Website terms of use

What's in these terms?

These terms tell you the rules for using our website www.macularsociety.org (our site).

Who we are and how to contact us

Our site is operated by The Macular Disease Society trading as Macular Society (we). We are registered in England and Wales under company number 2177039 and have our registered office at Crown Chambers, South Street, Andover, Hampshire SP10 2BN.

We are a limited company and a registered charity. Our registered charity numbers are 1001198 (England and Wales) and SC042015 (Scotland).

To contact us, please email info@macularsociety.org or telephone 01264 350551.

By using our site you accept these terms

By using our site, you confirm that you accept these terms of use (terms) and that you agree to comply with them.

If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use our site.

We recommend that you print a copy of these terms for future reference.

There are other terms that may apply to you

These terms refer to the following additional terms and conditions, which also apply to your use of our site:

• Our privacy policy, which sets out the terms on which we process any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us. By using our site, you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.
• Our cookie policy, which sets out information about the cookies on our site.

We may make changes to these terms

We amend these terms from time to time. Every time you wish to use our site, please check these terms to ensure you understand the terms which apply at that time. These terms were most recently updated on 31 March 2017.

We may make changes to our site

We may update and change our site from time to time to reflect changes to our services, resources, membership options and our business priorities.

We may suspend or withdraw our site

Our site is made available free of charge.

We do not guarantee that our site, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. We may suspend or withdraw or restrict the availability of all or any part of our site for business and operational reasons. We will try to give you reasonable notice of any suspension or withdrawal.

You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access our site through your internet connection are aware of these terms and other applicable terms and conditions, and that they comply with them.

Accessing our site

You are responsible for providing your own internet access and ensuring that you have a compatible web browser to use our site and the services offered on it.

We are not responsible for any failure to access our site or the services offered on it attributable to your computer equipment or internet service provider.

How you may use material on our site

We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our site, and in the material published on it.  Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our site for your personal use only.

You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not share them with anyone else.

You must not use any part of the content on our site for any other purposes whatsoever without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.

If you print off, copy, download or otherwise use any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

Do not rely on information on this site

The content on our site is provided for general information only and is not medical advice. Nothing on this site is intended to amount to advice on which you should rely whether in relation to medical diagnosis or treatment of otherwise. You must obtain professional, medical or other specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.

Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our site, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our site is accurate, complete or up-to-date.

We are not responsible for websites we link to

Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. Such links should not be interpreted as approval by us of those linked websites or information you may obtain from them.

We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.

Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you

We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors and for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

Different limitations and exclusions of liability will apply to liability arising as a result of the supply of any services to you, which will be set out in the terms and conditions applicable to such services.

To the extent permitted by law we exclude all implied conditions, warranties, representations or other terms which may apply to our site or any content on it.

We will not be liable to you for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with:

• use of, or inability to use, our site; or
• use of or reliance on any content displayed on our site.

In particular, we will not be liable for:

• loss of profits, sales, business, or revenue;
• business interruption;
• loss of anticipated savings;
• loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation; or
• any indirect or consequential loss or damage.

We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our site or to your downloading of any content on it, or on any website linked to it.

Prohibited uses

You may use our site only for lawful purposes.

You may not use our site:

• in any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation;
• in any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect;
• for the purpose of harming or attempting to harm minors in any way;
• to send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which does not comply with our content standards below;
• to transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam); or
• to knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, trojans, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware.

You also agree:

• not to reproduce, duplicate, copy or re-sell any part of our site in contravention of the provisions of these terms; and
• not to access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt:
• any part of our site;
• any equipment or network on which our site is stored;
• any software used in the provision of our site; or
• any equipment or network or software owned or used by any third party.

Interactive services

We may from time to time provide interactive services on our site or through social media functions which allow you to upload content or contact other users.  Where we do provide any interactive service, we will provide clear information to you about the kind of service offered, if it is moderated and what form of moderation is used (including whether it is human or technical).

We will do our best to assess any possible risks for users from third parties when they use any interactive service provided on our site, and we will decide in each case whether it is appropriate to use moderation of the relevant service (including what kind of moderation to use) in the light of those risks. However, we are under no obligation to oversee, monitor or moderate any interactive service we provide on our site, and we expressly exclude our liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of any interactive service by a user in contravention of our content standards, whether the service is moderated or not.

Any interactive services we may provide are only for users aged at least 18 years old.

Where we do moderate an interactive service, that does not mean that we have verified or approved the material contributed by our users. The views expressed by users of our site do not reflect our views or values.

If you wish to complain about any information or materials uploaded by users of our site you can email us at help@macularsociety.org

Uploading content to our site

Whenever you make use of any interactive services you must comply with the content standards set out below.

You warrant that any such contribution does comply with those standards, and you will be liable to us and indemnify us for any breach of that warranty. This means you will be responsible for any loss or damage we suffer as a result of your breach of warranty.

Any content you upload to our site will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. You retain all of your ownership rights in your content, but you grant us a limited licence to use, store and copy that content and to distribute and make it available to third parties.

We also have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any content posted or uploaded by you to our site constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy.

We have the right to remove any posting you make on our site if, in our opinion, your post does not comply with the content standards set out below.

You are solely responsible for securing and backing up your content.

Content standards

These content standards apply to any and all material which you contribute to our site and to any interactive services associated with it.

You must comply with the spirit and the letter of the following standards. The standards apply to each part of any contribution as well as to its whole.

All materials contributed must:

• be accurate (where they state facts);
• be genuinely held (where they state opinions); or
• comply with applicable law in the UK and in any country from which they are posted.

All material contributed must not:

• contain any material which is defamatory of any person;
• contain any material which is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory;
• promote sexually explicit material;
• promote violence;
• promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age;
• infringe any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person;
• be likely to deceive any person;
• be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence;
• promote any illegal activity;
• be threatening, abuse or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety;
• be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person;
• be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person;
• give the impression that they emanate from us, if this is not the case; or
• advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.

Suspension and termination

We will determine, in our discretion, whether there has been a breach of these terms through your use of our site.  When a breach has occurred, we may take such action as we deem appropriate, including all or any of the following:

• immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use our site;
• immediate, temporary or permanent removal of any posting or material uploaded by you to our site;
• issue of a warning to you;
• legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs on an indemnity basis (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs) resulting from the breach;
• further legal action against you; and/or
• disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary.

We exclude liability for actions taken in response to breaches of these terms.  The responses described in this paragraph are not limited, and we may take any other action we reasonably deem appropriate.

We are not responsible for viruses and you must not introduce them

We do not guarantee that our site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.

You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform in order to access our site. You should use your own virus protection software.

You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

Rules about linking to our site

You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.

You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

You must not establish a link to our site in any website that is not owned by you.

Our site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of our site other than the home page.

We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

The website in which you are linking must comply in all respects with the content standards set out above.

If you wish to link to or make any use of content on our site other than that set out above, please contact help@macularsociety.org

Which country's laws apply to any disputes?

If you are a consumer: please note that these terms of use, their subject matter and their formation, are governed by English law. You and we both agree to that the courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction except that if you are a resident of Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in Northern Ireland, and if you are resident of Scotland, you may also bring proceedings in Scotland.

If you are a business: these terms, their subject matter and their formation (and any non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by English law. We both agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Thank you for visiting our site.