Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions These Terms and Conditions were last updated on May 23, 2018. These Terms and Conditions apply to the CottonLEADS.org website (the “Website”). The Website is registered by the National Cotton Council of America and is the property of the National Cotton Council of America (“our”, “us”, “we” or “NCC”). The Cotton LEADS℠ program is a joint program among NCC, Cotton Australia, The Cotton Foundation, Australian Cotton Shippers Association, Cotton Council International, and Cotton Incorporated. Notwithstanding the foregoing joint program, the CottonLEADS.org website is owned and operated solely by NCC. The websites belonging to Cotton Australia, The Cotton Foundation, Australian Cotton Shippers Association, Cotton Council International, and Cotton Incorporated are the property of each entity respectively and have their own terms and conditions independent of those set forth herein. By accessing or using this Website, you agree to be bound to these Terms and Conditions, including any other terms, conditions or policies that appear on the Website, which terms, conditions and policies are incorporated herein by reference. If you do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, do not access or use the Website and do not engage in any services offered by NCC. Review these Terms and Conditions to learn what users may and may not do with or on the Website. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to terminate, change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the Website, including, but not limited to, content, features, and to impose limits on certain features of the Website or restrict your access to all or part of any of the Website without notice or penalty. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. NCC reserves the right to change these Terms and Conditions from time to time. If we believe the changes are material, we will post those changes on these Terms and Conditions, with a notice thereof on the homepage of the Website and in other places we deem appropriate. Changes will be effective upon the posting of the changes. It is your responsibility to review and become familiar with the modified Terms and Conditions and decide whether you want to continue using the Website. By using the Website following any changes to these Terms and Conditions, you agree to be bound by any such changes to these Terms and Conditions. CONTENT; USE OF THE WEBSITE. NCC owns, solely and exclusively, all rights, title and interest in and to the Website, all the text, content, graphics, interfaces, code and materials thereon, the look and feel, selection and arrangement, design and organization of the Website, and the compilation of the content, code, data and materials on the Website, including, but not limited, to all intellectual property and proprietary rights therein. Your use of the Website does not grant to you ownership of any of the foregoing. The Website is copyrighted as a collective work under the United States and other copyright laws and is the property of NCC. The collective work includes works that are licensed to NCC. All trademarks, service marks, and trade names (collectively the “Marks”) are trademarks or registered trademarks of, and are proprietary to, NCC or its licensors. We do not grant you any license or other authorization to use the Marks. The Website is for your personal and noncommercial use only. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute (including mirroring), transmit, publicly display, upload, perform, publish, license, modify, translate, adapt, create derivative works from, transfer, sell or otherwise exploit the Website or any content, information, products or services obtained from the Website, for any commercial purpose or enterprise. You may display and, subject to any restrictions or limitations relating to specific material, electronically copy, download onto a single personal computer and print single hard copy portions of the material from the Website solely for your own noncommercial, lawful use. If you make any other use of the Website or its content, except as otherwise provided above, you may violate copyright and other laws and regulations of the United States and other countries, territories and regions, as well as applicable state laws, and you may be subject to liability for such unauthorized use. You may not use the Website or any content within the Website for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms and Conditions or to solicit the performance of any illegal activity or other activity which infringes the rights of NCC, or other individuals or entities. You may not: (a) use any automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology, or engage in harvesting of email addresses or other personal information, unsolicited emailing, telephone calls or mailings, spoofing, flooding, overloading, spidering, “screen scraping,” “database scraping,” or any similar or equivalent manual process to access, acquire, copy or monitor any portion of the Website or any content on the Website; (b) decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer the Website or any portion thereof; or (c) attempt, by hacking, password “mining” or any other means, to gain unauthorized access to the Website, any portion or features of the Website or any of the services offered on or through the Website. You may not use the Website in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the Website or interfere with any other individual’s use and enjoyment of the Website. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available or provided for through the Website. You may not breach the security or authentication measures on the Website or any network connected to the Website. You may not reverse look-up, trace or seek to trace any information on any other user of or visitor to the Website, or any other customer of NCC, to its source, or exploit the Website or any service or information made available or offered by or through the Website, in any way where the purpose is to reveal any information, including, but not limited to, Personal Data, other than your own Personal Data, as provided for by the Website. “Personal Data” is any information, that can be used to uniquely identify a person, either directly or indirectly. This includes information such as a name, an identification number, location data, and an online identifier. You may not upload, post to, transmit to, distribute through or otherwise publish through the Website any materials that restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Website, initiate or encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense or give rise to civil liability, contain a virus or other harmful component, consist of advertising of any kind, or contain false or misleading indications of origin or statements of fact. PRIVACY POLICY. NCC’s Privacy Policy applies to the use of the Website, and it is hereby incorporated into these Terms and Conditions by reference for all purposes. You acknowledge and agree that Internet transmissions are never guaranteed to be private or secure. By using the Website, you acknowledge and understand that any message or information you submit to the Website or to any NCC email recipient or “contact us” mailbox may be read or intercepted by others, even if your transmission is encrypted. ACCOUNTS AND PASSWORDS. We may issue you, or enable you to establish, a username and password for the Website. If we issue you or you establish a username and password, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account information and account password, and for any activity that occurs under your account, including any activity that occurs as a result of your failure to keep secure and maintain the confidentiality of your account and password information. You will (a) immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security, and (b) ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. It is your sole responsibility to control the dissemination and use of your password, control access to and use of your account, and notify NCC when you desire to cancel your account on the Website. You may not use anyone else’s password or account at any time on the Website. We will not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with these requirements, and you may be held liable for any losses incurred by NCC or any other user of the Website if your failure to keep your account information secure and confidential results in someone else’s use of your account, password and account information. You have the right to delete your account at any time by contacting us via one of the options listed in the “Contact Us” section of these Terms and Conditions. If you choose to delete your account, we will delete the non-public Personal Data we have in connection with your account. USER-CREATED CONTENT AND PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC FORUMS. NCC may offer on the Website the opportunity for users to post or submit content in various forms, including video, music, images, sounds, endorsements, photographs, graphics, comments and other material or information you upload or transmit to public forums on the Website, including any chat text or status updates (“User Content”). You may only upload to the Website User Content that you have the legitimate rights to share, that you created and own, or that you have express permission from the rightful owner to use. By uploading any User Content to the Website, you represent and warrant that your uploading and use of such User Content does not violate or infringe the rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, and does not constitute copyright infringement in or to the User Content. User Content must not disparage the National Cotton Council of America or any other person or party affiliated with the National Cotton Council of America. User Content must not contain brand names or trademarks other than those owned by NCC, which user has a limited license to use to incorporate in his/her User Content for specific public forums only. The User Content must not contain images or artwork not created by user. Public forums are areas, sites or features on the Website, including chat areas, message boards, instant messages, mobile messaging, blogs and send-a-friend emails. Harassment in any manner or form on the Website, including via email, via chat or by obscene or abusive language, is strictly forbidden. You may not upload to, distribute, or otherwise publish through the Website any content that: (a) exploits the images or likenesses of minors, (b) uses the names or likenesses of persons living or dead without their permission, or that impersonates any person or entity, (c) infringes another’s right of publicity or right of privacy, (d) is generally offensive or inappropriate, indecent, hateful, slanderous or libelous, defamatory, tortious, fraudulent, obscene, pornographic, threatening, intimidating, abusive, or promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual, or promotes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age in violation of any applicable law, regulation or ordinance, or is otherwise objectionable, or (e) may constitute or encourage a criminal or civil offense, violate the rights of any party or otherwise give rise to liability or violate any law. You may not upload commercial content on the Website or use the Website to solicit others to join or become members of any other commercial online service or other organization. You may only post or submit User Content on public forum areas of the Website where NCC has given you permission to do so, and by posting User Content to the Website, you hereby grant us and our licensees, distributors, agents, representatives and other authorized users, a perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable, fully-paid, royalty-free, sub-licensable and transferable (in whole or part) worldwide license under all copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, privacy and publicity rights and other intellectual property rights you own or control to use, reproduce, transmit, display, exhibit, distribute, index, comment on, modify (including removing lyrics and music from any User Content or substituting the lyrics and music in any User Content with music and lyrics selected by us), create derivative works based upon, perform and otherwise exploit such User Content, in whole or in part, in all media formats and channels now known or hereafter devised for any and all purposes, all without further notice to you, with or without attribution, and without the requirement of any permission from or payment to you or to any other person or entity. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if you post or submit any Personal Data, we will explicitly seek your consent to use the Personal Data that you submit in connection with the submission or posting of any User Content to the Website. If it is determined that you retain moral rights (including rights of attribution or integrity) in the User Content, you hereby agree that (a) you do not require that any personally identifying information be used in connection with the User Content, or any derivative works of, or upgrades or updates thereto; (b) you do not oppose the publication, use, modification, deletion and exploitation of the User Content by NCC or its agents; (c) you waive and will not claim or assert any entitlement to any moral rights of an author in any of the User Content; and (d) you release NCC from any claims that you could otherwise assert against NCC by virtue of any moral rights. By viewing communications in any public forum on the Website, you acknowledge and agree that public forums are for public rather than private communications and you have no expectation of privacy with regard to any User Content submitted to a public forum. We cannot and do not guarantee the security of any information you disclose on the Website. NCC has no obligation to screen, edit or monitor User Content posted to or created by users accessing the Website and is not responsible for the content of User Content. Your use of the Website, including any disclosures you make, is at your own risk. Opinions posted on public forum areas of the Website and elsewhere by users are not the opinions of NCC. You acknowledge that by providing you with the ability to view and distribute User Content on the Website, NCC is merely acting as a passive conduit for such distribution and is not undertaking any obligation or liability relating to any content or activities on the Website. Nonetheless, NCC reserves the right, and has sole discretion, to block or remove without notice User Content posted or stored on the Website. NOTE THAT THERE ARE RISKS, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE RISK OF PHYSICAL HARM AND OF DEALING WITH STRANGERS, UNDERAGE PERSONS OR PEOPLE ACTING UNDER FALSE PRETENSES. YOU ASSUME ALL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH DEALING WITH OTHER USERS WITH WHOM YOU COME IN CONTACT THROUGH THE WEBSITE. BECAUSE USER AUTHENTICATION ON THE INTERNET IS DIFFICULT, NCC CANNOT AND DOES NOT CONFIRM THAT EACH USER IS WHO THEY CLAIM TO BE. BECAUSE WE DO NOT AND CANNOT BE INVOLVED IN USER-TO-USER DEALINGS OR CONTROL THE BEHAVIOR OF USERS, IN THE EVENT THAT YOU HAVE A DISPUTE WITH ONE OR MORE USERS, YOU RELEASE NCC FROM CLAIMS, DEMANDS AND DAMAGES (ACTUAL AND CONSEQUENTIAL, DIRECT AND INDIRECT) OF EVERY KIND AND NATURE, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, SUSPECTED AND UNSUSPECTED, DISCLOSED AND UNDISCLOSED, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH SUCH DISPUTES. NOTICES FOR MAKING CLAIMS OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND TAKEDOWN PROCEDURE. Pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512, if you believe in good faith that User Content hosted by NCC infringes your copyright, send a notice of claimed copyright infringement to the Website’s designated agent through the “Contact Us” form on the Website. Provide the following information so that we can evaluate and respond to your notice:
  1.   A clear identification of the copyrighted work you claim was infringed.
  2.   A clear identification of the User Content you claim is infringing the copyrighted work, and information that will allow us to locate that User Content on the Website, such as a link to the infringing material.
  3.   Your contact information so that we can reply to your complaint, including an email address and telephone number.
  4.   Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that the material that is claimed as copyright infringement is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.”
  5.   Include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notice is accurate and I am the copyright owner, or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”
  6.   The notice must be signed by the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
NCC respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users and visitors to do the same. NCC will process and investigate notices of alleged infringement and will take appropriate actions in accordance with the applicable intellectual property laws, including, but not limited to, taking down any allegedly infringing material from the Website upon notice to the Website’s designated agent through the “Contact Us” form on the Website. You may want to consult an attorney before filing a notice or counter-notice. You may be liable for damages, including attorneys’ fees and costs, if you make a false claim of copyright infringement. Repeat Infringer Policy In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other applicable law, NCC has adopted and reasonably implemented a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at our sole discretion, user accounts and submitters who are deemed to be repeat infringers. We may also, at our sole discretion, limit access to the Website of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement. UNSOLICITED IDEAS. We do not solicit nor do we wish to receive any ideas or suggestions from you regarding current or future products, services, promotions, opportunities or advertising (a “Submission”), whether submitted to the Website, by email or in any other manner. If you nonetheless submit a Submission to us, you agree that any Submission you make is not confidential, and that you have no expectation of any review, compensation or consideration of any type. LINKS TO UNAFFILIATED WEBSITES AND SUBMISSIONS TO UNAFFILIATED ENTITIES. In an attempt to provide increased value to our visitors, this Website may contain links to other websites on the Internet that are owned and operated by entities other than NCC (the “Linked Websites”). NCC does not control the Linked Websites, which have privacy and data collection practices independent of NCC. NCC has no responsibility or liability for or with respect to the accuracy or availability of information provided by Linked Websites or the independent policies or actions on or of the Linked Websites, and NCC is not responsible for the privacy practices or for the content of Linked Websites. Links to Linked Websites are only for your convenience and you access them at your own risk. Links do not imply that NCC sponsors, endorses or is affiliated or associated with Linked Websites or the content, products, advertising or other materials presented on such Linked Websites. Nonetheless, NCC seeks to protect the integrity of the Website and the links placed upon it and therefore requests any feedback regarding not only the Website but also regarding websites to which it links (including if a specific link does not work). However, you should contact the website administrator for the Linked Websites if you have any concerns, including questions relating to the collection or use of information, in connection with such Linked Websites. CHILDREN. THE WEBSITE IS ONLY INTENDED FOR VIEWING IN THE UNITED STATES IF YOU ARE EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS OR OLDER AND NOT A MINOR IN YOUR STATE OF RESIDENCE. IF YOU ARE NOT AN INTENDED USER, KINDLY DO NOT USE OR VIEW THE WEBSITE. NCC does not filter advertisements or other content that children may view through the Website. We encourage parents and guardians to spend time online with their children and to consider using software that filters Internet content that is not appropriate for children. DISCLAIMER. THE WEBSITE AND ALL CONTENT ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. NCC HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES AND REPRESENTATIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES:
  • THAT THE CONTENT OF THE WEBSITE IS ERROR-FREE, OF ANY PARTICULAR LEVEL OF QUALITY, NON-INFRINGING, OR FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
  • THAT DEFECTS OR INACCURACIES WILL BE CORRECTED.
  • THAT THE CONTENT OF THE WEBSITE WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE TO YOU.
  • THAT OPERATION OF THE WEBSITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED.
  • THAT THE WEBSITE, CONTENT, AND THE SERVERS THAT MAKE THEM AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
  • THAT ANY PARTICULAR RESULTS OR OUTCOMES WILL RESULT FROM PROPERLY FOLLOWING ANY RECIPES, DIRECTIONS, INSTRUCTIONS OR ADVICE ON THE WEBSITE.
NCC FURTHER DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES LISTED, PURCHASED, OR OFFERED ON OR THROUGH THE WEBSITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, NCC HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR NON-COMPLIANCE WITH ANY CODES, INFRINGEMENT OR MISAPPROPRIATION. IN CERTAIN JURISDICTIONS, THE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW US TO DISCLAIM OR EXCLUDE WARRANTIES, SO THE DISCLAIMERS ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT SHALL NCC OR ANY OF ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, MEMBERS, PARTNERS, SHAREHOLDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, LICENSORS OR SUPPLIERS (COLLECTIVELY, THE “PROTECTED ENTITIES”), BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, EVEN IF NCC HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, WHETHER IN AN ACTION UNDER CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE, INABILITY TO USE, OR PERFORMANCE OF THE WEBSITE OR THE INFORMATION, SERVICES, PRODUCTS, AND MATERIALS AVAILABLE FROM THE WEBSITE. THESE LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE PROTECTED ENTITIES BE LIABLE FOR OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY CONTENT POSTED, TRANSMITTED, EXCHANGED OR RECEIVED BY OR ON BEHALF OF ANY USER OR OTHER PERSON ON OR THROUGH THE WEBSITE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF THE PROTECTED ENTITIES TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION (WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR TORT, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) IN THE AGGREGATE, ARISING FROM THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OR YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE, EXCEED, IN THE AGGREGATE, $10. BECAUSE SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN LIMITATIONS ON WARRANTIES, OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS ON DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION AND THE TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ASSOCIATED THEREWITH SHALL NOT APPLY TO PERSONS WHO RESIDE IN THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA (“EEA”) AND BRING CLAIMS UNDER THE EUROPEAN UNION’S GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (“GDPR”). INDEMNIFICATION. You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Protected Entities from and against all claims, liabilities, losses, expenses, damages and costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, resulting in any way from your use of the Website, your submission of User Content or of other unsolicited submissions, your breach or violation of the law, any third party right or of these Terms and Conditions or any activity related to your Website account (including negligent or wrongful conduct), by you or any other person accessing the Website using your Website account. The foregoing does not apply to you if a court of competent jurisdiction in the EEA member country where you have your habitual residence finds that the Protected Entities are liable to you under the GDPR in connection with your use of the Website or your submission of User Content. GOVERNING LAWS. These Terms and Conditions and the relationship between you and NCC shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the State of Tennessee, U.S.A., without regard to its conflicts of law provisions, and not by the 1980 U.N. Convention on contracts for the international sale of goods. We control and operate the Website from our offices in the United States of America. NCC makes no representation that materials on the Website are appropriate or available for use in other countries, and access to them from countries, territories or regions where the Website’s content is illegal is prohibited. Persons who choose to access the Website from locations outside the United States do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws and regulations. You may not use or export the content of the Website in violation of U.S. or any other jurisdiction’s export, re-export or import laws and regulations. You agree that the exclusive jurisdiction over and venue in any legal proceeding directly or indirectly arising out of or relating to the Website or these Terms and Conditions (including but not limited to the purchase of NCC products) shall be in the state or federal courts located in Shelby County, Tennessee, and you agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of such courts. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if you are a resident of the EEA, and you bring a claim or cause of action under the GDPR, then you have a right to bring those claims or causes of action before the courts of the EEA member country where you have your habitual residence. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any cause of action or claim you may have with respect to the Website or these Terms and Conditions must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arises or be forever barred. NCC’s failure to insist upon or enforce strict performance of any provision of these Terms and Conditions shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of these Terms and Conditions remain in full force and effect. Neither the course of conduct between the parties nor trade practice shall act to modify any of these Terms and Conditions. NCC may assign its rights and duties under these Terms and Conditions to any party at any time without notice to you. ARBITRATION. By using the Website, you agree that NCC, at its sole discretion, may require you to submit any disputes arising from the use of the Website, or these Terms and Conditions, including disputes arising from or concerning their interpretation, violation, nullity, invalidity, non-performance or termination, as well as disputes about filling gaps in these Terms and Conditions or its adaptation to newly arisen circumstances, to final and binding arbitration under the Commercial Rules of Arbitration of the American Arbitration Association, by one or more arbitrators appointed in accordance with the said Rules. Such proceeding shall take place in Shelby County, Tennessee. The arbitrator(s) shall have no authority to award punitive, consequential or other damages not measured by the prevailing party’s actual damages in any arbitration initiated under this section, except as may be required by applicable law. The foregoing shall not apply to persons who are residents of the EEA who submit disputes under the GDPR. If you are a resident of the EEA and submit a dispute under the GDPR, you have a right to bring your dispute before the courts of the EEA member country where you have your habitual residence. CONTACT US. If you have any questions, comments or feedback about the Website, services, or products, please contact us by mail at: National Cotton Council of America, 7193 Goodlett Farms Parkway, Cordova, Tennessee 38016, or by filling in the form in the “Contact Us” section of the Website.