The provisions set forth below (this “Agreement”) state the terms and conditions that govern your use of the website located at www.softwareceo.com (the “Website”) and the services and materials offered thereon (the “Services” and “Materials”) by The Computing Technology Industry Association, Inc. d/b/a SoftwareCEO (“CompTIA” or “SoftwareCEO”).

PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY. BY USING THE WEBSITE, YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. If you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement, please discontinue your use of the Website immediately.

1. License. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, you are granted limited, non-exclusive and non-transferable rights to participate on any online forum offered by the Website and only for purposes of use for the benefit of SoftwareCEO or your own internal business purposes.

2. Copyright. Unless otherwise indicated or otherwise provided in this Agreement, the copyright in the content of the Website, including, without limitation, the screens displayed on the Website, is owned by SoftwareCEO. Unless otherwise indicated or otherwise provided in this Agreement, you may not modify, copy, translate, reproduce, republish, resell, sublicense, sell, upload, post, transmit, publicly display, prepare derivative works based on, or distribute in any way any portion of the Website, including, without limitation, the content of any online forum offered by the Website and the code and software underlying the Website, or use any content from the Website for any commercial use or purpose other than your own internal business purposes.

3. Warning. SoftwareCEO may, in its sole discretion, modify or discontinue the information and materials contained in the Website (including, without limitation, the terms, conditions, and descriptions that appear herein) and any other aspect of the Website at any time without prior notice and without liability. Services and Materials offered on the Website are not necessarily available in all geographic areas. Your eligibility to obtain particular Services and Materials is subject to the final determination of SoftwareCEO.

4. Purpose of Website. The information contained in the Website is for informational purposes only. Such information is not intended to replace, and should not be interpreted or relied upon as professional advice from SoftwareCEO, whether legal or otherwise. Accordingly, please consult with your own professional experts for all advice concerning legal matters, human resource matters, and the like that may be discussed on the Website.

5. Usage. The Website is accessible to you through a computer or other access device. Its content may include information, editorial content, chat rooms, and links to other websites. You are responsible for all charges associated with accessing the Website.

6. Access to Certain Portions of the Website; Registration Data. Access to certain portions of the Website is restricted to members of SoftwareCEO and others. To become eligible to access any such portions of the Website, you may be required to give SoftwareCEO certain registration data. You agree to provide true, accurate, and complete information and to update this registration data when it changes. If you provide any registration data that is untrue, inaccurate, outdated, incomplete, or misleading, or if SoftwareCEO suspects that you have provided any untrue, inaccurate, outdated, incomplete, or misleading registration data, SoftwareCEO may, in its sole discretion, suspend or terminate your membership, your account, and/or your right to access all or part of the Website. Solely to enable SoftwareCEO to use information you supply SoftwareCEO internally, so that SoftwareCEO is not violating any rights you might have in that information, you grant to SoftwareCEO a nonexclusive license to (i) convert such information into digital format such that it can be read, utilized and displayed by our computers or any other technology currently in existence or hereafter developed capable of utilizing digital information, and (ii) combine such information with other content provided by SoftwareCEO in each case by any method or means or in any medium whether now known or hereafter devised. If SoftwareCEO assigns you a user ID and/or password to enable you to access restricted portions of the Website, you are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your user ID, password, and other account information. You will be responsible for all usages of the Website made with your user ID and or password. You agree that you will notify SoftwareCEO immediately of any unauthorized use of your password, user ID, or account, or any other breach of security. You agree that you will log off of the Website immediately when you are finished using it in order to prevent fraud by unauthorized persons.

7. Restrictions on Usage. As a condition to your right to use the Website, you will not: (a) engage in any activity that disables the Website or otherwise impedes its operation or limits its availability to others; (b) alter in any way the content of the Website; (c) use the Website to post or otherwise disseminate any unlawful, threatening, inflammatory, defamatory, offensive, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent, fraudulent or otherwise inappropriate communication of any kind, as determined by SoftwareCEO in its sole discretion; (d) use the Website to post or otherwise disseminate any communication that infringes or dilutes any intellectual property or that violates any person’s rights of privacy or publicity; (e) use the Website to transmit any virus, bot, worm, Trojan horse, or other harmful software; (f) use the Website to post or disseminate any communication that encourages or assists any other person to engage in illegal activities; (g) utilize the Website or any information contained in the Website to assist in any way with the transmission of unsolicited email messages to any other person; (h) impersonate any other person or entity or misrepresent any fact about yourself; (i) distribute, transfer, or disseminate any information derived from the Website through or onto a searchable, machine-readable database; (j) use the Website to collect information about other users of the Website; or (k) attempt to use the Website to gain unauthorized access to other computer systems or networks connected to the Website.

8. Discussion Forums. As a condition to your right to use any discussion forum on the Website, you will not post any commercial solicitations or advertising on such discussion forum. Commercial use of such discussion forum is prohibited. SoftwareCEO assumes no responsibility and expressly disclaims any responsibility, for the opinions or information and materials posted by users or moderators in such discussion forum. Individuals using such discussion forums do so at their own risk and shall be responsible for their actions and statements in using such forums.

9. Moderators.
   If you have agreed to act as a moderator of any discussion forum(s) on the Website, you agree to oversee the specific discussion forum(s) on the Website as assigned to you by SoftwareCEO from time to time. As a moderator, you agree to review and appropriately respond to posts on such forum(s) and to otherwise reasonably assist SoftwareCEO in the administration of such forum(s). With respect to such forum(s), as a moderator you shall abide by the applicable terms and conditions of the Website and any and all applicable policies, procedures and guidelines of SoftwareCEO. You shall also promptly notify SoftwareCEO of any behavior or posts with respect to such forum(s) that might violate the Website’s terms and conditions or any applicable policies, procedures and guidelines of SoftwareCEO. You agree that any advice provided by you as a moderator on the Website is your own advice and not that of SoftwareCEO. You shall be solely responsible for any advice, information and opinions that you provide as a moderator to users of the Website.

   As a moderator, you acknowledge and agree that SoftwareCEO may, at any time, with or without cause terminate of suspend your status as a moderator upon delivery of written notice to you of such termination or suspension. This Agreement shall not create, nor shall it be represented by you to create a partnership, joint venture, employer-employee, master-servant, principal-agent, or other relationship whatsoever between you as a moderator and SoftwareCEO. As a moderator, you shall act solely as an independent contractor with respect to the performance of your obligations under this Agreement and you shall not have, nor represent to have, authority or power to obligate or bind SoftwareCEO by contract, agreement, warranty, representation or otherwise in any manner whatsoever, without SoftwareCEO’s prior written consent.

10. Antitrust Compliance.
    As a trade association, CompTIA, as well as its members and participants in CompTIA's meetings, must be constantly vigilant of federal and state antitrust laws which prohibit monopolization, combinations and conspiracies in restraint of trade, collusive action, and unfair methods of competition. A trade association fosters by its very nature a meeting of competitors and business partners. In order to keep CompTIA’s operations within activities permitted by the antitrust laws, there should be no agreements—express or implied—which restrict the members’ freedom either directly or indirectly to make independent decisions in matters that affect competition.

    To avoid the most sensitive areas, you shall not post any messages, information or documents on the Website dealing with: (a) price or any elements of price or pricing policies, including costs, discounts, and similar matters; (b) sales or production quotas, territories, allocations, boycotts or market shares; (c) identified individual company statistics, inventories, or merchandising methods particular competitors or customers; (d) commercial liabilities, warranties, guarantees, or the particular terms and conditions of sales, including credit, shipping and transportation arrangements; or (e) anything dealing with “arm twisting,” trade abuses, or excluding or controlling competition. You shall not post any messages, information or documents dealing with any of the above subjects. Failure to adhere to this policy shall constitute grounds for termination or suspension of SoftwareCEO membership, your status as a moderator, your account and/or your rights to access all or a part of the Website.

11. Monitoring by SoftwareCEO. SoftwareCEO has the right, but not the obligation to monitor the use of the Website. SoftwareCEO may record or log your use in a manner as set out in our Privacy Policy that is accessible on the Website’s home page. If SoftwareCEO monitors the use of the Website, SoftwareCEO may examine, copy, and record any information relating to your usage of the Website. SoftwareCEO reserves the right to disclose any such information in order to comply with any law, regulation, or governmental request. SoftwareCEO shall have the right, but not the duty, to review and remove any communication or material posted on the Website that SoftwareCEO, in its sole discretion, finds to be defamatory, abusive, anti‑competitive, illegal, objectionable, inappropriate or otherwise in violation of this Agreement.

12. No Warranties. THE WEBSITE, THE INFORMATION AND MATERIALS CONTAINED IN THE WEBSITE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, TEXT, GRAPHICS, LINKS, AND OTHER ITEMS, AND ANY AND ALL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ACQUIRED FROM THE WEBSITE, ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS. SOFTWARECEO DOES NOT WARRANT THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY, OR COMPLETENESS OF THE WEBSITE, SUCH INFORMATION AND MATERIALS AND SUCH PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS LIABILITY FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN SUCH INFORMATION AND MATERIALS. NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS, TITLE, COMPLETENESS, TIMELINESS, CORRECTNESS, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR FREEDOM FROM COMPUTER VIRUS, IS GIVEN IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITE, SUCH INFORMATION AND MATERIALS AND SUCH PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AND ANY SUCH WARRANTY IS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED BY SOFTWARECEO.

13. Limitation of Liability. IN NO EVENT WILL SOFTWARECEO BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT OR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES, LOSSES, OR EXPENSES ARISING IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INTERRUPTION, DELETION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMPUTER VIRUS OR LINE OR SYSTEM FAILURE, EVEN IF SOFTWARECEO OR REPRESENTATIVES THEREOF ARE ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, LOSSES, OR EXPENSES. SOFTWARECEO SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR RELIANCE ON ANY ADVICE, OPINIONS, STATEMENTS, OR RECOMMENDATIONS THAT APPEAR ON OR ARE DISSEMINATED THROUGH THE WEBSITE. ANY SUCH RELIANCE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. SOFTWARECEO SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY USER OR MODERATOR OF THE WEBSITE. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG IMPLIED WARRANTIES MAY LAST, SO THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN SECTION 12 HEREOF MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS SECTION GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS. THESE OTHER RIGHTS VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.

14. Acknowledgment of Warranty Disclaimers. You acknowledge and agree that SoftwareCEO would not have made the Website available to you without the warranty disclaimers and the limitations on liability and remedy that appear in this Agreement.

15. Indemnification. You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless SoftwareCEO, its affiliates, and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims, actions, suits or proceedings, as well as any and all losses, liabilities, damages, costs, and expenses (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys fees) arising out of or accruing from (i) any material posted or otherwise provided by you that infringes any copyright, trademark, trade secret. trade dress, patent or other intellectual property right of any person or defames any person or violates their rights of publicity or privacy; (ii) any misrepresentation made by you in connection with your use of the Website; (iii) any noncompliance by you with the terms of this Agreement; and (iv) any claims brought by persons or entities other than you or SoftwareCEO arising from or related to your access and use of the Website, including, without limitation, the information obtained through the Website.

16. Termination or Suspension. SoftwareCEO, at its sole discretion, and for any reason or for no reason, may terminate or suspend your user ID, password, your status as a moderator, or your access to all or part of the Website, and may delete and discard any information or materials that you have published, sent or received on or via the Website. SoftwareCEO reserves the right to terminate or suspend your user ID, password or your access to all or part of the Website if you violate the terms of this Agreement.

17. Trademarks. No SoftwareCEO trademarks or trademarks owned by any other person that appear on the Website may be copied, downloaded, or otherwise utilized without the express written consent of the owner of such trademark.

18. Minors. If you permit any minor child to use the Website, you will be solely responsible for: (i) the online conduct of such minor child; (ii) the monitoring of such minor child's access to and use of the Website; and (iii) the consequences of any such usage.

19. Child Online Protection Act Notification. Pursuant to 47 U.S.C. Section 230(d), as amended, SoftwareCEO hereby notifies you that parental control protections (such as computer software, hardware and filtering services) are commercially available for you to purchase. These protections may assist you in limiting access to material that could be harmful to minors. Information about purchasing such protections is available at http://www.eff.org/pub/censorship/ratings_filters_labelling/ and at http://www.netparents.org/parentstips/browners.html.

20. Defamation; Communications Decency Act Notice. The Website is a provider of “interactive computer services” under the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. Section 230, and as such, SoftwareCEO’s liability for defamation and other claims arising out of any postings to the Website by third parties is limited as described therein. SoftwareCEO is not responsible for content or any other information posted to the Website by third parties. SoftwareCEO neither warrants the accuracy of such postings nor assumes any legal obligation or liability in connection with such postings, including, without limitation, any responsibility or liability for investigating or verifying the accuracy of any content or any other information contained in such postings.

21. Infringement Policy. SoftwareCEO, pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Section 512, as amended, reserves the right, but not the obligation, to terminate or suspend your right to use all or part of the Website if SoftwareCEO determines, in its sole and absolute discretion, that you are involved in an activity that infringes the intellectual property of others. SoftwareCEO seeks to accommodate, and not interfere with, standard technical measures used by copyright owners to protect their materials. In addition, pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Section 512(c), SoftwareCEO has implemented procedures for receiving written notification of claimed infringements and for processing such claims in accordance with the law. All claims of infringement must be submitted to SoftwareCEO in a written complaint that complies with the requirements below and is delivered to our designated agent to receive notification of claimed infringement.

    To submit any such complaint by mail, please use the following address:

    Robert Biddle
    Publisher
    SoftwareCEO
    c/o The Computing Technology Industry Association, Inc.
    1815 South Meyers Road
    Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
    (630) 678-8300

    To submit any such complaint by e-mail, please use the following address: rbiddle@comptia.org.

    Any written notice regarding any defamatory or infringing activity, whether of a copyright, patent, trademark or other property right must include the following information:

    1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of: (i) the owner of the proprietary right that is allegedly infringed; or (ii) the person defamed;
    2. An identification of the work claimed to have been infringed;
    3. An identification of the material that the claimant alleges is infringing, along with information that enables SoftwareCEO to locate such material;
    4. Information that enables SoftwareCEO to contact you;
    5. A statement that you believe in good faith that the activity in question is an infringement and violates the law; and
    6. A statement under penalty of perjury, 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 being infringed or that you are authorized to act on behalf of the person allegedly being defamed.
    
    

22. Public Information. If you post any content in any form on the Website, or disseminate any information through the Website, you will be deemed to have relinquished any intellectual property rights in such content and information. Such content and information will be deemed to be public information. By posting any content in any form on the Website, or disseminating any information through the Website, you grant SoftwareCEO and the users of the Website the non-exclusive and irrevocable right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print and use such content and information in any manner, without payment or restriction.

23. Modification. SoftwareCEO reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to amend this Agreement in any way at any time. Any such amendment shall become effective when it is posted on the Website. Your continued use of the Website will constitute your binding acceptance of any such amendment.

24. Limit on Exportation. Unless otherwise specified, the Website is intended solely for use in the United States of America. SoftwareCEO operates the Website from its offices in the State of Illinois, United States of America. SoftwareCEO makes no representation that the materials on the Website are appropriate or available for use outside of the United States. Those who choose to access the Website from outside of the United States do so with this understanding and are responsible for compliance with local laws. Software on the Website is subject to United States export controls. No software from the Website may be downloaded or otherwise exported: (i) into or to a national resident of Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Iran, Syria or any other country to which the United States has embargoed goods, or (ii) to anyone on the U.S. Treasury Department List of Specifically Designated Nationals or the U.S. Commerce Department's Table of Deny Orders. By using the Website, you represent and warrant that you are not located in, under the control of, or a national or resident of any such country or on any such list.

25. Governing Law and Choice of Forum. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois, U.S.A., without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law. All disputes relating to the Website, this Agreement, or your use of the Website shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in the State of Illinois, USA.

26. Assignments. You may not assign any of your rights, obligations, or privileges under this Agreement without the prior written consent of SoftwareCEO.

27. Severability. If any provision of this Agreement is deemed unlawful, void, or otherwise unenforceable, then that provision shall be considered severable from this Agreement. Such provision shall be enforced to the fullest extent allowed by law to achieve the intention of the parties. The severable provision shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions of this Agreement.

28. Waiver. No waiver of any provision of this Agreement will be effective unless set forth in a written instrument signed by the waiving party. No waiver of any breach or default shall be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach or default.

29. Captions. The captions, titles, and subtitles used in this Agreement are used for convenience only and are not to be considered in construing or interpreting this Agreement.

Legal Notices

Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, you are entitled to the following specific consumer rights information:

(a) Contact Information. You can contact us at 1815 S Meyers Road, Suite 300, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181, (630) 678-8442.

(b) Complaints. The procedures that you may follow in order to resolve a complaint regarding this Site are as follows: Contact the California Department of Consumer Affairs to resolve a complaint. The Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 1020 N. Street, #501, Sacramento, California, 95814, or by telephone at (916) 445-1254. You can obtain further information regarding use of this Site by contacting the California Department of Consumer Affairs.