Terms & Conditions

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1. Welcome to Sumthing

Version February 2022

Sumthing B.V. (hereafter “Sumthing”, ”we” or “us”) is a for profit organization having its registered office at Krugerplein 36A, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Sumthing operates a website (web and mobile) available on the following links respectively:
Web: https://www.sumthing.org/

This website is hereafter referred to as the "Platform".

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2. About the Terms and Conditions

  • The use of the Platform is subject to the following Terms and Conditions (the “Terms and Conditions”) and all applicable laws. By using the Platform, you accept these Terms and Conditions and our Privacy policy.
  • Acceptance of the Terms and Conditions creates a binding legal agreement between you, whether personally or on behalf of an entity, and Sumthing by which you agree to use the Platform only in a way that is consistent with these Terms and Conditions. You agree that by accessing the Platform, you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by all of these Terms and Conditions.
  • We may amend the Terms and Conditions without prior notice. When we do, we will let you know by posting the updated versions of the Terms and Conditions on the Platform.
  • All users who are minors in the jurisdiction in which they reside (generally under the age of 18) must have the permission of, and be directly supervised by, their parent or guardian to use the Platform. If you are a minor, you must have your parent or guardian read and agree to these Terms and Conditions prior to you using the Platform.
  • You may terminate this agreement at any time by sending us an email at support@Sumthing.org. Sumthing may terminate this agreement for any reason by giving you 30 days’ notice via email or using any other contact information you have provided for your account. Sumthing may also terminate this agreement immediately and without prior notice and stop providing access to the Platform if (i) you materially breach these Terms or our Policies or exert behavior that Sumthing otherwise deems inappropriate or offensive (ii) you violate applicable laws, or (iii) such action is necessary to protect the personal safety or property of Sumthing, its Users, or third parties (for example in the case of fraudulent behavior of a Member), or (iv) your account has been inactive for more than two years.

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3. What can you do on our Platform?

  1. Sumthing’s Platform allows individuals, institutions, and companies (hereafter “you”, collectively “Users”) to make donations to projects (hereafter referred to as "Projects") managed by third-party organisations (hereafter referred to as "Project Owners”).
  2. Users can use a wide range of Sumthing functionalities. The functionalities available on the Platform enable Users to visualize the positive effect of their payments and further support Sumthing’s mission by spreading the word to a larger audience.
  3. Donations and Payments made by Users on the Sumthing Platform are non-refundable, unless otherwise determined by Sumthing.
  4. Recurring payments can be cancelled or paused at least 1 day prior to renewal date by contacting Sumthing Support in writing at hello@sumthing.org.

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4. Prohibited Activities

  1. You may not access or use the Platform for any purpose other than that for which we make the Platform available. The Platform may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by us.
  2. As a user of the Platform, you agree not to:
  • Systematically retrieve data or other content from the Platform to create or compile, directly or indirectly, a collection, compilation, database, or directory without written permission or authorized credentials from us.
  • Make any unauthorized use of the Platform, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of users by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email, or creating user accounts by automated means or under false pretenses.
  • Circumvent, disable, or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the Platform, including features that prevent or restrict the use or copying of any content or enforce limitations on the use of the Platform and/or the content contained therein.
  • Engage in unauthorized framing of or linking to the Platform.
  • Trick, defraud, or mislead us and other users, especially in any attempt to learn sensitive account information such as user passwords.
  • Engage in any automated use of the system, such as using scripts to send comments or messages, or using any data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools.
  • Interfere with, disrupt, or create an undue burden on the Platform or the networks or services connected to the Platform.
  • Attempt to impersonate another user or person or use the username of another user.
  • Use any information obtained from the Platform in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person.
  • Use the Platform as part of any effort to compete with us or otherwise use the Platform and/or the content for any revenue-generating endeavor or commercial enterprise without our express prior written permission.
  • Attempt to bypass any measures of the Platform designed to prevent or restrict access to the Platform, or any portion of the Platform.
  • Harass, annoy, intimidate, or threaten any of our employees or agents engaged in providing any portion of the Platform to you.
  • Delete the copyright or other proprietary rights notice from any content.
  • Upload or transmit (or attempt to upload or to transmit) viruses, Trojan horses, or other material, including excessive use of capital letters and spamming (continuous posting of repetitive text), that interferes with any party’s uninterrupted use and enjoyment of the Platform or modifies, impairs, disrupts, alters, or interferes with the use, features, functions, operation, or maintenance of the Platform.
  • Upload or transmit (or attempt to upload or to transmit) any material that acts as a passive or active information collection or transmission mechanism, including without limitation, clear graphics interchange formats ("gifs"), 1x1 pixels, web bugs, cookies, or other similar devices (sometimes referred to as "spyware" or "passive collection mechanisms" or "pcms").
  • Except as may be the result of standard search engine or Internet browser usage, use, launch, develop, or distribute any automated system, including without limitation, any spider, robot, cheat utility, scraper, or offline reader that accesses the Platform, or using or launching any unauthorized script or other software.
  • Disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Platform.
  • Use the Platform in a manner inconsistent with any applicable laws or regulations.
  • Use the Platform to publish or transmit any content that is violent, obscene, abusive, illegal, racist, xenophobic, or defamatory.
  • Use the Platform to publish or transmit any content which appears to incite or stir up hatred against particular individuals, people, religions, or cultures.
  • Use the Platform in a non-commercial manner.
  • The contents of the Platform may not be exploited, reproduced, distributed, modified, published, assigned, transformed, or otherwise used for any commercial purpose unless Sumthing has expressly agreed otherwise in writing.
  • Users can register either as a Project Owner, an Organization or as an Individual. Individual profiles are strictly for individuals and Organization profiles are strictly for actual companies and organizations. Any use of an Individual profile for commercial use is strictly forbidden. Companies may use their Organization profile as described in section 5 “Corporate Partnerships” of this Terms and Conditions. You must not actively market, advertise or communicate with other Sumthing Users for commercial purposes, including through a private messaging tool. You must not introduce or suggest commercial or non-for-profit products or services.


5. How Contributions to Projects work

  1. Project Owners can register their Projects on the Platform to transparently show their activities and open their projects to receive funding.
  2. When you choose to support a Project that is open to receive funding, you make a payment to Sumthing. Sumthing processes your contribution and redirects this to the Project(s) chosen by you, after subtracting the Sumthing service fee and any applicable (value added) taxes.
  3. Sumthing enables recurring payments to allow Users to contribute to projects continuously or regularly over a determined period of time. In order to maintain subscriptions, Users must pay the required recurring fee in a timely manner. Failure to do so may cause service interruptions.
  4. You agree to provide current, complete and accurate payment and account information for all purchases. You agree to promptly update your account and other information, including your email address and credit card numbers and expiration dates, so that we can complete your transactions and contact you as needed.
  5. If a project is indicated to be implemented in batches, your contribution is only implemented once the project reaches the required number of units in the batch. In case a Project Owner is unable to implement, for any given reason, or a campaign has not reached its batch deadline, typically one year after the first contribution, your donations will be reverted into another, comparable project on the Platform. In such cases, Sumthing reserves the right to revert the donation without any prior consent. Sumthing will update Users whenever this happens.
  6. Responsibility for executing and finishing a project or a batch within a project is the sole responsibility of the Project Owner.
  7. Sumthing does not guarantee Project Owners’ work and does not guarantee that Projects are implemented in accordance with the Project description on the Platform.
  8. Sumthing does not offer refunds in case the donations for a Project are not used by the Project Owner in accordance with the description of a Project on the Platform and Sumthing does not have any liability towards a user in such event.
  9. Sumthing does not have any liability for any losses or damages that occur as a result of Project Owner’s actions.
  10. Sumthing charges fees (and applicable Taxes) to Users for donations. Unless otherwise provided on the Sumthing Platform, service fees are non-refundable. Sumthing reserves the right to change the service fees at any time, and will provide Users notice of any fee changes before they become effective. Fee changes will not affect transactions made prior to the effective date of the fee change. If you disagree with a fee change you may terminate this agreement at any time pursuant to Section 3.
  11. Contribution are publicized on the Platform and including their date, status, contributor nationality and number of units contributed. Users can decide to add their personal name, organisation’s name or a group’s name to their donation or make a donation anonymously. In case of a named contribution, you can request the deletion of your contribution at any time by contacting us at support@Sumthing.org. In compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) we will delete your personal information, and turn it into an anonymous contribution, with the exception of the information we may need to keep to comply with legal obligations (e.g. in the case of donation-related information).
  12. You do not gain any rights of ownership to any of the units purchased through our Platform, nor to the use, disposition, or possession thereof.
  13. Projects listed on the Platform are presented solely in accordance with the Project Owner’s description. Sumthing does not bear any responsibility or liability for the accuracy or correctness of the Projects. In case an estimated completion date is mentioned for a Project, this is the Project Owner’s estimate. The month and year listed is an estimate of when the Project Owner aims to execute the Project —this time is not a guaranteed time. The schedule may change as the Project Owner works on the project. Whilst Sumthing asks Project Owners to think carefully on setting an estimated completion date, Sumthing has no responsibility or liability in this respect. We ask that Project Owners communicate any changes in completion dates with contributors for a Project via the Platform.

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7. Terms for Project Owners

  1. Sumthing works with a selected panel of Projects owned by independent organizations (hereafter referred to as “Project Owners”).  As a Project Owner you must respect every obligation mentioned in these Terms and Conditions.
  2. A Project Owner can create several Projects on the Platform free of charge. Qualified restoration projects that continuously meet Sumthing's minimum standards can choose to accept funding/payments on the Platform.
  3. Sumthing collects these funds and, if applicable, issues a donation receipt to the donor. The collected funds will be paid out to the respective Project Owner in line with the implementation batch requirements of the Project. The payout can be withheld in cases where the funding volume exceeds the declared and/or apparent capacity of a project to implement that funding within 12 months. In these cases, similar to when a batch deadline isn’t met, the funding can be re-allocated to another project that has the capacity to implement the funding volume and is ideally similar to the originally chosen project in terms of price range and location. Payouts can further be withheld in cases where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that quality and/or transparency standards are not fully met.
  4. Sumthing takes a commission on the donations from Users, including any applicable transaction fees by third-party payment providers. Adding your project on Sumthing is free. If you create a project that reaches its funding goal, we collect a 17% fee of total fees raised. If our fees ever change, we will announce that on our Site. Some funds contributed are collected by payment providers. Each payment provider is its own company, and Sumthing is not responsible for its performance. As a Project Owner, you are responsible for paying any additional fees or taxes associated with your use of Sumthing.
  5. By creating a Project, you automatically become its administrator (the “Project Owner”). As a Project Owner, you confirm you are the owner and technical operator of the Project described in your account on the Platform, or that you have the rights to operate the Project and that its owner is aware of and agrees with your use of our Platform and the present Terms and Conditions.
  6. A Project Owner ensures that the donations are only used for the activities indicated on the Platform and according to the conditions (e.g. cost per tree) declared on the Platform. The restoration activities have to be carried out on the indicated location of the selected project on the Platform. The received funds have to be implemented within 12 months of the receipt.
  7. A Project Owner is responsible for the maintenance and monitoring of the restored areas and has to regularly - at least once a year - report to Sumthing regarding their activities that were funded via the Platform. In the report, the Project needs to confirm that the funds were used for the intended purpose and outline when, where, and how the restoration activities were carried out. Sumthing provides a template for this report.
  8. A Project Owner agrees to provide the exact geolocation of the restoration area(s) firstly in form of GPS coordinates and secondly as a polygon (file: KML, Shapefile, GeoJson). Sumthing agrees to technically support this process.
  9. A Project Owner agrees upon reasonable notice to occasional on-site visits by volunteer academics or forest experts for project reviews.
  10. At any time, a Project Owner can decide to close a Project, whether completed or not. However, the Project Owner agrees to ensure that the activities funded through the Platform are carried out and to provide a report at the latest 24 months after the closure of the Project on the Platform.
  11. In case of misuse of funds, other breaches of these Terms and Conditions, or indications thereof, Sumthing reserves the right to initiate case management proceedings and to examine and, if necessary, terminate the cooperation.
  12. A Project Owner agrees and ensures to not contact a third party by default and only when requested. This also covers the issuance of donation receipts.
  13. By using the Platform, Project Owners acknowledge and agree that there is no minimum amount of funds guaranteed by registering on the Platform. The decision if and in how far Users support Projects is solely up to themselves and Sumthing does not take any responsibility for the amount of funding generated via the Platform.
  14. Sumthing charges its fees before transferring funds to your account. Sumthing and its payment partners will subtract fees before transmitting the proceeds of a project.
  15. In consultation with our payment service provider partners, we’ll take best efforts to help resolve any payment-card disputes that might occur. If a contributor to your project disputes the charge with their card issuer, we'll handle re-presenting the charge to settle the dispute with the card issuer. You’ll be notified that a dispute has been filed, and you’ll be able to provide evidence to help us resolve it in your favor. If the cardholder’s dispute is found valid, you authorize us to charge the credit card number you provided when you started your project for the amount of the chargeback.
  16. Don’t assume you’ll be able to launch your project when you want; there could be a reason we’re not able to accept it, or a problem that takes time to resolve. Don’t assume you’ll be able to immediately collect your funding; there may be a delay between the end of a successful project and your access to the funds. And don’t take any actions in reliance on collecting any of the money contributed until you actually have the ability to withdraw it from your account and spend it.

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8. Your intellectual property rights and related obligations

  1. You are the owner of the materials (including but not limited to pictures, ideas, comments, questions and data) that you have submitted to or posted on the Platform or you have been granted the respective rights from the respective owners to use them for any reasons including, but not limited to, posting them on the Site, and that the respective owners are fully aware and have agreed to the Conditions for their respective materials.
  2. You are fully responsible for the materials that you have submitted to the Platform and accept all legal responsibilities for any consequences thereof. Sumthing makes no representation or warranty, either expressed or implied, of any kind concerning the materials posted on the Platform. Any materials that you or any other user post on the Platform or pass through the Platform for whatever reasons (including using the Platform as means of transmission) will be treated as non-confidential.
  3. You accept and agree that, as a condition of using the Platform, you have agreed to let Sumthing and its affiliates freely use (including, but not limited to copying, displaying, distributing, transmitting, and modifying) the materials (including but not limited to pictures, comments, questions, ideas, and data) posted on the Platform, without any compensation, for any purposes that will help Sumthing to fulfill its mission, on the Platform or third party channels (e.g. Social Media).
  4. We reserve the right to delete any materials deemed inappropriate or for whatsoever reasons without any notice. Sumthing is not responsible or liable for any loss of data as a result of this action.

9. How we deal with copyright infringements

  1. If you believe that the copyright of your pictures or other materials has been infringed, you should provide Sumthing the following through email:
    ▪ Your physical or electronic signature or that of the person authorized to act on your behalf;
    ▪ Description and location (on the Platform) of the copyrighted material that you believe has been infringed;
    ▪ Your address, email address, telephone number and other relevant contact information;
    ▪ A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information provided to Sumthing is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on his or her behalf.
    ▪ A statement that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is illegal and not authorized by you and/or the copyright owner and/or its agent, as the case might be;
  2. We will review and investigate the complaint and will reply in the shortest period of time possible. We do not guarantee any specific and fixed time frame as to when we reply the complaints received. If you believe that an excessive period of time has elapsed, you should resend the above information. In the unfortunate and unlikely event that the complaint has been lost, we might ask you to resend the information provided for the copyright infringement complaint.
  3. After reviewing the complaint, it is possible that you may be asked for a physical copy of the above information in addition to an official physical letter signed by you or the person authorized to act on your behalf. A copy of relevant electronic documents might be sent to the person whom the User or Sumthing believes to be infringing the copyright of the respective materials.
  4. If we believe that your complaint is justified, we will then suppress the access to the litigious content. However, the person at the origin of the alleged infringement shall be given an opportunity to respond to such notification in case he believes the litigious content is not infringing any third-party rights. The definitive suppression of /or the restoring of the litigious content shall be decided by Sumthing based on the elements provided by the parties involved.

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10. Sumthing’s intellectual property

  1. Sumthing expressly reserves all intellectual and industrial property rights, and the Platform and its content are protected by all relevant laws governing intellectual property. Sumthing retains all rights available under Dutch law (and any other applicable law) with regard to the source code, graphic design(s), images, photographs, sounds, animated material, software, texts, domain names, trademarks, brands, logos, and any and all other information and content of whatever form or nature contained within and throughout the Platform, except to the extent specifically stated otherwise in these Terms and Conditions.
  2. Nothing on the Platform can be exploited, reproduced, distributed, modified, republished, assigned, or transformed without the Sumthing’s express written approval unless Sumthing has otherwise recognized your intellectual property rights with regard to the content or otherwise expressed its intention in writing to deviate from this general rule. Access to the Platform does not grant you any right or title to any of the intellectual property contained on the Platform or to any of its contents, except to the extent stated otherwise in these Terms and Conditions.
  3. Sumthing will monitor the Platform and protect all of its intellectual and industrial property rights diligently and with all appropriate resources available to it under Dutch law, reserving the right to pursue any and all available legal options.
  4. We may modify, at our absolute discretion, the contents of the Platform, including its configuration and presentation, without any prior notice.

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11. Limitations of Responsibility and Liability

  1. Sumthing is not responsible for any harms or losses that might result from your use of the Services or the content provided on this Platform. We don’t assume any duty, obligation or responsibility in disputes between users, or between users and any third party relating to the use of the Services. We don’t oversee the performance or punctuality of projects, and we don’t endorse any content users submit to the Platform. When you use the Services, you release Sumthing from claims, damages, and demands of every kind—known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed—arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and the Services. All content you access through the Services is at your own risk. You’re solely responsible for any resulting damage or loss to any party.
  2. You are fully responsible for your use of the Platform. Sumthing, its affiliates and/or any other party involved in creating or delivering the Platform do not claim any responsibility or liability for any direct, indirect, consequential, incidental or punitive damages of any kind arising out of your use of, access to, ability or inability to use the Platform.
  3. Sumthing is not responsible for any content of any sites that are linked to, or from the Platform. Sumthing disclaims all warranties, either expressed or implied, as to the legality and validity of the contents of such sites. We are not responsible or liable for any harms or losses that arise as a result of such sites.
  4. Sumthing makes its best effort to ensure that only high-quality Projects are part of the Platform and that the Projects fulfill their responsibilities towards this Platform and its Users. However, Sumthing has no control over these independent organizations and can take no responsibility in case of any misrepresentation, misuse of funds or similar incidents. Additionally, restoration and reforestation take place in natural environments that cannot be fully controlled, neither by Sumthing nor by the Project Owners. Force majeure, e.g. in the form of natural disasters, are beyond the control of any involved parties and can prevent, damage or destroy restoration efforts despite all risk avoidance and management efforts. Sumthing recommends all projects to include cost of monitoring and replacement within the funds raised on the platform that can work as a reserve in case of damage through Force majeure. Sumthing thus cannot take responsibility for the restoration success of any Project.

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12. Our rights

  1. Sumthing reserves the right to terminate or restrict the Platform access of any User and to terminate or restrict any Projects for any reason in its sole discretion. We are not responsible or liable for any damages- including loss of data- as a result of the termination of access or Projects.
  2. 2.   Sumthing reserves the right to refuse any order you place with us. We may, in our sole discretion, limit or cancel quantities purchased per person, per household or per order. These restrictions may include orders placed by or under the same customer account, the same credit card, and/or orders that use the same billing and/or shipping address. In the event that we make a change to or cancel an order, we may attempt to notify you by contacting the e-mail and/or billing address/phone number provided at the time the order was made. We reserve the right to limit or prohibit orders that, in our sole judgment, appear to be placed by dealers, resellers or distributors.
  3. 3.   Sumthing reserves the right to close the Platform or access to any content or products of the Platform at any time for any reason, with or without notice. Sumthing will not be responsible and liable for any damages or losses, including but not limited to direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, or punitive damages and losses that arise as a result of such action.

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13. General information about us

●      Office: Krugerplein 36A, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

●      E-mail: hello@sumthing.org

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14. Governing Law

These Terms and Conditions will be governed by the laws of the Netherlands. All disputes arising out of or related to these Terms and Conditions will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in Amsterdam. However, regardless of the above, if the User qualifies as a European Consumer and has their habitual residence in a country where the law provides for a higher consumer protection standard, such higher standards shall prevail.

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15. Indemnification

  1. You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us harmless, including our subsidiaries, affiliates, and all of our respective directors, co-branders, officers, agents, partners, suppliers and employees, from and against any loss, damage, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses, made by any third party due to or arising out of: (1) your Contributions; (2) use of the Platform; (3) breach of these Terms and Conditions; (4) any breach of your representations and warranties set forth in these Terms and Conditions; (5) your violation of the rights of a third party, including but not limited to intellectual property rights; or (6) any overt harmful act toward any other user of the Platform with whom you connected via the Platform.
  2. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we reserve the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify us, and you agree to cooperate, at your expense, with our defense of such claims. We will use reasonable efforts to notify you of any such claim, action, or proceeding which is subject to this indemnification upon becoming aware of it.
  3. To ensure the best possible service level, Sumthing reserves the right to interrupt the Service for maintenance, system updates or any other changes, informing the Users appropriately. Sumthing may also decide to suspend or terminate the Service altogether. If the Service is terminated, Sumthing will cooperate with Users to enable them to withdraw Personal Data or information. Additionally, the Service might not be available due to reasons outside the Sumthing’s reasonable control, such as “force majeure” (eg. labor actions, infrastructural breakdowns or blackouts etc).

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16. Severability

  1. Should any provision of these Terms be deemed or become invalid or unenforceable under applicable law, the invalidity or unenforceability of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions, which shall remain in full force and effect.
  2. Any such invalid or unenforceable provision will be interpreted, construed and reformed to the extent reasonably required to render it valid, enforceable and consistent with its original intent. These Terms constitute the entire Agreement between Users and Sumthing with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersede all other communications, including but not limited to all prior agreements, between the parties with respect to such subject matter. These Terms will be enforced to the fullest extent permitted by law.
  3. Should any provision of these Terms be or be deemed void, invalid or unenforceable, the parties shall do their best to find, in an amicable way, an agreement on valid and enforceable provisions thereby substituting the void, invalid or unenforceable parts.
    In case of failure to do so, the void, invalid or unenforceable provisions shall be replaced by the applicable statutory provisions, if so permitted or stated under the applicable law.
  4. Without prejudice to the above, the nullity, invalidity or the impossibility to enforce a particular provision of these Terms shall not nullify the entire Agreement, unless the severed provisions are essential to the Agreement, or of such importance that the parties would not have entered into the contract if they had known that the provision would not be valid, or in cases where the remaining provisions would translate into an unacceptable hardship on any of the parties.

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17. Warranty Disclaimer

THIS SITE IS AVAILABLE ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ANY WARRANTIES IMPLIED BY ANY COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, OR USAGE OF TRADE.