Terms of Service

Last updated January 21, 2008

Before joining Biznik as a Member, please read our Terms of Use (below), Privacy Policy and Code of Conduct. These three documents combine to educate you about how to be a valuable member of the Biznik community.

The Biznik service (“Service”) includes the web site at www.Biznik.com (“Site”), and is organized primarily to help businesses and individuals associated with progressive, independent business ("Members") network with other like-minded individuals and businesses.

1. Acceptance Triggered By Use

BY USING THE SERVICE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS BIZNIK TERMS OF USE CONTRACT (“Terms of Service” or "Service Agreement"), which is between you and Biznik, LLC (“Biznik”). Biznik is a Washington LLC. Biznik is alternately referred to as "Biznik", "we" or "our" in this Service Agreement. This contract is triggered by use of this site and by viewing content, and exists regardless of whether or not you are or choose to become a member of Biznik. Your access to and use of the Service is expressly conditioned on your compliance with these terms and conditions.

Please note that this Service Agreement limits our liability and we do not provide warranties for the Service. This Service Agreement also limits your remedies. These warranty disclaimers and limitations are covered in Sections 18 and 19 and we urge you to read them carefully.

We may modify these terms from time to time at our sole discretion, as set forth in Section 9. You agree to check these terms regularly and accept all modified terms. You may review the current version of this Service Agreement at any time at www.Biznik.com/about/terms .

2. Registration as a Member

By registering as a Member, you confirm your acceptance of this agreement and warrant that you are at least 18 years old. Members are required to provide their real first and last names in their profile for identification purposes. You may not impersonate any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent your identity in your profile. Furthermore, you may not misrepresent your age or your affiliation with any person or entity. Limited exceptions may be allowed by Biznik under special circumstances (e.g. stage names or assumed names that are critical to identifying you with your business). Such exceptions are made entirely at the discretion of Biznik.

Your membership is solely for your individual use and you will not authorize others to use your account, profile, or messages. You are solely responsible for all use of your account including, but not limited to, content published, messages sent or posted, and interactions with other members, whether or not you have authorized such activities. You agree to maintain the accuracy of your registration information and to keep account information confidential. You must tell us right away in writing about anyone besides you using your account, or any security breach that relates to the Service. You understand and agree that we have no obligation to prescreen, manage, or edit content made available through the service. You agree to bear all risk associated with content you or others provide using your account. Membership in the Service is void where prohibited.

If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, or not current, or Biznik has reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate or not current, Biznik has the right to suspend, terminate, or refuse any and all current or future use of the Site (or any portion thereof) to you.

3. Monitoring and Disclosure

We may monitor your communications and may disclose content and information about you, including contents of communications, if we deem it reasonably necessary to: (1) conform to legal requirements or respond to legal process; (2) ensure your compliance with this Service Agreement including maintaining this Service and the Code of Conduct; or (3) protect the rights, property, personal safety or interests of Biznik, its employees, its customers, or the public.

4. Code of Conduct

We will monitor registration for participation that we feel is harmful to the Biznik community, and remove profiles and all incidences of such participation at our discretion. Although we may tell you what meets our definition of harmful use before we remove you as a Member, we have no duty to do so.

As a rule, any person that represents a business that recruits resellers, distributors or memberships for products or services that do not originate with that person is prohibited from participating in Biznik; (these businesses are sometimes known as network marketing or multi-level marketing organizations.)

You will not use the Service in a way that is against the law or harms Biznik, our members, partners, affiliates, service providers, partners or suppliers. We may tell you about harmful uses but have no duty to do so. You will comply with the Code of Conduct and other notices we provide. You may review the Code of Conduct at any time online. Violations of the Code of Conduct may result in the termination of access or deletion of content without notice. We reserve the right to cancel, suspend, or block access to the Service in whole or part at any time.

5. User Contributions to the Site

5.1 Sole Responsibility for User Content. Biznik provides users with the opportunity to contribute to the Site. You understand that all information, data, text, links, articles, software, photographs, graphics, video, music, sound, messages, or other materials posted by you on the Site or otherwise submitted to Biznik (collectively, “User Content”), whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, are the sole responsibility of you or other users posting or transmitting such User Content. This means that you, and not Biznik, are entirely responsible for all User Content that you upload, post, email, or otherwise transmit via the Site. You must ensure that no copyright, trademark, trade secret, publicity or privacy rights, or other intellectual property rights are being violated by your posting or transmission of any User Content via the Site.

5.2 No Obligation to Pre-Screen. Biznik is under no obligation to and does not pre-screen any User Content posted via the Site or sent to another user. As such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, appropriateness, or quality of such User Content. The User Content posted by users or other third parties does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Biznik and under no circumstances will Biznik be liable in any way for any User Content, including, but not limited to, any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any User Content posted, emailed, or otherwise transmitted via the Site. Biznik may remove any User Content at any time at its sole discretion.

6. License To User Content

6.1 Biznik’s Rights to Content. Biznik does not claim ownership of User Content. However, with respect to User Content that you elect to post or transmit for inclusion in or on the Site or that you otherwise submit to us (excluding any work commissioned and paid for by Biznik under a separate agreement), you grant Biznik, its affiliates and partners, a perpetual, world- wide, royalty free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable license as follows: to use, reproduce, translate, alter, perform, display, modify, adapt, and publish such User Content, in whole or in part, in all present and future media and in any manner relating to the Site (including without limitation in connection with the appearance of such User Content on Biznik and on the sites of our affiliates, partners and others with whom Biznik may have business relationships relating to the Site) and the distribution and promotion of the Site. You further agree that Biznik is free to use any ideas, know-how, concepts, techniques or other materials you send us for any purpose.

6.2 Biznik’s Obligations to Content. We have no obligation to maintain or store your content. Biznik may, at any time in its sole discretion, delete, modify or prevent from displaying to any other users, any User Content, for any reason, including, but not limited to, service cancellation, violation of the Service Agreement, violation of the Code of Conduct or inconsistent with the Manifesto. Once deleted, any content you have stored on the service cannot be retrieved.

7. Limitations

You acknowledge that we may establish limits concerning use of the Service, including the length, number or size of photos, email messages, postings, or other content that are retained, stored, displayed, or transmitted by the Service. We may also limit the frequency with which you may access the Service if it appears excessive or automated. We reserve the right to modify or discontinue the Service (or any part or feature thereof) at any time, with or without notice.

8. Access to the Service

We offer parts of the Service in RSS format so that users can embed individual feeds into a personal web site or weblog or view postings through third party software news aggregators. We permit you to display, excerpt from, and link to the RSS feeds; each title is correctly linked back to the Service; and your use does not overburden our systems. We may terminate any RSS feed at any time. We prohibit access to the Service for data collection, aggregation, mining or extraction. We authorize an exception for general purpose internet search engines and non-commercial public archives that use such tools to gather information for the sole purpose of displaying hyperlinks to the Service, provided they each do so from a stable IP address or range of IP addresses using an easily identifiable agent. This exception excludes web sites or search engines that specialize in listings, postings, profiles, discussion groups or subsets such as jobs, housing, for sale, or services, or are in the business of providing ad listing services.

9. Changes to this Service Agreement

If we change this Service Agreement, then we will notify you of the change online through a post in Biz Talk. If you do not agree with the changed Service Agreement, then you must stop using the Service within two weeks of notification. You agree that you are solely responsible for reviewing the terms of this Service Agreement from time to time. If you choose not to accept the terms as revised and posted, you have a single two-week grace period from the date that you first visited the Service (with the revised terms posted), during which your use will be governed under the then-prior version of this Service Agreement and after which you agree not to use the Service.

10. Termination

You may cancel the Service at any time for any reason. We may cancel, suspend, or block your access to the Service at any time, with immediate effect. This may be without cause and without notice. Once the Service is cancelled, you will no longer be able to access or retrieve any data you had stored on the Service.

11. Membership Levels and Fees

Biznik offers different levels of membership. Access to the Site and use of selected features of the Service is free. We may charge fees for various premium features and services that we offer. Access to these premium features and services are available only to Active and Supporting Members. Members that qualify as Active and Supporting Members are subject to the same terms of service as all other users, and any fees paid for an upgrade in membership are non-refundable.

Each Member’s profile contains a place for an image of the Member. This image was intended for photo of a person and may not be the logo belonging to a business. Included among the premium features offered to Active and Supporting Members is the ability to add a business logo in separate designated space within the Member’s profile. We may remove the image without notice from profiles not in compliance with this policy at our discretion.

By using the Service and by becoming an Active or Supporting Member, you acknowledge that we reserve the right to charge for premium features and services, also reserve the right to terminate a membership status for failure to pay for the Service, and reserve the right to change the benefits and fees at our sole discretion. When you agree to pay for the service, you agree to pay all fees and charges specified. Biznik is not responsible for any charges or expenses you incur resulting from being billed by us in accordance with these Terms of Service (e.g., overdrawn accounts, exceeding account limits, etc.)

12. Biznik Event Listings

12.1 Hosting a Biznik Event. Events hosted by Members are part of the Service. All events listed on the Site are subject to review and approval by Biznik; we may, at our sole discretion, reject or edit a pending or published event listing.

12.2 Attending an Event. Reservations for events are required to be made through the Site. Biznik assumes no liability for anything that happens or doesn’t happen at any event.

12.3 Voice/Image Release. I understand that Biznik events may be recorded on audio or videotape for promotional, educational or training purposes. I understand and agree that my voice or image may be recorded and used for these purposes. I understand that Biznik has complete ownership of these materials and I have no interest or ownership in them or their copyright.

12.4 Event Fees and Payments. Biznik or event hosts may charge for events. Credit cards are the preferred method of payment. If you use an alternate method of payment, additional charges may apply and reservation may not be guaranteed.

12.5 Event Reservation Cancellation Policy. Reservations must be made with a credit card. Members may cancel a reservation for an event via the Site at any time. Credit cards are processed approximately 24 hours prior to the start of the event. Once credit cards have been processed, no refunds will be granted, with one exception: if the event is canceled by Biznik or the host, event fees will be refunded for the full face value by crediting the credit card used to make the reservation. Biznik makes no warranties about the quality of events.

13. Coupon Codes

We may from time to time offer promotions where we may discount or waive certain Biznik Membership fees or other fee-based products or services, including events.We may offer coupon codes to Biznik Event Member Hosts as a mechanism for processing a discount or credit. Coupon codes have no cash value, are not retroactive, and are non-transferable unless specified. Coupon codes typically have an expiration date.

14. Proprietary Rights

Biznik owns and retains, to the fullest extent of the law, all intellectual property and rights in the Service including, but not limited to, copyrighted material, trademarks, patented processes, trade secrets, and other proprietary information. You will not distribute, transmit, transfer, offer, copy, publish, display, modify, or sell, assign, or sublicense any portion of the Service, its code, or any proprietary information on the Service, or any intellectual property or other proprietary right in any of the foregoing. You will not reverse engineer, reverse assemble, or otherwise attempt to discover any source code or proprietary information, or obtain unauthorized access to the Service. The foregoing does not apply to user content.

15. Infringement

If you believe that your work has been used in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please notify Biznik at info (at) Biznik.com. Provide all of the following in writing: identify the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed (or if multiple copyrighted works, then a representative list of such works); identify the content on the Service that you claim is infringing with enough detail so that we may locate it; provide 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; provide a statement by you declaring that the notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the exclusive owner of the copyright interest involved or that you are authorized to act on behalf of the exclusive owner; provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Biznik to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and email address; and your physical or electronic signature.

Upon receipt of notice as described above, Biznik will take whatever action, in its sole discretion, it deems appropriate, including removal of the challenged use from the Service or termination of the posting account.

16. Advertising and Sponsorships

You understand and agree that the Service may include advertisements and commercial listings and that these are necessary for us to provide the Service. You will not obscure these from general view via HTML/CSS or any other means.

17. Indemnity

Members agree to indemnify and hold Biznik and its affiliates, officers, agents, subsidiaries, co-branders, or other partners and employees, harmless from any loss, liability, claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of (i) User Content you submit, post, transmit, or make available through the Service, (ii) your use of the Service, (iii) your connection to the Service, including your use of the Service to provide a link to another site or to upload content or other information to the Site, or (iv) your violation of the Terms of Service or Code of Conduct, or (v) your violation of any rights of another including but not limited to another's copyright or other intellectual property right.

18. NO WARRANTY

We provide the Service "as-is," with all faults and as available. We give no express warranties, guarantees, or conditions. To the extent permitted by law, we disclaim any implied warranties including those of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, workmanlike effort, and non-infringement and including those arising by usage of trade, course of dealing, or course of performance. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, we do not warrant that the service or the content will be accurate, error-free, virus-free, or uninterrupted or that it will meet your requirements. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws that this Service Agreement cannot change.

19. LIABILITY LIMITATION; YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY

Biznik's aggregate liability to you for any and all claims related to the Service or its content is limited to the amount of your service fee for one month. To the extent permitted by applicable law, Biznik will not be liable for any consequential, lost profits, special, or incidental damages resulting from your access to or use of--or inability to access or use (including due to modification, suspension, blocking, discontinuance, cancellation, or termination of the Service or any part thereof)--the Service or content, whether based on breach of contract, breach of warranty, tort (including negligence), or any other legal theory. Without limiting the foregoing, you specifically acknowledge that Biznik is not liable for the defamatory, offensive, infringing, breaching, fraudulent, or illegal conduct of other users or third parties and that the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with you. These limitations apply to any matter related to: the Service or its content; third party Internet sites, programs or conduct; viruses or other disabling features; incompatibility between the Service and other services, software, or hardware; and any delay or failure in initiating, conducting, or completing any transmission or transaction in connection with the Service in an accurate or timely manner. These limitations also apply even if this remedy does not fully compensate you for any losses, or fails its essential purpose; or if we knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages.

You acknowledge that Biznik cannot provide the Service inexpensively to you without limiting its liability as set forth above, so, in order to use the Service, you agree to limit Biznik's potential liability to you in this way. These limitations of liability are fundamental elements of the basis of the bargain between Biznik and you.

Some states, provinces and countries do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you.

20. Special Admonitions for International Use

As a consequence of the global nature of the Internet, you agree to comply with all local rules and laws regarding user conduct on the Internet and acceptable content. Specifically, you agree to comply with all applicable laws regarding obscene and indecent content and communications and those regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside.

21. General

You understand and agree that this Service Agreement and any notices given pursuant to this Service Agreement are enforceable in electronic format. This Service Agreement constitutes the complete agreement and supersedes all prior agreements between you and Biznik. This Service Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Washington, U.S.A., without regard to its conflict of laws provisions. All disputes related to or arising from this Agreement will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in Seattle, Washington; to which jurisdiction and venue you and Biznik each irrevocably consent. If any provision of this Service Agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect. Biznik's failure to act or your failure to act with respect to a breach does not waive Biznik's rights or your right to act subsequently. You may not assign or transfer rights under this Service Agreement, or delegate any duties. Biznik retains the right to assign its rights under this Service Agreement delegate its duties in connection with a merger, reorganization, or sale of substantially all of its assets. This Service Agreement will bind successors and permitted assigns.

22. Notices

Except for infringement notice as set forth in Section 12, any notice from you to Biznik must be addressed to info@biznik.com. This Service Agreement is in electronic form. There may be other information regarding the Service that the law requires us to send you. You consent to Biznik's sending you this information in electronic form. You have the right to withdraw this consent by notice to us, but if you do, you must stop using this Service. We may provide required information to you by email at the your registered address or by access to www.Biznik.com or another web site designated in an email notice or generally designated in advance for this purpose. Notices provided to you via email will be deemed given and received on the transmission date.