Welcome to the CORDS Platform located at the URL https://cords.ai, or which you may be accessing via a widget at a third-party website (the “Platform”). We hope you enjoy your use of the Platform and find it useful.
By interacting with the Platform in any way, you hereby accept to be bound by these Terms of Use (the “TOU”) without any reservations, modifications, additions or deletions. If you do not agree to all the provisions contained in the TOU, you are not authorized to use the Platform. The TOU are a legal and binding agreement between you and us.
The Platform is owned and operated by the “CORDS Consortium”, a contractually-formed non-profit consortium comprised of the following legal entities: (i) Magnet at Toronto Metropolitan University; (ii) 14173317 Canada Association (operating as Mentor Canada); and (iii) Findhelp Information Services (collectively, the “Consortium Members”). Where the present TOU refer to the “CORDS Consortium” they may refer to any and all of the Consortium Members and / or their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, parent companies, shareholders, officers, directors, employees, agents, partners, principals, representatives, successors and assigns (collectively “Representatives”), depending on the context. Any reference to “we”, “our”, or “us” in these TOU shall also refer to the CORDS Consortium, the Consortium Members and / or their respective Representatives. In these TOU or our Privacy Policy, a Platform user may be referred to as a “User”, “you” or “your”.
The TOU should be read in conjunction with the Privacy Policy, as both these documents govern your use of the Platform.
Please note that these TOU are for individual Platform Users. If you are a representative of one of our Community Partners or Analytics Partners, you are covered by a different Terms of Use which we encourage you to read.
The CORDS Consortium reserves the right, at any time and without prior notice, to modify or replace any of these TOU. Any changes to the TOU can be found at this URL. It is your responsibility to check the TOU periodically for changes. Your use of the Platform following the posting of any changes to the TOU constitutes acceptance of those changes. If there are any significant changes to the TOU that materially affect our relationship with you, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to notify you by posting a prominent notice on the Platform.
If you have any questions about the TOU, please contact:
CORDS Consortium Legal Services
or:
CORDS Consortium
c/o Findhelp Information Services
1000-1 St. Clair Ave. W.
Toronto, ON
M4V 1K6
If you have any non-legal questions regarding the Platform or the CORDS Consortium generally, please contact us at info@cords.ai.
In addition to any other more specific rules found elsewhere in these TOU, you agree that by visiting and / or using the Platform, you will:
The Platform is intended for individuals 16 years of age or older. If you are under 16, your parent or guardian must accept these Terms on your behalf and you agree that you may only use the Platform under their supervision.
a. Intellectual Property Rights
You acknowledge that: (a) the Platform contains proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws, and (b) the CORDS Consortium and/or third parties (via license) own all right, title and interest in and to the Platform and content that may be presented or accessed through the Platform, including, without limitation, all Intellectual Property Rights therein and thereto. All rights not specifically granted under these TOU are reserved to the CORDS Consortium. “Intellectual Property Rights” means any and all rights existing from time to time under patent law, copyright law, trade secret law, trademark law, unfair competition law, and any and all other proprietary rights, and any and all applications, renewals, extensions and restorations thereof, now or hereafter in force and effect worldwide, whether registered or not.
The content, arrangement and layout of the Platform, including but not limited to the trademarks, photos, logos, videos, audio, images, text (in the form of plain text, HTML, or PDFs) and Computer Code are proprietary to the CORDS Consortium, either owned or under license, and may not be copied, imitated, reproduced, displayed, distributed, transmitted, decompiled or otherwise used without the express permission of the CORDS Consortium, or as permitted by the functionality of the Platform or these TOU. Any unauthorized use of the content, arrangement or layout of the Platform, Computer Code, images, logos, videos, audio or trademarks found in the Platform or any derivative works thereof may violate civil or criminal laws, including but not limited to intellectual property laws, and the CORDS Consortium may take action accordingly.
The above paragraph further applies to third party property used as part of the Platform, including but not limited to third party Computer Code. For the purposes of the present section, “Computer Code” includes but is not limited to source code in any programming language, object code, frameworks, CSS, PHP, JavaScript or similar files, templates, modules, or any similar files, and related documentation.
b. Submitted Information
If you choose to communicate to the CORDS Consortium suggestions for improvements to the Platform, or any idea or proposal related to the CORDS Consortium or its activities or properties (collectively, “Feedback”), the CORDS Consortium shall own all right, title, and interest in and to the Feedback and will be entitled to use the Feedback without restriction. You hereby irrevocably assign all right, title and interest in and to the Feedback to the CORDS Consortium and waive in favor of the CORDS Consortium, its successors and assigns all your moral rights in the Feedback; and agree to provide the CORDS Consortium such assistance as the CORDS Consortium may require to document, perfect, and maintain the CORDS Consortium’ rights to the Feedback. You acknowledge and agree that, by providing any Feedback to the CORDS Consortium, you are not entitled to any compensation or reimbursement of any kind from the CORDS Consortium under any circumstances.
From time to time, the Platform may be unavailable for periods of time for maintenance and / or modifications to the Platform. While we will endeavour to make this unavailability as brief as possible, the CORDS Consortium shall not be held liable for any losses or damages, pecuniary or non-pecuniary, resulting from the interruption of the normal functioning of the Platform, and disclaims any responsibility thereto.
You agree that the CORDS Consortium, in their sole discretion, with or without cause, has the right (but not the obligation) to block your IP address or otherwise terminate your access to or use of the Platform (or any part thereof), immediately and without notice, for any reason, including, without limitation, if the CORDS Consortium believes that you have acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of these TOU or the Privacy Policy.
The CORDS Consortium may also, in their sole discretion and at any time, discontinue providing the Platform, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that the CORDS Consortium shall not be liable to you or any third party for any losses or damages, pecuniary or non-pecuniary, resulting from termination of your access to the Platform, or from the CORDS Consortium’ termination of the Platform or any part thereof.
Termination of the Platform or your access to the Platform shall terminate the present TOU as between you and the CORDS Consortium. All provisions of these TOU which by their nature should survive termination of these TOU shall survive termination, including without limitation, intellectual property provisions, disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.
You expressly understand and agree that your use of the Platform, the information thereon (whether provided by the CORDS Consortium or third parties) or any activity arising from your use of the Platform or the information thereon or the materials downloaded therefrom is at your sole risk. The Platform, any materials downloaded therefrom, or any third party materials accessible on the Platform or via a link from the Platform, are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, and you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download, stream or access of any material obtained through the use of the Platform or any other functionalities of the Platform, or losses or damages (financial or otherwise) resulting from your use of the Platform, the information thereon, any materials downloaded therefrom, or any activity arising from the use of the Platform, the information thereon or any materials downloaded or linked therefrom.
The CORDS Consortium expressly disclaims all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to: warranties of title and non-infringement; warranties that the Platform, the information thereon or any materials downloaded therefrom, and any third-party materials (whether on the Platform or linked to from the Platform) will be uninterrupted, error-free, accurate, reliable and free from virus and other harmful components; and the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The CORDS Consortium, its affiliates and their respective Representatives, do not warrant that: (i) the Platform will be secure or available at any particular time or location; (ii) any defects or errors or omissions will be corrected; (iii) any content (whether provided by the CORDS Consortium or third parties) available at or via the Platform is free of viruses or other harmful components; or (iv) the results of using the Platform or any content downloaded will meet your requirements.
To the extent that the law does not permit a disclaimer of warranties, all content accessible on the Platform, or any other website or information to which we link (and the content thereon), and all operations on this Platform are warranted only to the minimum amount legally required.
In no case will the CORDS Consortium or its Representatives be liable for any indirect, special, consequential, exemplary, punitive damages or other damages, or for any losses, damages, liabilities, costs and expenses arising out of or relating to (i) your access, use, misuse or inability to access or use the Platform or (ii) the interruption, suspension or termination of any part of or all the Platform; and in both cases regardless of the cause of action (whether in contract, warranty, delict, quasi-delict, tort, negligence, strict liability or any other theory of liability) and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
You expressly understand and agree that the CORDS Consortium or its Representatives shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages, including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses, in contract, tort, strict liability, negligence, general civil liability or any other cause of action under legal or equitable theory, relating to the Platform, the information on the Platform, your use of the Platform, activities arising from your use of the Platform, any third party materials on the Platform, or any materials downloaded from the Platform. This limitation of liability applies, without limitation, to any damages or injury caused by any error, omission or other failure of performance by the CORDS Consortium or its Representatives; any interruption, defect or delay in operation or transmission, including communication line failure; any computer virus; and any theft, destruction or alteration of, or unauthorized access to or use of, any electronic records.
Some jurisdictions or provinces do not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages, so the above exclusions and limitations may or may not apply to you.
Notwithstanding any other term of the TOU or any act or failure to act by the CORDS Consortium or its Representatives, you agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the CORDS Consortium and its Representatives where applicable, from and against any damages, liabilities, costs and expenses (including attorneys’ fees), claims or demands, arising out of (i) your use of or connection to the Platform, the information thereon, the information downloaded therefrom; (ii) your participation in any activities arising from the Platform or the information thereon; (iii) your violation of, or failure to perform your obligations under the TOU or the Privacy Policy; or (iv) your violation of any rights of a third party.
These TOU and your use of the Platform shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein in force at the time without regard to conflict of law provisions. You agree that any legal action or proceeding between you and the CORDS Consortium shall be brought exclusively in the courts located in Toronto, Canada. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the CORDS Consortium shall have the right to bring action against you in courts of competent jurisdiction in the jurisdiction in which you reside or are located: (i) to seek injunctive relief against you; (ii) to obtain a judgment against you where a judgment by the Toronto court will, or may not be, enforced by the jurisdiction in which you reside or are located; or (iii) to enforce in your jurisdiction a judgment obtained against you in the Toronto court.
The parties acknowledge having expressly required that these TOU and the Privacy Policy are to be drawn up in the English language, and if you are in Quebec you acknowledge and agree you have been presented with the French version of the documents before viewing the English versions. Les parties aux présentes reconnaissent avoir expressément exigé que les présentes Conditions d’utilisation et la Politique de confidentialité soient rédigées en anglais, et si vous êtes résident de la province de Québec que vous avez été présenté les versions françaises des documents en premier.