Account with their supervision.
  3. When creating an Account, the information you provide must be accurate and complete. If any of your information changes at a later date, it is your responsibility to ensure that your Account is kept up-to-date. Your choice of nickname must comply to Clause 7.
  4. We require that you choose a strong password for your Account, consisting of at least one UPPER and one lower case letter and a number, and must be at least 8 characters in length. It is your responsibility to keep your password safe. You must not share your Account with anyone else. If you believe your Account is being used without your permission, please contact Us immediately at security@ecoscentric.com. We will not be liable for any unauthorised use of your Account.
  5. You must not use anyone else's Account.
  6. Any personal information provided in your Account will be collected, used, and held in accordance with your rights and Our obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018, as set out in Clause 14.
  7. If you wish to close your Account, you may do so at any time by emailing privacy@ecoscentric.com. Closing your Account will also remove access to any areas of Our Sites requiring an Account for access.
  8. If you close your Account, any Submissions you have made on Our Sites will remain on Our Sites but will be anonymised. Any Content that references You directly or indirectly will remain unaltered.

5. Intellectual Property Rights

  1. With the exception of Submissions (see Clause 6), all Content on Our Sites and the copyright and other intellectual property rights subsisting in that Content, unless specifically labelled otherwise, belongs to or has been licensed by Us. All Content (including posts and contributions) is protected by applicable United Kingdom and international intellectual property laws and treaties.
  2. Subject to the licence granted to Us under sub-Clause 6.d, Users retain the ownership of copyright and other intellectual property rights subsisting in Submissions by them (unless any part of their Submission is owned by a third party who has given their express permission for their material to be used in the Submission).
  3. For Non-Commercial use only, you may:

    1. Access, view and use Our Sites in a web browser (including any web browsing capability built into other types of software or app);
    2. Download Our Sites (or any part of it) for caching;
    3. Print pages from Our Sites;
    4. Download, copy, clip, print, or otherwise save extracts from pages on Our Sites;
    5. Within your Submissions on Our Sites, quote or share all or part of Users' Submissions;
    6. Save pages from Our Sites for later and/or offline viewing.

  4. You may not use any Content (including posts to Forums, comments and contributions made to the Issue Management System) downloaded, copied, clipped, printed or otherwise saved from Our Sites for Commercial purposes without first obtaining a licence to do so from Us, our licensors, or from the relevant User, as appropriate. This does not prohibit the normal access, viewing and use of Our Sites (including the Forums and Issue Management System) for general information purposes whether by business users or consumers.
  5. You may not systematically copy Content from Our Sites with a view to creating or compiling any form of comprehensive collection, compilation, directory, or database unless given Our express permission to do so.
  6. Subject to sub-Clauses 5.c and 5.h and Clause 6 (governing Submissions) you may not otherwise reproduce, copy, distribute, sell, rent, sub-licence, store, or in any other manner re-use Content or any other material from Our Sites unless clearly given express permission to do so. For further information, please use our Contact Page on our website for information how to contact us.
  7. Our status as the owner and author of the Content on Our Sites (or that of identified licensors or Users, as appropriate) must always be acknowledged.
  8. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions limits or excludes the fair dealing provisions of Chapter III of the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ‘Acts Permitted in Relation to Copyright Works’, covering in particular the making of temporary copies; research and private study; the making of copies for text and data analysis for Non-Commercial research; criticism, review, quotation and news reporting; caricature, parody or pastiche; and the incidental inclusion of copyright material.

6. Submissions

  1. An Account is required if you wish to make Submissions to Our Sites. Please refer to Clause 4 for more information.
  2. You agree that you will be solely responsible for your Submissions. Specifically, you agree, represent and warrant that you have the right to use the content of a Submission and that your Submission will comply with Our Acceptable Usage Policy, detailed below in Clause 7.
  3. You agree that you will be liable to Us and will, to the fullest extent permissible by law, indemnify Us for any breach of the warranties given by you under sub-Clause 6.b. You will be responsible for any loss or damage suffered by Us as a result of such breach.
  4. You (or your licensors, as appropriate) retain ownership of the content of your Submissions and all intellectual property rights subsisting therein. By providing a Submission, you grant Us an unconditional, non-exclusive, fully transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide licence and Patent License to use, store, archive, syndicate, publish, transmit, adapt, edit, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works from, display, perform and sub-licence the content of your Submission for the purposes of operating and promoting Our Sites, Forums and Issue Management System. Other Users may also quote or share your Submissions within Our Sites and otherwise in accordance with the provisions of Clause 5.
  5. If you wish to remove a Submission, you may do so by emailing privacy@ecoscentric.com with a link to the submission and provide a reasonable explanation why you wish the Submission to be removed. Your Submission will be deleted OR anonymised, however due to the functionality of Our Sites, any quotes, references or shares of your Submissions will remain. Please note that caching or references to your Submission(s) may not be made immediately unavailable (or may not be made unavailable at all where they are outside of Our reasonable control).
  6. We may reject, reclassify, or remove any Submissions submitted to Our Sites where, in Our sole opinion, the content of those Submissions violates Our Acceptable Usage Policy (see Clause 7), or if We receive a complaint from a third party and determine that the Submissions(s) in question should be removed as a result.

7. Acceptable Usage Policy

  1. You may only use Our Sites in a manner that is lawful and that complies with the provisions of this Clause 7. Specifically:

    1. you must ensure that you comply fully with any and all applicable local, national and international laws and/or regulations;
    2. you must not use Our Sites in any way, or for any purpose, that is unlawful or fraudulent;
    3. you must not use Our Sites to knowingly send, upload, or in any other way transmit data that contains any form of virus or other malware, or any other code designed to adversely affect computer hardware, software, or data of any kind; and
    4. you must not use Our Sites in any way, or for any purpose, that is intended to harm any person or persons in any way.

  2. When making Submissions (or communicating in any other way using Our Sites), you must not submit, communicate or otherwise do anything that:

    1. is sexually explicit;
    2. is obscene, deliberately offensive, hateful or otherwise inflammatory;
    3. promotes violence;
    4. promotes or assists in any form of unlawful activity;
    5. discriminates against, or is in any way defamatory of, any person, group or class of persons, race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age;
    6. is intended or otherwise likely to threaten, harass, annoy, alarm, inconvenience, upset, or embarrass another person;
    7. is calculated or is otherwise likely to deceive;
    8. is intended or otherwise likely to infringe (or threaten to infringe) another person’s right to privacy;
    9. misleadingly impersonates any person or otherwise misrepresents your identity or affiliation in a way that is calculated to deceive (obvious parodies are not included within this definition provided that they do not fall within any of the other provisions of this sub-Clause 7.b);
    10. implies any form of affiliation with Us where none exists;
    11. infringes, or assists in the infringement of, the intellectual property rights (including, but not limited to, copyright, patents, trademarks and database rights) of any other party; or
    12. is in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party including, but not limited to, contractual duties and duties of confidence.

  3. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your Account and/or your access to Our Sites if you materially breach the provisions of this Clause 7 or any of the other provisions of these Terms and Conditions. Specifically, We may take one or more of the following actions:

    1. suspend, whether temporarily or permanently, your Account and/or your right to access Our Sites;
    2. remove any Submission(s) submitted by you that violate(s) this Acceptable Usage Policy;
    3. issue you with a written warning;
    4. take legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of any and all relevant costs on an indemnity basis resulting from your breach;
    5. take further legal action against you as appropriate;
    6. disclose such information to law enforcement authorities as required or as We deem reasonably necessary; and/or
    7. any other actions that We deem reasonably appropriate (and lawful).

  4. We hereby exclude any and all liability arising out of any actions (including, but not limited to those set out above) that We may take in response to breaches of these Terms and Conditions.

10. Disclaimers and Legal Rights

With the exception of Commercial Support provided to Our customers by Our support staff through the Issue Management System (bugzilla.ecoscentric.com):

  1. Nothing on Our Sites constitutes advice on which you should rely. It is provided for general information purposes only. Professional or specialist advice should always be sought before taking any action relating to Submissions on our Sites.
  2. Insofar as is permitted by law, We make no representation, warranty, or guarantee that Our Sites will meet your requirements, that it will not infringe the rights of third parties, that it will be compatible with all software and hardware, or that it will be secure.
  3. If, as a result of Our failure to exercise reasonable care and skill, any digital content from Our Sites damages your device or other digital content belonging to you, as a consumer you may be entitled to certain legal remedies. For more details concerning your rights and remedies as a consumer, please contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau or Trading Standards Office.
  4. We make reasonable efforts to ensure that Our Content on Our Sites is complete, accurate, and up-to-date. We do not, however, make any representations, warranties or guarantees (whether express or implied) that the Content is complete, accurate, or up-to-date.
  5. We are not responsible for the content or accuracy, or for any opinions, views, or values expressed in any Submissions submitted by Users. Any such opinions, views, or values are those of the relevant User, and do not reflect Our opinions, views, or values in any way.

All Commercial Support is provided under the Terms and Conditions of a Software Support and Maintenance Agreement.

11. Our Liability

With the exception of Commercial Support provided to Our customers by Our support staff through the Issue Management System (bugzilla.ecoscentric.com):

  1. To the fullest extent permissible by law, We accept no liability to any User for any loss or damage, whether foreseeable or otherwise, in contract, tort (including negligence), for breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, arising out of or in connection with the use of (or inability to use) Our Sites or the use of or reliance upon any Content (whether that Content is provided by Us or whether it is in the form of Submissions made by Users) included on Our Sites.
  2. To the fullest extent permissible by law, We exclude all representations, warranties, and guarantees (whether express or implied) that may apply to Our Sites or any Content (including Submissions) included on Our Sites.
  3. Our Forums are intended for Non-Commercial use only. Unless an active Commercial Support contract exists between You and Us, our Issue Management System is intended for Non-Commercial use only. If you are a business user, We accept no liability for loss of profits, sales, business or revenue; loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation; loss of anticipated savings; business interruption; or for any indirect or consequential loss or damage.
  4. If an active Commercial Support contract exists between You and Us, the liability is provided for in the Software Support and Maintenance Agreement.
  5. We exercise all reasonable skill and care to ensure that Our Sites are free from viruses and other malware, however subject to sub-Clause 10.c, We accept no liability for any loss or damage resulting from a virus or other malware, a distributed denial of service attack, or other harmful material or event that may adversely affect your hardware, software, data or other material that occurs as a result of your use of Our Sites (including the downloading of any Content (including any provided in Posts) from it) or any other site referred to on Our Sites.
  6. We neither assume nor accept responsibility or liability arising out of any disruption or non-availability of Our Sites resulting from external causes including, but not limited to, ISP equipment failure, host equipment failure, communications network failure, natural events, acts of war, or legal restrictions and censorship.
  7. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions excludes or restricts Our liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for death or personal injury resulting from negligence, or for any other forms of liability which cannot be excluded or restricted by law. For full details of consumers' legal rights, including those relating to digital content, please contact your local Citizens' Advice Bureau or Trading Standards Office.

12. Viruses, Malware and Security

  1. We exercise all reasonable skill and care to ensure that Our Sites is secure and free from viruses and other malware.
  2. You are responsible for protecting your hardware, software, data and other material from viruses, malware, and other internet security risks.
  3. You must not deliberately introduce viruses or other malware, or any other material which is malicious or technologically harmful either to or via Our Sites.
  4. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of Our Sites, the server on which Our Sites is stored, or any other server, computer, or database connected to Our Sites.
  5. You must not attack Our Sites by means of a denial of service attack, a distributed denial of service attack, or by any other means.
  6. By breaching the provisions of sub-Clauses 12.c to 12.e you may be committing a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. Any and all such breaches will be reported to the relevant law enforcement authorities and We will cooperate fully with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. Your right to use Our Sites will cease immediately in the event of such a breach.

13. Privacy and Cookies

Use of Our Sites is also governed by Our Cookie and Privacy Policies, available on our website. These policies are incorporated into these Terms and Conditions by this reference.

14. Data Protection

  1. All personal information that We may collect (including, but not limited to, your name and contact details) will be collected, used and held in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 and your rights under that Act.
  2. We may use your personal information to:

    1. Provide and administer your Account;
    2. Reply to any communications you send to Us;
    3. Send you important notices, as detailed in Clause 15

  3. We will not pass on your personal information to any third parties.

15. Communications from Us

  1. If you have an Account, We may from time to time send you important notices by email. Such notices may relate to matters including, but not limited to, service changes, changes to these Terms and Conditions, and changes to your Account.
  2. We will never send you marketing emails of any kind without your express consent. If you do give such consent, you may opt out at any time. Any and all marketing emails sent by Us include an unsubscribe link. If you opt out of receiving emails from Us at any time, it may take up to 5 business days for your new preferences to take effect.
  3. For questions or complaints about communications from Us (including, but not limited to marketing emails), please contact Us at complaints@ecoscentric.com.

16. Changes to these Terms and Conditions

  1. We may alter these Terms and Conditions at any time. If We do so, the bottom of this page will highlight changes and contain a link to the previous version. Any such changes will become binding on you upon your first use of Our Sites after the changes have been implemented. You are therefore advised to check this page from time to time.
  2. In the event of any conflict between the current version of these Terms and Conditions and any previous version(s), the provisions current and in effect shall prevail unless it is expressly stated otherwise.

17. Contacting Us

To contact Us, go to our Contact Page on our website.

18. Law and Jurisdiction

  1. These Terms and Conditions, and the relationship between you and Us (whether contractual or otherwise) shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales.
  2. If you are a consumer, you will benefit from any mandatory provisions of the law in your country of residence. Nothing in sub-Clause 18.a above takes away or reduces your rights as a consumer to rely on those provisions.
  3. If you are a consumer, any dispute, controversy, proceedings or claim between you and Us relating to these Terms and Conditions, or the relationship between you and Us (whether contractual or otherwise) shall be subject to the the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
  4. If you are a business, any disputes concerning these Terms and Conditions, the relationship between you and Us, or any matters arising therefrom or associated therewith (whether contractual or otherwise) shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.