September 2007

These Terms of Service govern your use of latimes.com. Your use of our site tells us you have read and agreed to these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. latimes.com reserves the right to deny access to the site to any person who violates these Terms of Service.

Copyright. All information, content, services and software displayed on, transmitted through, or used in connection with latimes.com, with the exception of User Content as defined below, including for example news articles, reviews, directories, guides, text, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips, video, html, source and object code, trademarks, logos, and the like (collectively, the "Content"), as well as its selection and arrangement, is owned by Tribune Interactive, Inc. ("TI"), and/or its affiliated companies, licensors and suppliers. You may use the Content online only, and solely for your personal, non-commercial use, and you may download or print a single copy of any portion of the Content solely for your personal, non-commercial use, provided you do not remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from such Content. If you operate a Web site and wish to link to latimes.com, you may do so provided you agree to cease such link upon request from latimes.com. No other use is permitted without prior written permission of latimes.com. The permitted use described in this Paragraph is contingent on your compliance at all times with these Terms of Service.

You may not republish any portion of the Content on any Internet, Intranet or extranet site or incorporate the Content in any database, compilation, archive or cache. You may not distribute any Content to others, whether or not for payment or other consideration, and you may not archive, modify, copy, frame, cache, reproduce, sell, publish, transmit, display or otherwise use any portion of the Content. You may not scrape or otherwise copy our Content without permission. You agree not to decompile, reverse engineer or disassemble any software or other products or processes accessible through latimes.com, not to insert any code or product or manipulate the content of latimes.com in any way that affects the user's experience, and not to use any data mining, data gathering or extraction method.

Requests to use Content for any purpose other than as permitted in these Terms of Service should be directed to Los Angeles Times Syndicate Permissions Desk at (800) LATIMES ext. 74564. In certain cases, you may be able to use individual stories that appear on latimes.com through online functionality we have specifically designated (e.g., to e-mail a story to a friend or to purchase the rights to reproduce a story for other use). In such cases, we will tell you directly in the portion of the Content you may use or you will see a link in the Content itself.

Registration. Registration is not required to view certain Content. However, you are required to register if you wish to post a comment or upload a video, or view certain other Content. If you become a Registered Member of latimes.com, you accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your Registration Account. You agree to provide true, accurate, complete, and correct information at the time of registration, and to promptly update this information as needed so that it remains true, accurate, complete, and correct. We reserve the right to terminate your access and use of latimes.com if individuals from more than one household access latimes.com using any single Registration Account. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and for restricting access to your computer so others outside your household may not access latimes.com using your name in whole or in part without our permission. If you believe someone has accessed latimes.com using your Registration Account and password without your authorization, immediately send us a report using our feedback form.

Use of Information by latimes.com. You acknowledge, consent and agree that latimes.com may preserve and disclose your Registration Account information and the contents of your online communications if required to do so by law, or in good faith belief that preservation and/or disclosure is reasonably necessary for the following purposes: (1) to comply with legal process, such as a court order, search warrant, or subpoena; (2) to enforce the terms of this Terms of Service; (3) to render service you request; (4) to protect the rights or property of latimes.com, TI, and their third party suppliers and licensors; or (5) in circumstances that we deem, in our sole discretion, to pose a threat to the safety of you or others.

User Content Representations and Warranties. By placing material on latimes.com, including but not limited to posting content or communications to any latimes.com bulletin board, forum, blogspace, message or chat area, or posting text, images, audio files or other audio-visual content to the site ("User Content"), you represent and warrant: (1) you own or otherwise have all necessary rights to the User Content you provide and the rights to provide it under these Terms of Service; and, (2) the User Content will not cause injury to any person or entity. Using a name other than your own legal name in association with the submission of User Content is prohibited (except in those specific areas of latimes.com that specifically ask for unique, fictitious names).

User Content License. For all User Content you post, upload, or otherwise make available ("Provide") to latimes.com, you grant Tribune Interactive, Inc. ("TI"), its affiliates and related entities, including latimes.com and its affiliated newspapers, Web sites, and broadcast stations, a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and fully sub-licensable license to use, copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, publicly perform, publicly display, modify, adapt, translate, archive, store, and create derivative works from such User Content, in any form, format, or medium, of any kind now known or later developed. Without limiting the generality of the previous sentence, you authorize TI to share the User Content across all Web sites, newspapers, and broadcast stations affiliated with Tribune Company, to include the User Content in a searchable format accessible by users of latimes.com and other TI Web sites, to place advertisements in close proximity to such User Content, and to use your name, likeness and any other information in connection with its use of the material you provide. You waive all moral rights with respect to any User Content you provide to latimes.com. You also grant TI the right to use any material, information, ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques contained in any communication you provide or otherwise submit to us for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to, commercial purposes, and developing, manufacturing and marketing commercial products using such information. All rights in this paragraph are granted without the need for additional compensation of any sort to you.

User Content Screening and Removal. You acknowledge that latimes.com and/or its designees may or may not pre-screen User Content, and shall have the right (but not the obligation), in their sole discretion, to move, remove, block, edit, or refuse any User Content for any reason, including without limitation that such User Content violates these Terms of Service or is otherwise objectionable.

User Content Assumption of Risk. latimes.com cannot and does not monitor or manage all User Content, and does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, or quality of User Content. All User Content provided to latimes.com is the sole responsibility of the person who provided it. This means that you are entirely responsible for all User Content that you provide. To protect your safety, please use your best judgment when using latimes.com forums. We discourage divulging personal phone numbers and addresses or other information that can be used to identify or locate you. You acknowledge and agree that if you make such disclosures either through posting on any bulletin board, forum, blogspace, message or chat area, or uploading text, images, audio files or other audio-visual content, in classified advertising you place or in other interactive areas, or to third parties in any communication, you do so fully understanding that such information could be used to identify you.

User Content Posting Rules. Any decisions as to whether User Content violates any Posting Rule will be made by latimes.com in its sole discretion and after we have actual notice of such posting. When you provide User Content, you agree to the following Posting Rules:

* If the photo or video depicts any children under the age of 13, you affirm that you have written permission from the child's parent or guardian to provide the photo or video.
  • Do not provide User Content that:
* contains copyrighted or other proprietary material of any kind without the express permission of the owner of that material.

* contains vulgar, profane, abusive, racist or hateful language or expressions, epithets or slurs, text, photographs or illustrations in poor taste, inflammatory attacks of a personal, racial or religious nature.

* is defamatory, threatening, disparaging, grossly inflammatory, false, misleading, fraudulent, inaccurate, unfair, contains gross exaggeration or unsubstantiated claims, violates the privacy rights of any third party, is unreasonably harmful or offensive to any individual or community.

* violates any right of latimes.com or any third party.

* discriminates on the grounds of race, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation or disability, or refers to such matters in any manner prohibited by law.

* violates or encourages the violation of any municipal, state, federal or international law, rule, regulation or ordinance.