Terms of Use

February 13, 2024

Acceptance of Terms

The services that DART COMMAND CENTRAL – DART (“DARTCC”) provided to you are subject to the following Terms of Use ("TOU"). DARTCC reserves the right to update and modify the TOU at any time without notice to you.

The most current version of the TOU can be reviewed by clicking on the "Terms of Use" link located in our Website (https://dartcc.org/tou).

When we make updates to the TOU, DARTCC will update the date at the top of the page. By using the website after a new version of the TOU has been posted, you consent to the terms of such new version.

Description of Services

DARTCC provides you with access to a variety of resources, including developer tools, download areas, communication forums and product information (collectively "Services"). The Services, including any updates, enhancements, new features, and/or the addition of any new Web properties, are subject to these TOU.

Limitation of Usage

Unless otherwise specified, the Services are to be used to develop an effective response to help the animal welfare community, particularly in the face of natural disasters that cause animals to be separated from their nuclear families. You may not modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information, software, products or services obtained from the Services without our express written consent.

Privacy and Protection of Personal Information

See the Privacy Policy disclosures relating to the collection and use of your personal data.

Content

All content included in or made available through the Services, such as text, graphics, logos, icons, images, sounds, music, digital downloads, data compilation, software, and documents is the exclusive property of DARTCC or its content suppliers and is protected by the various applicable trade dress, copyright, trademark, patent, and other intellectual property and unfair competition laws in the United States and internationally. All rights not expressly granted to you in this TOU are reserved and retained by DARTCC. 

Software

Any software that is made available to download from the Services ("Software") is the copyrighted work of DARTCC. Use of the Software is governed by the terms of the end user license agreement, if any, which accompanies or is included with the Software ("License Agreement"). An end user will be unable to install any Software that is accompanied by or includes a License Agreement, unless he or she first agrees to the License Agreement terms.

The Software is made available for download solely for use by end users according to the License Agreement. Any reproduction or redistribution of the Software not in accordance with the License Agreement is expressly prohibited by law, and may result in severe civil and criminal penalties. Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible.

Without limiting the foregoing, copying or reproduction of the software to any other server or location for further reproduction or redistribution is expressly prohibited, unless such reproduction or redistribution is expressly permitted by the license agreement accompanying such software.

Restricted Rights Legend. Any Software which is downloaded from the Services for or on behalf of the United States of America, its agencies and/or instrumentalities ("U.S. Government"), is provided with Restricted Rights. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 or subparagraphs (c)(1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights at 48 CFR 52.227-19, as applicable. The manufacturer is DARTCC, a United States nonprofit corporation.

Documents

Permission to use Documents (such as guidelines, press releases, datasheets and FAQs) from the Services is granted, provided that (1) the below copyright notice appears in all copies and that both the copyright notice and this permission notice appear, (2) unless explicitly covered by another license or agreement, use of such Documents from the Services is for informational and non-commercial or personal use only and will not be copied or posted on any network computer or broadcast in any media, and (3) no modifications of any Documents are made. Accredited educational institutions, such as K-12, universities, private/public colleges, and state community colleges, may download and reproduce the Documents for distribution in the classroom. Distribution outside the classroom requires express written permission. Use for any other purpose is expressly prohibited by law, and may result in severe civil and criminal penalties. Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible.

Documents specified above do not include the design or layout of the https://dartcc.org/ website or any other DARTCC owned, operated, licensed or controlled site. Elements of DARTCC websites are protected by trade dress, trademark, unfair competition, and other laws and may not be copied or imitated in whole or in part. No logo, graphic, sound or image from any DARTCC website may be copied or retransmitted unless expressly permitted by DARTCC.

Representations and Warranties
 

Software is warranted, if at all, only according to the terms of the license agreement. Except as warranted in the license agreement, DARTCC hereby disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to the software, including all warranties and conditions of merchantability, whether express, implied or statutory, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. For your convenience, DARTCC may make available as part of the services or in its software products, tools and utilities for use and/or download. DARTCC does not make any assurances with regard to the accuracy of the results or output that derives from such use of any such tools and utilities. Please respect the intellectual property rights of others when using the tools and utilities made available on the services or in DARTCC software products.
 

DARTCC and/or its respective suppliers make no representations about the suitability of the information contained in the documents and related graphics published as part of the services for any purpose. all such documents and related graphics are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. DARTCC and/or its respective suppliers hereby disclaim all warranties and conditions with regard to this information, including all warranties and conditions of merchantability, whether express, implied or statutory, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. In no event shall DARTCC and/or its respective affiliates or suppliers be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of information available from the services.
 

The documents and related graphics published on the services could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically added to the information herein. DARTCC and/or its respective suppliers may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described herein at any time.


 

Limitation of Liability

In no event shall DARTCC and/or its respective suppliers be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of software, documents, provision of or failure to provide services, or information available from the services.

Member Account, Password, and Security

If any of the Services requires you to open an account, you must complete the registration process by providing us with current, complete and accurate information as prompted by the applicable registration form. You also will create a password and a user name. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account. Furthermore, you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify DARTCC immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. DARTCC will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of someone else using your password or account, either with or without your knowledge. However, you could be held liable for losses incurred by DARTCC or another party due to someone else using your account or password. You may not use anyone else's account at any time, without the permission of the account holder.

No Unlawful or Prohibited Use

As a condition of your use of the Services, you will not use the Services for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these terms, conditions, and notices. You may not use the Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair any DARTCC server, or the network(s) connected to any DARTCC server, or interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of any Services. You may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any Services, other accounts, computer systems or networks connected to any DARTCC server or to any of the Services, through hacking, password mining or any other means. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through the Services. You may not attempt to copy or change, alter or otherwise attempt to modify the Services or these TOU.

Use of Services

The Services may contain e-mail services, bulletin board services, chat areas, news groups, forums, communities, personal web pages, calendars, photo albums, file cabinets and/or other message or communication facilities designed to enable you to communicate with others (each a "Communication Service" and collectively "Communication Services"). You agree to use the Communication Services only to post, send and receive messages and material that are proper and, when applicable, related to the particular communication service. By way of example, which should not be viewed as limiting or inclusive as a limitation, you agree that when using the communication services, you will not:

  • Use the communication services in connection with surveys, contests, pyramid schemes, chain letters, junk email, spamming, phishing or any duplicative or unsolicited messages (commercial or otherwise).
  • Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others.
  • Publish, post, upload, distribute or disseminate any inappropriate, profane, defamatory, obscene, indecent or illegal topic, name, material or information.
  • Upload, or otherwise make available, files that contain images, photographs, software or other material protected by the intellectual property rights of others, including, by way of example, and not as limitation, copyright or trademark laws (or by rights of privacy or publicity) unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consent to do the same.
  • Use any material or information, including images or photographs, which are made available through the Services in any manner that infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other proprietary right or expectation of privacy of any party.
  • Upload files that contain viruses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another's computer or property of another.
  • Advertise or offer to sell or buy any goods or services for any business purpose.
  • Download any file posted by another user of a communication service that you know, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally reproduced, displayed, performed, and/or distributed in such manner.
  • Falsify or delete any copyright notice, such as author attributions, legal or other proper notices or proprietary designations or labels of the origin or source of software or other material contained in a file that is uploaded.
  • Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the communication services.
  • Violate any code of conduct or other guidelines, including state, national and international laws or protocols, which may be applicable for any particular communication service.
  • Harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including e-mail addresses.
  • Violate any applicable laws or regulations.
  • Create a false identity for the purpose of misleading others.
  • Use, download or otherwise copy, or provide (whether or not for a fee) to a person or entity any directory of users of the Services or other user or usage information or any portion thereof.

DARTCC has no obligation to monitor the communication services. However, DARTCC reserves the right to review materials posted to the communication services and to remove any materials in its sole and exclusive discretion for any reason. DARTCC reserves the right to terminate your access to any or all of the communication services at any time, without notice, for any reason whatsoever.

DARTCC reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as DARTCC deems necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, or to edit, refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, in DARTCC's sole and exclusive discretion.

Always use caution when giving out any personally identifiable information about yourself or your children in any communication services. DARTCC does not control or endorse the content, messages or information found in any communication services and, therefore, DARTCC specifically disclaims any liability with regard to the communication services and any actions resulting from your participation in any communication services. Managers and hosts are not authorized DARTCC spokespersons, and their views do not necessarily reflect those of DARTCC.

Materials uploaded to the communication services may be subject to posted limitations on usage, reproduction and/or dissemination; you are responsible for adhering to such limitations if you download the materials.

AI Services.
”AI services” are services that are labeled or described by DARTCC as including, using, powered by, or being an Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) system.

  • Reverse Engineering. You may not use the AI services to discover any underlying components of the models, algorithms, and systems without DARTCC’s express written permission. For example, you may not try to determine and remove the weights of models.
  • Extracting Data. You may not use web scraping, web harvesting, or web data extraction methods to extract data from the AI services without DARTCC’s express written permission.
  • Limits on use of data from the AI Services. You may not use the AI services, or data from the AI services, to create, train, or improve (directly or indirectly) any other AI service without DARTCC’s express written permission. 
  • Use of Your Content. As part of providing the AI services, DARTCC will process and store your inputs to the service as well as output from the service, for purposes of monitoring for and preventing abusive or harmful uses or outputs of the service.
  • Third party claims. You are solely responsible for responding to any third-party claims regarding your use of the AI services in compliance with applicable laws (including, but not limited to, copyright infringement or other claims relating to content output during your use of the AI services).

Materials Provided to DARTCC or Posted at any DARTCC Website, Including Unsolicited Suggestions

DARTCC does not claim ownership of the materials you provide to DARTCC (including feedback and suggestions) or post, upload, input or submit to any Services or its associated services for review by the general public, or by the members of any public or private community, (each a "Submission" and collectively "Submissions"). However, by posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting ("Posting") your Submission you are granting DARTCC, its affiliated companies and necessary sublicensees permission to use your Submission in connection with the operation of their Internet businesses (including, without limitation, all DARTCC Services), including, without limitation, the license rights to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your Submission; to publish your name in connection with your Submission; and the right to sublicense such rights to any supplier of the Services.

No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission, as provided herein. DARTCC is under no obligation to post or use any Submission you may provide and DARTCC may remove any Submission at any time in its sole discretion.

By Posting a Submission you warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to your Submission as described in these Terms of Use including, without limitation, all the rights necessary for you to provide, post, upload, input or submit the Submissions.

In addition to the warranty and representation set forth above, by Posting a Submission that contain images, photographs, pictures or that are otherwise graphical in whole or in part ("Images"), you warrant and represent that (a) you are the copyright owner of such Images, or that the copyright owner of such Images has granted you permission to use such Images or any content and/or images contained in such Images consistent with the manner and purpose of your use and as otherwise permitted by these Terms of Use and the Services, (b) you have the rights necessary to grant the licenses and sublicenses described in these Terms of Use, and (c) that each person depicted in such Images, if any, has provided consent to the use of the Images as set forth in these Terms of Use, including, by way of example, and not as a limitation, the distribution, public display and reproduction of such Images. By Posting Images, you are granting (a) to all members of your private community (for each such Images available to members of such private community), and/or (b) to the general public (for each such Images available anywhere on the Services, other than a private community), permission to use your Images in connection with the use, as permitted by these Terms of Use, of any of the Services, (including, by way of example, and not as a limitation, making prints and gift items which include such Images), and including, without limitation, a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free license to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your Images without having your name attached to such Images, and the right to sublicense such rights to any supplier of the Services. The licenses granted in the preceding sentences for a Images will terminate at the time you completely remove such Images from the Services, provided that, such termination shall not affect any licenses granted in connection with such Images prior to the time you completely remove such Images. No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Images.

Notices and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement

Pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(2), notifications of claimed copyright infringement should be sent to 2169 Notch Road Jericho, VT 05465 (Please insert address of DARTCC authorized representative, please. Thank you – can this be an email account? – I would rather it be This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is that an option?). All inquiries not relevant to the following procedure will not receive a response.

Links to Third Party Sites

The DARTCC website may contain links to the website of others. The linked sites are not under the control of DARTCC and DARTCC is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site, or any changes or updates to such sites. DARTCC is not responsible for webcasting or any other form of transmission received from any linked site. DARTCC is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply an endorsement of any kind or manner by DARTCC of the site.

Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy

DARTCC or any of its employees do not accept or consider unsolicited ideas, including ideas for new advertising campaigns, new promotions, new products or technologies, processes, materials, marketing plans or new product names. Please do not send any original creative artwork, samples, demos, or other works. the sole purpose of this policy is to avoid potential misunderstandings or disputes when DARTCC's products or marketing strategies might seem similar to ideas submitted to DARTCC. If, in spite of this request, you send us your ideas and materials, please understand that DARTCC makes no assurances that your ideas and materials will be treated as confidential or proprietary. (Is this standard? I do want to gather input from users, so I’m not sure if the above makes sense?

Your privacy is important to us. This privacy statement explains the personal data DARTCC processes, how it is processed it, and for what purposes.

DARTCC offers a wide range of products to help volunteers who manage emergency pet shelters, including server products used to help operate enterprises worldwide, devices you use in your home, software that students use at school, and services developers use to create and host what’s next (not sure about this sentence). References to DARTCC products in this statement include DARTCC services, websites, apps, software, servers, and devices.

Please read the product-specific details in this privacy statement, which provide additional relevant information. This statement applies to the interactions DARTCC has with you and the DARTCC products listed below, as well as other DARTCC products that display this statement.

Personal data we collect

DARTCC collects personal information through our interactions with you and through our products. You provide some of this data directly, and we get some of it by collecting data about your interactions, use, and experiences with our products. The data we collect depends on the context of your interactions. We may also obtain data about you from third parties (please let me know if you utilize Google Analytics, please, Deb – we have not discussed this at all yet. I am not sure how useful that is for what we are doing – I will need to get back to you on this one question).

You have choices when it comes to the technology you use and the data you share. When we ask you to provide personal data, you can decline. If you choose not to provide data -required to provide you with a product or feature, you cannot use that product or feature. Likewise, where we need to collect personal data by law or in order to make our communication services functional for the sake of displaced pets, and you do not provide the data, the function may not be operative.

We may also use the data to operate our business, which includes analyzing our performance, meeting our legal obligations, developing our workforce, and doing research.

Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies are small text files placed on your device to store data that can be recalled by a web server in the domain that placed the cookie. We use cookies and similar technologies for storing and honoring your preferences and settings, enabling you to sign in, providing interest-based advertising, combating fraud, analyzing how our products perform, and fulfilling other legitimate purposes. Third party cookies may include: Social Media cookies designed to show you ads and content based on your social media profiles and activities on our websites; Analytics cookies to better understand how you and others use our websites so that we can make them better, and so the third parties can improve their own products and services and Required cookies used to perform essential website functions. Where required, we obtain your consent prior to placing or using optional cookies that are not (i) strictly necessary to provide the website; or (ii) for the purpose of facilitating a communication.

You have a variety of tools to control the data collected by cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies. For example, you can use controls in your internet browser to limit how the websites you visit are able to use cookies and to withdraw your consent by clearing or blocking cookies.

Collection of Data from Children

We define children as being the age of 16 or as specified by law in a particular jurisdiction. DARTCC will either block users under that age or will ask them to obtain consent or authorization from a parent or guardian before they can use it, including when creating an account. We will never knowingly ask children under that age to provide more data than is required to provide access and all access is through parent guidance which may foster a greater appreciation for our pets and animals in need amongst our youth.