Linqia

Linqia Terms of Service

Welcome to Linqia.

Linqia is a online community and group meta search engine aggregating listings directly from popular mega communities as well as listings from Linqia members. Thousands of people join Communities and Groups everyday. Linqia helps you to find online communities and groups to your specific need or interest. Linqia provides smart tools enabling you to find, rate, comment and join any online community and group you are interested in. More recently, the number of online communities and groups have grown exponentially. It is estimated there exists over 10 million individual groups with over 2 billion members.

"Linqia" is a registered trademark and a brand of the Spanish company Starfish Community Group S.L. with corporate address at C/ Gran de Gracia 15, 2-1, 08012 Barcelona, Spain and VAT number B-64614225, registered in the Barcelona Corporate Register at Volume 39.881 , Page 216 , Sheet B-355.300, Inscription 1st; hereinafter referred to as "Linqia". Throughout this document, Linqia details the conditions for the provision of its Services to the User, who must access and use the Services in accordance with such conditions and any other particular conditions for specific services set out by Linqia. We encourage you to review these conditions prior to using the services provided by Linqia.

Terms of service

These are the terms and conditions (the "Conditions") which govern the access to and use by you (the "User") of the Linqia services as described on the website www.linqia.com (the "Website") from time to time, as well as all its products, content, free and pay services, including any software, search engine, information, or element whatsoever and any extension, update, upgrade or modification of any of them (collectively the "Services"). PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY, AS BY ACCESSING AND/OR USING THE SERVICE AND/OR COMPLETING THE REGISTRATION PROCESS YOU ARE INDICATING THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD AND ACCEPT THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, WITHOUT RESERVATION.

Access to the Services is strictly prohibited for those under the legal age in the relevant jurisdiction, unless the law permits access by minors who obtain the consent of their parents or legal guardians, in which case, access by minors will only be allowed with such consent. You hereby declare and guarantee that you are of the legal age and will not make any part of the Services available to anyone under the legal age in the relevant jurisdiction. If at any moment Linqia reasonably suspects or has evidence that a person under the legal age has accessed, used or registered to use any of the Services, Linqia will immediately cancel such registration and prevent the use of the Services by such person.

Description of the Services

Linqia provides Users Services enabling access to a rich collection of resources, including search services, a gateway to online communities and groups, various communications tools, and personalized content. The Services also permit the User to be informed and contacted by Linqia and/or other users or groups he/she is connected or linked to through the Services. In this respect, the User understands and expressly agrees that the Services include certain communications from Linqia, such as service announcements, administrative messages and messages which may be directed from the User's communities or groups, and that these communications are considered part of Linqia membership and the Services provision.

User understands that Linqia provides the User with a platform on which to establish contact with other users, groups and online communities and only provides those tools that allow the User to participate in such at his/her sole discretion. Therefore, Linqia does not take part in any communication between users nor between the Users and other online communities (such as Xing, Myspace, Ziggs, among others). Therefore when connecting to such services, the User understands and accepts that the provider of such is the relevant online community which will apply its own legal terms and conditions for access to and use of its services. If Users enter into agreements with one another via the Website or with such online communities, Linqia shall not be the contracting party to these agreements being the Users alone (and the online community where applicable) fully responsible for the execution and/or fulfilment of such agreements.

Since Linqia offers some of the Services free of charge to the User, he/she understands and agrees that the Services and the Website may include advertisements which are necessary for Linqia to provide the Service.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any new features, content or services that improve or enhance the current Services shall be subject to these Conditions and the specific conditions as set out on the Website.

Registering with Linqia

To benefit from full access to Linqia's range of Services (i.e., to upload or comment on community and group profiles) each User must register through the Website following the steps shown thereon and provide Linqia with all required information. Once the registration process is fulfilled and after the approval by Linqia of User's membership, the User will become a member of Linqia. By registering on the Website the User represents, warrants and undertakes that he/she will comply with the following:

The User warrants and represents that all of the data provided by the User for registration is true, accurate and complete. The User should, when appropriate, use the facilities provided on the Website in order to make any necessary change, amendment or update to the User's data.
The User shall not use pseudonyms or pen names with the exception of the "screen name" field.
The User warrants and represents that he or she is of legal age at the time of registration or that user has the necessary parental consents.
Each User is entitled to register with Linqia only once, and the User must establish only one (1) User profile.
It is impossible for Linqia to determine with certainty whether any user registered with Linqia is in fact the person he/she represents himself/herself to be (as well the correctness or validity of the information provided by such User). Therefore, Linqia assumes no liability with respect to the real identity of a User. Each User is solely responsible for checking the actual identity and the correctness of the information provided by another User and/or uploaded in his/her profile. It is also impossible for Linqia to check the correctness of the information provided by any of the online communities users, so Linqia accepts no liability for any of such information.
The User hereby accepts not to register and/or use the Website or the Services:

using the access data of another User, or impersonating any other person.
other than for personal, private use.
to defame, abuse, molest, harass, threaten or in any other way infringe any right of any other User or other person.
use the Services to communicate any information or content which infringes the rights of others, including but not limited to, because it is defamatory, aggressive, obscene, pornographic, offensive, violent or likely to incite violence, racist or xenophobic, or is illegal in any way, or because it is in breach of intellectual or industrial property rights, including any patents, trade marks, trade names, image rights, publicity rights or privacy rights.
to prevent or restrict the use of the Services by any other User.
to send any advertisement or commercial communication, whether solicited or otherwise, by any means (including without limitation by electronic mail, SMS or any other means of communication) to any User or any other party.
to breach any applicable regulations or for any unlawful purposes.

Ending your relationship with Linqia

The User may end its membership and/or relationship with Linqia for any reason by cancelling the Service or the membership (following the procedure described in the Website) at any time and stopping the access and use of the Services and the Website. Linqia will delete User's member profile and the personal data included when appropriate in accordance with data protection and any other applicable regulations.

Linqia reserves the right to modify, suspend, restrict or interrupt, temporarily or permanently, any User's access to or use of the Services or any part thereof, including the cancellation of any User's account or username and/or removal of the User's profile, with or without prior notice in particular but without limitation in the following situations:

User is in breach of these Conditions.
User does not respect other Users.
User misuses any part of the Services.
User is or appears to be under the legal age and does not have the necessary parental consent.
in the case of security failures or if any unauthorised access or use is detected.
Twelve months or more have passed since the User has logged onto or used any of the Services.

Cancellation of any Services or exclusion of the User from any Services will not give the affected User any right to any compensation or refund from Linqia. Upon cancellation or expulsion from any Services, the User must immediately cease using the relevant Services and all parts thereof. Once the Services are cancelled, the User will no longer be able to access or retrieve any data stored on the Services.

Your password and security of your account

The User shall choose a password upon registration and will receive the appropriate password and account designation upon completing the Service's registration process. The User is obliged to keep this password and any other access data secret and confidential. Each User is solely liable for the safekeeping and appropriate use of and all activity occurring under their username and password. Linqia will not disclose the password to any third party or ask for the User's password at any time (so please don't provide it to any third party requesting it by e-mail).

The User agrees to (a) immediately notify Linqia of any unauthorized use of his/her password or account or any other breach of security, and (b) ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. Linqia cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this section.

Data protection and privacy

For information about Linqia´s data protection practices, please read Linqia´s privacy policy. This policy explains how Linqia processes your personal information, and protects your privacy.

Your membership responsibility

User's membership is solely for personal and individual use. User will not authorize others to use his/her account, profile, information or messages. User will be solely responsible for all use of the account including but not limited to content published, messages sent or posted, and interactions with other members, whether or not the User has authorized such activities.

To increase the effectiveness and success of the Services we strongly recommend including as much information as possible on the User's profile. Moreover, the accurate and up to date information is also important to permit the correct interaction between Linqia Users and/or Linqia Users and other communities users. The User accepts to maintain the accuracy of his/her registration information and to keep all his/her account information confidential.

By using any of the Services or registering as a member, the User expressly permits Linqia to permit other Users of the Services or the Website to access his or her profile and to use or publish any profile or any part thereof in any media (including without limitation newsletters, third-party websites, e-mail, SMS, audiovisual, broadcast or printed media), in order to publicise the Services or the Website. Linqia will provide privacy options to each member enabling them to choose how much information they release and to whom they will release such information. The User accepts that the Services consist of contacting other people and being included in groups to interact with other User's and therefore assumes all the consequences arising out of such Services.

You can remove your personal profile at any time by deleting your account. This will also remove any text and images you have stored on the Service. If a member has made comments, added groups, participated in chat forums, etc., Linqia may have the option to remove all of this content, however, it does so at its own discretion unless the user has the right to remove such content under applicable law.

Liability of Linqia / Indemnity

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Linqia hereby accepts no liability for any loss or damage (including without limitation any type of direct, indirect or consequential loss, loss of business, data, contracts or profits, loss or damage in relation to computer programs or equipment) arising out of the access to or use of or the inability to access or use the Services or any part thereof, howsoever caused including without limitation by any absence of Users in the Services with the characteristics sought by User, the inaccuracy of any information contained in the Services or given by any User, contact with other Users, problems of connection to the Services, or communication of the User?s data to other Users. Linqia is not liable for any possible damage to the image, standing or reputation of the User arising out of the content, publication or use of any profile, damage to feelings, emotions or physical injury arising out of any contact with another person, or for any failure by the User to make a back up copy of any data contained on their computer.

Linqia accepts no liability for false or misleading declarations made by any person, or for consequences of meetings between any persons arising out of the use of any Services or the Website. It is imperative that Users verify personal information of all other persons to their own satisfaction before giving out personal contact details. Contact with any person that you do not know should always be treated with caution.

You understand and agree that the Services are provided "AS IS" and that Linqia assumes no liability for the timeliness, deletion, misdelivery or failure to store any user communications or personalization settings. User is responsible for obtaining access to the Services, and User is aware that such access may involve third-party fees (such as Internet service provider or other charges and expenses whatsoever). User will be responsible for those fees, and any other fees whatsoever necessary to enjoy Linaqia?s Services. In addition, User must provide and is responsible for all equipment necessary to access the Services.

User agrees to indemnify and hold Linqia and its affiliates, agents or other partners, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of (i) content submitted, posted, transmitted, or made available through the Service by any User, (ii) User?s use of the Services, (iii) User?s connection to the Services, (iv) User's breach or infringement of these Conditions or the Code of Conduct, or (v) User's infringement of any third party rights including but not limited to other's copyright or other intellectual property right.

Without limiting the foregoing, under no circumstances shall Linqia be held liable for any delay or failure in performance resulting directly or indirectly from acts of nature, forces, or causes beyond its reasonable control, including, without limitation, Internet failures, computer equipment failures, software failures, telecommunication equipment failures, other equipment failures, electrical power failures, strikes, labour disputes, riots, insurrections, civil disturbances, shortages of labour or materials, fires, floods, storms, explosions, acts of God, war, governmental actions, orders of domestic or foreign courts or tribunals, non-performance of third parties, or loss of or fluctuations in heat, light, or air conditioning.

Content and content deletion

User understands and accepts that all information which you may have access to as part of, or through your use of, the Services is the sole responsibility of the person from which such content is originated. You agree that you are solely responsible for (and that Linqia has no responsibility to you or to any third party for) any content that you create, transmit or display while using the Services and for the consequences of your actions (including any loss or damage which Linqia may suffer) by doing so.

All the content, information, features of each part of the Website and Services, including but not limited to text, images, graphics, sounds, trade or service marks (whether registered, unregistered or in the process of registration), logos, colour combinations, or any other element, its structure, layout, selection, presentation and design, are owned by Linqia or its licensors. All such information is referred to herein as the "Content".

You should be aware that Content presented to you as part of the Services, including but not limited to advertisements in the Services and sponsored Content within the Services may be protected by intellectual property rights which are owned by Linqia, the sponsors, licensors of Linqia or advertisers who provide that Content to Linqia (or by other persons or companies on their behalf). User may not modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute, create derivative works based on this Content (either in whole or in part) or otherwise dispose of such Content unless User has been specifically authorized or instructed to do so by Linqia or by the relevant owners of that Content, in a specific agreement.

Linqia reserves the right (but shall have no obligation) to pre-screen, review, flag, filter, modify, refuse or remove any or all Content from any Services. User understands that by using the Services he/she may be exposed to Content that User may find offensive, indecent or objectionable and that, in this respect, the User uses the Services at his/her own risk.

Content licence from Linqia

Conditional upon the User's acceptance and continued respect of these Conditions, Linqia gives you a personal, worldwide, royalty-free, non-assignable and non-exclusive licence to use the Content provided to you by Linqia as part of the Services. This licence is for the sole purpose of enabling you to use and enjoy the benefits of the Services as provided by Linqia, in the manner permitted by these Conditions.

User may not (and you may not permit anyone else to) copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, decompile or otherwise attempt to extract the source code of the Website, any software provided or the Content or any part thereof, unless this is expressly permitted or required by law, or unless you have been specifically told that you may do so by Linqia, in writing.

Unless Linqia has given you specific written permission to do so, you may not assign (or grant a sub-licence of) your rights to use the Software, grant a security interest in or over your rights to use the Software, or otherwise transfer any part of your rights to use the Software.

Content licence from you

User is the owner and holds all the rights to the information and or content submitted to Linqia through the Website and the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Linqia a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such information and content on the Website or through the Services. This licence is for the sole purpose of enabling Linqia to perform the Services provision and display, distribute and promote the Services.

User agrees that this licence includes the right for Linqia to make such Content available to other companies, organisations or individuals with whom Linqia has relationships for the provision of the Services (in particular online communities which the User is interested in participating through Linqia Services), and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those Services.

User understands that Linqia, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. User agrees that this licence shall permit Linqia to take these actions.

User hereby warrants, represents and undertakes to Linqia that he/she has all the rights, power and authority necessary to submit, post or otherwise make available the content and grant the above licence.

Copyright, Trademarks and Proprietary rights

User acknowledges and agrees that Linqia (or Linqia´s licensors) own all legal right, title and interest in and to the Services and the Content, including any intellectual and industrial property rights. User further acknowledges that the Services may contain information which is designated confidential by Linqia and that you shall not disclose such information without Linqia´s prior written consent.

Unless you have agreed otherwise in writing with Linqia, nothing in these Conditions gives you a right to use any of Linqia´s trade names, trade marks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features. If User has been given an explicit right to use any of these brand features in a separate written agreement with Linqia, then you agree that your use of such features shall be in compliance with that agreement. Unless you have been expressly authorised to do so in writing by Linqia, you agree that in using the Services, you will not use any trade mark, service mark, trade name, logo of any company or organisation in a way that is likely or intended to cause confusion about the owner or authorised user of such marks, names or logos.

It is prohibited to modify, remove, suppress, or in any other way make inconspicuous the copyright, digital fingerprints, watermarks, identification labels, legal notices contained within the Content or other technical protection devices or data identifying Linqia or its licensors rights in the Content, its files or its components.

If you believe that your work has been used in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise infringed, we would very much appreciate it if you could notify Linqia using our contact form or by sending a letter by post to C/ Gran de Gracia 15, 2° 1°, 08012 Barcelona, Spain. We will review all claims of copyright infringement received and remove the Content deemed to have been posted or distributed in breach of any applicable laws. To make a claim, please provide us with the following:

A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
Information sufficient to enable Linqia to locate the allegedly infringing Content on the Service;
Your address, telephone number and email address;
A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the use of the Content is not authorized;
A statement by you that the above information in your notification is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner?s behalf; and
The signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest.

Upon receipt of notice as described above, Linqia will take whatever action, in its sole discretion, it deems appropriate, including removal of the challenged use from the Services or termination of the posting account.

Advertising and fees

User understands and agrees that the Services may include advertisements and commercial listings and that these are necessary for us to provide the Services. User will not obscure or alter them in any way and in particular from their general view via HTML/CSS or any other means.

By using the Services and by becoming a member, you acknowledge and expressly accept that we reserve the right to charge for the Services or any portion of the Services and have the right to terminate a membership for failure to pay for the Services. In any event, those paid Services conditions and fees will be made available to the User on the Website or, where appropriate (in consideration of the type of Services), requesting the acceptance of such conditions to the User to enjoy such Services.

Changes of Services and Conditions

Linqia reserves the right to modify the Services offered through the Website and/or to offer services different from those offered at the time of the User's registration at any time. Linqia will inform the User of such updates, improvements and/or new services by placing a statement on the Website. These Conditions will apply automatically to any new Services or to any modification of such.

Linqia reserves the right to update or revise these Conditions without prior notice to the User, for legal reasons or due to changes in the Services. The most recent version of these Conditions will always be available on the Website. If these Conditions are changed, the User may cancel the Services at any time if not in agreement with the new Conditions. Continued use of the Services or any part thereof on the part of the User after the entry into effect of new Conditions will signify the User's acceptance of the same.

Changes to the terms

User understands that we are continuously developing the features and the functionality of the Services and the Software. Consequently, we also reserve the right to modify these Conditions at any time in our sole discretion. User agrees that such alteration shall be effective upon posting on the Website and you will be bound to any alterations when you use the Services after such alteration is posted. It is therefore important that you review these Conditions regularly on the Website to ensure you are updated regarding any alterations. User?s sole remedy should you not agree with the altered Conditions shall be to close your account and to cease using the Services.

Special Admonitions for International Use

As a consequence of the global nature of the Internet, you agree to comply with all local rules and laws applicable to you in respect of User?s conduct on the Internet and acceptable content. Specifically, User agrees to comply with all applicable laws regarding obscene and indecent content and communications and those regarding the transmission of technical data exported from Spain or the country which you access the Services from.

Notices

Except for copyright infringement notices as set forth in section "Copyright, Trademarks, and Proprietary Rights" above, any notice from User to Linqia must be send using our <%= link_to 'contact form', contact_url %> or by post to Starfish Community Group, S.L. C/ Gran de Gracia 15, 2-1, 08012 Barcelona, Spain.

There may be other information regarding the Services that the law requires us to send to the User. User consents to Linqia´s sending this information in electronic form to the e-mail address introduced in the User profile on the Website.

Please ensure your e-mail address is valid and up to date to receive such information. We may also provide required information to the User access to www.linqia.com or another website designated in an email notice or generally designated in advance for this purpose. Notices provided to you via email will be deemed given and received on the transmission date.

Links

The Website may contain information links, whether in textual or graphical format, to third parties' content, services, pages and/or websites which are not controlled by Linqia, and Linqia therefore accepts no liability for said content, services, pages and/or websites or the conditions applicable and does not assume any obligation to verify or supervise the same. Likewise, the insertion of such links does not signify that Linqia is aware of, shares, endorses and/or promotes third parties? content, services, pages and/or websites.

Monitoring and Disclosure

Linqia reserves the right to monitor your communications and may disclose content and information about you, including contents of communications, if we are required legally and/or deem it's reasonably necessary to: (1) conform to legal requirements or respond to legal process; (2) ensure your compliance with these Conditions including maintaining the Services; or (3) protect the rights, property, personal safety or interests of Linqia, its employees, its customers, or the public.

General information and Miscellaneous

User understands and agrees that these Conditions and any notices given pursuant to these Conditions are enforceable in electronic format. The specific set of Conditions relating to each User's contract for the Services will not be stored individually.

The Conditions constitute the complete agreement between Linqia and the User and supersede any prior oral or written agreement or understanding relating thereto between the User and Linqia.

These Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of the domicile of Linqia (Barcelona, Spain), without prejudice to the mandatory rules of the courts hearing the matter as well as mandatory consumer protection rules except for any content rights licence, which shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of the domicile of Linqia in any case. If the User is not a consumer or even if a consumer then, to the extent permitted by the applicable law, the jurisdiction in respect of any dispute arising out of these Conditions shall be the courts of Barcelona, Spain. In the event that the User is a consumer, in respect of any such dispute, Linqia will submit to the jurisdiction as required by the laws applicable to the consumer.

Should any part of these Conditions be or be found to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, this shall in no way affect the validity of the remaining parts.

Linqia´s failure to act or enforce any provision in respect to these Conditions or a breach thereof shall not constitute a waiver of such provision.

Linqia will have the right to assign these Conditions and rights and delegate its duties in connection with a merger, reorganization, or sale of substantially all of its assets. These Conditions will bind successors and permitted assigns.

User shall not assign these Conditions or assign any rights or delegate any obligations hereunder, in whole or in part, whether voluntarily or by operation of law, without our prior written consent. Any such purported assignment or delegation will be null and void and of no force or effect.

Any questions

If you have questions, queries or suggestions, or would like to review your personal information stored by us, please contact us. You can reach us by post at:

Starfish Community Group S.L., C/ Gran de Gracia 15, 2-1, 08012 Barcelona, Spain

These Conditions have been issued on: 09/2007