Terms

Last updated: 10/9/18

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your use of the MEL Industries (“MEL,” “Company,” “we,” “our” or “us”) website, branded pages on third party platforms (i.e., social networking services), or other online communications (collectively, the “Services”). By using the Services, you agree, without limitation or qualification, to be bound by these Terms and the MEL Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Services. 

MEL may revise these Terms at any time. Your continued usage of the Services will mean you accept those changes, and you agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. The materials provided on the Services are protected by law, including, but not limited to, United States copyright laws and international treaties.

The terms “you,” “your,” “user,” and “users,” as used herein, refer to all individuals and/or entities accessing the Services for any reason.

PLEASE NOTE: THESE TERMS CONTAIN AN ARBITRATION CLAUSE AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER, WHICH AFFECT HOW DISPUTES WITH MEL ARE RESOLVED. BY ACCEPTING THESE TERMS, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE ARBITRATION PROVISION (SECTION 9). PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.

  1. ELIGIBILITY

You must be 18 years of age or older to visit or use the Services in any manner. By visiting the Services or accepting the Terms, you represent and warrant to the Company that you are 18 years of age or older, and that you have the right, authority, and capacity to agree to and abide by these Terms. You also represent and warrant to the Company that you will use the Services in a manner consistent with any and all applicable laws and regulations.

  1. USE OF THE SERVICES

2.1 Use Restrictions

The content on the Services, such as information, text, images, graphics, interfaces, photographs, illustrations, audio and video clips, trademarks, trade names, service marks, logos, information obtained from MEL’s licensors, and any other materials displayed through the Services (collectively, the “Contents”) is protected by copyright under both United States and foreign laws. Title to the Contents remains with MEL. Any use of the Contents not expressly permitted by these Terms is a breach of these Terms and may violate copyright, trademark, and other laws. Except as stated herein, none of the Contents may be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of MEL or its licensors. 

MEL authorizes you to view and download and print a single copy of the Contents solely for your own lawful, personal, non-commercial use if you include the following copyright notice: “Copyright © 2018, MEL Industries. All rights reserved” and retain other copyright and proprietary rights notices which were contained in the Contents. Any special rules for the use of other items provided on the Services may be included elsewhere within the Services and are incorporated into these Terms by reference. The use of the Contents on any other site or in a networked computer environment for any purpose is prohibited. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved to MEL and its licensors. If you violate any of these Terms, your permission to use the Contents automatically terminates and you must immediately destroy any copies you have made of any portion of the Contents.

So long as you are in compliance with these Terms, the Company grants a non-exclusive limited, non-transferable license to use the Services. You may not distribute or make the Services available over a network where it could be used by multiple devices at the same time. You may not rent, lease, lend, sell, redistribute or sublicense the Services. You may not copy, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code of, modify, or create derivative works of the Services, any updates, or any part thereof. Any attempt to do so is a violation of these Terms. If you breach this restriction, you may be subject to prosecution and damages. These Terms will govern any upgrades provided by the Company that replace and/or supplement the original Services, unless such upgrade is accompanied by separate or updated Terms of Service. If you violate any of these Terms, your permission to use the Contents automatically terminates and you must immediately destroy any copies you have made of any portion of the Contents.

You may not, without MEL’s written permission, “mirror” any Contents contained in the Services or any other server. You hereby represent and warrant that you will not, and will not induce any third party to use the Services in any way that: (a) harasses, abuses, stalks, threatens, defames any person, or otherwise infringes or violates the rights of any person (including but not limited to rights of publicity or other proprietary rights); (b) is unlawful, fraudulent, or deceptive; (c) uses technology or other means to access unauthorized content or non-public spaces; (d) uses any “deep-link”, “page-scrape”, “robot”, “spider”, or other automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology, or any comparable manual process, to access, acquire, copy, or monitor any portion of the Services or Content; (e) attempts to introduce viruses or any other harmful computer code, files or programs that interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment; (f) attempt to disable or circumvent any security mechanisms used by the Services or Content or otherwise attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the Services or Content or any other systems or networks connected to the Site, or to any server of MEL or its third party service providers, by hacking, password “mining”, or any other illegal means; (g) attempts to gain unauthorized access to MEL user accounts; (h) encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, or that gives rise to civil liability; (i) use the Services or Content for, or in connection with, any illegal purpose, to solicit, facilitate, encourage, condone, or induce any illegal activity, or as otherwise prohibited by this Agreement or applicable laws, rules or regulation; (j) is unlawful or violates these Terms in any manner; or (k) fails to comply with applicable third-party terms and conditions or other third-party policies. 

MEL reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to refuse, discontinue, block and/or terminate your use of, and access to, the Services, or any portion thereof, at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all, without prior notice or any notice.

2.2 User Submissions

Any personal information you submit to MEL is governed by the Privacy Policy. To the extent there is an inconsistency between the Terms and the Privacy Policy, the Privacy Policy shall govern.

Except as provided under Submission of Ideas (Section 2.3 below), MEL does not claim ownership of any information or material a user provides to MEL or posts, uploads, input, submits, or transmits to the Services (“Submission”). You agree that you will not make any Submission that is, in whole or in part, libelous; scandalous; inflammatory; discriminatory; defamatory; false; threatening; vulgar; obscene; pornographic; profane; abusive; harassing; invasive of another’s privacy; hateful or bashing; aimed at gender, race, color, sexual orientation, national origin, religious views, or disability; in violation of local, state, national, or international law; or that infringes on, or violates, any right of any party. Additionally, you agree that you will not: (a) make any Submission that is an advertisement or solicitation of business; (b) disrupt the normal flow of dialogue or make a Submission unrelated to the topic being discussed (unless it is clear the discussion is free-form); (c) post a chain letter or pyramid scheme; impersonate another person; (d) distribute viruses or other harmful computer code; (e) harvest or otherwise collects information about others, including email addresses, without their consent; (f) post the same note more than once or “spamming”; or (g) engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the Services, or which, in the judgment of MEL, exposes MEL or any of its licensors, partners, or customers to any liability or detriment of any type.

By making a Submission, you agree that such Submission is non-confidential, non-proprietary, and may be disseminated or used by MEL. If you make a Submission, you automatically grant—or warrant that the owner of such content has expressly granted— MEL a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide nonexclusive license to use, reproduce, create derivative works from, modify, publish, edit, translate, distribute, perform, and display the Submission in any media or medium, or any form, format, or forum now known or hereafter developed. Notwithstanding the foregoing, MEL is not required to use any Submission.

You are solely responsible for your Submission, the consequences of making a Submission, and your reliance on any Submissions. MEL is not responsible for the consequences of any Submission. MEL is not responsible for screening or monitoring Submissions made to this Services by users. If notified by a user of a Submission allegedly in violation of these Terms, MEL may investigate the allegation and determine in good faith and its sole discretion whether to remove such Submission. MEL will have no liability or responsibility to users for performance or nonperformance of such activities.

MEL reserves the right (but is not obligated) to: (a) record the dialogue on the Services; (b) investigate an allegation that a Submission does not comply with these Terms and determine in its sole discretion to remove or request the removal of the Submission; (c) remove Submissions which are abusive, illegal, disruptive, or outdated, or that otherwise fail to comply with these Terms; (d) terminate a user’s access to any or all parts of the Services upon any breach of these Terms or the law; (e) monitor, edit, or disclose any Submission; (f) edit or delete any Submission posted on the Services, regardless of whether such Submission violates these Terms.

2.3 Submission of Ideas

Please do not submit any unsolicited ideas, original creative artwork, suggestions or other works (“Ideas”) in any form to MEL. MEL’s policy is to not accept, review, or consider unsolicited Ideas or suggestions (including, without limitation, ideas for new advertising campaigns, new promotions, new or improved products or technologies, product enhancements, processes, materials, marketing plans, new artwork or other works, or new product names). The sole purpose of this policy is to avoid potential misunderstandings or disputes when any of MEL’s products, services or marketing strategies might seem similar to ideas submitted to MEL.

Notwithstanding such policy, any Ideas that are offered or communicated to us through the Services or otherwise shall be the property of MEL, and may be treated by MEL as non-confidential information. In such case, you agree that: (a) any Idea (including its complete contents) by you to MEL will automatically become the property of MEL, without any compensation to you; (b) MEL may use or redistribute any Ideas and its contents for any purpose and in any way, without any compensation to you; (c) MEL has no obligation to review any Idea; and (d) MEL has no obligation to keep any Idea confidential, and no confidential relationship may be established by or inferred from any such Idea to, or the consideration of your Ideas by, MEL.

  1. LIABILITY OF MEL AND ITS LICENSORS AND PARTNERS

The use of the Services or the Contents is at your own risk. The Contents in the Services could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. MEL may make changes or improvements at any time. 

THE CONTENTS IN THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, MEL DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. MEL DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN THE MATERIAL WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THE SERVICES OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. MEL DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OF OR THE RESULT OF THE USE OF THE CONTENTS IN THE SERVICES IN RELATION TO THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE. YOU (AND NOT MEL) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, MEL ASSUMES NO LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR TORT, FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION) DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF ANTICIPATED PROFITS OR REVENUE OR OTHER ECONOMIC LOSS IN CONNECTION WITH OR ARISING FROM ANY ACT OR OMISSION BY MEL, ITS AGENTS, AFFILIATES, JOINT VENTURE PARTNERS, INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS, OR UNAFFILIATED THIRD PARTIES AS A RESULT OF ANY ACT OR OMISSION IN FULFILLMENT OF OR IN BREACH OF THESE TERMS OR THE PRIVACY POLICY.

  1. CONTACT WITH THIRD PARTIES AND THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES

The Services may contain hyperlinks to other websites and webpages (“Third-Party Pages”), as well as to text, graphics, videos, images, music, sounds, and information belonging to or originating from other third-parties (collectively, “Third-Party Applications”).   The Company does not investigate, monitor, or review any Third-Party Pages or Third-Party Applications to ensure their accuracy, completeness, or appropriateness. The Company is not responsible for the Third-Party Pages or any Third-Party Applications accessed through the Services. You agree that MEL shall have no liability with respect to any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of any dealings between you and any third party, or as a result of the presence of such third party on the Services.

The inclusion of any hyperlinks to any Third-Party Pages or Third-Party Applications on the Services does not indicate the Company’s approval or endorsement thereof. These links are provided solely as a convenience or benefit to users. Your interactions with a third party on the Services, or based on such third party’s participation or presence on the Services, are solely between you and the third party. MEL makes no representations or warranties with respect to the content, ownership, or legality of any such linked third party website. If you choose to leave the Services to access any Third-Party Pages or Third-Party Applications, you do so at your own risk.

  1. INDEMNITY

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold MEL, its affiliates, licensors, suppliers, and third-party service providers, and each of their respective directors, officers, employees, contractors, agents, successors, and assigns (collectively, the “MEL Parties”) harmless from and against any claims, actions, demands, liabilities, and settlements including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, resulting from, or alleged to result from, your use of the Services or Contents, or your violation of these Terms. MEL reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by the User, in which event the User will cooperate in asserting any available defenses.

  1. MODIFICATION OR SUSPENSION OF THE SERVICES

You agree that MEL may, in its sole discretion and at any time, modify, discontinue, or suspend its operation of the Services, any part thereof or any Contents, temporarily or permanently, without notice or liability to you.

  1. GENERAL

MEL makes no claims that the Contents are appropriate or may be downloaded outside of the United States of America. Access to the Contents may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Services from outside the United States, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for compliance with the laws of your jurisdiction. The following provisions survive the expiration or termination of these Terms for any reason whatsoever: Liability of MEL and its Licensors and Partners, Use Restrictions, User Submissions, Submission of Ideas, Indemnity, Choice of Law, Arbitration and Class Action Waiver, and Complete Agreement.

  1. CHOICE OF LAW

These Terms are governed in accordance with the laws of the state of California, United States of America, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid by any court having competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms, which shall remain in full force and effect. No waiver of any of these Terms shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or any other term or condition.

  1. MANDATORY AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS; CLASS ACTION WAIVER

Please read this Section 9 (“Arbitration Agreement”) carefully. It is part of your contract with MEL Industries and affects your rights. It contains procedures for MANDATORY BINDING ARBITRATION AND A CLASS ACTION WAIVER.

Most customer concerns can be resolved quickly and to a customer’s satisfaction by writing to us at MEL Industries, Attn: Customer Service, 701 Brickell Avenue, Suite 1550, Miami, FL 33131 or by email: mel.magazine@melindustries.com. In the unlikely event that our customer service department is unable to resolve a complaint you may have to your satisfaction, the terms of this Section 9 govern dispute resolution between us.

Applicable to the United States: Any and all controversies, disputes, demands, counts, claims, or causes of action (including the interpretation and scope of this clause, and the arbitrability of the controversy, dispute, demand, counts, claim, or cause of action) between you and the Company or the Company’s employees, agents, successors, or assigns, shall exclusively be settled through binding and confidential arbitration, except that you or the Company may take claims to small claims court if the dispute qualifies for hearing by such a court. In addition, each party retains the right to seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent the actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation or violation of a party’s copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents, or other intellectual property rights.

There is no judge or jury in arbitration and arbitration procedures are simpler and more limited than rules applicable in court. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT, APART FROM THE NARROW EXCEPTIONS ABOVE, YOU AND THE COMPANY ARE EACH WAIVING YOUR RIGHTS TO SUE IN COURT, INCLUDING RIGHTS TO RECEIVE A TRIAL BY JURY OR TO PARTICIPATE AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT, CLASS-WIDE ARBITRATION, PRIVATE ATTORNEY-GENERAL ACTION, OR ANY OTHER REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.

Arbitration shall be subject to the U.S. Federal Arbitration Act and federal arbitration law, and shall be conducted by Judicial Arbitration Mediation Services, Inc. (“JAMS”) pursuant to the JAMS Streamlined Arbitration Rules & Procedures effective July 1, 2014 (the “JAMS Rules”) and as modified by this agreement to arbitrate.   The JAMS Rules, including instructions for bringing arbitration, are available on its website at http://www.jamsadr.com/rules-streamlined-arbitration. The JAMS Consumer Minimum Standards are available at https://www.jamsadr.com/consumer-minimum-standards.

You and the Company must abide by these rules: (a) the arbitration shall be conducted on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated or representative action and the arbitrator shall not award class-wide relief; (b) the Company will pay its arbitration costs as required by JAMS rules, and in the event that you are able to demonstrate that the costs of arbitration will be prohibitive as compared to costs of litigation, the Company will pay as much of your arbitration filing and hearing fees as the arbitrator deems is necessary to prevent the arbitration from being cost-prohibitive as compared to the cost of litigation; (c) the arbitrator may award any individual relief or individual remedies that are permitted by applicable law; and (d) each side pays his, her or its own attorneys’ fees and costs unless the claim(s) at issue permit the prevailing party to be paid its fees and litigation costs, and in such instance, the fees and costs awarded shall be determined by the applicable law.

With the exception of subpart (a) in the paragraph above, if any part of this arbitration provision is deemed invalid, unenforceable or illegal, then the balance of this arbitration provision shall remain in effect and be construed in accordance with its terms as if the invalid, unenforceable, or illegal provision were not contained. If, however, subpart (a) in the paragraph above is found invalid, unenforceable or illegal, then the entirety of this arbitration provision shall be null and void. If for any reason a claim proceeds in court rather than in arbitration, the dispute shall be exclusively brought in state or U.S. federal court in California.

  1. NOTICE AND TAKE DOWN PROCEDURES OR CLAIMS OF COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

If you believe any Submission accessible on or from the Services infringes your copyright, you should notify MEL of your infringement claim in accordance with the procedures below:

  • Identification of the copyrighted work that you believe to be infringed. Please describe the work, and where possible include a copy or the location (e.g., URL) of an authorized version of the work;
  • Identification of the Submission that you believe to be infringing and its location. Please describe the Submission, and provide us with its URL or any other pertinent information that will allow us to locate the Submission;
  • Your name, address, telephone number, and (if available) email address;
  • A statement that you have a good faith belief that the complained of use of the work is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
  • A statement that the information you have supplied is accurate, and indicating that “under penalty of perjury,” you are the copyright owner or authorized representative; and
  • A signature or the electronic equivalent from the copyright holder or authorized representative.

We will process each notice of alleged infringement that MEL receives and take appropriate action in accordance with applicable intellectual property laws. A notification of claimed copyright infringement should be sent to MEL’s copyright agent (with subject line: “DMCA Takedown Request”) at:

Attention: Copyright Agent
MEL Industries

701 Brickell Avenue, Suite 1550, Miami, FL 33131

In an effort to protect the rights of copyright owners, MEL maintains a policy for the termination, in appropriate circumstances, of users of the Services who are repeat infringers.

  1. SEVERABILITY

If any of these Terms shall be deemed invalid, void, or for any reason unenforceable, those terms shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining terms. Failure of MEL to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision in that or any other instance.

  1. COMPLETE AGREEMENT

Except as expressly provided in a particular notice or disclaimer posted by or on behalf of MEL on the Services, these Terms of Service, including the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and MEL with respect to the use of the Services and Contents.