Terms of Use as of 1/06/2016

This Agreement describes the terms and conditions (“Terms”) pursuant to which you may access and use the services provided on virginiarealtors.org and other Virginia REALTORS^® social media forums (“Sites”). Please read this Agreement carefully as your use of the Sites constitutes your binding acceptance of these Terms, including any modifications we may make. Please review the linked Privacy Policy which also governs your use and interaction with the Sites. In consideration of the Virginia REALTORS^® granting you access to the Sites, you hereby agree as follows:

1. Virginia REALTORS^® reserves the right at its sole discretion to change, modify, add or remove portions of these Terms at any time without notice or liability, and such modification shall become effective upon posting on the Sites. Your use of the Sites following any such modification shall be conclusively deemed to be your acceptance of such modification.

2. The information provided on the Sites is for educational and informational purposes only. The information should not be construed as a recommendation by Virginia REALTORS^® for any course of action regarding financial, legal or accounting matters. It is not meant as a substitute for professional advice from a qualified legal, accounting or financial professional.

3. Virginia REALTORS^® does not represent, warrant or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any information displayed, uploaded, downloaded or distributed through the Sites. Virginia REALTORS^® disclaims liability for any damages or losses, direct or indirect, that may result from use of or reliance on information contained on the Sites.

4. Virginia REALTORS^® may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the services provided at the Sites at any time without notice or liability, including the availability of any feature, blog, database or content.

5. The Sites contain a combination of content that Virginia REALTORS^® creates and its partners create.

a. All materials published on the Sites, including but not limited to text, images, video, graphics and multimedia files (“Content”) are protected by all applicable copyright and trademark laws and owned by Virginia REALTORS^® or the party credited as the provider of the Content. All rights in the Content are expressly reserved by the applicable copyright and trademark owner.

b. You may not sublicense, transfer or otherwise make any Content available to any third party for commercial purposes or financial gain or use the Content in any other media or in any other location other than as permitted in this section. You may not upload Content that contains advertising or promotion for a particular real estate listing or for real estate services, including brokerage, lending, title insurance, property or casualty insurance, property management, building developing or consulting.

c. All Content provided by any party other than Virginia REALTORS^® must identify the party who provided that Content.

d. By posting material to the Sites, you warrant and represent that you either own or otherwise control all of the rights to that material, including without limitation, all the rights necessary for you to provide, post, upload, input, or submit the material, or that your use of the material is a fair use. You agree that you will not knowingly and with intent to defraud provide material and misleading false information. You represent and warrant also that the material you supply does not violate these Terms, and that you will indemnify and hold Virginia REALTORS^® , its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, employees, and agents, harmless for any and all claims resulting from material you supply.

e. By Virginia REALTORS^® publishing your material to the Sites, you grant Virginia REALTORS^® , its subsidiaries, affiliates, partners and third party licensees a nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sub licensable, royalty-free license to use, store, display, publish, transmit, transfer, distribute, reproduce, aggregate your material with other content, create derivative works of and publicly perform that content for any purpose on and through each of the services provided by the Sites. This license shall apply to the distribution and the storage of your content in any form, medium, or technology now known or later developed.

6. The Sites may contain links to other Internet websites operated by third parties. These links are provided as a convenience to access the information contained therein. Virginia REALTORS^® does not endorse or approve, is not a sponsor, partner, promoter or publisher of such sites or their content, and expressly disclaims any responsibility or liability for the content of any other websites. You should direct any concerns regarding any external link to the website’s administrator or Webmaster of such other site.

7. Your dealings with advertisers and third party vendors found on or through the Sites, including your participation in promotions, the purchase of goods, and any terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such activities, are solely between you and the third party. Virginia REALTORS^® does not make any representations or warranties with respect to any goods or services that may be obtained from such third parties, and you agree that Virginia REALTORS^® will have no liability for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of any activities you undertake in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods, services, information or other materials available, or through such third parties You acknowledge that such third party sites usually have their own terms and conditions, including privacy policies, over which Virginia REALTORS^® has no control and which will govern your rights and obligations with respect to the use of those site.

8. SITES PROVIDED BY VIRGINIA REALTORS^® ARE ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY THAT THE SITES WILL MEET ANY PARTICULAR CRITERIA OF PERFORMANCE OR QUALITY. VIRGINIA REALTORS^® MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE USABILITY, CONDITION OR OPERATION OF THESE SITES, OR THAT ACCESS TO OR USE OF THESE SITES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, OR AS TO THE INFORMATION, CONTENT OR MATERIALS INCLUDED ON THESE SITES. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THESE SITES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, VIRGINIA REALTORS^® DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS AND IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, TITLE, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, COMPARABILITY, SECURITY AND ACCURACY. YOU AGREE THAT VIRGINIA REALTORS^® IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM THE USE OF THE SITES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL AND PUNITIVE DAMAGES.

9. As part of the registration process to use the Members Only portions of some Virginia REALTORS^® Sites, you will select a user name and password. You may change your password at any time in accordance with the procedure on the Sites. You agree you are exclusively responsible for maintaining the security of your password. You agree to provide Virginia REALTORS^® with accurate, complete, and updated registration information. Failure to do so shall constitute a breach of this Agreement, which may result in immediate termination of your access to the Sites.

10. Virginia REALTORS^® reserves the right, but not the obligation, to send electronic mail to any and all users of the Sites for the purpose of informing them of changes or additions to the Sites or any related services or products.

11. Virginia REALTORS^® may at any time, in its sole discretion, terminate, limit or suspend your access to the Sites, without notice or liability, for any reason whatsoever, including without limitation your breach of this Agreement, the termination of your membership in Virginia REALTORS^® , or repeated infringement of third-party rights, including copyright.

12. This Agreement, its Terms, and use of the Sites are governed by and will be interpreted under the laws of the State of Virginia, United States of America, without reference to conflicts of laws and without regard to the location of execution or performance of this agreement. You hereby agree that any and all disputes which may arise and any litigation that may arise from such disputes will be litigated before a court located in the State of Virginia , County of Henrico, U.S.A., to the exclusion of the courts of any other country, state or county.

13. If you believe that your intellectual property rights have been violated by Virginia REALTORS^® or by a third party who has uploaded Content on our Sites, please provide the following information to the Virginia REALTORS^®-designated copyright agent listed below:

a. A description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;

b. A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Sites;

c. An address, a telephone number, and an e-mail address where Virginia REALTORS^® can contact you and, if different, an e-mail address where the alleged infringing party, if not Virginia REALTORS^® , can contact you;

d. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright or other intellectual property rights owner, by its agent, or by law;

e. A statement by you under penalty of perjury that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or are authorized to act on the owner’s behalf;

f. Your electronic or physical signature.

Virginia REALTORS^® may request additional information before removing any infringing material. Virginia REALTORS^® may provide the alleged infringing party with your e-mail address so that that person can respond to your allegations.

Virginia REALTORS^® reserves the right to terminate, limit or suspend any user’s access to the Sites in the event of repeated infringing activity. If you believe that a user of the Sites is a repeat infringer, please follow the above instructions to contact Virginia REALTORS^®’ copyright agent. Please include sufficient information to assist Virginia REALTORS^® in determining that the user has engaged in such infringing activity repeatedly.

Virginia REALTORS^® has applied to have a registered designated agent with the Copyright Office pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 512(c). If you believe your copyright material is being used on the Sites without permission, please notify the designated agent applicant at:

James W. Hopper
Virginia REALTORS^® 
10231 Telegraph Road
Glen Allen, Virginia 23059
804.264.5033
jim@virginiarealtors.org

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Virginia REALTORS^®  Antitrust Policy

A goal of the Virginia REALTORS^® is to improve the level of products and services offered by its members to the public and to encourage vigorous competition among its members in providing such products and services. In furtherance of this goal, Virginia REALTORS^® has adopted a policy of strict compliance with antitrust laws.

Company Policies. Members shall not discuss with any competitor individual company policies relating to competitive policies, pricing or related types of sensitive information, including (a) commission levels, fees, business expenses or other business information or policies that would allow or encourage price fixing or maintenance; (b) bidding strategies either in general or for specific properties or any other information that would allow or encourage bid rigging; (c) a firm’s competitive business decisions, including its policies regarding dealing with those firms offering different business models; (d) policies regarding the duration or types of listing agreements the firm will enter into or the form of compensation the firm will accept or negotiate; (e) the compensation offered or paid to a firm’s agents or employees; (f) plans concerning any proposed or existing customers, clients or territories; (g) any other actions that might be construed as concerted attempts to restrain competition, including joint attempts to control or affect prices, market conditions, marketing practices, customer choice, or the like.

REALTOR^® Association Membership. Membership in Virginia REALTORS^® and local REALTOR^® associations is open to any individual or entity meeting the membership qualifications set forth in the bylaws of the association, without regard to the type of business models employed by its company. No member shall urge on the leadership or membership of Virginia REALTORS^® or of any local association or on any competitor that membership in any REALTOR^® association be limited to companies practicing particular business models, or that membership be denied to companies or members practicing business models with which the member is in competition or with which the member is unfamiliar or uncomfortable. Members shall take no action to influence the business conduct of customers or other members towards such competitors.

Availability of Information. As a service to members and to the public, Virginia REALTORS^® accumulates data and issues statistical reports relating to general market trends and comparisons of past transactions of general interest. Data collection will not be limited to the membership but will generally deal with the market as a whole, and the results will be available to non-members for a reasonable fee. The development of guidelines and standards relating to the accumulation, dissemination and use of such information will be open to wide participation by affected parties, and participation in any data collection will be strictly voluntary. In conducting any market research, Virginia REALTORS^® will take care to avoid anticompetitive effects. General historical statistical data collected by Virginia REALTORS^® is for use and analysis by individual members and companies and should not be discussed among competitors at organized functions or otherwise.

Conduct of Meetings. All Virginia REALTORS^® meetings will be conducted in full compliance with antitrust laws. Discussion of any topic suggestive of an intent or agreement to restrict competition or fix prices shall be improper. Among such topics and discussions are:

• Discussions of individual company policies and practices;
• Criticism of another company’s practices or of any particular business model; and
• Suggestions that a local association or multiple listing service exclude from membership or participation those who practice any particular business model or engage in any unfamiliar or innovative activity or practice. Despite the fact that Virginia REALTORS^® counsel and staff are well versed in antitrust matters, the presences of counsel or staff at a meeting should not invite discussion of matters that violate the letter or spirit of this policy or the antitrust laws. It is the responsibility of each member in the first instance to avoid raising improper subjects for discussion. However, if discussion of any inappropriate topics occurs at any meeting, all members present should openly disassociate themselves from such discussions, and if the discussions do not end immediately, the meeting should be brought to a prompt adjournment by the person in charge of the conduct of the meeting. Committee chairs and others conducting meetings will find that adherence to prepared agendas for all Virginia REALTORS^® meetings will reduce the likelihood of inappropriate discussions.

Informal Settings. Members should also be aware that informal or social settings are inappropriate for discussion of the topics described in this policy, and that casual comments – even those made in jest – might have serious antitrust implications.

Enforcement Policy. This policy statement has been prepared to assure that Virginia REALTORS^® members, and especially Virginia REALTORS^® volunteers and participants in Virginia REALTORS^® and other REALTOR^® association meetings, are aware of their obligations under antitrust law. Consequently, members conducting or participating in meetings of any REALTOR^® association shall see to the strict enforcement of this policy. Volunteers and participants may be required, as a condition of participation on Virginia REALTORS^® committees, work groups, task forces, leadership groups, governing bodies or other groups affiliated with Virginia REALTORS^® , to execute a copy of this policy to affirm their acceptance of its principles and agreement to comply with its terms. Members with questions about antitrust issues should contact Virginia REALTORS^® counsel or seek other competent advice in all cases involving specific situations as they arise, or when in need of guidance.