nearIM Terms of Service

Terms of Use.

The gist:

We (the folks at nearIM) run a mobile app and website local chat service called nearIM / www.nearim.com and would love for you to use it. Our basic service is free, and we offer paid upgrades for advanced features such as private enterprise hosted solutions. Our service is designed to give you the ability to post information with your location and encourage you to express yourself freely. However, be responsible in what you publish. In particular, make sure that none of the prohibited items (things like spam, viruses, or serious threats of violence) appear in your posts or get linked to from your posts.

If you find a user post that you believe violates our terms of service, please visit our dispute resolution & reporting page.

(Note, Wordpress decided to make their Terms of Service available under a Creative Commons Sharealike license, which we greatly appreciate and hence are providing a link to WordPress.com. They spent a lot of money and time on the basis of the below, and they thought other people shouldn’t need to do the same.)

The following terms and conditions govern all use of the nearIM mobile app and the nearIM.com website and the nearim.firebaseapp.com associated website and all content, services and products available at or through the mobile app, website, associated website, including, but not limited to, the nearIM Enterprise hosting service (“Enterprise Service”), (taken together, the “Services”). The Services are offered subject to your acceptance without modification of all of the terms and conditions contained herein and all other operating rules, policies (including, without limitation, nearIM’s Privacy Policy) and procedures that may be published from time to time on this Site by nearIM (collectively, the “Agreement”). If you reside in the United States, your agreement is with nearIM Inc. (US) and if you reside outside of the United States, your agreement is with nearIM Inc. for any judicial district in which NearIM may be located.

Please read this Agreement carefully before accessing or using the Services. By accessing or using any part of the services, you agree to become bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this agreement, then you may not access the Services. If these terms and conditions are considered an offer by nearIM, acceptance is expressly limited to these terms.

The Services are not directed to children younger than 13, and service on the mobile app, website, and associated websites are only offered to users 13 years of age or older. If you are under 13 years old, please do not register to use the Services. Any person who registers as a user or provides their personal information to the Services represents that they are 13 years of age or older.

Your nearIM.com Account. If you create a content on the Services, you are responsible for maintaining the security of your account, and you are fully responsible for all activities that occur under the account and any other actions taken in connection with the contents posted. You must immediately notify nearIM of any unauthorized uses of your account or any other breaches of security. NearIM will not be liable for any acts or omissions by You, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of such acts or omissions.

Responsibility of Contributors. If you post material to the Services, post links on the Services, or otherwise make (or allow any third party to make) material available by means of the Services (any such material, “Content”), you are entirely responsible for the content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content. That is the case regardless of what form the Content takes, which includes, but is not limited to text, photo, video, audio, or code. By making Content available, you represent and warrant that your content does not violate these terms or the User Guidelines. By submitting Content to nearIM, you grant nearIM a world-wide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, modify, adapt and publish the Content solely for the purpose of displaying, distributing, and promoting your post. This license allows nearIM to make publicly-posted content available to third parties selected by nearIM (through the nearIM Firehose, for example) so that these third parties can analyze and distribute and publicly display your content through their services.You also give other nearIM users permission to share your Content and add their own Content to it (aka to repost your Content), use any portion, in whole or in part, of your post.If you delete Content, nearIM will use reasonable efforts to remove it from the Website, but you acknowledge that caching or references to the Content may not be made immediately unavailable.Without limiting any of those representations or warranties, nearIM has the right (though not the obligation) to, in nearIM’s sole discretion (i) refuse or remove any content that, in nearIM’s reasonable opinion, violates any nearIM policy or is in any way harmful or objectionable, or (ii) terminate or deny access to and use of the Services to any individual or entity for any reason, in nearIM’s sole discretion. NearIM will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid.
Enterprise Services. Enterprise Hosting/Support services are provided by nearIM under the terms and conditions for each such service, which are located at www.nearIM.com/enterprise. By signing up for a Hosting/Support services account, you agree to abide by such terms and conditions.
Firehose.Fees;

Payment. By signing up for the nearIM Firehose you agree to pay nearIM the specified monthly fees in exchange for access to the feeds. Applicable fees will be invoiced starting from the day your access is established and in advance of using such services. NearIM reserves the right to change the payment terms and fees upon thirty (30) days prior written notice to you. Firehose access can be canceled by you at anytime on 30 days written notice to nearIM.

Permitted Use. You may use the nearIM Firehose to develop a product or service that searches, displays, analyzes, retrieves, and views information available on nearIM. You may also use the nearIM name or logos and other brand elements that nearIM makes available in order to identify the source of the information.

Restricted Use. You may not use the nearIM Firehose to substantially replicate products or services offered by nearIM, including the republication of nearIM content or the creation of a separate local chat platform. If nearIM believes, in its sole discretion, that you have violated or attempted to violate these conditions or the spirit of these terms, your ability to use and access the nearIM Firehose may be temporarily or permanently revoked, with or without notice.
Responsibility of Users of Services. nearIM has not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material posted to the Services, and cannot therefore be responsible for that material’s content, use or effects. By utilizing the Services, nearIM does not represent or imply that it endorses the material there posted, or that it believes such material to be accurate, useful or non-harmful. You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. The Services may contain content that is offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable, as well as content containing technical inaccuracies, typographical mistakes, and other errors. The Services may also contain material that violates the privacy or publicity rights, or infringes the intellectual property and other proprietary rights, of third parties, or the downloading, copying or use of which is subject to additional terms and conditions, stated or unstated. NearIM disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from the use by visitors of the Services, or from any downloading by those visitors of content there posted.
Content Posted on Other Services. We have not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, made available through the websites and webpages and mobile apps to which nearIM links, and that link to nearIM.com or the nearIM mobile app. NearIM does not have any control over those non-NearIM websites and webpages and mobile apps, and is not responsible for their contents or their use. By linking to a non-NearIM website or webpage or mobile app, NearIM does not represent or imply that it endorses such website or webpage. You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. NearIM disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from your use of non-NearIM websites and webpages.
Copyright Infringement and DMCA Policy. As nearIM asks others to respect its intellectual property rights, it respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that material located on or linked to by NearIM.com or nearIM mobile app violates your copyright, you are encouraged to notify NearIM in accordance with NearIM’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) Policy. NearIM will respond to all such notices, including as required or appropriate by removing the infringing material or disabling all links to the infringing material. NearIM will terminate a visitor’s access to and use of the Services if, under appropriate circumstances, the visitor is determined to be a repeat infringer of the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of NearIM or others. In the case of such termination, NearIM will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid to NearIM.
Intellectual Property. This Agreement does not transfer from NearIM to you any NearIM or third party intellectual property, and all right, title and interest in and to such property will remain (as between the parties) solely with NearIM. The NearIM logo, and all other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with Services are trademarks or registered trademarks of NearIM or NearIM’s licensors. Other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with the Website may be the trademarks of other third parties. Your use of the Services grants you no right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any NearIM or third-party trademarks.
Advertisements. NearIM reserves the right to display advertisements with your post unless you have purchased an Ad-free Upgrade or a Enterprise Services account.
Changes. We are constantly updating our services, and that means sometimes we have to change the legal terms under which our services are offered. If we make changes that are material, we will let you know by posting on one of our blogs, or by sending you an email or other communication before the changes take effect. The notice will designate a reasonable period of time after which the new Terms will take effect. If you disagree with our changes, then you should stop using NearIM within the designated notice period. Your continued use of NearIM will be subject to the new Terms. However, any dispute that arose before the changes shall be governed by the Terms (including the binding individual arbitration clause) that were in place when the dispute arose.
Termination. NearIM may terminate your access to all or any part of the Services at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. If you wish to terminate this Agreement or your NearIM account (if you have one), you may simply discontinue using the Website. All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.
Disclaimer of Warranties. The Website is provided “as is”. NearIM and its suppliers and licensors hereby disclaim all warranties of any kind, express or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Neither NearIM nor its suppliers and licensors, makes any warranty that the Services will be error free or that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted. If you’re actually reading this, here’s a treat. You understand that you download from, or otherwise obtain content or services through, the Services at your own discretion and risk.
Limitation of Liability. In no event will NearIM, or its suppliers or licensors, be liable with respect to any subject matter of this agreement under any contract, negligence, strict liability or other legal or equitable theory for: (i) any special, incidental or consequential damages; (ii) the cost of procurement for substitute products or services; (iii) for interruption of use or loss or corruption of data; or (iv) for any amounts that exceed the fees paid by you to NearIM under this agreement during the twelve (12) month period prior to the cause of action. NearIM shall have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond their reasonable control. The foregoing shall not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law.
General Representation and Warranty. You represent and warrant that (i) your use of the Services will be in strict accordance with the NearIM Privacy Policy, with this Agreement and with all applicable laws and regulations (including without limitation any local laws or regulations in your country, state, city, or other governmental area, regarding online conduct and acceptable content, and including all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside) and (ii) your use of the Services will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party.
Indemnification. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless NearIM, its contractors, and its licensors, and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of your use of the Services, including but not limited to your violation of this Agreement.

Translation. These Terms of Service were originally written in English (US). We may translate these Terms into other languages. In the event of a conflict between a translated version of these Terms of Service and the English version, the English version will control.
Miscellaneous. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between NearIM and you concerning the subject matter hereof, and they may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized executive of NearIM, or by the posting by NearIM of a revised version. Except to the extent applicable law, if any, provides otherwise, this Agreement, any access to or use of the Services will be governed by the laws of the state of California, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of law provisions, and the proper venue for any disputes arising out of or relating to any of the same will be the state and federal courts located in San Francisco County, California. Except for claims for injunctive or equitable relief or claims regarding intellectual property rights (which may be brought in any competent court without the posting of a bond), any dispute arising under this Agreement shall be finally settled in accordance with the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules of the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service, Inc. (“JAMS”) by three arbitrators appointed in accordance with such Rules. The arbitration shall take place in San Francisco, California, in the English language and the arbitral decision may be enforced in any court. The prevailing party in any action or proceeding to enforce this Agreement shall be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees. If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. A waiver by either party of any term or condition of this Agreement or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof. You may assign your rights under this Agreement to any party that consents to, and agrees to be bound by, its terms and conditions; NearIM may assign its rights under this Agreement without condition. This Agreement will be binding upon and will inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns.