The International Franchise Association (“IFA”) maintains this site (the “Site“) for your personal entertainment, information, education, and communication use. By browsing the Site, you agree that you have read and you understand the following Terms of Use and Privacy Policy in its entirety, including any updates that may be posted on the Site from time to time. IFA reserves the right to revise the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, at its sole discretion, by updating this posting. The revised terms will take effect the date they are posted on the Site. Your continued use of the Site shall be deemed to be your acceptance of the modified Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Your sole remedy if you do not agree to the modified Terms of Use or Privacy Policy is to cease your use of the Site. Please review these posted terms on a regular basis.
If you need assistance with the Site, or if you have any questions regarding these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, please contact: webmaster@franchise.org.
Terms of Use
1. Content Provided on the Site
You should assume that everything available on the Site is copyrighted unless otherwise noted and may not be used except as provided by these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may download one copy of any IFA-owned materials that are displayed on the Site for your non-commercial, personal use provided you retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained on the materials. Please note that some of the materials provided on the Site are materials provided and owned by third parties. If you would like to download or otherwise use any of these third-party materials, you must obtain consent from the owner of those materials. Except as otherwise provided by these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, you may not distribute, modify, transmit, use, or re-post any of the content provided on the Site, including any part of the Site’s text, images, audio, and video, for any purposes, without IFA’s or the third-party owner’s written permission.
Any content posted on the Site expresses only the views of the author of the content and does not necessarily reflect the views of IFA. While we use reasonable efforts to include accurate and up to date information on the Site, we do not make any warranties or representations regarding the accuracy of the Site’s content, including any content posted by users of the Site. You agree that IFA will not be held liable for the contents, accuracy, completeness or validity of any information posted on the Site.
The trademarks, trade names, logos and service marks (collectively the “Intellectual Property”) displayed on the Site, including all registered and unregistered Intellectual Property, are owned by us and by third parties. Nothing contained on the Site should be construed as granting by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to use any Intellectual Property displayed on the Site without our written permission or the written permission of the proper third party. Your misuse of the Intellectual Property displayed on the Site, or any other content on the Site, except as provided in these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, is strictly prohibited. You are also advised that we will aggressively enforce our intellectual property rights to the fullest extent of the law, including by seeking of criminal prosecution.
2. No Warranty
Your use of and browsing on the Site are at your risk. Neither IFA nor any other party involved in creating, producing, or delivering the Site is liable for any direct, incidental, consequential, indirect, or punitive damages arising out or your access to, or use of, the Site. Without limiting the foregoing, everything on the Site is provided to you “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. IFA makes no representations or warranties and assumes no responsibility, and shall not be liable for, any damages to, or viruses that may infect, your computer equipment or other property on account of your access to, use of, or browsing on the Site or your downloading of any materials, data, text, images, video, or audio from the Site or that the Site will be uninterrupted, secure, or free of errors.
3. Limitation of Liability
IN NO EVENT WILL IFA BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF, ACCESS TO, RELIANCE ON, INABILITY TO USE OR IMPROPER USE OF THE SITE OR ANY INFORMATION, CONTENT, MATERIALS OR SERVICES AVAILABLE ON THE SITE (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL OR REVENUE, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, OR LOSS OF DATA), EVEN IF ADVISED ON THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE.
Please note that some jurisdictions may not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages, so some of the above exclusions and limitations may not apply to you. Check your local laws for any restrictions or limitations regarding the exclusion of implied warranties and the limitation of liability.
4. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold IFA harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorney’s fees, made by any third party due to or arising in any way out of your use of the Site, any violation of these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, or the infringement by you, or another user of the Site using your account, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity, or claims arising out of any threatening, libelous, obscene, harassing or offensive material contained in any of your postings or communications.
5. Export
Software from this Site is further subject to United States Export Controls. No software from this Site may be downloaded or exported (i) into or to a national or resident of Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Iran, Syria, or any other country where the United States has embargoed goods; or anyone on the United States Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Nationals; or the U.S. Commerce Department’s Table of Deny Orders. By downloading or using the software, 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.
Privacy
1. Collection and Use of Information
In order to operate the Site in an efficient and effective manner and to provide you with information that may be of interest to you, IFA collects personal information, such as name, company name, physical address, IP address and email address when you apply to become a member of IFA and when you request to participate in a forum. Our collection of this information allows you to access the member sections of the Site when you are logged in to the Site, participate in forums and make purchases on the Site, as applicable. We also maintain a membership list, which includes the name, physical address, phone number, and fax number of all IFA members.
We will also collect additional information from users who make additional requests via the Site, such as registering for events, making membership fee payments, or making other purchases. The information collected may include, in addition to the personal information otherwise collected via the Site (as discussed above), and company listing information that is published on our website and twice a year in the Franchise Opportunities Guide.
You can always change any personal information that you submit to IFA by logging in to your online account and making changes or contacting our membership department at membership@franchise.org.
You agree that IFA may use your personal information to contact you and to provide you with information that may be of interest to you, including print publications and email newsletters. By accepting these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, you expressly agree to receive such communications. If you do not wish to receive these communications, you can opt-out of any further receipt by following the opt-out procedures provided in such communications or by calling us at 1-202-628-8000.
2. Disclosure of Information
IFA does not sell the information that it collects to any third parties for any reason. IFA may disclose the information that it collects to third parties in order to perform services on IFA’s behalf, fulfill a request that you have made via the Site, such as a purchase made on the Site, or as otherwise described in these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. In addition, IFA provides a copy of its membership list, which includes the name, physical address, phone number, and fax number of all IFA members, to any IFA member upon request.
Please be aware that when you publicly display personal information (for example, via a forum provided on the Site), that information can be collected and used by others. IFA is not responsible for the collection or use of information that you publicly display.
IFA may also disclose the information it collects as necessary to comply with the law or to cooperate with or seek assistance from law enforcement or to protect the interests of IFA or other users of the Site, or to an entity that is a successor organization to IFA. Such disclosures may be made with or without your consent or notice to you.
3. Cookies
IFA uses various technologies to track user’s activity on our Site. We use those technologies to: provide useful features to simplify your experience when you return to our sites and applications; deliver relevant content based on your preferences, usage patterns and location; monitor and evaluate the use and operation of our Site and applications, and analyze traffic on our sites and on the sites of third parties.
IFA may store non-personally identifiable information about you such as a session ID in a cookie that it places on your computer. Cookies are pieces of information that the Site places on the hard drive of your computer when you visit the Site. Cookies enable IFA to serve secure pages to a user without requiring the user to sign in to his or her account repeatedly. In addition, IFA uses cookies to track a user’s behavior on the Site, including when a user is logged in to his or her account, changes that are made to a user’s account information, and purchases made by a user via the Site.
IFA participates in the Bizographic Targeting Network (Bizo), an online B2B advertising network. When you visit our website, Bizo places a bizographic (business demographic) cookie on your browser. This cookie contains no Personally Identifiable Information (PII). It identifies your professional bizographics and allows Bizo advertisers to display professionally relevant advertising on our pages. To learn more about how Bizo targets ads, visit their web site at http://www.bizo.com/business_audience/privacy_policy. If you wish to ‘opt out’ of the targeted advertising delivered by Bizo, please click http://www.bizo.com/business_audience/opt_out to visit the Bizo opt out page. Or, you may opt out of multiple ad targeting cookies, including Bizo, via that National Advertising Initiative opt-out page: http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp.
You may have the ability to set your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent; however, some of the Site’s features or services may not function properly without cookies.
4. Third-Party Websites
The Site contains links to other websites not operated by or affiliated with IFA, including links to purchase goods and/or services (“Linked Sites”). We are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or security procedures of any such Linked Sites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave the Site and to read the privacy policies of any other site visited.
5. Security of Information
IFA uses appropriate industry practices to safeguard the confidentiality of your account information and to prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information as described in these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. However, no data transmitted over the Internet is 100% secure. Accordingly, while IFA makes reasonable efforts to protect your personal information, any information that you provide to IFA is transmitted at your own risk and you assume all responsibility and risk for your use of the Site, the Internet generally, and the information you may post or access and for your conduct on and off the Site.
6. California Privacy Rights
California law permits its residents to request and receive information about a business’ disclosure of certain categories of personal information to other companies for their use in direct marketing. If you are a California resident and a user of this Site, you can request a copy of this information from IFA by sending an email to webmaster@franchise.org or a letter to IFA at 1501 K Street, NW, Suite 350, Washington, DC 20005. Please include your name and email address in email requests, and your name and physical address in mail request.
7. Children
IFA does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 13 and this Site is not directed to children under the age of 13.