Conditions of use

The legal blurb

3 September 2007

This agreement is based on mutual respect. We respect you as a person, and we require that you respect us and others. In a nutshell, this agreement requires you to behave legally, fairly and responsibly, to respect others and to submit to the rules implemented by the microPledge system.

By using the microPledge website or any related services, you are agreeing to be bound by the following Conditions of Use.

microPledge reserves the right to change these Conditions of Use at any time, but we will notify you by email of significant changes that affect you. All our services and any future enhancements or changes to service will be subject to these Conditions of Use. By continuing to use our services, you are agreeing to any such changes. This version of the agreement supercedes any previous version. You can always review the most current version at /conditions.

Violation of any of these Conditions of Use will result in the removal of your content, privileges or the suspension of your account. While microPledge prohibits such conduct and content on our services, you understand and agree that microPledge cannot be responsible for the content posted on the service and you nonetheless may be exposed to such materials. You agree to use the service at your own risk.

Account holders

  1. You must be a legal person or group of people. Automated “bots” may not hold accounts.
  2. You must enter your real, legal name and postal address into your profile when required.
  3. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account’s username and password.
  4. You are responsible for all content posted under your account whether or not you posted it.
  5. You may not have multiple accounts belonging to a single individual or single development team.

Finances

  1. You agree to allow microPledge to act as your agent in all transactions involving the money in your account.
  2. You agree to pay all transaction fees for the money in your account that microPledge passes on to you from payment processors (e.g., PayPal fees).
  3. Any money you have pledged to a project is subject to the microPledge payment process for holding pledges in trust and releasing them in stages. You agree to place your pledge in trust on request. You also agree to allow microPledge to pay your pledge to the developer as required. You may retrieve any part of your pledge that remains unpaid at the point when an incomplete project expires.
  4. If you are a developer, you agree to pay all microPledge service fees, penalties and refunds listed in the microPledge documentation. You also agree to be responsible for calling in pledges to be held in trust as part of your negotiation with pledgers, and that microPledge is not responsible since they provide you with the necessary negotiation tools.
  5. Any development work that you do on a project is under contract to that project’s pledgers, with microPledge acting as their agent. You agree to provide a fair and reasonable service to the best of your ability. You agree to release your work to microPledge and allow microPledge to release it to all the pledgers or to the world as specified in our terms of license selected for that project.

Content rights

  1. You forfeit all rights to any material that you post on the microPledge website with the sole exception that any project releases that you submit to the website are governed by that project’s license, and microPledge holds no further claim to them.
  2. You are also responsible to ensure that you have rights to any material that you do post on the website.
  3. If you are a developer, you agree that you will not develop or place existing software on the website under a microPledge license that is not permitted by the software’s copyright.
  4. You understand that this website is copyright © 2006–2007 microPledge Ltd. You may not copy or reuse any of its text or images or display them on your website except what is explicitly allowed by the microPledge API service.

General

  1. Illegal, blasphemous, pornographic, immoral, defamatory, disrespectful, or inconsiderate material or projects may not be posted on the website. You must be fair and reasonable in all your dealings. Refer to the Ten Commandments for further definition of the term “immoral”.
  2. You agree to abide by the rules and intentions of the microPledge system without hacking or exploiting any loop-holes that you may find unless you have received explicit permission from microPledge.
  3. You agree to the microPledge Privacy Policy detailing how we protect your information submitted to our service.
  4. This policy applies to all microPledge services. If you decide to use our services then any dispute that arises is subject to these Conditions of Use and our Privacy Policy, and will be governed by the laws and courts of New Zealand.

Our disclaimers

We’re terribly sorry, but the lawyers said we have to have them.

  1. While we obviously do our best to keep our service in order, you use it at your own risk. The service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.
  2. You understand and agree that microPledge does not warrant and will not be liable for any damages whatsoever of any type whatsoever, resulting from:
    • the use of any information in any project, in our help, our prior art information, or anywhere else.
    • the use or inability to use the service;
    • the need to buy substitute goods or services due to a failure to obtain them via this service;
    • a malfunction of the service;
    • unauthorized access to or alterations of your transmissions or data;
    • any statements or conduct of anyone on the service;
    • or any other matter relating to the service.
  3. We may, but are under no legal obligation to remove content that violates these Conditions of Use, or that is offensive in any way. Such material will be removed at our sole discretion.
  4. microPledge reserves the right to make changes to its service or fees at any time, and to temporarily or permanently discontinue the service with or without notice. If the service is permanently discontinued, any money in your account will be paid back to you.