Terms of use

This website (the “Site” or “Website”) has been designed by University of Southern California through its Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (“USC”) to promote a high quality user learning experience for the educational and scientific community, or others who may wish to view the site (“Users”), subject to these Terms of Use (“Terms”). The Site provides educational and informative content free of charge that is provided by USC and numerous third party institutions (“Third Party Collaborators”). These Terms constitute a binding agreement and are intended to eliminate any misunderstandings regarding the terms of your participation and use of the Site. By accessing, browsing, or using the Site, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use, regardless of whether you are a registered user. If you do not agree to these Terms, then you must not use this Site and any such use is unauthorized and prohibited.

USC may at any time revise these Terms and will post revised Terms here. If you are a registered user of the Site, you will also be informed of your changes to the Terms via email. If you are not registered, you agree to check the Terms of Use regularly for revisions. Your continued use of the service following the posting of a change will confirm your acceptance of the change.

Content/Services on the Site

Neither USC nor the Third Party Collaborators represent or endorse the reliability, accuracy, completeness, suitability for your purposes, or availability of any information or content displayed on the Site and USC is not responsible for any inaccuracies, errors, omissions or delays in such information or content. You acknowledge that any reliance on any such information or content shall be at your sole risk. THE CONTENT ON THE SITE IS DISPLAYED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT USE OF THE SITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

USC may change, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of the Site at any time, including the availability of any feature, functionality or content, for any reason. USC may also impose limits on certain features or services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Site for any reason without notice or liability.

Honor Code

By registering as a user of the Site or by using the Site, you agree to:

  • Maintain no more than a single user account by providing the most accurate and recent information for creating and maintaining said account.
  • Not bring about harm to any of the other users, Third Party Collaborators, USC, or the Site.
  • Comply strictly with these Terms of Use.

Illegal Use

You must not use the Site, or any data or services provided through the Site, in a manner that could damage, disable or impair the services or content being provided by the Site or our Third Party Collaborators. You must not attempt to gain unlawful or unauthorized access to the Website, other resource material, computer systems or networks connected to any server associated with the Site through hacking, password mining or any other improper or illegal means.

Privacy

You agree to respect the privacy of other Users of the Site by not sharing, copying or otherwise using other Users’ posts or comments, and by not using any other User’s or person’s identifying information without express written permission from that other User and USC. The information posted by Users on this Site is not private. The content and User comments are available for public viewing, including by persons who are not registered Users. You must take full responsibility for protecting your own personal information on the Internet and on any website, including this Site, and you agree to assume all risks that your privacy, identity or personal information in connection with the Site will not be protected.

Posts or Content

You, and not USC, are entirely responsible for all content that you post or otherwise transmit via the Site. You grant USC a perpetual, non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to any content you submit to the Site, which includes the right for USC or any other party it designates to use, copy, transmit, excerpt, publish, distribute, publicly display, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, modify or adapt (including without limitation the right to adapt to streaming, downloading, broadcast, mobile, digital, thumbnail, scanning or other technologies) in any form or media now known or hereinafter developed. By submitting content or posting a comment, you are consenting to its display and publication on the Site and for related uses.

Content that, in the sole and absolute judgment of USC, contains any of the following elements is strictly prohibited and you represent and warrant that you will not post or transmit to the Site any of the following:

  • Language that is inflammatory, including language that is libelous, defamatory, false, obscene, indecent, lewd, violent, abusive, threatening, harassing, discriminatory, unlawful, slanderous, hateful, embarrassing, etc.
  • Discussions or posts that conflict with any policy of USC or that are inconsistent with USC’s mission or purposes, including political postings.
  • Confidential information, including any other person’s or institution’s confidential information.
  • Information or content that could violate federal, state or local laws or regulations.
  • Material that infringes on the personal or proprietary rights of any third party, including intellectual property, privacy or publicity rights.
  • Advertisements or solicitations of business.
  • Chain letters or pyramid schemes.
  • Impersonations of another person or any sort of representation regarding USC, including that you are representing USC or its views.
  • Copies of previous postings or other spam.
  • Malware, viruses or any other similar software that might adversely affect the Site, USC, the Third Party Collaborators or other Users.
  • Intentionally providing misleading or incorrect information.
  • Any other language that USC deems to be inappropriate or generally offensive for this Site.

USC in its sole discretion reserves the right, though does not assume any obligation, to delete any posts or comments that violate these Terms and may block any User from the Site or terminate the account of any User who violates the Terms. USC is not responsible for the content posted or transmitted through the Site by any User.

USC further reserves the right to change or discontinue the content on the Site at any time, including discontinuing access to the Site altogether, without notice and with no liability to USC.

Links and Resources

USC or the Third Party Collaborators may post links to or content from other sites, advertisements, reference materials or lists of resources of third parties (collectively, “Third Party Resources”) on the Site, but USC has no responsibility and accepts no liability for the content or availability of the Third Party Resources. The Third Party Resources are provided solely for the convenience of Users and the inclusion of the Third Party Resources on the Site should not be interpreted as any sort of endorsement by USC. You agree to assume all risks associated with viewing or obtaining information from the Third Party Resources and are responsible for any losses or damage that you may suffer as a result of the Third Party Resources. You should direct any concerns regarding any external links to the third party site.
Moreover, the Third Party Resources are protected by foreign and US copyright and other intellectual property laws. The Third Party Resources on the Site are presented with the permission of the third party owners and are also subject to terms and conditions presented on the sites of the Third Party Collaborators. By accessing the Website, you agree to abide by any applicable terms and conditions of such other websites, which may be revised at any time.

User Account and Accessibility

You represent and warrant that the information you provided for registration is accurate and current. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your user name and password and for prohibiting any other person from using your account or posting or viewing posts on the Website through your account. You agree to notify USC if you suspect any unauthorized use of your account or access to your password. You are solely responsible for any use of your account in connection with the Site. You represent and warrant that you are at least thirteen (13) years old.

Termination

USC may, in its sole discretion, terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Website for any reason, including, without limitation, breach or assignment of these Terms of Use.

Intellectual Property Rights

The trademarks, logos, and service marks (collectively the "Trademarks") displayed on the Site are registered and unregistered Trademarks used by USC, or other Third Party Collaborators. Nothing contained on the Site should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to use any Trademark displayed on the Site without the written permission of USC or such third party that may own the Trademarks displayed on the Site. Your use of the Trademarks or any other content on the Site is strictly prohibited, unless specifically authorized. You are advised that USC will aggressively enforce its intellectual property rights to the fullest extent of the law.

Other data and content on this Website may be protected by patent, copyright and other laws. Except as expressly provided in these Terms, nothing contained in the Terms will be interpreted as conferring by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right under any patent, trademark or copyright of USC or any third party. You are not permitted to use any intellectual property of USC without the prior written consent of USC.

USC grants you a non-exclusive, limited and revocable license to view and use this Site. You may view content only for purposes of expanding your knowledge or education. You may not modify, use, download, upload, print, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, post, transmit, modify, adapt, or distribute any content in whole or in part without USC’s express written authorization.

Permitted Disclosure

USC is obligated to comply with governmental requests, subpoenas, and court orders and has the right to ensure the integrity of operations. You understand and agree that USC may monitor, access, limit and disclose any information and content it considers necessary or appropriate, including, without limitation, account information (name, email address, etc.), IP addressing, usage history, posted content and data analytics.

Assumption of Risk

You agree to assume any and all risks for use of the Site and its content and services. The content hosted on the Site is owned by various providers, including USC and Third Party Collaborators, and copying, downloading or printing information from the Site is at your own discretion and risk. You agree to assume any and all risks of damage to your computer system or for the loss of your data as a result of your using the Site.

Although USC reserves the right to delete user posts due to content, USC assumes no responsibility for posts submitted by Users. You should expect that Users may post items that could be inaccurate, unreliable, offensive, or inflammatory to you or other Users, and you assume any and all risks of reviewing such content. USC is not responsible for any such materials posted. USC requests that you not respond with anger when seeing such a post, but instead alert the administrator of the Site to the post by sending an email to the address listed on the “Contact Us” page. The administrator may, but is not obligated to, take some action in response to your email. You acknowledge that USC has no obligation to, and does not in its normal course, prescreen, monitor or review the materials posted online. USC does not exert advance editorial control over any materials posted online.

USC reserves the right to prescreen, monitor and/or review all materials posted by the Users, however. In its sole discretion, USC reserves the right to refuse to post or remove a post, but because USC does not monitor the Site at all times, it is impossible to prescreen, review or monitor every post before it appears on the Site.

Release

You release USC, its physicians, faculty, officers, directors, departments, projects, employees, agents and successors (the “USC Releasees”) from claims, demands, any and all losses, damages, rights, and actions of any kind including, without limitation, for personal injuries, death, and property damage, that are either directly or indirectly related to or arise from: (i) this Site, including any interactions with other Users that may occur off the Site; (ii) any incorrect or inaccurate content posted on this Site, whether caused by other Users, USC, a third party, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized on this Site; (iii) the conduct of any User or third party, or the conduct or inaction of USC, (iv) these Terms of Use, or (v) any breach of your privacy or personally identifiable information or any other right or interest you may have. You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold the USC Releasees harmless from any loss, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable attorney’s fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your use of the Site or of content obtained from the Site, the unavailability of the Site for any reason, your posting of content on the Site or your violation of these Terms.

Notifications to USC

If you need to notify USC regarding some aspect of the Site, or to ask to terminate your User status on the Site, please send an email to the address listed on the Contact page of this website. The cancellation of your user status/registration will be effective within 10 business days of receiving your request.

Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event will the USC Releasees be responsible for any incidental damages, consequential damages, exemplary damages of any kind, lost goodwill, lost profits, lost business and/or any indirect economic damages whatsoever in any way arising from or connected to the Site or these Terms, regardless of whether such damages arise from claims based upon contract, negligence, tort (including strict liability or legal theory), a breach of any warranty or provision of these Terms, and regardless of whether you were advised or had reason to know of the possibility of incurring such damages in advance.

Entire Agreement

These Terms contain the entire understanding of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersede all prior agreements, oral or written, and all other communications between the parties relating to this subject matter.

Severability; Waiver

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, the remainder of the Terms shall remain in full force and effect disregarding such unenforceable or invalid provision. Any failure of USC to enforce any right under any provision of these Terms shall not be construed or act as a waiver of USC’s subsequent right to enforce any of the provisions contained herein.

Arbitration

All disputes arising under or in connection with these Terms of Use or the Site shall be submitted to JAMS or successor organization for binding arbitration in Los Angeles County by a single arbitrator who shall be a former California Superior Court judge. Such dispute shall be governed by California law. The arbitrator shall be selected by JAMS in an impartial manner determined by it. Except as may be otherwise provided herein, the arbitration shall be conducted under the California Arbitration Act, Code of Civil Procedure §1280 et seq. The parties shall have the discovery rights provided in Code of Civil Procedure §§1283.05 and 1283.1. The arbitration hearing will be commenced within 180 days of the filing of this application with JAMS by any party hereto, and a decision shall be rendered by the arbitrator within (30) days of the conclusion of the hearing. The arbitrator shall have complete authority to render any and all relief, legal and equitable, appropriate under California law and this Agreement. The arbitrator shall award costs of the proceeding, including reasonable attorney’s fees, to the party determined to have substantially prevailed.