Terms of Use

Updated 2/17/2011

Introduction; Consent to Terms
Please read these Terms of Use before using americanhoofassociation.org, AHA's mobile sites and applications, AHA's interactive chat service, any other AHA sites, applications or services, or any features of these sites, applications and services, including, but not limited to, the AHA Store, Content Feeds, Podcasts, the AHA Media Player, widgets, the AHA Community and other social networking features (collectively, the "AHA Services"). By using the AHA Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy, please exit the AHA Services and do not use the AHA Services or any of their features. We reserve the right, at our discretion, to modify, add or delete portions of these terms at any time by posting updated Terms of Use and/or an updated Privacy Policy on the AHA Services. Please check these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy frequently for updates. Any modifications, additions or deletions to these Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy shall be effective immediately upon posting. Your continued use of the AHA Services following the posting of updated Terms of Use or an updated Privacy Policy will mean that you agree to those changes.
Please note that these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy are separate and distinct from the terms of use and privacy policies governing the web sites, applications and services of AHA's membership, and other web sites, applications and services that may link to or from the AHA Services.
Copyrights
The contents of the AHA Services are protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. The contents of the AHA Services are owned by or licensed to AHA and other producers or providers of content to AHA ("Content Providers"). In the case of User Materials (as defined in the "User Materials" section below), the contents are licensed to AHA by the user. You may not reproduce, distribute, republish, upload, transmit, display, prepare derivative works of, publicly perform, sell, transfer, assign, license or use for commercial purposes any copyrighted material on the AHA Services without the prior written consent of AHA, except as provided below. All rights not expressly granted in these Terms of Use are reserved to AHA.
You may copy, download one copy on a single computer, and print a limited amount of content, for your personal, non-commercial use only, provided that (a) you include without modification all copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the content, (b) you do not modify the content, (c) you do not use the content in a manner that suggests AHA promotes or endorses your, or any third party's, causes, ideas, web sites, products or services, and (d) you do not use the content in any way that is unlawful or harmful to any other person or entity. In addition, you may use widgets and tools on the AHA Services that allow selected User Materials to appear on your personal, noncommercial web site, weblog or other application, subject to the conditions in the preceding sentence.
No quotes from any material on the AHA Services may be used in any media without attribution to AHA.
You may use the Content Feeds, RSS and other features of the AHA Services only as expressly permitted in the relevant paragraphs below in these Terms of Use.
Any other use of AHA content requires prior written permission from AHA. For permission requests, visit our contact page.
Trademarks
TM, AHATM, names, and logos are service marks of . All rights are reserved by the respective owners.
User Materials
Through the AHA Community portion of the AHA Services, through the Contact Us page, and through other features of the AHA Services, users may post, upload, transmit and/or otherwise submit ("Submit") comments, messages, other text, photos, images, story ideas, essays, and other content and materials, and make recommendations, on or through the AHA Services ("User Materials"). You acknowledge that User Materials may be routed through our servers, the servers of one or more third parties on our behalf, and the Internet, and may be viewed by AHA staff and on the AHA Services by the general public. You acknowledge that the AHA Services, the AHA Community, and other features of the AHA Services, are for public and not private communications.
We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit User Materials at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so. If we elect to screen User Materials, there may be a delay in the posting of such content to allow for a review process. If we have questions about your User Materials, we have the right, but not the duty, to contact you for further information, including, for example, to verify that you own the copyright or otherwise have the rights to post the User Materials.
You retain the copyright and other ownership rights in any User Materials that you submit on or through the AHA Services. However, by submitting User Materials on or through the AHA Services, you hereby grant AHA, AHA members, and other Content Providers, and their respective licensees, a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide, transferable license to use, copy, sublicense, modify, transmit, publicly perform, display, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, and/or adapt your User Materials in any and all media formats or channels, whether now known or hereafter devised, including, but not limited to, the AHA Services, AHA member station web sites, applications and services, third party licensee web sites, applications and services, over the air (on radio or television), and other applications and services, without payment and without further consent or notice to you. You further grant AHA, its member stations, and their licensees the right to contact you in connection with your User Materials and to use your name, city and state and other information that you have provided in connection with the User Materials.
In addition, you grant each user of the AHA web sites, applications and services, a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to access your User Materials on or through the AHA Services
For any User Materials you Submit on or through the AHA Services, you agree to abide by the "Rules of Use for the Service" set forth below, the Social Networking Discussion Rules (for User Materials Submitted through the AHA Community or in response to an AHA Blog), and these Terms of Use. You further agree to the representations and warranties, and indemnification obligations, set forth in the "Representations; Indemnity" section below.
Framing
AHA does not allow framing of the AHA Services.
Links to the AHA Services
AHA encourages and permits links to content on the AHA Services. However, AHA is an organization committed to the highest journalistic ethics and standards and to independent, noncommercial journalism, both in fact and in appearance. Therefore, the linking should not (a) suggest that AHA promotes or endorses any third party's causes, ideas, web sites, products or services, or (b) use AHA content for inappropriate commercial purposes or in any way that is unlawful or harmful to any other person or entity. We reserve the right to withdraw permission for any link.
Links to Third Party Sites and Services
The AHA Services contain links to Internet sites, applications and services maintained by third parties, over which AHA has no control. AHA does not endorse the content, operators, products or services of such sites, and AHA is not responsible or liable for the content, operators, availability, accuracy, quality, advertising, products, services or other materials on or available from such sites. AHA shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, products or services available on or through such sites.
In some cases, the AHA Services may include certain embedded tools provided and controlled by third parties and governed by the terms and policies of the third parties. You should only use these third party tools if you agree to their respective terms and policies.
The AHA Services include a tool that allows you to sign in using information from your account with a third party service, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, OpenID, or LinkedIn. Please be aware that those third party services are unrelated to AHA, and that your use of the third party services is subject to the terms and policies of those services.
Content Feeds
AHA provides Really Simple Syndication (RSS) Feeds at americanhoofassociation.org/ahaforum//, and provides or may provide other content feeds on or through the AHA Services, consisting of a selection of headlines, summaries or text blurbs, and links to full stories, which are delivered to users using Really Simple Syndication technology, other XML (eXtensible Markup Language) technology, or other syndication technology (collectively, the "Content Feeds"). The Content Feeds are available for personal, noncommercial use.
Disclaimer
THE AHA AND ANY CONTENT, MATERIALS, USER MATERIALS, FEATURES OR PRODUCTS AVAILABLE OR SOLD ON OR THROUGH THE AHA SERVICES ARE AVAILABLE ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. AHA DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE AHA SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE. NOR DOES AHA MAKE ANY WARRANTIES AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE AHA OR ENDORSE, RECOMMEND, OR MAKE ANY WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY OR CONTENT OF, ANY CONTENT, INFORMATION, MATERIALS, USER MATERIALS, FEATURES, SERVICES, PRODUCTS, OPINIONS, OR STATEMENTS AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE AHA OR THROUGH LINKS ON THE AHA SERVICES. USE OF THE AHA SERVICES IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.
CONTENT ON THE AHA IS NOT INTENDED TO SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE OF ANY KIND. IN PARTICULAR, NOTHING CONTAINED IN THE AHA SERVICES IS OR SHOULD BE CONSIDERED, OR USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR, MEDICAL ADVICE, DIAGNOSIS OR TREATMENT. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF YOUR VET OR OTHER QUALIFIED HEALTH PROVIDER WITH ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE REGARDING HEALTH OR MEDICAL CONDITIONS. NEVER DISREGARD OR AVOID PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY IN SEEKING IT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ ON THE AHA SERVICES.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
IN NO EVENT WILL AHA, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, MEMBERS OR THIRD PARTY PROGRAM PRODUCERS AND PROVIDERS BE LIABLE (A) FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE AHA SERVICES, (B) RELATING TO ANY CONTENT OR PRODUCTS AVAILABLE OR SOLD ON OR THROUGH THE AHA SERVICES, OR (C) IN CONNECTION WITH ANY THIRD PARTY CONTENT OR MATERIALS (INCLUDING USER MATERIALS) OR THE DEFAMATORY, INFRINGING, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY. IN NO EVENT WILL AHA, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, MEMBERS OR CONTENT PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY AMOUNT IN EXCESS OF $100.
RIGHT TO CHANGE AHA SERVICES
AHA reserves the right to change, terminate or suspend the AHA Services, any features of the AHA Services (including, but not limited to, Content Feeds), and any content or materials contained in the AHA Services, in any way, at any time and for any reason or no reason. AHA also has the right to require you to cease accessing any features, content or materials of the AHA Services.
Online Shopping
In the event a product available on or through the AHA Shop is listed at an incorrect price or with incorrect information, AHA will have the right to refuse or cancel any orders placed for product listed at the incorrect price. Your receipt of an electronic or other form of order confirmation does not signify AHA's acceptance of your order, nor does it constitute confirmation of AHA's offer to sell. AHA reserves the right at any time after receipt of your order to accept or decline your order for any reason. AHA may charge and withhold the applicable sales tax for orders. Otherwise, you are solely responsible for all sales taxes, or other taxes, on orders shipped to you.
Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) Notices; Copyright Agent
AHA respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement by any content or material on the AHA Services, please provide the following information in writing to AHA's Copyright Agent (see 17 U.S.C. Section 512(c)(3) for further detail):

  1. a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright.
  2. a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed.
  3. a description of the material that you claim to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information sufficient to permit us to locate the material.
  4. information so that we can contact you, such as address, telephone number and e-mail address.
  5. a statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
  6. a statement that the information in the notification is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of a copyright that is allegedly infringed.

If you believe that any content or materials you posted, uploaded or Submitted to the AHA Services, that were subsequently removed from the AHA Services, or to which access was disabled, were improperly removed or disabled, please provide the following Counter-Notification to AHA's Copyright Agent (see 17 U.S.C. Section 512(g) for further detail):

  1. your physical or electronic signature.
  2. a description of the materials that have been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
  3. a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
  4. your name, address and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.

AHA's Copyright Agent can be reached as follows:


Ventura, CA 93003

Email:
Only DMCA notices should be sent to the Copyright Agent. For other comments or questions regarding the AHA Services, please contact AHA through our contact page.
International Users
The AHA Services are controlled and operated within the United States. AHA makes no representation that content, materials or products available on or through the AHA Services are appropriate or available for use outside of the United States. If you access the AHA Services from a location outside the United States, you are responsible for compliance with applicable laws, including local laws regarding online conduct and content and U.S. export laws and regulations.
Miscellaneous
These Terms of Use, together with the Privacy Policy and Social Networking Discussion Rules, represent the entire understanding of the parties regarding the use of the AHA Services and supersede any previous documents, correspondence, conversations, or other oral or written understanding related to the use of the AHA Services. These Terms of Use are separate and distinct from the terms of use governing the web sites, applications and services of AHA's member stations, and the web sites, applications and services that may link to or from the AHA Services. These Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed under District of Columbia law, without regard to its choice of law rules, and, where applicable, the laws of the United States. To the extent permissible by law, any disputes under these Terms of Use or relating to the AHA Services shall be litigated in the local or Federal courts located, and you hereby consent to personal jurisdiction and venue, in the District of Columbia. A modification or waiver of a part of these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver or modification of any other portion of the Terms of Use. If for any reason any provision of these Terms of Use is found unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the remainder of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.
Questions
If you have any questions about the terms of use, please contact AHA.