Author Terms Of Service

 
PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY. THESE AUTHOR TERMS OF SERVICE, AS AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME (“Terms”), ARE A BINDING AGREEMENT (“Agreement”) BETWEEN YOU (the person who is submitting or has submitted content to us, referred to as “You”) AND SKILLBITES LLC (referred to as “SkillBites”, or we or us). This Agreement includes, in addition to the terms set forth below, the Pricing and Payment Terms, the Formatting Guidelines, all rules and policies for using the Service provided on the SkillBites.net website (collectively, the “Service Policies”) and the Privacy Notice.

By using the service available at www.skillbites.net and affiliated domains (collectively referred to as the “Site”), You agree to the terms governing the applications, features and functionality available on or through the Site (the “Service”). If you do not agree with these terms, do not use the Service. SkillBites reserves the right to change any of the terms and conditions contained in these Terms or any policies or guidelines governing the Site or Service at any time and in its sole discretion. Any changes will be effective thirty (30) days after posting of the notice of the revisions on the Site. Each notice of changes to these Terms will be posted on the Site for thirty (30) days. You are responsible for reviewing the notice and any applicable changes. Changes to referenced policies and guidelines may be posted without any other notice to you. Your continued use of this site and the Service following SkillBite’s posting of any changes will constitute your acceptance of such changes or modifications. If you do not agree to any changes to these Terms, do not continue to use the Service or the Site.

The following describes the rights and responsibilities of You, as the person or entity who posts a Work (as defined below), and SkillBites.

1. Some Definitions.

  1. These Terms may use the term You, Author, Author’s Agent and Publisher interchangeably, and unless the context indicates otherwise, each of these terms includes the other terms as well.
  2. The term “Author” refers to the person who created the Work.
  3. The term “Publisher” refers to the person or entity that is authorized to publish the Work.
  4. The term “Author’s Agent” refers to the Author’s duly authorized representative, who is fully authorized and empowered to act on behalf of the Author in all matters described in this Agreement, and who may be authorized to collect and receive directly the monies otherwise payable to Author (or Publisher).
  5. The term “End User” refers to users of the Site who review or purchase any Work.
  6. The term “Service Fee” refers to the fee described in Section 14(c) below.
  7. Unless specifically indicated to refer to an individual Work, the term “Work” refers to each and every submission that You make to sell on the Site.

2. Eligibility. Use of the Service is limited to parties that lawfully can enter into and form contracts under applicable law. For example, minors are not allowed to use the Service. You represent and warrant that: (a) if you are a business, you are duly organized, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the country in which your business is registered and that you are registering for the Service within such country; and (b) you have all requisite right, power and authority to enter into this Agreement and perform your obligations hereunder.

3. Account Security. You are responsible for: (i) keeping your account password confidential and secured, (ii) preventing unauthorized access to your account; and (iii) keeping the email address associated with your account current. You acknowledge that it is important to keep the email address associated with your account current because although you may be able to log into your account using an old email address, you will not receive important messages from SkillBites regarding the Service. You accept full responsibility for all activities that occur within your account while you are using the Service or the Site. You consent to receive electronic communications from SkillBites whether addressed to the email address associated with your account or posted on the Site. You acknowledge and agree that any communication via email or by postings on the Site satisfies any legal requirement that such communications be made in writing and that notice be given to you.

4. Account Information. You represent that all information you provide to us in connection with establishing your account, such as your name, address and email, was accurate when you provided it, and you agree to keep it current as long as you use the Service. You may maintain only one account with the Service at a time. If we terminate your account, you will not establish a new account. You will not use false identities or impersonate any other person or use a username or password you are not authorized to use. You authorize us, directly or through third parties, to make any inquiries we consider appropriate to verify account information you provide. Your personal information will be collected, stored, and used in keeping with our Privacy Policy.

5. The Grant
Subject to Section 13 hereof, You hereby grant and assign to SkillBites the exclusive worldwide right to publish, distribute and sell (“Publish”), and to license others to do so, the work identified on the front page of your submission (the “Work”)in any commercially available electronic or digitized format or on any electronic device platforms (including but not limited to hand-held devices and computers) whether now existing or hereafter created or developed, as well as the hardcover or paperback editions, audio editions, video editions, multimedia editions and foreign language translations, until the first year Service Fee is paid; after that Service Fee is paid, you may change the grant to a non-exclusive worldwide right upon providing written notice thereof to SkillBites. You further authorize and license SkillBites to: (i) convert or render the Work, including without limitation any text, information, data, software, photographs, graphs, videos, typefaces, graphics, music, sounds, and other material contained therein, into a format suitable for the sale, distribution, marketing, display and promotion of the Work hereunder; (ii) store the Work on servers hosted by or on behalf of SkillBites; (iii) index and catalogue the Work; (iv) allow End Users to copy, paste, print, email, annotate, view online and share the Work; (v) bundle the Work with related content available for sale from SkillBites; and (vi) use the Work as otherwise provided herein.

6. Work Delivery, Acceptance, and Withdrawal.

  1. Delivery. You shall deliver to SkillBites, at your own expense and in accordance with the Service Policies, which includes our Formatting Guidelines, each Work you would like to distribute through the Service in a format compatible for sale, marketing, display, distribution, licensing and promotion by SkillBites as set forth in the Service Policies. Any electronic files or physical content or media you deliver to us will be retained by SkillBites and will not be returned to you. All Work delivered to SkillBites must be free of computer viruses, worms, and any other potentially harmful or disrupting code.
  2. Content Requirements. You must ensure that all Work content is in compliance with our Formatting Guidelines at the time you submit it to us. If you discover that content you have submitted does not comply, you must immediately withdraw the content or replace it with content that complies through the procedures for Work withdrawal or re-submission as listed on the website. We are entitled to remove or modify the cover artwork, metadata and product description (collectively, the “Product Data”) you provide for your Work for any reason, including if we determine that it does not comply with our Formatting Guidelines. You may not include in any Work advertisements or other content that is primarily intended to advertise or promote products or services. You must ensure that all Product Data you provide to us are current, complete, and accurate. If you discover that any Product Data you have provided to us for a Work is inaccurate or incomplete, you must promptly submit corrected Product Data to us through the procedures for Product Data submission as listed on the website.
  3. Work Withdrawal. Subject to Section 14(c) below, You may withdraw from sale any Work from the Service using the procedures for Work withdrawal as listed in the Formatting Guidelines or on the Site. If you request that a Work be withdrawn from sale, SkillBites will make commercially reasonable efforts to terminate the future sale of that Work on the Site by the fifth (5) business day after you submitted your request for withdrawal, provided however that SkillBites shall continue to be able to distribute such Work to past purchasers of that Work. If You are unable to access the site, You may notify SkillBites in writing to remove the Work. If the Work has been distributed through channel partners’ sites, the removal from the channel partners’ digital shelves may take several weeks. SkillBites will do its best to assist You in getting the Work removed, and to ensure that You receive full payment for sales that may occur after account termination. After You have unpublished your Work from the Site, and after You have confirmed all channel partners have removed the Work, then You may contact SkillBites if You want your account deleted (and please inform SkillBites you have confirmed the Work is no longer in the channel). We reserve the right, upon any Work being unpublished, to set off against any payments to be made to You the unpaid balance of the Service Fee for that Work and any other amount owed by You to SkillBites; and if the amount owed to SkillBites exceeds the payment to be made to You, then You shall pay the difference to SkillBites within fourteen (14) days of notification thereof.
  4. Work Rejection. SkillBites is entitled to determine what content we accept and distribute through the Service in our sole discretion. If we request that You provide additional information relating to your Work, such as information confirming that You have all rights required to permit our distribution of the Work, You will promptly provide the information requested, and You represent and warrant that any information and documentation You provide to us in response to such a request will be current, complete, and accurate. You authorize us, directly or through third parties, to make any inquiries we consider appropriate to verify your rights to permit our distribution of the Work and the accuracy of the information or documentation You provide to us with respect to those rights.
  5. Reformatting. SkillBites retains the right to determine, at its sole discretion, whether or not your Work (including, but not limited to your Work file, cover image, and Product Data) is compliant with our Formatting Guidelines. The Formatting Guidelines prohibit, for instance, content that is illegal, libelous, infringing, offensive, harmful or potentially harmful, threatening, harassing, legally obscene, defamatory, or intentionally hateful in any regard. SkillBites also reserves the right to review any Work and return the Work to Author for editing before it agrees to Publish the Work if the Work does not meet the standards in the Formatting Guidelines. We may, in our discretion, reformat your Work to make it compatible with the Service, and You acknowledge that certain unintentional formatting errors may occur in the process of reformatting of your Work. We will not make any material changes to the text of your Work without your consent. If any such errors or changes do occur, You may resubmit the affected Work with the errors or changes remedied, or remove the affected Work from further sale under the Service as provided in Section 6(c) herein, and such resubmittal or removal will be your only remedy for such errors or changes. We may also, in our discretion, correct any errors existing in a Work file as You deliver it to us. If we have returned your Work to you for non-compliance with the Formatting Guidelines, we reserve the right to charge you for the cost of reviewing your re-submitted Work.

7. Distribution to Channel Partners. Upon payment of the applicable fee or selection of the Gold or Platinum Author Package, SkillBites will convert the Work to the appropriate format to distribute your Work to major online retailers (called herein channel partners).
8. Marketing.

  1. We will have sole discretion in determining all marketing and promotions related to the Service and may conduct marketing and promotions related to the sale of your Work through the Service. You agree that we may use (and allow our contractors and agents to use) the cover of your Work in any and all marketing, promotional, or packaging materials for any software, website, or device through which your Work is made available or accessible, directly and through multiple channels of distribution, in any media now known or later developed, without further need for permission from You, and without further royalties or payments to You, and that on occasion (anticipated to be once or twice each year) we may offer all eBooks or other products on our site for sale at no charge, and no royalty shall be due for such sales. SkillBites may make each Work available for online sale and downloads in one or more formats. Prior to general commercial distribution, SkillBites may distribute or cause to be distributed free of charge to some employees or agents of SkillBites copies of each Work in any format for purposes of testing the electronic distribution of such Work in such format. SkillBites reserves the right to distribute and display via download all front matter of a Work and up to fifteen percent (15%) of a Work’s content (nonexclusive of a Work’s front matter) free as a sampler.
  2. SkillBites shall have the right to distribute samples of the Work in any form of media, including printed media, in order to promote (a) the Author or the Work and/or (b) the SkillBites service. These samples will be licensed for free, non-commercial use, duplication and sharing.
  3. SkillBites shall have the right to drive traffic to the Work on the Site through (a) general Search Engine Optimization services (b) crawlable, promotional hypertext links or (c) arrangements with third parties which make searchable certain sample portions of the Work.

9. Compliance with laws. You are responsible for knowing and following all local, national, or international laws regarding publishing content that are relevant to You or your business.

10. Pricing. The list price for each Work You submit to us will be $4.95 unless we agree otherwise (the “List Price”). If we offer your Work for sale in a different currency than US Dollars (the “Sale Currency”), we may convert the List Price to the Sale Currency at an exchange rate determined by us, and periodically update the converted List Price in order to reflect current exchange rates. If we convert the List Price to another Sale Currency, the converted List Price in the Sale Currency will be your List Price with respect to the offer and sale of your Work in the Sale Currency for all purposes under this Agreement. For example, your Royalties will be calculated based on the converted List Price in the Sale Currency. The List Price is exclusive of value-added or similar taxes which are included within the purchase price of a product (“VAT”). We may add applicable VAT to the List Price to determine the List Price that we display.

11. Infringement.

  1. Removal of Infringing or Defamatory Work of Author. SkillBites takes claims of infringement seriously and may take immediate action upon notice from someone claiming to be an infringed party. Generally, upon receipt of a written notice from a party claiming to have been infringed or defamed by Author’s material (or someone purporting to be his agent, publisher, attorney in fact or assign), SkillBites will remove the Author’s Work and reserves the right to remove any and all information about the Author, the Author’s Work or the publisher from the Site.
  2. Infringement by Others Upon Author’s Work. If an Author or copyright holder learns that a third party is violating Author’s copyright or pirating or illegally distributing a SkillBites-published work, the Author shall inform SkillBites; however, it is the Author’s responsibility to seek relief from the offending parties. If the offending party’s work is published on SkillBites, SkillBites will remove it per Section 11(a) above.
  3. Rights Clearances and Other Legal Matters. It is Author’s responsibility to secure permissions to the Work prior to the time Author submits such Work if any material from the Work belongs to, or has been licensed to, someone else.

12. Copyright. The copyright in the Work shall belong to the Author or the party that Author cites as the copyright holder. Author shall be solely responsible for filing its copyrights and any other intellectual property with the appropriate governmental body. It is the Author’s responsibility to place a copyright notice on the copyright page or some other prominent place in the Work.

13. Formats of Digital Conversions. Author shall submit the Work as a Microsoft Word .doc file. SkillBites shall utilize its proprietary technology to convert the Work into multiple ebook formats, and publish the Work for use in sampling, distributing and selling the Work. You are not authorized to independently sell or distribute SkillBites-generated file conversions outside of the Site or SkillBites distribution network without first receiving written permission from SkillBites (in other words, You cannot use SkillBites as a free file conversion service so You can sell the files elsewhere); provided, however, that after you have paid the annual Service Fee to SkillBites, You are entitled to sell your eBook on your own website, and may distribute complimentary copies of your eBook. You acknowledge that if You violate these terms, You may forfeit any accrued earnings at SkillBites, your account may be deleted without notification and You may owe SkillBites the outstanding balance of the annual Service Fee for each Work that you are selling in violation of this requirement.

14. Royalties and Fees. So long as the proper copyright protection subsists in the Work, no infringement notices have been filed, and revenues directly attributable to the Work are being collected by SkillBites, You shall be entitled to compensation in accordance with the following terms:

  1. Compensation.

    2. The Royalty to You will vary depending on the Author Package you select, and the sales outlet, as set forth in the Pricing Schedule. Royalties are calculated on the Net Proceeds (see subsection (b) below for the definition of “Net Proceeds”), subject to subsections (c) and (d) below.

  2. Net Proceeds.

    3. “Net proceeds” shall mean sales price paid and received less payment processing fees, affiliate fees, retailer discounts and fees, taxes, costs due to erroneous or fraudulent transactions, credit card charge-backs and associated fees. Therefore, 60% of “Net Proceeds” does not equal 60% of revenues from a Work’s sales. Payment processing fees, for example, include a transaction fee charged to SkillBites by our payment processing service, and this fee will be deducted from the gross revenue as part of the calculation to obtain the Net Proceeds.

  3. Fee.

    4. You shall pay SkillBites an upfront fee plus an annualServiceFee for each Work as set forth in the Author Guidelines and Pricing Schedule, in accordance with the Author Package you select. The annual Service Fee may be paid on a monthly basis at the rate specified in the Author Package You select; provided, however, that if You withdraw a Work prior to payment of the full first year Service Fee, then You shall pay the remaining balance of the Service Fee to SkillBites within thirty (30) days from withdrawal of the Work. SkillBites may charge the amount due on the credit card provided by You for this purpose or may withhold the amount due from any Royalty payment due You.SkillBites reserves the right to withdraw any Work for which the Service Fee is not paid within twenty (20) days from notice of payment due.

  4. Royalty Exceptions.

    5. If the services you have purchased from SkillBites do not include print, audio and/or foreign translation of your Work, You shall have the option of (a) arranging for the printing, audio recording and/or foreign translation of yourWork to be sold on the SkillBites website, (b) having SkillBites arrange for the printing, audio recording and/or foreign translation, or (c) waiving your right to have the Work printed, recorded or translated. In the event that You choose option (a), You will be provided with instructions, and the resulting product must meet the requirements of those instructions to be eligible for sale on the SkillBites website. In the event that You choose option (b), You shall pay SkillBites its then current charge for such service. Such fee shall be paid prior to performance of such service. If You choose option (c), then You give SkillBites all rights to the print, audio recording of the Author’s Work, and if SkillBites undertakes to have the Work printed, recorded or translated, then SkillBites will be entitled to retain 100% of the revenue from the sale of the print, audio or translated version of the Work, as applicable.

  5. Limitation on Claims.

    6. You may not maintain any action or proceeding against us in respect of any statement or payment unless You commence that action or suit within six (6) months after the date the statement or payment is rendered. Any such action or proceeding shall be limited to a determination of the amount of monies, if any, payable by us to You for the accounting periods in question, and your sole remedy shall be the recovery of those monies with no interest thereon.

  6. Withholding.

    7. Upon termination of this Agreement, we may withhold all Royalty Payments due for a period of three months from the date they would otherwise be payable in order to ensure our ability to off-set any refunds or other offsets we are entitled to take against the Royalty Payments.

  7. Taxes.

    8. In the event that the sale or delivery of any Work in any format to any end user is subject to any sales, use, good and services, value added or similar tax under applicable law, SkillBites will collect such tax and remit it to the taxing authorities. You are responsible for any income or other taxes due and payable resulting from payments to You by SkillBites under this Agreement. Accordingly, unless otherwise stated, the amounts due to You hereunder are inclusive of any taxes that may apply to such payments. SkillBites maintains the right, however, to deduct or withhold any and all applicable taxes from amounts due by them to You, and the amounts due, as reduced by such deductions or withholdings, will constitute full payment and settlement to You.

15. Statements and Payments of Author Royalties:
SkillBites pays You (or Author or Author’s Agent, as the case may be) Royalty Payments less any offsetsby check or electronic funds transfer on a quarterly basis, approximately 40 days following the close of each calendar quarter, provided that accrued earnings are $50.00 or more. If accrued earnings are less than the threshold, SkillBites may delay payment until such quarterly period as the total earnings due exceed the threshold. If SkillBites overpays earnings, such as in cases when fraudulent or unauthorized purchases are charged back to SkillBites after earnings payments are made, then SkillBites will deduct the funds owed from the author’s, agent’s, or publisher’s aggregate accrued earnings. If the amount owed exceeds the author’s, agent’s, or publisher’s aggregate accrued earnings, the author (or agent) agrees to remit a payment back to SkillBites within 20 days of notification to adjust the overpayment. SkillBites will provide a statement showing the calculation of the earnings for each quarterfor which there have been sales of the Work. SkillBites shall be entitled to interest at the rate of 1.5%/month on any amount owed to SkillBites and not timely paid.

16. Tax withholding: The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires SkillBites to withhold taxes from net proceeds in cases where proper tax information is not provided. For US residents and US businesses, SkillBites requires an SSN or EIN, plus a valid US postal mailing address. If US-based authors and publishers do not provide valid tax ID information, then the IRS requires SkillBites to withhold 28% of earnings which SkillBites must remit to the IRS within days of transacting the payments to authors/publishers. For authors and publishers outside the US, the automatic withholding rate is 30%. Many countries have tax treaties with the United States that entitle residents and businesses located in these countries to receive either partial or full exemption from the 30% tax withholding. To qualify, authors and publishers should first check if their country has a tax treaty (see the Support Center link below). If a tax treaty is in effect, then the author or publisher must apply for and obtain an ITIN from the US IRS. Following receipt of the ITIN, the author or publisher must complete the W8-BEN form (or related form, see IRS instructions), sign it, and return it to SkillBites.

17. Author’s Warranties. The warranties and representations contained in this Agreement extend to Author and its licensees and successors and assigns. By uploading content to SkillBites, You agree that any violation of the warranties below may result in immediate deletion of your account and the forfeiture of accrued earnings, in addition to any other legal remedies that SkillBites may have.

  1. By submitting Your Work to SkillBites for publication, You, the Author or the Author You represent (if You are an Agent or Publisher) or Author’s Publisher or Agent or Distributor, warrant and represent that the Work is complete and the Author:
    1. is the only author of the Work;
    2. is the sole owner of the rights herein granted;
    3. has not assigned, pledged, or encumbered such rights and has not entered into any agreement which would conflict with the rights granted to SkillBites herein; and agrees not to do any of the aforementioned without first unpublishing the Work at SkillBites; and
    4. has full right, power, and authority to enter into this Agreement and to grant the rights granted herein.
  2. You further warrant that the Work contains no materials which:
    1. violate any right of privacy, are libelous or violate any personal right or other right of any kind of any person or entity (this includes publishing a person’s private email address without their permission);
    2. would violate any of Your contracts or would disclose any information given to You on the understanding that it would not be published or disclosed;
    3. plagiarize or pirate any other work or infringe upon any copyright, trademark or other proprietary right;
    4. are injurious to End-Users or others including but not limited to recipes, formulae or instructions;
    5. violate any local, state or federal laws;
    6. advocate hateful, discriminatory or racist views or actions toward others;
    7. advocate or condone violence against another person, whether or not the other party is a willing participant;
    8. advocate illegal activities;
    9. contain images or illustrations depicting individuals perpetrating graphic violence upon another individual or individuals;
    10. contain hyperlinks to affiliate marketing pages, especially if the Work is published for the sole intent of publishing hyperlinked content that directs readers to affiliate marketing pages;
    11. advocate or promote “systems” about how to make money on the Internet by publishing eBooks;
    12. contain SEO keyword spam, either in your manuscript or your metadata tags; and
    13. contain graphic images of nudity (either photographic or illustrated) or persons involved in sex acts, or of children or underage minors engaged in sexual acts or situations, witnessing such situations, considering sexual acts, or thinking about sexual acts.
  3. You further warrant the Work meets the following standards for originality:
    1. the Work is not the same Work You previously published at SkillBites, then republished as a new book for the sole purpose of having it appear as a new book again. You must upload all new versions of previously published SkillBites Work in accordance with the upload instructions in the Formatting Guidelines.
    2. the Work does not include word-for-word scrapes – or is not a compilation – from Wikipedia or other public domain, government or commercial services;
    3. the Work does not and will not appear elsewhere on the Internet authored by people other than yourself;
    4. none of your Work content, either in part or in its entirety, is sourced from “Private Label” rights, articles, eBooks or information sources which license the same content to other people; and
    5. the Work does not contain or comprise machine-generated language translations (all translated books must be human-translated and edited, not translated by language translation software such as Google Translate);
  4. You further warrant the Work represents a complete work:
    1. this is not a work-in-progress;
    2. the uploaded file is not a partial sample or sample chapter, or is not a collection of sample chapters, or not simply a catalog advertising other books; and
    3. the Work is not a short serial.
  5. You further warrant that
    1. You have expertise in the subject matter contained in the Work and that the content of the Work is accurate; and
    2. the use, with reasonable care and skill, of any instruction, material, or advice contained in the Work is not likely to result in personal injury or property damage and the Work includes appropriate warnings and safety precautions concerning any particular hazards that may be involved in the use of any such instruction, material or advice.
  7. You further warrant thatany electronic files You deliver to SkillBites are free of computer viruses, worms, and any other potentially harmful or disrupting code.

18. Indemnification.

  1. General. You will indemnify and hold SkillBites and its licensees, successors and assigns, and its and their distributors, customers, officers, directors, members, employees and agents, harmless against any expense (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees and disbursements) or judgment, settlement or other liability arising out of any claim or legal proceeding asserting claims contrary to any warranty or representation made by You in this Agreement, or arising out of any claim or legal proceeding asserting claims concerning the content of any Work.
  2. Notice of Claim. Upon receiving notice of any claim, demand, action or suit or other legal proceeding alleging facts inconsistent with or contrary to any of the warranties or representations contained herein or otherwise relating to the content of a Work, SkillBites shall have the right to withhold any sums payable to You or the Author in reasonable amounts as security for the payment of your potential obligations pursuant to the indemnity contained in this Section 18.

19. Ownership Rights. SkillBites retains all ownership rights in and to the copyrights and all other rights and interests in and to the Service, the Site, and all related content thereof. SkillBites is solely responsible for, and will have full discretion with respect to the terms, features, and operation of the Service and the marketing therefore, provided that our use of the Work pursuant to the rights granted herein will be subject to the terms of this Agreement. In the event that You provide suggestions, advice, ideas or other feedback (“Feedback”) to SkillBites in conjunction with the Service, SkillBites shall be free to use and exploit such Feedback without restriction and without any need to remunerate or otherwise compensate You. SkillBitesretains the right to determine the content, appearance, design, functionality and all other aspects of the Site and the Service (including the right to re-design, modify, remove and alter the content, appearance, design, functionality, and other aspects of the Site and the Service and any element, aspect, portion or feature thereof, from time to time).

20. DRM, Piracy and the “Trust” System. SkillBites is a strong proponent of author’s rights, and the right of authors and copyright owners to receive compensation for their digitally published Works. Therefore, SkillBites strongly discourages piracy/infringement of Author Work and encourages customers to purchase licensed copies. Although there are some mechanisms that deter customers from piracy, they cannot completely prevent piracy or infringement. Moreover, customers resent the limitations that such mechanisms place on their ability to consume the Author’s Work and thus they detract from the customer’s interest in purchasing additional products. Accordingly, SkillBites does not publish works containing digital rights management schemes that limit the customer’s ability to consume Author’s Work as they see fit. Therefore, SkillBites cannot completely prevent piracy/infringement of Author’s Work. When You list a Work on SkillBites, You are trusting the consumer to honor the legal copyright. You understand that SkillBites is distributing the Work in the manner described herein.

21. WARRANTY DISCLAIMER. The Service is provided to You “AS IS” and “WITH ALL FAULTS.” THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE USE OF THE SERVICE OR ANY MODIFICATIONS THERETO IS WITH YOU. SKILLBITES DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS. SKILLBITES MAKES NO OTHER REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION:

  1. THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT;
  2. THAT THE SITE OR THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE, ACCESSIBLE, UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR OPERATE WITHOUT ERROR;
  3. THAT THE INFORMATION, CONTENT, MATERIALS, OR PRODUCTS INCLUDED ON THE SITE WILL BE AS REPRESENTED BY YOU, OR THAT THE WORK WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR SALE; AND
  4. ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.

TO THE FULL EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, SKILLBITES DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL SUCH WARRANTIES. TO THE EXTENT THAT SKILLBITES MAY NOT, AS A MATTER OF APPLICABLE LAW, DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, THE SCOPE AND DURATION OF SUCH WARRANTY SHALL BE THE MINIMUM PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

22. LIMITATION ON DAMAGES. IN NO CASE SHALL SKILLBITES BE LIABLE TO YOU, AUTHOR OR ANY OTHER THIRD PARTY FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSSES OF BUSINESS, REVENUE OR ANTICIPATED PROFITS. THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY WILL APPLY REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION UNDER WHICH SUCH DAMAGES ARE SOUGHT, WHETHER FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHER TORT, WHETHER OR NOT THE PARTIES WERE OR SHOULD HAVE BEEN AWARE OR ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE, REGARDLESS OF ANY NEGLIGENCE ON THE PART OF SKILLBITES AND REGARDLESS OF WHETHER ANY REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. IN NO CASE SHALL SKILLBITES OR ITS RETAILERS BE LIABLE FOR ERRORS OF ANY KIND THAT RESULT IN SHIPMENT OR AVAILABILITY DELAYS, MISPRICINGS, OR INACCURATE OR INCOMPLETE PRODUCT LISTINGS. It is the your responsibility to monitor retailer listings and report errors to SkillBites, in which case SkillBites will strive to work with the retailer to correct the error. IN THE EVENT THAT SKILLBITES IS FOUND LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER, YOU HEREBY EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT IN NO EVENT WILL SKILLBITES’ LIABILITY TO YOU EXCEED THE AMOUNTS COLLECTED BY SKILLBITES FOR THE WORK IN QUESTION FOR THE SIX MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE LIABILITY.

23. Term and Termination. The term of this Agreement will begin upon your acceptance of it and will continue until it is terminated by us or by You. We are entitled to terminate this Agreement and your access to your Service account at any time without advance notice to You. Subject to Section 14(c) hereof, You are entitled to terminate the Service at any time by providing notice to us in accordance with our then-current procedures for account termination, in which event we will cease selling your Work on the Site within five (5) business days from the date You provide us notice of termination. We may also suspend your Service account at any time with or without notice to You, for any reason in our sole discretion. Following termination or suspension, we may fulfill any customer orders for your Work pending as of the date of termination or suspension, and we may continue to maintain digital copies of your Work in order to provide continuing access to or re-downloads of your Work or otherwise support customers who have purchased a Work prior to termination or suspension.

24. MISCELLANEOUS.

  1. Neither Party shall be liable for failing or delaying performance of its obligations resulting from any condition beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to, governmental action, acts of terrorism, earthquake, fire, flood or other acts of God, labor conditions, power failures, and Internet disturbances.
  2. The Parties hereto are and shall remain independent contractors, and nothing herein shall be deemed to create a partnership or joint venture between the Parties hereto.
  3. Any notice or other communication to be given hereunder will be in writing and given: (i) by us via email, via a posting on the Site or via a message through your Service account; or (ii) by You via email to info@skillbites.net with a hard copy by mail to SkillBites, Attention: General Counsel, PO Box 352, Valley Forge, PA 19481-0352 or to such other addresses as we may specify in the Service Policies. The date of receipt will, in the case of email, be deemed the date on which such notice is transmitted.
  4. This Agreement is the entire agreement between the parties concerning the subject matter hereof.
  5. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. If any portion of this Agreement is held invalid, the parties agree that such invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Agreement.
  6. No agency, partnership, joint venture or other joint relationship is created hereby.
  7. Venue for all purposes hereunder shall be in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and the parties hereto hereby consent to such jurisdiction and venue. If any action or other legal proceeding relating to this Agreement or the enforcement of any provision of this Agreement is brought against any party hereto, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs and disbursements (in addition to any other relief to which the prevailing party may be entitled).
  8. The following provisions of this Agreement will survive termination of this Agreement: Sections 6, 11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and any other provisions that, by their nature, are intended to survive. All rights to Works acquired by customers will survive termination.
  9. By using the Service You acknowledge that You have read this Agreement, understand it and will be bound by its terms and conditions.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto are deemed to have executed this Agreement as of the date and the year upon which the Author first approved such Terms of Service.

As amended 3/1/13

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