TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Last Modified: February 23, 2020
1. Acceptance of the Terms and Conditions
These Terms and Conditions (the "Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement that governs your visits to www.patook.com and your use of the iOS and Android applications known as Patook (the "Site", or "Patook"). The Site is owned and operated by Patook LLC, a Washington limited liability company ("We," "Us," or "Our"). By visiting the Site, you agree to be bound and to the fullest extent, to abide by these Terms and Conditions, as well as our Privacy Policy available at www.patook.com/privacy.html .If you disagree with any provision of these Terms or the Privacy Policy, you must exit the Site. THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CONTAIN LIQUIDATED DAMAGES PROVISIONS THAT CAN BE IMPOSED ON YOU IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES FOR YOUR BREACH OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT- THOSE LIQUIDATED DAMAGES CAN REACH UP TO $250 PER BREACH, BASED UPON THE REASONABLE AMOUNT OF DAMAGES THAT WE WILL INCUR AS A RESULT OF A BREACH OF THESE TERMS. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE ACCEPTING.
2. Neutral Venue
The Site is a neutral venue THAT is not a party to any interactions or arrangements between its MEMBERS. we do not verify the truth or accuracy of user information and have no control over user-submitted content or conduct. Therefore, we disclaim ANY AND all liability arising out of or related to user submissions, conduct and arrangements. We are not liable for any property damage, bodily injury or death of the Site user or any third party. our online venue is provided to be used at your own risk, with no warrantIES of any kind.
3. Intellectual Property
a. IP Ownership . Patook LLC owns all intellectual property rights to the Site. Site contents, look and feel, features, design, and registered and unregistered trademarks are protected by the U.S. and international copyright, trademark, trade secret, and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws.
b. Limited License . When you submit content covered by intellectual property rights (e.g. profile information, photos, images), you specifically grant us a non-exclusive, perpetual, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to display that content on our Site. This limited license shall expire when you delete your content from our Site, however, be advised that third parties (such as other Site users) may have saved copies of your content. We have no control over such third parties and assume no liability for their actions.
c. DMCA Takedown Requests . We are strongly committed to protecting the intellectual property rights of others. All claims of copyright infringement committed using our Site will be investigated.Any claims of copyright infringement may be reported directly to our designated Copyright Agent via email: copyright@patook.com .If we believe that any posted material violates any applicable law, we will remove or disable access to any such material and/or terminate or suspend the offending user's account.
d. Indemnification . You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Site, its affiliates and licensors and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, and licensors from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses or fees (including reasonable attorneys' fees) resulting from your violation of these Terms and Conditions or your use of the Site, including, without limitation, any use of the Site's content, services or items purchased through the Site.
4. Site Access
By accessing the Site, you represent, warrant and agree that:
a.
You are 18 years of age or older.
b.
By requesting to use, registering to use, and/or using the Site,
you represent and warrant that you have never been convicted of a felony and
are not required to register as a sex offender with any government entity.
Patook does not currently conduct criminal background screenings on its
members. However, Patook reserves the right to conduct any criminal background
check, at any time and using any available public records, to confirm your
compliance with this subsection.
c. You are solely responsible for your personal safety and the security of your personal information.
d. You will treat all Site users and administration respectfully, online and offline.
e. Your payments to the Site are nonrefundable.
f. We may terminate any user account with or without notice in our sole discretion.
g. You will treat all your login credentials as confidential information. Do not disclose them to any third party. You should use particular caution when accessing your account from a public or shared computer so that others are not able to view or record your password or other personal information.
i. You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Site.
j. You are responsible for ensuring that all persons who access the Site through your Internet connection are aware of these Terms and Conditions, and that they fully comply with them.
k. We may withdraw or change our Site in any way we deem appropriate without any prior notice to you. We are not be liable if, for any reason all, any part of the Site, or the Site as a whole, is unavailable at any time or for any period to registered users or visitors.
l.
We have the right to disable any user
identification provided by our Site and disable your whole account on our Site
at any time for any reason or no reason without notice or explanation.
5. Behavior on the Site and Liquidated Damages Imposed for Breaches of this Agreement:
a.You will only use Patook to help you find platonic friendships, and not use it to flirt, hit on, or attempt to seduce other members, nor shall you approach users with ulterior motives. Patook algorithms or moderators will make the final decision as to whether any certain behavior reflects ulterior motives, and any users displaying such behavior may be banned from the Site or blocked without notification.
b.
You will only use Patook
from within one of the supported states or countries. If you activate Patook in a supported state or country, and then move
to an unsupported state or country, you certify that you will deactivate and
never use Patook while in that unsupported location.
c.If you are found to use this app to
willingly send inappropriate pictures you agree that you will cause irreparable
harm to Patook but that the exact level of the harm may be difficult to
ascertain. As a reasonable approximation
of the damages that Patook may incur, you may be liable for up to $250 in
liquidated damages per violation. In this paragraph, inappropriate pictures
include but are not limited to: pictures showing your or other people's
genitalia, pictures of you in underwear, pictures depicting violence or threats
to other users, pornographic pictures, and any pictures of an illegal nature,
such as those showing the use of illegal substances. Patook may charge you $250 for each
breach of this paragraph of the Terms. The $250 in damages is a reasonable
approximation of the damages that Patook will incur, from lost user revenue and
damage to Patook's reputation, due to a breach of this paragraph. You agree to
pay the whole amount within 30 days of receiving a notification from Patook
LLC. A breach of this
Paragraph shall occur for each inappropriate picture sent to each user.For example, should a user send the same
inappropriate messages to three users, at the same time or at different times,
that user will be liable for three $250 violations or $750 in total
damages.
d.You understand that pictures or activities
that appear to be of an illegal nature may be automatically or manually
submitted to law enforcement authorities or other bodies such as the NCMEC,
sometimes solely at the discretion of automated algorithms or human moderators.
You understand that Patook makes no guarantee that the picture you are posting,
viewing or sending is legal in nature, nor that you are legally allowed to view
it. You understand that Patook does not independently verify user ages.
e.You will not take or share screenshots of
other users' profiles or pictures with the public. However, you may take a
screenshot of users who have talked to you and share it privately or with close
friends for safety reasons. We reserve the right to log any attempts at taking
screenshots, and to prevent your device from taking screenshots at any time and
for any reason.
f.We may ban, block, censor, redact or otherwise restrict your
account or profile at any time, and for any reason we deem appropriate, without
notifying you. We may partially or entirely hide your account and activity from
certain users, or from all users. We may hide your messages from certain users
or all users. This can be done manually by moderators, automatically by
algorithms, or in any way we deem appropriate. We may choose not to deliver
certain messages or all the messages you send. Those determinations may be made
entirely algorithmically by analyzing some or all of your activity on the site,
and we will not disclose any information or reason as to why that determination
was made, or how those algorithms work.
g. Any attempt to reverse engineer the site or
flirt detection algorithms will result in an immediate ban and, if done on
behalf of a company or competitor, may result in legal action. This includes
but is not limited to: creating multiple accounts to communicate with one
another and figure out which messages are delivered, creating an account
shortly after deleting another, contacting users to ask them if your messages
are going through, or reverse engineering the code or passing special
parameters to the app, experimenting with the app to try to find patterns or
weaknesses (without our permission).
h.Any attempt to contact users outside of the app without their
explicit permission (such as for example, guessing their Facebook name from
their first name and city/pictures, or reading their Snapchat alias off their
Patook profiles, and adding them as Snapchat friends without having talked to
them within Patook) may result in an immediate ban.
i.Only one account per user is allowed. Users caught with more than
one account may be permanently banned and have all their accounts disabled.
Users who delete their account, only to create another one shortly thereafter
may be permanently banned.
j.If you are found to be willingly impersonating
a different person, either real or invented, you agree that you will cause irreparable
harm to Patook but that the exact level of the harm may be difficult to
ascertain. As a reasonable approximation
of the damages that Patook may incur, you may be liable for up to $250 in
liquidated damages per violation. In this paragraph, impersonating a different person includes but is limited to: using someone else's pictures,
lying about your gender, subtantially altering your age, pretending to be a different person that the other user may know.
Patook may charge you $250 for each
breach of this paragraph of the Terms. The $250 in damages is a reasonable
approximation of the damages that Patook will incur, from lost user revenue and
damage to Patook's reputation, due to a breach of this paragraph. You agree to
pay the whole amount within 30 days of receiving a notification from Patook
LLC. A breach of this
Paragraph shall occur for each user you contact under the fake assumed identity.For example,
should a 35-year male user posing as a 22 year old woman contact three women using that fake identity, that user will be liable for three $250 violations or $750 in total
damages. In addition, you agree that Patook may, at its discretion, notify every user you have contacted about the breach, including in said notification both your fake and real information.
6.
Prohibited Uses of the Site and Liquidated
Damages for Violations
7. Use Restrictions
You must not:
a. Use the Site for any illegal purpose, or upload, post, link to, copy or republish copyrighted material. Delete or alter any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices from copies of materials from this site.
b. Use a false name or impersonate any other person.
c. Post or transmit to other users any defamatory, abusive, obscene, profane, offensive, threatening, harassing, racially offensive, or objectionable material. We reserve the right to determine, in our sole discretion, what constitutes "objectionable" material.
d. Transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional material and unsolicited mass communication without our prior written consent.
e. Access the Site to build a competing service.
f. Introduce any viruses or other harmful material, use any device, software or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Site.
g. Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage or disrupt any parts of the Site, the server on which the Site is stored, or any server, computer or database connected to the Site.
h. Otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or anyone's use and enjoyment of it.
8. Monitoring and Enforcement; Termination
a. We have the right to take any action that we deem necessary or appropriate if we believe that a user violates the Terms and Conditions, infringes any intellectual property right or other right, threatens the personal safety of users of the Site and the public.We may take any action, including but not limited to:
i. Fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity of anyone posting any materials on or through the Site.
ii. Disclose your identity to any third party who claims that material posted by you violates their rights, including their intellectual property rights or their right to privacy.
iii. Terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Site for any or no reason, including without limitation, any violation of these Terms and Conditions.
iv. Block violator's IP address and/or notify his or her Internet Service Provider.
v. Take appropriate legal action as may be necessary.
b. However, we cannot undertake to review all material before it is posted on the Site for accuracy, and cannot ensure prompt removal of objectionable material after it has been posted. Accordingly, we assume no liability for any action or inaction regarding any transmission, communication or content provided by any user or third party.
9. Disclaimer of Warranty
a. YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND ITS CONTENT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS OR REQUIRMENTS. WE HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
b.
We do not guarantee that the information provided on the Site
is complete, accurate or up-to-date. You are responsible for implementing
sufficient procedures to satisfy your particular requirements for personal
safety, the safety of your personal information, anti-virus protection and
accuracy of data input and output. WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE
CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES OR OTHER
TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT,
COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE
SITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITE OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING
OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY SITE LINKED TO IT.
c. We
do not guarantee that any of the information provided by Patook users to Patook
is accurate. We do not regularly verify personal information provided by Patook
users. This also includes, but is not limited to, date of birth, location and
age.
10. Limitation of Liability
a. IN NO EVENT WILL WE, OUR SERVICE PROVIDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OFFICERS OR DIRECTORS BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SITE, ANY SITES LINKED TO IT, ANY CONTENT ON THE SITE OR SUCH OTHER SITES OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITE OR SUCH OTHER SITES, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PERSONAL INJURY, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, LOSS OF DATA, AND WHETHER CAUSED BY TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), BREACH OF CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF FORESEEABLE.
b. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR LIABILITY EXCEED THE FEES COLLECTED FROM YOU FOR THE THREE MONTHS PRECEEDING THE TIME WHEN THE CLAIM AROSE. NO CLAIM, SUIT OR ACTION MAY BE BROUGHT AGAINST US AFTER SIX MONTHS FROM THE UNDERLYING CAUSE OF ACTION.
12. Linking to the Site
a. You may link to our Site in a way that is legal, fair and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.
b. You must not establish a link from any website that is not owned by you.
c. You cannot frame our Site on any other site.
d. You agree to cooperate with us in causing any unauthorized framing or linking and to immediately cease any such framing or linking once notified. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
13. Disputes Between Users
As a neutral venue, we do not offer mediation, arbitration or any other forms of dispute resolution and do not actively monitor user interactions. Therefore, you are solely responsible for your interactions and disputes with other users. The Site reserves the right, but has no obligation, to facilitate and resolve disputes between its users.
14. Assignment
You may not assign your rights and obligations under these Terms and Conditions without our prior written consent. We may transfer, assign or subcontract the rights, interests or obligations under the Terms and Conditions, at our sole discretion, without obtaining your consent.
15. Severability and Non-Waiver
a. Should any part of these Terms and Conditions be rendered or declared invalid by an appropriate authority, such invalidation of such part or portion of these Terms and Conditions shall be limited to that particular Term or Condition and shall not invalidate the remaining portions thereof, and they shall remain in full force and effect.
b. Enforcement of these Terms and Conditions is solely in our discretion, and failure to enforce the Terms and Conditions in some instances does not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce them in other instances.
16. Changes to the Terms and Conditions
We update these Terms and Conditions every once in a while, as we deem appropriate, without notifying you. We then post the changes on this page. Please check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we may make, as they are binding on you. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of any revised or updated Terms and Conditions constitutes your acceptance of the changes.
18. Unsolicited Idea Submissions
Patook or any
of its employees do not accept or consider unsolicited ideas, including ideas
for new advertising campaigns, new promotions, new or improved products or
technologies, product enhancements, processes, materials, marketing plans or
new product names. Please do not submit any unsolicited ideas, original creative
artwork, suggestions or other works ("submissions") in any form to
Patook or any of its employees. The sole purpose of this policy is to avoid
potential misunderstandings or disputes when Patook's products or marketing
strategies might seem similar to ideas submitted to Patook. If, despite our
request that you not send us your ideas, you still submit them, then regardless
of what your letter says, the following terms shall apply to
your submissions.
You agree
that: (1) your submissions and their contents will automatically become the
property of Patook, without any compensation to you; (2) Patook may use or
redistribute the submissions and their contents for any purpose and in any way;
(3) there is no obligation for Patook to review the submission; and (4) there
is no obligation to keep any submissions confidential.
Patook does,
however, welcome your feedback regarding many areas of Patook's existing
business. If you want to send us your feedback, and we hope you do, or if we
ask you for feedback, we simply request that you send it to us using the form
found at
patook.com/SendFeedback
. Please provide only specific feedback on Patook's existing
products or marketing strategies; do not include any ideas that Patook's policy
will not permit it to accept or consider.
Feedback and Information
Any feedback
you provide at this site will be deemed to be non-confidential and not
proprietary. Patook will be free to use and redistribute such information on an
unrestricted basis, without any compensation to you.
19. Purchases
20. Safety
Though Patook strives to encourage a respectful user experience,
it is not responsible for the conduct of any user on or off of the Services.
You agree to use caution in all interactions with other users, particularly if
you decide to communicate off the Service or meet in person. In addition, you
agree to review and follow Patook's Safety Tips, located on
https://patook.com/Legal/Safety
, prior to using the
Service. You should not provide your financial information (for example, your
credit card or bank account information), or wire or otherwise send money, to
other users.
YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER USERS.
YOU UNDERSTAND THAT PATOOK DOES NOT CONDUCT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS ON
ITS USERS OR OTHERWISE INQUIRE INTO THE BACKGROUND OF ITS USERS. PATOOK MAKES
NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE CONDUCT OF USERS. PATOOK RESERVES
THE RIGHT TO CONDUCT ANY CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK OR OTHER SCREENINGS (SUCH AS
SEX OFFENDER REGISTER SEARCHES) AT ANY TIME USING AVAILABLE PUBLIC RECORDS.
2
1.
Reporting of violations:
You agree
that you will report all violations of the Terms of Service to Patook, and
understand that failing to report may cause your account to be banned.
You will
report all violations that appear to involve the exploitation of children or
underage minors to the NCMEC Cybertipline first. In general, the NCMEC has
contact information for Patook staff and can get fast responses.
You will
report imminent threats of harm (or self-harm) to the relevant law enforcement
authorities. You will also report any activity that appears to be illegal to
the relevant authorities, before notifying Patook. Patook will not generally do
this on your behalf and will not typically provide additional information
unless asked by the relevant authorities.
22.
General Provisions
a.
Jurisdiction; venue; choice of law.
Through your use of
the Site, you agree that the laws of the state of Washington shall govern any
matter or dispute relating to or arising out of this Agreement, as well as any
dispute of any kind that may arise between you and us, with the exception of its
conflict of law provisions. In case any litigation specifically permitted under
this Agreement is initiated, the Parties agree to submit to the personal
jurisdiction of the courts of Seattle, Washington. The Parties agree that this
choice of law, venue, and jurisdiction provision is not permissive, but rather
mandatory in nature. You hereby waive the right to any objection of venue,
including assertion of the doctrine of forum non conveniens or similar
doctrine.
b.
Arbitration.
In case of a dispute between you and us (the "Parties") relating
to or arising out of this Agreement, the Parties shall first attempt to resolve
the dispute personally and in good faith. If these personal resolution attempts
fail, the Parties shall then submit the dispute to binding arbitration. The
arbitration shall be conducted in Seattle, Washington.The arbitration shall be conducted by a
single arbitrator, and such arbitrator shall have no authority to add Parties,
vary the provisions of this Agreement, award punitive damages, or certify a
class. The arbitrator shall be bound by applicable and governing Washington
state law. Each Party shall pay their own costs and fees. Claims necessitating
arbitration under this section include, but are not limited to: contract
claims, tort claims, claims based on Federal and state law, and claims based on
local laws, ordinances, statutes or regulations.
Intellectual property
claims by the Company will not be subject to arbitration and may, as an
exception to this sub-part, be litigated.
The Parties, in agreement with
this sub-part of this Agreement, waive any rights they may have to a jury trial
in regard to arbitral claims.
c.
Assignment.
This Agreement, or the
rights granted hereunder, may not be assigned, sold, leased or otherwise
transferred in whole or part by you. Should this Agreement, or the rights
granted hereunder, by assigned, sold, leased or otherwise transferred by Patook,
the rights and liabilities of Patook will bind and inure to any assignees,
administrators, successors, and executors.
d.
Sub-parts and
severability.
If any part or sub-part
of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable by a court of law or
competent arbitrator, the remaining parts and sub-parts will be enforced to the
maximum extent possible. In such condition, the remainder of this Agreement
shall continue in full force.
e.
No waiver.
In the event that We
fail to enforce any provision of this Agreement, this shall not constitute a
waiver of any future enforcement of that provision or of any other provision.
Waiver of any part or sub-part of this Agreement will not constitute a waiver
of any other part or sub-part.
f.
Headings for
convenience only.
Headings of parts and sub-parts under this Agreement are for
convenience and organization, only. Headings shall not affect the meaning of
any provisions of this Agreement.
g.
No agency, partnership, or joint venture.
No agency,
partnership, or joint venture has been created between the Parties as a result of
this Agreement.
h.
Force Majeure.
Patook is not liable for
any failure to perform due to causes beyond its reasonable control including,
but not limited to, acts of God, acts of civil authorities, acts of military
authorities, riots, embargoes, acts of nature and natural disasters, and other
acts which may be due to unforeseen circumstances.
23.
Contact
Us
All feedback, comments, requests for technical support and other
communications relating to the Site should be directed to our customer service
representative at
info@patook.com
. We typically do not
respond to users who have been banned. Please follow the terms of service above
when contacting us, and do not send unsolicited ideas. We make no guarantee
that we will ever respond to your message, but will typically attempt to
respond to your message within a reasonable timeframe.