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Website Terms of Use

Society for Sex Therapy and Research

Effective Date: September 1, 2024

Introduction

These are the Terms of Use (the “Terms”) for the Society for Sex Therapy and Research (“SSTAR”). These Terms apply when you visit our website at sstarnet.org (our “Website”) or interact with or use any of our products or services (together, the “Services”).

Responsibilities

Please be aware that these Terms constitute a binding legal agreement between you and SSTAR. You agree you are responsible for your use of our Services and any resulting consequences. You may use our Services and interact with us only in compliance with these Terms and all applicable laws. Your use of our Services constitutes your acceptance of these Terms and our Privacy Policy.

When using other SSTAR Services, such as our community forums, you may be subject to any additional Terms that are otherwise made available from time to time.

Eligibility Requirements

By accepting these Terms through your use of our Services, you certify that you are at least 18 years of age or are at least 13 years of age and using the Services with the permission and supervision from a parent or guardian.

Representations & Warranties to SSTAR

By using our Services, you represent, warrant, and agree:

  1. You meet all age and eligibility requirements expressed in these Terms;
  2. You are solely responsible for the accuracy, legality, and appropriateness of your use of the Services, including all data, files, and communications entered into the Services, as well as the use of downloadable assets generated from the Services; and
  3. You will only use our Services for lawful purposes.

Prohibited Uses

You agree not to use our Services:

  1. In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local, or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the US or other countries);
  2. For the purpose of exploiting, harming, or attempting to exploit or harm minors in any way by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personal information, or otherwise;
  3. To transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional material without our prior written consent, including any "junk mail," "chain letter," "spam," or any other similar solicitation;
  4. To impersonate or attempt to impersonate SSTAR, a SSTAR employee, another user, or any other person or entity (including, without limitation, by using email addresses associated with any of the foregoing); or
  5. To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone's use or enjoyment of the Services, or which, as determined by us, may harm the SSTAR or users of the Services, or expose them to liability.

Additionally, you agree not to:

  1. Use the Services in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the site or interfere with any other party's use of the Services, including their ability to engage in real time activities through the Services;
  2. Use any robot, spider, or other automatic device, process, or means to access the Services for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on the Services;
  3. Use any device, software, or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Services;
  4. Introduce any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful;
  5. Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage, or disrupt any parts of the Services, or any server, computer, or database connected to the Services or attack the Services in any way; or
  6. Otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Services.

Registering for an Account

In order to use or access certain Services or features of the Services, you may be asked to register for a user account (an “Account”) and become a registered user of the Services (a “Registered User”). By becoming a Registered User, you agree to:

  1. Provide accurate, current, and complete information about the Registered User during the registration process;
  2. Maintain and promptly update such information to keep it accurate, current, and complete;
  3. Maintain the security of your password and login information, and that you will not disclose your password or login information to any third party;
  4. Accept full responsibility for all use of any Account you register, and for any actions that arise from or take place using your Account, whether or not you have authorized such actions or use; and
  5. Immediately notify SSTAR of any unauthorized use of your Account.

Termination of Access

Failure to abide by the above section constitutes a breach of these Terms, which may result in immediate termination of your Account or other access to the Services.

SSTAR maintains the right to suspend or disable your access to the Services and any Account you may have created, or terminate these Terms, at our sole discretion and without prior notice to you if you breach the Terms, or if SSTAR otherwise determines such action is warranted. SSTAR reserves the right to revoke your access to and use of the Services at any time, with or without cause.

Services and Availability

We reserve the right to withdraw or amend our Services at our sole discretion without notice. We will not be liable if, for any reason all, or any part of the Services are unavailable, at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict user access to some parts of the entirety of our Services.

You are responsible for both:

  1. Making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Services; and
  2. Ensuring that all persons who access the Services through your internet connection are aware of these Terms of Use and comply with them.

SSTAR reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who violates these Terms.

Reliance on Information Posted

The information presented on or through the Services is made available solely for general information purposes. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of this information. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. We disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by you or any other visitor to the Services, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

Our Services may include content provided by third parties, including materials provided by other users, bloggers, and third-party licensors, syndicators, aggregators, and/or reporting Services. All statements and/or opinions expressed in these materials, and all articles and responses to questions and other content, other than the content provided by the SSTAR, are solely the opinions and the responsibility of the person or entity providing those materials. These materials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the SSTAR. We are not responsible, or liable to you or any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials provided by any third parties.

Updates

SSTAR may from time to time in its sole discretion develop and provide updates to the Services, which may include upgrades, bug fixes, patches, other error corrections, and/or new features (collectively, including related documentation, "Updates"). Updates may also modify or delete in their entirety certain features and functionality. You agree that SSTAR has no obligation to provide any Updates or to continue to provide or enable any particular features or functionality.

You shall promptly download and install all Updates and acknowledge and agree that the Services or portions thereof may not properly operate should you fail to do so. You further agree that all Updates will be deemed part of the Services and be subject to all terms and conditions of these Terms.

Intellectual Property

Service Content, Software and Trademarks. You acknowledge and agree that our Services may contain content or features (“Service Content”) that are protected by copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, or other proprietary rights and laws. Except as expressly authorized by SSTAR, you agree not to modify, copy, frame, scrape, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based on our Services or Service Content, in whole or in part, except that the foregoing does not apply to any of your own feedback that you legally upload to our Services.

The SSTAR name and logos are trademarks and Service marks of SSTAR (collectively the “SSTAR Trademarks”). Other SSTAR, product, and Service names and logos used and displayed via our Website may be trademarks or Service marks of their respective owners, who may or may not endorse or be affiliated with or connected to SSTAR. Nothing in these Terms or in our Services should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to use any of SSTAR Trademarks displayed through our Services, without our prior written permission in each instance. All goodwill generated from the use of SSTAR Trademarks will inure to our exclusive benefit.

Feedback Transmitted Through Our Services. You acknowledge and agree that any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback, and other information unrelated to information you provide (“Feedback”), provided by you to SSTAR is non-confidential, and SSTAR will be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of this Feedback for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgment or compensation to you.

You acknowledge and agree that SSTAR may preserve content, and may also disclose Feedback or content if required to do so by law, or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process, applicable laws or government requests; (b) enforce these Terms; (c) respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of SSTAR, its users and the public. You understand that the technical processing and transmission of our Services, including your content, may involve: (i) transmissions over various networks; and (ii) changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

We respect the intellectual property of others, and ask users of our Services to do the same. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or that your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, on our Services, notify us by following this section.

We will process and investigate notices of alleged infringement and will take appropriate actions consistent with the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) and other applicable intellectual property laws with respect to any alleged or actual infringement. A notification of claimed copyright infringement should be emailed to our Copyright Agent at [INSERT AGENT CONTACT] (Subject line: “DMCA Takedown Request”).

To be effective, the notification must be in writing and contain the following information:

  • An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;
  • A description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that You claim has been infringed;
  • A description of where the material that You claim is infringing is located on our Services or otherwise within our Services, with enough detail that we may find it;
  • Your address, telephone number, and email address;
  • A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright or intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law;
  • A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf.

Counter-Notice. If you believe that your content that was removed (or to which access was disabled) is not infringing, or that you have the authorization from the copyright owner, the copyright owner’s agent, or pursuant to the law, to upload and use the content, you may send a written counter-notice containing the following information to the Copyright Agent:

  • Your physical or electronic signature;
  • identification of the content that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the content appeared before it was removed or disabled;
  • a statement that you have a good faith belief that the content was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or a misidentification of the content; and
  • Your name, address, telephone number, and email address, a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court located within the the Northern District of Illinois and a statement that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.

If a counter-notice is received by the Copyright Agent, We will send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that it may replace the removed content or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the content provider, member or User, the removed content may be replaced, or access to it restored, in 10 to 14 business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice, at our sole discretion.

Repeat Infringer Policy. In accordance with the DMCA and other applicable law, we have adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at our sole discretion, users who are deemed to be repeat infringers. We may also at our sole discretion limit access to our Services and/or terminate any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.

Linking to the Services

You may link to our Website, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal 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 without our express consent.

Third-Party Services

Our Services may provide links or other access to other third party sites and resources on the internet. SSTAR has no control over such sites and resources and SSTAR is not responsible for and does not endorse such sites and resources.

Communications

As part of your use of our Services, you consent to receive electronic notifications from SSTAR. You may opt-out of receiving certain notifications from SSTAR by completing the opt-out process provided in each email message. By opting-out, you understand that we may not be able to communicate certain information to you. Please note we may still contact you regarding certain transactional announcements or notifications even if you have opted-out from other messages.

Indemnity and Release

You agree to release, indemnify, and hold harmless SSTAR, its affiliates, and its and their respective officers, employees, directors, members, and agents from any and all losses, damages, expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, rights, claims, actions of any kind and injury (including death) arising out of, or relating to, your use of Services and interactions with us, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any rights of another.

Disclaimer of Warranties Related to our Services

YOUR USE OF OUR SERVICES AND YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH US IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. OUR SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. SSTAR EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESSED, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

SSTAR MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT: (I) OUR SERVICES OR OTHER INTERACTIONS WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (II) OUR SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURELY, OR ERROR-FREE, (III) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF OUR SERVICES WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, OR (IV) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH OUR SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS.

Limitation of Liability

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT SSTAR WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, OR DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF SSTAR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, RESULTING FROM: (I) THE USE, OR THE INABILITY TO USE, OUR SERVICES OR ANY CONTENT; (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 OUR SERVICES; (III) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR CONTENT, TRANSMISSIONS, OR DATA; (IV) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON OUR SERVICES; OR (V) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO OUR SERVICES OR CONTENT. IN NO EVENT WILL SSTAR ’S TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES OR CAUSES OF ACTION, EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID SSTAR IN THE LAST SIX (6) MONTHS, OR, IF GREATER, ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US $100). 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 SET FORTH ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH ANY PORTION OF OUR SERVICES OR WITH THESE TERMS, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USE OF OUR SERVICES.

General

Modification. We may modify these Terms at any time. We will post the changes on our Website or platform with the effective date, and notify you of any material changes. Your continued use of our Services or continued interactions with us after the date of any such changes become effective constitutes your acceptance of these Terms.

Governing Law. Terms will be governed by the laws of Illinois without regard to conflict of law provisions. With respect to any disputes not subject to the dispute resolution procedures set forth above, you and SSTAR agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the local courts located in Cook County, Illinois and the federal courts located in the United States Court of the Northern District of Illinois. SSTAR may assign or transfer these Terms, in whole or in part, without restriction.

No Waiver. The failure of SSTAR to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

Severability. In case any provision of these Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the validity, legality, and enforceability of the remaining provisions will not be affected and remain in full effect. The parties agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision.

Claim Limitations. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of the use of the Website or these Terms must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

Contact Us

8120 Lehigh Avenue, Suite 100
Morton Grove, IL 60053
847.647.8832
info@sstarnet.org