Effective Date: November 24, 2014
Terms of Service
The terms of this agreement (“Terms of Service”) govern the relationship between you and Sparkling Society and its affiliates (hereinafter “Sparkling Society” or “Us” or “We”) regarding your use of Sparkling Society’s games, websites and related services (the “Service”). Use of the Service is also governed by
Sparkling Society’s Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Before accessing or using the Service, including browsing any Sparkling Society website or accessing a game, you must agree to these Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy . You may also be required to register an account on the Service (an “Account”). By registering for an Account or otherwise using the Service, you represent that you are age 13 or older and you understand and agree to these Terms of Service. If you are between the ages of 13 and 17, you represent that your legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms. If you access the Service from a Social Networking Site (“SNS”), such as Facebook or Google+, you shall comply with its terms of service/use as well as these Terms of Service.
BY INSTALLING, USING OR OTHERWISE ACCESSING THE SERVICE, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE AND YOU ACCEPT TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL, USE OR OTHERWISE ACCESS THE SERVICE.
Sparkling Society reserves the right, at its discretion, to change, modify, add or remove portions of these Terms of Service and its Privacy Policy at any time by posting the amended terms on the Sparkling Society Service. You will be deemed to have accepted such changes by continuing to use the Service. If at any point you do not agree to any portion of the then-current version of our Terms of Service, the Sparkling Society Privacy Policy, or any other Sparkling Society policy, rules or codes of conduct relating to your use of the Service, your license to use the Service shall immediately terminate, and you must immediately stop using the Service.
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LICENSE
1.1. Grant of a Limited License to Use the Service
Subject to your agreement and continuing compliance with these Terms of Service and any other relevant Sparkling Society policies, Sparkling Society grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable limited license subject to the limitations below to access and use the Service for your own non-commercial entertainment purposes. You agree not to use the Service for any other purpose.
The following restrictions apply to the use of the Service:
- You shall not create an Account or access the Service if you are under the age of 13; You shall restrict use by minors, and you will deny access to children under the age of 13. You accept full responsibility for any unauthorized use of the Service by minors. You are responsible for any use of your credit card or other payment instrument (e.g. paypal) by minors.
- You shall not have more than one Account at any given time, sell or give away your Account, create an Account using a false identity or information, or on behalf of someone other than yourself; You shall not use the Service if you have previously been removed by Sparkling Society, or previously been banned from playing any Sparkling Society game;.
- You shall use your Account only for non-commercial purposes; You shall not use the Service to advertise, or solicit, or transmit any commercial advertisements, including chain letters, junk or spam e-mail or repetitive messages to anyone;
When you violate these rules, the Service reserves the right to take action, wich may include terminating your Account and prohibiting you from using the Service.
Username and Password
During the Account creation process, you will be required to select a password (“Login Information”). You shall not share the Account or the Login Information, nor let anyone else access your account or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your Account. In the event you become aware of or reasonably suspect any breach of security, including without limitation any loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of the Login Information, you must immediately notify Sparkling Society and modify your Login Information. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the Login Information, and you will be responsible for all uses of the Login Information, including purchases, whether or not authorized by you. You are responsible for anything that happens through your Account.
Sparkling Society reserves the right to remove or reclaim any usernames at any time and for any reason, including but not limited to claims by a third party that a username violates the third party’s rights.
License Limitations
Any use of the Service in violation of these License Limitations is strictly prohibited, can result in the immediate revocation of your limited license and may subject you to liability for violations of law.
You agree that you will not, under any circumstances:
- Engage in any act that Sparkling Society deems to be in conflict with the spirit or intent of the Service or make improper use of Sparkling Society’s support services.
- Use cheats, exploits, automation software, bots, hacks, mods or any unauthorized third-party software designed to modify or interfere with the Service, any Sparkling Society Game or any Sparkling Society game experience or without Sparkling Society’s express written consent, modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of the Service or any Sparkling Society game.
- Disrupt, overburden, or aid or assist in the disruption or overburdening of any computer or server (“Server”) used to offer or support the Service or any Sparkling Society game environment.
- Institute, assist, or become involved in any type of attack, including without limitation distribution of a virus, denial of service attacks upon the Service, or other attempts to disrupt the Service or any other person’s use or enjoyment of the Service.
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, Accounts registered to others or to the computers, Servers, or networks connected to the Service by any means other than the user interface provided by Sparkling Society, including but not limited to, by circumventing or modifying, attempting to circumvent or modify, or encouraging or assisting any other person to circumvent or modify, any security, technology, device, or software that is part of the Service.
- Post any information that is abusive, threatening, obscene, defamatory, libelous, or racially, sexually, religiously, or otherwise objectionable or offensive.
- Make available through the Service any material or information that infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, right of privacy, right of publicity, or other right of any person or entity or impersonates any other person, including without limitation a Sparkling Society employee.
- Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, decipher or otherwise attempt to derive the source code for any underlying software or other intellectual property used to provide the Service or any Sparkling Society game, or to obtain any information from the Service or any Sparkling Society game using any method not expressly permitted by Sparkling Society.
- Solicit or attempt to solicit personal information from other users of the Service or any Sparkling Society game or collect or post anyone’s private information, including personally identifiable information (whether in text, image or video form), identification documents, or financial information through the Service.
Sparkling Society reserves the right to determine what conduct it considers to be in violation of the rules of use or otherwise outside the intent or spirit of these Terms of Service or the Service itself. Sparkling Society reserves the right to take action as a result, which may include terminating your Account and prohibiting you from using the
Service.
1.2. Suspension and Termination of Account and Service
Without limiting any other remedies, Sparkling Society may limit, suspend, terminate, modify, or delete accounts or access to Sparkling Society Services or portions thereof if you are, or Sparkling Society suspects that you are, failing to comply with any of these Terms of Service or for any actual or suspected illegal or improper use of the Service, without notice to you. You can lose your username and persona as a result of account termination or limitation, as well as any benefits, privileges, earned items and purchased items associated with your use of the Service, and Sparkling Society is under no obligation to compensate you for any such losses or results.
Without limiting our other remedies, we may limit, suspend or terminate the Service and user accounts or portions thereof, prohibit access to our games and sites, and their content, services and tools, delay or remove hosted content, and take technical and legal steps to prevent users from accessing the Service if we believe that they are creating risk or possible legal liabilities, infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, or acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of our Terms or Policies.
Additionally, we may, in appropiate circumstances and at our sole discretion, suspend or terminate accounts of users who may be repeat infringers of third party intellectual property rights.
Sparkling Society reserves the right to terminate any account that has been inactive for 180 days.
Sparkling Society reserves the right to stop offering and/or supporting the Service or a particular game or part of the Service at any time, at which point your license to use the Service or a part thereof will be automatically terminated. In such event, Sparkling Society shall not be required to provide refunds, benefits or other compensation to users in connection with such discontinued Services. Termination of your Account can include disabling your access to the Service or any part thereof including any content you submitted or others submitted.
You may terminate your Account at any time and for any reason by informing Sparkling Society that you wish to terminate your Account.
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OWNERSHIP
2.1. Games and Service
All rights, title and interest in and to the Service (including without limitation any games, titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialogue, catch phrases, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, documentation, in-game chat transcripts, character profile information, recordings of games played using a Sparkling Society game client, and the Sparkling Society game clients and server software) are owned by Sparkling Society. Sparkling Society reserves all rights, including without limitation, all intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights, in connection with its games and the Service.
2.2. Accounts
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, you acknowledge and agree that you shall have no ownership or other property interest in the account, and you further acknowledge and agree that all rights in and to the account are and shall forever be owned by and inure to the benefit of Sparkling Society.
2.3. Virtual Items
Sparkling Society owns, has licensed, or otherwise has rights to use all of the content that appears in the Service or in Sparkling Society games. You agree that you have no right or title in or to any content that appears in the Service, including without limitation the virtual goods or currency appearing or originating in any Sparkling Society game, whether earned in a game or purchased from Sparkling Society, or any other attributes associated with an Account or stored on the Service.
2.4. User Content
“User Content” means any communications, images, sounds, and all the material, data, and information that you upload or transmit through a Sparkling Society game client or the Service, or that other users upload or transmit, including without limitation any chat text. By transmitting or submitting any User Content while using the Service, you affirm, represent and warrant that such transmission or submission is (a) accurate and not confidential; (b) not in violation of any laws, contractual restrictions or other third party rights, and that you have permission from any third party whose personal information or intellectual property is comprised in the User Content; (c) free of viruses, adware, spyware, worms or other malicious code; and (d) you acknowledge and agree that any of your personal information within such content will at all times be processed by Sparkling Society in accordance with its
Privacy Policy. Sparkling Society reserves the right in its sole discretion to review, monitor, prohibit, edit, delete, disable access to or otherwise make unavailable any User Content (including without limitation your User Content) without notice for any reason or for no reason at any time. Chat-messages shall only be stored for a small period of time, at most 7 days after delivery.
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USER CONTENT
3.1. Content Screening
Sparkling Society assumes no responsibility for the conduct of any user submitting any User Content, and assumes no responsibility for monitoring the Service for inappropriate content or conduct. We do not, and cannot, pre-screen or monitor all User Content. Your use of the Service is at your own risk..
By entering into these Terms of Service, you hereby provide your consent to monitoring and recording. You acknowledge and agree that you have no expectation of privacy concerning the transmission of any User Content, including without limitation chat text or voice communications.
If at any time Sparkling Society chooses, in its sole discretion, to monitor the Service, Sparkling Society has the right to modify or remove any inappropriate User Content. We have the right, but not the obligation, in our sole discretion to edit, refuse to post, or remove any User Content.
3.2. Information Use by Other Members of the Service
3.2.1. Public Discourse
The Service may include various forums, blogs and chat features where you can post User Content, including your observations and comments on designated topics. Sparkling Society cannot guarantee that other members will not use the ideas and information that you share. Therefore, if you have an idea or information that you would like to keep confidential and/or don’t want others to use, do not post it on the Service. Sparkling Society shall have no responsibility to evaluate, use or compensate you for any ideas or information you may choose to submit.
3.2.2. Responsible For Your Own Content
You are solely responsible for the information that you post on, through or in connection with the Service and that you provide to others. Sparkling Society may refuse to post or delete any User Content for any or no reason, including User Content that in the sole judgment of Sparkling Society violates these Terms of Service.
3.3. License
You hereby grant to Sparkling Society a worldwide license (including the right to sublicense and assign to third party) and right to copy, reproduce, fix, adapt, modify, create derivative works from, manufacture, commercialize, publish, distribute, sell, license, sublicense, transfer, lease, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, or provide access to electronically, broadcast, communicate to the public by telecommunication, display, perform, enter into computer memory, and use and practice, in any way, your User Content as well as all modified and derivative works thereof in connection with our provision of the Service, including marketing and promotions of the Service. You also hereby grant to Sparkling Society the right to authorize others to exercise any of the rights granted to Sparkling Society under these Terms of Service. You further hereby grant to Sparkling Society the unconditional, irrevocable right to use and exploit your name, likeness and any other information or material included in any User Content and in connection with any User Content, without any obligation to you. Except as prohibited by law, you waive any rights of attribution and/or any moral rights you may have in your User Content, regardless of whether your User Content is altered or changed in any manner. Sparkling Society does not claim any ownership rights in your User Content and nothing in these Terms of Service is intended to restrict any rights that you may have to use and exploit your User Content. Sparkling Society has no obligation to monitor or enforce your intellectual property rights in or to your User Content.
3.4. User Interactions
You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users of the Service and any other parties with whom you interact through the Service and/or Sparkling Society games. Sparkling Society reserves the right, but has no obligation, to become involved in any way with these disputes. You will fully cooperate with Sparkling Society to investigate any suspected unlawful, fraudulent or improper activity, including granting Sparkling Society access to any password-protected portions of your Account.
If you have a dispute with one or more users, you release us from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.
- FEES AND PURCHASE TERMS
4.1. Purchases
In the Service you may purchase, with “real world” money, a limited, personal, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to use (a) “virtual currency”, including but not limited to virtual cash or diamonds, all for use in Sparkling Society games; (b) “virtual in-game items” (together with “virtual currency”, “Virtual Items”); and (c) other goods or services (“Merchandise”). You may also obtain a license to use Virtual Items by redeeming third party virtual currency such as Facebook Credits.
Sparkling Society may manage, regulate, control, modify or eliminate Virtual Items and/or Merchandise at any time, without notice. Sparkling Society shall have no liability to you or any third party in the event that Sparkling Society exercises any such rights.
The transfer of Virtual Items and Merchandise is prohibited except where expressly authorized in the Service. Other than as expressly authorized in the Service, you shall not sell, redeem or otherwise transfer Virtual Items or Merchandise to any person or entity, including Sparkling Society, another user or any third party.
All purchases and redemptions of third party virtual currency made through the Service are final and non-refundable.
The provision of Virtual Items for use in Sparkling Society games is a service provided by Sparkling Society that commences immediately upon acceptance by Sparkling Society of your purchase.
4.2. Payment of Fees
You agree to pay all fees and applicable taxes incurred by you or anyone using an Account registered to you. Sparkling Society may revise the pricing for the goods and services offered through the Service at any time. You acknowlegde that Sparkling Society is not required to provide a refund for any reason, and that you will not receive money or other compensation for unused virtual items when an account is closed, whether such closure was voluntary or involuntary.
- UPDATES TO THE SERVICE
You accept updates to the Service and to Sparkling Society’s games you have installed on your computer. You acknowledge and agree that Sparkling Society may update the Service and Sparkling Society games, without notifying you. You may need to update third party software from time to time in order to receive the Service and play Sparkling Society’s Games.
- DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES
Without limiting Sparkling Society’s liability under section 7 below, the Service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis for your use, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, and those arising from course of dealing or usage of trade. Sparkling Society does not warrant that you will be able to access or use the Service at the times or locations of your choosing; that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free of viruses or other harmful components.
- LIMITATION OF LIABILITY; SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY; INDEMNIFICATION
Sparkling Society shall not be liable to you for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, punitive or other similar damages, including but not limited to loss of revenues, lost profits, lost data or business interruption or other intangible losses (however such losses are qualified), arising out of or relating in any way to these Terms of Service or the Service itself, wether based on contract, tort or any other legal theory, and wether or not Sparkling Society has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Sparkling Society shall not be liable to you for more than the amount you have paid to Sparkling Society in accordance with these Terms of Service in the six (6) months immediately preceding the date on wich you first assert a claim. You acknowledge and agree that if you have not paid anything to Sparkling Society during such time period, your sole remedy (and Sparkling Society’s exclusive liability) for any dispute with Sparkling Society is to stop using the Service and to cancel your account.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for certain types of damages. Accordingly, some of the above disclaimers and limitations may not apply to you. To the extent that Sparkling Society may not, as a matter of applicable law, disclaim any warranty or limit its liability as set forth herein, the scope of such warranty and the extent of Sparkling Society’s liability shall be the minimum permitted under such applicable law. In particular, nothing in these Terms of Service shall affect the staturory rights of any consumer or exclude or restrict any liability for death or pesonal injury arising from any negligence or fraud of Sparkling Society. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold Sparkling Society harmless from any claim, demand, damages or other losses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, asserted by any third-party resulting from or arising out of your use of the Service, or any breach by you of these Terms of Service, however the foregoing does not apply if the infringement of rights is not attributable to your intentional or negligent behavior.
- DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND LAW
If a dispute arises between you and Sparkling Society, we strongly encourage you to first contact us directly to seek a resolution by going to our customer support site at
http://www.sparklingsociety.net/contact . Any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms of Service or the Privacy Policy or the Service shall be governed in all respects by Dutch law, without regard to conflict of law provisions. You agree that any claim or dispute you may have against Sparkling Society must be resolved exclusively by a court located in The Hague, The Netherlands.
- SEVERABILITY
You and Sparkling Society agree that if any portion of these Terms of Service or of the Sparkling Society Privacy Policy is found illegal or unenforceable, in whole or in part by any court of competent jurisdiction, such provision shall, as to such jurisdiction, be ineffective solely to the extent of such determination of invalidity or unenforceability without affecting the validity or enforceability thereof in any other manner or jurisdiction and without affecting the remaining provisions of the terms, which shall continue to be in full force and effect.
- GENERAL PROVISIONS
10.1. Assignment
Sparkling Society may assign or delegate these Terms of Service and/or the Sparkling Society Privacy Policy, in whole or in part, to any person or entity at any time without your consent. You may not assign or delegate any rights or obligations under the Terms of Service or Privacy Policy without Sparkling Society’s prior written consent, and any unauthorized assignment and delegation by you is ineffective.
10.2. Supplemental Policies
Your use of the Service may also be subject to the Terms and Conditions of one or more related third party agreements. In the case of any conflict between any third party agreement and these Terms of Service with respect to Sparkling Society or any aspect of the Service, these Terms of Service will control.
10.3. Entire Agreement
These Terms of Service, any Supplemental Policies and any documents expressly incorporated by reference herein (including the Sparkling Society Privacy Policy), contain the entire understanding of you and Sparkling Society, and supersede all prior understandings of the parties hereto relating to the subject matter hereof between you and us with respect to the Service.
10.4. Notices
We may notify you via postings on
www.sparklingsociety.net , and via e-mail or any other communications means to contact information you provide to us. All notices given by you or required from you under these Terms of Service or the Sparkling Society Privacy Policy shall be addressed to:
mpeeters@sparklingsociety.net. Any notices that you provide without compliance with this Section on Notices shall have no legal effect.
10.5. Equitable Remedies
You acknowledge that the rights granted and obligations made under these Terms of Service to Sparkling Society are of a unique and irreplaceable nature, the loss of which shall irreparably harm Sparkling Society and which cannot be replaced by monetary damages alone so that Sparkling Society shall be entitled to injunctive or other equitable relief (without the obligations of posting any bond or surety or proof of damages) in the event of any breach or anticipatory breach by you.
You irrevocably waive all rights to seek injunctive or other equitable relief, or to enjoin or restrain the operation of the Service or any Sparkling Society game, exploitation of any advertising or other materials issued in connection therewith, or exploitation of the Service or any content or other material used or displayed through the Service and agree to limit your claims to claims for monetary damages, limited by Section 7 (if any).
10.6. Force Majeure
Sparkling Society shall not be liable for any delay or failure to perform resulting from causes outside the reasonable control of Sparkling Society, including without limitation any failure to perform hereunder due to unforeseen circumstances or cause beyond Sparkling Society’s control such as, but not limited to, war, terrorism, acts of civil or military authorities, fire, floods.]]>