Meritorious® Community Terms of Use

Last updated February 10, 2022, and applies to citizens and legal permanent residents of the United States.

The Community Website Terms of Use (“Terms of Use”) are defining the conditions under which you may access and use the Community Website and all the functionalities provided (hereinafter designated together the “Service”).

By accessing or using the Service or by logging into with your allocated User ID, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. The User undertakes to have legal ability and means required to access and use the Service and acknowledges to have read, understood and accepted without limitation or reservation the Terms of Use. Your use of our Services is also subject to our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy, which covers how we collect, use, share, and store your personal information.

These Terms of Service are permanently available at www.Meritorious.us.

Please review these Terms of Service carefully prior to using the Service. If you do not agree with these Terms of Use, please do not use the Service.

(1) Legal Notice

The Service is provided by Meritorious®:

Meritorious LLC
8 The Green, STE A, Dover, DE 19901
E-mail: [email protected]


Hosting:

Google Cloud Platform

Company located at Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, Ireland

Registered in the Dublin Trade and Companies Register under the number: 752925594

Phone number: +353 1 436 1000

(2) Definitions


Community Website: the online platform named Meritorious®, edited by Hivebrite and provided by Meritorious®, allowing User to benefit from the Service.

Data Protection Law: means a legal framework on how to obtain, use and store data of natural persons, including the right to get details on which data is stored, for what purpose and to request the deletion in case the purpose is not given anymore.

User Account: means a dedicated online account opened by any visitor and providing an access to the Service.

Identifiers: means login and password or social login the User used to create the User Account.

Party or Parties: means the User and Meritorious® designated either individually or collectively.

Service: means the Community Website and all the functionalities provided thereto and described in the Terms and Conditions.

Service Content: any data, text, files, information, usernames, images, graphics, photos, profiles, audio and video clips, sounds, works of authorship, applications, links, and other content or materials made available during the Service.

User or Users: means any person authorized by Meritorious® to access and use of the Service after creation of a User Account. Registered Users of Meritorious® Services are “Members” and unregistered Users are “Visitors”.

User Content: any content created, posted, or shared by the User, on or through the Service including any information, data, photos and other content relating to the User.

(3) Term

The Terms of Service will come into effect on first access to the Service for the entire duration of use.

(4) Description of the Service

The Service enables Users to connect with each other, build communities, and also do networking.

The Service comprises a suite of online services provided by Meritorious®, allowing the User to:

  • Connect with people affiliated with the military, communities, businesses the User is interested in:
    • Live feed: allows Users to have access to a newsfeed aggregating contents posted via the application. They can comment on the posts.
    • Recommend: allows Users to suggest someone to be invited by the admin.
    • Geolocation: allows Users to be located via their device in order to know who is near them.
    • Mentoring: allows Users to declare themselves mentors in specific domains so they can be contacted by users wishing to be mentored.
  • Communicate with others by sharing content such as status, photos, videos, sending private messages, as well as creating events, groups, or projects.
    • Directory: provide with the contact details of other Users.
    • Private messages: allow Users to discuss by private messages.
    • Business profile: allows Users to create a business profile.
    • Communities: Users can be part of communities with all the features of the application.
    • Events: allows Users to create and/or submit events.
  • Ensure the safety and integrity of the Community Website with a reporting tool allowing the Users to signal contents and other Users.
  • Participate in networking, fundraising, and community events organized by Meritorious®;
  • Share job offers or apply to job offers published in the Community Website;
  • Stay up to date with news about your Meritorious® and activities in the Community Website:
    • Email campaign: the User can receive emails campaigns from Meritorious®
    • Notification: Users that have agreed can receive notifications sent by Meritorious® .
    • Media center: Users can upload, or request to upload, files that are stored in the Community Website.

These Terms of Service govern the use of each component of the Service.

(5) Access to the Service

Access to the Service shall be subject to the creation of a User Account, at which point a User becomes a Member. If an individual chooses not to register for Meritorious® Services, the individual may access certain features as a “Visitor.”

The Service is available on the website, www.member.meritorious.us, or the mobile app, Meritorious®, that can be downloaded through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

You agree that by clicking “Join”, “Join Meritorious”, “Sign Up” or similar, registering, accessing or using our services (described below), you are agreeing to enter into a legally binding contract with Meritorious® (even if you are using our Services on behalf of a company). If you do not agree to this contract (“Contract” or “User Agreement”), do not click “Join” (or similar) and do not access or otherwise use any of our Services. If you wish to terminate this contract, at any time you can do so by closing your account and no longer accessing or using our Services.


Requirements for access to the Service

The User must ensure to (the “User’s System”):

  • The ability and means required to access the Services and to use it;
  • The appropriate hardware (computer, smartphone…) and operating software and shall carry out the responsibility of the maintenance and the security;
  • An Internet access from any access provider of the User’s choice;
  • An adapted configuration of the browser.

Users shall bear all the costs for accessing the Service.


Creation of the User Account

This shall require the entering of personal identification data through the online registration form accessible at the following address: https://member.meritorious.us/signup

[Option 1: The User shall enter user identification data such as name, last name, branch of service, and email and is invited to choose its Identifiers.] [Option 2: The User can create a User Account by connecting through his or her Facebook/Meritorious®/Google account or his or her SSO account.]

The User agrees to provide only accurate and complete information when creating or updating his/her Account information. Users agree to: (1) use a strong password and keep it confidential; (2) not transfer any part of your account (e.g., connections) and (3) follow the law and the Meritorious® list of Dos and Don’ts and Professional Community Policies.


Access modalities

In order to benefit from the Services, the User must log-in using the credentials the User used to create the User Account, or using the Facebook/Meritorious®/Google account/log in with the SSO account. Identifiers are personal and confidential. Users are responsible for keeping it secret and not disclose it to any third party in any form and for any reason whatsoever.

The User’s login can only be changed at the request of the User or at the initiative of Meritorious®. The User’s password is modifiable by the User through the User’s Account. The User is solely and entirely responsible for the use of the User’s Identifiers and undertakes to do everything possible to keep it secret and not to disclose them to anyone, in any form whatsoever and for any reason whatsoever. If the User forgets her/his password, the User can generate a new one by clicking on the link “Reset my password” available at https://member.meritorious.us/login.

The User is solely responsible for the activity that occurs on its User Account and will be responsible to keep its Identifiers secure and for the use of his Identifiers by third-parties or for any actions or declarations made through his User Account, whether fraudulent or not, and guarantees Meritorious® against any request in this respect.

If the User has reason to believe that a person is fraudulently using identification elements or his User Account, she or he must immediately inform Meritorious® by e-mail at [email protected].

The User is solely responsible for the improper access, damage, disruption, loss or theft and adverse consequences caused by its breach of the confidentiality of the Identifiers. In case of loss, misappropriation or unauthorized use of its password, the User shall immediately notify Meritorious®.

Users may not use another’s account without permission. A User Account may not be shared, transferred, or sold to other parties, nor are they to be used by or made available to any person or entity except the registered user.

(6) Cost of the Service

The Service is available for free of charge (excluding any connection costs, whose price depends on your electronic communication service provider).

(7) Intellectual Property


Company’s ownership

The Service and the Service Content belong and shall remain the property of Meritorious® or its licensors as appropriate, and is protected by copyright, patent when applicable, trade secret and other intellectual property laws.

The User shall not acquire any of such rights title and interest (including, without limitation, all intellectual property rights such as copies, modifications, extensions and derivative works thereof) save as otherwise expressly set out in this Article 7.2 and the User shall take all necessary measures to this effect. All rights not expressly granted to Users are reserved and retained.

Any reproduction, representation, distribution, modification, adaptation or translation of these various Service Content, in whole or in part, in any form and current or future medium is strictly prohibited, except within the limit of the Terms of Service or with prior express authorization of Meritorious®. Any use of these Service Content not expressly authorized by Meritorious® shall constitute a violation of the Terms of Use and a violation of intellectual property rights.

Except as specifically permitted by these Terms of Use, User may not use or register any name, logo, brand or insignia of Meritorious® or any of its schools or subdivisions for any purpose except with Meritorious® prior written approval and in accordance with any restrictions required by Meritorious®. These are the property of Meritorious® or are subject to rights to use, duplicate or represent/communicate to the public that have been granted to such.

Meritorious® is the producer of databases on the Community Website and Meritorious® is the owner of any databases made available. The User shall not extract or reuse a substantial qualitative or quantitative portion of the databases, including for private purpose.


User’s right of use

Meritorious® grants the User a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable license to use the Service for User’s personal, non-commercial purposes. The User may only use the Community Website on devices that User owns or controls, and as permitted by the App Store terms of service. User may use the Service and the Service Content only in the manner and for the purposes specified in these Terms of Use. Except as specifically permitted by these Terms of Use, User may not modify, transmit, produce, distribute, display, sell, license, broadcast, or otherwise make available in any form or by any means any part of the Service or the Service Content without the express written permission of Meritorious®.

In connection with the use of the Services and Service Content or User’s Content, the User is not authorized to, or cannot allow a third party to:

  • violate any applicable laws, rules or regulations, notably cause damage or injury to any person or property, infringes any rights of third parties including but not limited to any intellectual property rights and privacy rights or perform any other illegal, harmful or fraudulent activities;
  • probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any system or network;
  • remove, circumvent, disable, damage or otherwise interfere with any security measures of any network, computer or communications system, software application, or network or computing device;
  • attempts to connect without permission and/or damage, in any way whatsoever, any users, hosts or networks;
  • disturb, hamper, interfere or interrupt the access to or operation of the Service and Service Content including by transmitting any worms, viruses, spyware, malware or any other code of a destructive or disruptive nature.

(8) User’s Undertakings

The User represents and warrants that she or he retains ownership of all of his intellectual property rights in the User Content or that this User Content is subject to a license granted to the User by a third party holding these rights, under conditions allowing the User to freely use and/or transfer these elements for the purpose of using the Service, under the conditions described in the Terms and Conditions. Meritorious® does not claim ownership of the User Content.

The User holds Meritorious® harmless from all claims or actions brought by third parties on the grounds of an infringement of their rights, including, without limitation, publicity rights, copyrights, trademark and/or other intellectual property rights or privacy rights in the User Content.

By using the Service, the User represents and warrants that she or he has the legal right and capacity to enter into these Terms of Use in the User’s jurisdiction.

User warrants to be at least 18 years of age or older, and is fully competent, to use the Service and to enter into and comply with these Terms of Use. Persons aged 18 years old or less are not authorized to access the Service.

(9) User’s Rules of Conduct

User may not post content which includes, but is not limited to: (i) sexually explicit materials; (ii) obscene, misleading, libelous, slanderous, violent, hateful and/or unlawful content or profanity; (iii) content that infringes upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary right, or that is deceptive or fraudulent; (iv) content that promotes the use or sale of illegal or regulated substances, tobacco products, ammunition and/or firearms; and (v) gambling, including without limitation, any online casino, sports books, bingo or poker (“Objectionable Content”)via the Service.

User may not defame, stalk, bully, abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate people or entities and must not post private or confidential information via the Service, including, without limitation, the User or any other person’s credit card information, social security or alternate national identity numbers, non-public phone numbers or non-public email addresses.

User must not create accounts with the Service through unauthorized means, including but not limited to, by using an automated device, script, bot, spider, crawler or scraper.

User must not attempt to restrict another User from using or enjoying the Service and must not encourage or facilitate violations of these Terms of Service.

User may only make non-commercial uses of the Service and Service Content. Use of Service or the Service Content for any commercial, public or political purpose is strictly prohibited. Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to: (1) activities that are illegal or fraudulent; (2) use that inaccurately implies endorsement, approval, or sponsorship by Meritorious® (or any individual officer or employee of Meritorious®); (3) use that can be confused with official communications of Meritorious® or its officers or employees; and (4) print or electronic mass mailings (sometimes known as “spamming”), solicitations for commercial services.

See Article 17, for additional “Meritorious® Dos and Don’ts”.

(10) Reporting and Moderation

In order to ensure the Community Website provides the best experience possible for everyone, if a User sees any inappropriate content, she or he must use the “Report as offensive” feature found under each post.

Meritorious® has no general obligation to monitor User Content nor to investigate whether facts or circumstances are revealing illicit activities. Meritorious® has set up a reporting tool allowing any User to notify illegal, abusive and harmful content.

The knowledge of such content is deemed effective when the hosting provider is notified of following:

  • The notification date;
  • The notifying User identity;
  • The description of the facts in contention (possibly with screen shots of the content);
  • As well as the reasons for which the content must be removed.

If a User Content is reported, Meritorious® reserves the right to withdraw the reported content and/or suspend or terminate the User Account of the User having originally published the reported content in the conditions set forth in Article 11.2.

(11) Termination, Suspension, or Revocation of Access


Deletion of the User Account by the User

At any time, the User may delete its User Account by contacting Meritorious® at the address or email address mentioned in Article 15.

Deletion is effective immediately and all the data collected upon the subscription as well as the content published by the User on the Community Website is deleted within a period of seven days.


Suspension or termination of the User Account by Meritorious® in case of breach of the Terms of Use

Meritorious® retains the right to suspend User’s access to the Service to make all investigations necessary following a report made pursuant to Article 10 or in case of presumed breach of Terms of Use which may be remediated. The User whose User Account is suspended will be informed by Meritorious® of such a decision by email. The User has the right to send an email to Meritorious® to obtain additional information on the reasons for the suspension as well as to provide explanations and/or any element in order to demonstrate that the breach has been remediated. If the violation of Terms of Use is not remedied within one (1) month from suspension notification, Meritorious® reserves the right to terminate the applicable User’s Account and right to use the Service, in addition to any other rights or remedies available.


Deletion of inactive User Account

Meritorious® will delete inactive accounts after a continuous period of one year the User has not used the Community Website. The User will be informed by email of the deletion of his or her account subject to prior notice of two weeks allowing the User to object to such deletion.

(12) Privacy; Confidentiality

By using the Service, User’s personal data, in the meaning of Data Protection Law, may be collected and processed by Meritorious®, in compliance with the Meritorious® Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy, (collectively, “Privacy Policies”).

Meritorious® will treat User Content as confidential information in accordance in accordance with these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policies.

(13) Limitation of Warranty and Liability; Indemnification.

Meritorious® is not responsible for the User’s device compatibility nor if the User is unable to connect due to any technical problem related to the Internet network or a failure in the User’s computer facilities and equipment.

Meritorious® shall not be responsible for User’s System nor any problems arising from or related to User’s System or caused by the Internet. User is responsible for the security of the User System and the security of its access to and connection with the Services.

Insofar as it has not been reported in the conditions of Article 10, any document, information, data, or elements available via the Service, including User Content (“Information”) is provided without any guarantees, notably that the Information is comprehensive or accurate.

The User is solely responsible for the use of the Information and bears all the risks arising from your reliance on this Information. The Information is provided on the condition that the User can determine its interest for a specific purpose before use. Under no circumstances Meritorious® accepts liability for injury arising from reliance on the said Information, its use or use of a product to which it refers.

The User is solely responsible for all User Content posted, and assumes all risks relating to its use by others and others’ reliance on its accuracy. The User acknowledges that, following the publication of the any content, its information will become accessible to all the Users on the Community Website and that as such, same information will be published, modified, translated, reproduced in any form and accessible, saved and reproduced by other Users and Meritorious®. Meritorious® will have no responsibility or liability in connection with the User Content.

MERITORIOUS AND ITS AFFILIATES MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY ABOUT THE SERVICES, INCLUDING ANY REPRESENTATION THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, AND PROVIDE THE SERVICES (INCLUDING CONTENT AND INFORMATION) ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, MERITORIOUS AND ITS AFFILIATES DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF TITLE, ACCURACY OF DATA, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Meritorious® expressly excludes any liability for events of any kind that may occur during any meeting organized between Users within the use of the Services.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW (AND UNLESS MERITORIOUS HAS ENTERED INTO A SEPARATE WRITTEN AGREEMENT THAT OVERRIDES THIS CONTRACT), MERITORIOUS, INCLUDING ITS AFFILIATES, WILL NOT BE LIABLE IN CONNECTION WITH THIS CONTRACT FOR LOST PROFITS OR LOST BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, REPUTATION (E.G., OFFENSIVE OR DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS), LOSS OF DATA (E.G., DOWN TIME OR LOSS, USE OF, OR CHANGES TO, YOUR INFORMATION OR CONTENT) OR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES.

MERITORIOUS AND ITS AFFILIATES WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU IN CONNECTION WITH THIS CONTRACT FOR ANY AMOUNT THAT EXCEEDS (A) THE TOTAL FEES PAID OR PAYABLE BY YOU TO MERITORIOUS FOR THE SERVICES DURING THE TERM OF THIS CONTRACT, IF ANY, OR (B) US $1000.

(14) Hypertext links

The Community Website may provide links to websites operated by third parties or other internet sources/networks, as well as data/information coming from third-party servers. Meritorious® does not endorse or accept responsibility for the content or the use of third-party websites and cannot be held liable for any damage following or in relation with use or the fact of having trusted the content/data/results available on such third-party servers, external sources or internet sites.

If a User uses third-party sites or content from third-party servers, User does so solely at User’s own risk. Links do not imply that the Company is affiliated or associated with any linked site.

(15) Contact

For any questions regarding the Terms of Use, especially use of the Service or any claim, please email [email protected].

The User can use these contact details for any technical support request.

(16) Miscellaneous


Governing Law and Dispute Resolution. These Terms of Use will be governed by the laws of the State of New York, U.S.A., without regard to its conflicts of laws principles. In the unlikely event there is a legal dispute, the User and Meritorious® agree that all claims and disputes can be litigated only in the federal or state courts in Queens County, New York, USA, and the User and Meritorious® each agree to personal jurisdiction in those courts. The User and Meritorious® both The User is informed, as consumer, of the possibility to use a conventional mediation procedure or any other alternative dispute resolution method.

Change of Terms of Use. These Terms of Use are subject to change from time to time. Any changes will be posted to this page and changes cannot be retroactive. Use of this Service or any Service Content after entering into force the new version of the Terms of Use will constitute the agreement to the modified Terms of Use. If the User disagrees with such modification of the Terms of Use, the User may terminate the Service and delete its User Account under the conditions set forth in Article 11.

Change of the Service. Meritorious® may further develop or modify the Service or the Service Content only to improve its quality. The User will be informed of such development/modification as soon as it is implemented.

Severability; Entire Agreement. Except in the case of invalidity of an essential clause, if any provision of these Terms of Use is held to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision, to the extent unenforceable, shall be struck, and shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions. These Terms of Use, including the Privacy Policies, set forth the entire understanding and agreement between the User and Meritorious® with respect to the subject matter hereof.

Convention of proof. Electronic documents exchanged by electronic means between the User and the Meritorious® shall be regarded as writings having the same probative force as writings on paper in the meaning of applicable law. They may constitute faithful and durable copies in accordance with applicable law, so that the User is invited to keep them.

Force majeure. In no case Meritorious® may be held liable for any breach of its contractual obligations resulting from a force majeure event as defined in applicable law and related jurisprudence.

(17) Meritorious “Dos and Don’ts”

Meritorious® is a community of professionals. This list of “Dos and Don’ts” along with our Terms of Use limit what you can and cannot do on our Services.

Dos

Users agree to:

    1. Comply with all applicable laws, including, without limitation, privacy laws, intellectual property laws, anti-spam laws, export control laws, tax laws, and regulatory requirements;
    2. Provide accurate information to Meritorious® and keep it updated;
    3. Use your real name on your profile; and
    4. Use the Services in a professional manner.

Don’ts

Users agree not to:

    1. Create a false identity on Meritorious®, misrepresent your identity, create a User profile for anyone other than yourself (a real person), or use or attempt to use another’s account;
    2. Develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plugins and add-ons or any other technology) to scrape the Services or otherwise copy profiles and other data from the Services;
    3. Override any security feature or bypass or circumvent any access controls or use limits of the Service (such as caps on keyword searches or profile views);
    4. Copy, use, disclose or distribute any information obtained from the Services, whether directly or through third parties (such as search engines), without the consent of Meritorious®;
    5. Disclose information that you do not have the consent to disclose (such as confidential information of others (including your employer));
    6. Violate the intellectual property rights of others, including copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets or other proprietary rights. For example, do not copy or distribute (except through the available sharing functionality) the posts or other content of others without their permission, which they may give by posting under a Creative Commons license;
    7. Violate the intellectual property or other rights of Meritorious®, including, without limitation, (i) copying or distributing videos or other materials or (ii) copying or distributing our technology, unless it is released under open source licenses; (iii) using the word “Meritorious” or our logos in any business name, email, or URL unless explicitly permitted by Meritorious.
    8. Post anything that contains software viruses, worms, or any other harmful code;
    9. Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, decipher or otherwise attempt to derive the source code for the Services or any related technology that is not open source;
    10. Imply or state that you are affiliated with or endorsed by Meritorious® without our express consent (e.g., representing yourself as an accredited Meritorious® trainer);
    11. Rent, lease, loan, trade, sell/re-sell or otherwise monetize the Services or related data or access to the same, without Meritorious’ consent;
    12. Deep-link to our Services for any purpose other than to promote your profile or a Group on our Services, without Meritorious’ consent;
    13. Use bots or other automated methods to access the Services, add or download contacts, send or redirect messages;
    14. Monitor the Services’ availability, performance or functionality for any competitive purpose;
    15. Engage in “framing,” “mirroring,” or otherwise simulating the appearance or function of the Services;
    16. Overlay or otherwise modify the Services or their appearance (such as by inserting elements into the Services or removing, covering, or obscuring an advertisement included on the Services);
    17. Interfere with the operation of, or place an unreasonable load on, the Services (e.g., spam, denial of service attack, viruses, gaming algorithms); and/or
    18. Violate the Terms of Use or any additional terms concerning a specific Service that are provided when you sign up for or start using such Service.