Terms of Agreement

Thank you for using our website.

Scope

This website (www.openingpathways.org) and all related communications (the “Site”) is provided by ”Opening Pathways for discovery, research, and innovation in health and healthcare”, which is a project with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to explore the discovery, research, and innovation processes being used by non-traditional stakeholders in healthcare. The Opening Pathways project has Co-Principal Investigators and several research core team members, advisors, and consultants (“the Opening Pathways research team”). For purposes of these Terms of Agreement (“Terms”), we use the terms “Opening Pathways,” “we,” and “us”to include the Opening Pathways research team, as well as the institutions and employers with which the Opening Pathways research team members are associated, and the organizations that provide funding for the Opening Pathways project. The Site includes online communications between you and the Opening Pathways research team via blog comments or any other medium, including email associated with the website.

Acceptance of Terms

Whenever you visit or use the Site, you are agreeing to these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you are not permitted to visit or use the Site. Please read the Terms carefully.

Updates to these Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time, although we expect that most changes would only reflect updates or be editorial in nature. Any such modifications to the Terms take effect immediately upon posting, and your continued visit to or use of the Site constitutes your consent to the modified Terms. In the highly unlikely event that we would change these Terms in a way that would be materially detrimental to your interests, we would post a prominent notice on the Site for at least 30 days before doing so, giving visitors an opportunity to consent or decline to the new Terms. Visitors to the Site could also ask us to delete their prior comments or personal information, as explained further in our Privacy Policy. If you did not consent to the new Terms, you would not be permitted to use the Site.

The date of the last update to these Terms is stated at the end of this document.

No Practice of Medicine

You understand and agree that by providing the Site or through any communications with you we are not engaged in the practice of medicine, either through the Site or any associated communications, and these communications are not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The Site and related project communications are provided for informational purposes only and are provided “AS IS.” You are encouraged to seek professional diagnosis and treatment for medical conditions. YOU AGREE THAT WE HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE OR TAKE ANY MEDICALLY RELATED ACTION IN RESPONSE TO ANY INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE ON THE SITE OR THROUGH DISCUSSIONS WITH THE TEAM. We do not recommend or endorse any specific studies, treatments, tests, procedures, physicians, opinions, products, or other information that may appear on the Site or on links reached through the Site.

Eligible Users of the Site

You must be at least 18 years old and legally competent to use the Site.

This Site was created and intended for U.S. residents. If you are not a resident of the U.S.:

We make no claim that information on the Site is appropriate or permissible in your country. Products and clinical studies discussed on the Site may have different product labeling and disclosure requirements in different countries;
If you submit information on the Site, you agree that we may, subject to the protections and limitations described in our Privacy Policy and on the Site, collect, use, store, or disclose that information in the United States or in another country outside your jurisdiction. You understand that information protection laws outside your country of residence may vary. By providing your information, you consent to the international transfer of your information for the purposes explained in these Terms, the Privacy Policy, or elsewhere on the Site.

Privacy and Protection of Personal Information

Our Privacy Policy describing how we manage and protect information is incorporated into these Terms.

User Content

“User Content” is content or information (including blogs whether written by Opening Pathways or guest blog authors), blog comments, text, images, video, and audio) submitted, linked, or posted by Opening Pathways or visitors to the Site. Our practices may vary from time to time as to whether we do or do not pre-screen blog comments or other content written by visitors before it is posted. Regardless of whether we do or do not pre-screen User Content, you agree that we bear no responsibility for its accuracy, appropriateness, or quality. You agree that you must evaluate and bear all risks associated with any User Content, and you further agree that we will be in no way liable for any User Content or any consequences of its inclusion or omission.

We nonetheless retain the right (but not the obligation) to refuse to post or delete any User Content available through the Site, if we believe, in our sole discretion, that the User Content violates the letter or spirit of these Terms or is objectionable for any reason. You agree that you have no recourse against us if we post or refuse to post, or if we delete or refuse to delete, any User Content.

When you submit your own User Content to be posted on our Site, you must follow these rules:

Your User Content must be appropriate and civil.
Your User Content must not:
- violate any law;
- infringe on any third party’s legal rights or be capable of giving rise to legal action against you, us, or third parties;
- be obscene, indecent, or pornographic;
- infringe any copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property right;
- infringe any right of privacy or violate any confidentiality obligation;
- contain any negligent statement;
- incite the commission of a crime;
- be in breach of any contractual obligation owed to any person;
- be false or misleading;
- contain any instructions, advice or other information that could, if acted upon, cause illness, injury, death, or any other loss or damage;
- constitute spam;
- be offensive, blasphemous, threatening, harassing, defamatory, discriminatory or inflammatory;
- be likely to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to any person; or
- link to a page containing material that would violate these prohibitions.

You may choose to post information in a blog comment, via a linked form, or elsewhere on the Site about yourself or about someone else, such as a family member. If you post information about someone else, you must have that person’s prior permission.

If you choose to post information, whether about yourself or any other person:

You understand and agree that all current and future visitors to this Site will be able to view the information you share, and
You understand that, whether or not it is permitted, current or future visitors viewing the Site might save or disclose your information in other places without your knowledge or consent. You agree that if that were to occur, neither you nor anyone else would have a remedy or claim against us, as explained in the Warranty Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability section of these Terms. Therefore, please exercise discretion when deciding what information you choose to post.

Communications Between Us

You (a) consent to receive all communications from us, including any possible messages about security incidents or breaches, in electronic form via the email address you provide (if we retained it), and (b) agree that all Terms, agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications would satisfy if they were in writing.

Prohibited Uses

As a condition of using the Site, you agree that you will not use the Site in any way that is prohibited by law or these Terms. These prohibitions include, but are not limited to, the following:

You must not use our Site in any way that may damage, overburden, or impair the Site or its availability; or in any way that is illegal, fraudulent or harmful or related to any illegal, fraudulent or harmful activity.
You may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site, other accounts, or computers or networks associated with the Site, or its users.
You must not use our Site to copy, store, host, transmit, send, use, publish or distribute any material that consists of (or is linked to) any malicious computer software.
You must not conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including, without limitation, scraping, data mining, data extraction and data harvesting) on or in relation to our Site without our express written consent.
You must not use our Site to send spam, surveys, or any commercial communications.
You must not use our Site for any purposes related to marketing without our prior express written consent.
You are required to be respectful, civil, and appropriate in posting on the Site.

Use of Materials and Information on the Site

Subject to applicable law and these Terms, we own the intellectual property rights to the Site and materials on the Site, including all User Content. Subject to the protections and limitations described in our Privacy Policy, you grant to us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, translate and distribute your User Content in any media; as described in our Privacy Policy, this does not include your personal information unless you posted it publicly. You also grant to us the right to sub-license these rights, and the right to bring an action for infringement of these rights. All these intellectual property rights are reserved.

To the extent that the Site contains any content (including User Content via blog comments or otherwise), documentation, or software:

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The following copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Links

We have no responsibility for any third-party websites not operated by us to which our Site may be linked.

Copyright Infringement Notice

If you believe that your work has been copied and is accessible on this Site in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please email us at team@openingpathways.org. The requirements for what you must include in your notice are in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512. We respond expeditiously to notices of claimed copyright infringement. If we become aware that a user is a repeat copyright infringer, it is our policy to take reasonable steps within our power to terminate or block that user.

Warranty Disclaimer

We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of any information published on this Site, whether submitted by us or others. We do not warrant that the Site remains available or that the material on the Site is kept up-to-date.

WE PROVIDE THE SITE “AS IS.” TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL EXPRESS AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES, INCLUDING ALL STATUTORY WARRANTIES, WITH RESPECT TO THE SITE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES THAT THE SERVICES ARE MERCHANTABLE, OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, ACCURATE, FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NEED, OR NON-INFRINGING. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICES WILL BE EFFECTIVE, RELIABLE OR ACCURATE OR WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES AT TIMES OR LOCATIONS OF YOUR CHOOSING.

Limitation of Liability

YOU CANNOT RECOVER ANY DAMAGES FROM US RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOST PROFITS, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES. THIS LIMITATION APPLIES EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT FULLY COMPENSATED FOR ANY LOSSES, OR IF WE KNEW OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF THE LOSSES.

CERTAIN JURISDICTIONS LIMIT DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTIES OR LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY. IN SUCH JURISDICTIONS, YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL LEGAL RIGHTS, AND THE PROVISIONS OF THESE TERMS WILL NONETHELESS REMAIN IN EFFECT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

If you post content on the Site, you understand and agree that comments relating to your posts may be submitted by other visitors to our Site. You acknowledge that such comments may be critical, offensive, or defamatory, and you agree that you will not hold us liable for any such comments, regardless of whether we are aware or ought to have been aware of such comments.

Breaches of These Terms and Indemnification by You

If you breach these Terms, or if we reasonably suspect that you have breached these Terms, we may: send you one or more warnings; temporarily suspend your access to the Site; permanently prohibit you from accessing the Site; block devices using your IP address from accessing the Site; ask your internet service provider to block your access to the Site; delete or edit your User Content; bring a lawsuit against you; and/or report you to law enforcement authorities. If we suspend, terminate, or block your access to the Site, you agree not to take any action to circumvent our action.

Indemnification: You hereby agree to indemnify us and undertake to keep us indemnified against any losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including, without limitation, legal expenses and any amounts paid by us to a third party in settlement of a claim or dispute on the advice of our legal advisers) incurred or suffered by us arising out of any breach by you of any provision of these Terms or arising out of any claim that you have breached any provision of these Terms.

Governing Law, Arbitration, and Jurisdiction

All matters related to the Site will be governed by the laws of Washington, without regard to conflicts of laws provisions.

If you have a complaint, question, or dispute (collectively, “dispute”) regarding the Site, you are encouraged to bring it to our attention. You may email us at team@openingpathways.org, and we will try to address your concerns. If we are unable to resolve a dispute ourselves, any dispute relating in any way to the Site shall be submitted to confidential arbitration in King County, Washington, in, except that to the extent you have in any manner violated or threatened to violate our intellectual property rights, we may seek injunctive or other appropriate relief in any federal or state court. Arbitration under these Terms shall be conducted in accordance with the prevailing rules and procedures of the American Arbitration Association, with each party being responsible for its own costs and fees, and the joint costs of arbitration being shared equally by the parties. The arbitrator’s award shall be final and binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no arbitration or claim under these Terms may be joined to any other arbitration or claim, including any arbitration or other legal proceeding involving any other current or former user of the Site, and no class action proceedings will be permitted.

By agreeing to arbitration in these Terms, you understand and agree that you are relinquishing (i) any right to pursue claims or have disputes resolved in a court of law, (ii) any right to compulsory discovery, and (iii) any right to the appeal of any adverse arbitration decision.

You agree that, regardless of any law or statute, any claim or cause of action you may have against us must be brought within one year after the claim or cause of action arises or is known or should reasonably have been known to you, or the claim or cause of action will be forever barred.

Other Legal Provisions

Any failure or delay by either party to enforce any part of these Terms will not constitute a waiver of that party’s rights under these Terms. These Terms control the relationship between you and the creators of this website. They do not create any third party beneficiary rights. If we enter into an additional or separate agreement with you that has additional terms, those additional terms will control if they conflict with these Terms. If a particular provision of these Terms is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, the other provisions will remain in effect. You may not transfer your account or your rights under these Terms to any other person or entity. We may, in our sole discretion, transfer, delegate, or assign our rights and obligations under these Terms to others without notifying you or obtaining your consent. The current version of these Terms, which incorporate our Privacy Policy by reference, constitutes the entire agreement between you and us in relation to the Site.

Cookies

This Site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our Site work; others are intended to help us provide services and improve the user experience. By using the Site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Please read our Privacy Policy to learn more.

Feedback

If you have any concerns, inquiries, or complaints about the Site, please write to us at team@openingpathways.org. We appreciate your input.

Thank you for using our Site, and we hope it is helpful to you.

Effective Date

The effective date of these Terms is April 5, 2018