User Agreement

Reader Comments

Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement.

  • Keep it civil and stay on topic.
  • No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.
  • People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.

User Agreement

This User Agreement (this “Agreement”) is a legal agreement between you and PetTalk Blogs LLC (“PetTalk Blogs,” “we” or “our”) providing, among other things, the terms and conditions for your use of the PetTalk Blogs Web sites, (collectively, the “Service”). Web sites that are governed by this User Agreement include DCPetTalk.com.

Please read this Agreement carefully. By using the Service you agree to abide by all of the terms of this Agreement. If you do not agree to, or cannot comply with this Agreement, please do not use the Service. We may, from time to time, change this Agreement. We will post a copy of the changed Agreement on the Service. Your continued use of the Service constitutes your agreement to abide by this Agreement as changed. Any breach of this Agreement may result in termination of your access to the Service, without notice, in addition to the other remedies available to PetTalk Blogs LLC.

Ownership

All of the information, content, services and software displayed on, transmitted through, or used in connection with the Service, including, for example, news articles, opinions, reviews, text, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips, video, html, source and object code, software, data, and the like (collectively, the “Content”), as well as its selection and arrangement, is owned by PetTalk Blogs LLC and its affiliates, licensors or suppliers (excluding any “User Content,” as defined below, which may be owned by others). The Service is protected by copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws of the United States of America and applicable international intellectual property laws.

Use Of The Service

You may use the Content online only, and solely for your personal, non-commercial use and you may download or print a single copy of any portion of the Content solely for your personal, non-commercial use, provided you do not remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from such Content. However, PetTalk Blogs LLC does not represent or warrant that use of any Content will not infringe rights of third parties. If you operate a Web site and wish to link to the Service, you may do so provided you agree to remove such link immediately upon our request. The permitted use described in this paragraph is contingent upon your compliance at all times with this Agreement. No other use is permitted without our prior written authorization. Further, you agree not to decompile, reverse engineer or disassemble any software or other products or processes accessible through the Service in any way that affects a user’s experience, and not to use any data mining, data gathering or extraction methods.

Requests to use Content for any purposes other than as permitted in this Agreement should be directed to Admin@dcpettalk.com. In certain cases, you may be able to obtain a license to use individual stories that appear on the Service through online functionality we have specifically designated (e.g., to e-mail a story to a friend or to purchase the rights to reproduce a story for other use). In such cases, we will provide the license information or a link on the Content itself. If you do not see such license information or link, you should assume you do not have permission to use the Content.

Protecting Copyrights And Other Intellectual Property

We respect the intellectual property of others, and require that our users do the same. You may not upload, embed, post, e-mail, transmit or otherwise make available any material that infringes any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights of any person or entity. We will terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.

If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any User Content or other Content infringes upon your copyrights, you may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) by providing our Copyright Agent with the following information in writing (see 17 U.S.C § 512(c)(3) for further detail): (a) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works; (b) identification of the claimed infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material on the Service; (c) information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an e-mail address; (d) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; (e) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notification is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf; and (f) your physical or electronic signature. Our Copyright Agent for notification of claimed infringement can be reached as follows: P.O. Box 7804, McLean, VA 22106, E-mail: Admin@dcpettalk.com.

User Content

Any comments, posts, feedback, notes, messages, images, audio, materials, ideas, suggestions or other communications you submit on or through the Service (collectively “User Content”) are not private. By submitting User Content on or through the Service, you grant PetTalk Blogs LLC and its affiliates an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual right and license to use, copy, modify, display, archive, store, distribute, reproduce and create derivative works based upon such User Content, in any form, media, software or technology of any kind now existing or developed in the future. By submitting such User Content on or through the Service, you are confirming that (a) you are the sole author of the User Content and the User Content is original with you and not copied in whole or in part from any other work; (b) you have obtained all necessary permissions associated with the User Content, including without limitation permissions relating to copyrights, trademarks, rights of publicity and/or rights of privacy; and (c) the User Content is not libelous, obscene or otherwise in violation of this Agreement. By submitting any such User Content on or through the Service, you grant PetTalk Blogs LLC and its affiliates permission to use your name and any other information (as provided by you) to attribute such User Content to you. Without limiting the generality of the previous sentence, and subject to our Privacy Policy, you authorize PetTalk Blogs LLC and its affiliates to share the User Content across all affiliated Web sites, and to use your name and any other information in connection with its use of such User Content. You also grant PetTalk Blogs LLC and its affiliates the right to use any material, information, ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques contained in such User Content for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to developing, manufacturing and marketing products using or inspired by such User Content. We are not responsible for the similarity of any of our Content or programming in any media to User Content submitted by you. All rights granted in this section are granted without the need for additional compensation of any sort to you.

Interactive Areas Of The Service

The comment boards, blogs, community calendars, and other interactive areas of the Service are provided to users as interesting and stimulating forums to express their opinions and share ideas and information. We expect people to differ—judgment and opinion are subjective—and we encourage free speech and the exchange of ideas. But, by using these areas of the Service, you are participating in a community that is intended for all of our users.

Therefore, we reserve the right, but undertake no duty, to review, edit, move, or delete any User Content provided for display or placed on the Service, at our sole and absolute discretion, without notice to the person who submitted such User Content.

You may be held liable for any illegal or prohibited User Content made accessible on or through the Service or to other users, including, for example, infringing, defamatory, or offensive materials. So that the Service is available for all users to enjoy, you may not, and hereby represent and warrant that you will not, post, transmit, e-mail or otherwise make accessible on or through the Service any User Content that:

  • Is unlawful, harmful, threatening, tortuous, defamatory, libelous, abusive, disparaging, pedophilic, pornographic, obscene, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or malicious;
  • Contains hate propaganda or promotes discrimination or violence against any people on account of their race, national origin, religion, age, gender, disability, or sexual orientation;
  • Is or could be harmful to minors;
  • Harasses or advocates harassment of another person;
  • Involves the transmission of “junk mail,” “chain letters,” or unsolicited mass mailing or “spamming”
  • Promotes information that you know is false, misleading, or promotes illegal activities or conduct;
  • Is or promotes an illegal or unauthorized copy of another person’s work, such as providing pirated computer programs or links to them, or providing information to circumvent manufacture-installed copy-protect devices;
  • Infringes any patent, copyright, trademark, service mark, trade secret, or other proprietary right of any other party;
  • Contains restricted password only access pages, or hidden pages or images (those not linked to or from another accessible page);
  • Provides material that exploits people under the age of 18 in a sexual or violent manner, or solicits personal information from anyone under 18;
  • Provides instructional information about illegal activities such as making or buying illegal weapons, or providing or creating computer viruses;
  • Contains a software virus or any other code files or programs that are designed to or have the ability to interrupt, destroy, compromise, or otherwise limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment whether owned by PetTalk Blogs LLC or any other party;
  • Solicits passwords, or personal identifying information for commercial or unlawful purposes from other users; or
  • Otherwise violates any local, state, national or other applicable law or regulation.

    • In addition, you may not, in connection with your use of the Service:

  • Impersonate any person or entity or falsely misrepresent your affiliation with any other person or entity;
  • Forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers for the purpose of disguising the origin of any User Content posted or transmitted on or through the Service;
  • Engage in commercial activities and/or sales without our prior written consent including, without limitation, contests, sweepstakes, barter, or advertising;
  • Post or transmit any Content that you do not have the right to post or transmit;
  • Post or submit unsolicited commercial e-mail, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or seek or encourage others to engage in these activities;
  • Disrupt the ordinary flow and operation of any portion of the Service, including causing a screen to scroll faster than another user may be able to type in a chat room or bulletin board environment;
  • Interfere with or disrupt the Service or any server or network involved with the operation of the Service;
  • Stalk or harass any other person; or
  • Collect or “harvest” from the Service the names of other users for the purpose of transmitting to those other users unsolicited commercial messages.

If you discover this kind of material or activity on the Service, please notify us at Admin@dcpettalk.com. We do not support, endorse nor tolerate any of the foregoing material or activity.

Given the nature of the Service and the volume of User Content we receive, we cannot and do not monitor all User Content or other materials posted or transmitted by users and third-party information providers. To protect your safety, please use your best judgment when using interactive areas of the Service. We particularly discourage divulging personal information when you participate in interactive areas of the Service. You do so at your own risk.

We do not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify, or agree with statements posted on the interactive areas of the Service. Any such statements are the views and responsibility of those who posted them, and do not necessarily represent our views. You agree that we are not responsible, and shall have no liability to you whatsoever, with respect to any such statements.

Third-Party Links; Search Results

The Service may provide links to or automatically produce search results for third-party Web sites or resources or third-party information referencing or linking to third-party Web sites or resources. We have no control over such third-party Web sites and resources, and you acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible for the content or information contained therein. We cannot and do not guarantee, represent or warrant that the content or information contained in such third-party Web sites and resources is accurate, legal, non-infringing or inoffensive. We do not endorse the content or information of any third-party Web site or resource and, further, we do not warrant that such Web sites or resources will not contain viruses or other malicious code or will not otherwise affect your computer. By using the Service to search for or link to a third-party Web site, you agree and understand that we shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damages or losses caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with your use of, or reliance on, the Service to obtain search results or to link to a third-party Web site. However, if you have a problem with a link from the Service, please let us know at Admin@dcpettalk.com.

Disclaimer of Warranty; Limitation of Liability

Although we try to provide accurate information on the Service, the materials may contain inaccuracies, errors and typographical errors. PetTalk Blogs LLC and its affiliates do not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the Content contained on the Service. We may make changes to the Content at any time without notice and make no commitment to update the Content.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE USING THE SERVICE AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE SERVICE, THE CONTENT AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SERVICE, AND THE SOFTWARE MADE AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SERVICE, IF ANY, ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, AND PETTALK BLOGS LLC AND ITS AFFILIATES HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED AND IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR ANY OTHER WARRANTY, CONDITION, GUARANTEE OR REPRESENTATION, WHETHER ORAL, IN WRITING OR IN ELECTRONIC FORM, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY CONTENT CONTAINED THEREIN OR PROVIDED BY THE SERVICE. PETTALK BLOGS LLC AND ITS AFFILIATES DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT ACCESS TO THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR THAT THERE WILL BE NO FAILURES, ERRORS OR OMISSIONS OR LOSS OF TRANSMITTED INFORMATION, OR THAT NO VIRUSES WILL BE TRANSMITTED ON THE SERVICE. PETTALK BLOGS LLC AND ITS AFFILIATES ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR USER CONTENT OR OTHER CONTENT POSTED BY THIRD PARTIES, ACTIONS OF ANY THIRD-PARTY, OR FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT OR OTHER PROPERTY.

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT PETTALK BLOGS LLC AND ITS AFFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES, SERVICE PROVIDERS, LICENSORS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS OR EMPLOYEES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES FOR ANY INDIRECT, GENERAL, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR OTHER DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF PETTALK BLOGS LLC OR ITS AFFILIATES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. ACCORDINGLY, SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Indemnification

YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY, DEFEND AND HOLD HARMLESS, PETTALK BLOGS LLC AND ITS AFFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES, SERVICE PROVIDERS, LICENSORS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS AND EMPLOYEES, FROM ANY AND ALL CLAIMS (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, CLAIMS FOR DEFAMATION, TRADE DISPARAGEMENT, PRIVACY AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT) AND DAMAGES (INCLUDING ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COURT COSTS) ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO ANY ALLEGATIONS REGARDING: (1) YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE; (2) PETTALK BLOGS LLC OR ITS AFFILIATES’ USE OF ANY USER CONTENT OR INFORMATION PROVIDED BY YOU; (3) USER CONTENT OR INFORMATION POSTED OR TRANSMITTED THROUGH YOUR MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNT, EVEN IF NOT POSTED BY YOU; AND (4) ANY VIOLATION OF THIS AGREEMENT BY YOU.

Termination

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, immediately and without notice, to suspend or terminate this Agreement, your registration for any program offered on the Service, your ability to access the Service, and to remove any User Content, for any reason, including without limitation any breach by you of this Agreement or conduct by you that we determine to be inappropriate. You agree that PetTalk Blogs LLC and its affiliates shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any suspension or termination pursuant to this provision.

Assignment

PetTalk Blogs LLC may at any time transfer its rights and obligations under this Agreement to any affiliate, subsidiary or business unit, or any of their affiliates, or to any entity that acquires PetTalk Blogs LLC or any of its assets.

Jurisdiction

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Virginia, without regard to its conflict of laws provisions. You agree to submit to personal and exclusive jurisdiction by and venue in the state and federal courts.

The Service is controlled, operated and administered by PetTalk Blogs LLC from within the United States. We make no representation or warranty that the Content available on the Service is appropriate or available for use at other locations outside of the United States. If you use the Service in a jurisdiction that prohibits or restricts the use of the Service, you agree that your use of the Service will be at your own risk, without limitation of any other provision of this Agreement, and that PetTalk Blogs LLC and its affiliates shall not have any liability with respect to such use. Software from this Service may be subject to United States export controls. You may not use the Service or export software from this Service in violation of United States export laws and regulations.

Entire Agreement; Miscellaneous Provisions

This Agreement is the complete and entire agreement between you and PetTalk Blogs LLC and supersedes any prior agreement, whether written or oral. If for any reason any provision of this Agreement is found to be unenforceable, that provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible so as to effect the intent of the parties as reflected in that provision, and the remainder of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect. Any failure of PetTalk Blogs LLC to enforce or exercise any provision of this Agreement or related right shall not constitute a waiver, at the time or in the future, of that right or provision or any other right or provision. The section titles used in this Agreement are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT, UNDERSTAND IT AND WILL BE BOUND BY ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

Privacy Policy

This is the Privacy Policy for all Web sites owned or operated by PetTalk Blogs LLC (“PetTalk Blogs LLC” “we” or “our”), including, without limitation the Web sites, DCPetTalk.com (collectively, the “Site”). We respect your privacy and appreciate the confidence you have placed in the Site. We are committed to protecting your privacy and preserving your trust. Please carefully review this Privacy Policy to learn about how we collect, use, and protect any personal information you provide us and your choices for managing your personal information. This Privacy Policy is subject to the User Agreement posted on the Site.

Managing Information Preferences

We want to communicate with you only if you want to hear from us. If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or if you wish to exclude your personal information from our direct marketing purposes, please feel free to contact us at: P.O. Box 7084 McLean, VA 22106E-mail: Admin@dcpettalk.com. If you would like to correct, update, or change your personal information with us please contact us the same way.

What Types Of Information Do We Collect?

We collect information that may personally identify you (such as your name, address, telephone number, email address, billing information, or other data which can be reasonably linked to such information) only if you choose to share such information with us. For example, we may collect personal information from you when you register on the Site, subscribe to one of our services, enter sweepstakes, contests or other promotions, and at other times. We also collect credit card information in connection with any purchase you make on or through the Site. The decision to provide this information is optional; however, if you decide not to register or provide such information, you may not be able to use certain features of the Site or other services.We may automatically collect non-personal information that does not identify an individual user, such as IP (internet protocol) address, ISP (internet service provider), the Web browser used to visit the Site, the time the Site is visited, which Web pages were visited on the Site, a unique mobile device identifier (in connection with the use of the Sites or related services from mobile devices) and other anonymous Site usage data.We also use cookies (a small file containing a string of characters that uniquely identifies your Web browser) and Web beacons (an electronic file placed within a Web site that monitors usage). We use cookies and Web beacons to improve the quality of the Site. Most Web browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your Web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, certain features of the Site may not work if you delete or disable cookies. Certain of our Service Providers (defined below) may use cookies and Web beacons in connection with the services they perform on our behalf, including, without limitation, ad serving.

How Do We Use The Information We Collect?

We will not sell, share, or rent personal information to third parties, and we will not otherwise disclose personal information to third parties, without your permission, except as disclosed in this Privacy Policy. We use personal information and non-personal information for internal purposes, including:

  • enhancing your experience at the Site;
  • performing administration and technical support for the Site;
  • enabling you to enter sweepstakes, contests and other promotions;
  • enabling you to use certain services and features available on or through the Site;
  • creating aggregate information about demographics and usage patterns;
  • inviting our promotional vendors and advertisers—with your permission—to call to your attention special offers, products and services that may be of interest to you; and
  • enabling purchases of goods and services.

We may use aggregate information to measure general Site usage patterns and characteristics of our user base, and we may include such aggregate information about our audience in reports to our commercial vendors. We may also disclose aggregated user statistics (for example, a certain percentage of our users live in a certain area) without your permission in order to describe our audience to existing and prospective advertisers or other third parties. However, this aggregate information does not reference names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, or other personal information, and it is not traceable to a specific recipient or user e-mail address.

We also may share personal information with entities controlling, controlled by, or under common control with PetTalk Blogs LLC. In the event that PetTalk Blogs LLC is merged, or in the event of a transfer of our assets, we may disclose or transfer your personal information and non-personal information in connection with such transaction.

From time to time, we might establish a business relationship with other persons or entities whom we believe trustworthy and whom we have asked to confirm that their privacy practices are consistent with ours (“Service Providers”). For example, we may contract with Service Providers to provide certain services including credit card processing, advertising, promotions, analytics tools, data management, Web hosting, and Web development. We provide our Service Providers with the information needed for them to perform these services. Each Service Provider must agree to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of your information in order to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure.

We may work with third-party advertising companies which may use information about your visit to the Site in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you on the Site and on third-party Web sites. From the Site, these companies may place or recognize a unique cookie on your computer or use other technologies such as Web beacons or pixel tags. Our Privacy Policy does not cover any use of information that a third-party advertisement serving company may collect from you.

Although unlikely, in certain instances we may disclose your personal information when we have reason to believe it is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against persons or entities who may be causing injury to you, to PetTalk Blogs LLC or its affiliates, or to others. We may also disclose your personal information when we believe the law or legal process requires such disclosure. Please note that courts of equity, such as U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, may have the authority under certain circumstances to permit your personal information to be shared or transferred to third parties without your permission.

Security

We use encryption and authentication tools to protect the security of personal information that you share with us. However, no data transmission over the Internet (or, with respect to our mobile services, over cellular phone networks) can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect personal information, we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to or from the Site, and you do so at your own risk.

Links To Third-Party Web Sites

The Site may contain links to Web sites operated and maintained by third parties, over which we have no control. Privacy policies on such linked Web sites may be different from our Privacy Policy. You access such linked Web sites at your own risk. You should always read the privacy policy of a linked Web site before disclosing any personal information on such site.

Discussion Board, Forums and Other User Generated Content

Our online blog areas, bulletin boards, social networks, other public forums and user-generated content (i.e., photos, videos) can be a useful way for you to express yourself to other online users. When you post messages or otherwise use these features, the information that you provide (including personal information) may be publicly available to, collected by, and used by third parties. We are not responsible for the content of such messages or images posted by users or such disclosures of personal information.

Children’s Privacy Statement

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received personal information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete such information from our records.

Policy Changes

If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, in whole or in part, we will inform you by posting the changed Privacy Policy on the Site. Your continued use of the Site constitutes your agreement to abide by the Privacy Policy as changed. If you object to any such changes, your sole recourse shall be to cease using the Site.

Effective Date: 06/17/11