Site Terms of Use

SERVICES AGREEMENT, PLATFORM USE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Effective: 2023-06-11

We are committed to providing clear terms of use and transparency of our online services or Platforms.

The following Terms of Service apply to electronic platforms, applications, and online services (“Platforms”) that are owned, operated, or sponsored by concentric circles Ltd (ccL), the trading name for the House of Dharbha Ltd., (HoD), Songbyrde the not-for-profit division of concentric circles Ltd, and its affiliated brands and digital assets where these terms are referenced, linked, or published.

These brands are concentric circles digital with its associated websites

In these Terms of Service the House of Dharbha Ltd and concentric circles Ltd., and their affiliated brands are sometimes referred to collectively as “we”, “us”, or “our.” These Terms of Service (“Terms”) apply to your access to and use of the websites, mobile applications and other online products and services (collectively, the “Services”). The singular term “Platform” includes all equivalent, mirror, replacement, substitute, or backup Platform, and all information and data made available or communicated via our Platforms via our “Services”.

The Platform is made available subject to all of these terms and conditions and all of our operating rules, policies and procedures, including, without limitation, our Privacy Policy, the our Expected Standards of Behavior, and our Anti-Harassment Policy and Terms of Participation and Compliant Procedure, that may be published from time to time on www.concentriccirclesdigital.com by us (collectively, the “Agreement”).

This Agreement is not intended to supersede or govern any other terms and conditions or any other operating rules, policies and procedures specific to any other program or service provided by us unless expressly stated by us in connection with such other program or service. Also, you may be required to agree to additional terms and conditions applicable to specific functions and services offered on a Platform. Those additional terms and conditions supplement these Terms of Service, but apply only to your use of such functions and services.

Please read this Agreement carefully before accessing or our digital brands & Services on our Platform. By accessing or using any part of our digital brands and Platform, you agree to become bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

By using our Services or Platform, you agree to these Terms, including the mandatory arbitration provision and class action waiver in the Resolving Disputes; Binding Arbitration Section.

At the moment, we are not collecting personal data for sign-in and sign-up. All our content is free-to-view.

concentric circles digital is registered in England and Wales (registration number 06802986), the address of our registered office is 7 Raynham Road, London W6 0HY, UK. We are registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (registration certifcate ZA610710).

We incorporate WordPress and BlueHost’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policies.

This policy must be read along with our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

Trademarks: Usernames should not violate existing trademarked logo, business or product name in a way likely to confuse people or appropriate/ infringe upon the intellectual property or copyright of individuals or organisations.

Deceptive conduct: We do not allow deceptive conduct across our Services and Platform. This includes creating an account, username, or publication that posts content or impersonates a person or organization in a way likely to deceive people. When we find instances of this, we reserve the right to suspend your account pending investigation and verification.

Responsibility of Comment Publishing and Any Other Editorial Contributions

If you communicate, post material, or transfer information using the Platform, post links on the Platform, or otherwise make (or allow any third party to make) material available by means of the Platform (any such material, “Content”), you are entirely responsible for the Content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content. By making Content available, you represent and warrant that:

  1. communicating, downloading, copying and using the Content will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret rights, of any person or third party organization;
  2. if your employer has rights to intellectual property you create, you have either:

(i) received permission from your employer to post or make available the Content, including but not limited to any software, or

(ii) secured from your employer a waiver as to all rights in or to the Content;

  1. you have fully complied with any third-party licenses relating to the Content, and have done all things necessary to successfully pass through to end users any required terms;
  2. the Content does not contain or install any viruses, worms, malware, Trojan horses or other harmful or destructive material or information;
  3. the Content complies with any applicable third party terms and conditions you have accepted applicable to the Content or the use of the third party services needed for your use of the Platform;
  4. the Content is not spam, is not machine-generated or randomly-generated, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content material designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing);
  5. the Content is not pornographic, does not contain threats or incite violence, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party;
  6. the Content does not consist of unsolicited promotional materials such as spam links on newsgroups, email lists, blogs and web sites, and other similar unsolicited promotional methods;
  7. the Content is not named in a manner that misleads others into thinking that you are another person or company;
  8. you have, in the case of Content that includes computer code, accurately categorized and/or described the type, nature, uses and effects of the materials, whether requested to do so by us or otherwise; and
  9. the Content complies with the the UK government guidelines on this topic

We respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement if they comply with the law; please report such notices using our Copyright Policy.

Please report these to ip@concentriccirclesdigital.com you may use this email for second rights enquiries.

Responsibility of Platform Visitors

We have not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material re-posted from the Platform, and cannot therefore be responsible for that material’s Content, use or effects. By operating the Platform, we do not represent or imply that it endorses the material there reposted, or that it believes such material to be accurate, useful or non-harmful.

You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive Content.

You may only use the Platform pursuant to the terms of this Agreement.

You are solely responsible for your use of the Platform and agree to abide by, and comply with, all laws in connection with your use of the Platform, including but not limited to laws related to recording, intellectual property, privacy and export control.

Age Restrictions

In order to use the Platform on your own behalf, you must be at least 18 years of age.

If you are between the ages of 16 and 18, you may still use the Platform, but you must have a parent or legal guardian provide valid and verifiable consent to your use of the Platform and acceptance of these Terms of Service.

Under no circumstances is the Platform intended for direct use by persons under 16 years of age.

We do not knowingly collect any personal data directly from persons under the age of 16.

For the avoidance of doubt – at the moment we do not collect ANY personal information from any individual above the age of 16.

Content Posted on Other Platforms

The Platform may contain add-on services, hyperlinks or references to third party services and websites that are not our vendors.

These third party websites and services are outside of our control and are operated by third parties.

We have not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material made available through third party online services, websites and webpages to which the Platform links, and that link to the Platform that we are not responsible for, nor shall it be liable to you for your access and use of any such third party hyperlinks, websites or services.

The appearance on the Platform of external online services and hyperlinks, in any form, does not constitute endorsement by us of the opinions or views expressed by any such third-party websites and we do not take responsibility for the accuracy, currency, completeness, or quality of the Content contained at such websites and third-party services. Furthermore, we are not responsible for the quality or delivery of the products or services offered, provided, accessed, or advertised by any third party.

As such, we will not be responsible or liable to you in any way for any Content, errors, or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of any information contained in or provided to those third-party sites.

You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive Content.

We disclaim any responsibility for any harm resulting from your use of third-party websites and webpages.

If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and terms of business and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for those websites or their policies.

Copyright Infringement and Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Policy

You may not sublicense, license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display our Content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with our Content in all media formats and distribution methods now known or later developed on the Services. The copyright of our Services and Platform subside wholly and completely with the House of Dharbha Ltd., concentric circles ltd., and its affiliated brands and officially licenced Platforms and Services.

Should you wish to reproduce content, please refer to the second-rights and licencing section.

As we ask others to respect our intellectual property rights, we respect the intellectual property rights of others. We will terminate a visitor’s access to and use of the Platform if, under appropriate circumstances, the visitor is determined to be a repeat infringer of our or other party’s copyrights or other intellectual property rights.

If you believe that your intellectual property is being used on the Platform in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please contact ip@concentriccirclesdigital.com the following information (as required by Section 512(c)(3) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act):

A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;

  1. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
  2. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material;
  3. Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an email address at which the complaining party may be contacted;
  4. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  5. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
  6. The information specified above must be sent to our Designated Agent, whose contact information is as follows:

ip@concentriccirclesdigital.com

Please note that Section 512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act may impose liability for damages on any person who knowingly sends meritless notices of infringement. Please do not make false claims.

Any information or correspondence that you provide to us may be shared with third parties, including the person who provided us with the allegedly infringing material.

Upon receipt of a bona fide infringement notification by the Designated Agent, it is our policy to remove or disable access to the infringing material, notify the user who posted the material that we have removed or disabled access to the material, and, for repeat offenders, to terminate such user’s access to the service.

If you believe that your Content should not have been removed for alleged copyright infringement, you may send our Designated Agent a written counter-notice with the following information:

  1. Identification of the copyrighted work that was removed, and the location on the Platform where it would have been found prior to its removal;
  2. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good faith belief that the Content was removed as a result of a mistake or misidentification; and
  3. Your physical or electronic signature, together with your contact information (address, telephone number and, if available, email address).
  4. If a counter-notice is received by the Designated Agent, we may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party, informing that person that we may replace the removed material or cease disabling it in 10 business days.

Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the user, the removed material may be replaced or access to it restored in 10 to 14 business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice, at our discretion.

We will terminate a visitor’s access to and use of the Platform if, under appropriate circumstances, the visitor is determined to be a repeat infringer of our or other party’s copyrights or other intellectual property rights.

Intellectual Property

This Agreement does not transfer from us to you any of our or third party intellectual property, and all right, title and interest in and to such property will remain (as between the parties) solely with us.

All trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with the Platform are trademarks or registered trademarks of our organization or other third parties.

Your use of the Platform grants you no right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any intellectual property belonging to our organization or other third parties.

Second Rights and Licencing

All copyright on our Platform remain with the originator of the content and work. If you are contributring to our Platform, all copyright remains with you up to the point that you agree to license your work with us. Payment terms are discussed with each individual and a license agreement is signed on the submission of writing requests.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing by submitting, posting, or displaying content on or through the Services, the House of Dharbha Ltd., concentric circles ltd., and all its affiliate brands, do not grant second rights, redistribution, publishing or licencing of the work of our contributors.

You may not sublicense, license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display our content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with our content in all media formats and distribution methods now known or later developed on the Services.

Likewise, unless otherwise agreed in writing, by submitting, posting, or displaying content on or through the Services, you grant the House of Dharbha Ltd., concentric circles ltd., and all its affiliate brands a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid, and sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your content in all media formats and distribution methods now known or later developed on the Services.

We need this license because you own your content and we therefore can’t display it across its various surfaces (i.e., mobile, web) without your permission.

This type of license also is needed to distribute your content across our Services. For example, you post or submit a story to us. It is reproduced as versions on both our website and app, and distributed to multiple places within our network of Services, such as the homepage or reading lists, affliated sites such as Songbyrde, or promotional materials.

A modification might be that we show a snippet of your work (and not the full post) in a preview, with attribution to you. A derivative work might be a list of top authors or quotes on the Platform that uses portions of your content, again with full attribution. This license applies to our Services only, and does not grant us any permissions outside of our Services.

So long as you comply with these Terms, we give you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, and non-assignable license to access and use our Services.

The Services are protected by copyright, trademark, and other UK, US and foreign laws. These Terms don’t grant you any right, title or interest in the Services, other users’ content on the Services, or House of Dharbha Ltd., concentric circles ltd., concentric circles digital, Prema Sastri, Sumi’s Stories, Songbyrde Publishing’s trademarks, logos or other brand features fom our current or future brands and affiliates.

Separate and apart from the content you submit, post or display on our Services, we welcome feedback, including any comments, ideas and suggestions you have about our Services. We may use this feedback for any purpose, in our sole discretion, without any obligation to you. We may treat feedback as nonconfidential.

We may stop providing the Services or any of its features within our sole discretion. We also retain the right to create limits on use and storage and may remove or limit content distribution on the Services.

Termination

You’re free to stop using our Services at any time. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Services with or without notice.

Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you will indemnify, defend and hold harmless the House of Dharbha Ltd., concentric circles Ltd., and our officers, directors, agents, partners and employees (individually and collectively, the “House of Dharbha Parties”) from and against any losses, liabilities, claims, demands, damages, expenses or costs (“Claims”) arising out of or related to your violation, misappropriation or infringement of any rights of another (including intellectual property rights or privacy rights) or your violation of the law.

You agree to promptly notify the House of Dharbha Parties of any third-party Claims, cooperate with the House of Dharbha Parties in defending such Claims and pay all fees, costs and expenses associated with defending such Claims (including attorneys’ fees). You also agree that the House of Dharbha Parties will have control of the defense or settlement, at the House of Dharbha’s sole option, of any third-party Claims.

Limitation of Liability

We don’t exclude or limit our liability to you where it would be illegal to do so; this includes any liability for the gross negligence, fraud or intentional misconduct of the House of Dharbha or the other House of Dharbha Parties in providing the Services.

In countries where the following types of exclusions aren’t allowed, we’re responsible to you only for losses and damages that are a reasonably foreseeable result of our failure to use reasonable care and skill or our breach of our contract with you. This paragraph doesn’t affect consumer rights that can’t be waived or limited by any contract or agreement.

In countries where exclusions or limitations of liability are allowed, the House of Dharbha and the House of Dharbha Parties won’t be liable for:

(a) Any indirect, consequential, exemplary, incidental, punitive, or special damages, or any loss of use, data or profits, under any legal theory, even if the House of Dharbha or the other House of Dharbha Parties have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

(b) Other than for the types of liability we can’t limit by law (as described in this section), we limit the total liability of House of Dharbha and the other House of Dharbha Parties for any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or our Services, regardless of the form of the action, to the greater of GBP100 or the amount paid by you to use our Services.

Resolving Disputes; Binding Arbitration

We want to address your concerns without needing a formal legal case.

Before filing a claim against the House of Dharbha Ltd, you agree to contact us and attempt to resolve the claim informally by sending a written notice of your claim by email at claims@concentriccircledigital.com or by certified mail addressed to The House of Dharbha Ltd., Reg. Office, 7 Raynham Road, Hammersmith, London W6 0HY.

The notice must
(a) include your name, residence address, email address, and telephone number;
(b) describe the nature and basis of the claim; and
(c) set forth the specific relief sought. Our notice to you will be sent to the email address associated with your online account and will contain the information described above.

If we can’t resolve matters within ninety (90) days after any notice is sent, either party may initiate a formal proceeding.

Please read the following section carefully because it requires you to arbitrate certain disputes and claims with House of Dharbha and limits the manner in which you can seek relief from us, unless you opt out of arbitration by following the instructions set forth below. No class or representative actions or arbitrations are allowed under this arbitration provision. In addition, arbitration precludes you from suing in court or having a jury trial.

(a) No Representative Actions. You and the House of Dharbha agree that any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or our Services is personal to you and the House of Dharbha and that any dispute will be resolved solely through individual action, and will not be brought as a class arbitration, class action or any other type of representative proceeding.

(b) Arbitration of Disputes. Except for small claims disputes in which you or the House of Dharbha seeks to bring an individual action in small claims court located in the county where you reside or disputes in which you or the House of Dharbha seeks injunctive or other equitable relief for the alleged infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property, you and the House of Dharbha waive your rights to a jury trial and to have any other dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or our Services, including claims related to privacy and data security, (collectively, “Disputes”) resolved in court.

(c) All Disputes submitted will be resolved through confidential, binding arbitration before one arbitrator. Arbitration proceedings will be held in xxx unless you’re a consumer, in which case you may elect to hold the arbitration in your county of residence.

For purposes of this section a “consumer” means a person using the Services for personal, family or household purposes.

You and the House of Dharbha agree that Disputes will be held in accordance with rules set out by the courts of England and Wales (DOUBLE CHECK)

The most recent version of the rules are here web link (PLEASE INSERT)

You either acknowledge and agree that you have read and understand the rules or waive your opportunity to read the rules any claim that the rules are unfair or should not apply for any reason.

(d) The arbitration will allow for the discovery or exchange of non-privileged information relevant to the Dispute. The arbitrator, the House of Dharbha Ltd., and you will maintain the confidentiality of any arbitration proceedings, judgments and awards, including information gathered, prepared and presented for purposes of the arbitration or related to the Dispute(s) therein. The arbitrator will have the authority to make appropriate rulings to safeguard confidentiality, unless the law provides to the contrary. The duty of confidentiality doesn’t apply to the extent that disclosure is necessary to prepare for or conduct the arbitration hearing on the merits, in connection with a court application for a preliminary remedy, or in connection with a judicial challenge to an arbitration award or its enforcement, or to the extent that disclosure is otherwise required by law or judicial decision.

(e) You and the House of Dharbha agree that for any arbitration you initiate, you will pay the filing fee (up to a maximum of GBP500 if you are a consumer), and the House of Dharbha will pay the remaining fees and costs.

For any arbitration initiated by the House of Dharbha, the House of Dharbha will pay all fees and costs. You and the House of Dharbha agree that the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any appeals and the enforcement of an arbitration award

(f) Any Dispute must be filed within one year after the relevant claim arose; otherwise, the Dispute is permanently barred, which means that you and the House of Dharbha will not have the right to assert the claim.

(g) You have the right to opt out of binding arbitration within 90 days of the date you first accepted the terms of this section by sending an email of your request to xxx In order to be effective, the opt-out notice must include your full name and address and clearly indicate your intent to opt out of binding arbitration. By opting out of binding arbitration, you are agreeing to resolve Disputes in accordance with the next section regarding “Governing Law and Venue.”

(h) If any portion of this section is found to be unenforceable or unlawful for any reason, (1) the unenforceable or unlawful provision shall be severed from these Terms; (2) severance of the unenforceable or unlawful provision shall have no impact whatsoever on the remainder of this section or the parties’ ability to compel arbitration of any remaining claims on an individual basis pursuant to this section; and (3) to the extent that any claims must therefore proceed on a class, collective, consolidated, or representative basis, such claims must be litigated in a civil court of competent jurisdiction and not in arbitration, and the parties agree that litigation of those claims shall be stayed pending the outcome of any individual claims in arbitration. Further, if any part of this section is found to prohibit an individual claim seeking public injunctive relief, that provision will have no effect to the extent such relief is allowed to be sought out of arbitration, and the remainder of this section will be enforceable.

Governing Law and Venue

These Terms and any dispute that arises between you and the House of Dharbha Ltd will be governed by the courts of England and Wales except for its conflict of law principles. Any dispute between the parties that’s not subject to arbitration or can’t be heard in small claims court will be resolved in (PLEASE INSERT)

Some countries have laws that require agreements to be governed by the local laws of the consumer’s country. This paragraph doesn’t override those laws.

Amendments

We may make changes to these Terms from time to time. If we make changes, we’ll provide you with notice of them by sending an email to the email address associated with your account, offering an in-product notification, or updating the date at the top of these Terms. Unless we say otherwise in our notice, the amended Terms will be effective immediately, and your continued use of our Services after we provide such notice will confirm your acceptance of the changes. If you don’t agree to the amended Terms, you must stop using our Services.

Severability

If any provision or part of a provision of these Terms is unlawful, void or unenforceable, that provision or part of the provision is deemed severable from these Terms and does not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Miscellaneous

The House of Dharbha’s failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. These Terms, and the terms and policies listed in the Other Terms and Policies that May Apply to You Section, reflect the entire agreement between the parties relating to the subject matter hereof and supersede all prior agreements, statements and understandings of the parties. The section titles in these Terms are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. Use of the word “including” will be interpreted to mean “including without limitation.” Except as otherwise provided herein, these Terms are intended solely for the benefit of the parties and are not intended to confer third-party beneficiary rights upon any other person or entity. You agree that communications and transactions between us may be conducted electronically.

Questions

Should you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy and our privacy practices, you may contact us at:

Emails: askme@concentriccirclesdigital.com or ip@concentriccirclesdigital.com

Postal Enquiries:  Enquiries
concentric circles digital
7 Raynham Road
Hammersmith
London W6 0HY, United Kingdom