Terms of Use
Effective Date / Date of Last Revision: August 28, 2023
- WHO WE ARE
- THESE TERMS FORM A BINDING LEGAL AGREEMENT
- YOUR REPRESENTATIONS
- LICENSE TO USE THE SITE AND SERVICES
- ACCOUNT REGISTRATION
- OWNERSHIP RIGHTS
- YOUR CONTENT
- YOUR OBLIGATIONS TO US
- TERMINATION AND OUR MANAGEMENT OF THE SITES AND SERVICES
- ACCESSIBILITY
- MODIFICATIONS AND DISCONTINUATION OF SITE OR SERVICES
- DISCLAIMERS; LIMITS ON LIABILITY; WAIVER OF CLASS ACTION RIGHTS; WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL
- AVAILABILITY AND INTERRUPTIONS
- INDEMNIFICATION
- THIRD-PARTY LINKS
- COPYRIGHT COMPLAINTS
- GOVERNING LAW
- CORRECTIONS
- MISCELLANEOUS
- CONTACT US
1. WHO WE ARE
Sosland Companies, Inc., d/b/a Sosland Publishing Company (“Sosland,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) is a business-to-business trade publishing company focused on delivering content to the food industry. Sosland provides of variety of marketing solutions to its business customers (“Services”). Sosland also operates publicly accessible websites, including:
www.sosland.com, www.bakemag.com, www.bakingbusiness.com, www.dairyprocessing.com, www.foodbusinessnews.net, www.meatpoultry.com, www.petfoodprocessing.net, www.supermarketperimeter.com, www.world-grain.com, www.purchasingseminar.com, www.foodentrepreneurexperience.com and www.soslandtrends.com (“Sites”).
2. THESE TERMS FORM A BINDING LEGAL AGREEMENT
These Terms of Use ("Terms of Use" or “Terms”), along with our Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) constitute a legally binding agreement between you and us. Please read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy carefully. Your access to and use of our Sites and Services is subject to these Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy and all applicable laws. By accessing and using our Site and our Services in any manner, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. If you do not agree to adhere to these Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy, then you may not use our Site or Services.
Supplemental terms and conditions or documents that may be posted on our Sites from time to time are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to make changes or modifications to these Terms at any time and for any reason. We will alert you about any changes by updating the "Date of Last Revision" of these Terms, and you waive any right to receive specific notice of each such change. It is your responsibility to periodically review these Terms to stay informed of updates. You will be subject to, and will be deemed to have been made aware of and to have accepted, the changes in any revised Terms by your continued use of the Services after the date such revised Terms are posted.
We may also change, suspend, or end access to all or any part of the Sites and Services at any time, in our discretion.
3. YOUR REPRESENTATIONS
BY USING AND/OR ACCESSING ANY PART OF OUR SITE OR SERVICES, YOU UNCONDITIONALLY AND EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE, REPRESENT AND AGREE THAT YOU: (A) ARE OVER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE AND HAVE LEGAL CAPACITY TO AGREE TO THESE TERMS OR, IF YOU ARE UNDER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE, YOU HAVE RECEIVED PARENTAL PERMISSION TO USE THE SITES AND SERVICES; (B) HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THESE TERMS OF USE AND THE PRIVACY POLICY; (C) UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE BOUND BY THESE TERMS OF USE AND THE PRIVACY POLICY; AND (D) WILL COMPLY WITH THESE TERMS OF USE, THE PRIVACY POLICY AND ANY APPLICABLE LAWS AND REGULATIONS.
You further represent and warrant that: (1) all registration information (if applicable) you submit to us will be true, accurate, current, and complete; (2) you will maintain the accuracy of such information and promptly update such registration information as necessary; (3) you will not access the Sites or Services through automated or non-human means, whether through a bot, script or otherwise; (4) you will not use the Sites or Services for any illegal or unauthorized purpose; and (5) your use of the Sites and/or Services will not violate any applicable law or regulation.
4. LICENSE TO USE THE SITE AND SERVICES
Subject to these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy, we grant you a limited, non-transferable license to access and use the functionality, features, content and information provided through our Sites and/or Services for the purposes of obtaining information, products or Services, communicating with us, providing your reviews and participating in features and promotions we may offer from time to time. You may not use the Sites or Services for any other purpose without first obtaining written permission from us.
5. ACCOUNT REGISTRATION
If you set up an account with us, you will be required to provide certain personal data, such as your name, email address, mailing address, username and password. You will be solely responsible for all information you provide to us. You will also be solely responsible for the security of your account credentials and any activity (whether authorized or unauthorized) that takes place through your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized uses of your account or any other breach of security. You agree not to submit false information to us or anyone else through the Sites or Services. By creating an account on our Site and electing to sign up for our newsletter, you consent to receive periodic communication from us.
6. OWNERSHIP RIGHTS
We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our Sites and Services, including all source code, databases, functionality, software, website designs, audio, video, text, photographs, and graphics in the Services (collectively, the "Content"), as well as the trademarks, service marks, and logos contained therein (“Marks"). Our Content and Marks are protected by copyright and trademark laws (and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws) and treaties in the United States and around the world. Content published on our sites, including, but not limited to articles, charts, tables, data, photographs, images, illustrations, slideshows, audio clips and video clips, etc. are protected by copyright and owned or controlled by Sosland or the party credited as the provider of the Content. You shall abide by all additional copyright notices, information, or restrictions contained in any Content accessed through the Sites. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce, create new works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Sites (including software) in whole or in part. You may download or copy the Content and other downloadable items displayed on the website for personal use only, provided that you maintain all copyright and other notices contained therein. Copying or storing of any Content for other than personal use is expressly prohibited without prior written permission from Sosland or the copyright holder identified as the provider of the Content. The Content and Marks are provided in or through the Services "AS IS" for your personal, non-commercial use or internal business purpose only.
7. YOUR CONTENT
If you submit information and materials to us, such as comments, feedback, reviews, photos, videos or other materials to us (“User Content”), you agree to provide only truthful and accurate material that you have the right to provide to us. You retain all rights in and to your User Content. However, by submitting User Content to us, you grant us and our agents, sublicensees, contractors and assigns (“Licensed Parties”), a license to: (a) use and distribute your User Content so that we can provide our Sites and Services to you and to others; and (b) use your User Content for our business purposes, in our sole discretion.
We will not pay you for the use of your User Content and we reserve the right to remove or delete any User Content, in our sole discretion. It is your responsibility to keep a copy of your own User Content in the event it is deleted, lost or altered.
You represent and warrant that (i) you are solely responsible for all User Content you upload or otherwise provide to us, (ii) you own all rights in and to your User Content and/or have obtained appropriate rights and permissions from any and all other persons and/or entities who own, manage or otherwise claim any rights with respect to such User Content, (iii) the Licensed Parties’ use of your User Content as described herein will not violate the rights of any others, including (but not limited) to copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, privacy, publicity, moral, proprietary or other rights, nor will it violate any law, rule or regulation, and (iv) the User Content is not libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, indecent, threatening, harassing, hateful, or offensive or otherwise unlawful. To the fullest extent allowable by law, you release the Licensed Parties from, and agree to indemnify the Licensed Parties for, all claims, demands and damages of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with your User Content that violates this provision.
8. YOUR OBLIGATIONS TO US
In addition to the other representations provided in these Terms, in exchange for use of the Sites and/or any Services, you represent the following:
- You agree not to create false accounts or to provide false information. You represent and warrant that the contact information and account information you provide (if any) is truthful at the time you provide it.
- The security of your account (if applicable) is your responsibility. You agree to choose a strong password and keep it private to you. You’re responsible for any and all activity on your account. If you suspect misuse of your account, please contact us immediately.
- You will copy information from the Sites and Services only for your personal, non-commercial or internal business purposes.
- You will not otherwise reproduce, modify, distribute, display or otherwise provide access to the Sites, Services or Content to others without authorization.
- You will not use the Sites or the Services in any way that is unlawful or may harm us or any other users.
- You will not engage in any of the following activities:
- Using or submitting any offensive content including, but not limited to, obscene language, obscene references, obscene images, threatening or harassing messages, discriminatory actions, messages, or images, and defamatory statements.
- Engaging in activity that is unauthorized advertisement or promotions, including unauthorized solicitation of users of the Sites and/or Services.
- Collecting personal information of other users of the Sites and/or Services without such user's consent.
- Engaging in activity that compromises the Sites and/or Services. Such activity may include, but is not limited to hacking, IP attacks, ransomware attacks, spamming, phishing, cancel bots, Trojan horses, and mail bombing or crashing, and transferring any malware to the Site or other users of the Sites or Services.
- Allowing unauthorized access, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to the Sites and/or Services.
- Using the Sites, Services and/or any information or content available through the Site and/or Services in any manner that is not expressly permitted under these Terms of Use.
- Interfering or attempting to interfere with the security and/or proper working of the Sites and/or Services.
- Use robots, spiders, scripts, software, or any manual or automatic device, tool or process designed to data mine or scrape the Content, data or information from Sites and Services, or otherwise use, access or collect the Content, data of information from the Sites or Services using automated means.
- Use the Site for the development of any software program, including but not limited to, training a machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) system.
The license granted to you under these Terms of Use to access and use the Sites and Services shall automatically terminate if you violate any of the restrictions in these Terms of Use. We reserve the right to disclose the identity of anyone posting or transmitting information or materials violating the above prohibitions.
9. TERMINATION AND OUR MANAGEMENT OF THE SITES AND SERVICES
You may terminate your account at any time by sending an e-mail to subscriptions@sosland.com. Likewise, you may cease accessing and using the Sites and Services at any time in your sole discretion.
We reserve the right, but not the obligation, to: (1) terminate any part of the Sites or Services at any time; (2) monitor the Sites and Services for violations of these Terms; (3) take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in our sole discretion, violates the law or these Terms, including without limitation, reporting such user to law enforcement authorities; (4) terminate or suspend your account; (5) refuse, restrict access to, limit the availability of, or disable (to the extent technologically feasible) any of your User Content or any portion thereof; (6) remove from the Sites or Services or otherwise disable all files and content that appear malicious or are excessive in size or are in any way burdensome to our systems; and (7) otherwise manage the Sites and Services in a manner designed to protect our rights and property and to facilitate the proper functioning of the Sites and Services.
10. ACCESSIBILITY
We value all of our users, and it is our goal to provide an excellent experience for all our users, including our users with disabilities. You understand and accept, however, that some of the features of the Sites or Services may not be fully accessible because they are provided by third-parties or have errors. If you have comments regarding the accessibility of any part of the Sites, or would like to report an issue you are experiencing, please email us at subscriptions@sosland.com. You expressly agree to attempt to work with us in good faith to obtain access to our Sites and Services and that you will not threaten or assert any claims regarding accessibility against us unless you have first provided us with notice of the inaccessibility problem(s) and a thirty (30) day period to resolve the problem.
11. MODIFICATIONS AND DISCONTINUATION OF THE SITES OR SERVICES
We reserve the right to change, modify, or remove the contents of the Sites and/or Services at any time or for any reason at our sole discretion without notice. However, we have no obligation to update any information on our Sites or Services. We also reserve the right to modify or discontinue all or part of the Sites or Services without notice at any time. We will not be liable to you or any third party for any modification, price change, suspension, or discontinuance of the Sites or Services.
12. DISCLAIMERS; LIMITS ON LIABILITY; WAIVER OF CLASS ACTION RIGHTS; WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL
THE SITES AND SERVICES, AND ALL INFORMATION AND CONTENT AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITES AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED TO YOU ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS WITHOUT ANY IMPLIED OR EXPRESS WARRANTY OF ANY KIND (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, SUITABILITY, SECURITY, CORRECTNESS, ACCESSIBILITY AND NON-INFRINGEMENT). SOSLAND, ITS AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, MEMBERS, MANAGERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AGENTS, AND SUPPLIERS (COLLECTIVELY THE "SOSLAND PARTIES") MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY REGARDING: (A) THE CONTINUED AVAILABILITY, RELIABILITY, ACCURACY, ACCESSIBILITY, RESULTS OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SITES AND/OR SERVICES; (B) THE EXISTENCE (OR ABSENCE) OF ANY VIRUS, WORM, MALWARE, MALICIOUS CODE OR OTHER DISABLING DEVICES OR CODE FROM ANY SOURCES; (C) THE UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF YOUR INFORMATION; (D) ANY TECHNICAL FAILURES (INCLUDING HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE FAILURES); (E) LOSS, USE OR MISUSE OF YOUR DATA; OR (F) ANY THIRD-PARTY GOODS OR SERVICE PROVIDERS INCLUDING IN THE SITES AND ALL SUCH INFORMATION IS SUPPLIED AS A CONVENIENCE TO YOU ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE SPONSORSHIP, AFFLILIATION, PARTNERSHIP, ENDORSEMENT OR ANY GUARANTEES WHATSOEVER.
YOUR USE OF THE SITES AND SERVICES IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU AGREE THAT THE SOSLAND PARTIES ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE SOSLAND PARTIES' TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, LOSSES, FEES AND EXPENSES (INCLUDING ATTORNEYS' FEES), WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE AMOUNT (IF ANY) PAID BY YOU TO US FOR THE USE OF THE SITES AND/OR SERVICES WITHIN THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS. IF YOU LIVE IN A STATE THAT DOES NOT ALLOW THE WAIVER OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, OR LIMITATIONS OR DAMAGES WAIVERS DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, SOME OF THESE PROVISIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. YOU AGREE TO PROMPTLY NOTIFY US IN WRITING IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE ANY CLAIM AGAINST ANY OF THE SOSLAND PARTIES, AND, YOU AGREE THAT IF YOU HAVE ANY CLAIM AGAINST ANY OF THE SOSLAND PARTIES, YOU WILL BRING IT WITHIN ONE YEAR FROM THE TIME IT ARISES (OR SUCH SHORTER PERIOD UNDER APPLICABLE STATUTES OF LIMITATION) OR SUCH CLAIM SHALL BE WAIVED AND RELEASED. YOU FURTHER AGREE TO RESOLVE ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AGAINST THE SOSLAND PARTIES ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND KNOWINGLY WAIVE: (A) YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY CLASS ACTION AGAINST ANY OF THE THE SOSLAND PARTIES; AND (B) YOUR RIGHT A JURY TRIAL IN ANY DISPUTE BETWEEN YOU AND ANY OF THE SOSLAND PARTIES.
13. AVAILABILITY AND INTERRUPTIONS
WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THE SITES OR SERVICES WILL BE AVAILABLE OR SECURE 100% OF THE TIME BECAUSE PUBLIC NETWORKS, SUCH AS THE INTERNET, OCCASIONALLY EXPERIENCE DISRUPTIONS AND INTERFERENCE. ALTHOUGH WE STRIVE TO PROVIDE THE MOST RELIABLE SITES AND SERVICES REASONABLY POSSIBLE, INTERRUPTIONS, THIRD PARTY INTERFERENCE AND DELAYS DO OCCUR. THE SOSLAND PARTIES EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM SUCH PROBLEMS. YOU AGREE THAT WE HAVE NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER FOR ANY LOSS, DAMAGE, OR INCONVENIENCE CAUSED BY YOUR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE SITES OR SERVICES DURING ANY DOWNTIME OR DISCONTINUANCE OF THE SITES OR SERVICES. NOTHING IN THESE LEGAL TERMS WILL BE CONSTRUED TO OBLIGATE US TO MAINTAIN AND SUPPORT THE SITES OR SERVICES OR TO SUPPLY ANY CORRECTIONS, UPDATES, OR RELEASES IN CONNECTION THEREWITH.
14. INDEMNIFICATION
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Sosland Parties and any of our third-party service providers, from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, liability, fines, penalties and expenses, whether based on warranty, contract, negligence, strict liability or otherwise, that may arise from: (a) your breach of these Terms of Use; (b) your access or use of the Sites and/or Services; (c) your infringement or the infringement of any third-party using your account, of any intellectual property right of another; and (d) any authorized activity through your account.
15. THIRD-PARTY LINKS
The Sites may contain links to other third-party websites. Our linking to such third-party sites does not imply an endorsement or sponsorship of such sites, or the information, products or services offered on or through such third-party websites. Third-party websites are maintained by persons or organizations over which Sosland exercises no control. Sosland expressly disclaims any responsibility for the content or results from your use of such third-party websites.
16. COPYRIGHT COMPLAINTS
We respect the intellectual property of others. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide us with the following information.
- An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
- Description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
- The location on the Sites of the material that you claim is infringing;
- Your address, telephone number and e-mail address;
- A statement that your claim of infringement is based on a good faith belief; and
- A statement made under penalty of perjury that the information you have provided is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.
Our copyright agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement can be reached as follows: DPO@sosland.com.
17. GOVERNING LAW
These Terms of Use and your use of the Site and Services are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Missouri applicable to agreements made and to be entirely performed within the State of Missouri, without regard to its conflict of law principles. Any legal action relating to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, our Sites or our Services shall be commenced or prosecuted in the state and federal courts located in Jackson County, Missouri, You consent to, and waive all defenses of lack of personal jurisdiction and forum non conveniens with respect to venue and jurisdiction in such state and federal courts. In no event shall any claim, action, or proceeding brought by you that is related in any way to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, the Sites or the Services be commenced more than one (1) years after the cause of action arose. If we successfully enforce or defend our rights against you under these Terms or otherwise, we shall be entitled to recover its reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses from you.
18. CORRECTIONS
There may be information on the Sites and/or Services that contain typographical errors, inaccuracies, or omissions, including descriptions, pricing, availability, and various other information. We reserve the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies, or omissions and to change or update the information on the Sites or Services at any time, without prior notice.
19. MISCELLANEOUS
These Terms of Use and any policies or operating rules posted by us on the Site or Services constitute the entire agreement and understanding between you and us. Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. We may assign any or all of our rights and obligations under these Terms to others at any time. If any term or provision in these Terms of Use is found to be void, against public policy, or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the offending provision shall be deemed modified to the extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable. If the offending provision cannot be so modified, then the same shall be deemed stricken from these Terms of Use in its entirety and the remainder of these Terms of Use shall survive with the said offending provision eliminated. You agree that these Terms of Use will not be construed against us as the drafter of the Terms as you have had the opportunity to read them, understand them, and agree whether or not to use the Sites or Services in connection with them. You hereby waive any and all defenses you may have against use based on the fact that these Terms are posted on our website and are not physically signed by you.
20. HOW TO CONTACT US
If you have questions regarding these Terms of Use, please contact us at:
Sosland Publishing Company
4801 Main St., Suite 650
Kansas City, MO 64112-2513
800.338.6201
DPO@sosland.com
