Terms & Conditions

Terms & Conditions


1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS

Welcome to "Lycos Chat". "Lycos Chat" provides its service to you, subject to the following Terms and Conditions, which may be updated from time to time without notice to you. You should review the Terms and Conditions periodically for changes.

In addition, when using particular Lycos Chat services, you and Lycos shall be subject to any guidelines and rules applicable to such services which may be posted by Lycos Chat from time to time. All such guides and rules are hereby incorporated by reference into the Term and Conditions. In most cases the guides and rules are specific to a particular part of the Service and will assist you in applying the Terms and Conditions to that part, but to the extent of any inconsistency between the Terms and Conditions and any guide or rule, the Terms and Conditions will prevail. Lycos Chat may also offer services from time to time that are governed by other terms of service. In such cases the other terms of service will be posted on the relevant service to which they apply

While Lycos Chat offers its product to Users in a variety of languages, it is however an English Company and as such, is governed by the laws of England.

2. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICE

Lycos Chat currently provides users with access to a collection of community functions, including but not limited to, various communications tools, personalised content and messaging options (the "Service"). Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any new features that augment or enhance the current Service, including the release of new Lycos Chat features, shall be subject to the Terms and Conditions. You acknowledge and agree that the Service is provided "as is " and that Lycos Chat assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, mis-delivery, failures of features paid or non paid or failure to store any user communications or personalisation settings

In order to use the Service, you must obtain access to the World Wide Web, either directly or through devices that access web-based content, and pay any service and/or telephony fees associated with such access. In addition, you must provide all equipment necessary to make such connection to the World Wide Web, including a computer and modem or other access device. Please be aware that Lycos Chat may have certain areas of the Service that may contain adult or mature content. You must be over the legal age required in your country of residence in order to access and view such areas.

3. YOUR REGISTRATION OBLIGATIONS AND SUPERVISING CHILDREN

In consideration of your use of the Service, you agree to: (a) provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the Service's registration form (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 Lycos Chat has reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, Lycos Chat has the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Service (or any portion thereof).

Lycos Chat is concerned about the safety and privacy of all its users, particularly children. For this reason, anyone under the age of 16 is NOT permitted to access this service. Whilst we make every effort to ensure that under 16's do not access this service, accordingly, as the parent or legal guardian, it is your responsibility to determine whether any of the Services and/or Content your child accesses are appropriate.

4. PRIVACY POLICY

Registration Data and certain other information about you is subject to our Privacy Policy. For more information, please see our full privacy policy at /privacy.aspx

5. MEMBER ACCOUNT, PASSWORD AND SECURITY

You will create a password and account upon completing the Service's registration process. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and account, and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account. You agree to (a) immediately notify Lycos Chat of any unauthorised use of your password or account and any other breach of security, and (b) ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. Lycos Chat cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this Section 5.

6. MEMBER CONDUCT

You acknowledge that all information, data, text, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages and other materials ("Content"), whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, are the sole responsibility of the person from which such Content originated. This means that you, and not Lycos Chat are entirely responsible for all Content that you upload, post, or otherwise transmit via the Service. Lycos Chat does not control the Content posted via the Service and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. You acknowledge that by using the Service, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Under no circumstances will Lycos Chat be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, for any errors or omissions in any Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, or otherwise transmitted via the Service.

You agree to not use the Service to:

  1. upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libellous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
  2. harm minors in any way;
  3. impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Lycos Chat official, administrator, moderator, navigator, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
  4. forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through the Service;
  5. upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that you do not have a right to transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);
  6. upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights ("Rights") of any party;
  7. upload, post or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation;
  8. upload, post or otherwise transmit any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, damage, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
  9. disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, cause a screen to "scroll" faster than other users of the Service are able to type (spamming), or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users' ability to engage in real time exchanges;
  10. interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers or networks connected to the Service, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Service;
  11. intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable law or regulation including, but not limited to, regulations promulgated by any securities exchange;
  12. "stalk" or otherwise harass another; or
  13. extract, collect, process, combine or store personal data about other users.
  14. Advertise or offer to sell or buy any goods or services for any business purpose.
  15. Obey any reasonable request by a "Navigator" (Moderator) regarding any of the above, or anything that may be distrupting the experience of other users.

You agree that:

  1. You will indemnify Us against all losses, liabilities, costs and expenses reasonably suffered or incurred by us, all damages awarded against us under any judgment by a court of competent jurisdiction and all settlements sums paid by us as a result of any settlement agreed by us arising our or in connection with:
    1. any claim by any third party that the use of the Service by you is defamatory, offensive or abusive, or of an obscene or pornographic nature, or is illegal or constitutes a breach of any applicable law, regulation, code of practice;
    2. any claim by any third party that the use of the Service by you infringes that third party's copyright or other intellectual property rights of whatever nature; and
    3. any fines or penalties imposed by any regulatory, advertising or trading body or authority in connection with the use of the Service by you.

The Website is for the User's personal and non-commercial use only, and the User agrees to use the Website in a manner consistent with all applicable laws and regulations which may apply to the User's use of the Website.

You acknowledge that Lycos Chat has no obligation to monitor Content. Lycos Chat and its designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to refuse, move or remove any Content that is available via the Service that violates the Terms and Conditions or is otherwise objectionable. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content.

You agree that Lycos Chat may access, preserve, and disclose your account information and Content: (a) to its affiliated companies worldwide for the purpose of providing the Content to you in an efficient manner; (b) for the purpose of properly administering your account in accordance with the standard operating procedures of Lycos Chat or its affiliated companies; and (c) if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that any such access, preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (i) comply with legal process; (ii) enforce the Terms and Conditions; (iii) respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third-parties; (iv) respond to your requests for customer service; (v) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Lycos Chat, its users and the public.

You acknowledge that the technical processing and transmission of the Service, including your Content, may involve transmissions over various networks and changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices. Lycos Chat reserves the right to terminate your access to some or all parts of its Service if you withdraw your consent in this paragraph at any time.

7. SPECIAL ADMONITIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL USE

Recognising the global nature of the Internet, you agree to comply with all local laws and rules regarding online conduct and acceptable Content. Specifically, you agree to comply with all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United Kingdom and the country in which you reside (if different from the aforementioned). When you are on any international Lycos Chat property, you are bound by the Terms of Service and applicable laws governing that Lycos Chat property. . You are reminded that Lycos Chat is a UK Limited Company and as such you are also bound by UK law at all times.

8. PUBLIC CONTENT

For purposes of the Terms and Conditions, "publicly accessible areas" of the Service are those accessible by the general public. By way of example, a publicly accessible area of the Service would include public Profiles, LogBooks and PortHoles but would not include ShipMail or Private Communication. You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for any personal data or information that you choose to disclose and make publicly accessible via the Service, and that under no circumstances will Lycos Chat be liable in any way for the disclosure and public accessibility of such personal data or information. You acknowledge that any personal data or information (or any other Content) posted to publicly accessible areas may remain publicly accessible indefinitely.

With respect to Content you elect to post for inclusion in publicly accessible areas of Lycos Chat Services or that consists of photos or other graphics you elect to post to any other publicly accessible area of the Service, you grant Lycos Chat a world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, modify, adapt and publish such Content on the Service solely for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting the specific Service to which such Content was submitted, or, in the case of photos or graphics, solely for the purpose for which such photo or graphic was submitted to the Service. This licence exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Service and shall be terminated at the time you delete such Content from the Service.

With respect to all other Content you elect to post to other publicly accessible areas of the Service, you grant Lycos Chat the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully sub-licensable right and licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed.

9. INDEMNITY

You agree to indemnify and hold Lycos Chat and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, co-branders and other partners, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of Content you submit, post to or transmit through the Service, your use of the Service, your connection to the Service, your violation of the Terms and Conditions, or your violation of any rights of another.

10. NO RESALE OF SERVICE

You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of the Service, use of the Service, or access to the Service.

11. GENERAL PRACTICES REGARDING USE AND STORAGE

You acknowledge that Lycos Chat may establish general practices and limits concerning use of the Service, including without limitation the maximum number of days that messages or other uploaded Content will be retained by the Service, the maximum number of messages that may be sent from or received by an account on the Service, the maximum size of any message that may be sent from or received by an account on the Service, the maximum disk space that will be allotted on Lycos Chat?s servers on your behalf, and the maximum number of times (and the maximum duration for which) you may access the Service in a given period of time. You agree that Lycos Chat has no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to store any messages and other communications or other Content maintained or transmitted by the Service. You acknowledge that Lycos Chat reserves the right to log off accounts that are inactive for an extended period of time. You further acknowledge that Lycos Chat reserves the right to change these general practices and limits at any time, in its sole discretion, with or without notice.

12. MODIFICATIONS TO SERVICE

Lycos Chat reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Service (or any part thereof) with or without notice. You agree that Lycos Chat shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.

13. TERMINATION

You agree that Lycos Chat in its sole discretion, may terminate your password, account (or any part thereof) or use of the Service, and remove and discard any Content within the Service, for any reason, including, without limitation, for lack of use or if Lycos Chat believes that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the Terms and Conditions. Lycos Chat may also in its sole discretion and at any time discontinue providing the Service, or any part thereof, with or without notice, and accepts no liability to you or any third party as a result.. You agree that any termination of your access to the Service under any provision of this Terms and Conditions may be effected without prior notice, and acknowledge and agree that Lycos Chat may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all related information and files in your account and/or bar any further access to such files or the Service. Further, you agree that Lycos Chat shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination of your access to the Service.

Lycos Chat accounts, (including any Services attached to the accounts), that are old, unused or passive for six months or more, are likely to be deleted without notification on a regular basis.

14 SERVICES SUBJECT TO A CHARGE

  1. Lycos Chat offers premium services (the "Premium Services') that are subject to additional charges. These Premium Services include, but are not limited to, additional features, emotes and Gifts.
  2. All items purchased from the Lycos Chat Premium Shop on Lycos Chat's servers and may be accessed by the User subject always to these Terms and Conditions. They cannot be downloaded to the User's computer.
  3. Lycos Chat may from time to time withdraw any Premium Services or make additional Premium Services available. These Premium Services will always be subject to charge.
  4. The method of payment for the Premium Services shall be at the sole discretion of Lycos Chat. Lycos Chat may offer the User Lycos Chat Credits or Vouchers that may be used to purchase Premium Products. The Credits or vouchers will be deducted from the User's account as purchases are made.
  5. Where the User purchases services from Lycos Chat via the Website, including without limitation additional features, emotes or gifts, then from the moment these services are made available, the User shall have no right to cancel the contract other than pursuant to these Terms and Conditions.
  6. On termination of account by Lycos Chat for conduct which goes against any of these Terms and Conditions, no refund will be given for any Premium Service under any circumstances.
  7. On termination by either party, Lycos Chat will refund any unused credits held on the User's account to the User, providing all information needed for the refund has been provided to Lycos Chat and that the total of unused credits exceeds £5.00 GBP. Lycos Chat reserves the right to deduct from the refund any and all expenses arising from the payment and all other payments due and unpaid by the User, whether under these Terms and Conditions or otherwise. If the expenses associated with the refund exceed the refund Lycos Chat is not obliged to refund the Credits.
  8. You have the right to protest any charges that you believe were incorrectly charged to you.
  9. You will be invoiced £20 Protest Fee in the event it is ultimately determined that the protested charges were correct.
  10. Your account may be closed in the event of chargebacks. A fee of £20 will be required to be paid before the account is reopened.
  11. If false or inaccurate information is provided and fraud is identified, details will be passed to fraud prevention agencies.
  12. Law enforcement agencies may access and use the information.

15. DEALINGS WITH ADVERTISERS AND MERCHANTS

Your correspondence or business dealings with, or participation in promotions of, advertisers and merchants found on or through the Service, including payment and delivery of related goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such advertiser or merchant. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree that: (a) Lycos Chat shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of such advertisers and merchants on the Service, and (b) any orders placed by you on, and any product specifications and product availability appearing on, the Service are subject to confirmation by, and the terms and conditions of business of, the relevant Merchant.

16. LINKS

The Service may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other World Wide Web sites or resources. Because Lycos Chat has no control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that Lycos Chat is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any Content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. You further acknowledge and agree that Lycos Chat 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, goods or services available on or through any such site or resource.

17. PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

You acknowledge and agree that the Service and any necessary software used in connection with the Service ("Software ") contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws. You further acknowledge and agree that Content contained in sponsor advertisements or information presented to you through the Service or advertisers is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents or other proprietary rights and laws. Except as expressly authorised by Lycos Chat or advertisers, you agree not to modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based on the Service or the Software, in whole or in part.

Lycos Chat grants you a personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive right and licence to use the object code of its Software on a single computer; provided that you do not (and do not allow any third party to) copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, reverse assemble or otherwise attempt to discover any source code, sell, assign, sublicence, grant a security interest in or otherwise transfer any right in the Software. The foregoing is subject to applicable statute and other express law. You agree not to modify the Software in any manner or form, or to use modified versions of the Software, including (without limitation) for the purpose of obtaining unauthorised access to the Service. You agree not to access the Service by any means other than through the interface that is provided by Lycos Chat for use in accessing the Service.

18. DISCLAIMERS

YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT:

  1. Your use of the service is at your sole risk. The service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Lycos Chat expressly disclaims all warranties, conditions and other terms of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to any implied term of merchantability, satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, and any term as to the provision of services to a standard of reasonable care and skill or as to non-infringement of any intellectual property right.
  2. Lycos Chat makes no warranty or representation that (i) the service will meet your requirements, (ii) the services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free, (iii) the results that may be obtained from the use of the services will be accurate or reliable, (iv) the quality of any use of the products, services, information, or other material purchased or obtained by you through the service will meet your expectations, and (v) any errors in the software will be corrected.
  3. Any material downloaded or otherwise obtained through the use of the service is done at your own discretion and risk and that you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download of any such material.
  4. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from Lycos Chat or through or from the service shall create any warranty or other obligation not expressly stated in the Terms and Conditions.

19. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

You expressly acknowledge and agree that Lycos Chat shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses, (even if Lycos Chat has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from: (i) the use or the inability to use the service; (ii) the cost of procurement of substitute goods and services resulting from any goods, data, information or services purchased or obtained or messages received or transactions entered into through or from the service; (iii) unauthorised access to or alteration of your transmission or data; (iv) statements or conduct of any third party on the service; or (v) any other matter relating to the service.

You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of the service of these Terms and Conditions must be filed within six (6) months after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

20. EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages. Accordingly, some of the above limitations of sections 17 and 18 May not apply to you.

In particular, nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall affect the statutory rights of any consumer or exclude or restrict any liability for death or personal injury arising from the negligence or fraud of Lycos Chat.

21. NOTICE

Notices to you may be made via either email or regular mail. The Service may also provide notices of changes to the Terms and Conditions or other matters by displaying notices such as "Bridge News" or links to notices to you generally on the Service.

22. TRADEMARK INFORMATION

Lycos Chat and Worldsbiggestchat logos, chat graphics and product and service names are trademarks of Lycos Chat (the "Lycos Chat Marks"). Without Lycos? prior permission, you agree not to display or use in any manner, the Lycos Chat or Worldsbiggestchat trademarks or graphics.

23. GENERAL INFORMATION

These Terms and Conditions (including the guides and rules referred to herein) constitute the entire agreement between you and Lycos Chat and govern your use of the Service, superseding any prior agreements between you and Lycos Chat you also may be subject to additional Terms and Conditions that may apply when you use affiliate services, third-party content or third-party software. The Terms and Conditions and the relationship between you and Lycos Chat shall be governed by the laws of England. You and Lycos Chat agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. Any failure by Lycos Chat to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms and Conditions shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the Terms and Conditions is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavour to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Terms and Conditions remain in full force and effect.

Neither you nor Lycos Chat may assign or transfer any rights or obligations under these Terms and Conditions without the prior written consent of the other party, except that Lycos Chat shall be entitled to assign or transfer any or all of its rights and obligations (without your prior consent) to any of its affiliated companies.

The section titles in the Terms and Conditions are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. No Right of Survivorship and Non-Transferability. You agree that your account is non-transferable and any rights to your UserName or contents within your account terminate upon your death. Any account that has not been used for a certain period of time may be terminated and all contents therein permanently deleted in line with Lycos Chat's policy.

24. VIOLATIONS

Please report any violations of the Terms and Conditions to Lycos Chat.