FC2 Terms of Use

ARCHIVED 2016-01-04, DATE APPROXIMATE · VERSION 20160104_rev01 · COMPARED WITH 20150813_rev01

Full text changes — 20150813_rev01 to 20160104_rev01

COLOUR MARKS THE SEVERITY OF A FLAGGED CLAUSE · + AND − MARK ADDED AND REMOVED

 These terms (Hereby referred to as the "Terms of Use" or "This Document") constitute an agreement with FC2, INC (Hereby referred to as "FC2") and all concerned, in relation to FC2ID and all FC2 provided Services (Hereby referred to as "Our Service(s)" or "FC2 Service(s)"), to make our operation methods more clear and efficient.
 Those wishing to register to use Our Services, consent to the terms within This Document when applying to register to use an FC2ID. Those registered to use an FC2ID (Hereby referred to as or "Member(s)"), or all those (including Members) who potentially use any of Our Services (Hereby referred to as "User(s)") consent to holding full liability.
 Users and Members agree to these Terms of Use and the Terms of Use for each Service upon using Our Services.
 ### Fundamental Guidelines
+\. Privacy Policy
+#### 1\. Privacy Policy
+Please refer [here](http://fc2.com/en/privacy.html) to see our Privacy Policy
+Please refer [here](http://help.fc2.com/privacy/tos/en) to see our Privacy Policy
+\. Using Our Services.
+#### 2\. Using Our Services.
 . FC2ID Application and Consent
     An FC2ID application constitutes FC2 lending a User ID and password, necessary for use of Our Service. However, in the event that information supplied by the User during application contains falsehoods, or in the event that FC2 concludes that a User's use of FC2ID is inappropriate, FC2 retains the right to cancel any Members' FC2ID. FC2 is not obligated to notify the Member about the cancellation.
 . Notice and Contact
     FC2 will notify users about necessary information, in a matter FC2 considers appropriate, including through FC2's website or e-mail etc. In this case, FC2 may use the information submitted by the users (including information provided by third-party service with user's consent). When such notices are sent by email or over our website, they may come into effect from the point they were sent. Users do not retain any right to refuse emails from FC2, and Users are obligated to inform us of any change in contact email address, immediately. Users acknowledge that FC2 does not accept contact by phone, fax or visitation. All notices which require replies must be replied to within specified period by FC2. If FC2 does not receive a confirmed reply within this period, FC2 retains the right to freeze and/or cancel Users' account(s).
 . Registered E-mail Address, User ID and Password
     Users are held fully responsible for their registered email addresses, User Ids and Passwords. By applying, Users agree that FC2 cannot be held accountable for any loss or damage caused by a User's mistake and/or inproper use by a third party. Furthermore, FC2 is not obligated to reissue Users' email address, User ID or password.
 . Transfer/Sale of Service Privileges
     Users are in no way permitted to sell, transfer or loan their FC2ID and/or service privileges to a third party without expressed approval from FC2, nor may these be shared in a way that detriments FC2.
 . Access
     All Users are required to have Internet access in order to use FC2 services. This Internet access will need to be installed and maintained at the User's own expense. FC2 is in no way responsible for arranging Internet access for Users.
 . Traffic and Domain
     FC2 retains the right to set and alter limitations to file sizes, savable domain space, and data transfer on its services, where otherwise undefined, and may do so at our own discretion.
 . User Content
     Members retain copyright and other privileges for all original, accessible information and creations on forums, blogs, websites and other FC2 services that they themselves create (Hereby referred to as "User Content" or "Content"). All User Content may be edited, translated, published, performed, presented, promoted, distributed or used for any other reason, by FC2 unconditionally. This is essential for the continual running of FC2 Services. Users consent to this.
 . Third Party Contents
     Users and/or Members may use, trade or download software from third party individual or business services when using Our Services. In this case the User must have permission or an agreement with the third party, separate from This Document. This Document has no legal affect on said separate agreement.
+\. Pay-for-use Services and FC2 Points
+#### 3\. Pay-for-use Services and FC2 Points
 Users who use FC2 Pay-for-use Services (Hereby also referred to as "Premium Service(s)") and/or any payment in Our Services that include FC2 Points, agree to the ["FC2 Point Terms of Use"](http://help.fc2.com/point/tos/en) (also referred to as the "FC2 Premium Services Terms of Use").
+\. Prohibited Conduct and Bans
+#### 4\. Prohibited Conduct and Bans
 . FC2 expressly prohibits the following conduct, or any corresponding conduct as determined by FC2, on Our Services. FC2 retains the right to ban, without warning, any User who has engaged in prohibited acts or conduct, or take any possible form of legal action; and may demand compensation or reparations from any User who caused any form of damage to FC2 or a third party.
     Please refer [here](http://help.fc2.com/copyrights/tos/en) to see our Copyright Guideline.
 . Violations of these Terms of Use.
 . Breaching the trust of, or defaming other Users or third parties.Infringing others' Privacy rights, Image rights etc.
 . Infringing on other Users' and/or third parties' industrial property rights (patents, trademarks etc.), copyright, trade secrets and/or intellectual property rights.
 . Uploading or posting unlawful content, and/or supporting or encouraging illegal activity including but not limited to causing injury, theft, suicide, the use and/or sales of illicit substances as well as acts that encourage, solicit or suggest the use and/or sales of drugs.
 . Maintaining content which violates local, regional, national, or international law; in particular that which violates US law.
 . Depictions and/or conduct that go against public order or are immoral. Publishing and/or releasing vulgarities, in the form of video, audio, image, text etc. against other Users and/or third parties; or assisting in such an act.
 . Hindering, interfering with, disturbing or blocking the use of Our Services to other Users, or engaging in conduct or performing actions which cause difficulty for others; or assisting in such an act.
 . Engaging in discrimination against individuals, specific groups, government organizations, nations, products, political administrations, beliefs, ideas, ideologies, race, religion, ethnicity, gender etc. ; or engaging in slander or libel or any similar act that causes defamation to others; or assisting in such an act.
 . Claiming to be another individual, business or organization, regardless of whether or not such an entity actually exists; and/or falsely claiming to be partners and/or in collaboration with an organization or business; or other such acts.
 . Impersonating FC2, content providers or management, or any other third party.
 . Publishing or posting defamatory content or information which could potentially lead to damages to FC2 or FC2's business partner(s).
 . Acting in such a way as to place burden on FC2's server(s); disrupting, damaging, limiting or interfering with FC2's or others' computer software, hardware capabilities etc. or assisting in such an act.
 . Posting the same, or similar, post or comment repeatedly. Spamming and/or trolling or other such acts.
 . Engaging in conduct which is detrimental to the healthy development of, or causes harm to minors (eg. sending or posting violent images or text of child pornography, child prostitution, bestiality, or violence), or anything that promotes or assists such conduct.
 . Giving advanced notice of crimes or of actions leading to crime, or posting threatening information which can be viewed by an unspecified number of people.
 . Using Our Service(s) as a medium to do illegal business or commit conduct that runs counter to the law.
 . Engaging in malignant business practices, our excessive solicitation to advertisements or religion.
 . Establishing or recruiting people into pyramid schemes or other similar acts.
 . Selling or attempting to sell Our Service(s) to a third party.
 . Using, registering or upgrading mass amounts of software or programs, causing high access, and preventing our service from operating as intended.
 . Wanton collecting, video recording, duplicating, falsifying, distributing and/or displaying of contents and/or data acquired from Our Services or the use, introduction or suggesting of tools or other means that may promote or encourage these acts.
 . Inappropriate use or registration of multiple accounts or other conduct that prevents the stable operation of Our Services.
 . Engaging in conduct that is detrimental to FC2 through misappropriate use and/or conducting prohibited actions by taking advantage of bugs, system malfunction etc.
 . Acting by deleting or concealing FC2's advertising space, or altering the position, color, size, code or other such properties of advertisements.
 . Engaging in any other action which FC2 deems to be inappropriate.
 . Users and Members are forbidden to publish or post any prohibited kind of content such as text, image, music, video etc. Even in the event that such data is set as private or limited in its Exposure Settings, applicable data is considered a violation the moment it arrives on FC2 Server(s).
 . FC2 retains the right to deem what counts as a violation.
 . Precautions when using Premium Services and/or Points
     Members who have been deemed to have violated the Terms of Service and have their accounts frozen or canceled, will also have their contracts canceled. Even if this occurs before a contract is due to finish, requests for refunds of remaining money will not be valid. Points that are held by Users shall not be refunded.
+\. Content Prohibited by Age
+#### 5\. Content Prohibited by Age
 There are pages within Our Services that are may only be viewed by adults (Hereby referred to as "Adult Content"). There is no assurance that the services provided within the Adult Content area(s) of Our Services will include sexual content.
 . Conditions of Use of Adult Content
 . Adult Content on Our Services is only permitted to be viewed by those of the age of 18 or over. Viewing by Users and Members below the age of 18 is prohibited.
 . Publishing of Adult Content shall be restricted to the Adult areas within Our Services.
 . Publishing Adult Content on Our Services that includes performers, subjects and models etc. that are under the age of 18, or cannot prove that they are above the age of 18, is prohibited.
+\. Limitation of Liability
+#### 6\. Limitation of Liability
 FC2 takes absolutely no responsibility for any of the following.
 . FC2 is in no way liable or responsible for content that users create themselves on Our Service(s) (Hereby referred to as "User Content" or "Content".) Users retain full statutory liability, including any and all court costs or damage payments due to their User Content. Also, content violating laws and/or regulations, as well as violating others' privacy or intellectual property rights; or libelous, defamatory or intimidatory content; and/or immoral or obscene content is the full responsibility of the User to delete swiftly. FC2 does not take responsibility for any User Content, and is not responsible to Users or third parties whatsoever.
 . FC2 also does not guarantee the continuation of any of Our Service(s) whatsoever. FC2 retains the right to discontinue any or all of our services without forewarning, or to convert previously free services into premium services. (We will endeavor to continue services, but may not be able to due to unforeseen circumstances.) FC2 also retains the right to deny use, without forewarning, in particular cases. The same applies to third parties providing contents through Our Services. Please use Our Services with a full understanding of these Terms of Use.
 . FC2 cannot be held accountable for any trouble you experience during use of Our Service(s). Users are responsible for managing their content. As such, if Users are in anyway harmed or experience damage or loss due to another User's Content FC2 is in no way responsible for compensation. This is especially true for Users engaged in business, who are obligated to explicitly specify the contractual relationship between themselves and other Users. All Users engaged in business, using FC2 Service(s), must attempt to prevent or resolve any potential or resulting issues between themselves and others.
 . FC2 is not obligated to monitor or delete User Contents. Users retain all responsibility for all their Content. FC2 is not accountable for any damage or loss caused to Users or third parties due to any such Content.
 . In such cases where a User is harming or causing damage to other Users and/or third parties; FC2 retains the right to, and shall not be held liable for, deleting and/or freezing the applicable User's ID and/or Contents, without forewarning, and at FC2's own discretion.
 . FC2 shall not be held responsible for any loss of data due to system failure or file corruption etc. Users shall take their own backup of data relating to User Content. FC2 shall not guarantee the integrity and security for any User Content data, in any way.
 . FC2 will not disclose any personal information that Members/Users present us, such as your address, name, e-mail address, telephone number, fax number, etc. (Hereby referred to as "Personal Information") to other Users or third parties without the consent of the User. However, in the following cases FC2 retains the right to disclose Personal Information to third parties.
 . Public institutions such as courts or the police, lawfully appeal for an inquiry.
 . There appears to be imminent danger to a person's life, physical wellbeing, and/or property; and FC2 finds an urgent need to disclose the information.
 . The sharing or disclosure of information is found to be necessary by FC2, in order to provide desired Service(s).
 . FC2 finds it necessary to disclose the information to other company(s) working with us, to better provide Service(s) to Users. (Such companies may not use Users' Personal Information, that FC2 provides them, in anyway that exceeds what is necessary to reach the intention stated above.)
 . FC2 finds it necessary to disclose such information in order to protect FC2's legal rights, property and/or Service(s); due to actions or conduct conducted by a User or Member in violation of these Terms of Use.
 . FC2 finds it necessary to disclose such information in order to protect a third party's legal rights, property and/or Service(s); due to actions or conduct conducted by a User or Member in violation of these Terms of Use which violated the third party's legal rights, property and/or Service(s).
 . FC2 finds it necessary to disclose such information in order to restore or prevent a reduction in FC2's SEO, Service Quality etc.; due to actions or conduct conducted by a User or Member.
 . FC2 accepts no responsibility for any damage or losses incurred to Users accessing external links posted on Our Services' content or in a User's Content. All Users must acknowledge that FC2 can not be held accountable for the security, validity, integrity or accuracy of the information on any external sites.
 . In the case that a User creates merchandise and/or other salable Content on Our Services which violates the Terms of Use, FC2 takes no responsibility for the freezing of the offending User's contents or the refunding of money to purchasers.
 . FC2 takes no responsibility for any damages or losses incurred from Users using Our Service(s), Users not being able to use Our Service(s) or Users not using Our Service(s).
 . Our Services are managed and provided by FC2 from equipment within the United States of America. FC2 makes no assertion to the appropriateness or usability of Our Services in regards to their use in regions outside the United States of America. In the event that a User accesses from another legal jurisdiction, shall do so on their own volition, and be totally responsible for legal compliance of their place of access.
+\. Withdrawal
+#### 7\. Withdrawal
 . Users can terminate using FC2 Services and withdraw from FC2 membership in accordance with Terms of Use in the way FC2 specified.
 . When you withdraw from FC2ID, you will lose any and all rights such as to use all FC2 Services including getting prizes in campaigns by FC2.
 . Your FC2 Points will become invalid when you withdraw from FC2ID and, FC2 is unable to support any refunds or converting of FC2 Points.
 . FC2 shall not support any reinstatement of any of Our Services after cancellation of the Services.
+\. These Terms of Use
+#### 8\. These Terms of Use
 . This Document is the original version of the Terms of Use (the English version). All Users agree and acknowledge that the original version is legally binding.
 . If there is any difference or a contradiction between This Document and the translated version, the original version will be given priority.
+\. Discontinuation of FC2 Service(s)
+#### 9\. Discontinuation of FC2 Service(s)
 . FC2 retains the right to modify Our Service(s) without forewarning Users.
 . FC2 may also, due to maintenance, system restoration, power failure, natural disaster or any other Force Majeure; permanently or temporarily discontinue any number of Our Service(s). In such cases we will attempt to notify Users beforehand; but in emergencies we may not be able to.
 . FC2 retains the right to modify Service(s), or partially or completely discontinue Service(s) at FC2's discretion, at any time FC2 deems appropriate. When or after a Service(s) is discontinued or erased, FC2 retains the right to deem whether or not to erase all posted data on FC2 servers (or third party servers used by FC2).
 . FC2 is not liable to any Users, and is not responsible for any damages or losses incurred due to the discontinuation of Our Service(s) for any reason.
+\. Guarantee Limitations
+#### 10\. Guarantee Limitations
 FC2 will always try as hard as possible to maintain stability in Our Service(s), business practices, use and effects of use. However, FC2 does not guarantee any of the following.
 . Continual operation. Operation of Service(s) without interruption.
 . Total or complete recovery or restoration of any Service(s) that experiences a defect or bug.
 . That destructive and/or malicious components such as computer viruses do not exist within Our Service(s).
 . Provision of security methods to secure against the above 3 items.
+\. Force Majeure
+#### 11\. Force Majeure
 FC2 can not be held accountable for not meeting, or being delayed in fulfilling it's obligations in these Terms of Use, including but not limited to, cases of natural disasters, inaction by authorities, fire, strike, flood, pandemic, violence, acts of war or other such circumstances which are reasonably beyond the powers of FC2 to control.
+\. Disputes
+#### 12\. Disputes
 . The laws of Nevada, USA are applied to these Terms of Use.
 . Any disputes resulting from the use of Our Service(s), will be resolved through arbitrary proceedings recognized by the state of Nevada.
 . If a resolution cannot be made through arbitration, a Nevada State District Court receives exclusive jurisdiction rights.
 . The parties concerned are responsible for their own legal costs in court and arbitration.
 . If any clauses in This Document are found to be invalid, or otherwise non-binding, by a court; all other clauses will still remain as valid and binding.
+\. Advertising
+#### 13\. Advertising
 . All business relating to placing advertising on Our Service(s) is the responsibility of Users and corresponding advertisers. FC2 holds no responsibility for any losses or damages suffered, due to the posting of advertising on Our Service(s).
 . FC2 may modify advertising space, position and/or display duration without forewarning. Users agree to and acknowledge this.
+\. Revision of our Terms of Use
+#### 14\. Revision of our Terms of Use
 . FC2 retains the right to alter or revise these Terms of Use at any time, as FC2 deems necessary, without the consent of Users.
 . New stipulations in a revised Terms of Use will come into effect immediately after the Terms of Use have been posted onto the web.
 . The latest version of these Terms of Use shall be deemed to have been agreed to while FC2 is still being used.
+\. Refunds and Returns Policy
+#### 15\. Refunds and Returns Policy
 . As for charge to use the FC2 premium services and payment, you are to follow regulations fixed by these terms of use or those fixed for each FC2 premium service.
 . You are to bear commission, tax or lump-sum payment for each premium service.
 . When the payment for the initial registration or renewal is not made until the specified date, we consider that you do not intend to register or renew your premium membership and will terminates the contract.
 . Even if we cannot collect a charge from a card company or its agency, you must agree to make a payment charged by us.
 . When you approve billing to the credit card you specified, (we receive advance payment from a credit card company), we consider that you accept not only the billing you approved but also all the billing form the FC2 premium services you use (until the user cancels the premium services and cancellation procedure is completed) as long as the credit card is valid. In order to use a credit card, you must agree to this clause.
 . We may revise charges or contents of premium services without users' approval. And also the revised charges will be applied when you renew your contract of a premium service.
 . When you do not make a payment until the specified date provided by these terms of use and each service you must pay a late payment charge fixed by FC2.
 . Payment must be made by the method we specify. When you make a payment by other methods or when losses are caused by it, we are not liable for them.
 . Users agree to the fact that they cannot shorten the contract period of Premium Services.
 . No requests for refunds, after purchasing Points or agreeing to use Premium Services, will be valid under any circumstances.
 . In the event of a request for chargeback from a credit card company, the corresponding account shall be suspended.