TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
The Tech Buzz Game

Welcome to the Tech Buzz Game, operated by Yahoo! Inc. and O'Reilly Media, Inc. (individually and collectively, "Providers"). The Tech Buzz Game website located at: http://buzz.research.yahoo.com/ (the "Website"), including related software, trading services, communications services, message board, or other interactive services that may be available to you on or through the Website (collectively, the "Services") is offered by the Providers and/or their affiliates and subsidiaries for your and others' personal, non-commercial enjoyment, subject to these terms and conditions of use, including any and all modifications hereto ("Terms and Conditions"), the Official Rules: The Tech Buzz Game Summer 2005 Contest ("Official Rules"), located at http://buzz.research.yahoo.com/raw/static/rules.html, and any other rules or guidelines that may be published by the Providers on a periodic basis, and any of which may be updated from time to time (collectively, the "Agreement"). By using the Services you are deemed to have agreed to the Agreement - please read the Official Rules carefully. The current version of these Terms and conditions will be available at: http://buzz.research.yahoo.com/raw/static/tos.html.

The Services are provided free of charge and provide users with the ability to participate in a virtual game which allows users to buy and sell fictitious interests in entertainment and technology-related properties. The interests are entirely fictitious and are in no way related to any actual properties nor are they considered to be stocks, bonds, or any other form of equity or debt security. You understand and agree that these fictitious interests are based on virtual Service "Dollars," which are likewise entirely fictitious and do not entitle users to corresponding U.S. dollar amounts or any currency.

By clicking "I AGREE/REGISTER" you indicate your agreement and assent to the Agreement. If you do not agree to the Agreement exit the registration process. If any future changes to the Agreement are unacceptable to you do not use the Services. If for any reason you wish to cancel your account or have any questions regarding these Terms and Conditions or the Agreement please make a request at http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/research/cgi_buzz_contact.

1. YOUR REGISTRATION OBLIGATIONS

In order to use the Services you will be required to choose a username and password. You agree to provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the Service registration form (such information being "Registration Data"), and promptly update the Registration Data to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. If Providers in their sole and absolute discretion determine Registration Data is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, Providers have the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Services (or any portion thereof).

Your account is unique to you and may not be transferred to any other party. You shall be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password as well as all usage or activity on the Services, through your password, including use of your password by any third party. You shall notify Providers of any known or suspected unauthorized use of your username or password, or any known or suspected breach of security by sending an email to the address provided above.

The Website is not intended to be a children's website and some of the available information may concern certain topics that may not be appropriate for children. Only persons ages 13 or over who comply with these Terms and Conditions are eligible to use the Website. Providers may, in their discretion, require users under 18 to obtain the consent of a parent or guardian to access or view certain content. You agree to abide by any such restrictions, and not to help anyone avoid these restrictions.

2. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

As between Providers and you, Providers are the sole owner of the Services, including without limitation, all applicable U.S. and non-U.S. copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, and other intellectual property rights thereto. You may not download or save a copy of the Website, the Services, or any portion thereof. You may, however, print a copy of individual screens appearing as part of the Website solely for your personal, non-commercial use or records, provided that any marks, logos or other legends that appear on the copied screens remain on, and are not removed from the printed or stored images of such screens.

3. USER OBLIGATIONS AND CONDUCT

You understand that all information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages or other materials ("Content"), whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, are the sole responsibility of the person from which such Content originated. This means that you, and not the Providers, are entirely responsible for any and all Content that you upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available via the Services. Providers do not control user Content posted via the Services, and do not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. You understand that by using the Services, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Under no circumstances will Providers be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, for any errors or omissions in any Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed, transmitted or otherwise made available via the Services. You agree to not use the Services to:

  1. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
  2. harm minors in any way;
  3. impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, Services officials, forum leaders, guides or hosts, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
  4. forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through the Services;
  5. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);
  6. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;
  7. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation, except in those areas (such as shopping rooms) that are designated for such purpose;
  8. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
  9. disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, cause a screen to "scroll" faster than other users of the Services are able to type, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users' ability to engage in real time exchanges;
  10. interfere with or disrupt the Services or servers or networks connected to the Services, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Services;
  11. intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including, but not limited to, regulations promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, any rules of any national or other securities exchange, including, without limitation, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ, and any regulations having the force of law;
  12. provide material support or resources (or to conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, or ownership of material support or resources) to any organization(s) designated by the United States government as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act;
  13. "stalk" or otherwise harass another; and/or
  14. collect or store personal data about other users in connection with the prohibited conduct and activities set forth in paragraphs a through m above.

You acknowledge that Providers have no obligation to pre-screen Content, but that Providers and their designees shall have the right in their sole discretion to pre-screen, refuse, or move any Content that is available via the Services. Without limiting the foregoing, Providers and their designees shall have the right to remove any Content that violates the Agreement or is otherwise objectionable to the Providers. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. In this regard, you acknowledge that you may not rely on any Content created by Providers or submitted to Providers, including without limitation information in the message board, and in all other parts of the Services.

You understand and agree that Providers may access, preserve, and disclose your account information (including Registration Data and Content) if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to:

  1. comply with legal process;
  2. enforce the Agreement;
  3. respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third-parties;
  4. respond to your requests for customer service; or
  5. protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Providers, other users and the public.

You understand that the Services, including without limitation software embodied within the Services, may include security components that permit digital materials to be protected and use of these materials is subject to usage rules set by Providers and/or content affiliates or providers who provide content to the Services. You may not attempt to override or circumvent any of the usage rules or other protections embedded into the Services. Any unauthorized attempt to reproduce, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, reverse assemble or otherwise attempt to discover any source code, publish, display, distribution and/or commercial exploit the Services, including without limitation software or materials provided in connection with or on the Services, is strictly prohibited.

4. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES.

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. PROVIDERS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

PROVIDERS MAKE NO WARRANTY:

  1. THAT THE SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS;
  2. AS TO THE QUALITY OF THE SERVICES;
  3. THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, ERROR-FREE; OR
  4. THAT ANY ERRORS IN THE SERVICES WILL BE CORRECTED.

ANY MATERIAL OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICES IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK, AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE USE OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL OR THE SERVICES.

NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM PROVIDERS OR THROUGH THE SERVICES SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THE AGREEMENT.

A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF USERS MAY EXPERIENCE EPILEPTIC SEIZURES WHEN EXPOSED TO CERTAIN LIGHT PATTERNS OR BACKGROUNDS ON A COMPUTER SCREEN OR WHILE USING THE SERVICES. CERTAIN CONDITIONS MAY INDUCE PREVIOUSLY UNDETECTED EPILEPTIC SYMPTOMS EVEN IN USERS WHO HAVE NO HISTORY OF PRIOR SEIZURES OR EPILEPSY. IF YOU, OR ANYONE IN YOUR FAMILY, HAVE AN EPILEPTIC CONDITION, CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN PRIOR TO USING THE SERVICES. IMMEDIATELY DISCONTINUE USE OF THE SERVICES AND CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN IF YOU EXPERIENCE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SYMPTOMS WHILE USING THE SERVICES -- DIZZINESS, ALTERED VISION, EYE OR MUSCLE TWITCHES, LOSS OF AWARENESS, DISORIENTATION, ANY INVOLUNTARY MOVEMENT, OR CONVULSIONS.

5. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT PROVIDERS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF PROVIDERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM:

  1. THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES;
  2. THE COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS AND SERVICES;
  3. UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO, OR ALTERATION OF, YOUR TRANSMISSIONS, CONTENT OR DATA;
  4. STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICES; OR,
  5. ANY OTHER MATTER OR CONTENT RELATING TO THE SERVICES.
  6. EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. ACCORDINGLY, SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OF SECTIONS 4 AND 5 MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

7. INDEMNITY

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Providers, and their subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, or other partners, and employees, from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your use of, or participation in, the Services, your violation of this Agreement or of any rights of another person or entity.

8. CONTENT SUBMITTED OR MADE AVAILABLE FOR INCLUSION ON THE SERVICE

Providers do not claim ownership of Content you submit or make available for inclusion on the Services. However, with respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on the Services, you grant Providers the perpetual, irrevocable, sub-licensable, world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive license(s), as applicable, to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content. You understand that the technical processing and transmission of the Services, including your Content, may involve transmissions over various networks and changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices.

9. ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY

The Services are intended for entertainment purposes only and may not be used in connection with any form of gambling or wagering.

10. COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

By participating in the Services you agree to Providers' use of any personal information as described in the Yahoo! Privacy Policy: http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/promo/index.html.

11. RESERVATION OF RIGHTS

Providers expressly reserve the right to, without notice, immediately modify, suspend or terminate your account and refuse current or future use of the Services (and all Content contained within your account shall be immediately deleted or made inaccessible) if Providers, in their sole and absolute discretion:

  1. believe you have violated or tried to violate the rights of others;
  2. become aware of information indicating a safety concern for you, others or the general public; and/or
  3. believe that you have acted in a manner not consistent with the spirit or letter of the Agreement.

You agree that Providers will not be liable to you or to any third party for any modifications or discontinuance of the Services or any portion thereof. Likewise, Providers accept no liability for Content that lost, including without limitation Content deleted due to the termination of your account and/or the Services.

12. THIRD PARTY COPYRIGHTS and COPYRIGHT AGENT

The Providers respect the intellectual property of others and ask users to do the same. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide Yahoo!'s Copyright Agent the following information:

  1. An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;
  2. A description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
  3. A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;
  4. Your address, telephone number, and email address;
  5. A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  6. A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner's behalf.

The contact information for submitting notices of copyright or other intellectual property infringement is:

By mail:

Daniel Dougherty
Copyright Agent c/o Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089

By facsimile transmission: (408) 349-7821
By email: copyright@yahoo-inc.com

13. INVALIDITY OF SPECIFIC TERMS

If any term or provision of this Agreement or any document incorporated by reference is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, both you and Providers nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of such documents remain in full force and effect.

14. LOCATION OF LAWSUIT

Both you and Providers agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within the county of Santa Clara, California, USA. This Agreement, your use of the Services and the relationship between you and Providers shall be governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflicts of law provisions.

15. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

You acknowledge that you have read and understand the Agreement and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions. You also agree that this Agreement is the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between you and Providers and supersedes all proposals or prior endorsements, oral or written, and any other communications between you and the company or any representative of Providers relating to the subject matter of this Agreement.

Thanks for participating in the Tech Buzz Game, and happy trading!
Help | Feedback | About