These Terms of Use were last updated on November 16, 2007.
As you browse through the Web Site you may access other Web sites that are subject to different terms of use. When you use those sites, you will be legally bound by the specific terms of use posted on such sites. If there is a conflict between these Terms of Use and those other terms of use, the other terms of use will govern with respect to use of such pages.
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USE OF THE WEB SITE.
Standard & Poor's grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license to access and use the Web Site for the fees, if applicable, and under the terms set forth below.
The contents of the Web Site made accessible by Standard & Poor’s on the Web Site including, but not limited to, the Standard & Poor’s ratings and other opinions, text, data, reports, images, photos, graphics, graphs, charts, animations and video (the "Content), may be used only for your personal individual use. Except as expressly permitted under these Terms of Use, you agree not to copy, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, or store any Content, in whole or in part, from the Web Site or to display, perform, publish, distribute, transmit, broadcast or circulate any Content to anyone, or for any commercial purpose, without the express prior written consent of Standard & Poor's. Material that appears on the Web Site that is entered by you or other Users or that is otherwise made accessible by other than Standard & Poor’s is referred to as “Other Content.” Use of Other Content may be governed by other restrictions .
You may, on an ad hoc basis, use an individual Standard & Poor’s rating in the ordinary course of securities disclosure activities and the drafting of deal documents internally within your organization or publish, on a non-commercial basis, individual ratings. Notwithstanding the foregoing:
- ratings may not be compiled into a database;
- ratings may not be used or disseminated in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any Standard & Poor’s product or service for which a fee is charged; and
- ratings may not be systematically distributed or shared.
You may also, on an occasional, ad hoc basis, reproduce, distribute, display or transmit an insubstantial portion of other narrative (non-ratings) Content, for a non-commercial purpose and without charge, to a limited number of individuals, provided you include all copyright and other proprietary rights notices with such portion of the Content in the same form in which the notices appear on the Web Site, the original source attribution, and the phrase "Used with permission from sandp.com, a Web Site Standard & Poor's". However, you may not post any Content from the Web Site to forums, newsgroups, list serves, mailing lists, electronic bulletin boards, or other Web Sites, without the prior written consent of Standard & Poor's. To request consent for uses such as linking to Standard & Poor's Content or posting Content on your Web site, you may contact Standard & Poor's at Web Support@standardandpoors.com.
You may not use the Web Site for any unlawful purpose. You shall honor all reasonable requests by Standard & Poor's to protect Standard & Poor's proprietary interests in the Standard & Poor's Web Site.
NOTE: Use of the Content on this Web Site is periodically monitored to assure compliance with these Terms of Use. Standard & Poor’s reserves the right to discontinue access to this Web Site either with or without notice if Standard & Poor’s has a reasonable basis to believe that a User is accessing Content in violation of these Terms of Use.
The Content is the property of Standard & Poor's or its licensors, and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. All trade names, trademarks, service marks and other product and service names and logos on the Web Site and within the Content are proprietary to their respective owners and are protected by applicable trademark and copyright laws. Any of the trademarks, service marks or logos (collectively, the "Marks") displayed on the Web Site may be registered or unregistered marks of Standard & Poor's or others. Nothing contained on this Web Site should be construed as granting any license or right to use any of the Marks displayed on the Web Site without the express written permission of Standard & Poor's or a third party owner of such Marks. Any unauthorized uses of the Marks or any other Content are strictly prohibited.
2. ANTI-HACKING PROVISION
You expressly agree not to:
- use or attempt to use any "deep-link," "scraper," "robot," "bot," "spider," "data-mining," "computer code" or any other automated device, program, tool, algorithm, process, or methodology or manual process having similar processes or functionality, to access, acquire, copy, or monitor any portion of the Web Site, any data or Content found on or accessed through the Web Site or any Other Content without the prior express written consent of Standard & Poor's;
- obtain or attempt to obtain through any means any materials or information on the Web Site that have not been intentionally made publicly available either by their public display on the Web Site or through their accessibility by a visible link on the Web Site;
- violate the restrictions in any robot inclusion headers on this Web Site or in any way bypass or circumvent any other measure employed to limit or prevent access to the Web Site or its Content;
- violate the security of the Web Site or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Web Site, data, materials, information, computer systems or networks connected to any Standard & Poor's server, through hacking, password mining or any other means;
- interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Web Site or any activities conducted on or through the Web Site, including accessing any data, content or other information prior to the time that it is intended to be available to the public on the Web Site;
- take or attempt any action that, in the sole discretion of Standard & Poor's, imposes or may impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load or burden on the Web Site or Standard & Poor's infrastructure.
3. REGISTRATION
As part of the registration process, you must select a member name and password and provide Standard & Poor's with accurate, complete, and updated information. Failure to do so constitutes a breach of this Agreement, which may result in immediate termination of your access. Please see our Privacy Notice
for information regarding how this information will be used and maintained.
4. LIMITATION ON STANDARD & POOR'S WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY
You are entirely liable for activities conducted by you or anyone else in connection with your browsing and use of the Web Site. If you are dissatisfied with the Web Site or with these Terms of Use, your sole and exclusive remedy is to stop using the Web Site. Standard & Poor's will not pay you any damages in connection with your browsing or use of the Web Site.
The Web Site includes Standard & Poor's ratings and other opinions that must be construed solely as statements of opinion and should not be construed as statements of fact. Standard & Poor's rating are not "market ratings" nor are they recommendations to buy, sell or hold any security or obligation issued by any obligor. Standard & Poor's relies on information provided by obligors, their accountants, counsel and other experts and does not perform an audit in connection with any rating. The use of the Standard & Poor's Web Site by User should not be construed as an endorsement of the accuracy of any of the data or conclusions, or as an attempt to independently assess or vouch for the financial condition of any company. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services receives compensation for rating obligations. Such compensation is normally paid either by the issuers of the securities or underwriters participating in marketing the securities. Additional information about our fees is available at www.standardandpoors.com/usratingsfees.
Standard & Poor's receives no payment for disseminating ratings, except for subscriptions to its publications. While Standard & Poor's reserves the right to disseminate ratings, it receives no payment for doing so except for subscriptions to its publications. Each rating or other opinion must be considered, if at all, as only one factor in any investment decision made by you.
Due to the number of sources from which the Content and Other Content is obtained, and the potential hazards of electronic distribution, there may be delays, omissions or inaccuracies in the Web Site. THE WEB SITE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES. NEITHER STANDARD & POOR'S NOR THE McGRAW-HILL COMPANIES, INC. MAKES ANY GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM ACCESSING AND USING THE WEB SITE, NOR ANY MATERIAL THAT CAN BE ACCESSED (VIA A DIRECT OR INDIRECT HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE) THROUGH THE WEB SITE. STANDARD & POOR'S HEREBY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND OF NONINFRINGEMENT. NEITHER STANDARD & POOR'S NOR THE McGRAW-HILL COMPANIES, INC. SHALL BE LIABLE TO THE USER OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY INACCURACY, DELAY, INTERRUPTION IN SERVICE, ERROR OR OMISSION, REGARDLESS OF CAUSE, OR FOR ANY DAMAGES RESULTING THEREFROM. IN NO EVENT WILL STANDARD & POOR'S, THE McGRAW-HILL COMPANIES, INC. NOR ANY OF THEIR THIRD PARTY LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOST TIME, LOST MONEY, LOST PROFITS OR GOOD WILL, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, AND WHETHER OR NOT SUCH DAMAGES ARE FORESEEN OR UNFORESEEN WITH RESPECT TO ANY USE OF THE WEB SITE. NEITHER STANDARD & POOR'S NOR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, AGENTS OR LICENSORS WILL BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY LOSS OR INJURY RESULTING FROM USE OF THE WEB SITE, IN WHOLE OR PART, WHETHER CAUSED BY NEGLIGENCE, CONTINGENCIES BEYOND ITS CONTROL IN PROCURING, COMPILING, INTERPRETING, REPORTING OR DELIVERING THE WEB SITE. IN NO EVENT WILL STANDARD & POOR'S, ITS AFFILIATES, AGENTS OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DECISION MADE OR ACTION TAKEN BY YOU IN RELIANCE ON THE WEB SITE.
5. LINKS TO OTHER WEB SITES FROM THIS WEB SITE.
You may, through hypertext or other computer links, gain access to Web sites operated by persons other than Standard & Poor's. Such hyperlinks are provided for your reference and convenience only, and are the exclusive responsibility of such Web Sites' owners. You agree that Standard & Poor's is not responsible for the content or operation of such Web sites, and that Standard & Poor's shall have no liability to you or any other person or entity for the use of third party Web sites. Except as described below, a hyperlink from this Web Site to another Web site does not imply or mean that Standard & Poor's endorses the content on that Web site or the operator or operations of that site. You are solely responsible for determining the extent to which you may use any content at any other Web sites to which you link from this Web Site. Standard & Poor's assumes no responsibility for the use of third party software on the Web Site and shall have no liability whatsoever to any person or entity for the accuracy or completeness of any outcome generated by such software.
6. TIMELINESS OF CONTENT
The Content displayed on the Web Site, including, but not limited to, reports and other opinions, are current as of the date appearing on the report and are subject to change without notice. Unless indicated otherwise, ratings are updated periodically by Standard & Poor's to reflect changes in the market and other criteria. However, Standard & Poor's does not guarantee or warrant the accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of any ratings you access using the Web Site.
7. THE USER'S CONTENT
The User grants to The McGraw-Hill Companies the non-exclusive right to use all material entered into the Web Site by the User (other than third-party material transmitted through private electronic mail) in any of The McGraw-Hill Companies' print or electronic publications.
Users entering material into the Web Site are responsible for the content of that material. Neither Standard & Poor's nor The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. has any responsibility for Other Content, including the content of any messages or information posted by Users or others, or for the content of information accessible via direct or indirect hyperlinks from the Standard & Poor's Web Site. However, Standard & Poor's retains the right, which it may or may not exercise in its sole discretion, to review, edit, or delete Other Content that Standard & Poor's deems to be illegal, offensive, or otherwise inappropriate.
You may not input or distribute any material through the Standard & Poor's Web Site that is promotional in nature, including solicitations for funds or business, without the prior written authorization of Standard & Poor's.
The User agrees to indemnify Standard & Poor's and The McGraw-Hill Companies from all damages, liabilities, costs, charges and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, that Standard & Poor's, The McGraw-Hill Companies, their affiliates, employees, and authorized representatives may incur as a result of either: (i) the User's breach of this Agreement; or (ii) material entered into the Standard & Poor's Web Site with the use of the User's screen name or password.
8. ADDITIONAL LEGAL TERMS
This Agreement will continue until terminated by either Standard & Poor's or you. Either party can terminate the Agreement by notifying the other party by telephone or electronic mail of the decision to terminate.
Standard & Poor's may discontinue or change the Standard & Poor's Web Site, or its availability to you, at any time.
This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties relating to the Web Site and supersedes any and all other agreements, oral or in writing, with respect to the Web Site. The failure of Standard & Poor's to insist upon strict compliance with any term of this Agreement shall not be construed as a waiver with regard to any subsequent failure to comply with such term or provision. This Agreement is personal to you, and you may not assign your rights or obligations to anyone. If any provision in this Agreement is invalid or unenforceable under applicable law, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect. This Agreement, your rights and obligations, and all actions contemplated by this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the United States of America and New York State, as if the Agreement was a contract wholly entered into and wholly performed within New York State. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.
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