Terms of Use
These Terms of Use govern your use of Encyclopædia Britannica®
Online and, unless other terms and conditions expressly govern, any other
electronic services provided by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
("Britannica") that may be available from time to time
(collectively, the "Services").
General: Your use of the Services constitutes
your agreement to these Terms of Use. If you do not agree with these Terms
of Use, please do not use the Services. Britannica reserves the right to
change, modify, add, or remove portions of these Terms of Use at any time.
Please check this page periodically for any modifications. Your use of any
of the Services following the posting of changes constitutes your
acceptance of the changes.
Ownership: The content on the Services is the
property of Britannica, its affiliated companies or licensors and is
protected by international copyright, patent, and trademark laws.
Use of Content: You may display, print or
download content on the Services only for your personal, non-commercial
use, provided you do not remove or alter any copyright, trademark, service
mark or other proprietary notices or legends. You may not publish,
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these Terms of Use.
You may not engage in systematic retrieval of content
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from Britannica. Nor may you mirror on your own site the home page or results
pages of the Services.
If you want to post, publish, or use content from (or
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Disclaimer of Warranties: THE SERVICES AND ALL
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(EXPRESS, IMPLIED, AND STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED
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WHICH BRITANNICA EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY
LAW.
Limitation of Liability: IN NO EVENT SHALL
BRITANNICA, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, SHAREHOLDERS, PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES,
AGENTS AND LICENSORS, OR CONTENT PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT,
SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR
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Governing Law: These Terms of Use are governed by
the laws of the United States
and the State of Illinois,
without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of laws.
Security: If you are a subscriber to any of the
Services that are available by subscription (the "Subscription
Services"), your right to use the Subscription Services is personal to
you or members of your immediate family residing with you. If you are
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encryption of passwords for account maintenance purposes.
Additional Terms Applicable to Subscribers to the
Subscription Services:
- Definitions As used in these
additional terms, "you" or "yours" refers to each
person who establishes a subscriber account ("Account") or
who is authorized to access and use any of the Subscription Services.
- Account You are
responsible for all use of your Account under any user ID (username)
or password by any person and for ensuring that all use of your
Account complies fully with the provisions of this Usage Agreement.
- Subscription Fees
and Changes
Subscription charges commence upon the date your Services subscription
is activated and will be billed to your credit card each month (for
monthly subscriptions) or year (for annual subscriptions) thereafter.
You acknowledge and agree that you will not receive a bill in the mail
for your subscription. Britannica reserves the right to increase
subscription rates at any time. Changes to standard subscription rates
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Increases in subscription rates will apply to existing accounts at the
time of their renewal and will not exceed the standard subscription
rate that has been in effect and posted for at least 30 days.
Reductions in the standard subscription rate will not necessarily be
reflected in your renewal subscription rate. Customers subscribing at
specially discounted promotional rates may be subject to varying rate
increases, none of which shall exceed the standard posted subscription
rate.
- Termination of
Subscription
Either party shall have the right to terminate your subscription at
any time by providing notice of termination to the other. In the event
of termination of your subscription by either party, you shall have no
claims against Britannica or its affiliates. Termination of your
subscriptions automatically terminates your license to use the
Subscription Services and any content or other material contained
therein. If you acquired an annual subscription to the Subscription Services
and you terminate your subscriptions within 30 days of the date of
activation of your Account, you will receive a refund of the
subscription fee paid to Britannica. If you acquired a monthly
subscription to the Subscription Services or if your subscription is
acquired with a Promotion Certificate and you terminate your
subscription, you will not receive any refund of the subscription fee
paid to Britannica. If your subscription to the Subscription Services
was acquired with a Gift Certificate and you terminate your
subscription within 30 days of the date your Gift Certificate was
acquired from Britannica, you shall receive either: (a) a refund of
the subscription fee paid to Britannica (available only to the party
acquiring your Gift Certificate from Britannica); (b) a credit towards
the price of acquiring other Britannica products or services; or (c) a
credit towards the future subscription fee for an existing
Subscription Services subscription. If Britannica terminates your
subscription, other than as a result of your breach of this Agreement,
Britannica will refund to you a pro rata portion of the subscription
fee paid to Britannica, if any, for the unexpired portion of your
subscription.
- Subscription
Renewals and Cancellations Subscription charges commence upon the
date your Service subscription is activated and will be billed to your
credit card each month (for monthly subscriptions) or year (for annual
subscriptions) thereafter. You acknowledge and agree that you will not
receive a bill in the mail for your subscription.
Your subscription will be automatically renewed unless you cancel
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term to your credit card. Instructions on how to cancel your
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Cancellations should not be considered final until you have received a
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you cancel your subscription, the unexpired portion of your
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transferred to anyone else and is not convertible to cash or other
form of credit. Payments made as part of a monthly subscription cannot
be used as credit toward annual subscription charges and are
non-transferable.
Britannica reserves the right to increase subscription rates at any
time. Changes to standard subscription rates will be posted at http://secure.britannica.com/subscribe.
Increases in subscription rates will apply to existing Accounts at the
time of their renewal and will not exceed the standard subscription
rate that has been in effect and posted for at least 30 days.
Reductions in the standard subscription rate will not necessarily be
reflected in your renewal subscription rate. Customers subscribing at
specially discounted promotional rates may be subject to varying rate
increases, none of which shall exceed the standard posted subscription
rate.
- Credit Cards You agree that
you will provide a major credit or charge card (e.g., MasterCard,
Visa, American Express, or Discover) that Britannica may charge for
all subscription fees or other amounts payable to Britannica. With
respect to such charges, you give the following authorization:
I authorize automatic credit or charge card billing by
Britannica. I agree that the charges described above will be billed by
Britannica to the credit or charge card that I have provided to Britannica
in my Account information, or otherwise when I applied for the Subscription
Services. I understand that all fees and charges are nonrefundable. I agree
that Britannica will not be responsible for any expenses that I may incur
resulting from overdrawing my bank account or exceeding my credit limit as
a result of an automatic charge made under this Agreement.
- Account
Information
You agree to provide current, complete, and accurate information for
your Account in order to receive access to the Subscription Services.
You agree to promptly update all Account information to keep your
account current, complete, and accurate (such as a change in billing
address, credit card number, or credit card expiration date) and you
must promptly notify Britannica if your credit card is cancelled (for
example, for loss or theft) or if you become aware of a potential
breach of security, such as the unauthorized disclosure or use of your
log-in and password. Changes to such information can be made by going
to the Account Maintenance area at http://account.britannica.com.
If you fail to provide Britannica any of the foregoing information,
you agree that Britannica may assume that your credit card is either
still valid or that it has been renewed and may continue charging you
for the Subscription Services to which you have subscribed, unless you
have cancelled your subscription.
Copyrights
All contents of the Services are © 2006 Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. Encyclopædia
Britannica is copyrighted 1994-2006 by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
and 2006 Britannica Book of the Year are copyrighted 1997,1998, 1999, 2000,
2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 respectively, by Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc.
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary (Eleventh
Edition), Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, and Merriam’s Webster’s
Student Dictionary (Third Edition), are all copyrighted 2004 by
Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.
Photographs and illustrations are copyrighted by their
respective owners, as noted in the credits.
Patents
The functionality of the Services is protected by Patent Nos. 5,241,671,
6,546,399, 6,978,277, 7,051,018 & Patents Pending.
Trademarks
"Encyclopædia Britannica" and other marks that
appear throughout the Services belong to Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., its
affiliates, or third-party trademark owners. Except as permitted by
applicable laws, you are prohibited from using any of the marks appearing
on the Services without express written consent from the respective
trademark owners.
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