Free Forums Website Terms and Conditions
TR.WEB.TC.12
These Free Forums Website Terms and Conditions are designed for use with
websites offering free discussion forums for a range of different topics.
While allowing free and flexible use of all content concerned, these terms
and conditions for forums nevertheless differentiate between content owned
by the website operator and that owned by users. Users are deemed to grant
the website operator a licence to use their posts as necessary to operate
the site.
As with many website terms and conditions, these are designed for
acceptance through use. In other words, visitors to your website are deemed
to have accepted them as soon as they start using the site. Provision is
also made for user accounts (required for forum posts); an option is
therefore included should you wish to make acceptance of the terms and
conditions a part of the account sign-up process.
Important information about the website operator is provided, including
company registration details, trading address, and details of any relevant
regulatory bodies or associations. For certain trades and professions there
may be additional information that website operators are required by law to
provide. If, for example, the operator is an investment company, it must
identify itself as such. Members of regulated professions should include
professional titles, links to professional rules and other important
details. Such details are not included in this template and professional
advice should be sought by those working in regulated professions.
IP rights including, but not limited to, copyright are protected by these
terms and conditions. Optional provisions are included in the template to
allow you to choose how many freedoms to give to your users with regard to
saving and copying material from your site, as well as establishing
deep-links to pages within your site on other sites. Further provisions
concerning linking are also designed to help to prohibit users from
establishing links to your site from sites publishing unsavoury or unlawful
content.
Users retain the ownership of copyright and any other IP in their posts
(unless they have used content belonging to someone else, with permission,
in which case that content belongs to them), however they grant a licence
to the website operator to use that content for the purposes necessary to
operate the website. Users are also informed that their posts can be
re-used by other users as appropriate, for example in quotes, re-posts etc.
within the forums.
Disclaimers and liability provisions in this document seek to protect
website operators to the maximum extent deemed reasonable. It is important,
however, to ensure that such provisions are not unduly biased against users
– particularly when dealing with consumers – lest they be considered unfair
in the eyes of the law. Additional liability provisions, therefore, are
provided that apply only to business users.
In addition, the IP protection provisions in this document also make it
clear that the content of your website is not designed for commercial use
but that users in a commercial environment are not prohibited from
accessing it. An optional phrase is included to clarify this.
Of further relevance to the submission of forum posts is the Acceptable
Usage Policy. Applying to the use of the website in general, but in
particular to the submission of posts, the policy sets out clearly the
types of material and conduct that will not be accepted. Sanctions for
breach are also included.
Further key clauses address internet security, data protection, privacy and
cookies (integrating separate policies into the terms and conditions by
reference), and opting in and out of marketing communications. All parts of
this template are designed to be compatible with consumer protection
legislation including, but not limited to, the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
This template is duplicated in the Internet & E-Commerce group.
Optional phrases / clauses are enclosed in square brackets. These should be
read carefully and selected so as to be compatible with one another. Unused
options should be removed from the document.
These Free Forums Website Terms and Conditions contain the following
clauses:
1. Definitions and Interpretation
2. Information About Us
3. Access to Our Site
4. Accounts
5. Intellectual Property Rights and Our Site
6. Forum Posts
7. Acceptable Usage Policy
8. Links to Our Site
9. Links to Other Sites
10. [Advertising]
11. Disclaimers and Legal Rights
12. Our Liability
13. Viruses, Malware and Security
14. Privacy and Cookies
15. Data Protection
16. Communications from Us
17. Changes to these Terms and Conditions
18. Contacting Us
19. Law and Jurisdiction
This document is in open format. Either enter the requisite details in the
highlighted fields or adjust the wording to suit your purposes.
Once you have purchased access to the appropriate document folder click on
the “Download Document” link below. You will be asked what you want to do
with the file. It is recommended that you save the document to a location
of your choice prior to viewing.