User Agreement
Welcome, and thanks for using Sourceable! When you use our products and services, you’re agreeing to our terms, so please take a few minutes to read over the User Agreement below. Note: You are entering into a legally binding agreement. Last revised on June 1st, 2013
1. Introduction
About us and this agreement We are a social network for professionals.
A. Purpose The mission of Sourceable is to connect the world’s professionals to enable them to be more productive and successful. To achieve our mission, we make services available through our website, mobile applications, and developer platform, to help you, your connections, and millions of other professionals meet, exchange ideas, learn, make deals, find opportunities or employees, work, and make decisions in a network of trusted relationships and groups. When you use Sourceable, you are entering into a legal agreement and you agree to all of these terms. You also agree to our Privacy Policy, which covers how we collect, use, share and store your personal information.
B. Scope and Intent You agree that by registering on Sourceable, or by using our website, including our mobile applications, developer platform, premium services, or other information provided as part of the Sourceable services (collectively “Sourceable” or the “Services”), you are entering into a legally binding agreement with Sourceable PO Box 6257 Chapel Street North South Yarra Victoria, Australia 3141 (“we,” “us,” “our,” and “Sourceable”) based on the terms of this Sourceable User Agreement and the Sourceable Privacy Policy, which is hereby incorporated by reference (collectively referred to as the “Agreement”) and become a Sourceable member (“Member”). If you are using Sourceable on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you are nevertheless individually bound by this Agreement even if your company has a separate agreement with us. If you do not want to register an account and become a Sourceable Member, do not enter into this Agreement, do NOT click “Join Now” and do not access, view, download or otherwise use any Sourceable webpage, information or services. By clicking “Join Now” (or “Join Sourceable” or similar), you acknowledge that you have read and understood the terms and conditions of this Agreement and that you agree to be bound by all of its provisions. By clicking “Join Now,” you also consent to use electronic signatures and acknowledge your click of the “Join Now” button as one. Please note that the Sourceable User Agreement and Privacy Policy are also collectively referred to as Sourceable’s “Terms of Service.”
2. Your Obligations
Some promises you make to us in this agreement: You will follow the law and Sourceable’s rules.
A. Applicable laws and this Agreement You must comply with all applicable laws and this Agreement, as may be amended from time to time with or without advance notice, and the policies and processes explained in the following sections:
- Sourceable’s Copyright Policy;
- Complaints Regarding Content Posted on the Sourceable’s Website; and
- Sourceable’s Privacy Policy.
You grant us a license to the information you provide us.
B. License and warranty for your submissions to Sourceable You own the information you provide Sourceable under this Agreement, and may request its deletion at any time, unless you have shared information or content with others and they have not deleted it, or it was copied or stored by other users. Additionally, you grant Sourceable a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, unlimited, assignable, sublicenseable, fully paid up and royalty-free right to us to copy, prepare derivative works of, improve, distribute, publish, remove, retain, add, process, analyze, use and commercialize, in any way now known or in the future discovered, any information you provide, directly or indirectly to Sourceable, including, but not limited to, any user generated content, ideas, concepts, techniques and/or data to the services, you submit to Sourceable, without any further consent, notice and/or compensation to you or to any third parties. Any information you submit to us is at your own risk of loss. By providing information to us, you represent and warrant that you are entitled to submit the information and that the information is accurate, not confidential, and not in violation of any contractual restrictions or other third party rights. It is your responsibility to keep your Sourceable profile information accurate and updated. You are eligible to enter into this contract and you are at least our “Minimum Age” The information you provide is truthful.
C. Service Eligibility To be eligible to use the Service, you must meet the following criteria and represent and warrant that you: (1) are the “Minimum Age” (defined below) or older; (2) are not currently restricted from the Services, or not otherwise prohibited from having a Sourceable account, (3) are not a competitor of Sourceable or are not using the Services for reasons that are in competition with Sourceable; (4) will only maintain one Sourceable account at any given time; (5) will use your real name and only provide accurate information to Sourceable; (6) have full power and authority to enter into this Agreement and doing so will not violate any other agreement to which you are a party; (7) will not violate any rights of Sourceable or third party, including intellectual property rights such as copyright or trademark rights; and (8) agree to provide at your cost all equipment, software, mobile access, and internet access necessary to use the Services. ”
Minimum Age” means 18 years old. You will keep your password a secret. You will not share an account with anyone else. You will not copy or transfer any part of the Service.
D. Your Membership The profile you create on Sourceable will become part of Sourceable and except for the information that you license to us is owned by Sourceable. However, between you and others, your account belongs to you. You agree to: (1) keep your password secure and confidential; (2) not permit others to use your account; (3) not use other’s accounts; (4) not sell, trade, or transfer your Sourceable account to another party; and (5) not charge anyone for access to any portion of Sourceable, or any information therein. Further, you are responsible for anything that happens through your account until you close down your account or prove that your account security was compromised due to no fault of your own. To close your account, please visit you’re account settings. You will pay us for any losses that you cause.
E. Indemnification You agree to indemnify us and hold us harmless for all damages, losses and costs (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs) related to all third party claims, charges, and investigations, caused by (1) your failure to comply with this Agreement, including, without limitation, your submission of content that violates third party rights or applicable laws, (2) any content you submit to the Services, and (3) any activity in which you engage on or through Sourceable. You will honor your payment obligations and you approve with us storing your historicial billing information. Also there can be fees and taxes that are added to our prices. We don’t guarantee refunds.
F. Payment If you purchase any services that we offer for a fee, either on a one-time or subscription basis (“Premium Services”), you agree to Sourceable storing your billing transactional information; your credit card details will not be stored by Sourceable. You also agree to pay the applicable fees for the Premium Services (including, without limitation, periodic fees for premium accounts) as they become due plus all related taxes, and to reimburse us for all collection costs and interest for any overdue amounts. Failure to pay may result in the termination of your subscription. Depending on where you transact with us, the type of payment method used and where your payment method was issued, your transaction with us may be subject to foreign exchange fees or differences in prices, including because of exchange rates. Sourceable does not support all payment methods, currencies or locations for payment. Your obligation to pay fees continues through the end of the subscription period during which you cancel your subscription. All applicable taxes are calculated based on the billing information you provide us at the time of purchase. You may not cancel or suspend your Premium Services until its subscription term has concluded. We do not guarantee refunds for lack of usage or dissatisfaction. You also acknowledge that Sourceable’s Premium Services are subject to this Agreement and any additional terms related to the provision of the Premium Service. Additionally, if you require a printed invoice for your transaction with us, request one by contacting our Customer Support. If you think you have to breach this agreement you will let us know before.
G. Notify us of acts contrary to the Agreement If you believe that you are entitled or obligated to act contrary to this Agreement under any mandatory law, you agree to provide us with detailed and substantiated explanation of your reasons in writing at least 30 days before you act contrary to this Agreement, to allow us to assess whether we may, at our sole discretion, provide an alternative remedy for the situation, though we are under no obligation to do so. You approve Sourceable providing you with important notices on the website, mobile apps, or email. The contact information you provide must be accurate or you may not receive important notices.
H. Notifications and Service Messages For purposes of service messages and notices about the Services, Sourceable may place a banner notice across its pages to alert you to certain changes such as modifications to this Agreement. Alternatively, notice may consist of an email from Sourceable to an email address associated with your account, even if we have other contact information. You also agree that Sourceable may communicate with you through your Sourceable account or through other means including email, mobile number, telephone, or delivery services including the postal service about your Sourceable account or services associated with Sourceable. Please review your Account Settings to control what kind of messages you receive from Sourceable. You acknowledge and agree that we shall have no liability associated with or arising from your failure to do so maintain accurate contact or other information, including, but not limited to, your failure to receive critical information about the Service. This Agreement applies to mobile applications as well. Also, you agree certain additional information can be shared to Sourceable.
I. Sourceable Applications Sourceable may offer the Services through applications built using Sourceable’s platform (“Sourceable Applications”). Examples of Sourceable Applications include its smart phone applications (Sourceable for Android, Sourceable for Blackberry or Sourceable for iPhone), and Sourceable’s “Share” buttons and other interactive plugins distributed on websites across the web. Sourceable Applications are distinct from third party Platform Applications addressed in Section 4.B. If you use a Sourceable Application or interact with a website that has deployed a plugin, you agree that information about you and your use of the Services, including, but not limited to, your device, your mobile carrier, your internet access provider, your physical location, or web pages containing Sourceable plugins that load in your browser may be communicated to us. Further, by importing any of your Sourceable data through the Sourceable Application, you represent that you have authority to share the transferred data with your mobile carrier or other access provider. In the event you change or deactivate your mobile account, you must promptly update your Sourceable account information to ensure that your messages are not sent to the person that acquires your old number and failure to do so is your responsibility. You acknowledge you are responsible for all charges and necessary permissions related to accessing Sourceable through your mobile access provider. Therefore, you should check with your provider to find out if the Services are available and the terms for these services for your specific mobile devices. Finally, by using any downloadable application to enable your use of the Services, you are explicitly confirming your acceptance of the terms of the End User License Agreement associated with the application provided at download or installation, or as may be updated from time to time. When you share information, others can see, copy and use that information.
J. User-to-User Communication and Sharing (Sourceable Groups, Discussions, Updates, Company Pages, etc.) Sourceable offers various forums such as Sourceable Groups, Discussions, and Network Updates, where you can post your observations and comments on designated topics. Sourceable also enables sharing of information by allowing users to post updates, including links to news articles and other information such as job opportunities, product recommendations, and other content to their profile and other parts of the site, such as Sourceable Groups and Sourceable Company Pages. Sourceable members can create Sourceable Groups and Discussions for free, however, Sourceable, in its sole discretion, may close or transfer Sourceable Groups or Discussions, or remove content from them if the content violates this Agreement or others’ intellectual property rights. Please note that ideas you post and information you share may be seen and used by other Members, and Sourceable cannot guarantee that other Members will not use the ideas and information that you share on Sourceable. Therefore, if you have an idea or information that you would like to keep confidential or don’t want others to use, or that is subject to third party rights that may be infringed by your sharing it, do not post it to any Sourceable Group, into your Network Updates, or elsewhere on Sourceable. SOURCEABLE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR A ANOTHER’S MISUSE OR MISAPPROPRIATION OF ANY CONTENT OR INFORMATION YOU POST ON SOURCEABLE. You approve with us collecting, using, storing, and disclosing information about you in keeping with our Privacy Policy.
K. Privacy You should carefully read our full Privacy Policy before using Sourceable as it is hereby incorporated into this Agreement by reference, and governs our treatment of any information, including personally identifiable information you submit to us. Please note that certain information, statements, data, and content (such as photographs) which you may submit to Sourceable, or groups you choose to join might, or are likely to, reveal your gender, ethnic origin, nationality, age, and/or other personal information about you. You acknowledge that your submission of any information, statements, data, and content to us is voluntary on your part and that Sourceable may process such information, within the terms of the Privacy Policy. You won’t break export laws.
L. Export Control Your use of Sourceable services, including our software, is subject to export and re-export control laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) maintained by the United States Department of Commerce and sanctions programs maintained by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. You shall not — directly or indirectly — sell, export, re-export, transfer, divert, or otherwise dispose of any software or service to any end-user without obtaining the required authorisations from the appropriate government authorities. You also warrant that you are not prohibited from receiving US origin products, including services or software. If you provide feedback to Sourceable, make sure you don’t include confidential or infringing materials, and you grant Sourceable rights to such feedback.
M. Contributions to Sourceable By submitting ideas, suggestions, documents, or proposals (“Contributions”) to Sourceable through its suggestion or feedback systems, you acknowledge and agree that: (a) your Contributions do not contain confidential or proprietary information; (b) Sourceable is not under any obligation of confidentiality, express or implied, with respect to the Contributions; (c) Sourceable shall be entitled to use or disclose (or choose not to use or disclose) such Contributions for any purpose, in any way, in any media worldwide; (d) Sourceable may have something similar to the Contributions already under consideration or in development; (e) you irrevocably non-exclusively license to Sourceable rights to exploit your Contributions; and (f) you are not entitled to any compensation or reimbursement of any kind from Sourceable under any circumstances.
3. Your Rights If you follow this agreement, we grant you a limited right to use Sourceable. You will only access and use Sourceable in the way this agreement allows you. On the condition that you comply with all your obligations under this Agreement, including, but not limited to, the Do’s and Don’ts listed in Section 10, we grant you a limited, revocable, nonexclusive, nonassignable, nonsublicenseable license and right to access the Sourceable Services, through a generally available web browser, mobile device or Sourceable authorized application (but not through scraping, spidering, crawling or other technology or software used to access data without the express written consent of Sourceable or its Members), view information and use the Services that we provide on Sourceable webpages and in accordance with this Agreement. Any other use of Sourceable contrary to our mission and purpose (such as seeking to connect to someone you do not know or trust, or to use information gathered from Sourceable commercially unless expressly authorised by Sourceable) is strictly prohibited and a violation of this Agreement. We reserve all rights not expressly granted in this Agreement, including, without limitation, title, ownership, intellectual property rights, and all other rights and interest in Sourceable and all related items, including any and all copies made of the Sourceable website.
4. Our Rights & Obligations We may change or discontinue Services, and in such case, we do not promise to keep showing or storing your information and materials.
A. Services Availability For as long as Sourceable continues to offer the Services, Sourceable shall provide and seek to update, improve and expand the Services. As a result, we allow you to access Sourceable as it may exist and be available on any given day and we have no other obligations, except as expressly stated in this Agreement. We may modify, replace, refuse access to, suspend or discontinue Sourceable, partially or entirely, or change and modify prices for all or part of the Services for you or for all our Members in our sole discretion. All of these changes shall be effective upon their posting on Sourceable or by direct communication to you unless otherwise noted. Sourceable further reserves the right to withhold, remove or discard any content available as part of your account, with or without notice if deemed by Sourceable to be contrary to this Agreement. For avoidance of doubt, Sourceable has no obligation to store, maintain or provide you a copy of any content that you or other Members provide when using the Services. Third parties may offer their own products and services through Sourceable, and we are not responsible for these third-party activities.
B. Third Party Sites and Developers Sourceable may include links to third party web sites (“Third Party Sites”). Sourceable also enables third party developers (“Platform Developers”) to create applications (“Platform Applications”) that provide features and functionality using data and developer tools made available by Sourceable through its developer platform. You are responsible for evaluating whether you want to access or use a Third Party Site or Platform Application. You should review any applicable terms or privacy policy of a Third Party Site or Platform Application before using it or sharing any information with it, because you may give the third-party permission to use your information in ways we would not. Sourceable is not responsible for and does not endorse any features, content, advertising, products or other materials on or available from Third Party Sites or Platform Applications. Sourceable also does not screen, audit, or endorse Platform Applications. Accordingly, if you decide to use Third Party Sites or use Platform Applications, you do so at your own risk and agree that your use of any Platform Application is on an “as-is” basis without any warranty as to the Platform Developer’s actions, and that this Agreement does not apply to your use of any Third Party Site or Developer Application. Please note: If you allow an Platform Application or Third Party Site to authenticate you or connect with your Sourceable account, that application or website can access information on Sourceable related to you and your connections. For additional information regarding Platform Developers and Platform Applications, please refer to Sourceable’s Privacy Policy. You agree that we can use, store and share information about you as permitted in our Privacy Policy.
C. Disclosure of User Information You acknowledge, consent and agree that we may access, preserve, and disclose your registration and any other information you provide in accordance with the terms of the Privacy Policy if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary in our opinion to: (1) comply with legal process, including, but not limited to, civil and criminal subpoenas, court orders or other compulsory disclosures; (2) enforce this Agreement; (3) respond to claims of a violation of the rights of third parties, whether or not the third party is a Member, individual, or government agency; (4) respond to customer service inquiries; or (5) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Sourceable, our Members or the public. Disclosures of Member information to third parties other than those required to provide customer support, administer this agreement, or comply with legal requirements are addressed in the Privacy Policy. We have the right to limit the connections and interactions on the Service.
D. Connections and Interactions with other Members You are solely responsible for your interactions with other Members. Sourceable may limit the number of connections you may have to other Members and may, in certain circumstances, prohibit you from contacting other Users through use of the Services or otherwise limit your use of the Services. Sourceable reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other members and to restrict, suspend, or close your account if Sourceable determines, in our sole discretion, that doing so is necessary to enforce this Agreement. We are providing you notice about our intellectual property rights.
E. Intellectual Property Notices The Service includes the copyrights and Intellectual property rights of Sourceable and except for the limited license granted to you in Section 3, Sourceable reserves all of its intellectual property rights in the Service. Sourceable, the Sourceable and “S” logos and other Sourceable trademarks, service marks, graphics, and logos used in connection with Sourceable are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sourceable in Australia. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and logos used in connection with Sourceable may be the trademarks of their respective owners. This Agreement does not grant you any right or license with respect to any such trademarks and logos.
5. Disclaimer We disclaim any legal liability for the quality, safety or reliability of Sourceable. SOME COUNTRIES AND JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OF IMPLIED TERMS IN CONTRACTS WITH CONSUMERS AND AS A RESULT THE CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. DO NOT RELY ON SOURCEABLE OR ITS SUPPLIERS, ANY INFORMATION THEREIN, OR ITS CONTINUATION. WE PROVIDE THE PLATFORM FOR SOURCEABLE AND ALL INFORMATION AND SERVICES ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. SOURCEABLE DOES NOT CONTROL OR VET USER GENERATED CONTENT FOR ACCURACY. WE DO NOT PROVIDE ANY EXPRESS WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, SOURCEABLE AND ITS SUPPLIERS DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND REPRESENTATIONS, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, ACCURACY OF DATA, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED OR HARMED BY SOURCEABLE OR ANYTHING RELATED TO SOURCEABLE, YOU MAY CLOSE YOUR SOURCEABLE ACCOUNT AND TERMINATE THIS AGREEMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 7 (“TERMINATION”) AND SUCH TERMINATION SHALL BE YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY. SOURCEABLE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE, AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES FOR THE DELIVERY OF ANY MESSAGES (SUCH AS INMAILS, POSTING OF ANSWERS OR TRANSMISSION OF ANY OTHER USER GENERATED CONTENT) SENT THROUGH SOURCEABLE TO ANYONE. IN ADDITION, WE NEITHER WARRANT NOR REPRESENT THAT YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE WILL NOT INFRINGE THE RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES. ANY MATERIAL, SERVICE, OR TECHNOLOGY DESCRIBED OR USED ON THE WEBSITE MAY BE SUBJECT TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OWNED BY THIRD PARTIES WHO HAVE LICENSED SUCH MATERIAL, SERVICE, OR TECHNOLOGY TO US. SOURCEABLE DOES NOT HAVE ANY OBLIGATION TO VERIFY THE IDENTITY OF THE PERSONS SUBSCRIBING TO ITS SERVICES, NOR DOES IT HAVE ANY OBLIGATION TO MONITOR THE USE OF ITS SERVICES BY OTHER USERS OF THE COMMUNITY; THEREFORE, SOURCEABLE DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR IDENTITY THEFT OR ANY OTHER MISUSE OF YOUR IDENTITY OR INFORMATION BY OTHERS. SOURCEABLE DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICES IT PROVIDES WILL FUNCTION WITHOUT INTERRUPTION OR ERRORS IN FUNCTIONING. IN PARTICULAR, THE OPERATION OF THE SERVICES MAY BE INTERRUPTED DUE TO MAINTENANCE, UPDATES, OR SYSTEM OR NETWORK FAILURES. SOURCEABLE DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES CAUSED BY ANY SUCH INTERRUPTION OR ERRORS IN FUNCTIONING. FURTHERMORE, SOURCEABLE DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR ANY MALFUNCTIONING, IMPOSSIBILITY OF ACCESS, OR POOR USE CONDITIONS OF THE SOURCEABLE SITE DUE TO INAPPROPRIATE EQUIPMENT, DISTURBANCES RELATED TO INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS, TO THE SATURATION OF THE INTERNET NETWORK, AND FOR ANY OTHER REASON.
6. Limitation of Liability We are trying to limit any legal liability Sourceable may have to you. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. SOME COUNTRIES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY IN CONTRACTS WITH CONSUMERS AND AS A RESULT THE CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. Neither Sourceable nor any of our subsidiaries, affiliated companies, suppliers, employees, shareholders, or directors (“Sourceable Affiliates”) shall be cumulatively liable for (a) any damages in excess of five times the most recent monthly fee that you paid for a Premium Service, if any, or US $100, whichever amount is greater, or (b) any special, incidental, indirect, punitive or consequential damages or loss of use, profit, revenue or data to you or any third person arising from your use of the Service, any Platform Applications or any of the content or other materials on, accessed through or downloaded from Sourceable. This limitation of liability is part of the basis of the bargain between the parties and without it the terms and prices charged would be different. This limitation of liability shall:
- Apply regardless of whether (1) you base your claim on contract, tort, statute or any other legal theory, (2) we knew or should have known about the possibility of such damages, or (3) the limited remedies provided in this section fail of their essential purpose; and
- Not apply to any damage that Sourceable may cause you intentionally or knowingly in violation of this Agreement or applicable law, or as otherwise mandated by applicable law that cannot be disclaimed in this Agreement.
- Not apply if you have entered into a separate agreement to purchase Premium Services with a separate Limitation of Liability provision that supersedes this section in relation to those Premium Services.
7. Termination We can each end this agreement anytime we want.
A. Mutual rights of termination You may terminate this Agreement, for any or no reason, at any time, with notice to Sourceable pursuant to Section 9.C. This notice will be effective upon Sourceable processing your notice; you are still required for all subscription commitments until the term of which has terminated. Sourceable may terminate this Agreement and your account for any reason or no reason, at any time, with or without notice. This cancellation shall be effective immediately or as may be specified in the notice. For avoidance of doubt, only Sourceable or the party paying for the services may terminate your access to any Premium Services. Termination of your Sourceable account includes disabling your access to Sourceable and may also bar you from any future use of Sourceable.
B. Misuse of the Services Sourceable may restrict, suspend or terminate the account of any Member who abuses or misuses the Services. Misuse of the Services includes inviting other Members with whom you do not know to connect; abusing the Sourceable messaging services; creating multiple or false profiles; using the Services commercially without Sourceable’s authorisation, infringing any intellectual property rights, violating any of the Do’s and Don’ts listed in Section 10, or any other behavior that Sourceable, in its sole discretion, deems contrary to its purpose. In addition, and without limiting the foregoing, Sourceable has adopted a policy of terminating accounts of Members who, in Sourceable’s sole discretion, are deemed to be repeat infringers under the United States Copyright Act.
C. Effect of Termination Upon termination of your Sourceable account, you lose access to the Services. The terms of this Agreement shall survive any termination, except Section 3 (“Your Rights”) and Sections 4(a) (b) and (d) (“Our Rights and Obligations”).
8. Dispute Resolution In the unlikely event we end up in a legal dispute, it will take place in Victoria court in the country of Australia.
A. Law and Forum for Legal Disputes This Agreement or any claim, cause of action or dispute (“claim”) arising out of or related to this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the state of Victroia regardless of your country of origin or where you access Sourceable, and notwithstanding of any conflicts of law principles and the United Nations Convention for the International Sale of Goods. You and Sourceable agree that all claims arising out of or related to this Agreement must be resolved exclusively by a state or federal court located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia except as otherwise agreed by the parties or as described in the Arbitration Option paragraph below. You and Sourceable agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the courts located within Melbourne, Victoria for the purpose of litigating all such claims. Notwithstanding the above, you agree that Sourceable shall still be allowed to apply for injunctive remedies (or an equivalent type of urgent legal relief) in any jurisdiction. Each of us will have the right to choose arbitration.
B. Arbitration Option For any claim (excluding claims for injunctive or other equitable relief) where the total amount of the award sought is less than $10,000, the party requesting relief may elect to resolve the dispute in a cost effective manner through binding non-appearance-based arbitration. In the event a party elects arbitration, they shall initiate such arbitration through an established alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) provider mutually agreed upon by the parties. The ADR provider and the parties must comply with the following rules: (a) the arbitration shall be conducted by telephone, online and/or be solely based on written submissions, the specific manner shall be chosen by the party initiating the arbitration; (b) the arbitration shall not involve any personal appearance by the parties or witnesses unless otherwise mutually agreed by the parties; and (c) any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator shall be final and may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.
9. General Terms Important details about how to read the agreement.
A. Severability If any provision of this Agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction or arbitrator to be illegal, void, or unenforceable, the unenforceable provision will be modified so as to render it enforceable and effective to the maximum extent possible in order to effect the intention of the provision; if a court or arbitrator finds the modified provision invalid, illegal, void or unenforceable, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions of this Agreement will not be affected in any way.
B. Language Where Sourceable has provided you with a translation of the English language version of this Agreement, the Privacy Policy, or any other documentation, you agree that the translation is provided for your convenience only and that the English language versions of this Agreement, the Privacy Policy, and any other documentation, including additional terms of service for Premium Services, will govern your relationship with Sourceable.
C. Notices and Service of Process In addition to Section 2.h. (“Notices and Service Messages”), we may notify you via postings on www.sourceable.net. Or via mail or courier at: Sourceable C/O Mediasource Pty Ltd. ATTN: Legal Department PO Box 6257 Chapel Street North South Yarra, Victoria Australia 3141. Additionally, Sourceable accepts service of process at this address. Any notices that you provide without compliance with this section shall have no legal effect.
D. Entire Agreement You agree that this Agreement constitutes the entire, complete and exclusive agreement between you and Sourceable regarding the Services and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings, whether written or oral, or whether established by custom, practice, policy or precedent, with respect to the subject matter of this Agreement. You also may be subject to additional terms and conditions that may apply when you use or purchase certain other Sourceable services, third-party content or third party software.
E. Amendments to this Agreement We reserve the right to modify, supplement or replace the terms of this Agreement, effective upon posting at www.sourceable.net or notifying you otherwise. For example, we may present a banner on the Services when we have amended this Agreement or the Privacy Policy so that you may access and review the changes prior to your continued use of the site. If you do not want to agree to changes to this Agreement, you can terminate this Agreement at any time per Section 7 (Termination).
F. No informal waivers, agreements or representations Our failure to act with respect to a breach of this Agreement by you or others does not waive our right to act with respect to that breach or subsequent similar or other breaches. Except as expressly and specifically contemplated by the Agreement, no representations, statements, consents, waivers or other acts or omissions by any Sourceable Affiliate shall be deemed legally binding on any Sourceable Affiliate, unless documented in a physical writing hand signed by a duly appointed officer of Sourceable. You waive your rights to try to stop Sourceable, but we don’t waive our rights to ask a court to stop your actions.
G. No Injunctive Relief In no event shall you seek or be entitled to rescission, injunctive or other equitable relief, or to enjoin or restrain the operation of the Service, exploitation of any advertising or other materials issued in connection therewith, or exploitation of the Services or any content or other material used or displayed through the Services.
H. Beneficiaries Entities other than Mediasource Pty Ltd and Mediasource Inc, that owns a 50% or greater interest in (“Affiliate”) are not parties, but intended third party beneficiaries of this Agreement, with a right to enforce this Agreement directly against you. You can’t assign your rights under this agreement, but we can.
I. Assignment and Delegation You may not assign or delegate any rights or obligations under the Agreement. Any purported assignment and delegation shall be ineffective. We may freely assign or delegate all rights and obligations under the Agreement, fully or partially without notice to you. We may also substitute, by way of unilateral novation, effective upon notice to you, Sourceable Corporation for any third party that assumes our rights and obligations under this Agreement.
J. Potential Other Rights and Obligations You may have rights or obligations under local law other than those enumerated here if you are located outside the United States.
10. Sourceable “DOs” and “DON’Ts.” As a condition to access Sourceable, you agree to this User Agreement and to strictly observe the following DOs and DON’Ts: Here’s a list of some of the specific things we ask you to do and not do on Sourceable. If you want a high-level summary of these, please check out our Professional Community Guidelines
A. Do undertake the following:
- Comply with all applicable laws, including, without limitation, privacy laws, intellectual property laws, export control laws, tax laws, and regulatory requirements;
- Provide accurate information to us and update it as necessary;
- Review and comply with our Privacy Policy;
- Review and comply with notices sent by Sourceable concerning the Services;
- Use the Services in a professional manner; and
- Use your real name on your profile.
B. Don’t undertake the following:
- Act dishonestly or unprofessionally by engaging in unprofessional behavior by posting inappropriate, inaccurate, or objectionable content to Sourceable;
- Publish inaccurate information in the designated fields on the profile form (e.g., do not include a link or an email address in the name field). Please also protect sensitive personal information such as your email address, phone number, street address, or other information that is confidential in nature;
- Create a Member profile for anyone other than a natural person;
- Harass, abuse or harm another person, including sending unwelcomed communications to others using Sourceable;
- Invite people you do not know to join your network;
- Upload a profile image that is not your likeness or a head-shot photo;
- Use or attempt to use another’s account or create a false identity on Sourceable;
- Upload, post, email, InMail, transmit or otherwise make available or initiate any content that:
- Falsely states, impersonates or otherwise misrepresents your identity, including but not limited to the use of a pseudonym, or misrepresenting your current or previous positions and qualifications, or misrepresents your affiliations with a person or entity, past or present;
- Is unlawful, libelous, abusive, obscene, discriminatory or otherwise objectionable;
- Adds to a content field content that is not intended for such field (e.g. submitting a telephone number in the “title” or any other field, or including telephone numbers, email addresses, street addresses or any personally identifiable information for which there is not a field provided by Sourceable);
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Anne Paten
16/01/ 2017
I would like to respond to Dina Padilla's comment of a few weeks ago. In relation to the United States, Dina said: "What happens to injured, ill or dead workers is INCOMPREHENSIBLE, UNCONSCIONABLE AND PERHAPS ONE OF THE BIGGEST, UGLIEST AND DARKEST SECRETS IN OUR COUNTRY." Sadly my extensive research has uncovered that the very same applies here in Australia. Here too these "crimes against humanity" have continued, ever-worsening over decades. And they remain one of Australia's darkest secrets. Workers are the ones attacked, bullied and persecuted, their legitimate claim 'benefits' denied so others on the gravy train can make squillions out of their misery. The workers' lives are wrecked and their families destroyed – and they are defrauded of their entitlements by the insurance companies, this only enabled through the assistance of Govt officials. Injured workers' money is robbed and instead paid to the many parasitic 'compo' businesses and the hundreds of bureaucracies and their thousands of officials – they the financial beneficiaries of the business built on' 'unsafe and toxic' workplaces for workers. And to add insult to injury, the insurance agents are further financially rewarded to TERMINATE the workers' genuine claims – their deaths, injuries and terminal diseases not compensated even in a financial or medical sense. Deplorably, many injured workers die whilst in the 'adversarial' legal process that can drag on for years – all Govt approved. Worse, it is the workers who are stalked in their pain and grief, preyed upon and then the ones prosecuted for 'fraud' – when it is an infinitesimal 0.02% of workers who attempt to defraud the system.
The real defrauders, those who caused the damage to injured workers are protected and under 'cover' – they are rarely punished or prosecuted, even when serial offenders who persistently ignore all OH&S laws, with these companies' workers killed and injured and the conduct by some repeated over decades. For the few who are ever prosecuted, often their names are hidden – the Courts direct censorship to protect the future 'employment' of both companies and individuals! Likewise, those who direct that money NOT to be paid to workers are protected – those who defraud the workers of their legal claims, and as such become the beneficiaries of the MEGA Billions of dollars annually that should be paid to workers. No, they are never prosecuted for real fraud, never put before a court for swindling workers of their 'legal' right to payment because they are all officially protected. The 'work cover' protects those who disregard the law and discount the worth of people's lives, and those who deny workers the 'cover' meant for them when killed, injured or contracting a disease through their 'work'.
It is shameful that the business of 'safety' and 'work cover' is really about big 'business' profiteering and bureaucracy building, with injured workers the necessary pre-requisite to feed the monster. Injured workers are the business and a continuing supply is needed in order to boost this beastly business. Thus, as the source of all revenue, injured workers die or their lives are ruined forever – and all who benefit are enabled to prosper at their expense. This 'systemic failure' is officially authorized and 'legally' endorsed and enforced! There is something very wrong in Australia, and all the more so when so many millions of Australians in positions of knowledge, power and influence choose to be a part of or to turn a blind eye on such corrupted, immoral practices and blatant injustice.
Mark Maughan
8/01/ 2017
Thanks Anne for lifting the lid on this scandalous state of affairs. As an industry professional (self employed builder for 22yrs ) I can attest to the paucity of safety standards in the building industry and the apathy of Worksafe in policing it. I would like to add a couple of points to your excellent article. Firstly, the indifference of the government in registering trades and fostering a double standard with owner builders is pushing builders into cutting corners to try to compete. Secondly, Worksafe inspectors have a tick a box approach to evaluating risk with no appreciation of engineering principles. They are so busy nitpicking that the real dangers, like unsecured brickwalls, go up-noticed.
Col
8/01/ 2017
Hi Anne, excellent article. However there is another dimension to this issue. The insurance companies and business entities are reacting to the Australia wide rorting of the workers compensation system that has occurred for a long time. From the Mediterranean (sic) back to the NSW railways the false and exagerated claims were at a level that were (and still are) contributing to companies relocating overseas.
What is happening now as is highlighted in your article is appalling. All we have to do is act honestly with good intent. Good luck with that
Judy-Ann Steed, 97.1fm
5/01/ 2017
Congratulations Anne on another factual, finely researched, crisply written article.
Having interviewed Anne Paten over the past five years or so for my radio program Judy-Ann & Co.I've covered Anne's work including: failings of the building industry, insurance companies lack of responsibility, to as a direct result people's suicides, bankruptcy and broken marriages.
Any Journalist or Producer reading this I can assure you Anne has put in 'the hard yard's having seen many back up documents, for anything Anne has written or been interviewed about
This piece deserves an airing on Four Corners and published in major newspapers alerting the public to the failings in the present system.
In many instances Anne explained to me legislation is already in place but not implemented due to big business entanglement with either or both State and Federal. Governments.
I urge those of you who have now read this article, use your contacts to alert those who make a difference and decisions and let's change the culture of greed and profit before the common good and the spirit of the legislation for fairness to the worker.
Andrew
4/01/ 2017
Thank you Anne for informing us of our real Australia. Again you have hit the nail on the head! I cannot believe the harm to workers who work in all jobs and especially in the building industry. Most of us do not have the time or skills to find the facts and this is how we are hoodwinked. I read John's comment and I am gobsmacked by the fact that 90,000 Victorians could be in the system every year and yet only 26,000 as new claims. Does this mean that many tens of thousands of people are lingering without payments year upon year. I do not follow. Why are they denied payments? Who decides.? Who wins out of such a system? You have opened my eyes to government failures or is it worse and are the insurance companies in cohoots with government to hide the truth from the public and harm the devastated workers? Thank God for Anne doing al this exhaustive research because sadly no one else seems to be interested. Where are the mass media on this issue? Good on Sourceable!
Anne Paten
3/01/ 2017
John, I note your comment regarding the 90,000 claims 'managed' by WorkSafe Victoria and would welcome any further information from you to make me better informed.
I assume you must work in the bureaucracy given your reference to 'claims' rather than to people. I also note that you refer to "tens of thousands of claims from past years", these presumably the very long-term claims of the permanently injured or chronically ill people who make up the annual total of 90,000 ‘claims’ as reported by the Ombudsman. Your point illustrates the extreme difficulty of getting to the truth of the matter. What with the unknown number of workers sent home on various types of leave and their incidents never 'registered' (hence no ‘claims’); then the large number of workers who do not qualify and so can never lodge a claim; and lastly the unknown number who lodge a claim, with their claims denied – or those who over the years become the 'terminated’. The Ombudsman's Report was most educational on the various strategies employed to drag out cases and in exposing the financial rewards for insurance agents who manage to arrange “the termination of claims before they exceed certain milestones (13 weeks, 52 weeks and 134 weeks)” – disgracefully a continuing practice!
You no doubt know that the ‘official’ claim statistics provide only a small part of the overall picture. But regardless I am sure any reasonable person would be horrified to learn that 90,000 people annually are acknowledged ‘officially’ as victims of harmful, hazardous workplaces. Industry professionals have informed me that with proper safety protocols in place, all deaths are preventable – this also the position of the WSV CEO Ms Amies! It logically follows that workplace injuries and workplace-contracted diseases should also be largely preventable if appropriate 'safety protocols' were established, actually followed AND enforcement action applied to all law breakers – i.e. strong penalties! If recalcitrant directors of companies were severely punished, this would act to deter others from ignoring the ‘so-called’ laws and stop the many serial offenders who treat people as expendable products to be thrown on the scrap heap when they have served their purpose! This is a very serious subject – and one where far too many of these 'throwaways' end up as fatalities, albeit death at the workplace or slowly over years – the finality is that their lives are forever lost.
John Darcy
3/01/ 2017
Anne,
The Victorian ombudsman's report into complex claims reported that there are more than 90,000 claims 'being managed' by WorkSafe Victoria. That includes the roughly 26,000 claims that were lodged in 2015/16 and tens of thousands of claims from past years. You have inaccurately stated that there were more than 90,000 claims lodged in Victoria in a year.
Regards
Val
2/01/ 2017
What you have exposed here Anne is what most of us have always suspected to be true. We just needed you to put it into the media and to support it with strong evidence. Thank you for doing this on behalf of our community and country. We have followed the disturbing pattern of our politicians over such a long time. We know they have no interest in us. They ignore our letters and refuse to meet with us. This despite their letters to 'us', all massed produced and saying they want to meet 'us' and to help 'us'! Then when we test this out and request a meeting they refuse to meet or discuss 'our issues' again! In hiding – unless there is an election on!
Even though these stories are mostly never in the 'news', we know we cannot trust the government. We have lived it! As Dina says, it is about the biggest and ugliest of secrets and these are most distinguished as crimes against humanity. The corporations are allowed to use us and abuse us and then send us off to a life of "abject poverty". Really this is much more than unconscionable. The poor and disabled made so by trying to work to support their family, and then left unable to live, to survive or to eat. The poor and disabled not able to speak and no one will give them any voice. The poor and disabled up against the lawyers and judges who are not just part of the system, they are the system. How to get 'justice' in such a corrupt system? I wonder: Where are the unions? Where is the media? Why are the elected politicians not accountable? What happened to democracy? Most importantly, what should we all do to help bring some fairness into this unfair, unjust and despicable system? Let us join and support Anne and others speaking out and make our voice heard.
Anne Paten
29/12/ 2016
Veronica, I am very sorry to hear about your husband's injury and thank you for your courage in sharing it with us. I can appreciate how it has altered his life, yours and impacted your whole family. He is now one of millions of Australians injured or living with terminal disease, their lives wrecked forever. I have spoken to people who have had to deal with the Work Cover agencies and as you describe, the treatment is disgraceful. It is now a fully-fledged industry of 'bureaucrats' employing many thousands across the country, and together with the insurance agents who receive financial rewards for refusing to pay out to workers' on their genuine claims, none of these 'employed' would have 'work'. For them to be 'employed, workers must continue to be killed, injured or suffer work-related diseases. All are dependent on workers becoming sick or injured – on top of being 'paid' by us, they then receive further rewards for falsely denying claims! All at the expense of real people and their lives. The Government in these cases continues to dub these carefully 'planned-to-fail schemes' as 'systemic failure' (although in this case no official comment has been made). But behind the 'system' are private businesses making mega Billions of dollars and public officials who we pay making public policy, this devised to fail workers – and the whole community! One thing is blatantly clear: Our Governments are in bed with business and have no intention of changing the carefully contrived, rigorously rigged system. Now or anytime in the future. As it stands, even after the damning findings of Ombudsman's Investigation in Victoria (Sep 2016), incredibly the Insurance Agents are still receiving financial rewards! Until we all unite, speak up loudly and refuse as 'people' to be treated as commercial products, this swindle will remain in place, so many lives will be ruined needlessly and this scam will be visited upon our loved ones in the future. My thoughts are with all those whose lives have been shattered, their families and those who lost their loved one in a workplace incident that should never have happened.
Michael
28/12/ 2016
The OHS&W Act 1986 was the worst legislation the ever hit Australia. It has, and continues to cost industry, billions of dollars and does nothing to make work safer.
We spend countless man hours filling out useless paperwork to cover our butts, it's of no practical use on the job. Unfortunately, safety is now an industry in itself, costing everyone and producing nothing.
I have clients who charge me over $500 registration fee then $50 per staff member for Safety Inductions. Charges I immediately pass back to them on the next job I do. A ridiculous waste of time and money.
Rosalie
28/12/ 2016
Thank you Anne for your conviction. You present us with an insightful view into the WHS practices (sic) re the building industry.
You lift the lid on otherwise obscured facts; you champion the plight of the many voiceless construction workers; you unmask the complicit involvement of regulator and business.
The problem is all the more concerning because it is getting more serious.
High time someone lifts their game
Diarmuid Hannigan
28/12/ 2016
It is not surprising that there is a serious problem with safety within the construction Industry. It is after all the biggest industry in Australia and without it Australia would not have an economy. Only a person living on the moon cannot see how rapidly this industry has expanded. There are now more cranes operating on the East Coast of Australia than in the whole of the United States of America and yet the government regulator has not increased the number of crane inspectors in proportion to the increased number of cranes. During this period of rapid expansion the construction industry has become dependent upon imported materials many of which do not meet Australian Standards, this situation most likely applies to much of the imported machinery used on building sites including cranes. During this time of rapid expansion the training of trades people has completely transformed from one of Technical School dedicated to train tradespeople and assist them into employment through our apprenticeship scheme to one where the industry is far more reliant on overseas trained workforce. During this time of rapid transition within the industry we have seen one of the largest rises in immigration to Australia including people on 457 Visas who do not speak English, many of whom work in the construction industry and operate machinery. During this time of rapid transition within the industry the workforce has become capsulized and no longer migrates as a tribe from work site to work site with the members of the tribe looking out for each other’s safety but has become a random swarm that moves between work places on an individual basis.
The regulator has neglected his duty by failing to mitigate the risks to the work force by not implementing standards and training that will interact with the changes that have occurred. Unfortunately if the regulator where to act this would put him in conflict with the vested interest who`s only goal is to maximize profit over and above the needs and lives of the relatives of Australian families. Unfortunately the regulator has been invaded by that vested interest.
Veronica
28/12/ 2016
Thank you Anne, brilliant story. I have nothing but disgust for work safe and the insurance companies involved. Their commercials are cringeworthy, the only thing they want to protect is their bottom line. My husband had a life changing injury back in 2009 and their treatment of him was just awful. I have nothing but sympathy for anyone having to deal with these fools.
Les Williams
24/12/ 2016
I sincerely hope this article doesn't get lost in the holiday period ether. I am aware there are far more harrowing stories and concerning statistics that could not possibly fit into this article that Anne has provided. I am aware of threats to some journalists if they attempt to expose. Australians should be very concerned by the federal governments embargo on information from immigration camps, their continued attack on the ABC when they don't report favourably and the biased nature of talk back radio in this country. Media ownership is more and more being controlled by one media company who have a stated and obvious political bias and a very unethical approach to reporting. We are entitled to the truth and balanced reporting no matter what flavour of politics not some dropkicks paid for opinion. There is not a newspaper in QLD not controlled by this organisation. We have a serious problem when government and business are controlling what is being fed to the electorate. We have a bigger problem when vested interests are determining [buying] policy and legislation. I know the problems Anne faces to be heard – nobody wants to know about it — provide a solution they say. Isn't that what our politicians are elected to do.
Dina Padilla
23/12/ 2016
An extremely comprehensible and truy shocking article. In the U.S. employers along with their insurers have been allowed to break every law in the book. What happens to injured, ill or dead workers is incomprehensible, unconscionable and perhaps one of the biggest ugliest and darkest secret in our country. The level of the lack of medical care or even the butchery performed by state WC licensed medical/legal doctors goes, beyond the pale of committing crimes , crimes against humanity, where either it's experimentation, malpractice or just downright performing procedures to be used as retaliation or not providing medical care is retaliation too. Then we have those who don't get benefits to live on literally putting people from living an adequate life to abject poverty which includes injured or ill worker's spouses and their children. A total destruction of families. The illegal and malicious gang talking with techniques & tactics used by SPY groups like the CIA, KGB, STASI'S. NAZI'S, MI-5 that were incorporated by employers starting in the 70's, used and paying local, state and federal law enforcement including the FBI paid directly by corporations as well as paying directly District Attorneys and judges.. We also have decades of litigation that isn't supposed to be to force injured workers into small pithy settlements for the serious injuries & illnesses. With the U.S. allowing employers, their insurer lawyers & judges to force injured workers onto tax payer public funded programs like Social Security and Medicare & state based programs that the injured paid for when working. Programs to get injured workers back to work or not report injuries result in multi millions investment profit & that's the only goal.
Sue
23/12/ 2016
Thank you Anne for speaking up and for doing what must have been a great deal of research.The statistics here are so incredible that some outside of the industry might find them hard to believe. However I am not in any way surprised. Most of all I am saddened by this cover-up. Safety on many construction sites is simply not a priority and the lives of workers are lost in the race for profits and profits. I know because my husband worked in the industry all his life.
In regards to the numerous shocking statistics a number jump out at me. The 190 suicides in construction every year is disgraceful! And the asbestos figures only list the mesothelioma deaths, not the full asbestos picture but very terrfying. Given that asbestos is still being imported and used when it was banned many years ago and then to consider the huge quantities in old buildings, it would seem that the numbers of people who will lose their lives is likely to be far higher than what is stated here. This one issue and the future deaths mean a big time bomb. This for workers and all of us who come in contact. Where are our elected politicians who are paid to protect workers and our whole community?
Mel
23/12/ 2016
Thank you for showing us what is hidden behind the spin once again Anne, the mainstream media has become (or always was) a complete joke full of propaganda. The real stories are untold until people like yourself come along and blow the lid off.
Les Williams
23/12/ 2016
The MBA in these very pages called for a return to the " rule of law" but clearly that doesn't apply to everybody – only the select few that they really represent.
John Passant, former Assistant Commissioner of Taxation recently said " Obeid's gaoling is an example not of a rotten apple but of a rotten barrel. The political system is by its very nature, corrupt". As you have said where does business stop and government start – they are but one. I applaud your courage to say it like it is Anne
This article should be put in front of as many politicians as possible and I will attempt to do that after the holiday season.
A building and construction industry expose by 4 Corners may get some answers. It is time the electorate stood up against political donation and professional lobbyists – it is corruption.
Mark Whitby
23/12/ 2016
Another staggering discovery Anne,
It makes me wonder if anyone (including the press) really care… or rather… are allowed to really care about anything which affects big business.
And there seems to be layer upon layer of this uncaring approach to serious things which affect workers (and consumers) lives… and not just in the building industry, but right across the board. And recently the unions are being hemmed in with what seems to be threats to their very existence.
Well done in uncovering what seems for years to have been another huge cover-up. It's staggering!