Terms and Conditions

The ASCII Group, Inc. Terms of Service

GENERAL NOTICE

This “Agreement” is a legal agreement between you and The ASCII Group, Inc. (ASCII), and manufacturers, distributors and other suppliers and licensors concerning the ASCII negotiated programs.

ASCII is a Delaware corporation.  Unless otherwise indicated in this Agreement, all communications with ASCII should be directed to ASCII by email to info@ascii.com or by mail to ASCII at 7101 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1000, Bethesda, Maryland  20814.

Your ASCII membership includes specific industry programs and services, exclusive to ASCII and its members.  You may only receive these programs and services if you are a paid member in good standing with a valid, authorized credit number on file or paid subscription otherwise through approved offline transactions such as check, money order or other means.

By signing or checking the box that acknowledges you have read this agreement during the authorization and registration process, you agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT CHECK THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BOX OR SIGN THIS AGREEMENT, AS THE CASE MAY BE.  YOU AGREE THAT SUCH ASSENT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS AGREEMENT, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

APPROVAL AND AUTHORIZATION

ASCII does not require registration to access or view any free content and services within the site.

You agree to provide complete and accurate information in your registration process, and you agree not to provide any registration information that is false, misleading or incorrect. You also agree to notify us if any of your registration information changes immediately and in writing.

If at any time ASCII has any reason to believe that any of your registration information is inaccurate, untrue, incomplete or otherwise incorrect, ASCII reserves the right to terminate this Agreement.  In addition, you affirm that you are engaged primarily in the business of selling or reselling Computer, IP, or other digital products and/or services.

ASCII may refuse to grant you a specific username that may be misconstrued as another individual, is illegal, protected by trademark or other proprietary rights law, is offensive or vulgar, may cause harm or confusion to others, or any other instance as determined by ASCII in its sole discretion.

PAYMENT FOR SERVICES

Online payment via credit card or electronic draft from your checking account is the preferred method of subscription to premium services.  Payment is due in advance of access to premium services.

ASCII does allow payment for services via offline means, which must be arranged on a case-by-case basis.  For further information, please contact info@ascii.com.

For payment via credit card, you agree to provide ASCII with a valid credit card and accurate, complete personal information that may be required for any part of the registration process.  Failure to comply may result in immediate termination of access to services.

Subscriptions for membership automatically re-bill at the end of the applicable billing period, unless ASCII receives written notification of cancellation at least 10 days prior to the end of the billing period.  Unless there is a change in the amount being billed, the price will be the same as the prior billing period. If there is a change in the amount being billed, we will provide notice of the change via e-mail to the account holder’s designated primary e-mail account at least 10 days before the billing. The customer assumes all liability if the primary e-mail account is cancelled or the address given to ASCII is incorrect.

Subscriptions for all membership levels currently available are automatically renewed and your credit card account charged as follows:

- Every one (1) month for monthly membership, billed on the first of each month.
- Every three (3) months for quarterly membership, billed on each three-month anniversary of your initial start date.
- Annually (12) months for annual memberships, billed on the one-year anniversary of the initial start date
-  During your membership, you may change your billing from one type to another (for example: quarterly to annually).  Any such change will take effect at the end of your current billing cycle.

If you wish to cancel your subscription after any renewal, you must notify ASCII in writing no later than five (5) days after the beginning of the current billing cycle, in which case a full refund of the subscription price for the renewal will be credited back to your account.

If you want to use a different credit card or billing means, or if there is a change in the credit card personal information or expiration date, or if you believe someone has accessed your account within ASCII without your authorization, you must contact us via email to info@ascii.com or via regular email immediately.

ASCII will assess an additional 1.5% (or the highest amount allowed by law, whichever is lower) per month late charge if your payment is more than 30 days past due.  That amount is also due immediately.  You will also be responsible for any fees, including reasonable attorney and collection fees, that ASCII may incur in the collection process.  You also agree that you will be billed for and will pay any outstanding balances if you cancel the Service, or the Services are terminated.

Should you have a billing discrepancy, you agree to contact ASCII in writing at The ASCII Group, Inc., 7101 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1000, Bethesda, Maryland 20814, within 60 days after said discrepancy appears on your statement.  If you do not bring such a discrepancy to ASCII’s attention within 60 days, you agree to waive your right to dispute such discrepancies.

ASCII reserves the right to change the amount of fees or charges for membership, and to change the billing cycle.  ASCII also reserves the right to change the types of services offered for specific membership levels, providing notice of such changes to registered users via their designated primary e-mail account and posted elsewhere within the Service.  ASCII reserves the right to terminate any account, at any time for any reason, and without notice.

REGISTRATION SECURITY/USERID AND PASSWORD

ASCII takes your privacy and confidentiality seriously.  Your credit card, personal information, billing information and all other information is held in the highest privacy.

To protect the security of your credit card information, we employ the industry-standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.  We also encrypt your credit card number when we store your order and whenever we transfer that information to participating merchants.

ASCII’s vendors, service and distributor partners operate their own services, and they are responsible for their own unique privacy policies.  ASCII’s vendor and distributor partners are solely responsible for how they use the information they acquire from or about you, and you should review the privacy policy of any ASCII-endorsed merchant before ordering goods or services from them.

For more information, please review our Privacy Policy found on ASCII’s website at www.ascii.com.

TERMINATION

You may cancel your ASCII membership at any time, but ASCII will not refund any unused portion of your subscription fees already billed to your account.  If you are unsure of a year-long commitment for membership services, quarterly and monthly memberships are also available.  If you cancel, you may not transfer the balance of any unused time on your account to another individual.

ASCII may terminate this Agreement and your access to its services if, in ASCII’s judgment, you violate any part of this Agreement of any sub-agreement for specific services such as Forums, or make public any confidential information gained from membership that is marked or clearly considered in the trade to be confidential.  In this instance, ASCII will not refund any unused portion of your subscription fees already billed to your account.

In addition, we reserve the right to terminate this Agreement at any time and without cause.  In this instance, ASCII will give you a pro-rated reimbursement of the unused portion of any prepaid subscription fees.

On cancellation, ASCII may, or may not, remove all chat archives, forum posts, and other content provided or posted by you during your registration.

Upon termination of this agreement by you or ASCII, you shall immediately discontinue use of the services.

E-MAIL NOTIFICATION FOR REGISTRANTS

ASCII uses e-mail as the primary means of contacting registered users of our site about billing, fees, renewals, changes in services, upgrades, and accessing content.  You agree that ASCII may send Service-specific e-mails to the primary e-mail address that you provide with your registration.

If you do not want to receive Service-specific e-mail, you must cancel your registration to the Service as provided in this Agreement.

ASCII holds your e-mail and related personal information in strict confidence in accordance with our Privacy Policy.  You will not receive SPAM or other unsolicited e-mails from ASCII.  You will only receive from ASCII e-mail notifications for Service notifications related to your membership. Except for specific communications concerning your membership, each communication includes an opt-out mechanism at the bottom of the communication.

We do not sell or rent lists of ASCII members’ e-mail addresses, and therefore you should not receive SPAM or other unsolicited e-mails from companies outside ASCII.  However, if you do receive SPAM or other unsolicited e-mails that you believe may be an abuse of any ASCII Service, please contact us at info@ascii.com.

CONTENT LICENSE AND REQUIREMENTS

The content made available through ASCII is ASCII’s property and copyright, and/or the property of the authors, content partners and licensors, and is protected by copyright and intellectual property laws.  You may display or print the content available through ASCII for your personal, non-commercial use only.  Content may not be reused, rebroadcast, or redistributed on the web, print or elsewhere without the prior written permission of ASCII and/or the content provider.  Some materials may be available for non-commercial training purposes.  For more information, e-mail info@ascii.com.  You agree to use the content and services within ASCII in a manner that complies with all applicable laws in the jurisdictions in which you use them, including application restrictions on copyright and intellectual property rights.  As outlined above, you may not permit other individuals to access content and service within ASCII with your user account except for employees of your company.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE, SHALL ASCII BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDNETAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OF, OR THE INABILITY TO USE, THE ASSCII SITE OR MATERIAL OR FUNCTIONS ON ANY SUCH SITE, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.  APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.  IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT [INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE] OR OTHERWISE) EXCEED THE AMOUNT ACTUALLY PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESSING ASCII AND ITS SERVICES.

RIGHT TO TERMINATE OR MODIFY AGREEMENT, SERVICES

ASCII may modify or terminate the terms of the Agreement of Service, including but not limited to price, content, types of Services, upon notice to the registrant. In the event of this change, you may terminate this Agreement and any Services by written notice to ASCII.

Such notice of a change or termination of this Agreement or Services may be provided by e-mail or by posting the changes in an appropriate location on the Web site.

PRIVACY GENERAL OVERVIEW

You are required to have an ASCII account to use any and all Services.  Personal information you provide to ASCII is governed by the ASCII Privacy Policy at http://www.ascii.com/privacy.htm.  Your election to use the paid Services indicates your acceptance of the terms of the ASCII Privacy Policy, so please review it carefully if you have any questions about ASCII’s treatment of personal information you provide to us.

To summarize key terms of the ASCII Privacy Policy:  Information collected in ASCII accounts includes name, e-mail address, location information, product information, purchase information and credit card billing information.  The information is stored locally in cookies on a user’s personal computer and on ASCII servers and is sent to and from such servers as part of routine communications that support our Services.

ASCII uses this information to: 

• Verify access rights for content, services or software.
• To provide you with information about products, services, news and events.
• To allow you to purchase and access services and offers.
• To provide you with advertising, promotions and special offers we feel you may be interested in based on content preferences and other information you provide to us.
• To provide you with personalized content programming and services.
• For license reporting, billing and assessment of service levels.
• To better understand how and which of our Services are used, traffic levels and patterns and what types of content and services are most popular with users of our products and services.
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• PURCHASING INFORMATION
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• ASCII receives sales reporting information on the purchases made by each ASCII member through several distributors. ASCII may provide aggregate sales information to outside parties for purposes of forming partnerships, but all individual purchasing information is only used for internal purposes at ASCII and remains confidential from all outside parties.
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• CHATS, FORUMS AND OTHER ONLINE COMMUNICATION
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• ASCII hosts a variety of online instant and archived communications, including, but not limited to, chat, hosted discussions, message boards (forums) and e-mail.  Each of these Services may include its own Terms of Service with specific rules, regulations and guidelines for use of said service.  Participation in any of these Services binds the user to this Agreement and the Terms of Service of said Service.
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• Such services are intended to serve as discussion and information centers and resources for ASCII members.  Information provided within may be provided by said members, contributors, staff or others connected or not connected with ASCII, and its parent company, ASCII Technology Holdings, Inc., some of whom may use anonymous screen names or aliases.  Messages or statements posted by individuals within these services may be deceptive, incorrect, not factual, misleading or otherwise false, intentionally or unintentionally.  We do not endorse nor are we responsible for any opinions, advice, content, omissions, hyperlinks, images, articles, information or statements made or displayed within these Services by third parties.  Under no circumstances are we, our partners, contributors or suppliers, or their agents, liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance or beliefs of information contained within these discussion-type Services.  The opinions and information expressed within these Services is solely that of the poster, and does not reflect that of ASCII, its parent company ASCII Technology Holdings, Inc., or any of its affiliates or partners.  While we attempt to respond to specific issues and complaints that are brought to our attention, we have no obligation to monitor the content of these areas.
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• You acknowledge and agree that we have the right to monitor any transmission made through an ASCII Service, including, but not limited to, chat, forums, and ASCII hosted or affiliated e-mail to alter and remove any materials without limitation, to remove any user and terminate this Agreement for any real or perceived violation of this Agreement or that of a specific service, or for no reason whatsoever.
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• We will disclose such materials and circumstances surrounding its transmission to any third party, including law enforcement and legal officials, in order to operate our Web site properly, to protect ourselves, our sponsors, and our registrants and visitors.
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• NOTICE SPECIFIC TO MATERIALS AND LINKS AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE
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• Use of any copyrighted materials, including but not limited to text, photos, graphics and sounds, is expressly prohibited by law, and may result in severe civil and criminal penalties.  Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible.
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• Elements of ASCII’s websites are protected by trade dress and other laws and may not be copied or imitated in whole or in part.  No logo, graphic, sound or image from any ASCII website may be copied or retransmitted unless expressly permitted by ASCII and ASCII Technology Holdings, Inc., and said companies reserve the right to revoke such permission without notice.
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• ASCII AND ASCII TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS, INC. AND/OR THEIR RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE DOCUMENTS AND RELATED GRAPHICS PUBLISHED ON THIS SERVER FOR ANY PURPOSE.  ALL SUCH DOCUMENTS AND RELATED GRAPHICS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.  ASCII AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THIS INFORMATION, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL ASCII AND/OR THEIR RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM THIS SERVER.
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• THE DOCUMENTS AND RELATED GRAPHICS PUBLISHED ON THIS SERVER COULD INCLUDE TECHNICAL INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS.  CHANGES ARE PERIODICALLY ADDED TO THE INFORMATION HEREIN.  ASCII AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAY MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AND/OR CHANGES IN THE PRODUCT(S) AND/OR THE PROGRAM(S) DESCRIBED HEREIN AT ANY TIME.
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• IN NO EVENT SHALL ASCII AND/OR THEIR RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF SOFTWARE, DOCUMENTS, PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SERVICES, OR INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM THIS SERVER.
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• LINKS TO THIRD PARTY SITES WILL LET YOU LEAVE ASCII’S SITES.  THE LINKED SITES ARE NOT UNDER THE CONTROL OF ASCII AND ASCII IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENTS OF ANY LINKED SITE OR ANY LINK CONTAINED IN A LINKED SITE, OR ANY CHANGES OR UPDATES TO SUCH SITES.  ASCII IS PROVIDING THESE LINKS TO YOU ONLY AS A CONVENIENCE, AND THE INCLUSION OF ANY LINK DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT BY ASCII.
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• MISCELLANEOUS
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• CHOICE OF LAW; CHOICE OF FORUM; WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL. This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Maryland and of the United States.  Any dispute or lawsuit against ASCII or its parent which concerns this Agreement or which arises in any manner out of the use or operation of the ASCII website shall be brought solely in a state or Federal court in and for Montgomery County, Maryland, unless ASCII consents in writing to a different court or forum.  EACH PARTY WAIVES ITS RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY SUCH DISPUTE OR LAWSUIT.
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• COPYRIGHT NOTICE.  Copyright © 2010, The ASCII Group, Inc., 7101 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1000, Bethesda, MD  20814
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• TRADEMARKS.  The ASCII Group, Inc., ASCI Group, and other section titles are trademarks of The ASCII Group, Inc.  Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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• Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.