Terms of Use

Effective June 19, 2007

Welcome to TheBellinghamHerald.com, a news, information and communication service available on the Internet's World Wide Web. The service combines much of The Bellingham Herald newspaper with additional material available only on TheBellinghamHerald.com. Both The Bellingham Herald and TheBellinghamHerald.com are owned by Bellingham Herald Publishing, LLC, which is owned by Pacific Northwest Publishing Company, Inc., a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company.

You must read, agree with and accept all of the terms and conditions contained in these Terms of Use before you may become a Member of TheBellinghamHerald.com. By registering as a Member, and/or by accessing and using TheBellinghamHerald.com, you agree to these Terms of Use.

From time to time, we may make changes to these Terms of Use by posting the changes in the Member Center and sending notice to the e-mail address you provide with registration. Such notice will provide a date upon which the changes will be effective. Should you object to any such modifications to these Terms of Use or become dissatisfied with TheBellinghamHerald.com in any way, your only recourse is to immediately terminate your Membership and discontinue use of TheBellinghamHerald.com. Otherwise, continuing to use the service after the effective date means that you agree to be bound by the changes.

Cost

At this time, there is no cost for using the basic or premium services of TheBellinghamHerald.com. From time to time there may be premium content available via subscription or surcharge, and those areas will be clearly marked. Because this is an advertising-supported service, we encourage you to patronize the advertisers that help to make this service possible.

The Bellingham Herald newspaper's electronic archives carry a fee of $2.95 per full-text article downloaded. Note that most news articles remain available for 365 days in the pages of TheBellinghamHerald.com. Additional information, including credt card information may be required to complete this purchase.

Registration

Access to the majority of content, services and features on TheBellinghamHerald.com requires users to register and become Members of TheBellinghamHerald.com. Member registration requires you to provide certain Personally Identifiable Information, such as your name, e-mail address, street address, gender, and date of birth. Please see our Privacy Policy (Link to PP) for information on TheBellinghamHerald.com’s information gathering and how we intend to use and share any information we collect. If you become a Member of TheBellinghamHerald.com, you accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and for restricting access to your computer so others may not access TheBellinghamHerald.com using your username or account in whole or in part. TheBellinghamHerald.com reserves the right to terminate Membership and deny access to the site to any person who violates this Terms Of Use.

Copyrights and trademarks

Material published on TheBellinghamHerald.com, including articles, photos, graphics, bulletin board postings, audio and video clips, and other content, is copyrighted by The Bellingham Herald, or by other information providers who have licensed their content for use on TheBellinghamHerald.com. Additionally, the entire content of TheBellinghamHerald.com is also copyrighted as a collective work under the United States copyright laws; the owner of the collective work is The Bellingham Herald. You cannot reproduce, republish or redistribute material from The Bellingham Herald, the Associated Press, the New York Times News Service, the Washington Post-Los Angeles Times News Service, Scripps Howard News Service, Newhouse News Service and other news services and syndicates in any way without the written consent of the copyright owner.

You may, however, electronically store a reasonable portion of TheBellinghamHerald.com content for your personal, non-commercial use by making a single electronic copy on your computer's hard drive, a single copy on a disk or other media or a single copy in printed form. You agree, however, that you will not store or archive a significant portion of the content or create a database using the content.

These rules also apply:

1. You will not in any way violate the intellectual property laws protecting the content accessible through TheBellinghamHerald.com. This means you agree not to copy, modify, publish, transmit, create derivative works from, transfer, sell or display the content, including logos, trademarks or service marks, or otherwise violate the proprietary rights of TheBellinghamHerald.com or others.
2. You will not reuse, republish or otherwise distribute the content or any modified or altered versions of it, whether over the Internet or otherwise, and whether or not for payment, without the express written permission of The Bellingham Herald or a third-party copyright holder.
3. You will cooperate promptly and completely with any reasonable request by the Bellingham Herald related to an investigation of infringement of copyright or other proprietary right.

To obtain permission to reuse or republish any material copyrighted by The Bellingham Herald, please contact newsroom@bellinghamherald.com. For permission to reuse or republish The Bellingham Herald copyrighted material in printed formats, contact the permissions editor in the Newsroom at (360)715-2260. The Bellingham Herald cannot grant permission to reuse or republish material from other information providers, such as the Associated Press or New York Times News Service. Please contact them directly.

Member Content is any information, including photographs, you provide to us or other users in the registration process, in any public message area (including the forums area) or through any email feature. You are solely responsible for Member Content, and we act as a passive conduit for your online distribution and publication of Member Content. Member Content must conform to the guidelines set forth under Community Publishing Guidelines below. TheBellinghamHerald.com reserves the right to remove any material that it believes may violate these Terms or Use, or any copyright or third-party rights.

If you believe that TheBellinghamHerald.com or any user of TheBellinghamHerald.com has infringed your copyright in any material way, please notify our Copyright Agent and provide the following information:

1. An identification of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed.
2. An identification of the material on TheBellinghamHerald.com that you claim is infringing or is subject to infringing activity, with enough detail so that we can locate the material on our site.
3. Your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.
4. 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.
5. A statement by you declaring that the above information in your Notice is accurate, made under penalty of perjury, and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest involved.
6. Your physical or electronic signature.

The Copyright Agent for TheBellinghamHerald.com is Karole Morgan-Prager, General Counsel, who can be reached at 2100 Q Street, Sacramento, CA 95816, or at kmorgan-prager@mcclatchy.com or at 916-321-1828.

The Bellingham Herald, TheBellinghamHerald.com and its logos are registered service marks or trademarks.

Submissions

By submitting any Member Content to TheBellinghamHerald.com, including photographs, you automatically grant The Bellingham Herald and TheBellinghamHerald.com a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, sublicensable (through multiple tiers), license to use, modify, copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, publish, adapt, create derivative works of, distribute, transfer or sell any such content, for any purpose, including commercial purposes, without any payment to you, in any type of media or in any form now known or later developed. In addition, you automatically waive and give up any claim that any use of such content violates any of your rights, including privacy rights, publicity rights, moral rights or any other right, including the right to approve the way TheBellinghamHerald.com uses such content.

Community Publishing Guidelines

TheBellinghamHerald.com encourages a free and open exchange of ideas in a climate of mutual respect. TheBellinghamHerald.com welcomes your participation in our online discussion and comment posting systems. We hope these forums offer you the chance to interact with our writers and each other.

In order to keep these forums enjoyable and interesting for all of our users, we ask simply that you follow these minimal rules. These rules are only a minimum; in addition to complying with these rules, we ask that you also exercise common sense and generally be considerate toward your fellow users. By participating either in our online discussion and comment posting systems, you are consenting to these rules.

1. You agree that you are fully responsible for the content that you post. You will not knowingly post content that violates the copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property right of any third party and that you will remove the same should you discover that you have violated this provision. Likewise, you may not post content that is libelous, defamatory, obscene, abusive, that violates a third party's right to privacy, that otherwise violates any applicable local, state, national or international law, or that is otherwise inappropriate. You will indemnify The Bellingham Herald, its employees, agents, and affiliates from any and all claims and/or damages (including but not limited to reasonable attorneys' fees) resulting from any claim brought by any third party relating to content you have posted.
2. You understand and agree that TheBellinghamHerald.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties. You further understand that TheBellinghamHerald.com does not and cannot review all content prior to its posting. Keep in mind that more than likely you will read a post before TheBellinghamHerald.com staff. Nevertheless, TheBellinghamHerald.com may monitor the discussion forums as it chooses and reserves the right (but assumes no obligations) to remove, edit or otherwise alter content that it deems inappropriate for any reason without obtaining anyone’s consent. We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's privilege to post content in our discussion forums.
3. You understand and agree that these discussion forums are to be used only for noncommercial purposes. You may not solicit funds, promote commercial entities or otherwise engage in non-commercial activity in our discussion forums.
4. The discussion forums are for text only. Use of graphics and audio is not appropriate.
5. You acknowledge and agree that you use and/or rely on any information obtained through the discussion forums at your own risk. TheBellinghamHerald.com is not in any manner endorsing the content of the discussion groups and cannot and will not vouch for its reliability.
6. For any content that you post, you hereby grant to TheBellinghamHerald.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, exclusive and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part, world-wide and to incorporate it in other works, in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.

To register a complaint about another user's conduct, please send an e-mail message to newsroom@bellinghamherald.com, or write to Newsroom Online Customer Service, TheBellinghamHerald.com, 1155 N. State St., Bellingham, WA, 98225.

Privacy rights

TheBellinghamHerald.com takes your personal privacy seriously. That is why we have adopted our Privacy Policy [Link], which explains our position on information gathering and how we intend to use and share any information we collect. Your use of the TheBellinghamHerald.com website or our services signifies acknowledgement of and consent to the information practices in our Privacy Policy. Other services, advertisers and information providers that are accessible on TheBellinghamHerald.com are provided by third parties, and have their own policies about using personal information. You should contact these third parties directly for their policies.

You agree that TheBellinghamHerald.com may access and disclose information about you or your use of our service when we deem it necessary or appropriate to comply with the law, to respond to claims, to protect our systems and customers, to ensure the integrity and operation of our business and systems, or to protect the rights or property of TheBellinghamHerald.com or its affiliates. Such disclosure may include, without limitation, Personally Identifiable Information (name, e-mail address, etc.), your IP address, clickstream and traffic information and usage history. Our right to disclose any such information shall govern over any terms of our Privacy Policy.

International Users

You acknowledge and agree that due to the international dimension of our company we may use the data collected in the course of our relationship for the purposes identified in the Privacy Policy, for the purposes identified in our other communications with you, or to provide the information to other businesses and selected third parties which may be outside your resident jurisdiction. TheBellinghamHerald.com stores and processes your information on computers located in the United States that are protected by physical as well as technological security devices. In addition, such data may be stored on servers located in other jurisdictions. By providing us with your data, you consent to the transfer of such data. If you object to your information being transferred or used in this way please do not use our site or services.

Children's use of TheBellinghamHerald.com

TheBellinghamHerald.com is particularly concerned with providing a safe online environment for children. Parents and legal guardians of children under age 13 who register will be able to establish a member account for their child by accessing the Member Center. Children under age 13 without signed Parental Consent Forms are not allowed to become members of TheBellinghamHerald.com. For more information about how TheBellinghamHerald.com handles children’s privacy, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

Other services and information providers accessible through TheBellinghamHerald.com have their own policies about children's privacy, and you should contact them directly for their policies.

TheBellinghamHerald.com strongly recommends that parents supervise the use of the Internet by their children. A number of commercial products are available to help limit access to material on the Internet that you may consider harmful or inappropriate for your child.

Disclaimer

While TheBellinghamHerald.com strives for accuracy, it does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information or database on our service. Nor does TheBellinghamHerald.com guarantee or warrant that any files available for downloading will be free of defects. Neither The Bellingham Herald nor any of its information providers shall be liable in any way to you or the other parties for delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in the material published in TheBellinghamHerald.com.

While we take reasonable steps to ensure that no viruses, worms, Trojan horses or other destructive properties are present, the entire risk as to the quality and performance of TheBellinghamHerald.com and the accuracy and completeness of any information is with the user of our service.

Likewise, TheBellinghamHerald.com does not warrant that our service will be uninterrupted or error-free. TheBellinghamHerald.com makes no warranties, express or implied, including, without limitation, those of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose any information published on the TheBellinghamHerald.com Web site or any products or services sold through the TheBellinghamHerald.com Web site.

Opinions, advice and all other information expressed on TheBellinghamHerald.com bulletin boards represent the individual's own views and not necessarily those of TheBellinghamHerald.com. TheBellinghamHerald.com does not endorse and is not responsible for statements, advice and opinions made by anyone other than authorized TheBellinghamHerald.com spokespersons.

Any investment decisions or other actions that users take based on information available on TheBellinghamHerald.com should first be reviewed by a competent financial adviser or other professional.

THE BELLINGHAMHERALD.COM SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NONINFRINGEMENT, OR WARRANTIES REGARDING THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENT OR ANY OTHER SERVICE OR PRODUCT ON OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE (INCLUDING ANY LINK TO ANOTHER WEB SITE OR RESOURCE).

In no event will TheBellinghamHerald.com be liable for (i) any incidental, consequential, or indirect damages (including, but not limited to, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of programs or information, and the like) arising out of the use of or inability to use TheBellinghamHerald.com, or any information or services provided on TheBellinghamHerald.com, even if TheBellinghamHerald.com has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or (ii) any claim attributable to errors, omissions, or other inaccuracies published on TheBellinghamHerald.com.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold TheBellinghamHerald.com harmless from and against any and all liability, loss, claims, damages, costs and/or actions (including attorney’s fees) based on or arising from any breach by you of your obligations under these Terms of Use. We reserve the right to defend any such claim, and you agree to provide us with such reasonable cooperation and information as we may request.

Jurisdiction

This agreement between TheBellinghamHerald.com and its users will be governed and interpreted under the laws of the state of Washington. Whatcom County, Washington, has jurisdiction in any dispute arising from this agreement. In the event that any provision of this agreement is found to be in conflict with the law, such provision shall be restated to reflect the original intent, and all other terms and conditions shall remain in full force and effect.

Arbitration

Any legal controversy or legal claim arising out of or relating to these Terms of Use or TheBellinghamHerald.com, excluding legal action taken by The Bellingham Herald to obtain an injunction relating to its intellectual property, shall be settled by binding arbitration in accordance with the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association. Any such controversy or claim shall be arbitrated on an individual basis, and shall not be consolidated in any arbitration with any claim or controversy of any other party. The arbitration shall be conducted in Bellingham, Washington, and judgment on the arbitration award may be entered into any court having jurisdiction thereof.

Termination

Notwithstanding any provision of these Terms of Use, we reserve the right, without notice and in our sole discretion, to terminate any or all of the TheBellinghamHerald.com service and/or your license to use the TheBellinghamHerald.com service, or to block or prevent future access to and use of TheBellinghamHerald.com.

Severability

If any provision of these Terms of Use shall be deemed unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these Terms of Use and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Offices

TheBellinghamHerald.com offices are located at The Bellingham Herald, 1155 N. State Street, Bellingham, Wash. 98225, (360)715-2260.

Questions and comments about TheBellinghamHerald.com

We hope you enjoy using TheBellinghamHerald.com. Questions and comments about the content of TheBellinghamHerald.com may be sent by submitting an e-mail to newsroom@bellinghamherald.com. We read all comments sent to us and try to respond to as many as possible.

Technical questions regarding your software, your configuration or your connection should be directed to your Internet access provider. TheBellinghamHerald.com cannot address questions except those specifically about content and services that we provide.