TERMS AND CONDITIONS

 These Terms of Use, which are a legal agreement between you and Knight Foundation, cover subjects of importance to us and to you as a user of the Knight Foundation website (the “Site”) as well as on-line / virtual events which Knight Foundation hosts. Those subjects include content that you may post on the Site or through such virtual events; limits on the uses you may make of the Site and its content; message boards or like means to communicate that we may make available on our Site and through our virtual events; our Privacy Policy; limitations on our liability; dispute resolution; and other matters. We urge you to read these Terms of Use and linked materials carefully

KnightFoundation.org is a website associated with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and/or its affiliates (collectively, “Knight Foundation”) a charitable trust existing under the laws of the State of Florida. By visiting the Knight Foundation website or using any Knight Foundation information, software, data (including feeds thereto), text, sound, images or other material (the “Site Content”) or the services provided to you on, from, or through the Site or a virtual event hosted by Knight Foundation (the “Services”) you signify your agreement to: (1) these terms and conditions (the “Terms of Use”) and (2) the Knight Foundation Privacy Policy, found at KnightFoundation.org/privacy and incorporated herein by reference. If you do not agree to any of the Terms of Use or The Knight Foundation Privacy Policy, please do not use the Site or the Site Content and/or Services.

Although we may notify you when major changes are made to these Terms of Use, you should periodically review the most up-to-date version at Knight Foundation.org/terms. Knight Foundation may, in its sole discretion, modify or revise these Terms of Use, its Privacy Policy, or any other policy in effect at any time, and you agree to be bound by such modifications or revisions. Nothing in these Terms of Use shall be deemed to confer any third-party rights or benefits.

1. Acceptance.

The Knight Foundation provides to Users (as hereafter defined) of its Content and/or Services certain web-based charitable, information technology, marketing and commerce-facilitating applications (“Applications”), as further set forth herein, and hosting for such Applications on the Site subject to these Terms of Use. A “User,” for purposes of this Agreement is any person who logs on to the Site for its intended purposes. Knight Foundation does not represent, endorse or act as an agent for any User in any transactions conducted on the Site or during a virtual event hosted by Knight Foundation using the Knight Foundation Services, Site Content and/or Applications.

2. General Terms of Use for All Knight Foundation Services.

A. User Content.

User represents and warrants that User owns or otherwise controls all of the rights to the information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages or other materials (“User Content”) that User posts to the Site or during a virtual event hosted by Knight Foundation; that the User Content is accurate; and that other Users may reproduce, display, or distribute the User Content without infringing anyone’s rights or causing injury to any person or entity. User shall indemnify the Knight Foundation and hold it harmless from and against all claims that result from User Content that User posts on the Site or during a virtual event hosted by Knight Foundation. User grants Knight Foundation and its sublicensees the right to use the name that User submits in connection with User Content. Except as provided herein, User retains ownership of all rights, including intellectual property rights, in User’s Content that User posts to the Site or during a virtual event hosted by Knight Foundation. The Knight Foundation’s use of User Content and other information shall at all times be subject to Knight Foundation’s Privacy Policy.

Knight Foundation may, but is not obligated to, monitor the posting activities of Users and may in its sole discretion remove any User Content and/or restrict a User’s ability to post User Content on the Site or during a virtual event hosted by Knight Foundation . Knight Foundation is not liable in any way, including for the payment of royalties, for any User Content, including (without limitation) any errors or omissions in User Content, any use of User Content outside the direct control of Knight Foundation, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of or reliance on User Content. User agrees to evaluate and bear all risks associated with the use of or reliance on any User Content.

User shall not post any User Content on the Site or during a virtual event hosted by Knight Foundation that: (a) is fraudulent, or makes fraudulent offers of items or involves the purchase or sale, or attempted purchase or sale, of counterfeit or stolen items or any item the sale or marketing of which is prohibited by applicable law, or promotes illegal activities; (b) is a scheme, or part of a scheme, to commit fraud on other Users; (c) infringes or otherwise abets or encourages the infringement or violation of any third party’s intellectual property rights, including but not limited to copyright, patent, trademarks, trade secret or other proprietary right or right of publicity or privacy; (d) violates any applicable law, statute, ordinance or regulation including, without limitation, those governing consumer protection, unfair competition, anti-discrimination, or false advertising, (e) is defamatory, libelous, unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing; (f) is obscene or contains, in whole or in part, any pornographic merchandises or sex or sex-related products or otherwise promotes sexually explicit materials or materials harmful to minors; (g) promotes or endorses discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age; (h) constitutes unauthorized advertising or harassment (including but not limited to spamming), invades anyone’s privacy or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offence or give rise to civil liability; (i) copies, reproduces, exploits or expropriates Knight Foundation’s proprietary directories, databases, or listings; (j) User knows to incorporate any computer virus or other destructive device or code that may have the effect of damaging, interfering with, intercepting or expropriating any software or hardware system, data or personal information; or (k) involves any scheme to undermine the integrity of the computer systems or networks used by the Knight Foundation or any User of the Site.

No User shall attempt to gain unauthorized access to Knight Foundation’s computer systems or networks.

B. Privacy.

Please review Knight Foundation’s privacy policy, which applies to a User’s visit to and use of the Site and participation in a virtual event hosted or sponsored by Knight Foundation. The Privacy Policy is located at: KnightFoundation.org.

C. Legal Compliance.

User may not post any User Content on the Site or during a virtual event hosted or sponsored by Knight Foundation that is restricted or prohibited anywhere by any law, whether federal, state, local, or extra-territorial. User is solely responsible for determining whether the laws of any jurisdiction (not solely those of his, her, or its home jurisdiction) may apply to any User Content, and for complying with all such laws.

Additionally, User may not post any User Content that Knight Foundation has concluded is inappropriate for posting on the Site or during a virtual event hosted or sponsored by Knight Foundation regardless of its legality or not, including, but not limited to User Content (a) that encourages illegal activity; (b) that is racially, religiously or ethnically derogatory, or that promotes hatred, violence, intolerance, or bigotry; (c) that is a giveaway, lottery, raffle, or contest; (d) that offers for purchase or sale or promotes any stock, bond, or other security or investment; (e) that is pornographic or gratuitously or graphically sexual in nature or appeals primarily to a User’s prurient interest; (f) that is posted solely to collect information on Users. Knight Foundation, in its sole and exclusive discretion, reserves the right to impose additional restrictions and prohibitions. No one under the age of 18 may use the Site.

In addition to any other available remedies, Knight Foundation may limit, suspend or terminate any User’s access to the Site, delay or remove User Content, and take all necessary technical and legal steps to keep any User off the Site if the Knight Foundation reasonably believes that the User has violated this Agreement or is using or has used the Site in such a way as to create potential legal liability or other like problem for Knight Foundation.

D. Site and Services Usage.

Except with the express written consent of Knight Foundation, no User may reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, visit, or otherwise exploit the Site, the Site Content, any content posted by Knight Foundation or its affiliates during a virtual event hosted or sponsored by Knight Foundation or any part thereof for any commercial purpose; or frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information (including images, text, page layout, or form) of Knight Foundation; or use any meta tags or any other “hidden text” utilizing Knight Foundation’s name or trademarks. Knight Foundation grants Users a limited, revocable, and nonexclusive right to create a hyperlink to the Site’s home page (Knight Foundation.org) so long as the link does not portray Knight Foundation or its products or services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive manner. Users may not use any Knight Foundation logo or other proprietary graphic or trademark as part of the link without the Knight Foundation’s express written permission. Links to other web sites are provided solely as a convenience. Knight Foundation does not endorse such sites and is not responsible for their content. If you decide to access any of the sites linked to the Site, you do so entirely at your own risk.

E. Reservation of Rights.

Knight Foundation reserves the right to make changes to the Site, the Services, the Privacy Policy, other of its policies, or this Agreement at any time. If any of these Terms of Use shall be deemed invalid, void, or for any reason unenforceable, that Term of Use shall be deemed severed and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining Terms of Use.

F. Message Boards and Comments.

Knight Foundation may provide message boards and other commenting functionality on the Site during a virtual event hosted or sponsored by Knight Foundation to promote and encourage open, honest and respectful communication between or among Users. All User Content, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted through a message board, shall be the sole responsibility and liability of the posting User. Knight Foundation does not control the User Content posted or transmitted through any message board on the Site, and does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, quality, or legality of any such posted or transmitted User Content. Knight Foundation does not pre-screen User Content posted or transmitted through any message board on the Site. Knight Foundation may, but is not obligated to, monitor the posting activities of Users and may in its sole discretion, edit or remove any User Content and/or restrict a User’s ability to post User Content through the message boards. User understands that other Users may post User Content on message boards that is offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable, and User agrees that Knight Foundation is not accountable for any such User Content. User shall indemnify Knight Foundation from any and all third party claims arising from any User Content that User uploads, posts or e-mails on or through a message board. Knight Foundation may allow Users to review other Users or User Content; provided, however, that prior to posting any such review on the Site, the reviewing User must certify that he or she has previously engaged with the User, or User Content, that he or she is reviewing.

G. Electronic Communications.

When a User communicates with Knight Foundation electronically by sending an e-mail to Knight Foundation, subscribing to an email list, registering for a Knight-sponsored event, participating in a Knight-sponsored event, applying for a grant, or otherwise registering on a Knight Foundation site, the User consents to receiving electronic communications from Knight Foundation. Knight Foundation will communicate with Users by e-mail, social media, or by posting notices on the Site. User agrees that all agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that Knight Foundation provides electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.

H. Indemnification.

Each User shall indemnify Knight Foundation and hold Knight Foundation harmless from and against all damages, losses and costs (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees) caused by: (1) User’s failure to comply with this Agreement, including, without limitation, User’s posting of User Content on the Site during a virtual event hosted or sponsored by Knight Foundation that violates these Terms of Use, the rights of other, or applicable law and (2) any activity in which User engages on or through the Site or in connection with the User’s participation in a Knight-sponsored event.

I. Disclaimer. 

SOME COUNTRIES AND JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OF IMPLIED TERMS IN CONTRACTS WITH CONSUMERS AND AS A RESULT SOME OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

YOU MAY NOT RELY ON THE CONTINUED AVAILABILITY OF THIS SITE OR THE SERVICES OR CONTENT ON THE SITE OR ON ANY PLATFORM FOR ANY VIRTUAL EVENT SPONSORED OR HOSTED BY KNIGHT FOUNDATION. KNIGHT FOUNDATION PROVIDES THE PLATFORM FOR THE SITE, THE PLATFORM FOR ANY VIRTUAL EVENT SPONSORED OR HOSTED BY KNIGHT FOUNDATION, AND ALL CONTENT AND SERVICES ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. KNIGHT FOUNDATION DOES NOT CONTROL OR VET USER CONTENT FOR ACCURACY OR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. KNIGHT FOUNDATION DOES NOT PROVIDE ANY EXPRESS WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, KNIGHT FOUNDATION DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, ACCURACY OF DATA, OR NONINFRINGEMENT. KNIGHT FOUNDATION IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY REGARDING THE DELIVERY OF ANY MESSAGES (INCLUDING MESSAGES IN THE MESSAGE CENTER, OR THE POSTING OF ANSWERS OR THE TRANSMISSION OF ANY OTHER USER CONTENT) SENT THROUGH THE SITE OR DURING ANY VIRTUAL EVENT SPONSORED OR HOSTED BY KNIGHT FOUNDATION TO ANYONE. IN ADDITION, KNIGHT FOUNDATION NEITHER WARRANTS NOR REPRESENTS THAT USER’S USE OF THE SITE WILL NOT INFRINGE THE RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES. ANY CONTENT, SERVICE, OR TECHNOLOGY DESCRIBED OR USED ON THE SITE MAY BE SUBJECT TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OWNED BY THIRD PARTIES WHO HAVE LICENSED SUCH CONTENT, SERVICE, OR TECHNOLOGY TO KNIGHT FOUNDATION. KNIGHT FOUNDATION DOES NOT HAVE ANY OBLIGATION TO VERIFY THE IDENTITY OF PERSONS USING ITS SITE, NOR DOES IT HAVE ANY OBLIGATION TO MONITOR THE USE OF THE SITE BY ANY USERS; THEREFORE, KNIGHT FOUNDATION DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR IDENTITY THEFT OR ANY OTHER MISUSE OF USER’S IDENTITY OR INFORMATION. KNIGHT FOUNDATION DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICES IT PROVIDES WILL FUNCTION WITHOUT INTERRUPTION OR ERROR. THE OPERATION OF THE SITE MAY BE INTERRUPTED DUE TO MAINTENANCE, UPDATES, OR SYSTEM OR NETWORK FAILURE. KNIGHT FOUNDATION DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES CAUSED BY ANY SUCH INTERRUPTION OR ERROR IN FUNCTIONING. FURTHERMORE, KNIGHT FOUNDATION DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR ANY MALFUNCTIONING OF, LOSS OF ACCESS TO, OR POOR CONDITIONS ON THE SITE DUE TO INOPERATIVE EQUIPMENT, DISTURBANCES RELATED TO INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS, SATURATION OF THE INTERNET NETWORK, OR ANY OTHER REASON.

J. Limitation of Liability. 

SOME COUNTRIES AND JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY IN CONTRACTS WITH CONSUMERS AND AS A RESULT THE CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Knight Foundation is not and shall not be liable for (a) any damages in excess of US $25 or (b) any special, incidental, indirect, punitive or consequential damages or loss of use, profit, revenue or data claimed by any User or any third person arising from User’s use of the Site or any Site or User Content, Services, or Applications on, accessed through or downloaded from the Site or User’s participation in any virtual event sponsored or hosted by Knight Foundation. This limitation of liability is part of the basis of the bargain between the parties and without it the terms would be different. This limitation of liability:

• Shall apply regardless of whether (1) User bases his or her or its claim on contract, tort, statute or any other legal theory, (2) Knight Foundation knew or should have known about the possibility of such damages, or (3) the limited remedies provided in this Section fail of their essential purpose; but

• Shall not apply to any damage that Knight Foundation may cause User intentionally or knowingly in violation of this Agreement or applicable law, or as otherwise mandated by applicable law that cannot be disclaimed.

K. Termination.

A. Termination Rights.

Knight Foundation may terminate the Agreement and User’s use of the Site or participation in a virtual event sponsored by Knight Foundation for any reason or for no reason at any time with or without notice. Termination of the Agreement shall include disabling User’s access to the Site and may include a permanent bar from access to the Site or to any other present of future Knight Foundation website.

B. Misuse of the Content and/or Services

Knight Foundation may restrict, suspend or terminate the access of any User who abuses or misuses the Site or Services by inviting others whom User does not know to connect, abusing Knight Foundation messaging services, creating false profiles, using the Site commercially without Knight Foundation’s authorization, infringing any intellectual property rights, or any other behavior that Knight Foundation, in its sole discretion, deems contrary to the purpose of the Site or the Services.

C. Effect of Termination.

Upon termination, will lose access to the Site and/or, as applicable, the User’s participation in the virtual event sponsored or hosted by Knight Foundation. The terms of this Agreement shall survive termination.

L. Dispute Resolution.

Law and Forum for Legal Disputes.

These Terms and Use and User’s use of the Site and participation in any virtual event sponsored by or hosted by Knight Foundation are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, U.S., without regard to its choice of law provisions, except where you are required by published governmental law, ordinance, regulation, directive, order, or the like to contract for application of the law of your local jurisdiction. You hereby consent to exclusive jurisdiction of a state or federal court of general jurisdiction sitting in Miami-Dade County, Florida, U.S. except to the extent you are prohibited from so doing by published governmental law, ordinance, regulation, directive, order, or the like. You waive any right to trial by jury in any such arising out of or relating to these Terms and Use, User’s use of the Site and/or User’s participation in any virtual event sponsored by or hosted by Knight Foundation

5. General Terms.

A. Severability.

If any provision of this Agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction or arbitrator to be illegal, void, or unenforceable, then (1) the unenforceable provision will be modified so as to render it enforceable and effective to the maximum extent possible in order to effect the intention of the provision, and (2) the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions of this Agreement will not be affected in any way.

B. Language.

Where Knight Foundation has provided User with a translation of the English language version of this Agreement, the Privacy Policy, and/or any other documentation, User agrees that the translation is provided for User’s convenience only and that the English language versions of this Agreement, the Privacy Policy, and any other documentation will govern User’s relationship with Knight Foundation.

C. Notices.

Knight Foundation may notify User via postings on the Site or during any virtual event hosted or sponsored by Knight Foundation. User may contact Knight Foundation at www.Knight Foundation.org/contact-us.

D. Entire Agreement.

This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between User and Knight Foundation regarding its subject matters and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings, whether written or oral or established by custom, practice, policy or precedent. In entering into this Agreement, neither User nor Knight Foundation has relied on any promise, inducement, consideration, or representation that is not expressly set forth in this Agreement.

E. Amendments to this Agreement.

Knight Foundation reserves the right to modify, supplement or replace the terms of the Agreement, effective upon posting on the Site or notifying User otherwise. If User does not agree to changes to the Agreement, User may terminate this Agreement at any time in accordance with its terms.

F. No Injunctive Relief.

User shall not seek or be entitled to any equitable relief against Knight Foundation, including an injunction that enjoins or restrains the operation of the Site or any Site Content, Services, Applications, or advertising on the Site.

G. Assignment and Delegation.

User may not assign or delegate any rights or obligations under this Agreement. Any purported assignment or delegation shall be ineffective. Knight Foundation may freely assign or delegate all rights and obligations under this Agreement, with or without notice to User. Knight Foundation may also substitute any assignee or delegate that assumes Knight Foundation’s rights and obligations under this Agreement for Knight Foundation by way of unilateral novation, effective upon notice to User.

H. Potential Other Rights and Obligations.

User may have rights or obligations under local law other than those enumerated here if User is located outside the United States.

I. Additional or Required Notices.

Various laws require or permit Knight Foundation to give Users notice regarding those laws. By the following Notices, Knight Foundation incorporates those laws into these Terms of Use.

Notice: No Harvesting or Dictionary Attacks Permitted. This Notice provides information about conduct that is unlawful under the U.S. CAN SPAM Act of 2003. The Knight Foundation will not give, sell, or otherwise transfer addresses or other contact information to any other party for the purposes of initiating, or enabling others to initiate, electronic mail messages except as authorized hereunder or by law or Knight Foundation personnel with appropriate authority or Knight Foundation policy. Except for parties authorized to have such addresses or other contact information, a User may violate federal law if he or she (1) initiates the transmission to Knight Foundation servers or data bases of a commercial electronic mail message (as defined in the U.S. “CAN-SPAM Act of 2003”) that does not meet the message transmission requirements of that act; or (2) assists in the origination of commercial electronic mail messages by providing or selecting addresses to which the commercial electronic mail messages will be transmitted.

Notice Regarding Trademarks. This provides notice regarding who owns the trademarks used on our Site and cautions against infringement. The Site displays trademarks that are owned by Knight Foundation or others. You may not use any of the trademarks displayed on the Site or in any Content; use of any such trademark could make you liable for infringement. All rights are reserved.

Notice Regarding other intellectual property. This provides notice regarding who owns the intellectual property other than trademarks displayed on the Site or its Content and cautions against infringement. All Services and Site Content provided on the Site or any other site owned, operated, licensed, hosted, or controlled by Knight Foundation are subject to intellectual property rights and contractual and other protections. The intellectual property rights are owned by Knight Foundation or its licensors (which may include you). Except for Content that you own, no Site Content or content provided through any virtual event hosted by Knight Foundation may be copied, distributed, republished, uploaded, posted or transmitted in any way except pursuant to the express provisions of the Terms of Use or with the prior non-electronic, written consent of Knight Foundation. Unpermitted modification or use of Content for any purpose may violate intellectual property rights. No title to copies or to intellectual property rights is transferred to Users—all title and rights remain with Knight Foundation or its licensors.

Notice Regarding Copyright Agent. This provides information regarding the Site’s copyright agent, to whom any notice of claimed infringement must be sent. The Knight Foundation respects the intellectual property rights of others and requests that Users do the same. Anyone who believes that his or her work has been infringed under copyright law must provide a notice to the designated Copyright Agent for the Site containing the following:

• An electronic or physical signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
• Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
• Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient to permit Knight Foundation to locate the material;
• The address, telephone number, and e-mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted;
• A representation that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or law;
• A representation that the information in the notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Notice of a claimed copyright infringement must be sent to:

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

c/o Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A.

150 West Flagler Street, Suite 2200

Miami, FL 33130

Attn: Richard E. Schatz, Esq.

Notice of Availability of Filtering Software. This provides a notice under the U.S. Communications Decency Act. We do not believe that the Site contains materials that would typically be the subject of filtering software and minors are not authorized to visit our Site. Nevertheless, all Users are hereby informed that parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filtering services) are commercially available that may assist in limiting access to material that is harmful to minors. A report detailing some of those protections can be found at Children’s Internet Protection Act: Report on the Effectiveness of Internet Protection Measures and Safety Policies located at https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act.