Effective July 20, 2017

This User Agreement, which includes our Privacy Policy, is between you and Consumer Media LLC (“Consumer Media,” “we” or “us” or “our”), the non-profit owner of the Consumerist web site (the “Site”). Consumer Media LLC is an affiliate of Consumer Reports, Inc. (formerly Consumers Union), the publisher of the Consumer Reports family of print and digital publications. Consumer Reports is an expert, independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to work side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. To maintain independence and impartiality, Consumer Media, like Consumer Reports, accepts no outside advertising, no free test samples, and has no agenda other than the interests of consumers.

Please read this User Agreement carefully, because by using this Site, you agree to be bound by and comply with its terms.

I. Privacy Policy

Please review our Privacy Policy which is a part of this User Agreement and describes how we treat your personal information.

II. Site Content

Our Site and its contents, including without limitation, text, images, photographs, graphics, trademarks, software, audio and video clips, databases and other materials (collectively, the “Site Content”) are, with the exceptions noted below, owned by or licensed to Consumer Media and protected by United States and international copyright laws and other intellectual property laws. Our Site Content may contain some public domain materials or we may use third-party materials in a manner permitted under fair use principles.
To increase the availability and reach of Site Content, we invite you to link to our Site.

Consumer Media also grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right to access, use, and display our Site and to download or print Site Content for personal, non-commercial and non-advertising purposes. If you download or print files, images, or any other Site Content, you may not alter the Site Content, or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices displayed on the Site.

In keeping with our non-profit mission, our Site Content is intended solely for the benefit of consumers in order to help them make informed choices and decisions about consumer products, services, and other consumer matters. We champion the rights of consumers and guard against commercial interactions that might call that goal into question. As a result, we do not allow the Site Content to be used to advertise or promote commercial services or products of other individuals or organizations that are not affiliated with Consumer Media.

What does this mean?

If you link to our Site, republish excerpts of our Site Content, or e-mail them to others for personal, non-commercial purposes – for example, commentary or reporting in your personal blog, or educational and informative purposes for the benefit of you, your family, friends, students and communities – that’s fine with us. But you can’t republish our entire Site or large portions of it, use our Site Content to sell products or services (either your own or someone else’s), use our Site Content in advertising, or otherwise make money from it.

We acknowledge that others share our public education goals and may wish to use the Site Content in non-commercial ways other than those outlined above or in commercial ways that are consistent with the mission of our Site. If you aren’t sure whether your intended use of our Site Content fits within the non-commercial scope we’ve outlined above or if your intended purpose is commercial (for example, you wish to re-publish significant portions of Site Content in your upcoming book), then contact us first for permission by sending an email to legaldept@consumer.org identifying (1) the Site Content you wish to re-publish, (2) your contact information, and (3) your intended use of the Site Content. Please keep in mind that if any of the Site Content in question belongs to one or more third parties, you will need to obtain permission from the respective copyright owner(s) in order to use it.

III. Notice of Copyright Infringement

We intend that all Site Content respect the copyright and other proprietary rights of third parties. When visitors post content on our Site, we are unable to monitor the copyright ownership of all posted content. If at any time you believe that any of our Site Content infringes your copyrighted material, then you may request the content be removed from our Site in accordance with the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) and procedures described below.

You must send a notice that complies with the Copyright Act (“Notice”) to the agent we have designated with the Copyright Office:

Consumer Media LLC

101 Truman Avenue
Yonkers, New York 10703-1057

Attn: Legal Department

Your Notice must be in writing and must include:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;

2. 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;

3. 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 us to locate the material;

4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which you may be contacted;

5. 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 the law; and

6. 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.

When we receive a Notice that complies with the Copyright Act, we will remove the identified material promptly. We will promptly take reasonable steps to inform the user who posted the allegedly infringing material (the “alleged infringer”) of the Notice and subsequent removal. The alleged infringer may then provide us with a counter-notice (“Counter-Notice) that the initial infringement notice was erroneous. Such Counter-Notice must be in writing and must include:

A. A physical or electronic signature of the alleged infringer;

B. Identification of the material 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;

C. A statement under penalty of perjury that the alleged infringer has a good-faith belief that the material was removed or access to it disabled as a result of error;

D. The alleged infringer’s name, address, and telephone number; and

E. A statement of consent to jurisdiction in federal district court and that the alleged infringer consents to service of process from the complaining party or its agent.

We will notify you of the Counter-Notice upon our receipt and restore the material within 10 to 14 business days thereafter unless you inform us that you have filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the allegedly infringing party from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material on our Site.
Please note: the contact information of our Designated Agent is intended specifically for the receipt of notices of claimed infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, 17 U.S.C. § 512. If you have general inquiries, please email us at legaldept@consumer.org

IV. Trademarks

The CONSUMERIST® trademark is owned by Consumer Media. Our Site may also contain the trademarks and service marks of third parties; you may use third-party marks only as the applicable third party permits.

You agree not to use any trademarks, service marks, names, logos, or other identifiers of Consumer Media or its licensors or affiliates without the prior written permission of Consumer Media or the relevant licensor or affiliate. In addition, you may not use our trademarks (1) in, as, or as part of, your own trademarks or those of any third parties; (2) to identify products or services that are not those of Consumer Media; or (3) in a manner likely to cause confusion among users about whether we are the source, sponsor or endorser, or are otherwise connected with your own activities, products and services or those of third parties.

V. Interactive Forums and User Feedback; Your License to Consumer Media

Consumer Media may make available to users of the Site commenting platforms, discussion boards or other interactive communication facilities by means of the Site where you can express your views, read and respond to the views of other Site users and post content (such facilities collectively referred to as the “Forums”).

You are solely responsible for the content of any transmissions you make to the Site or any materials you add to the Site, including to any Forum (the “Communications”). Consumer Media and its affiliates do not endorse or accept any Communication as their own or representative of their views.
Except as otherwise set forth in this User Agreement, by transmitting any public Communication to the Site, you grant Consumer Media an irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, unrestricted, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, reproduce, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, modify, edit, create derivative works from, incorporate into one or more compilations and reproduce and distribute such compilations, and otherwise exploit such Communications, in all media now known or later developed. You warrant that you have the right to grant these rights to Consumer Media and that you will not post any content that infringes or violates any proprietary, privacy or publicity, or other rights of any party or that violates any law. You hereby waive all rights generally known as “moral rights” in your Communications to the extent they can be waived, under any existing or future law of any jurisdiction.

VI. Communicating on or to the Site

We cannot review all Communications made on or through the Site. We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to monitor Forums and in our discretion, to edit or remove any content (or portions of it) that we deem inappropriate, offensive or contrary to any of our policies, or that violates this User Agreement.
To help Consumer Media maintain a safe and civil environment, you agree not to post any Communication on our Site that:

• is for commercial purposes or otherwise advertises or solicits for the sale of goods or services;
• constitutes or contains “affiliate marketing,” “link referral code,” “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or unsolicited commercial advertisement, or contains any form of advertising or solicitation that includes links to commercial services or web sites;

• advertises any illegal services or the sale of any items the sale of which is prohibited or restricted by applicable law;

• employs misleading email addresses, or forged headers or otherwise manipulated identifiers in order to disguise the origin of the Communication;

• makes any commercial, advertising, marketing or other similar use of any Site Content or Consumer Media’s name without Consumer Media’s express prior written consent;

• is obscene, indecent, pornographic, profane, sexually explicit, threatening, or abusive;

• is false, deceptive, misleading, deceitful, misinformative, or constitutes “bait and switch”;

• slanders, libels, defames, disparages, or otherwise violates the legal rights of any third party;

• infringes or violates the intellectual property rights (including copyright, patent and trademark rights), contract rights, trade secrets, privacy or publicity rights or any other rights of any third party;

• violates any applicable laws, rules, or regulations;

• contains software viruses or any other malicious code designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment, that disrupts the normal flow of dialogue with an excessive number of messages (flooding attack), or that otherwise negatively affects other users’ ability to submit comments;

• impersonates another person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Consumer Media employee, or falsely states or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity or that collects or uses any information about Site visitors.

In addition, you agree not to:

• contact anyone who has asked not to be contacted;

• “stalk” or otherwise harass anyone;

• collect personal data about other Site users for commercial or unlawful purposes;

• use automated means, including spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools, or the like to download data from our Site, provided that an exception is made for internet search engines (e.g. Google) and non-commercial public archives (e.g. archive.org) that comply with our robots.txt file;

• repeatedly post the same or similar Communications or otherwise impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure; or

• attempt to gain unauthorized access to Consumer Media’s computer systems or engage in any activity that disrupts, diminishes the quality of, interferes with the performance of, or impairs the functionality of our Site.

VII. Information Provided

You acknowledge that any reliance upon any advice, opinion, statement, or other information displayed or distributed through our Site is at your sole risk. Consumer Media reserves the right, in its sole discretion and without notice, to correct any errors or omissions in any portion of our Site. You acknowledge and agree that Consumer Media is not responsible for any materials posted by users of our Site.

VIII. Age Restrictions

You represent and warrant to Consumer Media that you are at least eighteen (18) years old and that you possess the legal right and ability to enter into this User Agreement and to use our Site in accordance with this User Agreement.

IX. Indemnification

You hereby agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Consumer Media and its licensors and affiliates from and against any and all liability and costs incurred by Consumer Media or our licensors or affiliates in connection with any claim arising out of any breach or alleged breach of any of your representations, warranties or obligations set forth in this User Agreement. You shall cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any claim. Consumer Media reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you and you shall not in any event settle any matter without the written consent of Consumer Media.

X. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH HEREIN, OUR SITE (INCLUDING ALL SITE CONTENT, SOFTWARE, AND INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE THEREON OR ACCESSED BY MEANS THEREOF) IS PROVIDED AS-IS AND AS-AVAILABLE, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE (WHETHER OR NOT THAT PURPOSE HAS BEEN DISCLOSED), TITLE, COMPATABILITY, SECURITY, ACCURACY, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE BY LAW, CONSUMER MEDIA AND ITS LICENSORS AND AFFILIATES MAKE NO WARRANTIES AND SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR THE USE OF OUR SITE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO NEGLIGENCE BY CONSUMER MEDIA. CONSUMER MEDIA DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN OUR SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT OUR SITE WILL MEET ANY PARTICULAR CRITERIA OF PERFORMANCE OR QUALITY, OR THAT OUR SITE, INCLUDING THE SERVER(S) ON WHICH OUR SITE IS OPERATED, IS FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

XI. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

USE OF OUR SITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY AND RISK OF LOSS RESULTING FROM YOUR DOWNLOADING AND/OR USE OF FILES, INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS, SITE CONTENT OR OTHER MATERIAL (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION SOFTWARE) ACCESSED THROUGH OR OBTAINED BY MEANS OF OUR SITE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL CONSUMER MEDIA OR ITS LICENSORS OR AFFILIATES, OR THEIR RESPECTIVE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES AND AGENTS, OR ANY THIRD-PARTY PROVIDER OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS OR NETWORK SERVICES, SITE SOFTWARE OR SITE CONTENT FOR CONSUMER MEDIA AND OUR LICENSORS AND AFFILIATES, BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES FOR PERSONAL INJURY AND/OR DEATH, LOST REVENUES OR PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR LOSS OF DATA) THAT ARE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY RELATED TO YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SITE EVEN IF CONSUMER MEDIA, ITS LICENSORS AND AFFILIATES, OR THEIR PROVIDERS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS OR NETWORK SERVICES, SITE CONTENT OR SOFTWARE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH LIABILITY IS BASED IN TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), CONTRACT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

XII. Termination

We reserve the right to terminate our Site and/or this User Agreement for any reason. Consumer Media also reserves the right to restrict, suspend or terminate your access to the Site in whole or in part at any time without notice if we discover that you have violated this User Agreement. Your license of rights to Consumer Media under Section V and the Disclaimer of Warranties, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification and General Provisions Sections of this User Agreement survive such termination.

XIII. General Provisions

This User Agreement, which includes our Privacy Policy, constitutes the entire agreement between you and Consumer Media with respect to our Site and supersedes all prior agreements between you and Consumer Media. Failure by Consumer Media to enforce any provision of this User Agreement shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of New York applicable to contracts made and performed there without regard to its conflicts of law principles. You irrevocably agree to bring any claim or dispute relating to your use of our Site and/or this User Agreement exclusively in the state and federal courts located in the State and County of New York, and you waive any jurisdictional, venue or inconvenient forum objections to such courts. If any provision of this Agreement is deemed unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision is considered severed and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

XIV. Third-Party Sites and Applications.

Our Site may contain links and pointers to other sites on the Internet or include digital applications which may be maintained by third parties and governed by their own terms and privacy policies. Unless otherwise stated, the presence of such links and applications does not constitute an endorsement by Consumer Media or its licensors or affiliates of any third-party site or any materials contained therein. Consumer Media and (unless otherwise indicated) its licensors and affiliates do not control, and are not responsible for, the availability, accuracy, privacy policy, or currency of such third-party sites or any information, content, products or services accessible from such third-party sites.

XV. Changes to this User Agreement

We may update this User Agreement from time to time by posting the modified User Agreement on this page, or elsewhere on our Site. By continuing to use our Site after the modified User Agreement becomes effective, you agree to the modified terms.