SEMANTIC SCHOLAR TERMS OF SERVICE
(Effective as of May 24, 2016)
Welcome to Semantic Scholar. Semantic Scholar is a service brought to you by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence ("AI2", "Semantic Scholar", "us", or "we") that will allow you, the user, to search for and download scientific research and academic papers (the "Service"). The following Terms of Service apply when you view or use the Service via our website located at semanticscholar.org (the "Site") or by accessing the Service through our Semantic Scholar mobile application. Please review the following terms carefully. By accessing or using the Service, you signify your agreement to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to these Terms of Service, you may not access or use the Service.
OUR DATA SOURCES
Semantic Scholar collects scientific research and academic papers (the "Content") from the sources located at the "Sources" link at https://www.semanticscholar.org/faq#s2-search (see bottom right of this web page) (the "Data Sources"). Semantic Scholar does not modify the content from the Data Sources in any way, nor does Sematic Scholar circumvent any thirty party security or other restrictive measures in the course of gathering the Content. The Content may be subject to specific licenses found at their original Data Sources. To learn more about the open access license for a particular Content item, please visit its corresponding Data Source. [If you have difficulty locating a Data Source for a particular article or publication, please contact Semantic Scholar at info@allenai.org for further assistance.]
RULES FOR USE OF THE SERVICE
Your use of the Service is for research purposes only. Any other use is a violation of these Terms of Service.
USE RESTRICTIONS
Your permission to use the Service is conditioned upon the following restrictions. You agree that you will not under any circumstances:
- use the Service for any unlawful purpose or for the promotion of illegal activities;
- interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper functioning of the Service;
- make any automated use of the system, or take any action that we deem to impose or to potentially impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our servers or network infrastructure; or
- bypass any robot exclusion headers or other measures we take to restrict access to the Service or use any software, technology, or device to scrape, spider, or crawl the Service or harvest or manipulate data.
ONLINE CONTENT DISCLAIMER
Opinions, statements, claims, or other information or Content made available through the Service, but not directly by Semantic Scholar, are those of their respective authors, and should not necessarily be relied upon. Semantic Scholar does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information on the Service and neither does Semantic Scholar adopt nor endorse, nor is Semantic Scholar responsible for, the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice, or statement made by parties other than Semantic Scholar. Under no circumstances will Semantic Scholar be responsible for any loss or damage resulting from anyone's reliance on information or other content posted on the Service, or transmitted to users.
Though Semantic Scholar strives to enforce these Terms of Service, you may be exposed to Content that is inaccurate or objectionable. Semantic Scholar reserves the right, but has no obligation, to limit or deny a user's access to the Service or take other appropriate action if a user violates these Terms of Service or engages in any activity that violates the rights of any person or entity or which we deem unlawful, offensive, abusive, harmful or malicious. Semantic Scholar shall have the right to remove any such material that in its sole opinion violates, or is alleged to violate, the law or this Agreement, or which might be offensive, or that might violate the rights, harm, or threaten the safety of users or others. Unauthorized use of the Service may result in criminal and/or civil prosecution under Federal, State and local law. If you become aware of misuse of our Service, please contact us info@allenai.org.
LINKS TO OTHER SITES AND/OR MATERIALS
As part of the Service, Semantic Scholar may provide you with convenient links to third party website(s) ("Third Party Sites") as well as content or items belonging to or originating from third parties (the "Third Party Applications, Software or Content"). These links are provided to you as a courtesy. Semantic Scholar has no control over Third Party Sites and Third Party Applications, Software or Content or the promotions, materials, information, goods or services available on these Third Party Sites or Third Party Applications, Software or Content. Such Third Party Sites and Third Party Applications, Software or Content are not investigated, monitored or checked for accuracy, appropriateness, or completeness by Semantic Scholar, and Semantic Scholar is not responsible for any Third Party Sites accessed through the Site or any Third Party Applications, Software or Content posted on, available through or installed from the Site, including the content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions, reliability, privacy practices or other policies of or contained in the Third Party Sites or the Third Party Applications, Software or Content. Inclusion of, linking to or permitting the use or installation of any Third Party Site or any Third Party Applications, Software or Content does not imply approval or endorsement thereof by Semantic Scholar. If you decide to leave the Site and access the Third Party Sites or to use or install any Third Party Applications, Software or Content, you do so at your own risk and you should be aware that our terms and policies no longer govern. You should review the applicable terms and policies, including privacy and data gathering practices, of any site to which you navigate from the Site or relating to any applications you use or install from the site.
COPYRIGHT COMPLAINTS AND COPYRIGHT AGENT
(a) Termination of Repeat Infringer Accounts. Semantic Scholar respects the intellectual property rights of others and requests that the users do the same. If you are uncertain as to your legal authorization to post any article or content to the Service, please do not upload the materials in question. If you upload any article, content, or materials, to the Service and receive a request from Semantic Scholar to remove it, you must do so immediately. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 512(i) of the United States Copyright Act, Semantic Scholar has adopted and implemented a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of users of the Service who are repeat infringers. Semantic Scholar may terminate access for participants or users who are found repeatedly to provide or post protected third party content without necessary rights and permissions.
(b) DMCA Take-Down Notices. Semantic Scholar may be asked to remove Content from time to time. If Content is removed from the Service, your access to it will be disabled, and Semantic Scholar will no longer be able to provide the Content to you. If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe, in good faith, that any materials provided on the Service infringe upon your copyrights, you may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (see 17 U.S.C 512) ("DMCA") by sending the following information in writing to Semantic Scholar's designated copyright agent at info@allenai.org.
- The date of your notification;
- A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
- A description of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
- A description of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and information sufficient to enable us to locate such work;
- Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and/or email address;
- A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
- A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
(c) Counter-Notices. If you believe that Content that has been removed from the Site is not infringing, or that you have the authorization from the copyright owner, the copyright owner's agent, or pursuant to the law, to post and use the content in your User Content, you may send a counter-notice containing the following information to our copyright agent using the contact information set forth above:
- Your physical or electronic signature;
- A description of the content that has been removed and the location at which the content appeared before it was removed;
- A statement that you have a good faith belief that the content was removed as a result of mistake or a misidentification of the content; and
- Your name, address, telephone number, and email address, a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court in New York and a statement that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.
If a counter-notice is received by the Semantic Scholar copyright agent, Semantic Scholar may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing such person that it may reinstate the removed content in 10 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the content provider, member or user, the removed content may (in Semantic Scholar's discretion) be reinstated on the Site in 10 to 14 business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
You acknowledge and agree that we and our licensors retain ownership of all intellectual property rights of any kind related to the Service, including applicable copyrights, trademarks and other proprietary rights. Other product and company names that are mentioned on the Service may be trademarks of their respective owners. We reserve all rights that are not expressly granted to you under this Agreement.
EMAIL MAY NOT BE USED TO PROVIDE NOTICE
Communications made through the Service's e-mail and messaging system, will not constitute legal notice to Semantic Scholar or any of its officers, employees, agents or representatives in any situation where notice to Semantic Scholar is required by contract or any law or regulation.
WARRANTY DISCLAIMER
THE SERVICE, IS PROVIDED "AS IS," WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, THE COMPANY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, REGARDING THE SERVICE INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, SECURITY, ACCURACY AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, THE COMPANY MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION THAT ACCESS TO OR OPERATION OF THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE. YOU ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY AND RISK OF LOSS RESULTING FROM YOUR DOWNLOADING AND/OR USE OF FILES, INFORMATION, CONTENT OR OTHER MATERIAL OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICE. SOME JURISDICTIONS LIMIT OR DO NOT PERMIT DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTY, SO THIS PROVISION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
LIMITATION OF DAMAGES; RELEASE
TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OR EMPLOYEES, OR ITS LICENSORS OR PARTNERS, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, USE, OR DATA, OR FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, HOWEVER ARISING, THAT RESULT FROM (A) THE USE, DISCLOSURE, OR DISPLAY OF YOUR USER CONTENT; (B) YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE; (C) THE SERVICE GENERALLY OR THE SOFTWARE OR SYSTEMS THAT MAKE THE SERVICE AVAILABLE; OR (D) ANY OTHER INTERACTIONS WITH THE COMPANY OR ANY OTHER USER OF THE SERVICE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE) OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE COMPANY HAS BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE, AND EVEN IF A REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. SOME JURISDICTIONS LIMIT OR DO NOT PERMIT DISCLAIMERS OF LIABILITY, SO THIS PROVISION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
MODIFICATION OF TERMS OF SERVICE
We can amend these Terms of Service at any time and will update these Terms of Service in the event of any such amendments. It is your sole responsibility to check the Site from time to time to view any such changes in the Agreement. If you continue to use the Site, you signify your agreement to our revisions to these Terms of Service. However, we will notify you of material chances to the terms by posting a notice on our homepage and/or sending an email to the email address you provided to us upon registration. For this additional reason, you should keep your contact and profile information current. Any changes to these Terms (other than as set forth in this paragraph) or waiver of Semantic Scholar's rights hereunder shall not be valid or effective except in a written agreement bearing the physical signature of an officer of Semantic Scholar. No purported waiver or modification of this Agreement by Semantic Scholar via telephonic or email communications shall be valid.
GENERAL TERMS
If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion of the Agreement will be construed consistent with applicable law. The remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. Any failure on the part of Semantic Scholar to enforce any provision of this Agreement will not be considered a waiver of our right to enforce such provision. Our rights under this Agreement will survive any termination of this Agreement.
You agree that any cause of action related to or arising out of your relationship with Semantic Scholar must commence within ONE year after the cause of action accrues. Otherwise, such cause of action is permanently barred.
These Terms of Service and your use of the Site are governed by the federal laws of the United States of America and the laws of the State of Washington, without regard to conflict of law provisions.
Semantic Scholar may assign or delegate these Terms of Service, in whole or in part, to any person or entity at any time with or without your consent. You may not assign or delegate any rights or obligations under the Terms of Service without Semantic Scholar's prior written consent, and any unauthorized assignment and delegation by you is void.
YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THESE TERMS OF SERVICE, UNDERSTAND THE TERMS OF SERVICE, AND WILL BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THESE TERMS OF SERVICE REPRESENT THE COMPLETE AND EXCLUSIVE STATEMENT OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN US AND THAT IT SUPERSEDES ANY PROPOSAL OR PRIOR AGREEMENT ORAL OR WRITTEN, AND ANY OTHER COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN US RELATING TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS AGREEMENT.