TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND COPYRIGHT INFO

Copyright Info

Contents of this site are Copyright © 2021by Michele Steele

Site design Copyright © 2021 by MuhammadUmaid

All book excerpts and text contained on this site are copyrighted by the author. All cover art and cover copy are copyrighted by the by the author, and all rights are reserved by the author, Michele Steele.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Last modified: April 17, 2021

Thank you for visiting our website at (this “Site”). This Site is operated by Michele Steele (“we,” “us,” or “our”) and allows you to: (a) learn about Michele Steele and her books; (b) interact with us and our Site; (c) read the latest news involving Michele; and (d) sign up for our mailing list.  These Terms and Conditions (these “Terms and Conditions”) govern your use of this Site, and your agreement is a condition precedent to using this Site.

Binding Effect; Modification to these Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions are a binding agreement. By using this Site, you agree, without limitation or qualification, to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, please do not use this Site. We may change these Terms and Conditions from time to time consistent with applicable law. We will post a notification on this Site or provide notice to you in the event of any material changes to these Terms and Conditions. Such changes, whether in the form of modifications, additions, or deletions, shall become effective when specified in the relevant notification. If you do not agree to the modifications, additions, or deletions, do not continue to use the Site after the date they become effective. We may implement other modifications, additions, or deletions to these Terms and Conditions from time to time. Please check these Terms and Conditions periodically for changes. Your continued use of this Site following our posting of any changes to these Terms and Conditions means that you accept those changes.

Age Requirements for General Use of this Site

Individuals under the age of 18 are not eligible to use this Site and may not submit any personal information to us.  By using this Site, you hereby represent that you are at least 18 years of age.

Restrictions on Use

Solely for Personal Use:  You may browse this Site and all associated content solely for your personal use and enjoyment.  This Site or any portion of this Site may not be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, visited, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose without our express written consent.

Accuracy of Information as Condition to Site Access: To access parts of this Site or some of the resources it offers, you may be asked to provide certain, sometimes personal, information.  It is a condition of your use of this Site that all the information you provide on this Site is correct, current and complete.

 Restricted Transmission: You agree not to use any device, software or routine to interfere with the proper functioning of the Site.  In using the Site, you may not:

• transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including images and language;
• transmit any message that constitutes, or encourages or incites conduct that would constitute, a criminal offense or gives rise to civil liability;
• transmit or solicit any information, software or other material which violates or infringes upon the rights of others, including material which is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or which is protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or right holder;
• transmit any information, software or other material which contains a virus or other harmful component;
• use any software, tool, data, device or other mechanism to navigate or search the Site other than the search engine provided by us or generally available browsers;
• frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any aspect of this Site, including any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information (including, but not limited to, images, text, page layout, or form) without our express written consent; or
• use any metatags or any other “hidden text” utilizing our name or trademarks without our express written consent.

Other Restrictions:  Additionally, you are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate any security features of this Site, including, without limitation:

• accessing content or data not intended for you or logging onto a server that you are not authorized to access;
• attempting to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of this Site, or any associated system or network, or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization;
• interfering or attempting to interfere with service to any visitor, host, or network, including, without limitation, by means of submitting a virus to this Site, overloading, “flooding,” “spamming,” “mail bombing,” or “crashing”;
• using this Site to send unsolicited e-mail, including, without limitation, promotions, or advertisements for products or services;
• attempt to modify, reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise reduce or attempt to reduce to a human-perceivable form any of the source code used by us in providing this Site.

Any violation of system or network security may subject you to civil and/or criminal liability.

We will not be liable if, for any reason, all or part of this Site is ever unavailable. From time to time, we may restrict access to all or some of this Site.

Copyrights, Trademarks, and Other Proprietary Rights

When accessing this Site, you agree to obey the law and to respect the intellectual property rights of others. You agree that you shall be solely responsible for any violations of any relevant laws and for any infringement of third-party rights caused by any Visitor Content (defined below) that you provide or transmit to us.

All content on this Site, including text, hidden text within our source code, software, photos, video, graphics, music and sound, is subject to protection by copyright, trademark, and other proprietary rights. In addition, the entire content of this Site is copyrighted as a collective work under the United States copyright laws, and we own the copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such content.

All trademarks appearing on this Site are the property of their respective owners, including, in some instances, us and/or our partner companies. Nothing contained on this Site should be understood as granting you a license to use any of the copyrights, trademarks, service marks, or logos owned by us or by any third party.

You may print or have printed by any third party any downloadable material contained on this Site provided that: (a) the material is solely for non-commercial and personal use; (b) no copyright, author attribution, trademark, legend or other proprietary notice is removed from the material; and (c) the material is not altered in any manner. Except as expressly provided herein, you may not modify, create derivative works, copy, redistribute, publish, transmit, display or in any way exploit any content or material from this Site without express written permission from us and, if applicable, the respective copyright owner. You acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights by downloading or printing copyrighted material.

Monitoring; Copyright Complaints

You agree that we have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor, edit, disclose, and refuse to post, or remove at any time, for any reason in our sole discretion, any material and content anywhere on this Site. Notwithstanding this right, we do not and cannot review all materials submitted to this Site. If notified, we may investigate an allegation that content transmitted to us is in violation of these Terms and Conditions and determine whether to have the communication removed. However, we are under no obligation to remove content and assume no responsibility or liability arising from or relating to any actions or content transmitted by or between you or any third party within or outside of this Site, including, but not limited to, any error, defamation, libel, slander, omission, falsehood, obscenity, pornography, profanity, danger, or inaccuracy contained therein.

We may, in appropriate circumstances and at our sole discretion, terminate the access of users who infringe the copyright rights of others.

User Communications

You are and shall remain solely responsible for the content of any creative materials, including creative suggestions, ideas, notes, drawings, photographs, concepts or other information or communications, including any data, questions, comments, suggestions, or the like (collectively the “Visitor Content”) you transmit to us via this Site, the Internet, e-mail or otherwise. Visitor Content does not include any personally identifiable information, such as your name, e-mail address, physical address, phone number(s), and credit card information, all of which is subject to the privacy standards set forth in our PRIVACY POLICY which is expressly incorporated into these Terms and Conditions by this reference. Visitor Content shall be and remain our property. You hereby grant to us the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, and display Visitor Content and to incorporate any Visitor Content in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. You agree that all Visitor Content you submit to us is fully owned completely by you, and you agree to transfer to us all ownership rights in Visitor Content submitted to us, including, but not limited to, the right to publish Visitor Content or use Visitor Content on our Site or in advertising of any type, with no obligation to pay you any consideration. We will not be required to treat any Visitor Content as confidential, and we may use Visitor Content in our business (including, without limitation, for products or advertising) without incurring any liability for royalties or any other consideration of any kind or as a result of any similarities that may appear in our future operations.

Disclaimer

THIS SITE AND THE INFORMATION, GRAPHICS, MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS IN THIS SITE ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN THIS SITE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THIS SITE’S INFORMATION, PRODUCTS, GRAPHICS AND/OR OTHER MATERIALS, WILL BE AVAILABLE, UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THIS SITE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE HARDWARE AND INFRASTRUCTURE THAT MAKE IT AVAILABLE, IS FREE FROM VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. WE DO NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OF THE MATERIALS IN THIS SITE OR THIRD-PARTY SITES IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, ADEQUACY, USEFULNESS, TIMELINESS, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.

Further, all of the information in this Site, whether historical in nature or forward-looking, speaks only as of the date the information is posted on this Site, and we do not undertake any obligation to update such information after it is posted or to remove such information from this Site if it is not, or is no longer, accurate or complete.

Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, WE AND OUR LICENSORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, CONTENT PROVIDERS, MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AND MANAGERS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, ACTUAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR OTHER DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF REVENUE OR INCOME, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, OR SIMILAR DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OF, OR THE INABILITY TO USE, THE MATERIALS ON THIS SITE OR THE PERFORMANCE OF OUR PRODUCTS, EVEN IF WE (OR OUR AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE(S)) HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COLLECTIVE LIABILITY OF US AND OUR LICENSORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, CONTENT PROVIDERS, MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AND MANAGERS TO OR THROUGH YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR TORT EXCEED $100.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless us, our subsidiaries and affiliates, and our and their members, managers, officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, retailers and suppliers (collectively, the “Service Providers”) from and against all claims (whether or not such claims are merely alleged or otherwise), losses, expenses, damages and costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses resulting from any violation of these Terms and Conditions or any activity related to your account (including negligent or wrongful conduct) by you or any other person accessing this Site using your Internet account. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you at your expense, and you shall not in any event settle or otherwise dispose of any matter without our prior written consent.

Notices

We may give you responses or notices by e-mail, posting to this Site or by written communication sent by U.S. Postal Service.

Disputes

Governing Law: These Terms and Conditions and your use of this Site shall be governed by and construed for both substantive and procedural purposes in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida, U.S.A., without giving effect to any principles of any choice of law provisions.

Timing of Claims: Any cause of action or claim you may have with respect to this Site (including, but not limited to, the purchase of products) must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arises.

Arbitration and Venue: Any dispute relating in any way to your visit to this Site shall be submitted to confidential arbitration in Palm Beach County, Florida, except that, to the extent you have in any manner violated or threatened to violate our intellectual property rights, we may seek injunctive or other appropriate relief in any state or federal court and you consent to jurisdiction and venue in such courts in Palm Beach County, Florida. Arbitration under these Terms and Conditions shall be conducted under the rules then prevailing of the American Arbitration Association in accordance with its Commercial Arbitration Rules and before a single arbitrator. Ultimately, the selected arbitrator must have expertise in the subject matter of the dispute. The expenses of the arbitration charged by the arbitrator shall be borne by the prevailing party or otherwise as appropriately allocated between the parties to the arbitration by the arbitrator in his or her discretion. However, in every other regard each party shall pay for and bear its own costs and legal fees, costs and expenses. The arbitration shall be completed within one hundred twenty (120) days of either giving notice or filing a demand to arbitrate with the American Arbitration Association (whichever shall first occur).

Final Arbitration: The arbitrator’s award shall be binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. The testimony, evidence, ruling and all documentation regarding any arbitration shall be considered confidential information. Neither party may use, disclose, or divulge any such information unless otherwise required by law.

Class Action Waiver: To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no arbitration under these Terms and Conditions shall be joined to an arbitration involving any other party subject to these Terms and Conditions, whether through class arbitration proceedings or otherwise. You agree to arbitration on an individual basis. In any dispute, NEITHER YOU NOR WE WILL BE ENTITLED TO JOIN OR CONSOLIDATE CLAIMS BY OR AGAINST OTHER VISITORS IN COURT OR IN ARBITRATION OR OTHERWISE PARTICIPATE IN ANY CLAIM AS A CLASS REPRESENTATIVE, CLASS MEMBER OR IN A PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL CAPACITY. The arbitral tribunal may not consolidate more than one (1) person’s claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding. The arbitral tribunal has no power to consider the enforceability of this class arbitration waiver and any challenge to the class arbitration waiver may only be raised in a court of competent jurisdiction.

Miscellaneous

Our failure to insist upon or enforce strict performance of any provision of these Terms and Conditions shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. Neither the course of conduct between the parties nor trade practice shall act to modify any of these Terms and Conditions. We may assign our rights and duties under these Terms and Conditions to any party at any time without notice to you and without your express consent. You will not assign any of your rights or delegate any of your obligations under these Terms and Conditions without our prior written consent. Any purported assignment or delegation in violation of this Section is null and void. No assignment or delegation relieves you of any of your obligations under these Terms and Conditions. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions shall be held unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these Terms and Conditions and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. These Terms and Conditions, together with our PRIVACY POLICY constitute the entire agreement between the parties pertaining to the subject matter hereof and supersedes in their entirety any and all written or oral agreements previously existing between the parties with respect to such subject matter. Some people who endorse our products may receive consideration for their endorsement.

Notice for California Users

Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, users of the Site from California are entitled to the following specific consumer rights notice: The Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (916) 445-1254 or (800) 952-5210.

THIS WEBSITE AND THE NOVELS WRITTEN BY MICHELE STEELE ARE NOT INTENDED FOR ANY PERSON UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE.

This work is intended for adults only. It contains sexually explicit language and scenes that may be considered offensive by some readers. None of the characters engaging in sexual conduct in this work of fiction are under the age of 18, legally unable to give consent, or related by blood.