Terms of Use

OwnItVoiceIt.com is operated by RAI Services Company, a subsidiary of Reynolds American, Inc. The Site is operated for the purpose of engaging tobacco and vapor rights advocacy among adult tobacco and vapor consumers, retailers, and tobacco and vapor rights advocates, including to provide information and resources to such consumers, retailers and advocates who are interested in legislative, regulatory, or other issues related to tobacco and/or vapor products and to provide a platform for discussion to those who choose to participate.

The following Terms of Use (“Terms”) set forth the terms upon which the operators of the website (“we”, “our” and “us”) offer you (“you”) access to this website and any associated mobile applications (“Site”). These Terms also include our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference. By accessing or using this Site, you represent that you have read and agree to be bound by these Terms (as may be amended from time to time) without limitation, qualification or change. Access to and use of this Site are subject to the following terms and conditions and all applicable laws.

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS AND USE

Age Restriction.You must be at least 18 years of age to access this Site. We restrict our Site and contact list to individuals who have certified that:

they are 18 years of age or older,
they want to participate in the Site, and
they understand that providing false information may constitute a violation of law.

Purpose of This Site
This Site is operated for the purpose of providing information and resources to people who are interested in legislative issues surrounding tobacco and vapor products, including resources to help connect them with other adult tobacco and/or vapor products users and advocates, and elected officials. The Site is not operated for advertising or marketing purposes. Nothing on this Site should be regarded as an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any product of Reynolds American Inc.’s operating companies. Such products are sold only in compliance with the laws of the particular jurisdictions in which they are sold.

Geographic Restrictions. The Site is controlled and operated from the United States, and is not intended to subject us to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than that of the United States. We do not represent or warrant that the Site is appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction other than the United States, and access to them from jurisdictions where their content is illegal is prohibited. You agree that you will not access this Site from any territory where the content or use of the Site is illegal. You are solely responsible for complying with all applicable local laws, rules and regulations. We may limit the Site’s availability, in whole or in part, to any person, geographic area or jurisdiction we choose, at any time and in our sole discretion.

YOUR STUFF

When you use the Site, you provide us with things like your contact information, comments, electronic submissions, and so on (“Your Stuff”). You retain ownership of Your Stuff. However, you agree that we can use Your Stuff in order to further the purposes of this Site. For example, we use Your Stuff to provide or improve the Site and related services (e.g., displaying comments you submit or using your contact information to send you notifications and alerts that you sign up for), for business and administrative purposes (e.g., to respond to a request by you or to resolve a technical problem), and for outreach regarding legislative, regulatory or other related issues.

Your Name, Likeness, and Biographical Data. You grant us the right to use your name, image, likeness, biographical data, and statements made in connection with the submitted materials and other related information in connection with outreach regarding legislative, regulatory or other related issues, without obligation or compensation to you.

Your Submissions. Our Site may let you share Your Stuff with us as well as others, so please think carefully about what you share (for example, if you provide comments to one of our blogs). You shall grant, and hereby grant, to us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license, with the right to sublicense, reproduce, distribute, transmit, provide access to, make available, create derivative works of, publicly display and publicly perform any materials and other information (including, without limitation, ideas contained therein for new or improved communications and services) that you submit to or through this Site (“Submission”) by all means and in any media or any mode of distribution now known or hereafter developed. You agree that we shall have no obligations concerning the Submission, contractual or otherwise (including but not limited to an obligation to keep the Submission confidential), and shall not be liable for any use or disclosure of any Submission. You further agree that we shall be entitled to unrestricted use of the Submission for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to you.

Your Feedback. We welcome feedback, suggestions, comments, ideas and reviews about the Site (“Feedback”). You agree, however, that by submitting Feedback to us, we may use such information on an unrestricted basis, without any obligation, notice or compensation to you.

You agree that you shall have no recourse against us for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary or other right in Your Stuff.

YOUR CONDUCT

Code of Conduct. You shall comply with all applicable laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations regarding your use of the Site and any related services. You agree not to misuse the Site or help anyone else to do so. For example, you must not do any of the following in connection with the Site:

Circumvent or disable any restrictions on access to the Site, or otherwise interfere with the security-related features of the Site.
Violate the Standard for Robot Exclusion (available here) and this Site’s robots.txt files.
Collect and distribute information from the Site.
Use a spider, robot or any other automated means to access, view or retrieve any of the content on this Site.
Interfere with, overburden or disrupt the Site.
Restrict or inhibit others from the Site.
Create deep links to any content on the Site. (Without our permission, you may not link to any page on this Site except our home page).
Decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise attempt to obtain or perceive the source code from the Site or any portion thereof.
Do anything illegal.
Share, post or otherwise make available inappropriate content (involving, for example, libelous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, indecent, offensive, hateful, pornographic, graphic violence, or otherwise objectionable material).
Engage in any activity that is harmful to you, the Site, or others (e.g., transmitting viruses or worms, stalking, harassment, threatening others, communicating hate speech, or advocating violence against others).
Engage in activity that is false or misleading (e.g., impersonating someone else).
Infringe upon the rights of others (e.g., unauthorized sharing of content that is protected by copyright, trademark or other intellectual property or proprietary right).
Copy, replicate, transcribe or reproduce the “look and feel” of the Site, or any of its features and functionalities.
Link to, mirror or frame any portion of the Site.
Engage in activity that violates the privacy of others.
Send solicitations (e.g., charity requests, petitions for signatures, chain letters, letters relating to pyramid schemes or similar documents, or other types of solicitations)
Send spam. Spam is unwanted or unsolicited bulk email, postings, contact requests, SMS (text messages), or instant messages.
Help others break these rules.

How we handle Code of Conduct violations. We are not responsible for monitoring, screening, policing or editing the information or materials posted on, submitted to or accessed or transmitted through this Site. However, we reserve the right to delete, block and/or remove any information or materials that we, in our sole discretion, deem to be unlawful, inappropriate or otherwise unacceptable to us or any other party. If notified of any such information or materials on this Site, we will determine in our sole discretion whether to remove such content from this Site or re-post such content to this Site.

When investigating alleged violations of these Terms, we reserve the right to review your Submissions in order to resolve the issue. You understand and agree that if we, in our sole discretion, believe that you have violated any of the above rules or these Terms we may:

Remove, block or refuse to publish your Submissions for any reason.
Prohibit you from accessing or using the Site.

CONTENT ON THE SITE

Third-Party Content. We have no control over the information provided by other users and do not (and cannot) monitor information shared on or via the Site. You should use caution and common sense when interacting with
other users. We encourage you not to share, post or otherwise disclose personally identifying or other sensitive information to other users on this Site.

Third Party Links. At certain places on this Site, you may be able to access other Internet addresses via links. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality, decency, or any other aspect of such websites. The inclusion of such a link or reference to any specific commercial product, process or service by trademark name, trademark, service mark, manufacturer or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, association, recommendation or favoring by us. You acknowledge and agree that any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed in such websites are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of us. It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through third party websites. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.

WARNING: ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THIS SITE IS DONE AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM ANY SUCH MATERIAL.

OUR PRIVACY POLICY

You can learn about our privacy practices by reading our Privacy Policy. By accessing or using the Site, you agree that your information and content will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy (as may be amended from time to time).

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUES

Copyright and Trademark Notice. This Site and its contents, including without limitation, text, materials, graphics, images, interfaces, code, data, and the “look and feel”, selection, arrangement, design and organization of the Site, are and will remain the exclusive property of us and/or our licensors. The Site and its content are, or may be protected by copyright, trademark, patent and other laws of the United States and may be protected by the same or similar laws of other countries. Certain of the names, logos, distinctive features, source identifiers and other materials appearing on this Site, including its “look and feel”, are trademarks, trade names, service marks, trade dress or logos (“Marks”) of ours, our affiliates and subsidiaries. All Marks not owned by us appearing on this Site or accessed via this Site are the property of their respective owners who are neither sponsors nor affiliated with us, or this Site. These Terms do not grant any license or other authorization to use any Marks. Except as specifically permitted by these Terms, any copying, reproduction, display, or retransmission of the contents or any portion of the contents of this Site is strictly prohibited. Ownership of all such Marks and the goodwill associated therewith remains with us or those other entities. We and our licensors reserve all rights not expressly granted in and to the Site.

Infringement Claims. It is our policy to respond to claims of intellectual property infringement and other violations of law. We will investigate notices of alleged infringement and reserves the right to take appropriate actions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) and other applicable laws and regulations that may be enacted or promulgated from time to time. Upon receiving written notification that complies or substantially complies with the DMCA, we will act to delete or disable access to any material claimed to be infringing or claimed to be the subject of infringing activity. We reserve the right to delete or disable access to content alleged to be infringing. We reserve the right to terminate, at any time and under appropriate circumstances, access of repeat infringers.

Submitting an Infringement Claim. If you believe that this Site contains any material that infringes your or another party’s rights under the copyright laws, you shall provide notification to the following designated agent:

By Mail:
Customer Relations
P.O. Box 2959
Winston-Salem, NC 27102-2959

By Email:
raisc-dmca@cwdlp.com

Your notification must include all of the following information:

an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
a description of the copyrighted work that is alleged to have been infringed, including the electronic location, such as the URL (i.e., the web page address) where the copyrighted work exists, or a copy of the copyrighted work;
identify the URL or other specific location where the allegedly infringing material is located;
provide the address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the notifying party;
a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate that you are the copyright owner or the owner’s authorized agent.

Counter-Notices. When we delete or disable access to any material alleged to be infringing under this policy, we may attempt to contact the User who has posted such material in order to give that User an opportunity to respond to the notification, although we make no promise to do so. Any counter notifications submitted by such User will be furnished to the complaining party, who will be given an opportunity to seek judicial relief in accordance with the DMCA before we replace or restore access to any material as a result of any counter notifications.

SITE AVAILABILITY AND CHANGES

Network Access and Mobile. You are responsible for obtaining the data network access necessary to use the Site. Your mobile network’s data and messaging rates and fees may apply if you access or use the Site from a wireless-enabled device, and you are responsible for any and all service fees associated with any such mobile access, including all applicable data fees, and for complying with all terms of use imposed by the carrier. You are responsible for acquiring and updating compatible hardware or devices necessary to access and use the Site and any updates thereto. We do not guarantee that the Site, or any portion thereof, will function on any particular hardware or devices. In addition, the Site may be subject to malfunctions and delays inherent in the use of the Internet and electronic communications.

Site Availability. The Site or content on the Site may be unavailable from time to time, may be offered for a limited time, or may vary depending on your region or device. We are not liable for any disruption or loss you may suffer as a result. We cannot, and do not, guarantee any specific minimum availability of the Site.

Changes to the Site. We may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of our online services at any time, including the availability of any feature, database, or content available at this Site. We may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts or all of this Site without notice or liability.

Changes to these Terms. We reserve the right to change these Terms at any time at our sole and exclusive discretion. We will post a notice of changes to these Terms on this Site. By continuing to use this Site after a change is made, you accept and agree to be bound by the modified Terms. Only we may alter these Terms.

CHOICE OF LAW

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of North Carolina as such laws are applied to agreements entered into and to be performed entirely within North Carolina between North Carolina residents. All disputes concerning this Site and this Agreement must be brought either in the state courts of Forsyth County, North Carolina USA or in the federal court of the Middle District of North Carolina USA. You voluntarily submit to and consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of such courts.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIABILITIES

No Warranty. We and our service providers provide this Site, and any information and content made available on the Site (collectively, “Site Content”), and any related services “as is” and “as available” and without any warranty or condition of any kind, whether express, implied or statutory. Use of this Site and Site Content is at your sole risk. We do not guarantee that the Site will function continuously, uninterrupted, error-free, free of viruses or other harmful components, or that you will have secure access to this Site or our services. Operation of this Site may be interfered with by numerous factors outside of our control. We do not guarantee the security of any information transmitted to or from the Site. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, We and our sERVICE PROVIDERS specifically disclaim any implied warranties of title, QUIET ENJOYMENT, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, NON-INTERFERENCE, SYSTEM INTEGRATION, ACCURACY OF DATA, AVAILABILITY, FREEDOM FROM COMPUTER VIRUS, And Warranties arising from trade usage, course of dealing or course of performance. Some states do not allow this disclaimer of implied warranties, so the foregoing disclaimer may not apply to you. You may have other legal rights which vary from state to state.

Disclaimer. We disclaim any liability for any damages, losses, injuries, or expenses caused by, arising or resulting from, or in connection with any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of digital records, whether for breach of contract, tortious behavior, negligence, or under any other cause of action. You specifically acknowledge that we are not liable for the foregoing or for any defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of other Users or third parties and that the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with you.

Limitation of Liability. In no event shall we, Nor our PARENT, subsidiaries and affiliates, or their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, vendors, or suppliers be liable for lost profits or any special, indirect, punitive, EXEMPLARY, incidental or consequential damages arising out of or in connection with this Site, the services available on this Site or these Terms (however arising, Whether based on warranty, contract, tort (including, without limitation, negligence) or any other legal theory). And even if it has been advised of the possibility of such damages, our liability to you for all losses, damages, injuries, and claims of every kind (whether claimed under contract, negligence, tort or other legal theory) will under no circumstances exceed $100.

However, in certain states the law may not permit us to limit or exclude liability for these special, incidental, consequential or lost profit damages.

INDEMNITY

Indemnity. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold us and our parent, and their respective subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, agents, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your breach of this Agreement or the documents it incorporates by reference, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

RESOLVING DISPUTES

Let’s Work Together to Resolve Any Issues. We value our relationship with you and we want to address your concerns without the need for litigation. Before filing a claim against us, you agree to try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting dispute-notice@cwdlp.com. We may need information from you to try to investigate or address your concerns (such as screenshots of error screens or images showing the problem) and you agree to provide information necessary to investigate and address any issues that may arise. If a dispute is not resolved within 45 days after you submit the necessary information, either you or we may bring a formal proceeding.

No Class Actions. You may only resolve disputes with us on an individual basis. You may not bring a claim as a plaintiff or a class member in a class, consolidated, or representative action. Class arbitrations, class actions, private attorney general actions, and consolidation with other arbitrations are not allowed.

Judicial forum for disputes. You agree that any judicial proceeding will be brought in the federal or state courts of Winston-Salem, NC. You consent to venue and personal jurisdiction there.

SPECIAL NOTICE TO NEW JERSEY RESIDENTS

We intend for these Terms, including the terms in the sections titled “Disclaimer of Warranties and Liabilities” “Indemnity” and “Resolving Disputes,” as modified by this paragraph, to be as broad and inclusive as is permitted by the law of the State of New Jersey and that if any portion hereof is held invalid, that the balance shall, notwithstanding, continue in full force and effect.

Notwithstanding any language in these Terms to the contrary, we agree that: (a) the limitation on liability will not apply to claims brought by New Jersey consumers for damages caused by our intentional, reckless or grossly negligent conduct and (b) the indemnification obligations will not apply to claims caused by our intentional, reckless or grossly negligent conduct. If one or more other provisions of these Terms are deemed to be illegal or unenforceable under New Jersey law, the remainder of these Terms shall be unaffected and shall continue to be fully valid, binding and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.

ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE AND NOTICES

Electronic Signature. Your affirmative act of registering for an account on the Site constitutes your electronic signature to these Terms and your consent to enter into agreements with us electronically. All agreements completed electronically will be deemed to be in writing and legally enforceable as a signed writing for all legal purposes.

Electronic Notices. You also agree that we may send you notices or other communications in electronic form (e.g., emails, banners, etc.). We may send you electronic notices or other communications to the email address(es) that you provide to us, or by posting any notices or other communications on this Site. The delivery of any notices or other communications from us is effective when sent by us, regardless of whether you read such notice or other communication when you receive it or whether you actually receive the delivery.

MISCELLANEOUS

You and we are independent contractors, and no agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer or franchise-franchisee relationship is intended or created.

The information, software, data, services, and other content published on this Site may contain inaccuracies or typographical errors which we reserve the right (without notice) to unilaterally correct.

If any provision of this Agreement is held to be unlawful, void, invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be deleted and the remaining provisions shall be enforced.

Headings are for reference purposes only and in no way define, limit, construe or describe the scope or extent of such section.

Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. No provision of these Terms shall be waived except pursuant to a writing executed by the party against whom the waiver is sought.

You may not assign, transfer, or sublicense any of your rights or obligations under these Terms without our express prior written consent.

These Terms, including any policies and information linked from or incorporated therein, constitute the entire understanding and agreement between you and us with respect to our Site.

A printed version of these Terms, and any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this Agreement to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records generated and maintained in printed form.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at support@ownitvoiceit.com.