Terms

“As internet users and often photographers ourselves, we have provided you with terms and conditions that we would sign on to ourselves.”In other words: “You own everything that is yours, online”

The following document outlines the terms of use of the So.co website. You can also review our Privacy policy, which outlines our practices towards handling any personal information that you may provide to us.

Before using any of the So.co services, you are required to read, understand and agree to these terms. You may only create an account after reading and accepting these terms. The column on the right provides a short explanation of the terms of use and is not legally binding.

Acceptance of Terms

The web pages available at So.co and all linked pages (“Site”), are owned and operated by So.co Investments Limited (“So.co”) a UK company and are accessed by you under the Terms of Use described below (“Terms”).

Please read these terms carefully before using the services. By accessing the site, viewing any content or using any services available on the site (as each is defined below) you are agreeing to be bound by these terms, which together with our privacy policy, governs our relationship with you in relation to the site. If you disagree with any part of the terms then you may not access the site. So.co’s privacy policy is available below.

So.co 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, So.co will notify you by posting an announcement on the site. What constitutes a material change will be determined at So.co’s sole discretion. You shall be responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with any such modifications. Using any service or viewing any content following Notification of a material change to the terms shall constitute your acceptance of the Terms as modified.

Basically,
By using So.co you agree to all the terms below.

Description of Service

The Site is a music photography service that enables photographers, artists, managers, promoters, events and venues to post images and video, share stories, promote their own services and products, participate in contests and promotions, and access and/ or purchase goods and services from time to time made available on the Site (“Services”). Services include, but are not limited to, any service and/or content So.co makes available to or performs for you, as well as the offering of any materials displayed, transmitted or performed on the Site or through the Services. Content (“Content”) includes, but is not limited to text, user comments, messages, information, data, graphics, news articles, photographs, images, illustrations, and video.

Your access to and use of the Site may be interrupted from time to time as a result of equipment malfunction, updating, maintenance or repair of the Site or any other reason within or outside the control of So.co. So.co reserves the right to suspend or discontinue the availability of the Site and/or any Service and/or remove any Content at any time at its sole discretion and without prior notice. So.co may also impose limits on certain features and Services or restrict your access to parts of or all of the Site and the Services without notice or liability. The Site should not be used or relied upon for storage of your images and video, and you are directed to retain your own copies of all Content posted on the Site.

Basically,
We provide services that allow you to display your imagery, video and stories, and we will develop more features and services in the future that may include the ability to monetize your content through various means.

Registration

As a condition to using the Services, you are required to open an account with So.co and select a password and username, and to provide registration information. The registration information you provide must be accurate, complete, and current at all times. Failure to do so constitutes a breach of the Terms, which may result in immediate termination of your So.co account.

You may not use as a username the name of another person or entity or that is not lawfully available for use, a name or trade mark that is subject to any rights of another person or entity other than you without appropriate authorization, or a name that is otherwise offensive, vulgar or obscene.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and are solely responsible for all activities resulting from the use of your password and conducted through your So.co account.

Services are available only to individuals who are either (i) at least 18 years old, or (ii) at least 14 years old, and who are authorized to access the Site by a parent or legal guardian. If you have authorized a minor to use the Site, you are responsible for the online conduct of such minor, and the consequences of any misuse of the Site by the minor. Parents and legal guardians are warned that the Site may display photographs and images containing nudity and violence that may be offensive to some.

If you do not qualify for registration you are not permitted to open an account or use the Services.

Basically,
To fully use the services you need to create your own account, without violating other people’s rights.

User Conduct

All Content posted or otherwise submitted to the Site is the sole responsibility of the account holder from which such Content originates and you acknowledge and agree that you, and not So.co, are entirely responsible for all Content that you post, or otherwise submit to the Site. So.co does not control user submitted Content and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. You understand that by using the Site you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable.

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

  1. To abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate any person;
  2. To post or transmit, or cause to be posted or transmitted, any Content that is libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, offensive, profane, or that infringes any copyright or other right of any person;
  3. For any purpose (including posting or viewing Content) that is not permitted under the laws of the jurisdiction where you use the Services;
  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 So.co user;
  5. To create or transmit unwanted ‘spam’ to any person or any URL;
  6. To post copyrighted Content which doesn’t belong to you, with exception of Stories, where you may post such Content with explicit mention of the author’s name and a link to the source of the Content;
  7. With the exception of accessing RSS feeds, 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;
  8. To artificially inflate or alter vote counts, blog counts, comments, or any other Service or for the purpose of giving or receiving money or other compensation in exchange for votes, or for participating in any other organized effort that in any way artificially alters the results of Services;
  9. To advertise to, or solicit, any user to buy or sell any products or services, or 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. To promote or sell Content of another person without their prior explicit consent;
  11. To sell or otherwise transfer your profile.
  12. To report a suspected abuse of the Site or a breach of the Terms (other than relating to copyright infringement which is addressed under “COPYRIGHT COMPLAINTS” below) please send written notice to So.co at email: copyright@So.co

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

Basically,
You cannot use our site to post pornographic material, harass people, send spam, negatively vote on all photos, and do other crazy stuff. Be reasonable and responsible, don't do anything stupid and you'll be fine.

Content submitted Or Made Available For Inclusion On The Service

Please read this section carefully before posting, uploading, or otherwise submitting any Content to the site. In consideration of So.co’s agreement to allow you to post Content to the Site and So.co’s agreement to publish such Content and for other valuable consideration the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby expressly and irrevocably acknowledged, you agree with So.co as follows:

You acknowledge that:

  1. By uploading your photographic or graphic works to So.co, you retain full rights to those works that you had prior to uploading.
  2. The license granted to So.co includes the right to use your Content fully or partially for promotional reasons and to distribute and redistribute your Content to other parties, web-sites, applications, and other entities, provided such Content is attributed to you in accordance with the credits (i.e. username, profile picture, photo title, descriptions, tags, and other accompanying information) if any and as appropriate, all as submitted to So.co by you;
  3. So.co uses industry recognized software and measures to restrict the ability of users and visitors to the Site to make high resolution copies of Content posted on the Site. Notwithstanding this, So.co makes no representation and warranty that Content posted on the Site will not be unlawfully copied without your consent. So.co does not restrict the ability of users and visitors to the Site to make low resolution or ‘thumbnail’ copies of Content posted on the Site and you hereby expressly authorize So.co to permit users and visitors to the Site to make such low resolution copies of your Content; and
  4. Subject to the terms of the foregoing license, you retain full ownership or other rights in your Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your Content.

You represent and warrant that:

  1. You are the owner of all rights, including all copy rights in and to all Content you submit to the site;
  2. You have the full and complete right to enter into this agreement and to grant to So.co the rights in the Content herein granted, and that no further permissions are required from, nor payments required to be made to any other person in connection with the use by So.co of the Content as contemplated herein; and
  3. The Content does not defame any person and does not infringe upon the copyright, moral rights, publicity rights, privacy rights or any other right of any person, or violate any law or judicial or governmental order.
  4. You have agreed to the terms of the So.co Content Agreement prior to uploading any Content to the Site.

Basically,
Your photos will preserve whatever copyright they had before uploading to this site. We will protect the copyright and will not sell your photos without your permission.

Copyright Complaints

So.co respects the intellectual property rights of others. It is our policy to respond promptly any claim that Content posted on the Site infringes the copyright or other intellectual property infringement (“Infringement”) of any person. So.co will use reasonable efforts to investigate notices of alleged Infringement and will take appropriate action under applicable intellectual property law and these Terms where it believes an Infringement has taken place, including removing or disabling access to the Content claimed to be infringing and/or terminating accounts and access to the Site. To notify So.co of a possible Infringement you must submit your notice in writing to the attention of “Copyright Infringement” care of copyright@So.co, and include in your notice a detailed description of the alleged Infringement sufficient to enable So.co to make a reasonable determination. Please note that you may be held accountable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) for misrepresenting that any Content is infringing your copyright. If we remove or disable access to Content in response to a notice of Infringement, we will make reasonable attempts to contact the user who posted the affected Content.

If you feel that your Content is not infringing, you may provide So.co with a counter notice in writing to the attention of “Copyright Infringement Counter Notification” at copyright@So.co. You must include in your counter notice sufficient information to enable So.co to make a reasonable determination. Please note that you may be held accountable for damages (including costs and attorneys fees) if you materially misrepresent that your Content is not infringing the copyrights of others. If you are uncertain whether an activity constitutes Infringement, we recommended seeking advice of an attorney.

Basically,
We respect copyright. If anything is wrong, please send an email with all the details to copyright@so.co 

Links

The Services may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other sites or resources. Because So.co has no control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that So.co 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 So.co 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.

Basically,
Some people may post links; we are not responsible for those links.

Release and Indemnity

You hereby expressly and irrevocably release and forever discharge So.co, its affiliated and associated companies, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, independent and dependent contractors, licensees, successors and assigns of and from any and all actions, causes of action, suits, proceedings, liability, debts, judgments, claims and demands whatsoever in law or equity which you ever had, now have, or hereafter can, shall or may have, for or by reason of, or arising directly or indirectly out of your use of the Site and the Services.

You hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless So.co, its affiliated and associated companies, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, independent and dependent contractors, licensees, successors and assigns from and against all claims, losses, expenses, damages and costs (including, but not limited to, direct, incidental, consequential, exemplary and indirect damages), and reasonable attorneys fees, resulting from or arising out of (i) a breach of these Terms, (ii) Content posted on the Site, (iii) the use of the Services, by you or any person using your account or So.co Username and password, (iv) the sale or use of your Images, or (v) any violation of any rights of a third party.

Basically,
We are not liable if something goes really wrong. Always have a backup of your photos.

Limitation Of Liability

In no event shall So.co be liable under contract, tort, strict liability, negligence or other

Legal theory with respect to the site, the service or any content (i) for any lost profits or Special, indirect, incidental, punitive, or consequential damages of any kind whatsoever, (ii)

To provide substitute goods or services (however arising), or (iii) for any direct damages in Excess of (in the aggregate) $100.

Basically,
Again, we are not liable. But we may pay you $100 if it seems right

Trademarks

So.co and other So.co graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and service names are registered trademarks, trademarks or trade dress of So.co. So.co’s trademarks and trade dress may not be used in connection with any product or service without the prior written consent of So.co. The images and icons available in the So.co icon pack may used by partners and third party sites in connection with providing appropriate links to the So.co Site.

Basically,
Please respect our trademarks and brands.

Termination

So.co may terminate or suspend any and all Services and/or your So.co account immediately, without prior notice or liability, for any reason whatsoever, including without limitation if you breach the Terms. Upon termination of your account, your right to use the Services will immediately cease. If you wish to terminate your So.co account, you may simply discontinue using the Services. All provisions of the Terms which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.

It is your responsibility to remove all Content from your account prior to termination. Upon termination of your account So.co will automatically remove all Content posted to your account.

Basically,
We can stop providing services at any time. You can stop using your account or close it at any time as well.

Miscellaneous

No agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment is created as a result of the Terms and you do not have any authority of any kind to bind So.co in any respect whatsoever. The failure of either party to exercise in any respect any right provided for herein shall not be deemed a waiver of any further rights hereunder. So.co shall not be liable for any failure to perform its obligations hereunder where such failure results from any cause beyond So.co’s reasonable control, including, without limitation, mechanical, electronic or communications failure or degradation (including "line-noise" interference). If any provision of the Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that the Terms shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable. So.co may transfer, assign or delegate the Terms and its rights and obligations without consent. The Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales,

as if made within England and Wales between two residents thereof, and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. Both parties agree that the Terms are the complete and exclusive statement of the mutual understanding of the parties and supersede and cancel all previous written and oral agreements, communications and other understandings relating to the subject matter of the Terms, and that all modifications must be in a writing signed by both parties, except as otherwise provided herein.

Basically,
Things can happen — we are not responsible.