Welcome to the Canoe Network, which is a virtual location. This document describes the terms and conditions of use under which Canoe Inc. gives you access to the Canoe Space Interface (hereafter “the Interface”). This is a free service that allows you to create your own website and blog.

1. Subject

These terms and conditions of use are effective February 22, 2007, and apply to all users.They constitute a binding agreement between you and Canoe Inc. for the use of the Interface.

By completing the registration process and using the Interface, you agree to be bound by the present terms without limitation or reservation. In this document, the word “we” refers to Canoe Inc. and the Canoe Network; the word “service” refers to the Interface and all the software programs, products and services.

This agreement also includes additional terms and conditions respecting certain specific services offered by the Canoe Network. The following rules are part of this agreement:

• Netiquette Guidelines

Each of these regulations is subject to change without notice. All amendments are effective as soon as they are posted on the Canoe Network. Further, when you use a service offered on the Canoe Network, you consent to be bound by all applicable rules governing that service, such as may be posted from time to time elsewhere on the Canoe Network and/or sent to your e-mail address.

2. Registration

In using the Canoe Network and/or Interface, you warrant that (a) all the information you provided during the registration process is true and correct, (b) you will ensure that this information is kept up-to-date, and (c) your use of the Canoe Network does not violate any applicable law or regulation.

You warrant that you are 18 years of age or older or are an emancipated youth and are fully capable of understanding and undertaking to comply with the terms, obligations, declarations and guarantees listed in these terms of use.

3. Member Responsibilities

3.1. Under no circumstances shall you authorize another person to use your account. You are responsible for all activities in your account and it is your responsibility to ensure that your login information remains confidential. You also agree not to use another person’s account for any reason. If you suspect that another person is using your account, you shall inform the Canoe Network immediately.

3.2. Except in exceptional circumstances, the Canoe Network allows each user a single account. For an exception to be made, you must provide reasons and receive written authorization from the Canoe Network, failing which superfluous accounts may be deleted at our discretion.

3.3. To access Canoe Network services, you are responsible for ensuring that your computer meets the minimum requirements posted on the home page. In the event of a conflict between your computer and a software program provided on the Canoe Network, only the manufacturer of that software program has a responsibility to provide support.

3.4. Any and all actions that do not comply with this contract can lead to the suspension or cancellation of your membership without further notice and no such suspension or cancellation can be held against the Canoe Network .

3.5. The user also agrees that all the information on this Interface can be removed at any time at the discretion of the Canoe Network, and the Interface can be permanently removed from the Web or archived.

4. Restrictions on Activities

4.1. You may use our services providing:

• You comply with the terms of this contract;
• You respect the netiquette and all other rules that we bring to your attention;
• You inform us of anything that could compromise the security of the Canoe Network.

4.2. Activities prohibited on the Canoe Network include but are not limited to:

• Using content and/or making statements that are offensive or incite racism, intolerance, hate and/or physical violence against groups or individuals;
• Posting content that harasses and/or exploits people in a violent or sexual manner;
• Providing information or content containing sexually suggestive images or scenes of nudity, violence or any other subject that is offensive, including links to sites with this type of content;
• Providing or using information that you know to be false or misleading or that is related to illegal activity or behaviour that is abusive, threatening, obscene, defamatory or libellous;
• Expressing opinions in a manner that is defamatory and/or otherwise falsely harms the reputation of another person;
• Providing information or posting statements that violate the privacy of another person;
• Displaying photos or other images of another person without his/her consent, except an unaltered image of a public figure taken in a public place;
• Using, for yourself or on behalf of another person, our services for commercial purposes, including advertising to or solicitation of other people to buy or sell products or services without written authorization from the Canoe Network;
• Using information obtained on the Canoe Network to harass, deceive or harm another person;
• Harming the Canoe Network or our partners, clients or management;
• Sending unwanted personal or commercial spam;
• Selling or redistributing the service, in whole or in part;
• Disassembling or decompiling the software used by the Canoe Network;
• Disrupting or creating an undue burden on the services of the Canoe Network or anyone who uses them;
• Soliciting personal information, including passwords, from other users;
• Supporting or encouraging illegal activity or providing instructions about illegal activity, including the fabrication or purchase of illegal weapons and the spreading or creation of computer viruses;
• Covering the advertising banners on your personal profile page or any other page on the Canoe Network;
• Obtaining or using the identity of another person.

4.3. At our discretion, the Canoe Network reserves the right to modify, reject or delete, in whole or in part, with or without prior notice, any content, including publications, posts or correspondence, whether it be private in nature or not, for any reason.

4.4. When you cancel your registration, all your saved information will be deleted from our servers and we will not be able to recover it.

5. Responsibilities with Regard to Content

1. You represent and warrant that: (i) you are the owner of the content you post online or submit to the Canoe Network, or have the right to grant the license to it; (ii) posting your content online or submitting it to the Canoe Network does not violate any rights that relate to privacy, advertising, intellectual property (including copyright) or any other rights of any other person. You agree to pay royalties, taxes or any other applicable fees for content that you post online or submit to the Canoe Network.

5.2. Exercise due caution when posting on the Canoe Network since you bear sole responsibility for the content you post. The Canoe Network has no obligation to edit or delete illicit content, despite the fact that Canoe can, at any time and at its discretion, track the content posted online and intervene when a user has uploaded illicit content.

5.3. The Canoe Network does not claim any ownership rights in the texts, files, images, photos, video files, sounds, works or other items you post online or submit to the Canoe Network. Once your content is online on the Canoe Network, you retain all ownership rights for the said content and you retain the right to use the content as you see fit. In posting content on the Canoe Network or submitting it to the Canoe Network, you grant the Canoe Network a licence to use, modify, publish, publicly display, publicly communicate by telecommunication, reproduce and distribute this content on or through the Canoe Network.

5.4. As soon as content is posted on or through the Canoe Network, you grant, by this contract, to the Canoe Network the right to use, modify, reproduce, publicly communicate through telecommunication and publicly broadcast the said content on the Canoe Network sites and those of its authorized partners.

6. Canoe Network Content

6.1. The Canoe Network contains content that that is the property of the Canoe Network. Canoe Network content is protected by copyright, registered trademark, patent, trade secret and other laws. The Canoe Network owns and retains all rights to its content and services. By this agreement, the Canoe Network grants you a limited licence, revocable and non-sublicensable, to reproduce content from and submit content to the Canoe Network for personal use only, when visiting sites that belong to or are managed by the Canoe Network.

6.2. The services of the Canoe Network contain content from users and other licensors. With the exception of the content posted by you, you may not copy, modify, translate, publish, distribute, post or sell any of the content published on or through the Canoe Network.

7. Copyrights

7.1. You violate a person’s rights if you publish, distribute, copy, reproduce or publicly communicate, in any manner, in whole or in part, the work of a third party without obtaining prior authorization from that party. Therefore, publishing, distributing, copying, reproducing or publicly communicating on Canoe Space any work that belongs to a third party is prohibited. If you quote the work of a third party, you must provide the source and the name of each author.

7.2. The Canoe Network may, but is not obligated to, take action and determine that there is, or that there could be, a copyright violation before receiving a complaint from the copyright holder or a court ruling on the matter.

7.3. If you believe that a user has copied, reproduced, published, publicly communicated by telecommunication, publicly displayed, translated or adapted your work without authorization to do so, please contact our representative in charge of copyright protection. Your report must include: the signature of the person who holds the copyright or that of his or her representative, a brief description of the copyrighted work that has been infringed, the location on the Canoe Network where the work in question appears, your e-mail address, your mailing address, your telephone number, a statement from you that warrants that the reproduction of your work was not authorized and a statement that warrants that all the information provided in your report is correct. Send your report by email to droitsdauteur@canoe.com or by mail to: Canoe Inc. – Canoe Network, c/o Copyright Protection Representative, 300 Viger Avenue East, 7th floor, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2X 3W4.

8. Defamation, Propagation of Hate and Harm to Image or Privacy

8.1. Everyone is entitled to protection of his or her reputation and privacy. Therefore, using the name, image, likeness or voice of a person without his or her authorization for any purpose other than the legitimate information of the public is prohibited. Alleging facts that could harm the reputation of a person without first verifying that these facts are accurate is also prohibited.

2. It is illegal to communicate, in any public space including the Internet, statements that incite hatred against any identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace, or to communicate, other than in private conversation, statements that wilfully promote hatred against any identifiable group.

8.3. You agree not to post on or through this site content that could cause prejudice to another person and, among other things, not to include material that, deliberately or otherwise, contains obscene elements, could constitute defamation, could damage the image or the privacy of a person, could incite hate or violence or could otherwise constitute a criminal offence or expose a person or entity to civil liability.

8.4. The user shall bear sole responsibility for any failure to comply with these rules, and the Canoe Network disclaims any liability in the event of legal action against the author of any statement that violates these rules.

9. Limitation of Liability

9.1. The Canoe Network disclaims any liability for content posted by users. Information provided by users may not reflect the opinions or policies of the Canoe Network, and we may modify or delete inappropriate content at our discretion.

9.2. Users are fully responsible for the interactions that they create through the Interface. Employees of the Canoe Network cannot be held responsible for the consequences of any event that arises from interaction between users. It is possible that some users could obtain, by some means, your personal information and be inclined to use it in a way that causes you harm. The Canoe Network and its employees are in no way responsible for information provided by users of the site, or for information users may obtain about you.

9.3. The Canoe Network cannot be held responsible if a user is unable to use our services for any reason.

10. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and save harmless Canoe Inc., its subsidiaries, partners, directors, executives and employees of all liability (criminal or civil) or claims arising from use of the Canoe Network and/or violation of the terms of this contract.

11.No Warranty

11.1. Canoe makes the Canoe Network available to users “as is” and “with all its faults” without any representation or warranty of any kind, expressed or implied. Canoe and its providers expressly disclaim any representation, warranty of title, merchantability, merchantable quality, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement of intellectual property, and those arising by law or through a course of dealing or usage of trade. Occasional interruptions in service, irregularities caused by updates or attacks from hackers are independent of the will of the Canoe Network. The Canoe Network is not liable for the consequences of an interruption in service.

11.2. We do not guarantee continuous, uninterrupted or secure access to our services. The functioning of the Canoe Network can be compromised by a number of factors beyond our control.

12. Amendments to the Service or Contract

12.1. The date of the latest version of this contract appears at the top of the contract. However, the Canoe Network can amend it at any time and such amendments will take effect upon publication of the new version of the contract, which will include the date of the update. You agree to review this contract regularly to keep informed of any changes. If you refuse any amendment to this contract, you must cancel your membership and stop using the services of the Canoe Network. If you continue to use our services, these services will be provided to you subject to the new provisions of the contract.

12.2. We can modify or terminate service or functions for any reason. Please contact us if you wish to dispute a change in our services.

12.3. Use of the Interface is free, but this is subject to change at the discretion of the Canoe Network. The Canoe Network reserves the right to cease offering its services for free at any time.

12.4. Violating this contract, including the regulations, can lead to the cancellation of user privileges.

13. Notices from Canoe

We may send additional information to the e-mail address you provided when registering with the Canoe Network. We may also send you information using a communication service on the Canoe Network. Such information is deemed to have been received and read on the date it was sent. Therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure the e-mail address used for your registration with the Canoe Network is correct and to manage unwanted e-mils to ensure that you read messages from us. If you refuse to receive messages from us or to comply with the provisions explicitly specified in our correspondence, you must stop using the services of the Canoe Network.

14. Access and Interference

A significant part of the information posted on the Canoe Network is updated in real time. It is the property of Canoe or has been granted to us under license by our users or third parties. You agree not to use robots, crawlers or other automated means of accessing the Canoe Network, for any reason whatsoever, without our express written authorization. You also agree not to: (i) engage in activities that impose or could impose an unreasonable or disproportionate demand on our infrastructure; (ii) copy, reproduce, modify, distribute, post in public or create works that derive from any content (except your personal information) from the Canoe Network without first obtaining express written authorization from the Canoe Network or the appropriate third parties, or (iii) interfere with or attempt to interfere with the operations of the Canoe Network or the activities on the Canoe Network.

15. Legal Compliance

You are required to comply with all applicable laws, legislation, orders and regulations while using our services.

16. General

16.1. This agreement is governed by the applicable laws of the Province of Quebec, Canada and of Canada. You and the Canoe Network agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

16.2. If one of the provisions of this agreement is determined to be invalid or unenforceable, this provision shall be struck out without affecting the other provisions in this agreement, which shall remain in effect. Should a judge determine that a clause is inapplicable, we shall replace it with a clause containing wording that reflects the essential intention of the initial clause.

16.3. The titles are provided for reference only and do not serve in any way to define, limit, interpret or describe the scope of each of the articles.

16.4. The Canoe Network reserves the right to carry out investigations, including reporting illegal activities to the authorities, and to bring legal action against anyone who violates this contract in any way.

16.5. A failure on our part to act in the event of a violation of these conditions by you or another party does not waive our right to act with respect to similar violations in the future.

16.6. The present terms make up the totality of the contract between the parties with regard to the matter described above. All the clauses of this contract are applicable to the extent permitted by law.

16.7. Articles 5 (Responsibilities with Regard to Content), 9 (Limitation of Liability), 10 (Indemnity), 11 (No Warranty), 15 (Legal Compliance) and 16 (General) will survive any cancellation or expiration of the present terms and conditions.