Terms of Use Agreement
This Public Notices Ohio website located at www.publicnoticesohio.com (this "Site") serves as a repository for public notices in Ohio and is maintained by the Ohio Newspaper Association or its affiliates ("ONA"). This Site allows Ohio newspapers to publish online those public notices which also appear in their print newspaper editions.
Placing notices online in many cases, such as through this Site, is one component of the publication requirements for Legal and Public Notices under the Ohio Revised Code ("ORC"). General requirements for many Public Notices in Ohio are detailed in the ORC Sections 7.10, 7.11, 7.12, 7.16 and 125.182. Other Public Notice requirements are found in additional ORC sections. ONA provides the Public Notices Ohio website in an effort make public notices easily accessible on the Internet. ONA provides access to the Public Notices Ohio website free of charge to members of the public and at no additional cost to government. ONA, either itself or through its affiliates and partners, reserves the right to charge fees for additional products and services such as enhanced search capabilities by way of the "smart search" option.
DISCLAIMERS AND TERMS OF USE
These Terms of Use and Privacy Policy (the "Terms") explain the contractual agreement between you and ONA regarding your use of this Site.
1. ACCEPTING & UPDATING THESE TERMS
PLEASE READ THE TERMS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE. THEY GOVERN YOUR ACCESS AND USE OF THIS SITE. BY ACCESSING OR USING THIS SITE OR DOWNLOADING ANY MATERIALS FROM THIS SITE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE FOLLOWING TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH OR DO NOT ACCEPT ANY OF THE TERMS, PLEASE EXIT THIS SITE IMMEDIATELY AND REFRAIN FROM ANY FURTHER ACCESS AND USE OF THIS SITE.
ONA may update the Terms from time to time. The updated Terms shall be effective once posted and your access and continued use of this Site after any changes are posted shall constitute acceptance of the updated Terms. If you have any questions about the Terms or this Site, please contact ONA at jsanford@ohionews.org.
Subject to your compliance with the Terms, ONA grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, terminable, limited right to access and use this Site for your personal, non-commercial use only. You agree (a) not to copy, reproduce, republish, upload, create derivative works, post, transmit or distribute (or facilitate someone else in copying, reproducing, uploading, creating derivative works, posting, transmitting or distributing) any content on the Site for commercial purposes; (b) not to alter the Site content in any manner or use such Site content in a manner not authorized by the Terms; (c) not to interrupt or attempt to interrupt the operation of this Site in any way; and (d) except with ONA's written consent, not to frame, link, associate with advertisements or commercially exploit this Site or Site content.
2. THIRD PARTY CONTENT
This Site consists of content, including public notices submitted by newspapers in Ohio, submitted by third parties and ONA disclaims all liability relating to such content, including any liability resulting from inaccurate content or untimely publication of notices.
Effective in March 2015, qualifying Ohio newspapers are required by the Ohio Revised Code to upload government notices to this Site. The ONA does not charge qualifying newspapers a fee to upload these notices but reserves the right to charge a fee to either its members or non-members for participation in this Site. As a condition of uploading notices to this Site, each participating newspaper certifies that it meets the statutory requirements of the Ohio Revised Code to be a qualified publisher of those notices. The ONA takes no responsibility for that certification, and each person or public body placing a notice for publication with a newspaper is responsible for selecting a newspaper which meets the specific requirement for each notice. The language of each statute which requires the publication of the notice should be reviewed to determine which newspaper or newspapers are eligible to publish the notice. The ONA assumes no responsibility for the selection of the appropriate newspaper for publication.
ANY NEWSPAPER UPLOADING NOTICES ACCEPTS THE TERMS.
3. DISQUALIFICATION AND TERMINATION
You agree that ONA, in its sole discretion, may disqualify you and prohibit your use of this Site if ONA believes that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the Terms or any applicable Federal, state or local laws or regulations. ONA shall not be liable to you or any third party for termination of your access to this Site. ONA may terminate a user's smart-search subscription or any other fee-based services connected with this Site if that user fails to pay for that feature or service. Newspapers uploading notices to the Site may be terminated at the ONA's discretion if they upload harmful code to the Site, abuse the Site's administrative systems, or otherwise violate these Terms of Use.
4. PRIVACY
Except as described in the Terms (including Section 12 below), ONA does not collect names or addresses of users of this Site. ONA does not sell, rent, barter mailing lists of users or disclose users' names, addresses, or other personally identifying information except that it may, at its discretion, make this information available to partners that have a specific, contractual relationship to act as a sales agent for this Site. Please review the additional privacy terms in Section 12 below.
Subscribers to any feature or service that involves collection of this information may contact jsanford@ohionews.org with respect to any questions or comments regarding the collection, modification or deletion of this information.
5. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES
You agree that ONA shall not be responsible or liable for any loss caused or alleged in connection with use of this Site.
YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT:
YOUR USE OF THIS SITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THIS SITE AND ALL SITE CONTENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." ONA EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION OBTAINED BY WAY OF THIS SITE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY BINDING ONA.
6. INDEMNIFICATION
You agree to indemnify and hold ONA, and its subsidiaries, affiliates, agents or other partners, and their respective employees, harmless for any claim, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party arising out of (a) your breach of any of the Terms, (b) your use of this Site and (c) any User Content (as defined below) provided by you.
7. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT ONA SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF ONA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM: (a) THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THIS SITE; (b) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (c) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THIS SITE; OR (d) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO THIS SITE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL ONA BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSSES OR DAMAGES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, FROM THE USE OF, OR RELIANCE ON THE USE OF THIS SITE.
8. GOVERNING LAW & JURISDICTION
This Site is compiled and made available to the public by ONA from its offices in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. If you choose to access this database from outside Ohio you alone are responsible for compliance with applicable Federal, state and local laws. Any legal dispute relating to the Terms or this Site shall be governed by Ohio law and adjudicated by the Franklin County, Ohio Circuit Court or the United States District Court for the Central District of Ohio, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.
9. INFORMATION/SUBMISSIONS PROVIDED BY YOU
You agree that any information or materials that you or individuals acting on your behalf submit or post on this Site or otherwise provide to ONA will not be considered confidential or proprietary. By submitting or posting any information, images or other materials to this Site or otherwise providing any such information, images or other materials to ONA ("User Content"), you grant to ONA an unrestricted, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, display, publicly perform, transmit and distribute such User Content. You warrant that you will not provide any User Content to ONA which (a) is false, fraudulent, inaccurate, defamatory, harassing, threatening, or is obscene or pornographic; (b) infringes the intellectual property rights, including copyrights, of any third party or any rights of publicity or privacy of any third party; (c) violates any law, statute, ordinance or regulation; or (d) advocates illegal activity. ONA reserves the right (but assumes no obligation) to delete, move or edit any User Content for any reason.
10. OTHER GENERAL PROVISIONS
These Terms constitute the entire agreement between ONA and you and govern your use of this Site, superseding any prior agreements between you and ONA. If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in force. ONA's failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive ONA's right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. By using this Site, you represent that you can form legally binding contracts. The Terms and all writings incorporated by reference into the Terms set forth the entire agreement between us with respect to this Site.
11. COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT CLAIMS
Pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(2), notifications of claimed copyright infringement should be sent to the designated agent. ALL INQUIRIES NOT RELEVANT TO OR NOT COMPLYING WITH THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE WILL RECEIVE NO RESPONSE.
ONA does not knowingly permit anyone to post materials on this Site where such posting would violate copyright or other applicable law, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") (including 17 USC § 512). ONA will process and investigate notices of alleged infringement and will take appropriate actions under the DMCA and other applicable intellectual property laws. Upon receipt of notices complying with the DMCA, ONA will act to remove or disable access to any material found to be infringing or found to be the subject of infringing activity and will act to remove or disable access to any reference or link to material or activity that is found to be infringing.
IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOUR WORK HAS BEEN COPIED IN A WAY THAT CONSTITUTES COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, PLEASE PROVIDE ONA THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:
1. a physical or electronic signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive copyright that is allegedly infringed;
2. a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
3. a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on this Site;
4. your address, telephone number, email address and all other information reasonably sufficient to permit ONA to contact you;
5. 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; and
6. a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Notices of claimed copyright infringement should be directed to ONA's designated agent:
By mail: Ohio Newspaper Association
1335 Dublin Rd., Suite 216-B
Columbus, OH 43215
By fax: 614-486-4940
By Email: jsanford@ohionews.org
(Please include “Notice of Infringement” in the subject line.)
12. PRIVACY POLICY
As used herein, the term "personally identifiable information" or "personal information" refers to information that identifies a particular individual, such as the individual's name, postal address, e-mail address, billing address, telephone number and credit card information. When other information is directly associated with personally identifiable information, this other information also becomes personally identifiable information for purposes hereof. When you access or use this Site, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your information in accordance with the Terms. By providing personal information to this Site, you are acknowledging your understanding and consent to the collection and processing of such information by ONA.
INFORMATION COLLECTED
Like many websites, ONA collects personal information from you when you voluntarily provide it to us by (i) utilizing any "contact" feature on this Site, (ii) emailing us, or (iii) registering for use or using certain features on this Site. ONA may collect any personal information that you provide to us, including, but not limited to, your name, e-mail address and payment information.
THIRD PARTY VENDORS
ONA may engage third-party vendors to provide various services relating to this Site, including, without limitation, development, marketing, payment processing, hosting and sales and marketing services, and ONA may disclose to such vendors information about individual users that is necessary for performing the services. To protect your privacy, ONA requires its vendors to maintain the confidentiality of any personal information.
USE OF COLLECTED INFORMATION
The personal information that you provide to ONA may be stored, processed and used by ONA for the following purposes: (i) to respond to your comments, requests for information and inquiries; (ii) to help administer and protect the security or integrity of this Site, (iii) to provide certain features on this Site and process online purchases, (iv) for marketing and promotional purposes, and (v) for distribution to partners for marketing and promotional purposes.
DISCLOSURE EXCEPTIONS
Notwithstanding the above policies, ONA reserves the right to disclose your personal information to appropriate third parties if ONA believes that such action is necessary:
- To comply with any laws or other legal process, such as search warrants, subpoenas or court orders;
- To protect ONA's rights and property or defend against legal claims;
- To protect any other party's rights, property and safety;
- To report to any law enforcement agency any unlawful activities;
- To investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving harassment, abusive messages or potential threats to the physical safety of any person; and
- To protect against misuse or unauthorized use of this Site.
CHILDREN'S PRIVACY
ONA complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"). COPPA requires that website operators never knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without prior verifiable parental consent. ONA does not knowingly solicit or collect personal information from or about children. If ONA discovers personal data from a child under the age of 13, ONA will eliminate that data.
SECURITY OF COLLECTED INFORMATION
To protect the privacy of personal information provided by you, ONA and its hosting vendor employ security controls, including, without limitation, physical access controls and Internet firewalls. Unfortunately, no electronic communication over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. While ONA strives to take great care to protect your personal information, ONA cannot warrant the security of any information that you submit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Remember to close your browser window when you are finished using this Site. This is to ensure that others cannot pose as you online.