Courthouse News Service welcomes you to its web sites. Your use of our web sites tells us that you have read and agreed to these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, you should not access or otherwise use Courthouse News’ web sites.

These Terms of Use apply to the following web sites:

Courthouse News Service (www.courthousenews.com)

Entertainment Law Digest (www.entlawdigest.com)

Securities Law Report (www.cnssecuritieslaw.com)

Environmental Law Report (www.cnsenvironmentallaw.com)

Walt Girdner (www.waltgirdner.com)

Kaiser Bad News (www.kaiserbadnews.com)

 

The web sites listed above are each a “Site,” and referred to collectively as the “Sites.”

Amendments to these Terms of Use will be posted on the Sites and will be effective when posted. Your continued use of the Sites following the posting of any amendment will constitute your acceptance of that amendment. See the “Changes to the Terms of Use” section below for further information.

If you have questions about these Terms of Use, please contact Courthouse News by e-mail at [email protected].

 

 

Courthouse News’ content and intellectual property rights

 

Material published on the Sites, including for example, news articles, reports, editorials, text, photographs, images, and illustrations, as well as the selection and arrangement of this material (collectively, the “Content”), is owned by Courthouse News and/or other persons or entities who may have licensed Content to Courthouse News. In addition, Courthouse News Service is a registered trademark of Courthouse News.

 

The following use of Content found on the Sites is expressly permitted:

 

 

• Other blogs, articles, editorials, reports, or other similar written material: You may copy an individual blog entry, article, editorial, report, or other similar text, or a portion thereof, so long as you credit Courthouse News Service together with the copied text. In addition, wholesale copying of multiple blog entries, articles, editorials, reports or other similar text is not permitted.

 

• Links and RSS Feeds: We invite you to link to the Sites, and to make use of Courthouse News’ RSS Feeds on your web site, provided such link or feed does not state or imply any sponsorship of your site by Courthouse News. We reserve the right to terminate any use of feeds on this or any other grounds that we deem appropriate.

 

Other than as expressly allowed herein, you may not copy, sell, distribute, republish, display, perform, or create derivative works from the Content in a manner that would violate the Content owner’s copyright in the Content, or violate their other intellectual property or proprietary rights in the Content. You may make fair use of the Content on the Sites pursuant to applicable intellectual property laws.

 

The permitted uses described in this section are contingent on your compliance at all times with these Terms of Use. No other use of the Content is permitted without prior written permission of Courthouse News. Please contact us at [email protected] if you wish to use the Content in any manner not permitted by these Terms of Use, or if you have any questions about whether your contemplated use of the Content is permitted by these Terms of Use.

 

 

User content

 

Courthouse News’ discussion forums and other forums for user commentary as may be offered on the Sites are provided to give users the opportunity to post appropriate and relevant information or commentary. You are not required to post anything on or through the Sites. Courthouse News does not claim any ownership rights in any data, text, photographs, video, or other material (“User Content”) that you display, publish, submit, email, or post on or through the Sites.

 

By posting any User Content on or through the Sites, you are (1) representing that you are either the owner of all intellectual property rights to such User Content or have the consent of the owner to post the User Content on or through the Sites subject to these Terms of Use; (2) granting to Courthouse News a non-exclusive perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free and fully sub-licensable license granting us permission to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, distribute, and create derivative works from such User Content in connection with the Sites; (3) acknowledging that the posted information may be viewed by other users of the Sites; (4) waiving any claim that the User Content violates any of your legal rights, including but not limited to any rights of privacy and/or publicity; and (5) agreeing that you are solely responsible for such User Content and that you, and not Courthouse News, are entirely responsible for the accuracy, completeness and ownership of all User Content.

 

Any User Content must conform to the guidelines set forth in the section below entitled “User conduct.” Courthouse News reserves the right to remove User Content, and/or to terminate or restrict your posting of User Content to the Sites for any reason, with or without notice.

 

 

 

User conduct

 

By using any of our Sites for any purpose, you agree that you:

 

• Will only use our Sites for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Use.
• Accept the terms of our Privacy Policy. [click here to view]

 

Without limitation of the foregoing, you agree you will not use any of our Sites to:

 

• Post any User Content that is false, misleading, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of another’s privacy and/or right of publicity, hateful, or sexually explicit;
• Post User Content that is patently offensive and promotes racism, bigotry, hatred, or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual;
• Post any User Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any party;
• Post any User Content that contains a computer virus or other similar computer contaminant, including but not limited to worms, spyware, and trojan horses.
• Copy, modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, assign, distribute, reverse engineer, or otherwise use the technology and software underlying the Sites;
• Interfere with or disrupt any of the Sites or servers connected to the Sites, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies, or regulations related to any feature offered by the Sites.
• Copy, sell, distribute, display, perform, or create derivative works from any portion of the Sites in a manner that would violate the copyright or other intellectual property or proprietary rights of the owners of the Content and/or the User Content.
• Impersonate any person or entity, misrepresent any affiliation with another person or entity, or otherwise misrepresent your identity for any purpose.
• Harvest, collect, or store information about the users of our Sites or User Content posted by others on the Sites or use such information for any purpose, including without limitation, for the purpose of transmitting or facilitating transmission of unsolicited bulk electronic mail or communications.
• Violate or encourage violation of any local, state, federal, or international law.

 

 

Monitoring, editing, removal and disclosure of User Content

 

You agree that Courthouse News has the right, but not the obligation, to monitor User Content posted by you at any time for any reason. Notwithstanding this right, Courthouse News does not review all User Content and is not responsible for any User Content. Any User Content on any of the Sites may be edited or removed by Courthouse News, for any reason or no reason.

 

We may use and/or disclose User Content where it is necessary to enforce a subscriber agreement, these Terms of Use, or to otherwise enforce or protect Courthouse News’ rights under applicable law, including, without limitation, Courthouse News’ intellectual property rights. We may also use and/or disclose User Content when we have a reasonable and good-faith belief that such use or disclosure is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order, or legal process served on Courthouse News or the Sites.

 

 

Changes to the Sites; termination of access privileges

 

Courthouse News shall have the right for any reason, in its sole discretion and with or without notice, to terminate, change, suspend, or discontinue any feature, service, or other aspect of the Sites. Courthouse News may also restrict your access to all or parts any of its Sites in its sole discretion and with or without notice. You acknowledge and agree that Courthouse News will not be liable to you or to any third party in the event that Courthouse News exercises its right to terminate, change, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of its Sites, or to terminate your access to any Site or portions of any Site.

 

 

Links to other web sites

 

The Sites may contain links to third party sites and resources (the “Linked Sites”). Courthouse News provides these links as a convenience, but is not responsible for their content.

You should direct any concerns regarding any Linked Site to such Linked Site’s site administrator or webmaster. Courthouse News does not guarantee or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information displayed or distributed through any Linked Site. You acknowledge that any reliance upon any opinion, advice, or information displayed on or otherwise available through any Linked Site shall be at your sole risk.

 

 

Registration

 

Registration is not mandatory to access the public areas of the Sites. However, registration may be required to access certain areas of the Sites or the products and services provided through those areas of the Sites. The areas of the Sites requiring registration are noted on each Site. When registering, users may be provided with a user name and password. Courthouse News is not responsible for any loss or misuse of your user name and password. Always remember that in order to protect your privacy you should not share your user name or password with others. You should notify Courthouse News immediately if you suspect or know of any unauthorized use of your user name and password. Courthouse News cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your user name or password. You are responsible for all activities that occur through your user name and password. Courthouse News reserves the right to terminate or restrict your registration at any time, with or without notice.

 

 

Indemnification

 

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Courthouse News and its officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, and licensees (the “Courthouse News Indemnified Parties”), from and against any and all third party claims, demands, liabilities, costs, or expenses, including reasonable attorneys fees, incurred by Courthouse News Indemnified Parties that arise from (1) any violation by you, or any user of your user name or password, of these Terms of Use. Courthouse News reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you.

 

 

 

 

Disclaimers and warranties

 

Courthouse News reports on, among other things, civil litigation. Accordingly, many of its reports are based on court orders, judgments, and other documents filed with a court, as well as the allegations of parties or other persons connected with a court case. To a large extent, these are allegations only and may not be taken as settled fact. Courthouse News does not guarantee the accuracy or reliability of any statement made in a court filing or other court document, or any allegation of a party or other persons connected with a court case, that may be displayed, uploaded, distributed, or reported on or through the Sites.

 

Similarly, Courthouse News does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or usefulness of any User Content as may be found on the Sites. You should not rely on any User Content appearing on any of our Sites. The views expressed in User Content do not necessarily reflect the views of Courthouse News, and Courthouse News does not endorse the information or views expressed in any User Content.

 

As to all other Content found on the Sites, although Courthouse News strives for accuracy, it does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any Content found on the Sites. Any reliance on the Content or the User Content found on the Sites is at your own risk.

 

Courthouse News takes reasonable steps to ensure that its Sites are free of viruses and other similar computer contaminants. However, it cannot guarantee that its Sites will be free of these contaminants. Courthouse News uses reasonable security measures on the Sites to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under its control. However, there is no such thing as perfect security on the Internet, and Courthouse news makes no guarantee that such loss, misuse and/or alteration will not occur. Courthouse News similarly cannot guarantee that access to its Sites will be uninterrupted.

 

YOUR USE OF THE SITES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE SITES, INCLUDING ALL CONTENT MADE AVAILABLE ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH THE SITES, ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. COURTHOUSE NEWS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. COURTHOUSE NEWS MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT (1) THE SITES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS; OR (2) THE SITES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF VIRUSES AND OTHER COMPUTER CONTAMINANTS. ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SITES IS DONE AT YOUR OWN RISK AND YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH THE SITES, YOUR SOLE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USING THE SITES.

 

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL COURTHOUSE NEWS OR ANY OF ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF REVENUE OR ANTICIPATED PROFITS OR LOST BUSINESS, THAT ARE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY RELATED TO THE USE OF, OR THE INABILITY TO USE, THE CONTENT, MATERIALS AND FUNCTIONS OF OUR SITES.

 

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR LIMITATION OF OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN SUCH JURISDICTIONS, THE LIABILITY OF COURTHOUSE NEWS SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE GREATEST EXTENT PROVIDED BY LAW.

 

 

Copyright complaints

 

Just as Courthouse News requires the users of its Sites to respect its intellectual property rights, we respect the intellectual property rights of others to their own material.

 

If you have a good faith belief that your material has been posted, transmitted, displayed, copied or distributed on our Sites in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please notify Courthouse News’ designated Copyright Agent of that fact, whose contact information is as follows:

 

Jimmy Shimabukuro

Courthouse News Service

30 North Raymond Avenue, Suite 310

Pasadena, CA 91103

Fax: (626) 449-5790

[email protected]

 

To be an effective written notification of claimed infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512 (“DMCA”), your written notification must include substantially the following:

 

(1) Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works;

 

(2) Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Courthouse News to locate the material;

 

(3) Information reasonably sufficient to permit Courthouse News to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which you may be contacted;

 

(4) A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, his or her agents, or the law; and

 

(5) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

 

(6) Your physical or electronic signature.

 

Upon receipt of a proper notification of claimed copyright infringement, we will evaluate the notification to determine if removal of the material claimed to be infringing is warranted. We also reserve the right to remove or disable access to material alleged to be infringing without written notice. Courthouse News will terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the account of any user of its Site who repeatedly posts, transmits, displays, copies, or distributes infringing material.

 

In the event we remove or disable access to User Content that is claimed to be infringing, we may notify the person who provided such User Content that the material has been removed. or access disabled If you receive such a notice, you may submit a counter-notification to our Copyright Agent pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(g). Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3), to be an effective counter-notification under that subsection, your counter-notification must be in writing and must include substantially the following:

 

(1) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.

 

(2) A statement penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.

 

(3) Your name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if your address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which Courthouse News may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of infringement or an agent of such person.

 

(4) Your physical or electronic signature.

 

Upon receipt of a counter-notification, we may, at our election, replace or re-enable access to the User Content at issue.

 

 

Jurisdiction and choice of law

 

The Sites are created, operated, and controlled by Courthouse News from its offices in within the State of California, in the United States of America. These Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflicts of laws provisions. Any dispute arising out of or relating to your use of the Sites, and any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms of use, shall be brought in the Superior Court for the State of California in and for the County of Los Angeles, or in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. You hereby irrevocably consent and submit to the personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purposes of litigating any such action.

 

 

Changes to Terms of Use

 

These Terms of Use are subject to change. Courthouse News reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to change, modify, add or remove any portion of these Terms of Use, in whole or in part, at any time. Changes in these Terms of Use will be effective when posted. Your continued use of the Sites following the posting of any amendment to the Terms of Use will constitute your acceptance of that amendment.

 

 

Miscellaneous

 

This agreement constitutes the entire agreement between Courthouse News and you regarding your use of the Sites. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of these Terms of Use, or portion thereof, to be unenforceable, that provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible so as to give effect to the intent of these Terms of Use, and the remainder of these Terms of Use shall continue in full force and effect. A printed version of this agreement shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings.

 

I HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT AND AGREE TO ALL OF THE PROVISIONS CONTAINED HEREIN.

Effective date: August 1, 2011