Last modified: June 18, 2016

 

Acceptance of these Terms of Use

These Terms of Use are entered into by and between you, the user (“You”) and the Cultural Institutions Retirement System (“CIRS,” “We” or “Us”) and govern your use of www.cirsplans.org (the “Website”).

Please read these Terms of Use carefully before you start to use the Website. By using the Website, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy, incorporated herein by reference. If you do not want to agree to these Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy, you must not access or use the Website.

This Website is intended for use by residents of the United States. We do not represent that the Website or its content is accessible or appropriate outside of the United States. Access to the Website may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Website from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.

 

Changes to the Terms of Use

We may revise and update these Terms of Use from time to time in our sole discretion. All changes are effective immediately when we post them, and apply to all access to and use of the Website thereafter. However, any changes to the dispute resolution provisions set forth in Governing Law and Jurisdiction will not apply to any disputes for which the parties have actual notice on or before the date the change is posted on the Website.

 

Accessing the Website and Account Security

We reserve the right to modify or discontinue the Website, and any service or material we provide on the Website. From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Website, or the entire Website, to users, including registered users.

To access the Website or some of the resources it offers, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information. It is a condition of your use of the Website that all the information you provide on the Website is correct, current and complete. You agree that all information you provide to register with this Website or otherwise, including but not limited to through the use of any interactive features on the Website, is governed by our Privacy Policy, and you consent to all actions we take with respect to your information consistent with our Privacy Policy.

If you choose, or are provided with, a user name, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures for any portion of the Website or service provided through the Website, such as the Trustee Login section, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any other person or entity. You agree to keep all information and materials accessed via a password-protected area confidential. You also acknowledge that your account is personal to you and agree not to provide any other person with access to such areas of the Website including, but not limited to, by sharing your user name, password or other security information. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to or use of your user name or password or any other breach of security. You also agree to ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. You should use particular caution when accessing your account from a public or shared computer so that others are not able to view or record your password or other personal information.

We have the right to disable any user name, password or other identifier, whether chosen by you or provided by us, at any time if, in our opinion, you have violated any provision of these Terms of Use.

 

Intellectual Property Rights

The Website and its entire contents, features and functionality (including but not limited to all information, software, text, displays, images, video and audio, and the design, selection and arrangement thereof), are owned by CIRS, its licensors or other providers of such material and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws.

These Terms of Use permit you to use the Website for your personal, non-commercial use only. You must not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, republish, download, store or transmit any of the material on our Website, except as follows:

  • Your computer may temporarily store copies of such materials in RAM incidental to your accessing and viewing those materials.
  • You may store files that are automatically cached by your Web browser for display enhancement purposes.
  • You may e-mail, print or download one copy of a reasonable number of pages of the Website for your own personal, non-commercial use and not for further reproduction, publication or distribution.
  • If we provide desktop, mobile or other applications for download, you may download a single copy to your computer or mobile device solely for your own personal, non-commercial use, provided you agree to be bound by our end user license agreement for such applications.
  • Notwithstanding the above, you may not share or disseminate any material or information made accessible to you on password protected areas of the Website to any person who does not have a right to access such material or information.

You must not:

  • Modify copies of any materials from this site.
  • Delete or alter any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices from copies of materials from this site.

You must not access or use for any commercial purposes any part of the Website or any services or materials available through the Website.

If you print, copy, modify, download or otherwise use or provide any other person with access to any part of the Website in breach of the Terms of Use, your right to use the Website will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made. No right, title or interest in or to the Website or any content on the Website is transferred to you, and all rights not expressly granted are reserved by CIRS. Any use of the Website not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use is a breach of these Terms of Use and may violate copyright, trademark and other laws.

 

Trademarks

The names CULTUAL INSTITUTIONS RETIREMENT SYSTEM, CIRS, the CIRS logo and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans are trademarks of CIRS or its affiliates or licensors. You must not use such marks without the prior written permission of CIRS. All other names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans on this Website are the trademarks of their respective owners.

 

Prohibited Uses

You may use the Website only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Use. You agree not to use the Website:

  • In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the US or other countries).
  • For the purpose of exploiting, harming or attempting to exploit or harm minors in any way by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable information or otherwise.
  • To transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional material, including any “junk mail”, “chain letter” or “spam” or any other similar solicitation.
  • To impersonate or attempt to impersonate CIRS, a CIRS employee, another user or any other person or entity (including, without limitation, by using e-mail addresses associated with any of the foregoing).
  • To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of the Website, or which, as determined by us, may harm CIRS or users of the Website or expose them to liability.

Additionally, you agree not to:

  • Use the Website in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the Website or interfere with any other party’s use of the Website, including their ability to engage in real time activities through the Website.
  • Use any robot, spider or other automatic device, process or means to access the Website for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on the Website.
  • Use any manual process to monitor or copy any of the material on the Website or for any other unauthorized purpose without our prior written consent.
  • Use any device, software or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Website.
  • Introduce any viruses, trojan horses, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage or disrupt any parts of the Website, the server on which the Website is stored, or any server, computer or database connected to the Website.
  • Attack the Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.
  • Otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website.

 

Comments and Suggestions

CIRS welcomes your comments and suggestions regarding the Website. Any comments or suggestions submitted to CIRS, whether online or offline, will become CIRS’ property upon their submission. This policy is intended to avoid the possibility of future misunderstandings if a product or service developed by CIRS might seem to others to be similar to their comments or suggestions.

 

Monitoring and Enforcement; Termination

CIRS reserves the right to terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Website for any violation of these Terms of Use. CIRS also reserves the right to take all actions deemed reasonably necessary to address any suspected violation, including conducting investigations and referring the matter to law enforcement.

Reliance on Information Posted

The information presented on or through the Website is made available solely for general information purposes. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of this information. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk.

This Website may include content or links to content offered by third parties. All information, statements and/or opinions expressed in such materials are solely the opinions and the responsibility of the person or entity providing those materials. These materials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of CIRS. We are not responsible, or liable to you or any third party, for the content or accuracy of any third party materials that you may access on or through the Website.

 

Changes to the Website

We may update the content on this Website from time to time, but its content is not necessarily complete or up-to-date. Any of the material on the Website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

 

Linking to the Website

You may link to our homepage, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part without our express written consent. You must not establish a link from any website that is not owned by you or use framing or deep linking of any portion of the Website.

 

Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability

  1. CIRS will provide the Website with reasonable care and skill. CIRS does not make any other promises or warranties about the Website and in particular does not warrant that:
  2. Your use of the Website will be uninterrupted or error-free. You agree that from time to time CIRS may remove or limit access to the Website for indefinite periods of time, or discontinue the Website at any time for technical, operational or other reasons and will, to the extent practicable, notify You of this;
  3. the Website will be free from loss, corruption, attack, viruses, interference, hacking, or other security intrusion.
  4. Except as set out in Subsection c below, in no case shall CIRS, its parents, subsidiaries, officers, directors, employees, affiliates, agents, contractors, or licensors be liable for any loss or damage caused by CIRS, its employees or agents where:
  5. there is no breach of a legal duty of care owed to You by CIRS or by any of our employees or agents;
  6. it is not a reasonably foreseeable result of any such breach;
  • any increase in loss or damage results from breach by You of any term of these Terms of Use or from Your failure to mitigate Your damages; or
  1. it results from any action taken by CIRS to investigate or address a suspected violation by You of these Terms of Use or of any law.
  2. Nothing in these Terms of Use removes or limits CIRS’s liability for fraud, gross negligence, wilful misconduct, or for consequential damages due to death or personal injury.

YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THE WEBSITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE WEBSITE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS-IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE BY CIRS OR ITS LICENSORS AND CIRS AND ITS LICENSORS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO EVALUATE THE ACCURACY AND COMPLETENESS OF ALL INFORMATION, OPINIONS AND OTHER MATERIAL ON THE WEBSITE OR ANY WEBSITES WITH WHICH IT IS LINKED AND DECIDE IF YOU WISH TO USE THE WEBSITE. THE WEBSITE MAY LINK TO OR REFERENCE WEBSITES AND INFORMATION LOCATED WORLDWIDE THROUGHOUT THE INTERNET. BECAUSE CIRS HAS NO CONTROL OVER SUCH WEBSITES AND INFORMATION, CIRS MAKES NO GUARANTEE AS TO SUCH WEBSITES AND INFORMATION.

The foregoing disclaimers and limitation of liability shall apply to the fullest extent permitted by law.

 

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless CIRS, its affiliates and their respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees, agents, and assigns from and against all claims that third parties may assert against CIRS, and all damages and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, that may be incurred as a result of such claims, arising out of Your breach of any representation, warranty or obligation to CIRS, Your violation of this Terms of Use or Your violation of any rights of another person, including copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights.

 

Arbitration

THE FOLLOWING TERMS TO WHICH YOU ARE CONSENTING CONSIST OF A BINDING ARBITRATION PROVISION AND A CLASS-ACTION AND JURY TRIAL WAIVER.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, by using the Website You agree that if a dispute arises between You and CIRS, THE PARTIES SHALL SUBMIT TO BINDING ARBITRATION BEFORE THE AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION. ANY ARBITRATION COMMENCED BETWEEN YOU AND CIRS MUST BE FILED IN NEW YORK COUNTY, NEW YORK. ARBITRATION MUST BE ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS. THIS MEANS NEITHER YOU NOR CIRS MAY JOIN CLAIMS IN ARBITRATION WITH OR AGAINST OTHER USERS, OR LITIGATE IN COURT OR ARBITRATE ANY CLAIMS AS A REPRESENTATIVE OR MEMBER OF A CLASS. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT BY AGREEING TO ARBITRATION YOU ARE WAIVING CERTAIN LEGAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO SUE IN COURT, THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL, AND THE RIGHT TO BRING, OR BE PART OF, A CLASS ACTION CASE. The foregoing shall not apply to suits to enjoin infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights, and the Parties both agree that You or CIRS may bring suit in court to enjoin infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights.

RULES FOR THE AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION ARE AVAILABLE AT: https://www.adr.org.

 

Governing Law

All matters relating to the Website and these Terms of Use and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the State of New York or any other jurisdiction).

 

Waiver and Severability

No waiver by CIRS of any term or condition set forth in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of CIRS to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

 

Entire Agreement

The Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and CIRS with respect to Your use of the Website and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to Your use of the Website.