Terms of Service

The Gist

We (the San Francisco Comedy Competition) are on a mission to promote great comedy. We hope you love our shows. The reality is that if you submit a form, sign up for our mailing list, we will retain information relating to that form. For instance, if you apply to be considered for the event, we need information to contact you. We believe in privacy, but find we need a Terms of Service, which is why this document was created. To be upfront on what we are doing.

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) describe our commitments to you, and your rights and responsibilities when using our services. Please read them carefully and reach out to us if you have any questions. If you don’t agree to these Terms, don’t use our services.

If you are a user in countries located in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom (“European User”), some special terms apply to you as mentioned below.

We’ve made these Terms available under a Creative Commons Sharealike license, which means that you’re more than welcome to copy them, adapt them, and repurpose them for your own use. Just make sure to revise them so that your Terms of Service reflect your actual practices. Also, if you do use these Terms, we’d appreciate a credit and link to Automattic somewhere on your website. You can grab a copy of these Terms and other legal documents on GitHub.

These Terms also govern visitors’ access to and use of any websites that use our Services, like the websites that our users create on WordPress.com. Please note though that the operators of those websites may also have their own separate terms of use.

Please read these Terms carefully before accessing or using our Services. By accessing or using any part of our Services, you agree to be bound by all of the Terms and all other operating rules, policies, and procedures that we may publish via the Services from time to time (collectively, the “Agreement”). You also agree that we may automatically change, update, or add on to our Services as stated in the Terms, and the Agreement will apply to any changes.

1. Who’s Who

“You” means any individual or entity using our Services. If you use our Services on behalf of another person or entity, you represent and warrant that you’re authorized to accept the Agreement on that person’s or entity’s behalf, that by using our Services you’re accepting the Agreement on behalf of that person or entity, and that if you, or that person or entity, violates the Agreement, you and that person or entity agree to be responsible to us.

Please see below to determine which entity your Agreement is with, which depends on where you reside and which Services you use. We use the term “Designated Countries” to refer to Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, and all countries located in Europe.

2. Your Account

When using our Services requires an account, you agree to provide us with complete and accurate information and to keep the information current so that we can communicate with you about your account. We may need to send you emails about notable updates (like changes to our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy), or to let you know about legal inquiries or complaints we receive about the ways you use our Services so you can make informed choices in response.

We may limit your access to our Services until we’re able to verify your account information, like your email address.

When you create a an account, we consider that to be an inquiry about our products and services, which means that we may also contact you to share more details about what we have to offer (i.e., marketing). Don’t worry — if you aren’t interested, you can opt out of the marketing communications, whether it’s an email, phone call, or text message.

Don’t share or misuse your access credentials. And notify us immediately of any unauthorized uses of your account, store, or website, or of any other breach of security. If we believe your account has been compromised, we may suspend or disable it.

If you’d like to learn about how we handle the data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.

3. Minimum Age Requirements

Our Services are not directed to children. You’re not allowed to access or use our Services if you’re under the age of 13 (or 16 in Europe). If you register as a user or otherwise use our Services, you represent that you’re at least 13 (or 16 in Europe). You may use our Services only if you can legally form a binding contract with us. In other words, if you’re under 18 years of age (or the legal age of majority where you live), you can only use our Services under the supervision of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to the Agreement.

4. Responsibility of Visitors and Users

We haven’t reviewed, and can’t review, all of the content (like text, photo, video, audio, code, computer software, items for sale, and other materials) posted to or made available through our Services by users or anyone else (“Content”) or on websites that link to, or are linked from, our Services. We’re not responsible for any use or effects of Content or third-party websites. So, for example:

We don’t have any control over third-party websites.
A link to or from one of our Services does not represent or imply that we endorse any third-party website.
We don’t endorse any Content or represent that Content is accurate, useful, or not harmful. Content could be offensive, indecent, or objectionable; include technical inaccuracies, typographical mistakes, or other errors; or violate or infringe the privacy, publicity rights, intellectual property rights, or other proprietary rights of third parties.
You’re fully responsible for the Content available on your website, and any harm resulting from that Content. It’s your responsibility to ensure that your website’s Content abides by applicable laws and by the Agreement.
We aren’t responsible for any harm resulting from anyone’s access, use, purchase, or downloading of Content, or for any harm resulting from third-party websites. You’re responsible for taking the necessary precautions to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content.
Any Content that’s for sale through any of our Services is the seller’s sole responsibility, so you must look solely to the seller for any damages that result from your purchase or use of Content.
We are not a party to, and will have no responsibility or liability for, any communications, transactions, interactions, or disputes between you and the provider of any Content.

Please note that additional third-party terms and conditions may apply to Content you download, copy, purchase, or use.

5. Fees, Payment, and Renewal

a. Submission Fees

Fees for Paid Services. Some of our Services are offered for a fee, like submitting an application to our comedy competition. This section applies to any purchases of Paid Services.

By using a Paid Service, you agree to pay the specified fees. Depending on the Paid Service, there may be different kinds of fees, like some that are one-time, recurring, revenue-based, or based on an advertising campaign budget that you set. For recurring fees (AKA subscriptions), your subscription begins on your purchase date, and we’ll bill or charge you in the automatically-renewing interval (such as monthly, annually, or biennially) you select, on a pre-pay basis until you cancel, which you can do at any time by contacting the relevant support team. For revenue-based fees — such as fees for the Payments feature — you pay us a percentage of the revenue your website generates. Revenue-based fees are ongoing.

Taxes. To the extent permitted by law, or unless explicitly stated otherwise, all fees do not include applicable federal, provincial, state, local or other governmental sales, value-added, goods and services, harmonized or other taxes, fees, or charges (“Taxes”). You’re responsible for paying all applicable Taxes relating to your use of our Services, your payments, or your purchases. If we’re obligated to pay or collect Taxes on the fees you’ve paid or will pay, you’re responsible for those Taxes, and we may collect payment from you.

Payment. You must provide accurate and up-to-date payment information. By providing your payment information, you authorize us to store it until you request deletion. If your payment fails, we suspect fraud, or Paid Services are otherwise not paid for or paid for on time (for example, if you contact your bank or credit card company to decline or reverse the charge of fees for Paid Services), we may immediately cancel or revoke your access to Paid Services without notice to you. You authorize us to charge any updated payment information provided by your bank or payment service provider (e.g., new expiration date) or other payment methods provided if we can’t charge your primary payment method.

Automatic Renewal. By enrolling in a subscription, you authorize us to automatically charge the then-applicable fees and Taxes for each subsequent subscription period until the subscription is canceled. If you received a discount, used a coupon code, or subscribed during a free trial or promotion, your subscription will automatically renew for the full price of the subscription at the end of the discount period. This means that unless you cancel a subscription, it’ll automatically renew and we’ll charge your payment method(s). You must cancel at least one month before the scheduled end date of any annual subscription and at least 24 hours before the end of any shorter subscription period. The date for the automatic renewal is based on the date of the original purchase and cannot be changed. If you’ve purchased access to multiple services, you may have multiple renewal dates.

You can view your renewal date(s), cancel, or manage subscriptions in your settings or by contacting the support team.

Fees and Changes. We may change our fees at any time in accordance with these Terms and requirements under applicable law. This means that we may change our fees going forward, start charging fees for Services that were previously free, or remove or update features or functionality that were previously included in the fees. If you don’t agree with the changes, you must cancel your Paid Service.

Refunds. We may have a refund policy for some of our Paid Services, and we’ll also provide refunds if required by law. In all other cases, there are no refunds and all payments are final.

We may have a “no-show policy” for some Paid Services that require your participation. This means that if you don’t show up for, don’t participate in, or are late for a scheduled session, you’ll still be charged for the Paid Service and won’t be entitled to a refund.

European Users:

You have the right to withdraw from the transaction within fourteen (14) days from the date of the purchase without giving any reason as long as your purchase was not of downloadable content or of a customized nature, and (i) the service has not been fully performed, or (ii) subject to other limitations as permitted by law. For digital content, you agree that any purchase of digital content will be made available to you immediately and as a result you waive any right of withdrawal to such content.

If you cancel this contract, we will reimburse you all payments we have received from you, including delivery costs (with the exception of additional costs resulting from the fact that you have chosen a type of delivery other than the most favorable standard delivery offered by us), without undue delay and no later than within fourteen days from the day on which we received the notification of your cancellation of this contract. For this repayment, we will use the same means of payment that you used for the original transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise with you; you will not be charged for this repayment. If we have already begun our services during the withdrawal period, you will pay us a prorated amount corresponding to the services already provided up to the time you notify us of the exercise of the withdrawal right compared to the total scope of the services provided for in the contract. If you cancel your contract with us, you will refrain from using the digital content or digital services or making them available to third parties.

You may exercise your right to withdrawal by sending a clear, written request to our contact page.

b. Fees Collected by Website Owners

Fees Paid to Third-Party Websites or Website Owners. Website owners can sell items (goods, content, services, etc.), offer subscriptions for their websites at specific price points and intervals, or simply collect payments. We’re not involved in a website’s subscription details or store operations (including the quality, timing, pricing, or legality of what may or may not be included in exchange for payment, or any goods or services purchased). If you buy items or subscriptions from a website, you’re making the purchase directly from the website owner, and they’re solely responsible for the items sold. Please contact the website owner if you have any questions or complaints.

Automatic Renewal. Any recurring payments you make to a the website owner (like a website subscription) are automatically renewed. This means that unless you or the website owner cancels your website subscription before the end of the subscription period, it’ll automatically renew and your payment method will be charged. For example, if you select an annually renewing website subscription, you’ll be automatically charged once each year until the subscription is canceled. You can view the renewal dates or cancel your website subscriptions on your Purchases page.

Refunds. We’re not responsible for refunding fees paid to a website owner because those transactions are between website owners and their users. If you’d like to request a refund, please contact the website owner. If you have a complaint regarding a website owner, you can contact us.

6. Feedback

We love hearing from you and are always looking to improve our Services. When you share comments, ideas, or feedback with us, you agree that we’re free to use them without any restriction or compensation to you.

7. General Representation and Warranty

Our mission is to make the web a better place, and our Services are designed to give you control and ownership over your websites. We encourage you to express yourself freely, subject to a few requirements. In particular, you represent and warrant that your use of our Services:

Will be in strict accordance with the Agreement;
Will comply with all applicable laws and regulations (including, without limitation, all applicable laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content, licensing, privacy, data protection, the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside, the use or provision of financial services, notification and consumer protection, unfair competition, and false advertising);
Will not be for any unlawful purposes, to publish illegal content, or in furtherance of illegal activities;
Will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of Automattic or any third party;
Will not overburden or interfere with our systems or impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure, as determined by us in our sole discretion;
Will not disclose the personal information of others;
Will not be used to send spam or bulk unsolicited messages;
Will not interfere with, disrupt, or attack any service or network;
Will not be used to create, distribute, or enable material that is, facilitates, or operates in conjunction with, malware, spyware, adware, or other malicious programs or code;
Will not involve reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, deciphering, or otherwise attempting to derive the source code for the Services or any related technology that is not open source; and
Will not involve renting, leasing, loaning, selling, or reselling the Services or related data without our consent.

8. Specific Service Terms

a. Sanfranciscocomedycompetition.com Websites and Accounts

enables you to create beautiful websites and blogs, and we would love for you to use it. A WordPress.com account also allows you to sign into some of our other Services.

WordPress.com’s basic service is free, and we offer paid plans that add advanced features like a custom domain name, extra storage, and access to premium themes. We don’t own your content, and you retain all ownership rights you have in the content you post to your website. However, be responsible in what you publish. In particular, make sure that nothing prohibited (like spam, viruses, or serious threats of violence) appears on your website.

Web Traffic. We may use a third-party service to measure audience and usage. You may not receive credit for traffic in the respective reports, and you must not assign to any other party.

by law, there are no refunds for POS terminals and all transactions are final.

More on WooPay Specifically. When you use WooPayments, WooPay may be available as a checkout option on your checkout page unless you remove it from your checkout options through your administrative controls. WooPay may not be available in all languages or jurisdictions, and we make no representation that WooPay is available for use in all locations or for all products or services. The use of saved WooPay information for a transaction does not change your obligations relating to the transaction, and we make no representations or warranties that the saved WooPay information is accurate or that the WooPay user is authorized to use any payment information they saved with WooPay. You acknowledge and agree that we are not and do not become a party to the transaction between you and your customer as a result of the use of WooPay and that we will not be responsible for any aspect of the products or services that you sell. By enabling WooPay on your site:

You acknowledge that we may collect and process information about you, your customers, and your orders pursuant to our privacy policy;
You are bound to Google’s Terms of Service (because WooPay uses Google’s Places API for a smoother checkout for your customers);
You will comply with any additional terms and conditions required by any third-party services associated with your use of WooPay.

More on Shipping Services Specifically. Our shipping Services allow you to check shipping rates or buy shipping labels from certain mailing services, like UPS, USPS, DHL, and Canada Post. We’re only an intermediary between you and these third parties; we aren’t involved in any way with your product or its shipment. We also don’t guarantee that the results you obtain from the use of these services (like rates, labels, or delivery timeframes) will be accurate or reliable.

You’re solely responsible for compliance with all applicable rules and regulations, including domestic and international shipping and customs regulations and any regulations imposed by the mailing service(s) you use.

If you use services provided by the US Postal Service (“USPS”):

You agree to comply with their shipping restrictions and mailing standards, among others.
The following Privacy Act Statement applies to information you provide to USPS: Your information will be used to facilitate the purchase of USPS postage and fulfill transactional reporting requirements for USPS postage systems. Collection is authorized by 39 U.S.C. 401, 403, and 404. Providing the information is voluntary, but if not provided, your transaction may not be processed. USPS does not disclose your information to third parties without your consent except to facilitate the transaction, to act on your behalf or request, or as legally required. This includes the following limited circumstances: to a congressional office on your behalf; to financial entities regarding financial transaction issues; to a US Postal Service (USPS) auditor; to entities, including law enforcement, as required by law or in legal proceedings; and to contractors and other entities aiding us to fulfill the service (service providers). For more information regarding USPS privacy policies, visit http://www.usps.com/privacypolicy

When using DHL’s services, you are responsible for compliance with all applicable DHL rules and terms, such as the DHL Express Terms and Conditions of Carriage.

In addition, you’re solely responsible for customs charges, import taxes or duties, and any other charges related to your shipments. If we incur any charges as a result of your use of the shipping services, you agree to reimburse us for the full amount within 7 days.

In some cases, you may need to pay fees to the carrier directly, like if you use UPS shipping labels. In other cases, you authorize us to charge you for the fees associated with each shipping label you create. Each fee will be charged separately to the payment methods you provide in your WordPress.com account, which you can view and manage as described on the Payments Methods support page. If you have multiple payment methods, you can select which should be used for the shipping label service. If we’re unable to collect payment from you for these fees, you’ll be responsible for payment within 7 days; please contact us to make payment.

Refunds for unused shipping labels must be requested (like so for USPS) in your store’s wp-admin within 30 days of creating the label. Depending on your bank and the third party involved, it can take up to 45 days for your refund to be issued. If you don’t receive your refund within this time frame, please contact us.

You may not transfer or sell postage and/or shipping labels to a third party.

i. Artificial Intelligence

We may offer features that incorporate artificial intelligence (AI), like blocks or plugins that enable you to use AI to generate content or images for your website or store.

As between you and Automattic, and to the extent permitted by law, you own or have the rights to any content you input into AI features (“Input”) and any content generated by the AI features (“Output”).

You’re responsible for your Input, the use of any Output, and for complying with any applicable laws. AI may occasionally generate Output that’s inaccurate, irrelevant, offensive, harmful, or similar to others’ content. Please see our AI Guidelines for the policies you must comply with when you use AI features, details about the third-party providers we use to provide AI features, and helpful information about AI generally.

9. Copyright Policy

As we ask others to respect our intellectual property rights, we respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe any Content violates your copyright, please see our Copyright Policy and send us a notice.

10. Intellectual Property

The Agreement doesn’t transfer any Automattic or third-party intellectual property to you, and all right, title, and interest in and to such property remains (as between Automattic and you) solely with Automattic. Automattic, WordPress, WordPress.com, Woo, Jetpack, VaultPress, Happy Tools, Jetpack CRM, MailPoet, and all other trademarks, service marks, graphics, and logos used in connection with our websites or Services are trademarks or registered trademarks of Automattic (or Automattic’s licensors). Other trademarks, service marks, graphics, and logos used in connection with our Services may be the trademarks of other third parties. Using our Services doesn’t grant you any right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any Automattic or third-party trademarks.

11. Third-Party Services

While using the Services, you may enable, use, or purchase services, products, software, embeds, or applications (like themes, extensions, plugins, blocks, or point-of-sale terminals) provided or manufactured by a third party or yourself (“Third-Party Services”). Certain Third-Party Services will indicate that they are sold or licensed by Automattic with support provided by Automattic.

If you use any Third-Party Services, you understand and agree that:

Unless we have indicated that we are providing support for it, any use of a Third-Party Service is at your own risk, and we won’t be responsible or liable to you or anyone else for Third-Party Services.
Some Third-Party Services may request or require access to your data — or to your visitors’ or customers’ data — through things like pixels or cookies. If you use the Third-Party Service or grant them access, the data will be handled in accordance with the Third Party’s privacy policy and practices, which you should carefully review before you use any Third-Party Services. Third-Party Services may not work appropriately with our Services and we may not be able to provide support for issues caused by any Third-Party Services.
If you have questions or concerns about how a Third-Party Service operates or need support, contact the Third Party directly unless it is indicated that we provide support for it.

12. Changes

We may modify the Terms from time to time, for example, to reflect changes to our Services (e.g., adding new features or benefits to our Services or retiring certain features of certain Services) or for legal, regulatory, or security reasons. If we do this, we’ll provide notice of the changes, such as by posting the amended Terms and updating the “Last Updated” date or, if the changes, in our sole discretion, are material, we may notify you through our Services or other communications. Any changes will apply on a going-forward basis, and, unless we say otherwise, the amended Terms will be effective immediately. By continuing to use our Services after we’ve notified you, you agree to be bound by the new Terms. You have the right to object to any changes at any time by ceasing your use of our Services and canceling any subscription you have.

13. Termination

We may terminate your access to all or any part of our Services at any time, with or without cause or notice, effective immediately, including if we believe, in our sole discretion, that you have violated this Agreement, any service guidelines, or other applicable terms. We have the right (though not the obligation) to (i) reclaim your username or website’s URL due to prolonged inactivity, (ii) refuse or remove any content that, in our reasonable opinion, violates any part of this Agreement or any Automattic policy, or is in any way harmful or objectionable, (iii) ask you to make adjustments, restrict the resources your website uses, or terminate your access to the Services, if we believe your website’s storage or bandwidth usage burdens our systems (which is rare and typically only occurs when a website is used for file sharing or storage), or (iv) terminate or deny access to and use of any of our Services to any individual or entity for any reason. We will have no obligation to provide a refund of any fees previously paid.

You can stop using our Services at any time, or, if you use a Paid Service, you can cancel at any time, subject to the Fees, Payment, and Renewal section of these Terms.

14. Disclaimers

Our Services are provided “as is.” Automattic and its suppliers and licensors hereby disclaim all warranties of any kind, express or implied, to the maximum extent allowed by applicable law, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Neither we, nor our suppliers and licensors, makes any warranty that our Services will be error free or that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted. If you’re reading this, here’s a treat. You understand that you download from, or otherwise obtain content or services through, our Services at your own discretion and risk.

15. Jurisdiction and Applicable Law.

Except to the extent any applicable law provides otherwise, the Agreement and any access to or use of our Services will be governed by the laws of the state of California, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of law provisions and the application of the United Nations Convention of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, and the proper venue for any disputes arising out of or relating to the Agreement and any access to or use of our Services will be the state and federal courts located in San Francisco County, California, U.S.A. Nothing in this Agreement affects your rights as a consumer to rely on mandatory provisions in your country of residence.

16. Limitation of Liability

In no event will SanFranciscoComedyCompetition.com, or its suppliers, partners, or licensors, be liable (including for any third-party products or services purchased or used through our Services) with respect to any subject matter of the Agreement under any contract, negligence, strict liability or other legal or equitable theory for: (i) any special, incidental or consequential damages; (ii) the cost of procurement for substitute products or services; (iii) for interruption of use or loss or corruption of data; or (iv) for any amounts that exceed $50 or the fees paid by you to us under the Agreement during the twelve (12) month period prior to the cause of action, whichever is greater. Sanfranciscocomedycompetition.com shall have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond its reasonable control. The foregoing shall not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law.

European Users: If we cause damage to you and you are a consumer in Europe, we limit our liability to the maximum amount permissible in your country of residence. Liability will be limited to foreseeable damages arising due to a breach of material contractual obligations typical for this type of contract. Sanfranciscocomedycompetition.com isn’t liable for damages that result from a non-material breach of any other applicable duty of care. This limitation of liability will not apply to any statutory liability that cannot be limited, to liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, liability caused by our willful misconduct or gross negligence, or our responsibility for something we have specifically promised to you. You and we agree that we and our affiliates’ total liability is limited to the greater of $50 or the amount paid by you to use our Services during the 12 months preceding the claim; To the extent that our liability is limited or excluded, the limitations or exclusions will also apply to the personal liability of our employees, legal representatives, and vicarious agents.

17. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Sanfranciscocomedycompetition.com, its contractors, and its licensors, and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against any and all losses, liabilities, demands, damages, costs, claims, and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to your use of our Services, including but not limited to your violation of the Agreement or any agreement with a provider of third-party services used in connection with the Services or applicable law, Content that you post, and any ecommerce activities conducted.

18. US Economic Sanctions

You agree that our ability to provide our Services to you is subject to compliance with US sanctions that restrict or prohibit who or from where our Services can be accessed. By using the Services, you represent and warrant that you (i) are not located or residing in any country or territory subject to comprehensive US sanctions (currently Cuba, Crimea, Iran, North Korea, Donetsk People’s Republic, Luhansk People’s Republic, and Syria); (ii) are not listed on any United States list of prohibited or restricted parties, such as OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Persons List, or otherwise subject to US sanctions that would prohibit your access to or use of our Services; and (iii) shall not use or allow access by any of your customers or potential customers (if applicable) to the Services in any manner that may cause Automattic to violate US export controls and sanctions. We reserve the right to restrict or block your access, or access by any of your customers or potential customers (if applicable), to the Services and/or to terminate the Agreement at any time without notice if we determine, at our sole discretion, that such access may cause a violation or create unacceptable risk to us under export controls or sanctions.

19. Data Processing Agreement

If you need a data processing agreement (DPA) with us for the GDPR requirements that apply to us as a data processor for your website, please follow these instructions.

20. Translation

These Terms were originally written in English (US). We may translate these terms into other languages, and in the event of a conflict between a translated version of these Terms and the English version, the English version will control.

21. Miscellaneous

The Agreement (together with any other terms we provide that apply to any specific Service) constitutes the entire agreement between Sanfranciscocomedycompetition.com and you concerning our Services. If any part of the Agreement is unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that part is severable from the Agreement, and does not affect the validity or enforceability of the rest of the Agreement. A waiver by either party of any term or condition of the Agreement or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof.

Sanfranciscocomedycompetition.comc may assign its rights under the Agreement without condition. You may only assign your rights under the Agreement with our prior written consent.

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