Elemint, LLC owns and maintains this website www.stepcommunity.com, any courses offered via the Swallowing Training and Education Portal (STEP) and other linked sites (the “Site”) for the use of its customers, vendors, students, and other Site users (“Users”) upon agreement to the following terms. Please read the terms and conditions carefully. Use of this website indicates acceptance of these terms and forms a binding agreement between you and Elemint. If you do not agree to these terms, do not use this Site. Please read these Terms and Conditions (“T&C”) carefully. We reserve the right to change these at any time without notice, and by using the Site, you are agreeing to the T&C as they appear, whether or not you have read them.
Website Use and Consent
STEP provides various course materials, information, tests, articles, podcasts and other information on this and related sites and in courses offered through this site (the “Materials”). The words, design, layout, graphics, photos, images, information, materials, documents, data, databases and all other information and intellectual property accessible on or through this Site is our property and is protected by United States intellectual property laws.
If you have purchased a service, course, product or subscription or otherwise entered into a separate agreement with us, you will also be subject to the terms of that agreement or those Terms of Use, which shall prevail in the event of a conflict. Online digital purchases have additional terms of use relating to the transaction.
By accessing or using this Site and its Materials, you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years old and that you agree to and to abide by these T&C. Any registration by, use of or access to the Site and its Materials by anyone under age 18 is unauthorized, unlicensed and in violation of these T&C. Any breach of these Terms of Use automatically terminates your authorized use of the Site and may be pursued with legal action.
Intellectual Property Rights
Our Limited License to solely to the User. This Site and its Materials is property solely owned by Elemint and/or our affiliates, unless otherwise noted, and it is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.
STEP authorizes each User to view the Materials on this site, hosted by the Thinkific platform. If Materials are downloaded, Users must make no modifications to the Materials. STEP retains all copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the original Materials on any copies of the Materials. Users may not modify the Materials on this Site in any way or reproduce, share or distribute them.
If you view, purchase or access our Site and its Materials, you will be considered our Licensee. For the avoidance of doubt, you are granted a revocable, non-transferable license for personal, non-commercial use only, limited to you only. When you purchase or access our Site and its Materials, you explicitly agree that:
- You will not sell, duplicate or share our Site content and Materials. You understand that doing anything with our Site and its Materials that is contrary to these T&C and the limited license we are providing to you herein is considered intellectual property theft. We reserve our right to prosecute theft to the full extent of the law.
- You are permitted (from time to time for some courses) to download and/or print one copy of individual course or resource pages of the Site, for your personal, non-commercial use, provided that you give us full attribution and credit by name, keep intact all copyright, trademark and other proprietary notices and, if used electronically, you include the link back to the Site from which the Materials were obtained.
- You may not in any way at any time use, copy, adapt, imply or represent that our Site and its Materials as yours or created by you. By downloading, printing, or otherwise using our Site content for personal use, you in no way assume any ownership rights of the content.
- You must receive our written permission before using any of our Site Materials for your own professional use or before sharing with others. This means that you may not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, translate, sell, market, create derivative works, exploit, or distribute in any manner or medium (including by email, website, link or any other electronic means) any STEP materials.
- As a Licensee, you understand and acknowledge that this Site and its Materials have been developed or obtained by us through the investment of significant time, effort and expense, and that this Site and its Materials are valuable, special and unique assets of ours, which need to be protected from improper and unauthorized use.
We clearly state that you may not use our Site and its Materials and content in a manner that constitutes an infringement of our intellectual property rights and that has not been authorized by us.
By submitting any material on or through our Site such as comments, photos, reviews, or other contributions, you are representing that you are the owner of all such materials and you are at least 18 years old. When you voluntarily submit to us or post any comment, photo, review or any other submission for use on or through our Site, you are granting us, and anyone authorized by us, consent to make it part of our current or future Site and its Materials. This right includes granting us proprietary rights or intellectual property rights under any relevant jurisdiction without any permission from you or compensation by us to you. Your rights regarding this personal information can be found in our Privacy Policy. You acknowledge that we have the right but not the obligation to use any contributions from you and that we may elect to cease the use of any such contributions on our Site any time.
User Warranty
As a STEP User, you warrant that you are not joining our website as an agent or employee of any other similar online swallowing education platform and are accessing the Site and Materials solely for the purpose of improving your own knowledge and skills.
Trademark and Copyright
The Materials on this Site are strictly copyrighted. Any unauthorized use of any Materials on this Site violate copyright, trademark, and other laws. All the graphics and logos displayed on our Site and Materials are trademarks belonging to us, unless otherwise indicated. Any use including framing, meta tags or other text utilizing these trademarks, or other trademarks displayed, is strictly prohibited without our written permission.
Request for Permission to Use Content
Any request for written permission to use our content, or any other intellectual property or property belonging to us, should be made BEFORE you wish to use the content. Please email us at [email protected] to obtain permissions to use our Site content.
Hyperlinks
We may provide links and pointers to other websites maintained by third parties which may take you outside of our Site. These links are provided for your convenience and the inclusion of any link in our Site to any other website does not imply our endorsement, sponsorship, or approval of that website or its owner. We do not endorse and we are not responsible for the views, opinions, facts, advice, statements, errors or omissions provided by external resources referenced in our Site, or their accuracy or reliability. We have no control over the contents or functionality of those websites and so we accept no responsibility for any loss, damage, or otherwise that may arise from your use of them. It is your responsibility to review the terms and conditions and privacy policies of those linked websites to confirm that you understand and agree with those policies.
You may establish a hypertext link to our Site and its Materials, so long as the link does not state or imply any sponsorship, endorsement, or ownership with our Site and does not state or imply that we are have sponsored, endorsed or have ownership rights in your website. However, you may not frame or inline link our Materials without our written permission.
Personal Responsibility and Assumption of Risk
As a Licensee, you agree that you are using your own judgment in using our Site and you agree that you are doing so at your own risk. You agree and understand that you assume all risks and no results are guaranteed in any way related to this Site or any of its Materials. This Site is created to provide you with education and tools to help you make your own decisions for yourself and for patients. You are solely responsible for your actions, decisions and results based on the use, misuse or non-use of this Site and its Materials.
Limitation of Liability
Our Site and its Materials are for informational and educational purposes only. In no event will Elemint, STEP founders, or other third parties mentioned on this Site be liable for any damages whatsoever arising out of the use, inability to use, or the results of the use of this Site, any websites linked to this Site, or the Materials or information contained at any or all such sites, whether based on warranty, contract, tort or any other legal theory and whether or not advised of the possibility of such damages.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we expressly exclude any liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage incurred by you or others in connection with our Site or any of its Materials, including without limitation any liability for any accidents, delays, injuries, harm, loss, damage, death, lost profits, personal or business interruptions, misapplication of information, physical or mental disease, condition or issue, physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual injury or harm, loss of income or revenue, loss of business, loss of profits or contracts, anticipated savings, loss of data, loss of goodwill, wasted time and for any other loss or damage of any kind, however and whether caused by negligence, breach of contract, or otherwise, even if foreseeable. You specifically acknowledge and agree that we are not liable for any defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of any other Website participant or user, including you.
Warranty Disclaimer
The Materials provided on this site are provided “as is” without any warranties of any kind including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of intellectual property. Creators may make changes to the Materials at this Site, or to the services and prices described in them, at any time without notice.
We do not warrant that the website or its content will be functional, uninterrupted, correct, complete, appropriate, or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that any part of the website, content are free of viruses or other harmful components. We do not warrant or make any representations regarding the use or the results of the use of our Site and its Materials in terms of their correctness, accuracy, timeliness, reliability or otherwise.
Medical Disclaimer
This Site and its Materials are not to be perceived as or relied upon in any way as medical advice. The information provided is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment that can be provided by your own physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, speech therapist, licensed dietitian or nutritionist, member of the clergy, or any other licensed or registered health care professional. We are not giving medical, psychological, or religious advice whatsoever.
Technology Disclaimer
We try to ensure that the availability and delivery of our Site and its Materials is uninterrupted and error-free. However, we cannot guarantee that your access will not be suspended or restricted from time to time, to allow for repairs, maintenance or updates, although, of course, we will try to limit the frequency and duration of suspension or restriction. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we will be not be liable to you for damages or refunds, or for any other recourse, should our Site and its Materials become unavailable or access to the them becomes slow or incomplete due to any reason, such as system back-up procedures, internet traffic volume, upgrades, overload of requests to the servers, general network failures or delays, or any other cause which may from time to time make our Site and its Materials inaccessible to you.
Errors and Omissions
We make no warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information on our Site and its Materials. Every effort has been made to present you with the most accurate, up-to-date information, but because the nature of scientific research is constantly evolving, we cannot be held responsible or accountable for the accuracy of our content. We assume no liability for errors or omissions on the Site and its Materials, or in other information referenced by or linked to the site. You acknowledge that such information may contain inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Every attempt is made to ensure all information on our Site and its Materials is accurate. Beyond this point, the learner is responsible to maintain their acquired competencies, and apply acquired knowledge and skills in a way which is appropriate to the unique characteristics of each application. This will release the Site and Elemint from any liability, action and claims of whatsoever nature in connection with, or arising from any such information, instruction or advice, given by any student or ex-student, whether directions given during the course are followed or not.
Your Conduct
You are agreeing that you will not use our Site in any way that causes any damage. You understand that you are solely responsible for all electronic communications and content sent from your computer to this Site.
You agree to only purchase goods or services for yourself or for another person for whom you are legally permitted to do so or for whom you have obtained the express consent to provide their name, address, method of payment, credit card number, and billing information.
You agree to be financially responsible for all purchases made by you or someone acting on your behalf through the Site. You agree to use the Site for legitimate, non-commercial purposes only and not for speculative, false, fraudulent, or illegal purposes.
You must use the Site and its Materials for lawful purposes only. You agree that you will not use the Site and its Materials in any of the following ways:
- For fraudulent purposes or in connection with a criminal offence or otherwise carry out any unlawful activity
- To send, use or re-use any material that is illegal, offensive, abusive, indecent, harmful, defamatory, obscene or menacing, threatening, objectionable, invasive of privacy, in breach of confidence, infringing of any intellectual property rights, or that may otherwise may injure others
- To send, negatively impact, or infect our Site and its Materials with software viruses or any other harmful or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings or any spam, whether intended or not
- To cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety
- To impersonate any third party or otherwise mislead as to the origin of your contributions
To reproduce, duplicate, copy or resell any part of our Site and its Materials in a way that is not in compliance with these T&C or any other agreement with us.
Termination
We reserve the right in our sole discretion to refuse or terminate your access to our Site and its Materials, in full or in part, at any time without notice. In the event of cancellation or termination, you are no longer authorized to access the part of our Site and its Materials affected by such cancellation or termination. The restrictions imposed on you in these T&C with respect to the Site and its Materials will still apply now and in the future, even after termination by you or us.
Non-Discrimination Policy
It is the policy of this Site to provide equitable opportunities in both accessing and providing information to others. This includes, but is not limited to, opportunities for: membership to our website, purchasing of goods and services provided by the website, engaging in open forum discussions on the website, and seeking employment with the website. STEP does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, language, religion, sex, age, disability, citizenship, marital status, creed, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, or other characteristic protected by federal law.
Refund Policy
As a rule, we do NOT provide any refunds for digital subscriptions or course purchases on this Site. In the event that an individual is not satisfied with the Site Materials or services provided, we request a formal letter of complaint from the individual that outlines their concerns via email to [email protected]. The individual will be updated via email regarding any ongoing resolution steps being taken to address their concerns. STEP pledges to work with all participants to ensure the highest quality of continuing education, and after these steps are taken (e.g., formal letter of complaint, response letter, and completed action steps), STEP will offer a refund to the participant, in exceptional circumstances. Each request is different and the decision to grant a refund will be on a case-by-case basis.
Please understand that with the enrollment and accessing of your online course on this Site, you have read and agree to the aforementioned refund policy.
Effective Date
The Terms are effective as of January 1, 2018, and are subject to change without notice at any time. Your use of this Site after such changes constitutes your agreement to such changes.
Questions
If you would like to contact us reagrding our Terms and Conditions, please email us at [email protected].