Legal Information

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

The ASPCA Legal Department provides counsel to the ASPCA and its staff. We cannot provide legal advice to, or act as an attorney for, external organizations or individuals. None of the information on any ASPCA website should be construed as providing legal advice. If you have a specific question, please see our Frequently Asked Questions page.

User Agreement

Terms of Use

Last modified: December 4, 2012

Welcome to the website of The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals® (ASPCA®) ("ASPCA", "we" or "us"). Each ASPCA website, including www.aspca.org, www.aspcapro.org (each, the "Website"), is provided at no charge with the express condition that users agree to be bound by the terms and conditions (the "Terms of Use") set forth below.  These Terms of Use, together with any documents they expressly incorporate by reference, govern your access to and use of the Website, including any content, functionality and services offered on or through Website, whether as a guest or a registered user.

Acceptance of Terms of Use

Please read the Terms of Use carefully before you start to use the Website. By using the Website you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Use. If you do not agree with these Terms of Use, you must not access or use any of the Website.

Changes to Terms of Use

We may revise and update these Terms of Use from time to time in our sole discretion without notice to you. You must consult the most recent version of these Terms of Use each time you view the Website. Your continued use of the Website following the posting of revised Terms of Use constitutes your acceptance of the Terms of Use as modified.

Intellectual Property Rights

ASPCA®, the ASPCA Logo Design, We Are Their Voice®, Compassion, Comfort, Love®, ASPCA Kids® and The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®, are all registered trademarks of The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The ASPCA owns and maintains the Website for educational and informational purposes only, and it is solely for personal, non-commercial use.  All materials on the Website, including but not limited to all information, images, text, video and audio, displays, data, trademarks, service marks, and logos (including the design, selection and arrangement thereof), are, unless otherwise noted, the exclusive property of the ASPCA and are protected by United States copyright, trademark and other applicable law. You must not copy, download, reproduce, republish, reuse, distribute, transmit, store, create derivative works of, publically display, or modify any of the material on the Website for any purpose without the ASPCA's express written permission, except that you may make such temporary copies in a single computer’s RAM and hard drive cache as are necessary to browse the Website.  You may also make a single copy of the content displayed on any page of the Website to be used for your personal and non-commercial use which does not harm the reputation of the ASPCA, provided that you do not remove any trademarks, copyrights and any other notice contained in such content. For more information, or for reprint permission, please see our reprint/reproduction policy.

If you use the Website in breach of these Terms of Use, your right to use the Website will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of any materials you have created. No right, title or interest in or to the Website or any content thereof is transferred to you, and all rights not expressly granted are reserved by the ASPCA. Any use of the Website not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use is a breach of these Terms of Use and may violate copyright, trademark and other applicable laws.

Accessing the Website and Account Security 

We reserve the right to withdraw or amend this Website, and any service or material we provide on the Website, in our sole discretion without notice. We will not be liable if for any reason all or any part of the Website is unavailable at any time or for any period.

To access the Website as a registered user, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information. It is a condition of your use of the Website that all the information you provide on the Website is correct and complete. You agree that all information you provide to us to register with this Website or otherwise is governed by our Privacy Policy, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

If you select a user name and password as part of our security procedures, you agree that you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of such user name and password, and you are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your account. We have the right to disable any user name, password or other identifier at any time in our sole discretion for any reason, including if, in our opinion, you have violated any provision of these Terms of Use.

ASPCA Interactive Services Policy

The ASPCA Blog may enable users to post, submit, publish, display or transmit to other users (hereinafter, "post") content (collectively, "User Contributions") as ASPCA Blog comments.  In addition, users may be permitted to link to the Website in accordance with our Linking Policy. All User Contributions, and any website on which a link to the Website appears (a "Linked Site"), must comply with the following Content Standards:

Content Standards

User Contributions and Linked Sites must in their entirety comply with all applicable federal, state, local and international laws and regulations. Without limiting the foregoing, User Contributions and Linked Sites must not:

• Feature any material protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right without the express permission of the owner of the copyright, trademark or other proprietary right;
• Contain any material which is defamatory, obscene, indecent, abusive, offensive, harassing, violent, hateful, inflammatory or otherwise objectionable;
• Promote sexually explicit or pornographic material, violence, or discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age;
• Infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other intellectual property or other rights of any other person;
• Violate the legal rights (including the rights of publicity and privacy) of others or contain any material that could give rise to any civil or criminal liability under applicable laws or regulations or that otherwise may be in conflict with these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy;
• Be likely to deceive any person;
• Promote any illegal activity, or advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act;
• Cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety or be likely to upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person;
• Impersonate any person, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person or organization; or
• Give the impression that they emanate from or are endorsed by us or any other person or entity, if this is not the case.

In addition, User Contributions must not involve commercial activities or sales, such as contests, sweepstakes and other sales promotions, barter or advertising.

You hereby agree and acknowledge that you are responsible for the content of any User Contribution you submit and/or of your Linked Site, and you have full responsibility for such content, including its legality, reliability, accuracy and appropriateness.  We are not responsible, or liable to any third party, for the content, accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any User Contribution or of any Linked Site.

Ownership and Confidentiality

Any User Contribution posted to the Website will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. By providing any User Contribution on the Website, you:

• Grant (or warrant that the owner of such material has expressly granted) to the ASPCA a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate and distribute such material (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed for the full term of any copyright that may exist in such material;
• Represent and warrant that you own or control all rights in and to the User Contribution and have the right to grant the license granted above to us;
• Represent and warrant that the User Contribution complies with these Terms of Use; and
• Permit any other user of the ASPCA Blog to access, view, store or reproduce the material for such user's personal use.

Monitoring and Enforcement; Termination

We have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor the content posted on the ASPCA Blog. We may, in our sole discretion:

• Remove or refuse to post any User Contributions for any reason;
• Take any action with respect to any User Contribution that we deem necessary or appropriate, including if we believe that such User Contribution violates the Terms of Use;
• Disclose your identity or other information about you to any third party who claims that material posted by you violates their rights, including their intellectual property rights or their right to privacy;
• Take appropriate legal action, including without limitation, referral to law enforcement, for any illegal or unauthorized use of the Website; or
• Terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Website for any or no reason, including without limitation, any violation of these Terms of Use.

In addition, we have the right to fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity or other information of anyone posting any materials on or through the Website. YOU WAIVE AND HOLD HARMLESS THE ASPCA FROM ANY CLAIMS RESULTING FROM ANY ACTION TAKEN BY THE ASPCA DURING OR AS A RESULT OF ITS INVESTIGATIONS AND FROM ANY ACTIONS TAKEN AS A CONSEQUENCE OF INVESTIGATIONS BY EITHER THE ASPCA OR LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES.

Copyright Protection

Our copyright protection policy provides for the termination, as appropriate, of users who infringe the rights of copyright holders.  If you believe your content has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide the following information (required by the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 512) to our Copyright Agent at the address set forth below:

1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed; 
2. Identification of the copyright 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; 
3. 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 us to locate the material; 
4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party; 
5. 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 
6. 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.

ASPCA Legal Department
424 E. 92nd Street 
New York, NY 10128 
Phone: (212) 876-7700 
Fax: (212) 860-3560 
Email: [email protected]

Prohibited Uses

You may use the Website only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Use. You agree not to use the Website:

• In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the US or other countries);
• For the purpose of exploiting, harming or attempting to exploit or harm minors in any way by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable information or otherwise;
• To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which does not comply with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use;
• To transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional, including any "junk mail", "chain letter" or "spam" or any other similar solicitation;
• To impersonate or attempt to impersonate the ASPCA, an ASPCA employee, another user or any other person or entity (including, without limitation, by using e-mail addresses or screen names associated with any of the foregoing); or
• To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone's use or enjoyment of the Website, or which, as determined by us, may harm the ASPCA or users of the Website or expose them to liability.

In addition, you agree not to:

• Use the Website in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the site or interfere with any other party's use of the Website, including their ability to engage in real time activities through the Website;
• Use any robot, spider or other automatic device, process or means to access the Website for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on the Website;
• Use any manual process to monitor or copy any of the material on the Website or for any other unauthorized purpose without our prior written consent;
• Use any device, software or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Website;
• Introduce any viruses, trojan horses, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful;
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage or disrupt any parts of the Website, the server on which the Website is stored, or any server, computer or database connected to the Website;
• Attack the Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack; or
• Otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website.

Users under the age of 18

No one under the age of 18 is allowed to register on the Website. While the Website is designed to be appropriate for all users, we will not knowingly collect personal information from users who are under the age of 18. If you are not yet 18 years old, please do not participate in any of the activities on the Website that require you to provide personal information (like making a purchase or signing up to receive the newsletter). 

The ASPCA is committed to safeguarding our users’ online privacy and recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy of personal information, particularly that of children (for further information, please see our Privacy Policy). We take all required steps to protect the privacy and safety of children in accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Disclaimer of Warranties

YOU AGREE THAT YOU ARE USING THE WEBSITE SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE WEBSITE AND ALL OF THE MATERIALS ON OR REFERENCED BY THE WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS.  THE ASPCA HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Limitation of Liability

IN NO EVENT SHALLTHE ASPCA BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE WEBSITE OR ANY CONTENT ON THE WEBSITE, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PERSONAL INJURY, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, AND LOSS OF DATA), AND WHETHER OR NOT CAUSED BY TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), BREACH OF CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF FORESEEABLE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY LIABILITY WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Indemnification

By using the Website and its contents, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the ASPCA, its officers, directors, employees, and volunteers from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses or fees (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these Terms of Use or your use of the Website, including, but not limited to, your User Contributions, any use of the Website's content other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use, or your use of any information obtained from the Website.

Changes to the Website

We may update the content on this Website from time to time, but its content is not necessarily complete or up-to-date. Any of the material on the Website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

Privacy Policy

All information we collect on this Website is subject to our Privacy Policy. By using the Website, you consent to all actions taken by us with respect to your information consistent with the Privacy Policy.

Links from the Website

These terms and conditions apply only to the Website. Where the Website contains links to other websites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your convenience only and are not intended as an endorsement by the ASPCA of the organization or individual operating the third party website. We have no control over the contents of such websites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. If you decide to access any of the third party websites linked to this Website, you do so entirely at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.

Geographic Restrictions

The ASPCA is based in the state of New York in the United States. We provide this Website for use only by persons located in the United States. We make no claims that the Website or any of its content is accessible or appropriate outside of the United States. Access to the Website may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Website from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws. Please be aware that any personal information you transfer to us will be transferred to the U.S. and will be subject to U.S. law. By using this Website, participating in any activities related to this Website, and/or providing us with information, you consent to the transfer of your personal information to the U.S., and waive any claims that may arise under your own local and national laws.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

All matters relating to the Website and these Terms of Use and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the State of New York or any other jurisdiction).

Any legal suit, action or proceeding arising out of, or related to, these Terms of Use or the Website shall be instituted exclusively in the federal courts of the United States or the courts of the State of New York. You hereby acknowledge and consent to jurisdiction in New York and waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to venue in such courts.

Termination

Your acceptance of these Terms of Use constitutes an agreement between you and the ASPCA. This agreement is effective unless and until terminated by either you or the ASPCA. You may terminate this agreement at any time by discontinuing use of the Website. The ASPCA may also terminate this agreement at any time without notice, and accordingly deny you access to the Website, if in the ASPCA's sole discretion you fail to comply with any term or provision of these Terms of Use.

Waiver and Severability

No waiver by the ASPCA of any term or condition set forth in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of the ASPCA to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

Entire Agreement

These Terms of Use and the documents incorporated herein by reference constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and the ASPCA with respect to the Website and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to the Website.

Your Comments and Concerns

All feedback, comments, requests for technical support and other communications relating to the Website should be directed to: [email protected].