Terms of Service

Thank you for entering OFW, the website and online site of On Fiction Writing (OFW, we, or us). The following contains the terms by which you may use our site and its sites. By joining and accessing the OFW boards, sections, and facilities provided by us or in connection with the site, you agree that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by this Terms of Use Agreement (Agreement) whether or not you are a registered user and member of our site.

 

We reserve the right to amend this Agreement at any time and without notice. If we make amendments, we will post the amended agreement to the top of this page and indicate the date of its revision. Your continued use after the amendments indicates your acceptance of the current Terms of Use. If you do not agree with the Terms of Use or any future amendments to the agreement, do not use, access, or continue to access this site. This Agreement applies to all visitors, users, members and others who access the site.

 

 

On Fiction Writing (OFW) provides a place for writers to learn, explore, and find information about writing, publishing, and other facets of the industry. We also provide sections that enable users to receive critique and discuss writing with a community of writers, publishers, agents, editors, and other industry professionals.

 

You do not have to register to visit OFW. To access certain features of OFW, you will need to register and create a “Member” account. This account gives you access to sections and functionality that we may establish and maintain from time to time and in our sole discretion.

 

You may never use another Member’s account without permission. When creating your account, you must provide accurate and complete information. You are solely responsible for the activity that occurs on your account, and for keeping your account password secure. You must notify OFW immediately of any breach of security or unauthorized use of your account. Although OFW will not be liable for losses caused by any unauthorized use of your account, you may be liable for the losses of OFW or others due to such unauthorized use.

 

You may change the settings on your “My Account” page to control your Member Profile and how other members communicate with you. By providing OFW your email address, you consent to our using the email address to send you OFW-related notices, including any notices required by law, in lieu of communication by postal mail. You may not opt out of OFW-related e-mails. We may also use your email address to send you other messages, including changes to features of the Site and special offers. If you do not want to receive such e-mail messages, you may opt out by changing the preferences in your Account Settings. Opting out will prevent you from receiving e-mail messages regarding updates, improvements, or offers.

 

Subject to the terms and conditions of this agreement, OFW grants you permission to use the site for your personal, non-commercial purposes only. You agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities: (i) copying, distributing, or disclosing any part of the site in any medium, including without limitation by any automated or non-automated “scraping”; (ii) using any automated system, including without limitation “offline readers,” “robots,” “spiders,” etc., to access the site in a manner that sends more request messages to the OFW servers than a human can reasonably produce in the same period of time by using a conventional on-line web browser; (iii) attempting to interfere with, compromise the system integrity or security or decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running the site; (iv) taking any action that imposes, or may impose at our sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure; (v) uploading invalid data, viruses, worms, or other software agents through the site; (vi) collecting or harvesting any personally identifiable information, including account names and email addresses, from the site; (vii) using the site for any commercial solicitation purposes; (viii) using any information obtained from the site to harass, abuse, or harm another person, or to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to any Member without their prior explicit consent, (ix) impersonating another person or otherwise misrepresenting your affiliation with a person or entity, conducting fraud, hiding or attempting to hide your identity; (x) interfering with the proper working of the site; or, (xi) bypassing the measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the site. To protect our Members from unsolicited advertising or solicitation, OFW reserves the right to restrict the number of communications which a Member may send to other Members in any 24-hour period to a number that OFW deems appropriate in its sole discretion. OFW may permanently or temporarily terminate, suspend, or otherwise refuse to permit your access to the site without notice and liability for any reason, including if in OFW’s sole determination you violate any provision of this Agreement, or for no reason. Upon termination for any reason or no reason, you continue to be bound by this Agreement.

 

The site is subject to scheduled and unscheduled site interruptions. All aspects of the site are subject to change or elimination at OFW’s sole discretion. OFW reserves the right to interrupt the site or sites with or without prior notice for any reason or no reason. You agree that OFW will not be liable to you for any interruption of the site, delay, or failure to perform.

 

You are solely responsible for your interactions with other OFW Members and Users. We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other Users. OFW shall have no liability for your interactions with other Users, or for any User’s action or inaction.

 

 

Some areas of the site allow Users to post reviews, comments, questions, and other information (“User Content”). You are solely responsible for your User Content that you upload, publish, display, link to, or otherwise make available (hereinafter, “post”) on the site, and you agree that we are only acting as a passive conduit for your online distribution and publication of your User Content.

 

You agree not to post User Content that: (i) may create a risk of harm, loss, physical or mental injury, emotional distress, death, disability, disfigurement, or physical or mental illness to you, to any other person, or to any animal; (ii) may create a risk of any other loss or damage to any person or property; (iii) seeks to harm or exploit children by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable details or otherwise; (iv) may constitute or contribute to a crime or tort; (v) contains any information or content that we deem to be unlawful, harmful, abusive, racially or ethnically offensive, defamatory, infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights, harassing, humiliating to other people (publicly or otherwise), libelous, threatening, profane, or otherwise objectionable; (vi) contains any information or content that is illegal (including, without limitation, the disclosure of insider information under securities law or of another party’s trade secrets); or (vii) contains any information or content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships; or (viii) contains any information or content that you know is not correct and current. You agree that any User Content that you post does not and will not violate third-party rights of any kind, including without limitation any Intellectual Property Rights (as defined below), rights of publicity and privacy. To the extent that your User Content contains music, you hereby represent that you are the owner of all the copyright rights, including without limitation the performance, mechanical, and sound recordings rights, with respect to each and every musical composition (including lyrics) and sound recording contained in such User Content and have the power to grant the license granted below. OFW reserves the right, but is not obligated, to reject and/or remove any User Content that OFW believes, in its sole discretion, violates these provisions. You understand that publishing your User Content on the Site is not a substitute for registering it with the U.S. Copyright Office, the Writer’s Guild of America, or any other rights organization.

 

For the purposes of this Agreement, “Intellectual Property Rights” means all patent rights, copyright rights, mask work rights, moral rights, rights of publicity, trademark, trade dress and site mark rights, goodwill, trade secret rights and other intellectual property rights as may now exist or hereafter come into existence, and all applications therefore and registrations, renewals and extensions thereof, under the laws of any state, country, territory or other jurisdiction.

 

OFW takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any User Content that you or any other Users or third parties post or send over the site. You understand and agree that any loss or damage of any kind that occurs as a result of the use of any User Content that you send, upload, download, stream, post, transmit, display, or otherwise make available or access through your use of the site, is solely your responsibility. OFW is not responsible for any public display or misuse of your User Content. You understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to User Content that is inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable, and you agree that OFW shall not be liable for any damages you allege to incur because of such User Content. OFW may provide tools to remove some User Content, but does not guarantee that all or any User Content will be removable.

 

 

By posting any User Content on the site, you expressly grant, and you represent and warrant that you have a right to grant, to OFW a royalty-free, sub-licensable, transferable, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, list information regarding, edit, translate, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, and make derivative works of all such User Content and your name, voice, and/or likeness as contained in your User Content, in whole or in part, and in any form, media or technology, whether now known or hereafter developed, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing for any purpose at the sole discretion of OFW. Works of writing whether complete, in parts, chapters, scenes, synopses, paragraphs or excerpts submitted to The Showcase or uploaded for review at the Peer Review Workshop are not User Content but copyrighted writing and thus not covered by this License Grant.

 

Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you are hereby granted a non-exclusive, limited, personal license to use the site. OFW reserves all rights not expressly granted herein in the site and the OFW Content (as defined below). OFW may terminate this license at any time for any reason or no reason.

 

 

Except for your User Content, the Site and all materials therein or transferred thereby, including, without limitation, software, images, text, graphics, illustrations, logos, patents, trademarks, site marks, copyrights, photographs, audio, videos, music, and User Content (the “OFW Content”), and all Intellectual Property Rights related thereto, are the exclusive property of OFW and its licensors. Except as explicitly provided herein, nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to create a license in or under any such Intellectual Property Rights, and you agree not to sell, license, rent, modify, distribute, copy, reproduce, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, publish, adapt, edit or create derivative works from any materials or content accessible on the site. Use of the OFW Content or materials on the Site for any purpose not expressly permitted by this Agreement is strictly prohibited.

 

You may choose to, or we may invite you to submit comments or ideas about the site, including without limitation about how to improve the site or our products. By submitting any idea or suggestions, you agree that your disclosure is gratuitous, unsolicited and without restriction and will not place OFW under any fiduciary or other obligation, and that we are free to use the Idea without any additional compensation to you, and/or to disclose the Idea on a non-confidential basis or otherwise to anyone. You further acknowledge that, by acceptance of your submission, OFW does not waive any rights to use similar or related ideas previously known to OFW, or developed by its employees, or obtained from sources other than you.

 

 

This site is intended solely for Users who are eighteen (18) years of age or older, and any registration, use or access to the Site by anyone under 18 is unauthorized, unlicensed, and in violation of this Agreement. If you are under 18 years of age you may use the public areas of the Site only if you either are an emancipated minor or possess legal parental or guardian consent, and are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in this Agreement, and to abide by and comply with this Agreement.

 

 

A. Billing Policies. Certain aspects of the OFW site may be provided for a fee or other charge. These fees and charges, if any, are described on the Site, and in the event you elect to use paid aspects of the OFW Site, you agree to the pricing, payment and billing policies applicable to such fees and charges, posted at the website. OFW may add new sections for additional fees and charges, or amend fees and charges for existing sections, at any time in its sole discretion.

 

B. No Refunds. You may cancel your OFW Account at any time; however, there are no refunds for self cancellation. As permitted under the terms of this Agreement, OFW has the right at any time for any reason or no reason to suspend or terminate your Account, terminate this Agreement, and/or refuse any and all current or future use of the Site without notice, refund, obligation, or liability to you. In the event that OFW suspends or terminates your OFW Account or this Agreement, you understand and agree that you shall receive no refund or exchange for any unused time on a subscription, any license or subscription fees for any portion of the OFW Site, any content or data associated with your OFW Account, or for anything else. You acknowledge that OFW has the perpetual and irrevocable right to delete any or all of your User Content and data from OFW’s servers and from the OFW Site, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and for any reason or no reason, without any liability of any kind to you or any other party.

 

 

We care about the privacy of our Users. Click here to view our Privacy Policy. By using the Site, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States, Canada, Spain, or any other country.

 

 

We have implemented commercially reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration or disclosure. However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will never be able to defeat those measures or use your personal information for improper purposes. You acknowledge that you provide your personal information at your own risk.

 

 

If you believe that your copyrighted work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement and is accessible via the site, please notify OFW’s copyright agent, as set forth in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”). For your complaint to be valid under the DMCA, you must provide the following information in writing:

 

An electronic or physical signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner;

 

Identification of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;

 

Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and where it is located on the Site;

 

Information reasonably sufficient to permit OFW to contact you, such as your address, telephone number, and, e-mail address;

 

A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or law; and

 

A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information is accurate, and that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the owner.

 

The above information must be submitted to the following address:

 

Name: Renée Miller

Attn: DMCA Notice

Company: On Fiction Writing

Email: [email protected]

 

UNDER FEDERAL LAW, IF YOU KNOWINGLY MISREPRESENT THAT ONLINE MATERIAL IS INFRINGING, YOU MAY BE SUBJECT TO CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOR PERJURY AND CIVIL PENALTIES, INCLUDING MONETARY DAMAGES, COURT COSTS, AND ATTORNEYS’ FEES.

 

Please note that this procedure is exclusively for notifying OFW and its affiliates that your copyrighted material has been infringed. The preceding requirements are intended to comply with OFW’s rights and obligations under the DMCA, including 17 U.S.C. §512(c), but do not constitute legal advice. It may be advisable to contact an attorney regarding your rights and obligations under the DMCA and other applicable laws.

 

In accordance with the DMCA and other applicable law, OFW has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at OFW’s sole discretion, members who are deemed to be repeat infringers. OFW may also at its sole discretion limit access to the Site and/or terminate the accounts of any Users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.

 

 

You shall be solely responsible for your own User Content and the consequences of posting or publishing it. In connection with User Content, you affirm, represent and warrant, in addition to the other representations and warranties in this Agreement, the following:

 

a. You are at least 18 years of age, and are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in this Agreement, and to abide by and comply with this Agreement.

 

b. You have the written consent of each and every identifiable natural person in the User Content to use such person’s name or likeness in the manner contemplated by the Site and this Agreement, and each such person has released you from any liability that may arise in relation to such use.

 

c. Your User Content and OFW’s use thereof as contemplated by this Agreement and the site will not infringe any rights of any third party, including but not limited to any Intellectual Property Rights, privacy rights and rights of publicity.

 

d. OFW may exercise the rights to your User Content granted under this Agreement without liability for payment of any guild fees, residuals, payments, fees, or royalties payable under any collective bargaining agreement or otherwise.

 

 

OFW may contain links to third-party websites, advertisers, or sites that are not owned or controlled by OFW. OFW has no control over, and assumes no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third party websites or sites. If you access a third party website from OFW, you do so at your own risk, and you understand that this Agreement and OFW’s Privacy Policy do not apply to your use of such sites. You expressly relieve OFW from any and all liability arising from your use of any third-party website or sites or third party owned content.

 

Additionally, your dealings with or participation in promotions of advertisers found on OFW, including payment and delivery of goods, and any other terms (such as warranties) are solely between you and such advertisers. You agree that OFW shall not be responsible for any loss or damage of any sort relating to your dealings with such advertisers.

 

We encourage you to be aware of when you leave the Site, and to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of any third-party website or site that you visit.

 

 

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless OFW and its subsidiaries, agents, managers, and other affiliated companies, and their employees, contractors, agents, officers and directors, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney’s fees) arising from: (i) your use of and access to the Site, including any data or content transmitted or received by you; (ii) your violation of any term of this Agreement, including without limitation your breach of any of the representations and warranties above; (iii) your violation of any third-party right, including without limitation any right of privacy, publicity rights or Intellectual Property Rights; (iv) your violation of any law, rule or regulation of the United States or any other country; (v) any claim or damages that arise as a result of any of your User Content or any that are submitted via your account; or (vi) any other party’s access and use of the Site with your unique username, password or other appropriate security code.

 

 

The site is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. use of the site is at your own risk. the site is provided without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. without limiting the foregoing, OFW, its subsidiaries, and its licensors do not warrant that the content is accurate, reliable or correct; that the site will meet your requirements; that the site will be available at any particular time or location, uninterrupted or secure; that any defects or errors will be corrected; or that the site is free of viruses or other harmful components. any content downloaded or otherwise obtained through the use of the site is downloaded at your own risk and you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from such download.

 

OFW does not warrant, endorse, guarantee, or assume responsibility for any product or site advertised or offered by a third party through the OFW site or any hyperlinked website or site, or featured in any banner or other advertising, and ofw will not be a party to or in any way monitor any transaction between you and third-party providers of products or sites.

 

 

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall OFW, its affiliates, directors, employees or its licensors be liable for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including without limitation damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses, that result from the use of, or inability to use, this site. under no circumstances will OFW be responsible for any damage, loss or injury resulting from hacking, tampering or other unauthorized access or use of the site or your account or the information contained therein.

 

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, OFW assumes no liability or responsibility for any (i) errors, mistakes, or inaccuracies of content; (ii) personal injury or property damage, of any nature whatsoever, resulting from your access to and use of our site; (iii) any unauthorized access to or use of our secure servers and/or any and all personal information stored therein; (iv) any interruption or cessation of transmission to or from the site; (v) any bugs, viruses, Trojan horses, or the like that may be transmitted to or through our site by any third party; (vi) any errors or omissions in any content or for any loss or damage incurred as a result of the use of any content posted, emailed, transmitted, or otherwise made available through the site; and/or (vii) user content or the defamatory, offensive, or illegal conduct of any third party. in no event shall OFW, its affiliates, directors, employees, or licensors be liable to you for any claims, proceedings, liabilities, obligations, damages, losses or costs in an amount exceeding the amount you paid to OFW hereunder.

 

This limitation of liability section applies whether the alleged liability is based on contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or any other basis, even if OFW has been advised of the possibility of such damage. The foregoing limitation of liability shall apply to the fullest extent permitted by law in the applicable jurisdiction.

 

The Site is controlled and operated in the U.S., Canada, and Spain. OFW makes no representations that the Site is appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who access or use the Site from other jurisdictions do so at their own volition and are entirely responsible for compliance with local law, including but not limited to export and import regulations. Unless otherwise explicitly stated, all materials found on the Site are solely directed to individuals, companies, or other entities located in the U.S., Canada, and Spain.

 

 

This Agreement, and any rights and licenses granted hereunder, may not be transferred or assigned by you, but may be assigned by OFW without restriction.

 

 

A. Governing Law. You agree that: (i) the Site shall be deemed solely based in Canada; and (ii) the Site shall be deemed a passive one that does not give rise to personal jurisdiction over OFW, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than Canada. This Agreement shall be governed by the internal substantive laws of Canada, without respect to its conflict of laws principles. Any claim or dispute between you and OFW that arises in whole or in part from the Site shall be decided exclusively by a court of competent jurisdiction located in Ontario, Canada, unless submitted to arbitration as set forth in the following paragraph.

 

B. Arbitration. For any claim (excluding claims for injunctive or other equitable relief) under this Agreement where the total amount of the award sought is less than $10,000, the party requesting relief may elect to resolve the dispute through binding non-appearance-based arbitration. The party electing such arbitration shall initiate the arbitration through an established alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) provider mutually agreed upon by the parties. The ADR provider and the parties must comply with the following rules: a) the arbitration shall be conducted by telephone, online and/or be solely based on written submissions, as selected by the party initiating the arbitration; b) the arbitration shall not involve any personal appearance by the parties or witnesses unless otherwise mutually agreed by the parties; and c) any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

 

C. Notification Procedures. OFW may provide notifications, whether such notifications are required by law or are for marketing or other business related purposes, to you via email notice, written or hard copy notice, or through conspicuous posting of such notice on our website, as determined by OFW in our sole discretion. OFW reserves the right to determine the form and means of providing notifications to our Users, provided that you may opt out of certain means of notification as described in this Agreement.

 

D. Entire Agreement/Severability. This Agreement, together with any other terms you agree to in connection with your use of the Site, shall constitute the entire agreement between you and OFW concerning the Site. If any provision of this Agreement is deemed invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this Agreement, which shall remain in full force and effect.

 

E. No Waiver. No waiver of any term of this Agreement shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or any other term, and OFW’s failure to assert any right or provision under this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

 

Please contact us with any questions regarding this Agreement.

 

©2011 On Fiction Writing; onfictionwriting.com