Terms and conditions
Effective Date: August 13, 2024
Introduction
Welcome to our terms and conditions – see the Summary directly below for what these include, and which together we refer to throughout this page as our/the “terms”. Our terms are designed to provide our subscribers and visitors with information as to how all aspects of our services (see “Part 1, Introduction below for what our “services” include) are accessed, how you can and should interact with our services, and all other terms and conditions that govern access or use of our services. This ranges from website terms of use to how to pay for non-personalised-ad-access, how to become a subscriber and what your subscription includes, to providing details as to how we use your personal information. Our terms have been designed with our subscribers and visitors in mind, and they apply to you whenever you access or use the relevant aspects of our various services. To navigate, just click on the relevant area of our terms and you will be taken directly there.
Summary
- Part 1 – Website Terms of Use
- Part 2 – Standard Subscription Terms
- Part 3 – Cancellation Terms
- Part 4 – Subscription Benefits
- Part 5 – Privacy and Cookie Policy
- Part 6 – Participation Guidelines
- Part 7 – Third Party Travel Offers on our Website
- Part 8 – Beta Test Programmes
- Part 9 – US Terms and Conditions
Part 1 – Website terms of use
Welcome to our website terms of use for The Times and The Sunday Times website. Our website terms of use are important as they contain all the information you need to know about using our services, so please take a little time to read them and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact [email protected] and we will do our best to answer your questions.
Introduction
Our services are provided by and maintained by us for your personal entertainment, information and communication. The services offered by us include our digital information network including website/s (including mobile/tablet app versions) and all The Times and The Sunday Times features, content, competitions, prize draws and/or other promotions, and any and all other material of whatever kind made available by us from time to time. By using these services either as a visitor or as a subscriber of one of our subscriptions, you may need to download software and/or content and/or agree to additional terms. If you choose to participate in any of our services you will be bound by any applicable and additional terms as well as these website terms of use.
Your agreement with us is formed of all applicable elements of these terms, including these website terms of use and in addition our:
- Privacy Policy & Cookie Policy, which sets out the terms on which we process any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us and information about how your use of our services is monitored so that we are able to improve your user experience. Please read our Privacy Policy & Cookie Policy so that you understand our privacy practices. You warrant that all data provided by you is accurate;
- Subscription Terms, which sets out the terms that will apply to your subscription with us;
- Cancellation Terms, which sets out how to cancel your subscription; and
- Participation Guidelines, which sets out our approach to community interaction and how we moderate your content, such as comments made in relation to our articles.
Our services
Accessing our services
Parts of our services are only accessible to our subscribers and not to visitors. In addition, we may not offer or make available all of our services or content to residents of certain countries.
If you are required to register with us to access some or all of our content, you agree that you will keep your user name and/or password confidential and will not share this information with any third party. You also agree that you will not register multiple email addresses. We may terminate or restrict your use of our service if you violate these website terms of use or are engaged in illegal or fraudulent use of the service.
Modifications
We may, at our discretion change, remove, suspend or discontinue any aspect of our services at any time including the availability of any content (e.g. a community forum may be withdrawn).
Our content
Our content, trademarks, copyright, patents, logos, domain names and other related intellectual property rights or other features of our brand belong to us or to our licensors. Your use of our services does not grant you any rights in our, and/or our licensors’, intellectual property whether for commercial or non-commercial use.
We grant our users a limited licence to access and use our services and intellectual property rights (subject to your ability to access our services as set out above) and to the following usage restrictions:
- you may use our services for personal, private and non-commercial purposes only;
- you must not register multiple email addresses;
- you must not use, share, or otherwise exploit the services, or any content appearing on the services, for any commercial, business, or monetised purpose (this does not apply to any user content posted by you and in which you retain ownership rights, see paragraph on user generated content below), or for any other purpose not expressly permitted by these terms;
- you must abide by any exclusionary protocols (e.g. Robots.txt) that may be used in connection with the services. You may not access parts of the services to which you are not authorised or attempt to circumvent any restrictions imposed on your use of or access to the services; and
- you must not:
- use the services in any way that is unlawful, improper, or fraudulent; that is defamatory, threatening, abusive, pornographic, objectionable; or which advocates bigotry, hatred, or discrimination;
- reproduce, duplicate, publish, copy, share, or re-sell any part of the services;
- extract any data or metadata from the services or any content on/available via the services (including by means of so-called “scraping”);
- use any content, data or information (including associated metadata) from the services for any machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) purposes, including, but not limited to, developing, building, training, fine tuning, or grounding or otherwise utilising in any large language models (LLMs), machine learning tools, or generative AI systems;
- alter, delete or conceal any copyright, trademark, service mark or other notices contained within our content or services;
- use the services in a way that could damage, disable, overburden, impair or compromise our systems or security or interfere with other users;
- circumvent any digital rights management software or geo-blocking software (including by the use of a VPN or other similar technologies to mask your location);
- incorporate the services into another service or website;
- transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of the services; or
- access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt (a) any part of the services; (b) any equipment or network on which the services is stored; (c) any software used in the provision of the services; or (d) any equipment, network or software owned or used by any third party.
You acknowledge that in using our services we and our third party affiliates may provide advertising and other information to you.
Third Party Content
Third party content included as part of our services, is licensed to you either under these website terms of use or through such third party terms and conditions that will be made known to you as and when they become relevant (e.g. if you use any services provided by The Sunday Times Wine Club, you will also be required to accept their terms and conditions).
User Generated Content
Users of our services may be given an opportunity to interact with us and submit, post and/or upload content (including comments and pictures). In posting your content, you confirm to us that you are the owner or have consent from the owner to post the content and that the content complies with our Participation Guidelines and does not defame any person, company or business or violate the privacy rights, copyright and other intellectual property rights, contract rights or any other rights of any person.
By submitting content, you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, perpetual, royalty free worldwide licence to use any of the content that you post on or in connection with our services and you also irrevocably waive the benefit of any moral rights you may have in any such material. We do not claim any ownership rights in your content and you continue to retain all ownership rights in your content. If you believe that your rights have been infringed in relation to your content, please contact [email protected].
By submitting content, you also warrant that you have read and agree to be bound by our Participation Guidelines which are incorporated in these website terms of use and govern all interactions with us.
We do not endorse any user generated content nor do we guarantee the accuracy or authority of any user generated content. We reserve the right to remove your content and to remove, suspend or discontinue your opportunity to submit, post and/or upload content, at any time and for any reason at our sole discretion and without further recourse to you.
Costs of using our services
We provide our users (whether as a subscriber, authorised user under a corporate subscription or visitor) with a variety of services. To benefit fully from our services you will need to become a subscriber as not all aspects of our services are made available to visitors. We may also occasionally require you to download our content and/or call our service providers. If there are charges associated to any of these services, we will make it clear before you incur any such charges and you will be responsible for any charges incurred from that point on.
Accessing our service without a subscription
You can access some of our online content without becoming a subscriber, but may be given a choice to: (i) accept our use of cookies, including for personalised advertising, and associated tracking technologies; or (ii) reject our use of cookies for personalised advertising and pay a fee to access the content without personalised advertising (“Non-Personalised Ad Access“). When you sign up for Non-Personalised Ad Access:
- you will need to following the online steps to set up an account and provide a valid payment method;
- following your initial payment, recurring payments will automatically be taken from your payment method in accordance with the billing schedule agreed during sign-up, unless you cancel prior to the next payment date;
- payments will be taken separately from any subscriptions or payment plans you have with us and do not grant you access to our paid-for subscription content; and
- you will continue to see some advertising on our service but it will not be personalised to you.
For more details about how we use cookies for personalised advertising and tracking please see Part 5 – Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Cancellation
If you cancel your Non-Personalised Ad Access within 14 days of purchase, we will refund any payments received from you using the same method of payment that you used for your purchase. If you send us a notice of cancellation any later than 14 days following your purchase, cancellation will only take effect at the end of your current billing cycle and you will not be entitled to a refund.
If you would like to cancel within 14 days of purchasing Non-Personalised Ad Access, we advise you to cancel via telephone, as this will allow us to instantly confirm your cancellation. Alternatively, you may email [email protected] from your registered email address, and we will contact you regarding your request. You may also cancel through your Non-Personalised Ad Access account dashboard at http://npa.thetimes.com/dashboard.
Please note that if you cancel your access within the first 14 days, your Non-Personalised Ad Access to our services will stop. If you have any questions about what cancelling your access means for you, please contact us at [email protected] or via our online Live Chat service.
Disclaimer
We will always aim to provide you with the best service we can, but our service is provided “as is” and we do not and cannot promise that all of the information provided in our services will always be 100% accurate. The information provided by our services is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice. All our services are provided without any warranties or guarantees.
Some of the information provided by our services is supplied to us by our third party partners. We have no control over third party content and we are unable to guarantee the accuracy of such third party content. You agree that you access any content at your own risk. Before relying on any information, whether it is from us or from our third party partners, we advise you to verify the accuracy of such information.
Whilst we will do our best to ensure that our service is fully operational at all times, we are not responsible for and shall not be liable to you for any problems or temporary interruptions in using our services arising from factors outside of our control (e.g. technical problems from traffic congestion on the internet) or for any problems arising from participating in or from downloading third party content.
To the extent permissible by law, we are not responsible for any loss or damage resulting from use of our services or from any content posted on or through our services.
Limitation of our liability to you
You agree, that to the extent permissible by law, your sole and only remedy for any problems, issues or concerns with our service is to stop using our services, whether as a subscriber or as a visitor using one of our services.
Changes to our terms
We may amend these website terms of use at any time to ensure that we remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations and to ensure that we are constantly improving your experience in using our services, so please ensure that you check our website terms of use frequently. By continuing to use our services after any changes are made, you accept those changes and will be bound by them.
The law that governs our services
These website terms of use and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them (including non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. However, if your use of the website gave rise to a potential legal action when you were a resident of: (i) Ireland, these website terms of use are subject to Irish law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish courts; or (ii) Scotland, these website terms of use are subject to Scottish law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts.
Other information
In these website terms of use the following words and expressions will have the following meanings:
Our content means any text, files, images, photos, graphics, video, sounds, musical works, or any other materials that we publish or post on or through our services.
Third party content any text, files, images, photos, graphics, video, sounds, musical works, or any other materials published or posted on or through our services by our third party partners.
Us, our, we means The Times and The Sunday Times of Times Media Limited, whose registered office is at 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF, the holding company of Times Media Limited and any subsidiary from time to time of Times Media Limited or its holding company.
Your content means any text, files, images, graphics, photos, video, sounds, musical works, or any other materials that a user posts on or through our services.
Part 2 – Subscription terms
Welcome to our subscriber terms. Please read these terms carefully as they will set out the terms for your subscription with us. Where there are differences between our subscriptions for The Times or The Sunday Times in the UK and Ireland (for example, the price of your subscription or what it includes), we have set out these details below. Unless otherwise stated, any reference to a subscriber or a subscription shall include reference to all our subscribers.
In addition to these terms, you will also be subject to the individual offer terms which govern the specific offer which you choose. Such offer terms will be made available to you when choosing your pack/subscription/offer.
If you access one of our packs under a corporate subscription, these standard subscription terms will apply to your subscription as far as they are relevant. The duration of your subscription is determined by the corporate subscription holder.
This is an instant access service. By purchasing this subscription you agree your access will start immediately. Please see Part 3 – Cancellation Terms for your cancellation rights.
Brief description
Subscription in the UK
The Digital Pack – includes access to the tablet edition, thetimes.com website, smartphone app and Times+ benefits.
The Ultimate Pack – includes access to the tablet edition, the print edition, thetimes.com website, smartphone app, and Times+ benefits.
The Classic Pack – includes the print edition every day, thetimes.com website, smartphone app, and Times+ benefits.
The Student Pack – includes access to thetimes.com website, smartphone app and Times+ benefits. Your Student Subscription is assigned to a single user. You must ensure that the username and password for your Student Subscription remain secure and are not shared with any other user. Times Media reserves the right to cancel your Student Subscription at any time if we believe it is being misused. By signing up to a Student subscription you agree that your Student Subscription cannot be used with more than three devices concurrently. You are responsible for all use, activities and charges associated with your username and password. Your username and password are not otherwise transferable.
There are more subscriptions available at: www.thetimes.com/subscribe
Subscription in Ireland
The Digital Pack – includes access to, and localised content on, the tablet edition, thetimes.com website, smartphone app and Times Memberships benefits.
There are several more bespoke packs that can be made available to customers on request during the registration process.
The exact entitlements for your selected pack will be made clear to you before you purchase your subscription.
How do I become a subscriber?
To become a subscriber in the UK, please visit thetimes.com/subscribe or call our Customer Services team on 0800 018 5177 and select which one of our subscriptions or offers best suits your needs.
To become a subscriber in Ireland, please visit store.thetimes.ie or call our Customer Services team on 1800 949 690 or 015360900 and select which one of our packs or offers best suits your needs.
Any UK resident (excluding Channel Islands) can become a subscriber, except for our digital only subscriptions, which are available in Ireland and the rest of the world (we reserve the right to exclude certain territories from time to time and limit the entitlements on offer in any country).
You must be 18 or older and have the power to enter into a contract with us and are not prevented from doing so under any local laws.
By registering to become a subscriber, you agree that you have given us accurate registration details, including payment information and will ensure that we always have up to date contact information.
How long is my subscription?
Your subscription will start immediately upon payment. The terms that govern your minimum and continuing subscription with us will vary depending on which subscription you chose under the offer advertised and whether you have taken out subscription to one of our trial offers.
Your minimum subscription term will be made known to you before you agree to purchase your subscription and will be confirmed to you in your welcome email.
What does my subscription cost?
The cost of your subscription will be made clear to you on our sign-up pages and in your welcome email and may vary from time to time or by country. You agree to pay the fees at the rates notified to you at the time you purchase one of our subscriptions. If you later request us to change your subscriptions, you agree to pay the new pack price set out in your change confirmation email.
If you choose to become a subscriber through a trial offer, your trial offer will cost you the trial price offered. At the end of your stated trial period, your subscription will automatically continue on a rolling monthly or quarterly basis (this will be made known to you before you complete registration to the trial offer) at the rate notified to you at the time of purchase.
Depending on your location, The Classic Pack and The Ultimate Pack may also be available with home delivery for an additional cost per week on top of the basic pack price.
There are several more bespoke packs that can be made available to customers on request during the registration process. The cost of these other packs will vary and will be made known to you before you register.
Payment can be made using all major credit or debit cards and via PayPal. Where relevant, currency conversion values may fluctuate and conversion fees may be charged by your bank. Unless otherwise stated, the savings calculation stated is relevant to the specified pack and is either based upon saving made per week against cover price or against the standard rate (as may be applicable). By submitting payment details to us, you promise that you are entitled to purchase a subscription using those payment details. You also give us permission to store your payment details in accordance with our Privacy and Cookie Policy (please see Part 5 – Privacy and Cookie Policy).
We reserve the right to change your subscription price and/or benefits with 30 days’ notice and affected subscribers may terminate their subscription within this notice period.
How can I change my subscription?
It is possible to change your subscription in certain circumstances. To find out if you are eligible, please contact our Customer Services team on 0800 018 5177 in the UK or 1800 949 687 in Ireland. Lines are open 8am – 7pm Monday to Friday, and 8am – 4pm on Saturday and Sunday.
How can I cancel?
Please see Part 3 – Cancellation Terms.
Using your voucher booklet
If your pack includes the print edition version of one of our publications, and you do not choose delivery, you will receive a voucher booklet every 13 weeks. Vouchers are accepted at most newsagents. Please keep your vouchers safe as we are unable to accept any liability for lost or stolen vouchers.
Depending on your subscription type, you are entitled to up to five weeks’ subscription holiday per year, each yearly period starting on your subscription start date.
If your subscription is for less than a year, your subscription holiday will be pro-rated accordingly.
You can arrange up to five weeks’ holiday of your subscription a year, so you don’t have to pay for your newspaper when you are away. You can add, edit and delete your holiday dates until 4pm the day before your holiday start.
Unused allowance from each yearly period cannot be carried forward or refunded in any circumstances.
Please contact our Customer Services team for details about your subscription holiday and how to book.
How can we change these terms?
We may amend these terms at any time to ensure that we remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations and to ensure that we are constantly improving your subscription experience. If we make any important changes to the subscription terms we will notify you.
What do I need (devices and hardware)?
To benefit fully from our subscriptions, you will need one or more of the following:
- Android supported smartphones and/or tablet devices (e.g. Nexus, HTC and Galaxy devices);
- Apple iOS 12.4 (or above) supported smartphones and/or tablet devices (e.g. iPhone and iPad); and/or
- for our UK subscriptions only, Kindle (although not all digital content will be supported) and second generation or above Kindle Fire devices.
What happens if I default on a payment?
If you default on any payment, we may:
- terminate your subscription;
- charge you for any outstanding amount remaining on the unexpired portion of your minimum subscription term (subject to your subscriptions and/or offer terms);
- send your details to third party debt collectors; and/or
- take any action which is necessary in our opinion to recover our losses.
If your subscription has been terminated and you would like to re-subscribe to one of our subscriptions, we have the right to require payment in full of any outstanding amount owed to us.
How do I make a complaint?
If you would like to get in touch with us to make a complaint, please use one of the following options:
- for Live Chat, go to www.thetimes.com/help;
- by email, please email us on [email protected];
- by telephone free from a UK landline to 0800 018 5177, by mobile to 020 7022 6620 at the network providers standard charge, or from overseas to +44 20 7022 6620;
- by post to Customer Services to 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF.
For subscribers in Ireland, please contact our Customer Services team using the details above or by telephone free from an Irish landline to 1800 949 687, by mobile or landline in Ireland to 015360818, or from overseas to +35315360818.
If you are unable to resolve your dispute with us directly, you may wish to use the European ODR platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/
Can my rights under these terms be terminated?
Yes, in certain circumstances. We are entitled to end, or restrict, your rights under these terms immediately and without notice:
- if you breach these terms including (without limitation) any of the Acceptable Use Restrictions (see Part 1 above) or the Participation Guidelines (see Part 6 below); and/or
- if, in our reasonable judgement, we determine that your use of our services is illegal, fraudulent, or unsuitable in any other way.
If we end your rights under these terms, you must immediately stop all activities authorised by these terms, including your access of the services, and we may permanently ban you from the services and any other sites/services operated by our corporate group. If you are a subscriber to our services and we end your rights under these terms, this will result in the termination of your subscription with us and you will not be entitled to a refund in these circumstances.
Anything else I should know?
We may change our subscription entitlements at any time with 30 days’ notice and you may cancel your subscription within this notice period. We may also at any time and at our sole discretion, terminate your subscription with us where we believe that we have serious grounds to terminate (for example, for non-payment or breach of these terms).
We may screen your name and address against credit reference and fraud prevention databases when we decide whether or not to accept your application for subscription. If we do not accept your application for subscription, we will terminate your subscription and reimburse any payment that you have made.
Home delivery (which carries additional monthly charges) may be available in London (subject to our home delivery catchment area) on subscriptions which include the print edition. Home delivery requires sufficient access to premises and may be cancelled at any time by us at our discretion. Any stated home delivery offer (if applicable) relates to the home delivery service charge only and not the cost of subscription.
Our Standard Subscription Terms apply to all subscriptions and can be viewed at thetimes.com.
In addition to these standard subscription terms, you will also be subject to any specific terms relating to the offer or pack that you have chosen, as made available to you before the purchase of your subscription. If you are found to be abusing the terms of any of our offers, we have the right to suspend and/or terminate your subscription and/or offer agreement with us.
Our editorial content is subject to either the Editors’ Code of Practice, administered by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), the independent regulator of the UK’s newspapers and magazines or the Code of Practice administered by the Press Council of Ireland. For more information, please go to IPSO’s website at www.ipso.co.uk or the Press Council of Ireland’s website at www.presscouncil.ie.
Our subscriptions are subject to English law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. However, if you are a resident in Scotland, our subscriptions are subject to Scottish law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts and if you are a resident in Ireland, our subscriptions are subject to Irish law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish courts.
Your subscription is with Times Media Limited (whose registered office is at 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF).
Part 3 – Cancellation terms
How can I cancel my subscription?
You cancel your subscription simply by calling our Customer Services team on 0800 018 5177 in the UK or 1800 949 687 in Ireland. Lines are open 8am to 4pm 7 days a week.
If you would like to cancel and it has been more than 14 days since the start of your subscription, you can do so by calling the number above.
If you receive a digital only subscription or a print subscription by delivery (including a combined print and digital subscription), you must call us at least 2 days before your next billing date. If you do not provide such notice, you will be required to make your next bill payment and your subscription will continue until the end of the next billing period. Your estimated bill payment date will be set out in your welcome email and you can find out your exact billing date by calling our Customer Services team.
If you receive a print subscription (including a combined print and digital subscription) by way of a voucher book, you must call us at least 15 days before the end of your 13 week voucher book. If you do not provide such notice, your subscription will continue and you will be required to make bill payments until the expiry of the next 13 week voucher book.
What information do I need to cancel?
When cancelling your subscription with us, please have the following information ready:
- Which subscription pack you would like to cancel;
- Your name and address.
Can I get a refund if I cancel?
Subscribers to The Classic Pack, The Ultimate Pack and The Digital Pack
If you cancel within 14 days of the start of your subscription, we will refund any payments received from you using the same method of payment that you used to purchase your subscription. You will not be entitled to a refund of your initial payment if you cancel after the first 14 days of the start of your subscription.
If you would like to cancel within 14 days of the start of your subscription, we advise you to cancel via telephone, as this will instantly confirm your cancellation. Alternatively, you may email [email protected] from your registered email address, telling us you’d like to cancel or including the completed form below and we will contact you regarding your request. These additional cancellation options are only available to subscribers who would like to cancel within 14 days of their subscription start date.
To: Customer Services, Times Newspapers Limited
Tel no:
I hereby give notice that I cancel my Subscription contract
Purchased on: [insert date of Subscription]
Customer Reference Number: [insert your Customer reference number]
Your full name:
Your address:
Date:
Reason for cancelling (optional):
Please note that if you cancel your subscription within the first 14 days, your access to our services will stop and you will be required to forfeit any subscription benefits that you have received, including sign-up offers, vouchers or any other benefits connected to your subscription. If you have any questions about what cancelling your subscription means for you, please contact us at [email protected] or via our online Live Chat service.
How can we change these terms?
We may amend these cancellation terms at any time to ensure that we remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations and to ensure that we are constantly improving your subscription experience.
Part 4 – Subscriber benefits
Subscribers to certain Times subscriptions will be able to use their login details to access the benefits, events, offers and competitions (Benefits) made available on either the Times+ website at www.mytimesplus.co.uk or www.timesmembership.ie in Ireland (together, the Websites). Use of the Websites is governed by the Website User Terms set out at Part 1 and the Privacy and Cookie Policy referred to in Part 5 insofar as they are applicable. Each Benefit made available through the Websites is subject to the specific terms and conditions set out or referred to on the relevant Benefit page. Benefits are personal to subscribers and shall not be transferred. Subscribers may opt out of Benefits, although we will not pay you any refund if you fail to make use of any Benefit.
Part 5 – Privacy and cookie policy
For details of how we hold and process your personal information, please visit www.newsprivacy.co.uk.
Part 6 – Participation guidelines
Our guidelines (Participation Guidelines) are designed to make clear our approach to community interaction at The Times and The Sunday Times, including moderation of comments and other content submitted by subscribers.
Our aim
We provide numerous opportunities for subscribers to discuss stories that we publish and debate issues that we cover. Our job is to provide an environment where subscribers feel that they are able to contribute and that as many as possible actively get involved on a regular basis. We hope that these guidelines will explain the standard of behaviour we expect from subscribers and encourage more people to join in with the discussion. They work in tandem with our website terms of use, which you can read above.
In these guidelines, the following words and expressions will have the following meanings:
Content means any text, files, images, graphics, photos, video, sounds, musical works, or any other material that a subscriber posts on or through our services.
Real Name means your first name and last name e.g. John Smith. You must use your surname in full. Your first name should either be your full first name, or a commonly recognised variation (i.e. “Liz” for “Elizabeth” or “Will” for “William”) or the initial of your first name. You may include your middle name, if preferred, either written in full or as an initial, though a middle name is not a substitute for first or last names.
Us, our, we means Times Media Limited, whose registered office is at 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF, the holding company of Times Media Limited and any subsidiary from time to time of Times Media Limited or its holding company.
Community standards
There are community standards that we expect subscribers to follow when interacting with us. These are:
- From December 13, 2022, subject to certain exemptions required by local data protection and privacy laws, subscribers that post or engage with comments must use a Real Name as their display name, as defined above.
- Please ensure comments are legal, tasteful civil and respectful. Personal attacks, harassment and inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated.
- Choose your words carefully and do not use language that is threatening, defamatory or offensive to any individual or groups. Understand that words which you deem acceptable may be offensive to others.
- We acknowledge that there may be criticism of our journalism but personal insults or repeated attacks directed towards our journalists will not be tolerated. If you would like to comment on the impartiality of an article, please email [email protected].
- Maintain a respectful tone, especially when discussing heated or controversial issues. We realise this can be hard and we recommend that users re-read comments before posting.
- Help us take responsibility for the level of conversation on the website by ensuring comments are relevant and on topic. If you think discussion on an article is moving away from the intended topic, click ‘Flag comment’ on the comment box and we will investigate.
- Where you refer to reports, studies, other articles and additional information, do your best to link to the original source. This extra context is conducive for having interesting and useful discussions and will result in better feedback from our other readers.
Moderation of user generated content
We moderate comments made by our subscribers in accordance with these Participation Guidelines and content that does not breach these guidelines may be published. Our aim is to ensure that all subscribers enjoy our services.
Comments posted within The Times and Sunday Times publications may be shared via email or to social media using the ‘share’ feature and are only accessible in full to subscribers. By joining the conversation you are accepting our Participation Guidelines.
In order to ensure our subscribers remain compliant with our Participation Guidelines, we have created a non-exhaustive list of prohibited interactions. Interactions must not:
- promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or links to articles or websites that do the same;
- harass, threaten or attack anyone or otherwise behave in a way that could cause annoyance or distress to our subscribers;
- be obscene, vulgar, offensive, pornographic, profane, sexually explicit or indecent;
- use swear words, act in a threatening or abusive manner or promote violence;
- make libellous or defamatory comments about others;
- contain any information which personally identifies another individual (such as name, phone number and address) or breaches data protection law, unless it is editorially justified, in the public domain or express consent has been obtained;
- constitute or encourage conduct that would be a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law;
- prejudice pending or on-going criminal or civil court proceedings;
- violate, plagiarise or infringe the rights of third parties including any copyright, trademark, patent, rights of privacy or publicity or any other proprietary right;
- breach any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence;
- contain any information, software or other material of a commercial nature;
- contain advertising, promotions or commercial solicitations of any kind, unless editorially justified;
- be likely to upset, embarrass and alarm any other person;
- constitute or contain false or misleading indications of origin or statements of fact;
- be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person;
- contain any virus, Trojan horse, worm, time bomb, cancelbot or other similar harmful programming routine;
- contain emojis (pictographs of faces, objects, and symbols).
We will refrain from publishing content that breaches these guidelines and may edit or remove a comment we feel has caused offence to our subscribers. This is in the interest of keeping our community areas appropriate for the vast majority of the people who visit.
If a subscriber seriously or repeatedly violates these guidelines, we will take whatever action necessary to ensure these violations are prevented from continuing and we reserve the right to remove, suspend or discontinue your opportunity to submit, post and/or upload content at our sole discretion and without further recourse to you.
At all times, we reserve the right to take actions that we think will benefit our subscribers. We will always try to communicate any changes that affect our subscribers, although this is not always possible. All actions taken by the Head of Community Development and the Community team are final. If you have any queries or suggestions about how to improve participation with us or about any aspect of our Participation Guidelines, please email us at [email protected].
General
We may amend these Participation Guidelines or any of our terms to ensure that we remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations and to ensure that we are constantly improving your subscription experience.
Part 7 – Third Party Travel Offers on our Website
We provide a platform at https://www.thetimes.com/travel/offers/ open to subscribers and non-subscribers (and therefore not part of the Subscriber benefits at Part 4) for third parties to market certain travel offers to you (Providers). Such offers on this Website are organised and fulfilled by Providers which are wholly independent of us. Details of offers and contact details for the Providers have been provided to us by the Providers and while we require the Providers to ensure that they are accurate, we accept no responsibility for the reliability or accuracy of these details. Subject to the offer, by clicking “Book Now”, you will be redirected to the website of the relevant Provider. You may also call the Provider to book an offer using the contact details provided. Your use of any Provider website will be governed by the separate terms and conditions applicable to that site. It is your responsibility to become familiar with such third party website terms and conditions and any policies applicable to your use of a Provider’s websites.
All such offers are subject to availability and may be withdrawn or changed without notice. Please check date availability, prices and details of any applicable restrictions or additional charges on the Provider’s website. Any booking that you make will be a contract between you and the Provider and we accept no responsibility for any bookings. While we may receive commission from such Providers, the content of our articles are not in any way influenced by the Providers.
Part 8 – Beta Test Programmes
You may be invited to enrol onto a Beta test programme to review and evaluate software, applications, downloads or other features prior to commercial market release. If you choose to participate in a Beta test programme, you are making a commitment to provide us with certain feedback and suggestions regarding your Beta experience.
Feedback requests may be made by us or our agents throughout the duration of a Beta test programme in a variety of forms including but not limited to in-product polls, email surveys and virtual or telephone interviews.
By participating in a Beta test programme you:
- warrant that you are not an employee, agent or representative of any competitor of Times Media Limited, and the information provided in a Beta test programme sign-up process is accurate.
- understand that any usage data, material, statistics, or information that is not deemed confidential to you that you provide throughout the programme may be used in press releases, customer testimonials and as a reference in marketing and sales initiatives by us.
- acknowledge and agree that a Beta test programme may include pre-release code and will not be at the level of performance or compatibility of a fully supported and commercially available product offering. A Beta test programme may not be fully functional, reliable and its use may result in unexpected results. The entire risk arising out of participation in a Beta test programme remains with the user.
- you agree that we may use your feedback in any manner or media now known without any remuneration, compensation or credit to you.
- agree that your participation in a Beta test programme is on a purely voluntary basis, and you can choose to be removed from a Beta test programme at any time during the testing period. A final feedback survey may be sent to understand more about your experience of the Beta test programme;
- agree that any materials shared as part of a Beta test programme (Beta Materials) should be treated as confidential and be deleted if requested. You may be asked to enter into a confidentiality agreement as part of a Beta test programme. You agree as a condition of participating in a Beta test programme to not copy or reproduce the Beta Materials, and your obligation to keep the Beta Materials confidential will continue until we disclose to the public the Beta Materials that you are testing.
- acknowledge that we have no obligation to make a Beta test programme available for any period of time, nor to make it available at all.
- acknowledge and agree that we and/or our suppliers own all rights, title and interest in and to our Beta test programmes and in any and all intellectual property rights therein, including but not limited to any and all copyrights, patents, patent applications, trade secrets, trademarks and other intangible rights therein.
Your access to a Beta test programme can be revoked at any time. We also reserve the right to abandon development of a Beta test programme at any time and without any obligation or liability to you or any third party. In the event that a Beta test programme is abandoned, all participants will be notified via email ahead of time.
Part 9 – US Terms and Conditions
TERMS OF SERVICE
The policies below are applicable to the Times Media Limited’s mobile application(s), Times Media Limited’s web applications, Times Media Limited’s website and all other interactive features and communications provided by Times Media Limited associated with the website or mobile application, however accessed and/or used, that are operated by us, made available by us, or produced and maintained by us, including without limitation any notifications or newsletters (collectively “we”, “us”, or “our”) (individually a ”Service” and collectively “Services”). Us, our, we means The Times and The Sunday Times of Times Media Limited, whose registered office is at 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF, United Kingdom, the holding company of Times Media Limited and any subsidiary from time to time of Times Media Limited or its holding company. BY USING OUR SERVICES, YOU ARE ACCEPTING THE PRACTICES DESCRIBED IN THESE TERMS OF SERVICE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE, PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SERVICES AND EXIT IMMEDIATELY. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO MODIFY OR AMEND THESE TERMS OF SERVICE FROM TIME TO TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. YOUR CONTINUED USE OF OUR SERVICES FOLLOWING THE POSTING OF CHANGES TO THESE TERMS WILL MEAN YOU ACCEPT THOSE CHANGES. UNLESS WE PROVIDE YOU WITH SPECIFIC NOTICE, NO CHANGES TO OUR TERMS OF SERVICE WILL APPLY RETROACTIVELY.
You will be able to access and view some materials for free and without registering for an account, but certain features may only be available if you (a) register for an account and sign in to the associated service; or (b) if you subscribe to the service and pay the associated subscription fee. Certain subscription products or services may be subject to an additional subscription agreement. We may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the Services at any time, including the availability of any feature, database, or content. We may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Services without notice or liability.
This is a legal agreement between you (“you” or “user”) and us that states the material terms and conditions that govern your use of the Services. This agreement, together with all updates, supplements, additional terms, and all of our rules and policies collectively constitute this “Agreement” between you and us. BY ACCESSING THE SERVICES, YOU AGREE TO BE LEGALLY BOUND BY THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF SERVICE AND CONDITIONS OF USE STATED HEREIN, PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SERVICES.
PLEASE NOTE: THESE TERMS OF SERVICE CONTAIN A BINDING AND FINAL ARBITRATION PROVISION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER (SECTION 27). PLEASE READ CAREFULLY, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT, IF APPLICABLE, TO OPT OUT OF ARBITRATION. BY AGREEING TO THESE TERMS OF SERVE, YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THIS AGREEMENT (INCLUDING THE DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND ARBITRATION PROVISIONS IN SECTION 27) AND ACCEPT ALL OF ITS TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS OF SERVICE, YOU MAY NOT USE OR ACCESS THE SERVICES.
You are responsible for all internet access, mobile data or other charges incurred when using the Services. Remember that streaming and downloading audio-visual content can use up a lot of data.
The Services are designed for use and by users in the United States and it is provided from the United States. We make no representation or warranty that the Services or text, graphics, images, video, artwork, metadata and other data, design, organization, compilation, look and feel, advertising and all other protectable intellectual property, including but not limited to any copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade names, trade dress, patent rights, or database rights available through the Services is appropriate or available for use in other locations.
1. Access License. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and make use of the Services or its Content. This license does not include any right to resell or otherwise commercialize the Content contained on the Services; any derivative use of the Services or their contents; any downloading or copying of account information for the benefit of another party; or any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools. Except as expressly permitted herein, the Services may not be reproduced, sold, resold, visited or otherwise exploited for any purpose without our express written consent. Any unauthorized use automatically terminates the permissions and/or licenses granted by us to you. Some features may not be available on all devices.
2. Copyright and Ownership. All of the content featured or displayed on the Services including without limitation text, graphics, photographs, images, moving images, sound, and illustrations (“Content”), is owned by us, our licensors, vendors, agents and/or our content providers. All elements of the Services including without limitation the general design and the Content, are protected by trade dress, copyright, moral rights, trademark and other laws relating to intellectual property rights. A Service may only be used for the intended purpose for which such Service is being made available. Except as permitted by copyright law, you may not modify any of the materials and you may not copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer or sell any information or work contained on the Services. Except as authorized under the copyright laws, you are responsible for obtaining permission before reusing any copyrighted material that is available on the Services. You will comply with all applicable domestic and international laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations regarding your use of the Services. The Service, its Content, and all related rights will remain the exclusive property of us, or our licensors, vendors, agents, and/or our content providers unless otherwise expressly agreed. You will not remove any copyright, trademark or other proprietary notices from material found on the Services.
3. Trademarks/No Endorsement. All trademarks, service marks and trade names of ours used herein (including but not limited to: our name, our corporate logo, the Services name, the Services design, and any logos) (collectively “Marks”) are trademarks or registered trademarks of us or our affiliates, partners, vendors or licensors. You may not use, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, distribute, or modify our trademarks in any way, including in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of materials on the Services without our prior written consent. You will not use our name or any language, pictures or symbols which could, in our judgment, imply our endorsement in any (i) written or oral advertising or presentation, or (ii) brochure, newsletter, book, or other written material of whatever nature, without prior written consent.
4. Additional Restrictions on Use of the Content.
4.1. You agree not to rearrange or modify the Content available through a Service. You agree not to display, post, frame, or scrape the Content for use on or in connection with another website, app, blog, product or Service, except as otherwise expressly permitted by this Agreement. You agree not to modify, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any part of the Services, whether in whole or in part, or create, reproduce or distribute any derivative work based on or containing the Content or encourage, assist or authorize any other person to do so. The framing or scraping of or in-line linking to the Services or any Content contained thereon and/or the use of webcrawler, spidering, script, site search/retrieval applications or other manual or automated device, tool, process or other means to retrieve, scrape, text or data mine information or content (including associated metadata), access, copy, index, process and/or store any Content made available on or through the Services other than as expressly authorized by us is prohibited. You agree not to remove any copyright or other notices from any Content. You agree not to circumvent any technological protection measures that limit or restrict a user’s access to or use of any Service. Without limiting the foregoing, you may not use or incorporate any Content available through a Service for any form of artificial intelligence (“AI”), including in any generative or other form of AI for training or grounding purposes.
4.2 Without limiting the other restrictions herein, including the restrictions on scraping the Content or Services, you further agree to abide by exclusionary protocols (e.g., Robots.txt, Automated Content Access Protocol (ACAP), etc.) that may be used in connection with the Services. You may not access parts of the Services to which you are not authorized, or attempt to circumvent any restrictions imposed on your use or access of the Services.
4.3 You may not create apps, extensions, or other products or Services that use our Content (including without limitation in connection with AI) without our express written permission. You may not aggregate or otherwise use our Content in a manner that could reasonably serve as, or generate (whether through AI or otherwise) a substitute for a subscription to a Service.
4.4 Any unauthorized or prohibited use of any Content may subject you to civil liability, criminal prosecution, or both, under applicable federal, state, local laws, or applicable foreign laws, rules, regulations and treaties. We require users to respect our copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights; we enforce those rights.
4.5 You may not access or view the Services with the use of any scripts, extensions, or programs that alter the way the Services are displayed, rendered, or transmitted to you without our written consent.
4.6 You agree not to use the Services for any unlawful purpose. In addition to other rights, we reserve the right to terminate or restrict your access to a Service if, in our opinion, your use of a Service may violate any laws, regulations or rulings, infringe upon another person’s rights or violate the terms of this Agreement.
5. Account Registration and Security. You understand that you may need to create an account to have access to all of the parts of the Service. You will: (a) provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by a Service’s registration or subscription page (such information being the “Registration Data”) and (b) maintain and promptly update the Registration Data to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, or we have reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, we have the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Services (or any individual Service). Please note that in the event that your access to any Service has been provided by or through a third party (for example, your employer or an educational institution at which you are a student) (each, a “Client”), the Client may have provided us with information about you to enable us to provide you with access to the Services and distinguish you from other subscribers (such as your IP address, email address or name). You are entirely responsible for the security and confidentiality of your password and account. Furthermore, you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account. You will not share your account information or your user name and password with any third party or permit any third party to logon to the Services using your account information. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security of which you become aware. You are responsible for taking precautions and providing security measures best suited for your situation and intended use of the Services. We have the right to provide user billing, account, Content or use records, and related information under certain circumstances (such as in response to legal responsibility, lawful process, orders, subpoenas, or warrants, or to protect our rights, customers or business). Please note that anyone able to provide your personally identifiable information will be able to access your account so you should take reasonable steps to protect this information.
6. Solicited Submission Policy. Where we have specifically invited or requested submissions or comments, we encourage you to submit content (e.g. comments to articles, participation in communities, tips, etc.) to us in the locations that we have created in connection with the corresponding Service (“User Submissions”). User Submissions remain the intellectual property of the individual user. By posting content on our Services you expressly grant us a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid-up worldwide, fully sub-licensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, transmit, perform and display such content and your name, voice, and/or likeness as contained in your User Submission, in whole or in part, and in any form throughout the world in any media or technology, whether now known or hereafter discovered, including all promotion, advertising, marketing, merchandising, publicity and any other ancillary uses thereof, and including the unfettered right to sublicense such rights, in perpetuity throughout the universe. Any such User Submissions are deemed non-confidential and we will be under no obligation to maintain the confidentiality of any information, in whatever form, contained in any User Submission.
7. Inappropriate User Submissions. We do not encourage, and do not seek User Submissions that result from any activity that: (i) may create a risk of harm, loss, physical or mental injury, emotional distress, death, disability, disfigurement, or physical or mental illness to you, to any other person, or to any animal; (ii) may create a risk of any other loss or damage to any person or property; or (iii) may constitute a crime or tort. You agree that you have not and will not engage in any of the foregoing activities in connection with producing your User Submission. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree that in conjunction with your submission, you will not inflict emotional distress on other people, will not humiliate other people (publicly or otherwise), will not assault or threaten other people, will not enter onto private property without permission, will not impersonate any other person or misrepresent your affiliation, title, or authority, and will not otherwise engage in any activity that may result in injury, death, property damage, and/or liability of any kind. We will reject any User Submissions in which we believe that, in our sole discretion, any such activities have occurred. If notified by a user of a submission that allegedly violates any provision of these Terms of Service, we reserve the right to determine, in our sole discretion, if such a violation has occurred, and to remove any such submission from a Service at any time and without notice.
8. Inappropriate Material. Your use of the Services is contingent on your compliance with our participation guidelines and other similar policies posted on or in the Services. You are prohibited from using the Services to post or send any unlawful, infringing, threatening, defamatory, libelous, obscene, pornographic or profane material or any material that infringes or misappropriates third party intellectual property or could constitute or encourage conduct that would be considered a criminal offense or otherwise violate any law. You further agree that sending or posting unsolicited advertisements or “spam” on or through the Services is expressly prohibited by this Agreement. In addition to any remedies that we may have at law or in equity, if we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated or are likely to violate the foregoing prohibitions or any applicable rules or policies linked to in these Terms of Service, we may take any action we deem necessary to cure or prevent the violation, including without limitation, banning you from using the Services and/or the immediate removal of the related materials from the Services at any time without notice. We will fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order or subpoena requesting or directing us to disclose the identity of anyone posting such materials.
9. Access and Interference. You agree that you will not use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Services for any purpose without our express written permission. Additionally, you agree that you will not: (i) take any action that imposes, or may impose in our sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure; (ii) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Services or any activities conducted on the Services or (iii) bypass any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Services.
10. Right to Takedown Content. Except as disclosed in our Privacy Policy, we will not monitor, edit, or disclose the contents of a user’s e-mail or Content posted to the Services unless required in the course of normal maintenance of the Services and its systems or unless required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to: (1) comply with the law or comply with legal process served on us or the Services (2) protect and defend the rights or property of us, the Services or the users of the Services or (3) act in an emergency to protect the personal safety of our users, the Services or the public. Users will remain solely responsible for the content of their messages and we will have no obligation to prescreen any such content. However, we will have the right in our sole discretion to edit, refuse to post or remove any material submitted to or posted on the Services at any time without notice. Without limiting the foregoing, we will have the right to remove any material that we find to be in violation of the provisions hereof or otherwise objectionable, and the additional right to deny any user who fails to conform to any provision of these Terms of Service access to the Services or any part thereof.
11. Third Party Content. Content published by third parties on the Service and User Submissions from other users do not represent the views of us or any individual associated with us, and we did not author this Content. In no event will you represent or suggest, directly or indirectly, our endorsement of any Content not authored by us. We do not vouch for the accuracy or credibility of any licensor or user published Content on our Service and do not take any responsibility or assume any liability for any actions you may take as a result of reviewing any such licensor or user published Content. Through your use of the Services you may be exposed to Content that you may find offensive, objectionable, harmful, inaccurate or deceptive. There may also be risks of dealing with underage persons, people acting under false pretense, international trade issues and foreign nationals. By using our Services you assume all associated risks.
12. Advertising Rights. We reserve the right to sell, license and/or display any advertising, attribution, links, promotional and/or distribution rights in connection with the Services and we and our licensors or affiliates will be entitled to retain any and all revenue generated from any sales or licenses of such advertising, attribution, links, or promotional or distribution rights. Nothing in these terms obligates or may be deemed to obligate us to sell, license or offer to sell or license any advertising, promotion or distribution rights.
13. Third Party Links. From time to time, the Service may contain links to websites that are not owned, operated or controlled by us or our affiliates. All such links are provided solely as a convenience to you. If you use these links, you will leave the Services. Neither we nor any of our respective affiliates are responsible for any content, materials or other information located on or accessible from any other websites, services or platforms. Neither we nor any of our respective affiliates endorse, guarantee, or make any representations or warranties regarding any other websites, services or platforms, or any content, materials or other information located or accessible from any other websites, services or platform, or the results that you may obtain from using any other websites, services or platforms. If you decide to access any other websites, services or platforms linked to or from the Services you do so entirely at your own risk.
14. Contests and Other Promotions. From time to time, we, our advertisers or other parties may conduct promotions and other activities on, through or in connection with one or more of the Services, including, without limitation, contests and sweepstakes (collectively, “Promotions”). In some cases, you may be eligible to win a prize (“Prize”) as part of a Promotion. Each Promotion may have additional terms and/or rules or eligibility requirements which will be posted or otherwise made available to you in connection therewith in accordance with applicable law.
15. Transactional Partners. We may partner with third parties to promote their goods and services within our Services. In these cases, if you click on a link, you will be taken to our partner’s website and you are transacting directly with the other party. On those pages or locations, the transactional partner’s brand is clearly visible and their terms of service are posted. When using these partner pages, you are bound by the partner terms of service. Please note that the foregoing only applies where you leave our Services. In the event that you purchase a good or service directly through our Services, these Terms of Service will prevail.
16. Fees. For all charges or deposits for any subscriptions, products or services ordered by you on or through the Services, we or our vendors or agents will bill your bank card or alternative payment method offered by us and you agree to pay all such charges or deposits. When you provide bank card information, account numbers or other information necessary to facilitate payment to us or our vendors, you represent to us that you are the authorized user of the bank card that is used to pay for the products and services. In the event legal action is necessary to collect on balances due, you agree to reimburse us and our vendors or agents for all expenses incurred to recover sums due, including attorneys’ fees and other legal expenses. You are responsible for purchase of, and payment of charges for, all Internet access services and telecommunications services needed for use of the Services. You understand that we will hold and store such bank card or payment information to facilitate payment and deposit, damage reimbursement, and other liability purposes. Any cancellation or return of a subscription, product or service is subject to our cancellation and return policy.
17. Promotional Codes. On occasion, we may issue promotion codes or coupons that may be redeemed at the time of check out. These codes or coupons are non-transferable and may only be used by the intended recipient; these codes or coupons have no cash value and are not redeemable for cash. We reserve the right to cancel any promotion code and reduction redemption when the total value of the promotional code exceeds the price of the item. Multiple promotional codes or coupons may not be combined. We are not responsible for any financial loss arising out of our refusal, cancelation, or withdrawal of a promotion or any failure or inability of a customer to use a promotional code or coupon for any reason.
18. Eligibility to Use the Service. You may use a Service offered through the Services in any location worldwide. We make no promise, however, that the services available on the Services are appropriate or available for use in unauthorized locations (“Territory”), and accessing the Services from territories where its contents are illegal or unlawful is prohibited, including from those territories prohibited by the United States State Department or other U.S. government entity. If You choose to access the Services from locations outside the Territory, You do so at your own risk. It is your responsibility to ascertain and obey all applicable local, state, federal and international laws (including minimum age requirements) in regard to services you use through this Services.
19. Termination. You or we may suspend or terminate your account or your use of this Service at any time, for any reason or for no reason. You are personally liable for any orders placed or charges incurred through your account prior to termination. We may also block your access to our Service in the event that (a) you breach these Terms of Service; (b) we are unable to verify or authenticate any information you provide to us; or (c) we believe that your actions may cause financial loss or legal liability for you, our users or us.
20. Representations and Warranties. You represent that You are over the age of 18, have the right and authority to enter into this Agreement, are fully able and competent to satisfy the terms, conditions, and obligations herein, and Your use of the Services is and will be in compliance with all applicable laws. You represent that you have read, understood, agree with, and will abide by the terms of this Agreement. In addition, you represent and warrant that your User Submissions and all elements thereof are (a) owned or controlled solely and exclusively by you, you have prior written permission from the rightful owner of the content included in your User Submissions, or you are otherwise legally entitled to grant us all of the rights granted herein; and (b) our use of your User Submissions as described or contemplated herein do not and will not infringe on the copyrights, trademark rights, publicity rights or other rights of any person or entity, violate any law, regulation or right of any kind whatsoever, or otherwise give rise to any actionable claim or liability, including without limitation rights of publicity and privacy, and defamation. Furthermore, You will be solely responsible for your own User Submissions and the consequences of posting or publishing them.
21. DISCLAIMERS. YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR RISK. THE INFORMATION, MATERIALS AND SERVICES PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, SECURITY OR NON-INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. NEITHER WE, NOR ANY OF OUR AFFILIATES WARRANT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE INFORMATION, MATERIALS OR SERVICES PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE SERVICES THE INFORMATION, MATERIALS AND SERVICES PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE SERVICES MAY BE OUT OF DATE, AND NEITHER WE, NOR ANY OF OUR AFFILIATES MAKE ANY COMMITMENT OR ASSUMES ANY DUTY TO UPDATE SUCH INFORMATION, MATERIALS OR SERVICES. THE FOREGOING EXCLUSIONS OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES DO NOT APPLY TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW. PLEASE REFER TO YOUR LOCAL LAWS FOR ANY SUCH PROHIBITIONS. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED FROM US OR THROUGH THE SERVICES WILL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY MADE HEREIN.
22. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY. WE DO NOT ASSUME ANY RESPONSIBILITY, OR WILL BE LIABLE, FOR ANY DAMAGES TO, OR ANY VIRUSES THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER, TELECOMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT, OR OTHER PROPERTY CAUSED BY OR ARISING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO, USE OF, OR BROWSING THIS SERVICES OR YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS FROM THE SERVICES. IN NO EVENT WILL WE , OR ANY OF OUR OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, SHAREHOLDERS, AFFILIATES, AGENTS, SUCCESSORS OR ASSIGNS, NOR ANY PARTY INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION OR TRANSMISSION OF THE SERVICES BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THOSE RESULTING FROM LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) ARISING OUT OF THE USE, INABILITY TO USE, OR THE RESULTS OF USE OF THE SERVICES OR THE MATERIALS, INFORMATION OR SERVICES CONTAINED ON ANY OR ALL OF THE SERVICES WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY AND WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY DO NOT APPLY TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW. PLEASE REFER TO YOUR LOCAL LAWS FOR ANY SUCH PROHIBITIONS.
IN THE EVENT OF ANY PROBLEM WITH THE SERVICES OR ANY MATERIALS, INFORMATION OR SERVICES CONTAINED ON ANY OR ALL OF THE SERVICES YOU AGREE THAT YOUR SOLE REMEDY IS TO CEASE USING THE SERVICES. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS (US $25.00) OR (B) THE VALUE OF THE SERVICES PURCHASED OR SUBSCRIBED BY YOU.
23. Indemnity. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold us and any affiliated entity or individual harmless from any and all liabilities, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, related to or in connection with (i) the use of the Services or your placement or transmission of any User Submission or other content, message or information on the Services by you or your authorized users; (ii) your violation of any term of this Agreement, including without limitation, your breach of any of the representations and warranties above; (iii) your violation of any third party right, including without limitation any right of privacy, publicity rights or intellectual property rights; (iv) your violation of any law, rule or regulation of the United States or any other country; (v) any claim or damages that arise as a result of any User Submission that you provide to us, including without limitation any claim or damages arising from a defamation or invasion of privacy claim; or (vi) any other party’s access and use of the Services with your unique username, password or other appropriate security code.
24. Release. In the event that you have a dispute with one or more other users of the Services or with a third party that has posted content or an offering on the Services you release us (and our officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures and employees) from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY LIABILITY THAT MAY ARISE BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL USERS OF SERVICES.
TO THE EXTENT APPLICABLE, YOU HEREBY WAIVE THE PROTECTIONS OF CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE § 1542 (AND ANY ANALOGOUS LAW IN ANY OTHER APPLICABLE JURISDICTION) WHICH SAYS: “A GENERAL RELEASE DOES NOT EXTEND TO CLAIMS WHICH THE CREDITOR DOES NOT KNOW OR SUSPECT TO EXIST IN HIS OR HER FAVOR AT THE TIME OF EXECUTING THE RELEASE, WHICH IF KNOWN BY HIM OR HER MUST HAVE MATERIALLY AFFECTED HIS OR HER SETTLEMENT WITH THE DEBTOR.”
25. Force Majeure. Neither we nor you will be responsible for damages or for delays or failures in performance resulting from acts or occurrences beyond their reasonable control, including, without limitation: fire, lightning, explosion, power surge or failure, water, acts of God, war, revolution, civil commotion or acts of civil or military authorities or public enemies: any law, order, regulation, ordinance, or requirement of any government or legal body or any representative of any such government or legal body; or labor unrest, including without limitation, strikes, slowdowns, picketing, or boycotts; inability to secure raw materials, transportation facilities, fuel or energy shortages, or acts or omissions of other common carriers.
26. Governing Law. You agree that this Agreement, as well as any and all claims and disputes arising from this Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, United States of America, without regard to any conflict or choice of law principles. The sole jurisdiction and venue for any claims, including Excluded Claims litigation, any other controversy or claim for which arbitration is denied for any reason, or any other claim that otherwise proceeds in court, will be an appropriate federal or state court with proper jurisdiction located in the County of New York in the State of New York.
27. Dispute Resolution – Arbitration.
(a) Informal Negotiations. To expedite resolution and reduce the cost of any dispute, controversy or claim between you and us (each a “Claim” and collectively “Claims”), you and we agree to first attempt to negotiate any Claim (except those Claims expressly excluded below) informally for at least thirty (30) days before initiating any arbitration or court proceeding. Such informal negotiations will commence upon written notice. If necessary to preserve a Claim under any applicable statute of limitations, you or we may initiate arbitration while engaging in the informal negotiations.
(b) Binding Arbitration. YOU AND WE MUTUALLY AGREE TO WAIVE YOUR RESPECTIVE RIGHTS TO RESOLUTION OF ALL CLAIMS BETWEEN YOU (EXCEPT THOSE EXPRESSLY EXCLUDED BELOW) IN A COURT OF LAW BY A JUDGE OR JURY AND AGREE TO RESOLVE ANY DISPUTES BY BINDING ARBITRATION ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AS SET FORTH HEREIN.
This agreement to arbitrate, contained in this Section (“Arbitration Agreement”), is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act and survives the termination of this Agreement or your relationship with us. Claims include, but are not limited to, any dispute, claim or controversy whether based on past, present or future events arising out of or relating to: this Agreement and prior versions (including the breach, termination, enforcement, interpretation or validity thereof), our Service, services, your relationship with us, the threatened or actual suspension, deactivation or termination of your user account or this Agreement, payments made by you or any payments made or allegedly owed to you, any city, county, state or federal wage-hour law, compensation, breaks and rests periods, expense reimbursement, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, fraud, defamation, trade secrets, unfair competition, emotional distress, any promotions, offers made by us, breach of any express or implied contract or breach of any express or implied contract or covenant, claims arising under federal or state consumer protection laws; claims arising under antitrust laws, claims arising under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act; and claims arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Americans With Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, Family Medical Leave Act, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (except for individual claims for employee benefits under any benefit plan sponsored by us and covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or funded by insurance), and state statutes, if any, addressing the same or similar subject matters, and all other federal and state statutory and common law claims. All disputes concerning the arbitrability of a Claim (including Claims about the scope, applicability, enforceability, revocability or validity of the Arbitration Agreement) will be decided by the arbitrator, except as expressly provided below.
YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTAND THAT YOU AND WE ARE WAIVING THE RIGHT TO SUE IN COURT OR HAVE A JURY TRIAL FOR ALL CLAIMS, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY OTHERWISE PROVIDED IN THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT. THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT IS INTENDED TO REQUIRE ARBITRATION OF EVERY CLAIM OR DISPUTE THAT CAN LAWFULLY BE ARBITRATED EXCEPT THOSE CLAIMS AND DISPUTES WHICH BY TERMS OF THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT ARE EXPRESSLY EXCLUDED FROM THE REQUIREMENT TO ARBITRATE.
(c) Agreement Prohibiting Class Actions and Non-Individualized Relief. You and we agree that any arbitration will be limited to the Claim between us and you individually. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU AND WE ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS ACTION OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING (“CLASS ACTION WAIVER”). Further, unless both you and we otherwise agree, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person’s claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of any class or representative proceeding. The arbitrator will have no authority to consider or resolve any Claim or issue any relief on any basis other than an individual basis. The arbitrator will have no authority to consider or resolve any Claim or issue any relief on a class, collective, or representative basis.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, the Arbitration Agreement or the AAA Rules (as defined below), disputes regarding the scope, applicability, enforceability, revocability or validity of the Class Action Waiver may be resolved only by a civil court of competent jurisdiction and not by an arbitrator. In any case in which: (1) the Claim is filed as a class, collective, or representative action and (2) there is a final judicial determination that the Class Action Waiver is unenforceable as to any Claims, the class, collective, and/or representative action on such Claims must be litigated in a civil court of competent jurisdiction, but the Class Action Waiver will be enforced in arbitration on an individual basis as to all other Claims to the fullest extent possible.
(d) Rules and Logistics Governing Arbitration. The arbitration will be commenced and conducted under the Commercial Arbitration Rules (the “AAA Rules”) of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) in effect at the time the arbitration is initiated and modified by the terms set forth in this Agreement and, where appropriate, the AAA’s Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes (“AAA Consumer Rules”), both of which are available at the AAA website www.adr.org or by calling the AAA at 1-800-778-7879. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if requested by you and if proper based on the facts and circumstances of the Claims presented, the arbitrator will have the discretion to select a different set of AAA Rules, but in no event will the arbitrator consolidate more than one person’s Claims, or otherwise preside over any form of representative, collective, or class proceeding.
As part of the arbitration, both you and we will have the opportunity for reasonable discovery of non-privileged information that is relevant to the Claim(s). The arbitrator may award any individualized remedies that would be available in court. The arbitrator may award declaratory or injunctive relief only in favor of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by that party’s individual claims. The arbitrator will provide a reasoned written statement of the arbitrator’s decision, which will explain the award given and the findings and conclusions on which the decision is based.
The arbitrator will decide the substance of all Claims in accordance with applicable law, and will honor all claims of privilege recognized by law. The arbitrator will not be bound by rulings in prior arbitrations involving different third parties, but is bound by rulings in prior arbitrations involving the same party to the extent required by applicable law. The arbitrator’s award will be final and binding and judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof, provided that any award may be challenged in a court of competent jurisdiction in accordance with the Federal Arbitration Act.
Your arbitration fees and your share of arbitrator compensation will be governed by the AAA Rules (and, where appropriate, limited by the AAA Consumer Rules) subject to the following modifications:
(i) If we initiate arbitration under this Arbitration Agreement, we will pay all AAA filing and arbitration fees. If you file a Claim in accordance with this Arbitration Agreement and the associated claim for damages does not exceed USD 10,000, we will pay all such fees unless the arbitrator finds that either the substance of your claim or the relief sought in your Demand for Arbitration was frivolous or was brought for an improper purpose (as measured by the standards set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)). (ii) For Claims that (A) are based on an alleged employment relationship between us and you; (B) arise out of, or relate to, our actual or threatened deactivation of your; or (C) arise out of, or relate to our actual or threatened termination of your agreement with us, we will pay all costs unique to arbitration (as compared to the costs of adjudicating the same claims before a court), including the regular and customary arbitration fees and expenses (to the extent not paid by us pursuant to the fee provisions above). However, if you are the party initiating such claim, you will be responsible for contributing up to an amount equal to the filing fee that would be paid to initiate the claim in the court of general jurisdiction in the state in which you reside, unless a lower fee amount would be owed by you pursuant to the AAA Rules, applicable law, or subsection 25(d)(i) above. Any dispute as to whether a cost is unique to arbitration will be resolved by the arbitrator. (iii) Except as provided in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 or any state equivalents, each party will pay its own attorneys’ fees and pay any costs that are not unique to the arbitration (i.e., costs that each party would incur if the Claim(s) were litigated in a court, such as costs to subpoena witnesses and/or documents, take depositions and purchase deposition transcripts, copy documents, etc.). (iv) At the conclusion of any arbitration, the arbitrator may award reasonable fees and costs or any portion thereof to you if you prevail, to the extent authorized by applicable law.
Unless you and we agree otherwise, any arbitration hearings between us and you will take place in the county of your primary address, and any arbitration hearings between us and a Client will take place in the county in which you received services. If AAA arbitration is unavailable in your county, the arbitration hearings will take place in the nearest available location for an AAA arbitration.
(e) Exceptions to Arbitration. The following types of Claims are not required to be arbitrated under the Arbitration Agreement (“Excluded Claims”):
• Claims for workers’ compensation, disability insurance and unemployment insurance benefits;
• Small claims actions that are within the scope of small claims court jurisdiction and brought on an individual basis; and
• Claims that may not be subject to arbitration as a matter of law.
Nothing in this Arbitration Agreement prevents you from making a report to or filing a claim or charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Labor, Securities Exchange Commission, National Labor Relations Board, or Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, or similar local, state or federal agency, and nothing in this Arbitration Agreement will be deemed to preclude or excuse a party from bringing an administrative claim before any agency in order to fulfill the party’s obligation to exhaust administrative remedies before making a claim in arbitration. However, you knowingly and voluntarily waive the right to seek or recover money damages of any type pursuant to any administrative complaint and instead may seek such relief only through arbitration under this Agreement. This Agreement and Arbitration Agreement do not prevent you from participating in an investigation by a government agency of any report, claim or charge otherwise covered by this Arbitration Provision and do not prevent you from receiving an award for information provided to any government agencies.
(f) Severability. In addition to the severability provisions in (d) above, in the event that any portion of this Arbitration Agreement is deemed illegal or unenforceable, such provision will be severed and the remainder of the Arbitration Agreement will be given full force and effect.
(g) Right to Opt Out of Arbitration Agreement. You may opt out of the Arbitration Agreement by notifying us in writing within thirty (30) days of the date you first registered for our Service or thirty (30) days from the date this Agreement was last updated. To opt out, you must send a written notification to us that includes (a) your account username, (b) your name, (c) your address, (d) your telephone number, (e) your email address, and (f) a clear statement indicating that you do not wish to resolve claims through arbitration and demonstrating compliance with the 30-day time limit to opt out of the above arbitration and class action/jury trial waiver provisions.
28. Privacy. Data collection and use, including data collection and use of personally identifiable information is governed by our Privacy Policy www.newsprivacy.co.uk which is incorporated into and is a part of this Agreement.
29. DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT (“DMCA”) NOTICE. In operating the Services, we may act as a “services provider” (as defined by DMCA) and offer services as online provider of materials and links to third party web sites. As a result, third party materials that we do not own or control may be transmitted, stored, accessed or otherwise made available using the Services. We have in place certain legally mandated procedures regarding allegations of copyright infringement occurring on the Services. We have adopted a policy that provides for the immediate removal of any content or the suspension of any user that is found to have infringed on the rights of us or of a third party, or that has otherwise violated any intellectual property laws or regulations, or any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement. If you believe any material available via the Services infringes a copyright, you should notify us using the notice procedure for claimed infringement under the DMCA (17 U.S.C. Sect. 512(c)(2)). We will respond expeditiously to remove or disable access to the material claimed to be infringing and will follow the procedures specified in the DMCA to resolve the claim between the notifying party and the alleged infringer who provided the Content. Our designated agent (i.e., proper party for notice) to whom you should address infringement notices under the DMCA is [email protected] .
Please provide the following notice:
- Identify the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
- Identify the material on the Services that you claim is infringing, with enough detail so that we may locate it on the Services;
- A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
- A statement by you declaring under penalty of perjury that (a) the above information in your notice is accurate, and (b) that you are the owner of the copyright interest involved or that you are authorized to act on behalf of that owner;
- Your address, telephone number, and email address; and
- Your physical or electronic signature.
We may give notice to our users of any infringement notice by means of a general notice on any of our Services, electronic mail to a user’s e-mail address in our records, or by written communication sent by first-class mail to a user’s physical address in our records. If you receive such an infringement notice, you may provide counter-notification in writing to the designated agent that includes the information below. To be effective, the counter-notification must be a written communication that includes the following:
- Your physical or electronic signature;
- 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;
- A statement from you under the penalty of perjury, that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled; and
- Your name, physical address and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of a Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your physical address is located, or if your physical address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which we may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of allegedly infringing material or an agent of such person.
30. Miscellaneous. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms of Service or to respond to a breach by you or other parties will not in any way constitute a waiver of our right to enforce subsequently any terms or conditions of these Terms of Service or to act with respect to similar breaches. If a provision of these Terms of Service is held invalid or unenforceable for any reason, that provision will be deemed severable and must be construed in a manner consistent with applicable law to reflect, as nearly as possible, the intention of the parties. The validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions will not be affected and those provisions will remain in full force and effect.
31. Additional Assistance. If you do not understand any of the foregoing Terms of Service or if you have any questions or comments, we invite you to contact us by email at [email protected].
32. Copyright Notice. All design, graphics, text selections, arrangements, and all software are Copyright © 2024, Times Media Limited and its related companies or its licensors. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.