1. Introduction
1.1 OpenITI ( “we” or “us”) is an academic research project of the University of Maryland, College Park and the Aga Khan University-ISMC, London. OpenITI offers content and context on Islamicate texts that is accessible to academics, scholars, librarians, and the general public through a research portal, a portal for the OCR of texts (eScriptorium), and other programs. The work of Open ITI is governed by common principles of academic engagement including multiple perspectives, peer reviewed material, free and open exchange of ideas, and ethical use of sources.
2. Acceptance of the Terms of Use
2.1 These Terms of Use are entered into by and between you and OpenITI. The following terms and conditions, together with any documents they expressly incorporate by reference (collectively, these “Terms of Use” or “Terms”), govern your access to and use of the OpenITI website and portal (the “Platform”), including any content, functionality and services it offers.
2.2 Please read the Terms of Use carefully before you start to use the Platform. By using the Platform or by clicking to accept or agree to the Terms of Use when this option is made available to you, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Use. If you do not want to agree to these Terms of Use you must not access or use the Platform.
2.3 By using the Platform, you represent and warrant that you are of legal age to form a binding contract with OpenITI and that you meet all of the foregoing eligibility requirements. If you do not meet all of these requirements, you must not access or use the Platform.
3. Changes to the Terms of Use
3.1 We may revise and update these Terms of Use (“Updated Terms”) from time to time at our sole discretion. All changes are effective immediately when we post them, and apply to all access to and use of the Platform thereafter. OpenITI will try its best to provide you reasonable notice of the Updated Terms. We may notify you of the Updated Terms by posting them on the Platform.
3.2 Your continued use of the Platform following the posting of the Updated Terms means that you accept and agree to the changes. You are expected to check this page from time to time so that you are aware of any changes, as they are binding on you.
4. Accessing the Platform and Account Security
4.1 We reserve the right to withdraw or amend the Platform, and any service or material we provide on it, at our sole discretion without notice. We will not be liable if for any reason all or any part of the Platform is unavailable at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Platform, or the entire Platform, to users, including contributors and other registered users.
4.2 You are responsible for:
4.2.1 making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Platform;
4.2.2 ensuring that all persons who access the Platform through your Internet connection are aware of these Terms of Use and that they comply with them.
4.3 To access the Platform or some of the resources it offers, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information. It is a condition of your use of the Platform that all the information that you provide on the Platform is correct, current and complete. You agree that all information you provide to register with this Platform, including but not limited to information provided through the use of any interactive features on the Platform, is governed by our Privacy Policy, and you consent to all actions we take with respect to your information consistent with that Policy. Some of the Platform services may be provided through third parties. Any interactions with or information provided to such third parties will be governed by the respective policies of those third parties.
4.4 If you choose, or are provided with, a user name, password, or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any other person or entity. You also acknowledge that your account is personal to you and you agree not to provide any other person with access to this Platform or portions of it using your user name, password, or other security information. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to or use of your user name or password or any other breach of security. You also agree to ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session if your computer is not private or otherwise secured from other users. You should use particular caution when accessing your account from a public or shared computer so that others are not able to view or record your password or other personal information.
4.5 We have the right to disable any user name, password or other identifier, whether chosen by you or provided by us, at any time if, in our opinion, you have violated any provision of these Terms of Use.
5. Intellectual Property Rights
5.1 The Platform and its inherent features and functionality including but not limited to all information, software, text, displays, images, together with the design, selection and arrangement thereof, excluding Material as described in the Contributor Agreement below, are owned by OpenITI, its licensors or other providers of such material and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws. However, OpenITI makes its Platform and most Material available for free via open source (GNU AGPL 3.0) and open access (Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License) licenses.
5.2 Creative Material, as defined in the Contributor Agreement is protected by a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License. You are free to copy and redistribute the Creative Material in any medium or format and are free to remix, transform, and build upon the Creative Material. Neither OpenITI nor the Contributor can revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the CC BY-SA license terms. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made to the original Creative Material. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests OpenITI or the Contributor endorses you or your use. You also may not use the Creative Material for commercial purposes. Finally, you may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from using the Creative Material in a manner permissible under the CC BY-SA license. All Creative Material is subject to the terms of the Contributor Agreement.
5.3 Third-Party Material, as defined in the Contributor Agreement, is subject to and protected by applicable law, including, without limitation, domestic and foreign intellectual property laws.
5.4 All Contributed Material must comply with the Content Standards, outlined below, as well as with the OpenITI publishing guidelines. These guidelines will be provided separately.
5.5 No right, title or interest in or to the Platform or any Material on the Platform is transferred to you, and all rights not expressly granted are reserved by OpenITI. Contributors may retain their rights, title, or interest in the Creative Material that they contribute, pursuant to the Contributor Agreement. Any use of the Platform not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use is a breach of these Terms and may violate copyright, trademark, and other laws.
6. Trademarks
6.1 The OpenITI name and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans are trademarks of OpenITI or its affiliates or licensors. You must not use such marks without the prior written permission of OpenITI. All other names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans on this Platform are the trademarks of their respective owners.
7. Prohibited Uses
7.1 You may use the Platform only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Use. You agree not to use the Platform:
7.1.1 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);
7.1.2 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;
7.1.3 to send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use, or re-use any material which does not comply with the Content Standards in these Terms of Use and/or the publishing guidelines;
7.1.4 to transmit or procure the sending of any advertising or promotional material, including any “junk mail,” “chain letter,” “spam,” or any other similar solicitation;
7.1.5 to impersonate or attempt to impersonate OpenITI, a OpenITI employee, another user, or any other person or entity (including, without limitation, by using e-mail addresses or user names associated with any of the foregoing entities); or
7.1.6 to engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of the Platform, or which, as determined by us, may harm OpenITI or users of the Platform or expose them to liability.
7.2 Additionally, you agree not to:
7.2.1 use the Platform in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the site or interfere with any other party’s use of the Platform, including their ability to engage in real-time activities through the Platform;
7.2.2 use any robot, spider, or other automatic device, process, or means to access the Platform for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on the Platform, for a generally unauthorized purpose without our prior written consent;
7.2.3 use any manual process to monitor or copy any of the material on the Platform or for any other generally unauthorized purpose without our prior written consent;
7.2.4 use any device, software or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Platform;
7.2.5 introduce any viruses, trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful;
7.2.6 attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage, or disrupt any parts of the Platform, the server on which the Platform is stored, or any server, computer, or database connected to the Platform;
7.2.7 attack the Platform via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack; or
7.2.8 otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Platform.
8. User Contributions
8.1 The Platform may contain message boards, chat rooms, forums, bulletin boards, and other interactive features (collectively, “Interactive Services”) that allow users to post, submit, publish, display, or transmit to other users or other persons (hereinafter, “post”) content or materials (collectively, “User Contributions”) on or through the Platform. This includes the addition of annotations to uploaded texts and post correction work on these texts following OCR. User Contributions do not include Material as defined in the Contributor Agreement.
8.2 All User Contributions must comply with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use.
8.3 Any User Contribution that you post to the Platform will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. By providing any User Contribution on the Platform, you grant us and our affiliates and service providers, and each of our and their respective licensees, successors and assigns, the right to use, reproduce, modify, perform, display, distribute, and otherwise disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose.
8.4 You represent and warrant that:
8.4.1 All of your User Contributions do and will comply with these Terms of Use.
8.4.2 You understand and acknowledge that you are responsible for any User Contributions that you submit or contribute, and that you, not OpenITI, have full responsibility for such content, including its legality, reliability, accuracy and appropriateness.
8.4.3 You will excise all material that is covered by copyright from User Contributions (for example, the editor’s introduction and footnotes). For more detail, see the OpenITI Publishing Guidelines.
8.4.4 We are not responsible or liable to any third party for the content or accuracy of any User Contributions posted by you or any other user of the Platform.
9. Monitoring and Enforcement; Termination
9.1 We reserve the right to:
9.1.2 remove or refuse to post any User Contributions or Material, as defined in the Contributor Agreement (collectively, “Contributed Content”) for any reason at our sole discretion;
9.1.3 take any action with respect to any Contributed Content that we deem necessary or appropriate at our sole discretion, including if we believe that such Contributed Content violates the Terms of Use, including the publishing guidelines, infringes any intellectual property right or other right of any person or entity, threatens the personal safety of users of the Platform or the public, or could create liability for OpenITI;
9.1.4 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;
9.1.5 take appropriate legal action, including without limitation, referral to law enforcement, for any illegal or unauthorized use of the Platform; and
9.1.6 terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Platform for any violation of these Terms of Use.
9.2 Without limiting the foregoing, we retain 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 Platform. You waive and hold harmless OpenITI and its affiliates from any claims resulting from any action taken by any of the foregoing parties during or resulting from its investigations and from any actions taken as a consequence of investigations by either such parties or law enforcement authorities.
9.3 However, we cannot review all material before it is posted on the Platform, and cannot ensure prompt removal of objectionable material after it has been posted. Accordingly, we assume no liability for any action or inaction regarding transmissions, communications, or content provided by any user or third party. We have no liability or responsibility to anyone for performance or nonperformance of the activities described in this section. We will, however, comply with any notices of copyright infringement pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
10. Content Standards
10.1 These content standards apply to any and all Contributed Content. Contributed Content must in its entirety comply with all applicable federal, state, local, and international laws and regulations.
10.2 Without limiting the foregoing, Contributed Content must not:
10.2.1 contain any material that is defamatory, obscene, indecent, abusive, offensive, harassing, violent, hateful, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable;
10.2.3 promote sexually explicit or pornographic material, violence, or discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age;
10.2.4 infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other intellectual property rights or any other rights of any other person;
10.2.5 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;
10.2.6 be likely to deceive any person;
10.2.7 promote any illegal activity or advocate, promote, or assist any unlawful act;
10.2.8 cause annoyance, inconvenience, or needless anxiety or be likely to upset, embarrass, alarm, or annoy any other person, which does not include reasonable academic differences of opinion;
10.2.9 impersonate any person, or misrepresent a contributor’s identity or affiliation with any person or organization;
10.2.10 involve commercial activities or sales, such as contests, sweepstakes and other sales promotions, barter, or advertising; or
10.2.11 give the impression that Contributed Content emanates from or is endorsed by us or any other person or entity, if this is not the case.
10.3 Material, as defined in the Contributor Agreement, is also subject to the publishing guidelines
11. Copyright Infringement
11.1. DMCA Notifications: If you believe that a User Contribution violates your copyright or otherwise violates your rights, please send a written notice to OpenITI, at the email address: openiti\@umd.edu. Please provide with your notice the following information, consistent with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act: (a) a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner; (b) identification of the copyrighted work(s) claimed to have been infringed; (c) identification of the infringing material and information that will permit OpenITI to locate the material; (d) information that will permit us to contact you, including an address, telephone number, and, if available, an email address at which you may be contacted; (e) a statement by you that, in your good faith belief, use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and (f) a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. Upon such notification, or if OpenITI learns of such a claim from another source, OpenITI may remove such content pending the resolution of such claim.
11.2 If you believe that any Contributed Content violates your copyright, please see our Copyright Policy for instructions on how to send us a notice of copyright infringement. It is OpenITI’s policy to terminate the user accounts of repeat infringers. The Publishing guidelines and Copyright Questions outline OpenITI’s position on copyright and premodern works. In particular, it specifies what users must remove from their User Contributions to ensure that they do not infringe copyright.
12. Reliance on Information Posted
12.1 The information presented on or through the Platform is made available solely for general information purposes. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of this information. We disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by you or any other visitor to the Platform, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk.
12.2 This Platform includes content provided by third parties, including materials provided by other users, bloggers, and third-party licensors. All statements and/or opinions expressed in these materials, and all articles and responses to questions and other content, other than the content provided by OpenITI, are solely the opinions and the responsibility of the person or entity providing those materials. These materials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the OpenITI. We are not responsible or liable to you or any third party for the content or accuracy of any materials provided by any third parties.
13. Publication of User Contributions and Exceptional User Contributions
13.1 eScriptorium exists with the broader goal to develop a corpus of machine-readable texts, for public use and computational and statistical analysis (for example, the digital analysis of text reuse). To this end, all User Contributions will be published automatically 3 years after they have been uploaded to the site. Published Islamicate texts will be added to the OpenITI corpus, at github.com/OpenITI.
13.2 OpenITI understands that in some specific cases a User Contribution may need to remain out of the public domain for a period longer than 3 years or indefinitely (defined as an ‘Exceptional User Contribution’). In cases of Exceptional User Contributions, Users should apply for an extension at openiti\@umd.edu (with subject heading ‘Exceptional User Contribution’) for each Exceptional User Contribution they wish to be considered. Exceptional User Contributions will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
13.3 It is recommended that users apply to OpenITI for an extension before uploading an Exceptional User Contribution. If an Exceptional User Contribution is uploaded prior to making an application, it is the user’s responsibility to flag the Exceptional User Contribution to OpenITI in a timely fashion.
13.4 OpenITI will make every effort to assess Exceptional User Contributions in a timely fashion. However, OpenITI will not be held liable for the automatic publication of Exceptional User Contributions in the event that a case is not assessed before the 3-year deadline.
14. Changes to the Platform
14.1 We may update the content on this Platform from time to time, but its content is not necessarily complete or up-to-date. Any material on the Platform may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.
15. Information About You and Your Visits to the Platform
15.1 All information we collect on this Platform is subject to our Privacy Policy. By using the Platform, you consent to all actions we take with respect to your information in compliance with the Privacy Policy.
16. Users Located in the European Economic Area
16.1 If you are located in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway (the “European Economic Area”), please see Additional EEA Privacy Disclosures for information about ways that certain University of Maryland, College Park Schools, Centers, units and controlled entities, including this one, may collect, use, and share information about you.
17. Other Terms and Conditions
17.1 Additional terms and conditions may apply to specific portions, services, or features of the Platform. All such additional terms and conditions are hereby incorporated by this reference into these Terms of Use.
18. Linking to the Platform
18.1 You may link to our homepage, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval, or endorsement on our part without our express written consent.
18.2 You agree to cooperate with us in causing any unauthorized framing or linking immediately to cease. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
19. Links from the Platform
19.1 If the Platform contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your convenience only. We have no control over the contents of those sites 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 Platform, you do so entirely at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.
20. Geographic Restrictions
20.1 OpenITI is based in the state of Maryland in the United States and the Platform and these Terms of Use have been formulated under United States law. We make no claims that the Platform or any of its content is accessible or appropriate outside of the United States. Access to the Platform may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Platform from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.
21. Disclaimer of Warranties
21.1 Your use of the Platform, its content, and any services or items obtained through the platform is at your own risk. The Platform, its content, and any services or items obtained through the Platform are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, without any warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Neither OpenITI nor any person associated with OpenITI makes any warranty or representation with respect to the completeness, security, reliability, quality, accuracy, or availability of the Platform, its content or any services or items obtained from the Platform. Without limiting the foregoing, neither OpenITI nor anyone associated with OpenITI represents or warrants that the Platform, its content, or any services or items obtained through the Platform will be accurate, reliable, error-free, or uninterrupted; that defects will be corrected; that our site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or other harmful components; or that the Platform or any services or items obtained through the Platform will otherwise meet your needs or expectations.
21.2 OpenITI 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 purposes.
21.3 The foregoing does not affect any warranties that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.
22. Limitation on Liability
22.1 In no event will OpenITI, its affiliates or their licensors, service providers, employees, agents, officers, or directors be liable for damages of any kind, under any legal theory, arising out of or in connection with your use or inability to use the Platform, any websites linked to it, any content on the Platform or any services or items obtained through the Platform, including any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to those claimed for 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, loss of data, and whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract, or otherwise, even if foreseeable.
22.2 The foregoing does not affect any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.
23. Indemnification
23.1 You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless OpenITI, its affiliates, licensors and service providers, and its and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, suppliers, successors, and assigns 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 Platform, including, but not limited to, your User Contributions and any use of the Platform’s content and services other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use or your use of any information obtained from the Platform.
24. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
24.1 This Agreement, for all purposes, shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Maryland, USA, applicable to contracts to be wholly performed therein, and any action based on, relating to, or alleging a breach of this Agreement must be brought in a state or federal court in the State of Maryland. In addition, both parties agree to submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction and venue of such courts.
25. Waiver and Severability
25.1 No waiver by OpenITI 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 OpenITI to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
25.2 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.
26. Entire Agreement
26.1 These Terms of Use, and the agreements incorporated herein, constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and OpenITI with respect to the Platform and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to the Platform.
27. Your Comments and Concerns
27.1 This Platform is operated by OpenITI, a collaborative project of the Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park (where it is based) and the Aga Khan University.
27.2 All notices of copyright infringement claims should be sent to the copyright agent designated in our Copyright Policy below in the manner and by the means set forth therein.
27.3 All other feedback, comments, requests for technical support and other communications relating to the Platform should be directed to openiti\@umd.edu.