Online Services Usage Agreement ("Terms of Use")
For All Britannica Sites
Advertising-Supported and Subscription, Consumer and Institutional

Updated August 26, 2011

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"), and its affiliates Encyclopædia Britannica (UK) Ltd., Encyclopædia Britannica (India) Pvt. Ltd., Encyclopædia Britannica Australia Ltd., and Britannica Asia Pacific PTY Ltd., that may be available from time to time (collectively, the "Services").

Britannica offers three types of access to its Services: (1) advertising-supported; (2) individual and family consumer subscriptions; and (3) institutional subscriptions. Section 1 of these Terms of Use applies to all individuals who use our Services – advertising-supported and subscription-based. Section 2 applies only to individuals with consumer subscriptions. Section 3 applies only to individuals who are Authorized Users under institutional subscriptions. Section 4 - legal notices – applies to everyone.

Section 1. Terms of Use for Everyone

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.

Advertising: Advertisements, promotions, and marketing messages may appear on the Services from time to time, unless you or your institution have a subscription-based Service.

Use of Content: You may display, reproduce, print or download content on the Services only for your personal, non-commercial use. If you are a teacher, scholar or student, you may copy reasonable portions of the content for lesson plans, interactive whiteboards, reports, dissertations, presentations, school newspapers and for similar nonprofit educational purposes to the extent permitted by applicable law. In each case, however, you may not remove or alter any copyright, trademark, service mark or other proprietary notices or legends. You may not publish, distribute, retransmit, sell or provide access to the content on the Services, except as permitted under applicable law or as described in these Terms of Use. Britannica works to ensure that all the content on its Services is in compliance with applicable U.S. copyright laws. However, in the case of works on the Services authored by parties other than Britannica, you may wish to check on their copyright status before downloading them if you are in another country.  You may not use data mining, robots, screen scraping, or similar data gathering and extraction tools on the Services, except with our express written permission.  You may not decompile, reverse engineer or disassemble any software or other products or processes accessible through the Services, insert any code or product or manipulate the content of the Services in any way that affects the user's experience.

If you want to reproduce or use content for any purpose or in any manner other than as described above, you will need Britannica's permission. Requests should be directed to this syndication form.

Your Communications: You are responsible for your own communications and are responsible for the consequences of sending them through the Services. You must not do the following things: send information or material (including, but not limited to, postings, messages, text, files, images, photos, video, sounds or the like) that is copyrighted, unless you are the copyright owner or have the permission of the copyright owner to post it; send information or material that reveals trade secrets, unless you own them or have the permission of the owner; send information or material that infringes on any other intellectual property rights of others or on the privacy or publicity rights of others or is otherwise unlawful; send information or material that is obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful or embarrassing to any other person or entity; send a sexually-explicit image; send advertisements or solicitations of business; send chain letters or the like; or impersonate another person.

By sending information or materials through the Services, you warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content and use of your information or materials by Britannica will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party. By sending information or material, you automatically grant to Britannica, a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, edit, translate, distribute, perform, and display it alone or as part of other works in any form, media, or technology whether now known or hereafter developed, and to sublicense such rights through multiple tiers of sublicensees. You retain the right to reuse your information and material as submitted to Britannica.

You may not use the Services or other communication mechanisms to sell, to trade, or for other commercial purposes. You may not send information or materials through the Services that violates the rights of any third party or contains a virus or other harmful component. Nor may you use language or engage in any activity that is threatening, abusive, vulgar, discourteous, disruptive, or unlawful. Britannica reserves the right to remove or edit messages or material submitted by users and to remove communications in its sole discretion. Britannica also reserves the right to expel users and prevent their further access to the Services.

Britannica will make commercially reasonable efforts to respond to communications submitted through the Services, but Britannica has no liability or responsibility to users who submit such communications, except as provided below under "Copyright Infringement Claims."

Linking to the Services: For details on how to link to the Services, click here. Please contact Britannica when you link to the Services, so that Britannica can better understand how its content is being accessed and so that you can be contacted when changes are made to the Services that could invalidate your links. Any linking to the Services will be at your own risk and expense.

By linking to the Services, you agree that you will not:

• imply in any way, by manner of presentation of the link or otherwise, that Britannica endorses your site, products or services, or that you are affiliated with Britannica in any way.
• frame Britannica content, surround it with your own advertising or identity, or charge a fee for any link to the Services.
• link to the Services from any Web page or Web site containing libelous, obscene or criminal material, or material that infringes, violates, or advocates the infringement or violation of any third party rights.
• host, publish, broadcast, rewrite or redistribute any content on the Services except as permitted in these Terms of Use or as specifically permitted by Britannica.

Disclaimer of Warranties: THE SERVICES AND ALL INFORMATION, PRODUCTS, AND OTHER CONTENT INCLUDED IN OR ACCESSIBLE FROM THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND (EXPRESS, IMPLIED, AND STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE), ALL OF 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 RELATED TO THE USE, INABILITY TO USE, PERFORMANCE OR NONPERFORMANCE OF THE SERVICES, EVEN IF BRITANNICA WAS PREVIOUSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES ARISE IN CONTRACT, TORT, UNDER STATUTE, IN EQUITY, AT LAW, OR OTHERWISE.

Indemnification: To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold Britannica, its directors, officers, shareholders, parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, and licensors harmless from and against all losses, expenses, damages, and costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of (i) the information or material you submit, including, but not limited to, liability for violations of copyrights, trademark rights, trade secret rights, or any other intellectual property rights, or the privacy or publicity rights of others, or liability for information or material you provide that is obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful or embarrassing to any other person or entity, or is fraudulent or deceptive, (ii) your use or unauthorized copying of the Services or any of their content, or (iii) your violation of these Terms of Use or any applicable laws or regulations.

Governing Law: In the United States, these Terms of Use are governed by the laws of the United States and the State of Delaware, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of laws.  In the UK, these Terms of Use are governed by the laws of the United Kingdom, including the laws of Scotland and parties agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of England.  In India, these Terms of Use are governed by the laws of India, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of laws.  In Australia and Taiwan, these Terms of Use are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia and the parties agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of New South Wales.

Opting Out of Pop Under Ads: Some of our pop-under ads are not detected by Safari and other browsers. To opt out of pop-under ads visit http://optmd.com.

Section 2:  Additional Terms of Use for Consumer Subscriptions

Security of Subscription: Some of the Services are available only by subscription (the "Subscription Services"). Your right to use the Subscription Services for which you have subscribed is personal to you or members of your immediate family residing with you.  If you are authorized only by an Institutional Subscriber (such as your employer, a school or library) to access and use any of the Subscription Services, your right to use the Subscription Services is not transferable to your family members; the Institutional Subscription-specific Terms of Use for individuals who benefit from an Institutional Subscription are at Section 3 below. You are responsible for protecting the confidentiality of your credentials for access to the Subscription Services (e.g., your username and password) and for complying with any guidelines prescribed by Britannica from time to time to prevent unauthorized access to the Subscription Services. You agree to immediately notify Britannica of any unauthorized use of your password or any other breach of security. Britannica reserves the right to perform one-way encryption of passwords for account maintenance purposes.

Subscriber Agreement

• 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 email address) 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 begin on the date your Services subscription is activated or, if applicable, on the date your free trial period ends, and will be billed to your credit or charge 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 will be posted at http://corporate.britannica.com/standard_rates.html or in a Britannica communication to you. 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 and Free Trial 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 or free trial automatically terminates your license to use the Subscription Services and any content or other material contained therein. If you acquired an annual subscription to one of the Subscription Services and you terminate your subscription within 30 days of the date of activation of your Account, you are eligible to receive a refund of the subscription fee paid to Britannica; you must contact Britannica Customer Support to receive this refund. 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 are eligible to 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. You must contact Britannica Customer Support to receive these remedies. 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 Changes If you acquired an annual subscription to the Subscription Services and you wish to change to another Subscription Service offering you may do so without penalty within 30 days of the activation of your Account. You must contact Customer Service to request this or other changes from one Subscription Service to another. If you acquired a monthly subscription to the Subscription Services and you wish to change to another Subscription Service offering, contact Customer Service, the change will be made effective when your current monthly term ends.
• Renewals and Cancellations  Your subscription will renew automatically unless we terminate it or you notify us by telephone or email (receipt of which must be confirmed by email reply from us) of your decision to cancel your subscription.  You must cancel your subscription before it renews in order to avoid billing of subscription fees for the renewal term to your credit card. Instructions on how to cancel your subscription are available at http://account.britannica.com. In the event that you cancel your subscription, subscription fees will not be refunded, applied to another subscription, or 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.
• Credit Cards or Charge 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 or charge card number, or credit or charge card expiration date) and you must promptly notify Britannica if your credit or charge 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 or charge 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.

SECTION 3:  Additional Terms of Use for Individuals Who Are Authorized Users of Institutional Subscriptions

• These additional terms apply to individuals who are Authorized Users of Institutional Subscriptions. Institutional Subscribers may be a business (“Business”), government agency (“Agency”), school and related facilities (“School”), college or university (“University”) or public library (“Library”).  “Authorized Users” are the following: (i) employees, agents or representatives in the case of Businesses and Agencies; (ii) students of Subscriber, its faculty members, administrators, and employed staff in the case of Schools; (iii) full or part-time students of Subscriber, its faculty members, administrators and employed staff in the case of Universities; and (iv) patrons, employees, agents or representatives in the case of Libraries.  
• Remote Access.  Only Authorized Users are permitted to access the Services remotely.  Authorized Users are (a) in the case of Schools:  its students, its faculty members, administrators, and employed staff; (b) in the case of Universities:  its  full or part-time students, its faculty members, administrators and employed staff; (c) in the case of Businesses and Government Agencies:  employees, agents and representatives; and (d) in the case of a National, State or Public Library,  its Library patrons, Library customers, and Library users, employees, agents and representatives.  Only these individual persons are permitted to access Britannica Online remotely.  Schools, Universities, Businesses and Government Agencies who are members of a National, State or Public Library are not Authorized Users under a Library’s license agreement with Britannica.

SECTION 4:  Legal Notices

Copyrights

All contents of the Services are © Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. Encyclopædia Britannica is copyrighted 1994-2011 by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 Britannica Books of the Year are copyrighted 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 , 2010 and 2011 respectively, by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Britannica claims no compilation copyright in images or materials that are subject to the GNU Free Documentation License or similar licenses.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary (Eleventh Edition), Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, and Merriam's Webster's Student Dictionary (Third Edition), are all copyrighted by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

Photographs and illustrations are copyrighted by their respective owners, as noted in the credits.

Patents

US Patent No. 7,664,775.    

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.

Copyright Infringement Claims

If you believe that any copyright infringement exists on any of the Services, please use the following process to notify Britannica. We will act expeditiously to remove infringing material once informed. All claims of copyright infringement should be in writing and should be directed to our Designated Agent below:

Carmen E. Pagán, Copyright Manager
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
331 North LaSalle Street
Chicago, Illinois 60654
Fax: 312/294-2118
Phone: 312/347-7000
E-mail: copyrightnotice@eb.com

Your notice must contain the following information:

1. Your physical or electronic signature (as either the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed or as a person authorized to act on behalf of such owner).
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single claim, a representative list of such works at that online site.
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled and information reasonably sufficient to permit Britannica to locate the material.
4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit Britannica to contact you, such as an address, telephone number and, if available, an electronic mail address.
5. A statement that you believe in good faith that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.
6. A statement that the information in the notice is accurate and that, under penalty of perjury, you are the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed or are authorized to act on behalf of such owner.

Britannica has a policy of terminating in appropriate circumstances the subscriptions of users who are infringers of copyrights held by others. If your material is removed or access to it is disabled and you believe in good faith that a claim has been wrongly made against you, you may submit a counter-notification to Britannica. Your counter-notification must be in writing and sent to:

Carmen E. Pagán, Copyright Manager
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
331 North LaSalle Street
Chicago, Illinois 60654
Fax: 312/294-2118
Phone: 312/347-7000
E-mail: copyrightnotice@eb.com

Your counter-notification must contain the following information:

1. Your physical or electronic signature.
2. Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
3. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
4. Your name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which you are located, or if you are outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which Britannica may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who notified Britannica of the alleged infringement or an agent of such person.