Visit North Carolina (“Visit NC”) requires all users and visitors to agree to these Terms of Use (“Terms & Conditions” or “Agreement”) for this site and the entire family of Visit NC sites including but not limited to, visitnc.com, retirenc.com, sportsnc.com, filmnc.com, partners.visitnc.com, annualreport.visitnc.com, project543.visitnc.com and any other Visit NC campaign websites or microsites.
1. Content
(a) The content, including without limitation, text, images, data, graphics, animation, video and/or the arrangement of any of the foregoing on the Site and any Submissions (“VisitNC Content”) are all subject to protection as the intellectual property of VisitNC and such VisitNC Content located on the Site and any other website owned, operated, licensed or controlled by VisitNC or any related, affiliated or subsidiary companies or entities may not be copied (in whole or in part), reproduced, stored, displayed, distributed, republished, uploaded, posted or transmitted in any way without the prior written consent of VisitNC. Any unauthorized modification or use of VisitNC Content for any purpose violates VisitNC’s intellectual property rights.
(b) VisitNC grants to Users and Visitors a personal, nontransferable, revocable and limited license to view VisitNC Content in connection with their authorized use and accessing of the Site and Services. No other right, title or interest to VisitNC Content or to use or access the Site or Services is granted. Title to VisitNC Content and any intellectual property rights therein is not transferred to a User or Visitor by such User or Visitor using or accessing the Site or Services, but ownership of all rights therein shall remain solely with VisitNC, which owns full and complete title to VisitNC Content and all intellectual property rights therein.
(c) BY ACCESSING THE SITE YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR SUBMISSIONS, AND YOU, NOT VISITNC, HAVE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUCH SUBMISSIONS, INCLUDING ITS LEGALITY, RELIABILITY, APPROPRIATENESS, ORIGINALITY AND COPYRIGHT. YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE THAT (I) YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE SECURITY OF YOUR USERNAME, PASSWORD AND ANY ENCRYPTION KEY PROVIDED TO YOU FOR ACCESSING THE SERVICES OR SITE OR CONTENT STORED THEREON OR ACCESSIBLE THERETHROUGH, AND (II) VISITNC ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR A LOST USERNAME, PASSWORD OR ENCRYPTION KEY.
2. Submissions
All remarks, suggestions, ideas, or other information communicated to VisitNC by a User or Visitor regarding the Services and Site, including its functionality (a “Submission”) will forever be the property of VisitNC. VisitNC will not be required to treat any Submission as confidential, will not be liable for any ideas for its business (including without limitation, product or advertising ideas) and will not incur any liability as a result of any similarities that may appear in future VisitNC operations. Without limitation, VisitNC will have the exclusive ownership of all present and future existing rights to all Submissions of every kind and nature everywhere. VisitNC will be entitled to use Submissions for any commercial or other purposes whatsoever without compensation to any person sending a Submission.
3. Notice and Takedown Procedures; Copyright Agent
(a) If you believe any materials accessible on or from the Site (including other User’s or Visitor’s Submissions) infringe your copyright rights, you may request removal of such content (or access thereto) by submitting a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) to VisitNC’s designated Copyright Agent (identified below) which sets forth the following information:
(i) Identification of the copyrighted work that you believe to be infringed. Please describe the work, and where possible include a copy or the location (e.g., URL) of an authorized version of the work.
(ii) Identification of the material that you believe to be infringing and its location on the Site. Please describe the material, and provide us with its URL or any other pertinent information that will allow us to locate the material.
(iii) Your name, address, telephone number and (if available) e-mail address.
(iv) A statement that you have a good faith belief that the complained of use of the materials is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
(v) A statement that the information that you have supplied is accurate, and indicating that “under penalty of perjury”, you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.
(vi) A signature or the electronic equivalent from the copyright holder or authorized representative.
(b) VisitNC’s designated Copyright Agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement is: IP Notices, Director of Operations, email: ipnotices@visitnc.com, fax: (919) 733-8582. Only DMCA notices should go to the Copyright Agent; any other feedback, comments, requests for technical support, and other communications should be directed to VisitNC’s customer service (Please visit: https://www.visitnc.com/contact.)
(c) You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with all of the requirements of this Section, your DMCA notice may not be valid.
(d) Counter-Notice
(i) If your user submission was removed (or access thereto is disabled), and you believe such submission is not infringing, or that you have the authorization from the copyright owner, the copyright owner’s agent, or pursuant to the law, to post and use the content in your user submission, you may send a counter-notice containing the following information to VisitNC’s designated Copyright Agent:
(1) Your physical or electronic signature;
(2) Identification of the content that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the content appeared before it was removed or disabled;
(3) A statement that you have a good faith belief that the content was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or a misidentification of the content; and
(4) Your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address, a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located, or if your address is located outside the United States, for any judicial district in which VisitNC is located, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original notification of infringement or an agent of such person.
(ii) If a counter-notice is received by the copyright agent, VisitNC may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that it may replace the removed content or cease disabling it in ten (10) business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the content provider, member or user, the removed content may be replaced, or access to it restored, in ten (10) to fourteen (14) business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice, at VisitNC’s sole discretion.
(iii) In an effort to protect the rights of copyright owners, VisitNC maintains a policy for the termination, in appropriate circumstances, of accounts of Users of the Site who are repeat infringers.
4. Proper Use
(a) You agree that you are responsible for your own use of the Site and Services, for any Submissions you make, and for any consequences thereof. You agree that you will use the Site and Services in compliance with all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules and regulations, including any laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from your country of residence and all United States export control laws.
(b) The following additional content restrictions apply to the Site:
(i) You may not use the Site or Services to promote adult content;
(ii) You may not post images, video or textual content that depicts or encourages incest or bestiality;
(iii) You may not use the Site or Services to post any content that exploits children, including, without limitation, child pornography or pedophilia (violation of this Section 4(b)(iii) will be reported to law enforcement);
(iv) You may not use the Site or Services to post content that promotes hate or violence towards groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity.
(v) You may not use the Site or Services to threaten other people, including posting death threats or other content encouraging others to take violent action against another person or group of people.
(vi) You may not use the Site or Services to post content that violates the copyright rights, rights of privacy or other proprietary or intellectual property rights of a third party;
(vii) You may not use the Site or Services to post another person’s personal and confidential information, including, without limitation, their credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, unlisted phone numbers, and/or driver’s license numbers, without their express permission.
(viii) You may not use the Site or Services to impersonate others or attempt mislead or confuse readers by pretending to be someone else or pretending to represent someone or an organization when you don’t.
(ix) You may not use the Site or Services in illegal activities or to promote dangerous and illegal activities. For example, don’t author a blog encouraging people to drink and drive. Otherwise, we may delete your content. Also, in serious cases such as those involving the abuse of children, we may report you to the appropriate authorities.
(x) You may not use the Site or Services to transmit viruses or other malicious code, cause pop-ups, attempt to install software without another user’s consent, or otherwise impact other Visitors or Users with malicious code.
(c) If you violate the terms of this Section 4, VisitNC, in its sole discretion, may do one or more of the following: disable your access to your account, report you to law enforcement; immediately terminate this Agreement and your right to use the Site and Services, delete content posted to your account, and may subject you to state and federal penalties and other legal consequences. VisitNC reserves the right, but shall have no obligation, to investigate your use of the Service or Site in order to (i) determine whether a violation of the Agreement has occurred or (ii) comply with any applicable laws, regulations, legal process or governmental request.
5. NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS; DISCLAIMER; LIMITATION ON LIABILITY, INDEMNIFICATION
(a) VISITNC CONTENT, THE SERVICES AND THE SITE ARE PROVIDED FOR THE USE OF USERS AND VISITORS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE NOTICES, TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH HEREIN AND ON THE SITE. VISITNC CONTENT DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF VISITNC OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, REPRESENTATIVES OR AGENTS. VISITNC DOES NOT ENDORSE, SUPPORT, REPRESENT OR GUARANTEE THE TRUTHFULNESS, ACCURACY, OR RELIABILITY OF ANY SUBMISSIONS POSTED VIA THE SERVICE OR SITE OR ENDORSE ANY OPINIONS EXPRESSED VIA THE SERVICE OR SITE. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT ANY RELIANCE ON MATERIAL POSTED VIA THE SERVICE OR SITE WILL BE AT YOUR OWN RISK. VISITNC CONTENT IS NOT GUARANTEED OR REPRESENTED TO BE COMPLETE, CORRECT OR UP-TO-DATE. YOU MAY NOT ACT OR RELY ON ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS ACCESSED VIA THE SERVICE OR SITE. YOU MUST INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE ACCURACY OF ALL VISITNC CONTENT BEFORE ACTING OR RELYING THEREON.
(b) VISITNC CONTENT MAY BE CHANGED FROM TIME TO TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. VISITNC CONTENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT LEGALLY PERMITTED, VISITNC HEREBY EXPLICITLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND AGAINST INFRINGEMENT. VISITNC DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE, ITS FUNCTIONS AND/OR THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THE SITE OR THE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. VISITNC DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OF OR THE RESULT OF THE USE OF VISITNC CONTENT IN TERMS OF ITS CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE. YOU (AND NOT VISITNC) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
(c) BY ACCESSING THE SITE AND SERVICES AND USING VISITNC CONTENT PROVIDED THERETHROUGH, YOU AGREE THAT VISITNC (INCLUDING ITS AGENTS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS AND EMPLOYEES) ARE NOT LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND AND THAT YOU WILL DEFEND, INDEMNIFY AND HOLD HARMLESS VISITNC, ITS AFFILIATES, EMPLOYEES AND AGENTS FROM ANY CLAIM OR ALLEGATION ARISING, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OUT OF YOUR USE OF OR ACCESS TO THE SITE AND SERVICES; ANY SUBMISSIONS PROVIDED, SUBMITTED, POSTED OR UPLOADED BY YOU; AND/OR YOUR BREACH OF THIS AGREEMENT. TERMINATION SHALL BE YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IN THE EVENT OF ANY VIOLATION OR BREACH OF THESE TERMS & CONDITIONS BY VISITNC.
(d) YOU AGREE THAT REGARDLESS OF ANY STATUTE OR LAW TO THE CONTRARY, ANY CLAIM OR CAUSE OF ACTION ARISING OF OR RELATED TO USE OF THE SITE OR SERVICES OR THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS MUST BE FILED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER SUCH CLAIM OR CAUSE OF ACTION AROSE OR BE FOREVER BARRED.
6. Miscellaneous
(a) These terms and conditions will be governed and interpreted pursuant to the laws of the State of North Carolina, inside the United States of America, notwithstanding any principles of conflict of laws. You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts, tribunals, agencies and other dispute resolution organizations in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA in all disputes (1) arising out of, relating to, or concerning the Site, the Service, VisitNC Content and/or this Agreement, (2) in which the Site, the Service, VisitNC Content and/or this Agreement is an issue or a material fact, or (3) in which the Site, the Service, VisitNC Content and/or this Agreement is referenced in a paper filed in a court, tribunal, agency or other dispute resolution organization. Use of the Site, the Service, and VisitNC Content is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give full effect to all provisions of this Agreement, including without limitation this Section and the warranty disclaimers and liability exclusions above. VisitNC has endeavored to comply with all legal requirements known to it in creating and maintaining the Site, but makes no representation that the Site, the Service, and/or VisitNC Content are appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction. Use of the Site is NOT authorized in any jurisdiction where all or any portion of the Site, the Service, and/or VisitNC Content may violate any legal requirements and you agree not to access the Site in any such jurisdiction. You are responsible for compliance with all applicable laws, statutes, regulations and rules. Any use in contravention of this provision or any provision of this Agreement is at your own risk and, if any part of this Agreement is invalid or unenforceable under applicable law, the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision and the remainder of the Agreement shall govern such use.
(b) VisitNC can revise these Terms & Conditions at any time by updating this posting. The Site may be linked to other sites, which are not maintained by VisitNC. VisitNC is not responsible for the content of those sites.
(c) You agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment or agency relationship exists between you and VisitNC as a result of this Agreement or your use of the Site.
(d) VisitNC’s performance of this Agreement is subject to existing laws and legal process and nothing contained in this Agreement is in derogation of VisitNC’s right to comply with law enforcement requests or requirements relating to your use of the Site, VisitNC Content, or Submissions you have made, or information provided to or gathered by VisitNC with respect to such use.
(e) You acknowledge, as between you and VisitNC, that VisitNC owns all right, title and interest in and to the Site, VisitNC Content and Services, including all intellectual property rights therein (the “VisitNC Rights”). The VisitNC Rights are protected by U.S. and international intellectual property laws. Accordingly, you agree that you will not copy, reproduce, alter, modify, or create derivative works from the VisitNC Rights. You also agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automated device, or manual process to monitor or copy any content from the Service or Site. All trademarks and service marks are the property of VisitNC or the respective trademark owners. Except for the limited, non-exclusive, revocable right and license to use VisitNC Content, Site and Services as set forth herein, you do not receive any right or license to use any of the VisitNC Rights without VisitNC’s prior written consent.
(f) There may be occasions when VisitNC obtains personally identifiable information to provide you with correspondence or otherwise. However, VisitNC only gathers personally identifiable information, such as names, addresses, e-mail addresses, etc., when you voluntarily submit the same. Such personally identifiable information is used solely by VisitNC and is not sold, transferred or otherwise disseminated to third parties.
(g) This Agreement and the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between you and VisitNC with respect to the Site. This Agreement supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals, whether electronic, oral or written, between you and VisitNC with respect to the Site. No modification of this Agreement shall be effective unless it is authored by VisitNC, or unless it is physically executed in blue ink by an authorized officer or manager of VisitNC. Any alleged waiver of any breach of this Agreement shall not be deemed to be a waiver of any future breach. A printed version of this Agreement and/or of any notice given by VisitNC in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this Agreement or your use of or accessing of the Site to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained by VisitNC in printed form.