Terms of Service

1. General Information Regarding These Terms.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing with the creators of PlantVillage, your use of this website or application will always be subject to, at a minimum, the terms and conditions set out in this document. If forms a binding legal agreement between you and PlantVillage in relation to your use of the Websites and the Services. Collectively, this legal agreement is referred to below as the “Terms.”

2. Your Agreement to the Terms.

YOUR ACCESS OR USE OF ANY PLANTVILLAGE SITE, APPLICATION OR SERVICE IN ANY WAY SIGNIFIES THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTAND AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS. By accessing or using any PlantVillage site, application or service you also represent that you have the legal authority to accept the Terms on behalf of yourself and any party you represent in connection with your use of any PlantVillage site, application or service. If you do not agree to the Terms, you are not authorized to use any PlantVillage site, application or service.

3. Changes to the Terms.

From time to time, we may change, remove, add to or otherwise modify the Terms, and reserve the right to do so. In that case, we will post the updated Terms, as relevant, to the applicable Website(s) and indicate the date of revision. We encourage you to periodically review the Terms. In addition, if our modifications are material, we will make commercially reasonable efforts to notify you electronically. For example, we may send a message to your email address, if we have one on file, or we may display a notice on the Websites indicating that the Terms have changed. All new and/or amended Terms take effect immediately; provided, however, that if deemed material by us, such new and/or additional material terms will be marked as such and will take effect 30 days after they are posted on the applicable Website. Notwithstanding the foregoing, (i) no modification to the Terms will apply to any dispute between you and PlantVillage that arose prior to the effective date of any modification and (ii) if you do not agree with any modification to the Terms, you may terminate this agreement by ceasing use of the Websites and Services. Your continued use of any PlantVillage site, application or service after new and/or revised Terms are effective indicate that you have read, understood and agreed to those Terms.

4. Provision of the Websites and Services Generally.

PlantVillage makes the websites, apps and services available to you on the Terms. You may only use the websites, apps and services in accordance with these Terms. In particular but without limitation, you may not use the websites, apps and services for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms.

5. No warranties.

PlantVillage provides all websites, apps, services, and information on an “as-is” basis. PlantVillage makes no warranties regarding any information provided on or through the websites, apps and services, and disclaims liability for damages resulting from their use.

6. Location of the Websites and Services.

The websites and services are controlled and offered by PlantVillage from its facilities in the United States of America. We make no representations that the websites, apps or services are appropriate or available for use in other locations. If you are accessing or using any website, app or service from other jurisdictions, you do so at your own risk and you are responsible for compliance with local law. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the websites may contain or provide links to content (defined in Section 8, below) hosted on websites located outside of the United States of America.

7. User Conduct.

Users agree not to use the websites, apps or services to:
  1. Post, use or transmit Content that you do not have the right to post or use, for example, under intellectual property, confidentiality, privacy or other applicable laws;
  2. Post, use or transmit unsolicited or unauthorized Content, including advertising or promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any other form of unsolicited or unwelcome solicitation or advertising;
  3. Post, use or transmit Content that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment or otherwise interfere with or disrupt the Websites or Services or servers or networks connected to the Websites or Services, or that disobeys any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Websites or Services;
  4. Post or transmit Content that is harmful, offensive, obscene, abusive, invasive of privacy, defamatory, hateful or otherwise discriminatory, false and misleading, incites an illegal act, or is otherwise in breach of your obligations to any person or contrary to any applicable laws and regulations;
  5. Intimidate or harass another;
  6. Use or attempt to use another’s account, service, or personal information;
  7. Remove, circumvent, disable, damage or otherwise interfere with any security-related features that enforce limitations on the use of the Websites or Services;
  8. Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Websites or Services, other accounts, computer systems or networks connected to the Websites or Services, through hacking password mining or any other means or interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Websites or Services or any activities conducted through the Websites or Services;
  9. Use any means to bypass or ignore robot.txt, or other measures we use to restrict access or use of the websites, apps or services;
  10. Impersonate another person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity; or
  11. Post or transmit any personally identifiable information about persons under 13 years of age.
In addition, you may not (and may not authorize another party to): (i) frame or otherwise co-brand the websites, apps or services (for example, by displaying a name, logo, trademark or other means of attribution of a third party that is reasonably likely to give the user the impression that that third party has the right to display, publish or distribute the websites, apps or services); or, (ii) use any website, app or service in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage or impair such website, app or service, or interfere with any other party’s use and enjoyment of any website, app or service.

8. Terms Relating to Content on the Websites and Services.

  1. Responsibility for Content. You understand that all material, data and information, such as data files, written text, computer software, music, audio files or other sounds, photographs, videos or other images (collectively, “Content”) which you may have access to as part of, or through your use of, the websites, apps and services are the sole responsibility of the person from which such Content originated. This includes assertions that persons may make, expressly or impliedly, about the provenance and ownership of Content that they supply, upload, list and/or link to. You acknowledge that PlantVillage does not make any representations or warranties about the Content, including without limitation, about the accuracy, integrity or quality of the Content made available at the instigation of users of the websites, apps and services. You understand that by using the websites, apps and services, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Under no circumstances is PlantVillage liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to: any infringing Content, any errors or omissions in Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, transmitted to, linked to or otherwise accessible or made available via the websites, apps and services.
  2. Licenses Associated With Content on the websites, apps and services.
    1. PlantVillage Content: All Content (other than computer software) made available by PlantVillage on the websites, apps or services is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License, unless marked otherwise.
    2. Your Content: You retain the copyright in your Content that you provide on the websites and apps or in connection with the services. You hereby agree that all Content you voluntarily provide to PlantVillage on or through any website, app or service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license, is not copyrightable, or is in the public domain. When you post your Content, you designate PlantVillage as the “Attribution Party” for the purposes of the Attribution 3.0 license, as defined therein, and grant permission for the relevant Website URI to be associated with your Content for purposes of that license. If Content you provide is protected by copyright, then if it is not licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, you must not provide it to PlantVillage. For the avoidance of doubt, you may otherwise license your Content on any terms or no terms at all, but upon uploading or supplying Content protected by copyright to PlantVillage on the websites, apps or in connection with the services, you are licensing such Content under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license in addition to any such other license that may apply to your Content, and designating PlantVillage as the Attribution Party for purposes of that license.
    3. Third Party Content: Third Party Content and Third Party Websites (as defined in Section 9, below) that PlantVillage links to or embeds in the websites and apps or that are provided through the services, including but not limited to blogs and news feeds, are subject to the license terms accompanying such Content. For Third Party Content and Third Party Websites that PlantVillage supplies, as a courtesy PlantVillage will take reasonable steps to clearly mark any such Third Party Content or Third Party Websites that are not licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license; provided, however, that PlantVillage cannot and does not make any guarantee or warranty whatsoever about the license terms of Third Party Content or Third Party Websites and provides all such information AS-IS. We encourage you to always verify the license of any such Content before use.
    4. Search Results: Creative Commons may provide website search tools as a service on some of the websites and apps. Those search tools may return Content that is not licensed through a Creative Commons license. PlantVillage will make reasonable efforts to clearly mark whether such Content is licensed under a Creative Commons license based on any license information our search tools are able to locate and interpret. As stated above, you should independently verify the terms of the license attached to any Content you intend to use.
  3. Content You Provide.You may only submit Content to the Websites or in connection with the Services that you have the right to submit. This means that you can only submit Content that you yourself create, that is in the public domain or that you have been expressly granted the right to submit consistent with the Terms. For the avoidance of doubt, Content that infringes the rights of any third party (e.g., Content used without express permission of the copyright owner and not otherwise permitted by law) must not be submitted. You represent, warrant and agree that no Content of any kind submitted, posted or otherwise shared by you on or through any of the websites, apps or services, violates or infringes upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary rights, or contains libelous, defamatory or otherwise unlawful material. Further, you represent, warrant and agree not to submit any personally identifiable information, including any Content containing personally identifiable information, about any person who is under 13 years of age. PlantVillage may, but is not obligated to, review your submissions and may delete or remove (without notice) any Content in its sole discretion that PlantVillage determines violates the Terms or that may be offensive, illegal, or that might violate the rights, harm or threaten the safety of others. PlantVillage does not endorse or support any Content posted by you or any other third party on or through the websites, apps or services. You alone are responsible for creating backup copies and replacing any Content you post on the websites, apps or services, and you authorize PlantVillage to make copies of your Content as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting of your Content on the websites, apps or services. You may request the removal of your Content from the websites, apps or services at any time, and PlantVillage will take reasonable steps to promptly remove such Content; provided, however, that PlantVillage can remove any such Content only from its websites and cannot remove Content from email archives, wiki history pages and similar community forums where you may post content, or others’ computers, such as Content you may have sent to others in an email posted to a PlantVillage email list. If you choose to remove your Content, the Creative Commons license you granted when submitting such Content (see subparagraph (b)(ii), above) will remain in full force and effect in accordance with its terms.
  4. Use of Content on the websites, apps or services.You may use the Content you find on the websites, apps or services in accordance with the terms of the license applicable to that Content. For the avoidance of doubt, you must attribute all Content (except public domain Content) in the manner specified by the author or licensor (including attribution to any designated Attribution Party) and in accordance with the terms of such license and you must not remove or alter any copyright, trademark, name or other notice or legend that appears in connection with the Content. You represent and warrant to PlantVillage that you will use any and all Content on our websites, apps or services in accordance with the applicable license. You should be sure to review the terms of that license before you use the Content to which it applies so that you know what you can and cannot do. By using the websites, apps or services, you agree that you are solely responsible for your use of any and all Content made available thereon. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the provenance, ownership, accuracy, completeness, or reliability of such Content. In this regard, you acknowledge that you may not rely on any Content made available on the websites, apps or services without your own independent evaluation of that Content. PlantVillage does not guarantee that Content made available on the websites, apps or services does not infringe the rights of any third party.

9. Third Party Websites and Content; Links.

The Websites or Services may contain links to websites not controlled by PlantVillage (“Third Party Websites”), as well as Content belonging to or originating from persons or organizations other than PlantVillage (“Third Party Content”). You acknowledge that PlantVillage is not responsible or liable for any Third Party Websites or any Third Party Content, information or products made available at any Third Party Website, regardless of whether Third Party Websites provide the option for users to apply Creative Commons licenses to Content hosted on those sites, or whether any Third Party Website or Third Party Content bears a Creative Commons license. You further acknowledge that PlantVillage (a) is not responsible or liable for any Third Party Websites or any Third Party Content, information or products made available at any Third Party Website; (b) has not reviewed any Third Party Websites or Third Party Content for accuracy, appropriateness, completeness or non infringement; (c) has not sponsored or otherwise endorsed Third Party Websites or Third Party Content; and (d) makes no representations or warranties whatsoever about any Third Party Websites or Third Party Content.

10. Participating in Our Community: Registered Users.

Registering for an account on any of the websites or apps is void where prohibited. Only persons who are over the age of majority in their jurisdiction (which typically is 18, but may be different in your jurisdiction) and fully competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations and warranties set forth in the Terms and to abide by and comply with the Terms may register for an account and use the related services; provided, however, that if you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction but over 13 years of age, you may join with the express permission of your parent or legal guardian. Any registration by, use of or access to the services provided to Registered Users (defined below) by anyone (1) under the age of 13 or (2) under the age of majority in their jurisdiction but without parental or guardian permission, is unauthorized, unlicensed and a violation of these Terms. By registering for an account on any of the websites and apps or using the related services, you represent and warrant that you (1) are the age of majority in your jurisdiction or, (2) are over the age of 13 and have the express permission of a legal guardian to become a Registered User and use Services made available to Registered Users, and you further agree to abide by all of the terms and conditions of these Terms.

Services offered to Registered Users are provided subject to these Terms. PlantVillage reserves the right to modify or discontinue the accounts of Registered Users and related Services at any time. PlantVillage disclaims any and all liability to Registered Users and third parties in the event PlantVillage exercises its right to modify or discontinue user accounts or related Services.

Registration; Security. You agree to (a) provide accurate, current and complete information about you, if and as may be prompted by the registration process on the any of the websites and apps, (b) maintain the security of your password(s) and identification, (c) maintain and promptly update your registration information and any other information you provide to PlantVillage, and to keep it accurate and complete to, among other things, allow us to contact you, and (d) be fully responsible for all use of your account and for any actions that take place using your account. It is your responsibility to ensure that PlantVillage has up-to-date contact information for you. You may not set up an account or membership on behalf of another individual or entity unless you are authorized to do so.

No Membership. As used in these Terms, “Registered User” means a person who has registered and obtained an account on one of our websites or apps. Becoming a Registered User or using any of the related websites, apps or services does not and shall not be deemed to make you a member or affiliate of PlantVillage for any purposes whatsoever.

Termination; Termination and Inactivation of User Accounts. Your participation as a Registered User and use the related services terminates automatically upon your breach of any of these Terms.

In addition, PlantVillage may, at any time: (a) modify, suspend or terminate the operation of or access to your user account for any reason; (b) modify or change such websites, apps and services and any applicable Terms and policies governing your user account and related websites, apps and services for any reason; and (c) interrupt user accounts and related websites, apps and services for any reason, all as PlantVillage deems appropriate in its discretion. Your access to your account, and use of the related websites, apps and services may be terminated by you or by PlantVillage at any time and for any reason whatsoever, without notice.

In addition, PlantVillage reserves the right to delete and purge any account and all Content associated therewith following any prolonged period of inactivity, all as may be determined by PlantVillage in its complete discretion.

11. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY THE APPLICABLE LAW, PLANTVILLAGE OFFERS THE WEBSITES, APPS AND SERVICES AS-IS AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE WEBSITES, APPS OR SERVICES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTIBILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT. PLANTVILLAGE DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS OR CONTENT CONTAINED ON THE WEBSITE OR SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT PLANTVILLAGE’S SERVERS ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. PLANTVILLAGE DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION REGARDING USE OR THE RESULT OF USE OF THE CONTENT IN TERMS OF ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.

12. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.

EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW AND THEN ONLY TO THAT EXTENT, IN NO EVENT WILL PLANTVILLAGE, ITS EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AFFILIATES OR AGENTS (“THE PLANTVILLAGE PARTIES”) BE LIABLE TO YOU ON ANY LEGAL THEORY FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, ACTUAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR OTHER DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF REVENUE OR INCOME, LOST PROFITS, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, COST OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, OR SIMILAR DAMAGES SUFFERED OR INCURRED BY YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY THAT ARISE IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITES, APPS OR SERVICES (OR THE TERMINATION THEREOF FOR ANY REASON), EVEN IF THE PLANTVILLAGE PARTIES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

THE PLANTVILLAGE PARTIES SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE WHATSOEVER IN ANY MANNER FOR ANY CONTENT POSTED ON THE WEBSITES OR SERVICES (INCLUDING CLAIMS OF INFRINGEMENT RELATING TO CONTENT POSTED ON THE WEBSITES OR SERVICES, FOR YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITES AND SERVICES, OR FOR THE CONDUCT OF THIRD PARTIES WHETHER ON THE WEBSITES, IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICES OR OTHERWISE RELATING TO THE WEBSITES OR SERVICES.

13. Indemnification for Breach of Terms of Use.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the PlantVillage Parties (defined above) from and against any and all loss, expenses, damages, and costs, including without limitation reasonable attorneys fees, resulting, whether directly or indirectly, from your violation of the Terms. You also agree to indemnify and hold harmless the PlantVillage Parties from and against any and all claims brought by third parties arising out of your use of any of the websites, apps or services and the Content you make available via any of the websites, apps or services by any means, including without limitation through a posting, a link, reference to Content, or otherwise.

14. Privacy Policy.

PlantVillage is committed to handling responsibly the information and data we collect through our websites, apps and services.

15. Trademarks.

The websites, apps and services may contain trademarks, service marks, logos and other names that are the property of PlantVillage or such other party as indicated with respect to that name or icon.

16. Copyright Complaints.

PlantVillage respects the intellectual property rights of others, and we prohibit users of our Websites and Services from submitting, uploading, posting or otherwise transmitting any materials that violate another person’s intellectual property rights.

Additionally, it is our policy to terminate usage rights and any applicable user accounts of users we determine to be “repeat infringers” of others’ copyrights.

Content hosted on Third Party Websites is the responsibility of those Websites, and not of PlantVillage. If you are the copyright owner of Content hosted on a Third Party Website, and you have not authorized the use of your Content, please contact the administrator of the hosting Website directly to have the Content removed.

17. Termination of this Agreement.

These Terms will continue to apply until terminated by either you or PlantVillage as set out below. Your right to access and use the websites,apps and services terminates automatically upon your breach of any of these Terms.

PlantVillage may, at any time: (a) modify, suspend or terminate the operation of or access to any of the websites, apps or services, or any portion of the websites, apps or services, for any reason; (b) modify or change the websites, apps or services, or any portion of the websites, apps or services, and any Terms and other policies governing the use of the websites, apps or services, for any reason; (c) interrupt the operation of the websites, apps or services, or any portion of the websites, apps or services, for any reason, all as PlantVillage deems appropriate in its sole discretion.

Your access to, and use of, the websites, apps and services may be terminated by you or by PlantVillage at any time and for any reason. PlantVillage will use reasonable efforts to notify you in advance about any material modification, suspension or termination that is not caused by your breach of the Terms.

The disclaimer of warranties, the limitation of liability and the jurisdiction and applicable law provisions shall survive any termination. The license grants mentioned herein shall continue in effect subject to the terms of the applicable license. Your warranties and indemnification obligations shall survive any termination for one year.

These Terms of Use are Effective as of January 1, 2013.