Terms of Use

1. Welcome to TolkienGuide!

By using this website (the "Site") offered by TolkienGuide ("we", "our", "us") you are agreeing to these legally binding rules (the "Terms"). You are also agreeing to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

We may change these terms from time to time. If we do, we'll let you know about any material changes, either by notifying you on the Site or by sending you an email. New versions of the terms will never apply retroactively - we'll tell you the exact date they go into effect. If you keep using TolkienGuide after a change, that means you accept the new terms.

2. About Creating an Account

You can browse TolkienGuide without registering for an account, but to use some functions you'll need to register by choosing a username and setting a password. You are responsible for all the activity on your account, and keeping your password confidential. If you find someone has used your account without your permission, you should report it to [email protected]

3. Things You Shouldn't Do

We expect all users to behave responsibly and help keep this a nice place. Don't do any of these things on the Site:

• Don't break the law. Don't take any action that infringes or violated other people's rights, violates the law, or breaches
  

any contract or legal duty you have toward anyone.

• Don't lie to people. Don't post information you know is false, misleading, or inaccurate. Don't do anything deceptive or fraudulent.
  
• Don't ignore guidance. Repeatedly failing to follow guidance from moderators about post quality is grounds for a time lock or permanent account closure.
  
• Don't victimize anyone. Don't do anything threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, tortious, obscene, profane, or invasive of another person's privacy.
  
• Don't spam. Don't post unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or promotional material that are not in line with the interests of the members of this Site.
  
• Don't harm anyone's computer. Don't distribute software viruses or link to sites that are hostile.
  
• Don't abuse other users' personal information. When you use TolkienGuide, you may receive information about other users, including things like their names, email addresses, and postal addresses. This information should only be used for the purpose of participating in TolkienGuide's services, and should not be shared further or sold.
  
• Don't try to interfere with the proper workings of the Site.
  
• Don't bypass any measures we've put in place to secure the Services.
  
• Don't try to damage or get unauthorized access to any system, data, password, or other private information.
  
• Don't take any action that imposes an unreasonable load on our infrastructure. (We reserve the right to determine what is reasonable.)
  
• Don't take apart or reverse engineer any aspect of TolkienGuide in an effort to access things like source code, underlying ideas, or algorithms.
  
• Don't post or share links to AI / machine generated content (images, video, audio, text, and other materials). We are opposed to the unethical sourcing of training material.
  

4. Other Websites

TolkienGuide may contain links to other websites. When you access third-party websites, you do so at your own risk. We don't control or endorse those sites.

5. Your Intellectual Property

TolkienGuide doesn't own content you submit to us (your "Content"). But we do need certain licenses from you in order to provide our Services. When you submit your original content to TolkienGuide, you agree to these terms:

• We can use the content you've submitted. You grant to us, and others acting on our behalf, the worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferrable right to use, exercise, commercialize, and exploit the copyright, publicity, and trademark rights with respect to your Content.
  
• You won't submit Content you don't hold the copyright for (unless you or we have permission or it falls under "fair use" as further described below). As an example - if you didn't take the picture, you should ask the photographer before sharing it here.
  
• You're responsible for the Content you post. All information submitted to the Site, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, is the sole responsibility of the person who posts it.
  
• We're not responsible for mistakes in your Content.
  

TolkienGuide in no way claims rights to any artwork displayed on the Site other than the TolkienGuide brand and logos. Copyrights and trademarks for the books, films, articles, merchandise and other promotional materials are held by their respective owners and our limited use of these materials is done by permission or is allowed under the fair use clause of the US Copyright Act.

TolkienGuide considers "fair use" to mean that small portions of a copyrighted work can be shared here for the purposes of commentary or criticism. In general TolkienGuide will share images from publishers and licensees of Middle-earth Enterprises for their products, including auction photographs of said items. Images of items held in copyright by the Tolkien Estate, including Tolkien's original art and letters, are only shared with explicit permission.

6. How We Deal with Copyright Issues

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act lays out a system of legal requirements for dealing with allegations of copyright infringement. TolkienGuide complies with the DMCA, and we respond to notices of alleged infringement if they comply with the law. We reserve the right to delete or disable content alleged to be infringing, and to terminate accounts for repeat infringers. (We do this when appropriate and at our sole discretion.)

7. Deleting Your Account

You can terminate your account at any time. We may retain certain information as required by law or as necessary for our legitimate business purposes. All provisions of this agreement survive termination of an account, including our rights regarding any content you've already submitted to the Site. You can contact us at [email protected] for additional information or to request content deletion (this is not available in all circumstances).

8. Our Rights

TolkienGuide reserves these rights:

• We can make changes to the Site and Services without notice or liability.
  
• We have the right to decide who is eligible to use TolkienGuide. We can cancel accounts or decline to offer our Services.
  

TolkienGuide is not liable for any damages as a result of any of these actions, and it is our policy not to comment on the reasons for any such action.

9. Warranty Disclaimer

You use our Services solely at your own risk. They are provided to you "as is" and "as available" and without warranty of any kind, express or implied.

TOLKIENGUIDE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ANY WARRANTIES IMPLIED BY ANY COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, OR USAGE OF TRADE. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION (ORAL OR WRITTEN) OBTAINED BY YOU FROM TOLKIENGUIDE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY.

10. Indemnification

If you do something that gets us sued, or break any of the promises you made in this agreement, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us harmless from all liabilities, claims and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees and other legal costs) that arise from or relate to your use or misuse of TolkienGuide.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event will TolkienGuide, its owners, employees, partners, suppliers, or content providers be liable for any indirect, incidental, punitive, consequential, special, or exemplary damages of any kind, including but not limited to damages (i) resulting from your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Services; (ii) for any lost profits, data loss, or cost of procurement or substitute goods or services; or (iii) for any conduct of content of any third party on the Site. In no event shall TolkienGuide's liability for direct damages be in excess of (in the aggregate) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100.00).

12. Dispute Resolution and Governing Law

We at TolkienGuide encourage you to contact us at [email protected] if you're having an issue, before resorting to the courts. In the unfortunate situation where legal action does arise, these Terms (and all other rules, policies, or guidelines incorporated by reference) will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California and the United States. You agree that any action at law or in equity arising out of or relating to these Terms, or your use or non-use of TolkienGuide, shall be filed only in the state or federal courts located in Yolo County in the State of California, and you hereby consent and submit to the personal jurisdiction of these courts for the purposes of litigating any such action.

13. The Terms for the Terms

These Terms and the other material referenced in them are the entire agreement between you and TolkienGuide with respect to the Services. They supersede all other communications and proposals (whether oral, written, or electronic) between you and TolkienGuide with respect to the Services and govern our future relationship. If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid under the law, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that the Terms otherwise will remain in full force and effect and enforceable. The failure of either you or TolkienGuide to exercise any right provided for in these Terms in any way won't be deemed a waiver of any other rights.