The following terms outline your responsibilities when using the HearingLikeMe.com website, and our obligations and practices towards handling any personal information that you may provide to us.
This is our simplified translation. It’s for your convenience only, and not legally binding.
ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS 

The web pages available at HearingLikeMe.com (“Site”) are brought to you by Phonak AG, and is accessed by you under the Terms of Use described below (“Terms”).

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE SERVICES. BY ACCESSING THIS SITE OR USING ANY PART OF THE SITE OR ANY CONTENT OR SERVICES ON THE SITE, YOU AGREE TO BECOME BOUND BY THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, THEN YOU MAY NOT ACCESS THE SITE OR USE THE CONTENT OR ANY SERVICES IN THE SITE. HEARINGLIKEME.COM’S ACCEPTANCE IS EXPRESSLY CONDITIONED UPON YOUR ASSENT TO ALL OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL OTHER TERMS; IF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ARE CONSIDERED AN OFFER BY HEARINGLIKEME.COM, ACCEPTANCE IS EXPRESSLY LIMITED TO THESE TERMS.

By using HearingLikeMe.com, or creating a membership account, you are required to read, understand and accept these terms.
MODIFICATIONS OF TERMS

HearingLikeMe.com reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or replace the Terms at any time. If the alterations constitute a material change to the Terms, HearingLikeMe.com will notify you by posting an announcement on the Site. What constitutes a “material change” will be determined at HearingLikeMe.com’s sole discretion, in good faith and using common sense and reasonable judgment. You shall be responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with any such modifications. Use of the Services by you following such notification constitutes your acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Terms as modified.

We could change terms anytime, but will notify you if anything major changes.
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICE

Subject to full compliance with the Terms, HearingLikeMe.com may offer to provide certain services and content, as described more fully on the Site, (“Services”). Services shall include, but not be limited to, any service HearingLikeMe.com performs for you, as well as content displayed, transmitted or performed on the Site or through the Services (including, but not limited to text, user comments, messages, information, data, graphics, articles, images, videos, illustrations, also known as the “Content”). HearingLikeMe.com may change, suspend or discontinue the Services including any Content for any reason, at any time, including the availability of any Service or Content. HearingLikeMe.com may also impose limits on certain Services and Content or restrict your access to parts or all of the Services and Content without notice or liability.

We allow you to create accounts and access members’ only services and could add more members’ only services and content in the future.

 

YOUR REGISTRATION RESPONSIBILITIES 

As a condition to using Services, you are required to register with HearingLikeMe.com and select a screen name and password. You shall provide HearingLikeMe.com with accurate, complete, and updated registration information. Failure to do so shall constitute a breach of the Terms, which may result in immediate termination of your HearingLikeMe.com account. You may not:

  • Select or use as a HearingLikeMe.com User ID a name of another person with the intent to impersonate that person
  • Use as a HearingLikeMe.com User ID a name subject to any rights of a person other than you without appropriate authorization
  • Use as a HearingLikeMe.com User ID a name that is otherwise offensive, vulgar or obscene. HearingLikeMe.com reserves the right to cancel such registration

Services are available only to individuals who are at least 13 years old. If you do not so qualify, do not attempt to register for membership or use the Services.

To fully use the Web site, you need to create your own account, and do so without violating other people’s rights.
USER CONDUCT 
As a condition of use, you promise not to use the Services for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms, or any other purpose not reasonably intended by HearingLikeMe.com.

By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree not to use the Services:

  1. to abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other HearingLikeMe.com users;
  2. to post or transmit, or cause to be posted or transmitted, any Content that is infringing, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, offensive, profane, or otherwise violates any law or right of any third party;
  3. for any illegal or unauthorized purpose;
  4. to post or transmit, or cause to be posted or transmitted, any communication or solicitation designed or intended to obtain password, account, or private information from any HearingLikeMe.com user;
  5. to create or submit unwanted email (“Spam”) to any other HearingLikeMe.com users or any URL;
  6. to post any content protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of publicity or other proprietary right without the express permission of the owner;
  7. to violate any laws in your jurisdiction (including but not limited to copyright laws);
  8. with the exception of accessing RSS feeds (if available), you will not use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Site for any purpose without our express written permission. Additionally, you agree that you will not: (i) take any action that imposes, or may impose in our sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure; (ii) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any activities conducted on the Site; or (iii) bypass any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Site;
  9. to advertise to, or solicit, any user to buy or sell any products or services. It is also a violation of these rules to use any information obtained from the Services in order to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to any user without their prior explicit consent;
  10. attempt to impersonate another user or person;
  11. sell or otherwise transfer your profile;
  12. share your login details and password with third parties.

IN ADDITION, YOU HEREBY AGREE THAT YOU SHALL NOT USE THE SERVICE ON BEHALF OF (OR PER THE REQUEST OR INSTRUCTION OF) ANY THIRD PARTY. FURTHERMORE, YOU SHALL NOT REQUEST THAT ANY THIRD PARTY, OR PAY OR OTHERWISE ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE ANY THIRD TO, MANIPULATE OR OTHERWISE AFFECT THE SITE IN ANY MANNER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, BY PAYING ANY OTHER USER TO “HEARINGLIKEME.COM” ANY CONTENT).

HearingLikeMe.com may remove any Content and HearingLikeMe.com accounts at any time for any reason (including, but not limited to, upon receipt of claims or allegations from third parties or authorities relating to such Content), or for no reason at all. To report Terms abuse, please email: help@HearingLikeMe.com

You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users of the Site. HearingLikeMe.com reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other users.

You cannot use this site to send spam, post offensive, vulgar or obscene material, harass site members or do anything else that is objectionable. You also cannot post any protected content without the express permission of the owner. But if you play by the rules and are nice and respectful while here, you’ll be just fine!
PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

HearingLikeMe.com will not knowingly collect, use or disclose personally identifiable information from a minor under the age of 13, without obtaining prior consent from a person with parental responsibility (parent or guardian). Should a child whom we know to be under 13 provide personally identifiable information to us, we will use that information only to respond directly to that child to inform him or her that we must have parental consent before receiving information about him or her.

We treat children’s privacy seriously, so if you’re under 13 you cannot register or access members’ only Content or Services, but talk to your parents and they can set up an account.
CONSENT TO PROVIDE YOUR INFORMATION TO HEARINGLIKEME.COM 

We request your consent to collect your personally identifiable information when you seek to register for a HearingLikeMe.com Service. In doing so, we also explain, for that service, what you are registering to receive and how we plan to use your personal information. We also offer you the option of discontinuing your consent (“opting out” or “unsubscribing”) if you later decide that you no longer want to participate in that service or receive additional information from us.

By registering here, you have the option to opt in to receive special offers and hearing loss related information. If you don’t want them, you can unsubscribe easily.
PUBLIC POSTING

Please remember that any information you disclose in article comments or forums becomes public information and can be used by people you do not know. Accordingly, you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose any personal or other information in article comments or forums. Any such disclosures are at your own risk.

Although we may monitor or review posted messages from time to time, we do not actively monitor the contents of article comments or forums, and we are not under any obligation to do so. Each user is solely responsible and liable for the contents of his or her postings, and we are not responsible in any way for the Content or opinions expressed therein. We have the right, but not the obligation, to remove, edit or move, at any time, any material posted to the article comments or forums, in each case as we deem appropriate.

You acknowledge that the Content of all postings expresses the views of the author, and not of HearingLikeMe.com, Phonak AG, its affiliates, or any other entity, person, representative or agent associated with HearingLikeMe.com. You also acknowledge that your use of or reliance on the information posted by other users in article comments or forums is at your own risk.

HearingLikeMe.com will cooperate fully with law enforcement officials and comply with any court order with respect to any claim or investigation arising from your participation in article comments or forums, and any material posted by you, including, without limitation, furnishing such material and information regarding your identity and any other information we may have about you.

If something you say on our site results in a bad experience for you – we are not responsible.

You assume total responsibility and risk for your use of and participation in article comments or forums on this website. HearingLikeMe.com shall not be responsible or liable under any circumstances for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of or in any way related to article comments or forum posts on this website. If you are dissatisfied with this website, including any article comment or forum thereon, your sole remedy is to cease use of the website, article comments or forum, as applicable.

HearingLikeMe.com does not warrant that the Services on this website will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that this website or the servers that make such Services available, are free of viruses or other harmful components. HearingLikeMe.com does not warrant or make any representation regarding the correctness, accuracy, timeliness, reliability or any other aspect of the use of any of the materials.

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold HearingLikeMe.com harmless from and against any and all claims, losses, liability, costs and expenses (including attorney’s fees) incurred by HearingLikeMe.com in connection with or arising out of your participation in any article comments or forums on this website and any material posted by you thereto, including the use of the website by another person using your login details and password.

You acknowledge that by participating in any article comments or forums on this website, you are granting Phonak AG the unrestricted right, throughout the world and in perpetuity, to copy, sublicense, adapt, transmit, perform, display or otherwise use, at no cost whatsoever to Phonak AG, any and all material you post to any article comments or forums, including, without limitation, all intellectual property rights embodied therein.

Be careful what you write while you’re posting on this site as others have access to it!
SHARING YOUR INFORMATION WITH THIRD-PARTIES 

HearingLikeMe.com and Phonak AG will not share your personal information with third-parties for their own separate use unless we have obtained your opt-in consent to do so.

There may also be instances where HearingLikeMe.com may be required to share your information as directed by courts or other governmental agencies.

We value your privacy and will not share your information with third-parties for their own separate use unless we have obtained your opt-in consent to do so.
SECURITY OF YOUR INFORMATION 

We use appropriate technical and organizational safeguards to protect data that pertains to you especially from loss, misuse or alteration. In addition, we take steps to ensure that our safeguards take into account new known threats. Of course, no organization can guarantee the absolute security of personal information. You should keep in mind that Internet transmissions, particularly email transmissions, are never 100% secure or error-free. Accordingly, we also caution you to guard your own computer and password against unauthorized access by others.

We’ve got some pretty hard-core Web geeks here who’ve dotted their i’s and crossed their t’s when it comes to online Web security, and will continue to do whatever they can to keep your information safe.
WARRANTY DISCLAIMERS 

You acknowledge that HearingLikeMe.com has no control over, and no duty to take any action regarding: which users gain access to the Site or use the Services; what effects the Content may have on you; how you may interpret or use the Content; or what actions you may take as a result of having been exposed to the Content. You release HearingLikeMe.com from all liability for you having acquired or not acquired Content through the Site or the Services. HearingLikeMe.com makes no representations concerning any content contained in or accessed through the Site or Services, and HearingLikeMe.com will not be responsible or liable for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality or decency of material contained in or accessed through the Site or the Services. THE SERVICE, CONTENT, AND SITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

We are not liable for what effects the website may have on you; how you may interpret or use the content; or what actions you may take as a result of having been exposed to the content on the website.
LINKS

The Site or Services may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other World Wide Web sites or resources. Because HearingLikeMe.com has no control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that HearingLikeMe.com is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. You further acknowledge and agree that HearingLikeMe.com shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, goods or services available on or through any such site or resource.

Some people may post links; and if they do, we are not responsible for wherever those links lead.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY 

IN NO EVENT SHALL HEARINGLIKEME.COM OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE UNDER CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER LEGAL THEORY (I) WITH RESPECT TO THE SITE, THE SERVICE OR ANY CONTENT FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES (HOWEVER ARISING), OR (II) FOR ANY DIRECT DAMAGES IN EXCESS OF (IN THE AGGREGATE) CHF100.

We are not liable for any damages that may be caused by the use of our site.
COPYRIGHT 

HearingLikeMe.com contains copyrighted material, trademarks and other proprietary information, including, but not limited to, text, software, photos, video, graphics, music and sound. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit, any of the content, in whole or in part. You may download copyrighted material for your personal use only. Except as otherwise expressly permitted under copyright law, no copying, redistribution, retransmission, publication or commercial exploitation of downloaded material will be permitted without the express permission of HearingLikeMe.com and the copyright owner. In the event of any permitted copying, redistribution or publication of copyrighted material, no changes in or deletion of author attribution, trademark legend or copyright notice shall be made. You acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights by downloading copyrighted material.

You cannot modify, publish, transmit, transfer, sell, or create derivative works, or in any way exploit, any of the content from HearingLikeMe.com.
TERMINATION 

HearingLikeMe.com may terminate or suspend any and all Services and your HearingLikeMe.com account immediately, without prior notice or liability, if you breach any of the terms or conditions of the Terms. Upon termination of your account, your right to use the Services will immediately cease. If you wish to terminate your HearingLikeMe.com account, you may simply discontinue using the Services. All provisions of the Terms shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.

We may terminate or suspend services if you break the rules.
APPLICABLE LAW; JURISDICTION 

These terms of use are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Switzerland without regard to conflicts of laws principles. Place of jurisdiction is in Zurich.

Updated: March 23, 2012