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Service Terms

Last Updated Date : 14th Feb, 2024

The CliffsNotes website(s), products, services and applications (the “Services”) are operated by Learneo, Inc. (“Learneo”).

These Service Terms (the “Service Terms”) are a binding contract between you and Learneo, Inc. (“CliffsNotes,” “we,” “our,” and “us”), and govern your use of the Services. Your use of and access to our Services is governed by these Service Terms and the Learneo Terms of Service available HERE (the “Learneo Terms of Service”) (collectively, as amended from time to time, the “Terms”). If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding these Service Terms or the Services, please contact us at support@cliffsnotes.com or at P.O. Box 1162, Madison, New Jersey 07940, USA.

By accessing our Services, you accept the Terms. We may change the Terms, or may modify or discontinue the Services offered thereon, at any time at our sole discretion. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to deny further or continuing access to the Services to any visitor, including, without limitation, any user that we determine has violated any aspect of the Terms. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to seek and obtain any other remedies available to us pursuant to any applicable laws and regulations as a result of your breach of the Terms or any other act or omission by you that gives rise to a claim by Learneo.

PLEASE BE ADVISED: The Terms contain provisions that govern how claims that you and Learneo have against each other can be brought. These provisions will, with limited exception, require that you submit claims you have against Learneo to binding and final arbitration on an individual basis, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, group or representative action or proceeding. In the event of a conflict between these Service Terms and the Learneo Terms of Service, these Service Terms shall govern.

In the event of a conflict between these Service Terms and the Learneo Terms of Service, these Service Terms shall govern.

Users Under Age 16

We do not permit anyone under age 16 to access our Services. We do not collect any data or other personally identifiable information from anyone under age 16. Parents and legal guardians using the website and/or purchasing a subscription on behalf of a child are entirely responsible for their child’s use of the website, including all fees and legal liability that they incur.

Paid Subscription and Other Paid Features

Access to much of our Services is free, but if you would like to upgrade to a paid subscription or any other paid features on our Services, the following terms apply.

Billing and Payment

We bill you through an online account for use of the Services. You agree to pay us all charges associated with your paid subscription using this online account. You agree to maintain current, complete, and accurate information for your billing account at any time you have a subscription. In addition, you authorize us to obtain updated or replacement expiration dates and card numbers for your credit or debit card as provided by your credit or debit card issuer. We may change the membership subscription price from time to time, such as by offering coupons for promotional purposes, at our sole discretion, but will notify you by email in the event of a price increase before your subscription renews.

Automatic Renewal

  1. Your subscription for the Services will continue indefinitely until you cancel it via your Account Settings page. After your initial subscription period, and again after any subsequent subscription period, your subscription will automatically continue for an additional equivalent period. You agree that your account will be subject to this automatic renewal feature. In the event of a price increase, we will notify you before your subscription automatically renews. If you do not wish for your account to renew automatically you can cancel your account at any time. For step-by-step guidelines on how to cancel, please contact us at support@cliffsnotes.com
  2. By subscribing, you authorize Learneo to charge your credit card, debit card or other payment method when your subscription begins. Your payment method will be charged automatically again at the beginning of any subsequent subscription period, including any sales or similar taxes imposed on your subscription payments. Upon the renewal of your subscription, if we do not receive payment, you agree that we may either terminate or suspend your subscription and continue to attempt to charge your payment method provider until payment is received or you cancel your subscription. Upon receipt of payment, your account will be reactivated and will continue to be charged automatically for each renewal period until you cancel.

Cancellation Policy

Cancellation by You. You can cancel your paid subscription at any time at least 24 hours before the next subscription renewal date by going to the “Subscription” tab in your Account Settings. If you cancel your subscription, we will not bill you again at the end of your current subscription period. You will have continued access to premium Services offered to paid subscribers until the end of your then-current subscription term and your subscription will not renew thereafter.

As stated in the Refund Policy below, subscription fees are generally not refundable. This means we will not issue a refund of any portion of the subscription fee paid for your then-current subscription period.

Termination by Us. We are also free to terminate (or suspend access to) your paid subscription or your account, for any reason, in our discretion, including your breach of the Terms. We have the sole right to decide whether you are in violation of the Terms. If you violate the Terms and we terminate your account, you will no longer have access to your account and you will not be eligible for a refund under any circumstances.

Refund Policy

Subscription fees are generally not refundable. We may choose to offer a refund, on a case-by-case basis, and at our sole discretion.

We explicitly do not offer refunds in the following circumstances:

  • If a user discovers that our Services do not cover the material they need or expected to find. Since all of the CliffsNotes Content (as defined below) is available to preview for free, users must make this judgment for themselves before subscribing.
  • If a user has logged in, even if only once, after subscribing to a paid membership. As a paying subscriber, you have access to all of our premium subscribers-only features immediately. Much like a Netflix or Spotify subscription, a paid subscription covers access to our premium features, regardless of how often or whether you use it.
  • If a user forgets to cancel prior to renewal. Subscribers have complete control over initiating, canceling, and reactivating subscriptions. This means that as a subscriber, you can easily:
    • Cancel your subscription at any time at least 24 hours before the next subscription renewal date. You can do this directly on your Account Settings by going to the “Subscription” tab.
    • Resubscribe at any time in the future.
  • If a user subscribes under any false or fraudulent pretenses. User accounts on CliffsNotes are licensed to one user per account. Failure to comply with this, or any other clause in the Terms, precludes the user from the possibility of a refund.
  • If a user has deleted his or her account. We are unable to offer refunds, under any circumstances, for any accounts which have been deleted. Subscribers acknowledge that they are ineligible for refunds for any unused portion of their subscription upon deleting their account.

Fraud

If you believe your financial information has been used fraudulently, please contact support@cliffsnotes.com for assistance.

Disputes and Chargebacks

If you file a dispute for a Learneo transaction with your financial institution, your account will be immediately closed and you will be banned from subscribing again. If you have a concern about billing, you are encouraged to reach out to support@cliffsnotes.com prior to filing a dispute. Once a dispute has been filed with your financial institution, we are unable to assist with any billing questions or offer you a courtesy refund. Your account will immediately be terminated and banned and this action is irreversible. No refunds will be provided for accounts that have filed a chargeback or dispute.

Privacy

We take the privacy of our users very seriously. By using the Services, you acknowledge having read our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference herein.

The Services may contain links or connections to third party websites or services that are not owned or controlled by us. When you access third party websites or use third party services, you accept that there are risks in doing so, and that we are not responsible for such risks. We encourage you to be aware when you leave the Services and to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of each third-party website or service that you visit or utilize.

We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content, accuracy, privacy policies, or practices of or opinions expressed in any third-party websites or by any third party that you interact with through the Services. In addition, we will not and cannot monitor, verify, censor or edit the content of any third-party site or service. By using the Services, you release and hold us harmless from any and all liability arising from your use of any third-party website or service.

Access and Proprietary Rights

You acknowledge that the Services contain information, software, photos, video, graphics, music, sounds, or other material (collectively, "CliffsNotes Content") that are protected by copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or other proprietary rights, and that these rights are valid and protected in all forms, media and technologies existing now or hereafter developed. All CliffsNotes Content is copyrighted as a collective work under the U.S. copyright laws, and we own a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such CliffsNotes Content. So long as you comply with the Terms, you are authorized to access, use, download, and reprint copies of CliffsNotes Content (including web pages, PDFs, or other media) available on the Services only for purposes of your personal and educational use.

Uploading and Distributing Digital Copies Publicly is Prohibited

You may not upload, post, reproduce or distribute digital versions of the CliffsNotes Content protected by copyright (such as our printable literature guides), or other proprietary right, on any publicly accessible technology platform, including web pages and mobile apps, without obtaining prior written consent of Learneo. Violation of this restriction may result in infringement of intellectual property and contractual rights of Learneo or third parties, which is prohibited by law and could result in substantial civil and criminal penalties.

Sharing Printed Copies is Permitted

You may distribute print copies of downloadable CliffsNotes Content, such as our literature guide PDFs, for any educational non-commercial use; for instance a student may share such printed materials within a study group, or a teacher may share such materials with his or her students. Any copies made by you must retain without modification any and all copyright notices and other proprietary marks.

Creating Derivative Works is Prohibited

You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit any of the CliffsNotes Content, in whole or in part, including use for creative work or to sell or promote other products.

Automated Downloads are Not Permitted

The use of software or other means of automating the process of downloading any or all of the CliffsNotes Content is strictly prohibited, including “crawls,” “scrapes,” or “spiders” of any page, data or portion of or relating to the Services or CliffsNotes Content (through use of manual or automated means). We reserve the right at our sole discretion to refuse service, cancel subscriptions, terminate accounts, and ban users who violate this clause. No refunds will be issued in the event of a ban, termination, or account closure for this reason.

Sharing Account Information is Not Permitted

Account login information may not be shared or transferred to anyone other than the original subscriber or account holder. You may only create one account with us. If your account has been suspended or terminated, you may not create another account. You may not transfer your account to anyone else without our prior written permission. Any activity that purposefully or negligently jeopardizes the security of your account or anyone else’s (such as allowing someone else to log on as you on the Services) is subject to immediate termination without refund.

Authorized Access Only

In certain instances, we may agree to provide you with access to secure, password protected pages of the website. Such access is restricted to authorized users only; any attempt by you to access these areas without authorization will result in the termination of your account and may subject you to criminal or civil liability.

Proprietary Marks

CliffsNotes is a trademark owned by Learneo, Inc. You may not use the trademark for any purpose without the express prior written consent of Learneo. Except as expressly set forth above, the Terms do not grant to you any express, implied or other license or right under any patent, trademark or copyright of Learneo or any third party.

Linking to CliffsNotes

We encourage linking to all CliffsNotes.com pages and you do not need our permission to do so. We request that instead of linking to copies of our PDFs hosted elsewhere that you link directly to CliffsNotes.com pages, where users can then choose to subscribe and download our PDFs legally.

Your Content

CliffsNotes enables you to upload content on the Services. Content you upload on the Services is not private or confidential and may be read, collected, and used publicly by others. To better protect your privacy, do not include information regarding your identity or contact information in content that you post or upload to the Services.

You are fully responsible for all content you upload, in any manner, to the Services, and for the accuracy of the same, and you represent and warrant you have all rights necessary to do so, in the manner in which you contribute it, and that CliffsNotes shall not need to obtain any licenses, rights, consents, or permissions from, or make any payments to, any third party for any use or exploitation of your content in any and all media, whether now known or hereafter created, or have any liability to you or any third party as a result of any use of your content as authorized in the Terms.

CliffsNotes does not claim any ownership rights in your content. After submitting your content to the Services, you continue to retain all ownership rights in your content, subject to the licenses granted below, and you continue to have the right to use your content in any way you choose.

By uploading your content on the Services, you agree to comply with our Copyright Policy, incorporated by reference herein.

Using the Services

By using the Services, you represent, warrant, and agree that you will not contribute any content that, or otherwise use the Services or interact with the Services in a manner that:

  • Violates our Copyright Policy or otherwise infringes or violates the intellectual property rights or any other rights of anyone else (including Learneo). For example, you are prohibited from uploading copyright infringing materials (including without limitation copies made without the consent of the copyright owner of testing materials, textbooks, instructor’s solution manuals, test banks, lecture notes, slide presentations, or related copyrighted works, in whole or in part);
  • Is harmful, fraudulent, deceptive, threatening, harassing, defamatory, obscene, or otherwise objectionable;
  • Jeopardizes the security of your CliffsNotes account or anyone else’s (such as allowing someone else to log on as you on the Services);
  • Attempts, in any manner, to obtain the password, account, or other security information from any other user;
  • Violates the security of any computer network, or cracks any passwords or security encryption codes;
  • Runs Maillist, Listserv, any form of auto-responder or “spam” on the Services, or any processes that run or are activated while you are not logged into the Services, or that otherwise interfere with the proper working of the Services (including by placing an unreasonable load on the Services’ infrastructure);
  • “Crawls,” “scrapes,” or “spiders” any page, data or portion of or relating to the Services or CliffsNotes Content (through use of manual or automated means);
  • Introduces any viruses, Trojan horses, or other computer programming routines that may damage, interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any part of the Services;
  • Copies or stores any significant portion of the CliffsNotes Content; or
  • Decompiles, reverse engineers, or otherwise attempts to obtain the source code or underlying ideas or information of or relating to the Services.
A violation of any of the foregoing is grounds for termination of your right to use or access the Services.

Content Moderation

We reserve the right to remove content that violates the Terms, which includes our policies and guidelines. For instance, we use automated systems to identify and filter out certain content that violates our policies or guidelines. If the system does not detect any obvious signs of a violation, the respective content will be available online. Additionally, alongside our automated systems, to the extent there is human review of Content uploaded by users on our Services that contains obvious signs of a violation, we will disable access to that content at our own initiative. Further, our human review team reviews any content that is reported to us for violations of the Terms or under applicable law.

License to Use Your Content

In order to display, store, and provide other CliffsNotes users with access to content you upload on the Services, you grant us certain rights in that content.

You hereby grant CliffsNotes a non-exclusive license to translate, modify, store, edit, display, perform, reproduce, distribute, and otherwise act with respect to your content, in each case to enable us to operate the Services, as described in more detail below. This license enables us to provide the Services and is not intended to otherwise limit your ownership rights in your content.

You also grant Learneo a non-exclusive license to publicly translate, modify, store, edit, display, perform, reproduce, and distribute your content for the purpose of making such content accessible to all CliffsNotes users and providing the Services necessary to do so, as well as all other rights necessary to use and exercise all rights in your content in connection with the Services and/or otherwise in connection with the CliffsNotes business for any purpose. The licenses granted to CliffsNotes also include the right to distribute your content through multiple tiers of sublicensees, including Learneo affiliates, and for such sublicensees to have all rights necessary for them to offer, deliver, market, promote, demonstrate and sell your content to other users.

Also, you grant all other users of the Services a license to access your content, and to use and exercise all rights in it, as permitted by the functionality of the Service, including reproducing your content on personal devices.

You agree that the licenses you grant are royalty-free, perpetual, transferable, sublicensable, irrevocable, and worldwide. You understand and agree that if you delete your account, your content will remain on the Services and to the extent that they were downloaded or stored by other users.

Finally, you understand and agree that CliffsNotes, in performing the required technical steps to make your content accessible through the Services, may need to modify and make changes to your content and the foregoing licenses include the rights to do so.

Take-Down Requests; DMCA

CliffsNotes expressly prohibits users from uploading, posting, or otherwise distributing through the Services any content which may violate another party’s intellectual property rights, privacy, publicity, or other rights.

If any party believes any user content available through the Services violates or otherwise infringes upon any of their rights, they are encouraged to contact CliffsNotes immediately to request that the allegedly offending user content (“Offending Content”) be removed from the Services. Please read our Copyright Policy for how to make a takedown request.

It should be noted that individuals making misrepresentations in alleging that material appearing on the CliffsNotes Services constitutes copyright infringement may be liable for damages pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(f).

Disclaimer of Warranties; Limitation of Liability

We do not guarantee that files available for viewing or downloading through the Services will be free of contaminating or damaging code such as viruses, trap doors and the like. We do not endorse content, nor warrant the accuracy, completeness, correctness, timeliness or usefulness of any opinions, advice, content, services, or merchandise provided through the Services or on the Internet generally. Any details as to products, including product descriptions, benefits, quality and performance are provided by the supplier or manufacturer of the product and are reproduced for the convenience of our users. This information is not verified or substantiated by us and we are not responsible for any inaccuracies or omissions.

YOU AGREE THAT USE OF THE SERVICES ARE ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE SERVICES PROVIDED THROUGH OR IN CONNECTION WITH IT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS," WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION: 1) ANY WARRANTIES CONCERNING THE AVAILABILITY, ACCURACY OR CONTENT OF INFORMATION, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES; AND 2) ANY WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, OR THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE; NOR DO WE MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICES OR AS TO THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES.

YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT ANY MATERIAL AND/OR DATA DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICES IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF SUCH MATERIAL AND/OR DATA. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY REGARDING ANY GOODS OR SERVICES OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES OR ANY TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO THROUGH THE SERVICES. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM LEARNEO OR THROUGH THE SERVICES SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY MADE HEREIN. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

NEITHER LEARNEO NOR ANY OF ITS PARTNERS, AGENTS, AFFILIATES OR CONTENT PROVIDERS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF USE OF THE SERVICES OR INABILITY TO GAIN ACCESS TO OR USE THE SERVICES OR OUT OF ANY BREACH OF ANY WARRANTY.

Arbitration and Governing Law

The exclusive means of resolving any dispute or claim arising out of or relating to the Terms (including any alleged breach thereof) or the Services shall be BINDING ARBITRATION administered by the American Arbitration Association. The one exception to the exclusivity of arbitration is that you have the right to bring an individual claim against us in a small-claims court of competent jurisdiction. But whether you choose arbitration or small-claims court, you may not under any circumstances commence or maintain against us any class action, class arbitration, or other representative action or proceeding.

By using the Services in any manner, you agree to the above arbitration agreement. In doing so, YOU GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO GO TO COURT to assert or defend any claims between you and Learneo (except for matters that may be taken to small-claims court). YOU ALSO GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION OR OTHER CLASS PROCEEDING. Your rights will be determined by a NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR, NOT A JUDGE OR JURY. You are entitled to a fair hearing before the arbitrator. The arbitrator can grant any relief that a court can, but you should note that arbitration proceedings are usually simpler and more streamlined than trials and other judicial proceedings. Decisions by the arbitrator are enforceable in court and may be overturned by a court only for very limited reasons.

Any proceeding to enforce this arbitration agreement, including any proceeding to confirm, modify, or vacate an arbitration award, may be commenced in any court of competent jurisdiction. In the event that this arbitration agreement is for any reason held to be unenforceable, any litigation against us (except for small-claims court actions) may be commenced only in the federal or state courts located in New York County, New York. You hereby irrevocably consent to the jurisdiction of those courts for such purposes.

The Terms, and any dispute between you and Learneo, shall be governed by the laws of the state of New York without regard to principles of conflicts of law, provided that this arbitration agreement shall be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act.

Your use of the Services is governed by all applicable laws and regulations of the United States and any state and locality having jurisdiction. Information on the Services may be subject to U.S. export control restrictions. Your use of the Services may be subject to the laws of other countries if you are not located in the United States.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold Learneo, its partners, agents, affiliates and content partners harmless from any dispute which may arise from a breach of the Terms, which includes losses and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) arising from third party claims relating to (a) your use of the Services (including any actions taken by a third party using your account), and (b) your violation of the Terms.

Conduct

Your use of the Services is subject to all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations. We retain the right, at our sole discretion, to determine whether or not your conduct is consistent with the Terms and our operating rules or policies, and we may terminate your access to and use of the Services if your conduct is found to be inconsistent with the Terms, such rules or policies.

If you contact our customer support via the website or any other medium, you agree to treat our customer support team with respect. We will not tolerate any type of abusive, rude, vulgar, fraudulent, deceptive, threatening, harassing, or inappropriate treatment of anyone on our customer support team, or anyone else at Learneo. We reserve the right at our sole discretion to refuse service, cancel subscriptions, issue refunds, terminate accounts, and ban users who do not follow these guidelines. Without limitation, we reserve the right to terminate your access to and use of the Services. If your account is terminated for misconduct, you will not be eligible for a refund.

Communications

You agree and consent to receive email messages from us. These emails may be transactional or relationship communications relating to the website, such as administrative notices and service announcements or changes, or emails containing commercial offers, promotions, or special offers from us or third-party partners. You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of an email or by opting out in your Account Settings.

Notices

We will publicize any necessary notices by posting them on the website. You authorize us to send notices via electronic mail as well if we decide, in our sole discretion, to do so. You agree to check the website for notices, and that you will be considered to have received a notice when it is made available to you by posting on the website.

Changes to The Terms

We reserve the right to modify or amend the Terms at any time by posting the revised Terms on our website(s). The changes will only take effect after the effective date of the change unless we clearly express otherwise.

Survival of Terms

Provisions that, by their nature, should survive termination of the Terms shall survive termination. By way of example, all of the following will survive termination: any obligation you have to pay us or indemnify us, any limitations on our liability, any terms regarding ownership of intellectual property rights, and terms regarding disputes between us.