BEST PRACTICES NETWORK

WEBSITE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE

THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CONTAIN LEGAL OBLIGATIONS AND FORM AN AGREEMENT (the “Agreement”) BETWEEN YOU AND The Governing Council of the University of Toronto, as represented by (“we”, “us”, “our”). PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING, ACCESSING OR BROWSING THIS WEBSITE.

THIS AGREEMENT WAS LAST UPDATED ON: APRIL, 2018.

Access and Use of the Website

Thank you for visiting this website.  By accessing, browsing or otherwise using this website (the “website”), you agree, without limitation or qualification, to be bound by the terms of this Agreement and such other terms and conditions, rules and policies which you may be directed to or are displayed in connection with the use of this website, all as amended from time to time.  If you have not read, or do not understand, or do not agree to this Agreement you may not use this website.

This website is not intended for use by anyone under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13 years, please exit this website.

Updates to the Agreement

We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to change the terms of any part of this Agreement, in whole or part, at any time.  Except as otherwise provided herein, changes will be effective when notice of the change is posted on the website.  Please check back regularly for updates by checking the date of the last update above. Your continued use of this website following the posting of an amended Agreement will mean you accept those changes.  Further we reserve the right to change, modify, suspend or discontinue any aspect of this website or Content (as defined below) from time to time without notice or liability for any reason whatsoever.

Privacy

We respect your privacy.

You may browse and preview material on this website without opening an account and joining this website. However, to download material from this website, you must join this website by creating an account. [NTD – process to be confirmed.]

When you create an account, we will collect information about you. Information you may be asked to provide for a this website account comprises your: name, email address, website address (if applicable), address, phone number, university affiliation (if applicable) and health care profession (if applicable).

In addition, each time that you download material, you will be asked to identify yourself as a student, faculty, educator, administrator, researcher, librarian, patient, health care provider or member of the general public for the purposes of that download. You will also be asked how you plan to use this resource: clinical care, teaching or training, curriculum development, assessment and evaluation, research or self-learning.

The information that we retain when you download material depends on how you have identified yourself for the purposes of that download:

  • If you identify yourself as a student, patient or member of the general public, when you download material this website will only retain a record of the item that you downloaded, your university institution (if applicable), your country, your email address and the date you downloaded the material. We will retain this anonymous data for statistical, program improvement, planning and reporting purposes. We will retain your email address only for the purposes of notifying you if material that you have downloaded or linked to from this website has been removed from the this website.
  • If you identify yourself as faculty, educator, administrator, researcher, librarian, or health care provider, when you download material this website will retain your detailed identifying account information for that download.

This website also collects your IP address and uses cookies to verify who you are. There are cookies for logged in users: user name and a double-hashed copy of your password. The cookies are set to expire two weeks from the time they are set.

If this website wishes to use or disclose information about you or your usage for any other purpose, you will be contacted and your consent requested.

If you have any questions, please contact, info@bpnet.ca

Ownership of Website Content

Except for public domain material, all Content and material on and/or forming part of this website from time to time, including all text, information, submissions, links, graphics, audio, video, animation, logos, trade-marks, service marks and trade names, and the design and arrangement thereof, and all source code and software (collectively referred to as the “Content”), are protected by copyright, trademark and other laws, and are owned or controlled by us or our licensors.  All rights not expressly granted to you in this Agreement are reserved.  Subject to your compliance with the terms of this Agreement, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, revocable, non-assignable and non-transferable license to download, display or play a single copy of the Content as long as you do not alter or modify the Content and you maintain all copyright and other proprietary notices.  If any articles posted on this website are subject to a Creative Commons license chosen by the author(s), you agree and acknowledge that your use of each such article is subject to the terms and conditions of its applicable Creative Commons license.  To the extent that there is a conflict between: (a) the applicable Creative Commons License chosen by the author(s); and (b) the license to Content granted above, the applicable Creative Commons license governs.  Other than as explicitly set forth in this Agreement, nothing will be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel or otherwise, any license or right to use any Content in any manner without our prior written consent or such third party that may own the Content displayed on this website. Any unauthorized use of any of the Content is strictly prohibited.

If you believe that any Content on the website is infringing your intellectual property rights, please contact us  at l.  Please provide the following information in your notice  to us:

  • your name and address;
  • identification of the copyright material that is alleged to have been infringed and your interest or right with respect to that material;
  • the location of the allegedly infringing Content on the website (e.g. provide to us the URL for the page on which the material was located);
  • a description of the infringement that is alleged; and
  • the date and time of the alleged infringement.

Once we receive all of the above information from you, as soon as is feasible we will forward your notice to the person who supplied the allegedly infringing Content and inform you of the forwarding or, if applicable, why it was not possible to forward it.  Note that we do not evaluate the legitimacy of the notices that we receive.  Our forwarding of your notice is to comply with applicable law and does not mean that we endorse, agree with or otherwise support the allegations in your notice.

Prohibited Conduct

Except as expressly provided herein, this website and the Content, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, modified, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, sold, distributed or otherwise used in any way, without our express prior written permission.  Prohibited conduct includes, without limitation:

  • modifying, translating, reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling this website, the Content or any part thereof;
  • renting, leasing, sublicensing or transferring any rights in this website or the Content;
  • removing any proprietary notices or labels on this website or the Content;
  • violating, plagiarizing or infringing on our rights or those of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, contractual or other personal or proprietary rights;
  • using any “deep-link”, “page-scrape”, “robot”, “spider” or other automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology, or any similar or equivalent manual process, to access, acquire, copy or monitor any portion of this website or any Content, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of this website or any Content, to obtain or attempt to obtain any materials, documents or information through any means not purposely made available through this website without our express written consent;
  • making any unauthorized use of the Content (including use on any other website or networked computer environment);
  • knowingly uploading or otherwise introducing to this website any computer virus, clock, timer, counter or disabling code, design, routine, or other harmful component or code;
  • using the this website to:
    • infringe any proprietary or other rights of third parties, including any copyright, trademark, patents, trade secrets, privacy or other proprietary or property right;
    • denigrate anyone because of their race, religion, country of origin, sexual orientation, gender or other attribute;
    • communicate distribute, propagate, transmit, or publish any profane, defamatory, infringing, obscene, pornographic, indecent, libellous, tortious or otherwise unlawful information or any Content that relates or pertains to any “hate group,” for example, groups that are organized in part to promote the oppression of or assert the supremacy of any class of people;
    • depict violent or criminal acts, or seek to incite violence or crime;
    • include a photograph of another person or personal information of another person or use that person’s correspondence, diaries or personal documents without that person’s consent;
    • involve or promote commercial activities or seek solicitations on behalf of charities or donations of any kind, including but not limited to, promoting any contests, sweepstakes, barter, advertising or franchise, pyramid scheme, multi-level marketing opportunity, “club membership”, distributorship or sales representative agency arrangement or other business opportunity;
    • further or promote any criminal activity or enterprise or provide instructional information about illegal activities including, but not limited to, making or buying illegal weapons, violating someone’s privacy, or providing or creating computer viruses;
    • defame, abuse, stalk, harass, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights of others, including, without limitation, rights relating to privacy and publicity; or
    • engage in any conduct that we, in our sole discretion, determine to be detrimental to our interests, including, without limitation, acting or failing to act in a manner contrary to this Agreement, or intentionally interfering with this website or our computer systems.

Engaging in prohibited conduct may subject you to civil liability and criminal prosecution under applicable laws.

Security/Password

All sessions on this website are secured using appropriate encryption and other security measures.  The servers hosting this website are protected by sophisticated firewall hardware and software, and are physically located in secured facilities.

In order to be able to post articles on this website or to use certain of the services made available on this website, you may be required to register.  Should you choose to register, you agree to provide accurate and current information about yourself as required by the registration process, and to promptly update such information as necessary to ensure that it is kept accurate and complete. You agree to be responsible for: (a) maintaining the confidentiality of any passwords or other account identifiers which you choose or are assigned as a result of any registration on this website, and (b) all activities that occur under such password or account. Any fraudulent, abusive, or otherwise illegal activity may be grounds for termination of your account, at our sole discretion, and we may refer you to appropriate law enforcement agencies.  Further, you agree to notify us of any unauthorized use of your password or account.  If you provide any information that is untrue or inaccurate or we have reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue or inaccurate, we have the right to suspend or terminate your account.  We will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this section.  You may be issued a new password or required to change your password from time to time.

Disclaimers

(a)        No Warranties

THIS WEBSITE AND THE CONTENT ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.  TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, MERCHANTABLE QUALITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON‑INFRINGEMENT OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS, AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS ARISING FROM THE COURSE OF DEALING OR COURSE OF PERFORMANCE.  WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THIS WEBSITE OR ANY CONTENT WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR‑FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THIS WEBSITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE WILL BE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.  WE DO NOT WARRANT THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR CORRECTNESS, TIMELINESS, OR USEFULNESS OF ANY OPINIONS, ADVICE, SERVICES, SUBMISSIONS OR OTHER INFORMATION PROVIDED THROUGH THIS WEBSITE OR ON THE INTERNET GENERALLY.  IN NO EVENT WILL WE BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DECISION MADE OR ACTION TAKEN BY YOU OR ANYONE ELSE IN RELIANCE UPON THE INFORMATION PROVIDED THROUGH THE WEBSITE.

Without limiting the disclaimers above, we are not responsible for any interruption or non-availability of this website due to acts of God, earthquake, labour disputes, changes in law, regulation or government policy, riots, war, fire, flood, insurrection, sabotage, embargo, epidemics, acts or omissions of vendors or suppliers, transportation difficulties, unavailability of interruption or delay in telecommunications or third party services, failure of third party software or hardware or inability to obtain raw materials, supplies, or power used in or equipment needed. We are not responsible for server downtime under any circumstances.

(b)       Content

All Content of any type that is made available on or through this website is provided for general information purposes only and should not be taken as medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations. Information, including text published via our site, comments in our forums, graphics, video, audio and all Content of any and all nature are not intended to be a substitute for the professional care and advice provided to you by your licensed health care or mental health care professionals. Information available on or through this website may be out of date. Always consult your licensed health care professional or mental health care professional prior to making any personal health care or mental health care decisions or before starting, changing, or suspending any medication or other treatment.

We do not endorse any vendors, products, services, medications, treatments, or health care professionals. We are not responsible for any information provided by third parties through any forums on this website.  Do not rely on the communications published by any third parties in our forums on the website as their identities, professional backgrounds, licensing, and intent cannot be verified by us. [NTD – what vehicles for user generated Content will be available on the website?]

We may provide one or more search tools on the website for your use. These tools are to assist you in locating general information only. Do not rely upon any tool we provide for the purpose of making any diagnosis of any nature, or for the purpose of making a personal decision regarding treatment options, medication or any mental or physical health purpose at all. Only your licensed health care or mental health care professional can supply and interpret physical and mental tools and similar informational devices.

You acknowledge that any reliance on any information available on or through this website is at your sole risk and that neither we nor the this website gives medical or health advice.  You agree that we shall not be responsible or liable in any way for any loss or damage of any kind directly or indirectly incurred as a result of, or in connection with the use of, or reliance on, any information provided on or through this website.

(c)        Linked Sites

We shall have no responsibility or liability to you in connection with third party websites accessible by links posted on this website (“Linked Sites”).  Access to Linked Sites is at your own risk and we are not responsible for the availability, accuracy or reliability of the contents of any Linked Site or any link posted on a Linked Site.  We provide links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement of the Linked Site or any products, services, materials or statements contained or referred to thereon by us.

(d)       Internet

The Internet may be subject to breaches of security. We are not responsible for any resulting damage to any user’s computer from any such security breach, or from any virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer line failure or any other technical or other malfunction. You should also be aware that e-mail and other submissions over the Internet may not be secure, and you should consider this before e-mailing this website or us or any information or posting information to this website.

Limitation of Liability

You agree that The Governing Council of the University of Toronto AND EACH MEMBER OF THE BEST PRACTICES NETWORK CONSORTIUM AND EACH OF THEIR RESPECTIVE officers, faculty, employees and agents shall not be liable to you for any LOSSES, damages, COSTS OR EXPENSES of any kind arising from this Agreement THAT ARE IN EXCESS OF $50 in Canadian funds.  You agree that this limitation of liability is comprehensive and applies to all LOSSES, damages, COSTS AND EXPENSES of any kind, including, but not limited to direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential or punitive damages.

Indemnity

YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY AND HOLD HARMLESS The Governing Council of the University of Toronto AND EACH MEMBER OF THE BEST PRACTICES NETWORK CONSORTIUM AND EACH OF THEIR RESPECTIVE officers, faculty, employees and agents FROM AND AGAINST ANY AND ALL CLAIMS, ACTIONS OR DEMANDS, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, REASONABLE LEGAL AND ACCOUNTING FEES RESULTING FROM OR RELATED TO: (I) ANY BREACH OF THIS AGREEMENT, (II) YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THIS WEBSITE; (III) YOUR USE OF OR RELIANCE ON ANY CONTENT; OR (IV) YOUR VIOLATION OR ANY LAW OR THE RIGHTS OF ANY THIRD PARTIES. You shall use your best efforts to cooperate with us in the defence of any claim. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you.

Termination

We may, in our sole discretion, terminate or suspend your access to all or part of this website or the Content and remove and discard any Content at its convenience or for any reason. You agree that any suspension and/or termination of your access to this website may be effected without prior notice and that we will not be liable to you or to any other person as a result of any such suspension or termination.

Trade-marks

All trade-marks, prohibited marks (as described in the Trade-marks Act (Canada)) and trade names used, mentioned or displayed on this website are trademarks or registered trademarks of ours, our affiliated entities or of their respective owners.  The display of trade-marks, prohibited marks or trade names on this website does not convey or create any license or other rights in these marks or names. Any unauthorized use of these trade-marks and trade names is strictly prohibited.

Jurisdictional Issues

Access to this website and the Content is not permitted where prohibited by law.  If you choose to access this website, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with applicable laws.

General

This Agreement and your use of this website shall be governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein.  Any dispute arising under this Agreement shall be resolved exclusively by the courts located in Toronto in the Province of Ontario.  You agree not to bring any legal action against us in any jurisdiction except the Province of Ontario and you shall submit and consent to such jurisdiction.  If any provision of this Agreement shall be deemed unlawful by a court of law, then the impugned provision shall be deemed severed and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.  This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and us in connection with your use of the this website.  Your use of the this website is not intended and shall not be deemed to create any agency, joint venture or other legal relationship of any kind between you and us other than that of independent contractors.