Terms of Use

Literacy Design Collaborative Terms of Use

Last updated June 24, 2020.

These terms of use (the “Terms”), effective as of the above date, the Literacy Design Collaborative (“LDC”; “we”; “us”) govern your access to and use of this website, https://www.ldc.org, and all pages combined within it that are owned or operated by LDC (such as http://coretools.ldc.org), including but not limited to text, content, photographs, video, audio, graphics, and services therein (collectively, the “Site”). Capitalized terms not defined herein retain the definition ascribed to them in our privacy policy, available at https://www.ldc.org/privacy-policy (“Privacy Policy”), or in our End User License, available below (“End User License”).

Please read these Terms carefully before using the Site, and please consult them regularly. By accessing or using the Site or its services (including but not limited to donating online to LDC), you signify your acceptance of all provisions of these Terms, in addition to our Privacy Policy and End User License. If you do not agree to these Terms and/or our Privacy Policy and End User License, you should elect not to visit the Site.

Changes to Terms

LDC reserves the right to change these Terms at any time at its sole discretion. Such changes will be effective immediately upon posting them to the Site. Your use of the Site after such changes have been posted shall constitute your acceptance of all provisions in the revised Terms.

Risks/Use of and Changes to Site

The Site is provided on an “as is” basis and “as available” basis. We may update the Site from time to time, but its content is not necessarily complete or up-to-date. Any content on the Site may be out of date at any given time, and LDC is under no obligation to update such content. We may change, suspend access to, or terminate the Site at any time with or without notice at our sole discretion.

You assume all risk for your use of the Site. You agree that LDC, its employees, agents, and affiliates have no liability for actions taken or not taken by you or a third party, and you agree to indemnify us and hold us harmless for damages arising out of (1) your use of the Site, (2) your breach of these Terms, (3) your violation of the law, (4) claims asserted by third parties, which, if proven, would place you in breach of these Terms, or (5) information provided by you through the Site. Without limiting the foregoing, in no event shall LDC, its employees, agents, or affiliates be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, exemplary, or indirect damages.

LDC further expressly disclaims all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement, and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, makes no warranty that LDC will a) meet your requirements; b) meet your expectations; or c) be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free. The foregoing disclaimers of liability apply to all damages or injury, including those caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, or delay in operation or transmission, whether for breach of contract, tortious behavior, negligence, or any other cause of action.

Prohibited Uses; Right to Terminate Access

You agree to use the Site only for lawful and legitimate purposes, and to do so in accordance with these Terms.

You agree not to use the Site to, in any way:

  • violate any applicable federal, state, local, or international law or regulation, including but not limited to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (“FERPA”) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (“COPPA”);
  • exploit, harm, or attempt to exploit or harm minors, including but not limited to exposing them to inappropriate content or improperly asking them for personally identifiable information;
  • threaten, harass, or otherwise inappropriately abuse others, including but not limited to LDC, its employees, agents, affiliates, contractors, service providers, or Site users;
  • send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use, or reuse any content which does not comply with these Terms;
  • copy, reproduce, distribute, modify, display, republish, transmit, repost, or otherwise use any of the content on our Site without prior written permission from LDC (which must be sought via the contact information provided below);
  • “spam,” gather, or attempt to gather Personally Identifiable Information belonging to users or others for the purposes of spamming, marketing, selling to third parties, or otherwise improperly soliciting or abusing LDC or Site users;
  • engage in dishonest or deceptive behavior, including but not limited to impersonating or attempting to impersonate another person or entity, or attempting to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Site, or the computers, servers, or databases connected thereto;
  • engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of the Site, or which, as determined by us, may harm LDC, its employees, agents, affiliates, contractors, or service providers, the Site, Site users, or expose such persons or entities to liability; or
  • otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper functioning and/or operation of the Site.

LDC reserves the right to terminate the Site or your access to it for any reason, at our sole discretion, including but not limited to your violation of these Terms or engaging in the prohibited uses described above.

Prohibition on Disclosure of Students’ Personally-Identifiable Information

In addition, as a material condition of using this Site or its services, you agree not to submit, post, or share any student’s or other minor’s Personally Identifiable Information to the Site in any form, and that any student-derived work will be sufficiently anonymized such that it cannot be reasonably used to identify the student to which the work refers or concerns. LDC reserves the right to terminate the Site or your access to it for any reason, at our sole discretion, including but not limited to your violation of this section of these Terms.

Grant of License

In consideration of the value that you ascribe to seeing that your work is used by LDC to advance literacy education for other teachers across the country (the sufficiency of which you hereby acknowledge), you hereby assign to LDC a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty free, fully-paid license to publish, copy, distribute, and license others to use the information that you submit to our Site in any form or medium, now or hereafter existing, during the full term of the copyright therein and throughout the world, and to use Personally Identifiable Information as described in our Privacy Policy.

Copyright Claims

If you believe that your copyrighted work has been copied by LDC in a manner that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide LDC’s Copyright Agent the following information in writing, as required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 512 (“DMCA”):

  • a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
  • identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online website are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that website;
  • identification of the content that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit LDC to locate the content;
  • information reasonably sufficient to permit LDC to contact you, including at least your name, address, and telephone number.
  • a statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the content 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.

Our agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on the Site can be reached as follows: The Literacy Design Collaborative, 90 Broad Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10004, or via email at info@ldc.org.

Governing Law; International Users

You agree that your use of this Site, these Terms, our Privacy Policy, our End User License, and any controversy, claim, or dispute relating thereto, shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the State of New York, excluding its conflicts of law rules. Any dispute relating to this Site, our Terms, or our Privacy Policy shall be resolved solely in the state or federal courts located in New York, New York, whose jurisdiction and venue to which you hereby expressly consent. In addition, you hereby waive the right to bring or participate in any claim against LDC, its employees, agents, or affiliates, as a class action, consolidated, multi-district, or collective action, or private attorney general action. If LDC prevails against you in any arbitration or proceeding concerning these Terms or our Privacy Policy, we shall be entitled to recover our legal costs, including attorneys’ fees, in addition to all other available legal and equitable relief.

LDC and the Site are operated in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that any information you provide will be collected in or transferred to the United States. By using the Site and/or providing LDC with your information, you consent to that collection and transfer.

Entire Agreement; Severability

These Terms together with our Privacy Policy and End User License constitute the entire agreement between you and LDC, superseding any other written or oral agreements or understandings. If a Court or other tribunal finds any provision of these Terms, our Privacy Policy or our End User License to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent possible and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

Contact Us

To contact us and/or inquire about these Terms, please contact The Literacy Design Collaborative, 90 Broad Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10004, or via email at info@ldc.org. You may also contact us through this form.

LDC Partner Contributor’s Agreement

This agreement (the “Agreement”) will set forth our agreement with you as a contributing partner to the Literacy Design Collaborative (“LDC”). The terms of this Agreement are applicable to all modules and task templates you submit to LDC (each a “Work”).

Representations and Warranties. You warrant (1) your ownership of all rights to the Work or the right to license such rights, (2) the originality, authorship and authenticity of the Work; (3) that the Work is not libelous or obscene; (4) that if the Work has been previously published, you hold the rights to grant LDC the permission to republish it; and (5) that the publication of the Work will not infringe upon any copyright, right to privacy, proprietary or any other right of any person, corporation or other entity or violate any state or federal law or regulation. If requested, you agree to provide pertinent source materials to LDC.

Grant of License. In consideration of the value that I ascribe to seeing that my work is used by LDC in order to advance literacy education (the sufficiency of which I hereby acknowledge), I hereby assign to LDC an irrevocable license to publish, copy, distribute, and license others to use the Work in any form or medium, now or hereafter existing, during the full term of the copyright therein and throughout the world.

Promotion. LDC shall have the right to use your name, likeness, and biographical material for such publicity purposes as may, in LDC’s sole discretion, benefit the promotion of the Work and/or LDC.

Independent Contractor. You understand and agree that you are acting as an independent contractor and not as an employee of agent of LDC and that you have no authority to bind or commit LDC to any obligations.

Integration; Modification; Choice of Law. This agreement sets forth the entire understanding of the parties concerning the subject matter hereof and supersedes all previous memoranda, agreements and oral negotiations by and between the parties. No subsequent agreement or modification of this agreement shall be valid unless in a writing signed by both parties. This agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws of the state of New York.

Publication Obligations. Nothing in this agreement will obligate LDC to publish or use any Work submitted by you hereunder.

Survival. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall survive the expiration or earlier termination of this Agreement.

LDC End User License

Last updated June 24, 2020. 

Subject to the terms and conditions of this End User License (“End User License”), the Terms, the Privacy Policy, and/or all terms set forth in any applicable invoice agreed between you and the Literacy Design Collaborative (“LDC”; “we”; “us”), LDC grants you a royalty free, non-sublicenseable, nonexclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use any and all content accessed through LDC.Org and CoreTools.LDC.Org (“LDC Content”) solely in connection with the development of teachers’ skills to improve student outcomes (“Permitted Uses”).  You agree that your right to access and use the LDC Content are limited solely to the Permitted Uses (and in no event for any other uses including, but not limited to, any punitive employment actions), and you agree not to license, sell, lease, or otherwise transfer the LDC Content or any portion thereof to, or use it for the benefit of, any third party, or grant any third party access to the LDC Content.  You agree (i) to take all reasonable steps to ensure that no unauthorized persons have access to the LDC Content, including by limiting the use of access logins and passwords only to authorized personnel; (ii) to use the LDC Content solely for lawful and legitimate purposes in accordance with the Terms, the Privacy Policy, and/or all terms set forth in any applicable invoice agreed between you and LDC and (iii) not to use the LDC Content to, in any way: (A) violate any applicable federal, state, local, or international law or regulation, including but not limited to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998; (B) exploit, harm, or attempt to exploit or harm minors, including but not limited to exposing them to inappropriate content or improperly asking them for Personally Identifiable Information; (C) threaten, harass, or otherwise inappropriately abuse others, including but not limited to LDC, its employees, agents, affiliates, contractors, service providers, or LDC Content users; (D) send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use, or reuse any content which does not comply with the terms of this End User License; (E) copy, reproduce, distribute, modify, display, republish, transmit, repost, or otherwise use any LDC Content without prior written permission from LDC; (F) “spam,” gather, or attempt to gather Personally Identifiable Information belonging to users or others for the purposes of spamming, marketing, selling to third parties, or otherwise improperly soliciting or abusing LDC or LDC Content users; (G) engage in dishonest or deceptive behavior, including but not limited to impersonating or attempting to impersonate another person or entity, or attempting to gain unauthorized access to any part of the LDC Content, or the computers, servers, or databases connected thereto; (H) engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of the LDC Content, or which, as determined by us, may harm LDC, its employees, agents, affiliates, contractors, or service providers, the LDC Content, LDC Content users, or expose such persons or entities to liability; or (I) otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper functioning and/or operation of the LDC Content.  License agrees not to submit, post, or share any Personally Identifiable Information to the LDC Content in any form, and that any LDC Content or other content submitted by the Licensee will be sufficiently anonymized such that it cannot be reasonably used to identify any person to which such content refers or concerns.  Capitalized terms not defined herein retain the definition ascribed to them in the Privacy Policy or the Terms, as applicable.

Title

All right, title and interest in and to the LDC Content and all intellectual property and proprietary rights therein are and shall remain the property of LDC, and you shall acquire no rights or interest therein under this End User License other than the limited license grant set forth above.

Confidentiality

You understand and agree that the LDC Content is LDC’s proprietary, confidential information and contains Personally Identifiable Information.  You agree to maintain the LDC Content in strict confidence and further agrees not to disclose any LDC Content or the results of any evaluation you undertake using the LDC Content to any third party (outside your organization), except as otherwise provided herein; provided, that you shall be permitted to disclose the results of any evaluation you undertake using the LDC Content to third parties in the event that such results do not include any Personally Identifiable Information obtained from the LDC Content.  You may disclose the LDC Content to your employees who have a need to know in exercising your right to use the LDC Content in connection with the Permitted Uses.  You and LDC agree that these confidentiality obligations shall continue in full force and effect in perpetuity.  Upon request, you shall immediately return to LDC or destroy (at the election of LDC) any and all documents, notes and other materials in your possession containing any LDC Content.

LDC Content Security

You agree, at your sole expense, to take all reasonable measures to prevent the prohibited or unauthorized disclosure or use of LDC Content. 

Assignment

You may not, and shall not, assign any of your rights or delegate any of your obligations under this End User License without the prior written consent of LDC.  Any attempted assignment or delegation in violation of this provision shall be null and void ab initio.