TERMS OF SERVICE

These Terms of Service are a legal contract which control your use of the website at www.virtualpuppeteers.org (referred to as "SquidSoup", the "website" or the "site"), which is run by SquidSoup.org and its associated companies (together referred to as "we", "us" and "our").

Some of the services and software we provide on the site are free of charge ("free services"). We also allow you to make a donation to upgrade your membership and become an Enhanced Puppeteer ("Enhanced services"), but there is no obligation on you to do so. We may use the site to sell other goods and services ("additional products"). These Terms of Service apply equally to free services, Enhanced services and additional products (together the "services").

If you are under 16 years of age there are some special rules, in particular you need to have your parent or guardian's consent before you can sign up, and your parent or guardian must read these Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy with you, to make sure that you both understand what is involved. Your parent or guardian must go through the registration process with you, and enter their details when asked. They should then supervise you when you use Virtual Puppeteers to help make sure you stay safe online.

The rest of the Terms of Service are split into 4 parts as follows:
PART 1 – About Virtual Puppeteers
PART 2 – Your Use of Puppeteers
PART 3 – PAYING FOR SERVICES ON LUNARSTORM
PART 4 – General Terms about our Relationship with You

About Virtual Puppeteers

This Part describes Virtual Puppeteers, the website and services, and what you can expect when you use the site.

Description of services

Virtual Puppeteers has lots of ways to create new and original stories and narratives. We want Virtual Puppeteers to be a fun and safe place for you to create, record, share and have enjoy story telling. But we expect you to be responsible in how you use Virtual Puppeteers – and to comply with the law online in the same way you would offline. For that reason we need to set down rules that control your use of Virtual Puppeteers, including these Terms of Service. By agreeing to become a member, and continuing to use the website and software, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and any other rules and terms that we set down from time to time.

We want to keep improving Virtual Puppeteers, so we will add new services, and remove some old services, when we think it is appropriate. We may also decide to start charging for some services which are currently free. We will be entitled to make any of these changes at our sole discretion, and without incurring any liability to you. We will always let you know about these changes by posting a message on the site, and where relevant sending a message to your email account. It is up to you to check this regularly, and make sure that you know what rules apply to the website and services.

Availability

We try to make sure that the website and software operates properly at all times, but the site and the services are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We will do everything reasonably possible to restore the website if it becomes unavailable, but we do not guarantee either the availability or accessibility of the website or any service in any way. Except as otherwise required by law we cannot refund any donations made, and we will not be liable to you in any way, if for any reason you cannot use the site or any services at any particular times.

We are not an internet service provider - it is up to you to make sure you can access the internet, and make sure that you are using appropriate software to make full and safe use of the site, including using appropriate virus scanning and filtering systems.

Information provided by us

Where we provide information on the website it is general in nature and you should not rely on any claims or endorsements for any goods or services discussed or described, or on other information provided on the website.

Communication with others through Virtual Puppeteers

All members must comply with the rules set down in these Terms of Service, and we trust that all of our members will use the website responsibly, and in a way that doesn't offend or upset other members.

However, you acknowledge that we are not and cannot be responsible for the behaviour of our members, whether on the site or outside of it. Virtual Puppeteers only provides a venue where people can meet and perform virtual puppet shows, and we do not generally intercept or screen communications between members.

Just like in the offline world, there are bad people on the internet, and people who may try to take advantage of you. You need to apply the same level of care and caution in everything you do on Virtual Puppeteers as you would if you met a stranger on the street. While we hope that all of our members are nice people, there is no way of knowing whether a Puppeteer is good or bad. Be careful about what you tell other people on the site, and don't ever give out details that would allow someone to contact you outside of the website. If you want to find out more about how to look after yourself online, please have a look at www.ThinkUKnow.co.uk – a website set up by the UK government to help explain these risks.

If you have problems with another member, please let us know at info@vpups.com.

Content posted by others on the Website

We do not generally monitor the content on the site, and by using the site you accept that you will be exposed to content posted by other members, some of which you may find offensive or upsetting. Any recommendation or other information posted on the website by other members is followed by you at your own risk and we do not warrant the accuracy of any information posted on the site.

If you discover any content or behaviour of other members which you think is unacceptable you should report it to us at info@vpups.com and we will do our best to deal with it.

Our website may contains links to websites offered by other people. We are not responsible for the content of any web sites that are linked to from our website or for the legal consequences of your entering into any contracts with third parties that have linked web sites.

Our liability

SquidSoup.org takes no responsibility for any direct, indirect, or consequential damages (including but not limited to data loss or damage to data, loss of profit, interruption of business activity, or loss of business data) which may result from the use of the website or services or the inability to use the website or services, even in cases when such damages may result or if we received prior notification that liability claims may be made by a third party.

Any software is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, express or implied. In no event shall the author or contributors be held liable for any damages arising in any way from the use of this software.

This software is provided without technical support.  We are not able to provide advice on the installation or running of the software.

Our copyright and other rights

It is important to remember that just because content is available for you to view on our website, or elsewhere on the internet, that does not mean you have an unlimited or free right to use it however you want.

SquidSoup.org, Virtual Puppeteers, the software, the website and services are protected by copyright, trade marks, design rights, good will and other intellectual property rights ("IPR"), and these IPRs belong to us, our suppliers, or in some cases other members.

You may reproduce and modify Puppet and Stage files under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

All other content of the website may only be reproduced in part or in whole under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

You may include links to the website from third party websites provided that you have that site's permission to do so. You may only link to our homepage (http://www.virtualpuppeteers.org). You may not link to any other part of the site without our express permission.

Other than as set out above, nothing in these Terms of Service or elsewhere on the website grants a licence or right to use any IPR in anything forming part of, or displayed on, the website without our permission.

Limited Licence to use software

When you use the website and or Services, the software, including all files and images contained in or generated by the software, and accompanying data, shockwave and other digital files (collectively, “Software”) are deemed to be licensed to you by SquidSoup.org, during the term of this Agreement and as long as the Agreement has not been terminated, for your personal, non-commercial, home use only. SquidSoup.org does not transfer either the title or the intellectual property rights to the Software, and SquidSoup.org retains full and complete title to the Software as well as all intellectual property rights therein. You may not sell, redistribute, or reproduce the Software, nor may you decompile, reverse-engineer, disassemble, or otherwise convert the Software to a human-perceivable form. All trademarks and logos are owned by Squidsoup.org Ltd or its licensors and you may not copy or use them in any manner.

This limited license does not include any resale or commercial use of this website or the Service; any collection and use of any descriptions or prices; any derivative use of the Site or its contents; or any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools. The Site or any portion of the Site may not be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, visited, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose without express written consent of Company. You may not frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information (including images, text, page layout, or form) of Company, and our affiliates and marketing partners, without express written consent. You may not use any meta tags or any other "hidden text" utilizing names or trademarks of Company without the express written consent of Company. Any unauthorized use terminates the permission or license granted by Squidsoup.org Ltd. You are granted a limited, revocable, and nonexclusive right to create a hyperlink to the home page of Company’s Sites so long as the link does not portray Company, its affiliates, or their products or services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive matter. You may not use any Company logos or other proprietary graphics or trademarks as part of the link without express written permission.

Data protection

We collect some information about you when you register on Virtual Puppeteers. We have explained what this information is, what we do with it, and who we share it with in more detail in our Privacy Policy. By accepting these Terms of Service and continuing to use Virtual Puppeteers you also agree to our Privacy Policy, and give your consent for us to use your data as set out in the Privacy Policy.

YOUR USE OF Virtual Puppeteers

This Part sets out the rules that you must follow when you use the site.

Registering with us

You can only access the services if you register with us as a member. You undertake that all of the information that you provide when you register is complete and accurate – including a minimum or your screen name and password. You must keep this information up-to-date at all times. We may suspend, terminate or block your use of the website, and any of the services, if we suspect that any information you have provided is inaccurate, false or misleading. If we suspect that you have provided false or misleading information for any malicious or unlawful purposes we may pass any relevant information on to the police to allow them to investigate.

By registering or using the Site, Software and Services in any way, you agree to the following:

1. You agree not to harass or threaten other Puppeteers;
2. You agree not to use any harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive language;
3. You agree not to impersonate any Staff Member;
4. If asked by a member of Staff to stop or change a behaviour or action, you will do so;
5. You agree not to run two or more simultaneous Virtual Puppeteer sessions;
6. You agree not to cheat, hack or make any attack on the server in any way;
7. You agree not to transmit or make available in the Service or Site any advertising, promotional materials or any other forms of solicitation;
8. You agree not to transmit any material that contains viruses, worms, traps or malicious computer code;
9. You agree not to disrupt the normal flow of the games and dialogue, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other people’s ability to use the Service;
10. You agree not to collect or store personal data about other people using the Service;
11. You agree only to use your own credit card with the Service.
12. defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise infringe the legal rights (such as rights of privacy or intellectual property rights where applicable) of others;
13. publish, post, distribute or disseminate any material which is obscene, indecent, hateful, racially or ethnically objectionable, discriminatory or unlawful;
14. advertise or offer to sell any goods or services, or conduct or forward surveys, contests, or chain letters;
15. upload files that contain images, audio or video recordings, software or other material protected by intellectual property laws (or by rights of confidentiality or privacy of publicity, where applicable) unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consents;
16. upload files that contain viruses, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of our or another's computer;
17. upload files which contain an active hypertext link to another web site;
18. delete any author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in any file that is uploaded;
19. falsify the origin or source of software or other material contained in a file that is uploaded;
20. download, share or distribute any file that you know, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally used in such manner;
21. encourage others to put themselves at risk of harm or injury, or to commit a criminal offence; or
22. act in a manner which affects other users' normal use of Virtual Puppeteers, the software, website or services.

Under 16s

Virtual Puppeteers is an exciting place for people of all ages, and we appreciate that many people under 16 years of age want to become members. We are happy for people under 16 to sign up, but there are a number of laws designed to protect you, which you and we need to comply with.

If you are under 16 then you need to obtain the consent of a parent or guardian before you can register as a member. Your parent or guardian must be with when you go through the registration process, and is responsible for reading these Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy with you, to make sure that both of you understand what is involved in being a member of Virtual Puppeteers.

If, as a parent or guardian, you consent to your child registering as a member of Virtual Puppeteers you must type your name on the registration page where indicated, and tick the box to verify that you have given your consent. As a parent or guardian consenting to your child using the site you will be bound by these Terms of Service as if you were a member, and will be legally responsible for ensuring that your child complies with these Terms of Service at all times.

As a parent or guardian allowing your child to register with Virtual Puppeteers you accept that they will be able to access all of the content and materials available on the site, which is designed for a broad audience. It is your responsibility to ensure that the content on Virtual Puppeteers is suitable for your child. This is a continuing responsibility and you need to be pro-active in supervising your child's use of Virtual Puppeteers.

Managing your information

When you register for the Services, you will be asked to choose a Screen Name and a password. This is the only information which Virtual Puppeteers needs you to provide to become a member.

Some of this information will become part of your Profile Settings which we will make visible to other members, including your Screen Name. You can choose to make other details available to members in the Profile Settings area of the website, but you should think seriously before disclosing this or any other information on or through the site or services.

Some of this information will become part of your Private Settings which we will never disclose on the website or to other members, including your Password. You can choose to add other details to your Private Settings and we will keep this information secure - you must do so too. In particular it is important that you keep your password secret and safe at all times.

You are responsible for all use of your account using your password, and we will not be responsible if someone misuses your account where they know your password unless it can be shown that it is our fault. Please contact us immediately if you suspect that the security of your account is at risk.

We will never ask you for your password except as part of the log-in process. We will not divulge your password to anyone, including you. If you forget your password and have an email address saved, we will send a new and randomly generated password to that email. If no email is saved then you may open a new account but we will not transfer any data, IPR, services, or credit between accounts.

Posting content and communicating with other members

We do not pre-screen, monitor or intercept any of the content posted on or communications made through the site, although we reserve the right to do so at our discretion at any time. All content and communications are the sole responsibility of the person posting or sending them.

Misuse of Virtual Puppeteers

We want Virtual Puppeteers to be a safe and fun place for all of our members.

We shall, at our sole discretion, have the right (but not the obligation) to refuse to post or transmit, to move or to delete any content on or communications through the site at any time. This includes, but is not limited to, content and communications which breach these Terms of Service or any of our rules, or which we consider is otherwise objectionable.

We shall, at our sole discretion, have the right to suspend, restrict or terminate any member's access to the site or any part of it, and to suspend, restrict or terminate any individual's Virtual Puppeteers membership at any time where it is reasonable to do so. If your access or membership has been suspended, restricted or terminated you must not re-register or otherwise attempt to re-access the site without our prior consent.

Copyright belonging to you

By posting any content on the website, or using the website or services to send any communications, you are warranting to us that you are entitled to do so, and you grant to us a royalty free licence to use, distribute, reproduce, display, adapt and publish the content and communications anywhere in the world and in any form. You waive your right to the integrity of the content and communications and to prevent derogatory treatment of them. You grant the right for others to use such content and communications for personal, non-commercial purposes.

Making a donation to Virtual Puppeteers

This Part sets out the terms which apply when you make a donation to Squidsoup.org in support of Virtual Puppeteers.

Making a donation

Certain services available through Virtual Puppeteers can only be accessed after a donation has been made and credited against a valid Virtual Puppeteer account.

Donations are made through PayPal™ and their Terms and Conditions of service apply.

We will always be clear about how much we will charge you, and when our charges will be applied. In turn you must act responsibly when making donations to us.

Please note that, except as otherwise required by law, under no circumstances can we refund the cost of any donation which you make once we have received authorised payment.

We will notify acceptance of your donation by sending an email to your registered address advising that your donation has been gratefully received and confirming your [donation number, details of the Virtual Puppeteer account to be credited, total cost of the donation, etc.]. This email constitutes acceptance by us of your donation, until this point you may vary or cancel your donation.

You are allowed to make a donation against any current, valid Virtual Puppeteer account. You are responsible for checking that the account is current, valid and exactly as recorded by the owner. We will not send any financial account details in the confirmation email, if you are not the owner of the Virtual Puppeteer account you will only receive notification from PayPal that the donation has been received in the normal fashion. The owner of the Virtual Puppeteer account will receive notification that a donation has been made against that account but no identifying information about the donor.

You are allowed to make multiple donations against the same account. In the case of multiple donations being made against a single account, no additional services, privileges, rights, guarantees, or any other benefits are accorded. We are of course grateful and will continue working hard to improve Virtual Puppeteers with all donations gratefully received.

Payment Terms

All prices and charges on Virtual Puppeteers are shown in UK Pounds Sterling. All prices are, unless otherwise stated, inclusive of VAT.

Although we try to ensure that the prices quoted on Virtual Puppeteers are accurate, and that goods and services have been fairly described, mistakes can occur. If, before we have accepted your donation, we discover an error in the price of the goods or services, or a material error in the description of goods or services, we will inform you as soon as reasonably possible, and we will give you the option to reconfirm your donation on the basis of the adjusted information or to cancel.

If we cannot contact you to advise of the error in price and/or description, we will treat the order as being cancelled and we will refund all money taken from you relating to the purchase of the goods or services.

At any time before we accept your order by issuing an order confirmation, we reserve the right to adjust prices, offers, good and services and descriptions of goods and services on Virtual Puppeteers.

Availability of goods and services

All orders are subject to availability. If it is not possible for us to fulfil any order, including where goods or services are not available, we will notify you of this within 28 days of receipt of the order and provide a refund of the money paid to us, unless we agree a longer delivery period with you.

We reserve the right to withdraw any goods or services from Virtual Puppeteers at any time before we accept your order, and we will not be liable to you, or anyone else, for withdrawing any goods or services.

Your rights of cancellation – Services

Where you make a donation, you agree to the services commencing immediately upon issue of confirmation or the commencement of the services (whichever is sooner). You acknowledge that this may be prior to the end of any statutory cancellation period, and you agree that thereafter you will not have the right to cancel any services under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 or otherwise.

Cancelling your order

Where you are entitled to cancel an order please write to us at Squidsoup.org Limited, Spring Cottage, Pancake Hill, Chedworth, Cheltenham, GL54 4AW or email us at cancellations@vpups.com.

Please return cancelled orders to Squidsoup.org Limited, Spring Cottage, Pancake Hill, Chedworth, Cheltenham, GL54 4AW.

If you cancel your donation prior to the issuing of confirmation email, we will refund the donation to you within 28 days of notice of cancellation.

GENERAL TERMS RELATING TO OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU

This part sets out some of the general terms and conditions governing our provision and your use of the site.

Who are we?

Virtual Puppeteers is run by Squidsoup.org Limited, a company registered in United Kingdom with registration number 4489925. Our registered address is Spring Cottage, Pancake Hill, Chedworth, Cheltenham, GL54 4AW. You can also email us on info@www.vpups.com.

Term and Termination

You agree to remain bound by these Terms of Service for as long as you are reasonably required, and at least for as long as you remain a member of Virtual Puppeteers or until we terminate or suspend your membership.

If you wish to end your membership of Virtual Puppeteers, you may do so at any time in the Private Settings section of My Settings.

We may suspend any membership account that has been dormant for a period of 1 month and may delete all information relating to that account, other than very basic information about you. If we still hold information about you, you may be able to re-activate your Virtual Puppeteers membership, but will not be able to recover any deleted information about your membership.

We may immediately suspend, terminate and/or block your membership without notice or liability if you breach any of these Terms of Service, the Privacy Policy or any other rules or terms, if at any time we consider that you are abusing Virtual Puppeteers or any services, or if you make any other use of Virtual Puppeteers or any services which we in our sole discretion consider inappropriate.

If for any reason we are unable to continue to provide the Virtual Puppeteers website we will be entitled to terminate your membership. In such circumstances we will make every effort to give you reasonable notice of such termination. However we will not be responsible for failing to notify any member regardless of the reasons.

Maximum liability

Our aggregate liability to you for any loss, damages, costs or expenses arising as a result of your use of Virtual Puppeteers and any goods or services purchased through Virtual Puppeteers will not exceed the total value of the relevant goods or services, or where the loss, damages, costs or expenses do not arise directly from a purchase of goods or services, a total of £10.

We will not be liable for any loss, damage, expense, costs, delay or other liability to the extent that it is or can be characterised as a claim for (or arising from) loss of revenue or profits, anticipated savings, business opportunity, data, loss of or damage to goodwill or injury to reputation, or for any indirect, consequential or special loss or damage, howsoever caused or arising (whether arising out of any negligence or breach of these Terms of Service or otherwise).

Non-excluded liabilities

Nothing within these Terms of Service operates so as to exclude, limit or restrict our liability for death or personal injury, or any other liability which cannot be excluded by law. Where you deal as a consumer, nothing in the above exclusions affects your statutory rights.

Indemnity

You agree to fully indemnify and hold harmless Squidsoup.org Limited, its group companies, its directors, officers, employees, agents, licensors, representatives and connected third parties from and against all loss, costs, damages and expenses resulting from any breach of these Terms of Service by you, or out of any content you post on, or communications you make through, the services.

Changes to the Terms of Service

We may alter the basis on which we provide Virtual Puppeteers, including amending these Terms of Service, at any time. We will post the amended version of the terms on the site and advise you that the terms have changed in the News section.

Where we change the Terms of Service the new version will take effect immediately from the date on which it is posted on the site. If you do not agree to any changes to the Terms of Service you should immediately cease to use Virtual Puppeteers. Your continued use of the site after the date of posting will constitute acceptance of the new version of the Terms of Service.

Email Notices

We will use the email address listed in your Private Settings to contact you for all purposes in relation to these Terms of Service. You are responsible for making sure that this email address remains up to date, and that the account is checked regularly.

Entire Agreement

These Terms of Service, together with any other applicable rules and terms referred to herein, constitute the entire agreement between you and us and supersede any prior agreements, arrangements, statements and understandings in relation to the use of Virtual Puppeteers.

Invalidity / Unenforceability

If at any time any of the provision of these Terms of Service is held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions of these Terms of Service shall continue in full force and effect.

Assignment

We reserve the right to assign or subcontract any or all of its rights and obligations under these Terms of Service. You acknowledge that you may not without the prior written consent of Squidsoup.org Ltd assign or dispose of your obligations under these Terms of Service whether in part or in whole.

Governing Law

These Terms of Service, and your use of the services, shall be governed by English Law, and you and we submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts