About the website
This website, in addition to any other public, private and/or restricted-use domains (collectively referred to as “Websites”) are owned and operated by the Company Vistage Australia Intermediate Holdings Pty Ltd – ACN 002 922 956[MN1] – and its related companies (collectively referred to as “Vistage”, “we”, “our” or “us” or “Company”).
Acceptance of the Terms
- Access to and use of the Website, or any of its associated Products or Services, is provided by Vistage. Please read these terms and conditions (the ‘Terms‘) carefully. By using, browsing, or otherwise accessing any content found on the Website or Services available through the Websites, this signifies that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by the Terms. If you do not agree with the Terms or you are dissatisfied with the Websites or any products, services, content or other information available through the Websites, your sole remedy is to cease usage of the Website, or any of the Services, immediately.
- Vistage reserves the right to review and change any of the Terms by updating this page at its sole discretion without notice. Any changes to the Terms take immediate effect from the date of their publication and your continued use of the Websites after such modifications will constitute your acknowledgment of the modified Terms and your agreement to abide by and be bound to the modified Terms. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review the Terms periodically and to be aware of any modifications.
Your obligations as a user of the Website
As a user, you agree to comply with the following:
- you will use the Services only for purposes that are permitted by:
- the Terms; and
- any applicable law, regulation or generally accepted practices or guidelines in the relevant jurisdictions;
- you have the sole responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of your password and/or email address for any Website requiring login to which you have been granted specific access. Use of your password by any other person may result in the immediate cancellation of the Services;
- any use of your registration information by any other person, or third parties, is strictly prohibited. You agree to immediately notify Vistage of any unauthorised use of your password or email address or any breach of security of which you have become aware;
- access and use of the Website is limited, non-transferable and allows for the sole use of the Website by you for the purposes of Vistage providing the Services;
- you will not use the Services or the Website in connection with any commercial endeavours except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by the management of Vistage;
- you will not use the Services or Website for any illegal and/or unauthorised use which includes, but is not limited to, collecting email addresses of Members by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending emails not specifically authorised by Vistage or unauthorised framing of or linking to the Website;
- you agree that commercial advertisements, affiliate links, and other forms of solicitation may be removed from the Website without notice and may result in termination of the Services. Appropriate legal action will be taken by Vistage for any illegal or unauthorised use of the Website; and
- you acknowledge and agree that any automated use of the Website or its Services is prohibited.
- You must not at any time:
- publish or post material that may be reasonably considered to be offensive, obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, bullying, discriminatory, hateful, racist, sexist or homophobic;
- publish or post material that infringes copyright, constitutes a contempt of court, breaches a court suppression order or is otherwise unlawful or in breach of your professional obligations;
- use or disclose proprietary, commercially sensitive or confidential information;
- mention the names, employees, services provided by or work undertaken for any client, customer or supplier of the Company, or share any confidential or personal information obtained as a worker or service provider of the Company;
- state or imply that you are authorised to speak on Vistage’s behalf or state or give the impression that any views you express are the views of the Company, unless you have written authorisation to do so;
- communicate information about the Company, unless you are authorised to do so;
- comment negatively about the Company, including employment with the Company; and/or
- respond defensively, engage in or initiate comments which are negative or derogatory about the Company, its directors, its managers, its employees or its clients and customers.
Copyright and Intellectual Property
- The Websites, the Services and all of the related products of Vistage are subject to copyright. The material on the Websites are protected by copyright under the laws of Australia, through international treaties, the copyright laws of other countries, as well as other intellectual and proprietary laws. Unless otherwise indicated, all rights (including copyright) in the Services and compilation of the Websites (including but not limited to text, graphics, logos, button icons, video images, audio clips, Website code, Website operating software, scripts, design elements and interactive features) or the Services are owned or controlled for these purposes, and are reserved by Vistage or its contributors.
- You acknowledge and agree the Websites include content which is copyrighted or trademarked by Vistage Worldwide, Inc., a company in the state of Delaware, USA. Subject to the Terms and payment of any applicable fees specified by Vistage, Vistage grants to you a worldwide, nontransferable, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, royalty free, revokable license whilst you are an authorized user to:
- use the Websites pursuant to the Terms;
- copy and store the Website and the material contained in the Website in your device’s cache memory; and
- print pages from the Website for your own personal and non-commercial use.
- Vistage does not grant you any other rights whatsoever in relation to the Website or the Services. All other rights are expressly reserved by Vistage.
- Vistage retains all rights, title and interest in and to the Websites and all related Services. Nothing you do on or in relation to the Websites will transfer any:
- business name, trading name, domain name, trademark, industrial design, patent, registered design or copyright, or
- a right to use or exploit a business name, trading name, domain name, trademark or industrial design, or
- a thing, system or process that is the subject of a patent, registered design or copyright (or an adaptation or modification of such a thing, system or process), to you.
- Except with prior written permission of Vistage and the permission of any other relevant rights owners you may not: (a) reproduce, modify, distribute or in any way commercially exploit any of the Website content, (b) reproduce or store in or transmit to any other web site, newsgroup, mailing list, electronic bulletin board, server or other storage device connected to a network, or regularly or systematically store in electronic or print form, all or any part of the Website content, (c) modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit all or any part of the Website content (including use as part of any library, archive or similar service) without the prior written consent of Vistage, (d) remove the copyright or trade mark notice from any versions or reproductions of the Website content, (e) collect account information for the benefit of another party, (f) use any meta tags or any other ‘hidden text’ utilizing any Vistage trademarks or Website content without the express written consent of Vistage, (g) use Vistage’s name in any way in any domain name or URL, or (h) use software robots, spiders, crawlers, or similar data gathering and extraction tools, or take any other action that may impose an unreasonable burden or load on our networks or infrastructure. Requests for permission for other uses may be sent to Vistage Worldwide, Inc., LawDeptMatters@vistage.com with attention to Chief Legal Officer.
- Subject to the rights and licenses you grant to Vistage under these Terms, you retain all rights to the ownership, copyrights and use of all content, media, suggestions, comments, ideas, notes, concepts, works, designs, information or other materials provided or uploaded by you to the Websites, or otherwise voluntarily submitted to Vistage via the Websites (collectively, your “User Submissions“). You understand that Vistage cannot guarantee, and will not be subject to any obligation, whether of attribution or otherwise, regarding User Submissions and will not be liable for any use, misuse, infringement or disclosure of any User Submissions by any third party. You shall be solely responsible for your own User Submissions and the consequences of posting or publishing them on the Sites or otherwise.
Privacy
- Vistage takes your privacy seriously and any information provided through your use of the Website and/or Services are subject to Vistage’s Privacy Policy, which is available on the Website.
General Disclaimer
- Nothing in the Terms limits or excludes any guarantees, warranties, representations or conditions implied or imposed by law, including the Australian[MN2] Consumer Law (or any liability under them) which by law may not be limited or excluded.
- Subject to this clause, and to the extent permitted by law:
- all terms, guarantees, warranties, representations or conditions which are not expressly stated in the Terms are excluded; and
- Vistage will not be liable for any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage (unless such loss or damage is reasonably foreseeable resulting from our failure to meet an applicable Consumer Guarantee), loss of profit or opportunity, or damage to goodwill arising out of or in connection with the Services or these Terms (including as a result of not being able to use the Services or the late supply of the Services), whether at common law, under contract, tort (including negligence), in equity, pursuant to statute or otherwise.
- Use of the Website and the Services is at your own risk. Everything on the Website and the Services is provided to you “as is” and “as available” without warranty or condition of any kind. None of the affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contributors and licensors of Vistage make any express or implied representation or warranty about the Services or any products or Services (including the products or Services of Vistage) referred to on the Website. This includes (but is not restricted to) loss or damage you might suffer as a result of any of the following:
- failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, failure to correct defects, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus or other harmful component, loss of data, communication line failure, unlawful third-party conduct, or theft, destruction, alteration or unauthorised access to records;
- the accuracy, suitability or currency of any information on the Website, the Services, or any of its Services related products (including third party material and advertisements on the Website);
- costs incurred as a result of you using the Website, the Services or any of the products of Vistage; and
- the Services or operation in respect to links which are provided for your convenience.
- Vistage hopes and believes that the Websites’ content will be helpful, but it should not be construed as legal, accounting, tax or other professional advice on any subject matter. Vistage has endeavored to comply with legal and ethical requirements known to the Vistage personnel who compiled the Websites, but Vistage is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, tax or other professional services, and availability or use of the content is not intended to create, and does not create, any attorney-client, accountant-client or other professional services relationship. Use of the Website content is not an adequate substitute for obtaining legal, accounting, tax or other professional advice from a qualified and licensed (if applicable) provider in your jurisdiction. You agree you will not act or refrain from acting based on any of the Website content without first seeking the services of a qualified professional.
- Vistage reserves the right, in its discretion, to suspend, change, modify, add or remove portions of the content available on the Websites at any time. Vistage reserves the right to add to or change the Websites or cease offering the Websites at any time and without liability.
Limitation of Liability
- Vistage’s total liability arising out of or in connection with the Services or these Terms, however arising, including under contract, tort (including negligence), in equity, under statute or otherwise, will not exceed the resupply of the Services to you.
- You expressly understand and agree that Vistage, its affiliates, employees, agents, contributors and licensors shall not be liable to you for any direct, indirect, incidental, special consequential or exemplary damages which may be incurred by you, however caused and under any theory of liability. This shall include, but is not limited to, any loss of profit (whether incurred directly or indirectly), any loss of goodwill or business reputation and any other intangible loss.
- You acknowledge and agree that Vistage holds no liability for any direct, indirect, incidental, special consequential or exemplary damages which may be incurred by you as a result of providing your content to the Website.
- Although the Websites may be accessible worldwide, we make no representation that the Websites or their content are appropriate or available for use in locations outside Australia[MN3] , and accessing them from territories where their contents are illegal is prohibited. Those who choose to access the Websites from international locations do so at their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws. Any offer of any product, service, and/or information made in connection with the Websites is void where prohibited.
Termination of Contract
- The Terms will continue to apply until terminated by either you or by Vistage as set out below. Any actions taken by you prior to termination are subject to the Terms and such rights will survive termination.
- If you want to terminate the Terms, you may do so by:
- providing Vistage with notice of your intention to terminate; and
- closing your accounts for all of the services which you use, where Vistage has made this option available to you, or otherwise discontinuing use of all of the Websites.
- Your notice should be sent, in writing, to Vistage via the ‘Contact Us‘ link on the Website.
- If you terminate your account, Vistage will have no obligation to refund you any fees you may have paid except as may be required by applicable law.
- Subject to local applicable laws, Vistage reserves the right to discontinue or cancel your membership at any time and may suspend or deny, in its sole discretion, your access to all or any portion of the Website or the Services at any time without notice if you breach any provision of the Terms or any applicable law or if your conduct impacts Vistage’s name or reputation or violates the rights of those of another party.
Indemnity
- You agree to indemnify and hold Vistage, its affiliates, employees, agents, contributors, third party content providers and licensors harmless from and against:
- all actions, suits, claims, demands, liabilities, costs, expenses, loss and damage (including legal fees on a full indemnity basis) incurred, suffered or arising out of or in connection with your content;
- any direct or indirect consequences of you accessing, using or transacting on the Website or attempts to do so;
- any claims brought by third parties arising out of your use of the Websites, Services or related content and/or
- any breach of the Terms or unauthorized use of the Websites.
Dispute Resolution
- Compulsory:
- If a dispute arises out of or relates to the Terms, such disputes must be addressed on an individual basis and either party may not commence any Tribunal or Court proceedings in relation to the dispute, unless the following clauses have been complied with (except where urgent interlocutory relief is sought).
- Notice:
- A party to the Terms claiming a dispute (‘Dispute‘) has arisen under the Terms, must give written notice to the other party detailing the nature of the dispute, the desired outcome and the action required to settle the Dispute.
- Resolution:
On receipt of that notice (‘Notice‘) by that other party, the parties to the Terms (‘Parties‘) must:- Within 28 days of the Notice endeavour in good faith to resolve the Dispute expeditiously by negotiation or such other means upon which they may mutually agree;
- If for any reason whatsoever, 28 days after the date of the Notice, the Dispute has not been resolved, the Parties must either agree upon selection of a mediator or request that an appropriate mediator be appointed by the President of the Law Society of NSW or his or her nominee;
- The Parties are equally liable for the fees and reasonable expenses of a mediator and the cost of the venue of the mediation and without limiting the foregoing undertake to pay any amounts requested by the mediator as a pre-condition to the mediation commencing. The Parties must each pay their own costs associated with the mediation;
- The mediation will be held in Sydney, Australia.
- Confidential:
- All communications concerning negotiations made by the Parties arising out of and in connection with this dispute resolution clause are confidential and to the extent possible, must be treated as “without prejudice” negotiations for the purpose of applicable laws of evidence.
- Termination of Mediation:
- If 30 days have elapsed after the start of a mediation of the Dispute and the Dispute has not been resolved, either Party may ask the mediator to terminate the mediation and the mediator must do so.
Venue and Jurisdiction
- The Services offered by Vistage is intended to be viewed by residents of Australia and New Zealand. In the event of any dispute arising out of or in relation to the Website, you agree that the exclusive venue for resolving any dispute shall be in the courts of New South Wales, Australia.
Governing Law
- The Terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. Any dispute, controversy, proceeding or claim of whatever nature arising out of or in any way relating to the Terms and the rights created hereby shall be governed, interpreted and construed by, under and pursuant to the laws of New South Wales, Australia, without reference to conflict of law principles, notwithstanding mandatory rules. The validity of this governing law clause is not contested. The Terms shall be binding to the benefit of the parties hereto and their successors and assigns.
Independent Legal Advice
- Both parties confirm and declare that the provisions of the Terms are fair and reasonable and both parties having taken the opportunity to obtain independent legal advice and declare the Terms are not against public policy on the grounds of inequality or bargaining power or general grounds of restraint of trade.
Severance
- If any part of these Terms is found to be void or unenforceable by a Court of competent jurisdiction, that part shall be severed, and the rest of the Terms shall remain in force.