Knol Terms of Service

Welcome to Knol! Before you begin using Knol, you must read and agree to these Knol Terms of Service ("Terms of Service") and the following terms and conditions and policies, including any future amendments (collectively, the "Agreement"):

Google Terms of Service - Google's general terms and conditions (http://www.google.com/terms_of_service.html)

Google Privacy Policy - How we maintain and protect your personal information in Knol (http://www.google.com/privacy.html)

Knol Content Policy - How we promote responsible sharing of knowledge (http://knol.google.com/k/knol-help/content-policy/si57lahl1w25/13)

Although we may attempt to notify you when major changes are made to the Knol Terms of Service, you should periodically review the most up-to-date version. Google may, in its sole discretion, modify or revise these Terms of Service and policies at any time, and you agree to be bound by such modifications or revisions. If you do not accept and abide by this Agreement, you may not use the Knol service. In the event of an inconsistency between the Knol Terms of Service and either Google's general Terms of Service (http://www.google.com/terms_of_service.html) or the Google Privacy Policy, the Knol Terms of Service shall control.

1.      Description of Service. 

1.1.   Knol is an online knowledge resource that allows users to share and add content collaboratively (the “Service” or “Knol”).  You understand and agree that the Service is provided to you on an AS IS and AS AVAILABLE basis. Google disclaims all responsibility and liability for the availability, timeliness, security or reliability of the Service or any other client software. Google also reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the Service with or without notice at any time and without any liability to you.

1.2.   You must be at least thirteen (13) years of age to use the Service. Google reserves the right to refuse service to anyone at any time without notice for any reason.

1.3.   You will be responsible for all activities occurring under your Knol Account username and for keeping your password secure.  As used in this Agreement, “Knol Account” will refer to any and all accounts you establish on Knol as an Author, Co-Author, Collaborator, Reviewer, or user; “knols” will refer to individual essays or articles submitted using the Service.    

2.      Content Accessed Through Knol. 

2.1.   Objectionable Material.  You may encounter content through the use of Knol that you find offensive, including health-related and medical content that is sexually explicit.  By their very nature, knols may include offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate material, or in some cases, content that has been mislabeled or is otherwise deceptive. We expect that you will use caution and common sense and exercise proper judgment when using Knol.

2.2.   Knol is for General Informational Purposes Only. Some of the material shared through Knol may offer information relating to professional topics, such as medical, legal, or financial issues.  This material is presented for general informational purposes only, and should not be construed as professional advice. No action should be taken based upon any information contained in the Service. You should seek independent professional advice from a person who is licensed and/or knowledgeable in the applicable area before acting upon any opinion, advice, or information contained in the Service.

2.3.   No Editorial Role.  Much of the content of Knol -- including the contents of specific knols -- is provided by and is the responsibility of the person or people who submitted the content. Google does not monitor or edit the content of knols, and takes no responsibility for such content. Instead, Google merely provides access to such content as a service to you.

2.4.   No Endorsement. Google does not endorse, support, represent or guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of any content submitted via the Service or endorse any opinions expressed via the Service. You acknowledge that any reliance on content posted via the Service will be at your own risk. 

3.      Proper Use of the Knol Service.

3.1.   You agree that you are responsible for your use of the Service, the use of your Knol Account, for any content you submit, solicit, or approve, and for any consequences thereof. You agree that you will use the Service in compliance with all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules and regulations, including any laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from your country of residence and all United States export control laws.

3.2.   You agree to abide by the Knol Content Policy (http://knol.google.com/k/knol-help/content-policy/si57lahl1w25/13) and the rules and restrictions therein. Although we may attempt to notify you when major changes are made to the Knol Content Policy, you should periodically review the most up-to-date version. Google may, in its sole discretion, modify or revise the Knol Content Policy at any time, and you agree to be bound by such modifications or revisions.

3.3.  Violation of any of the foregoing, including the Knol Content Policy (http://knol.google.com/k/knol-help/content-policy/si57lahl1w25/13), may result in immediate termination of this Agreement, and may subject you to state and federal penalties and other legal consequences. Google reserves the right, but shall have no obligation, to investigate your use of the Service in order to (a) determine whether a violation of the Agreement has occurred or (b) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request.

3.4.  Google reserves the right to refuse to accept, post, display or transmit any content in its sole discretion.  You agree that Google has no responsibility or liability for the deletion of, or the failure to store or to transmit, any knol, content, or other communications maintained by the Service.  Google retains the right to create limits on use and storage at our sole discretion at any time, with or without notice.

3.5.  Google takes no responsibility for third-party content (including, without limitation, any viruses or other disabling features), nor does Google have any obligation to monitor such third-party content.  Google also reserves the right to access, read, preserve, and disclose any information as it reasonably believes is necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request; (b) enforce this Agreement, including investigation of potential violations of the Agreement; (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues; (d) respond to user support requests; or (e) protect the rights, property or safety of Google or its users, licensors, and partners, or the public.  Google will not be responsible or liable for the exercise or non-exercise of its rights under this Agreement.   

4.      Authors, Owners, Users, and Collaborators. 

4.1.  Ways to Share Knowledge.  Knol is a powerful tool that allows people to discover, write about, collaborate and share a wealth of knowledge and information.  There are several ways to participate in Knol.  Writers who create a knol (“Authors”) can use the Service to create, revise, edit, and publish their content, and can also invite others to share in creating their knol in a variety of ways.  Those invited by an Author to edit and revise a knol are Co-Authors, and have the same rights to edit the knol, approve moderated revisions to the knol, and extend review invitations for the knol as does the original Author.  Where an Author allows collaborative suggestions from other, non-invited writers, those non-invited writers are known as Collaborators.  Groups of individuals working together on a knol (whether as Authors, Co-Authors, Owners, or Collaborators) are known as an “Author Team.”  To become a Knol Author, Owner, Co-Author, or Collaborator, you must register for a Knol Account through the Knol author tool located at http://knol.google.com.   

4.2.   Ownership and Management of Knols.  The original Author who first creates a given knol is by default an “Owner” of that knol with respect to administering and managing settings for that knol, including the ability to invite and remove other members of the Author Team, and the ability to change collaboration model options, copyright licensing options, AdSense options, and such other Owner administrative privileges as may be provided through the Service by Google in its sole discretion (together, the “Administrative Settings”). 

4.3.   Owners’ Ability to Act on Behalf of Author Team.  If you are a member of an Author Team, you agree that the Owner(s) of the knol shall have the right to act on behalf of all members of the Author Team with regard to Administrative Settings for that knol; you hereby agree that Google may treat all changes in and to the Administrative Settings made by any Owner of a knol as if they were explicitly authorized by you as a member of the Author Team, without regard to any actual or potential joint copyright ownership or private contractual agreement among Author Team members.  If you are an Owner of a team-authored knol, it is your responsibility to consult with and obtain consent from the other members of the Author Team as may be permitted or required by law in order to effect changes to Administrative Settings and other features for your collaboratively authored knol.  You agree that Google has no obligation to intervene in or resolve disputes among members of an Author Team, and that Google will have no responsibility or liability for any claim arising out of such disputes.  To the extent that Google enables Authors to transfer Ownership of a knol, you hereby agree that by either initiating or allowing a change in Owner status for a given knol, you accept and agree to the subsequent expansion or reduction, as applicable, of your ability to manage Administrative Settings for that knol. 

4.4.  Collaboration Models.  As part of the rights and responsibilities of controlling Administrative Settings for a knol, an Owner may choose the collaboration model for that knol.  A choice of closed collaboration means that knol Owners prohibit all editing and revisions by Collaborators, allowing only revisions by other Authors, Owners, and Co-Authors (who may edit the knol in real time and whose changes are incorporated into the knol without approval from an Owner).  A choice of moderated collaboration means that knol Owners will accept suggested revisions from Collaborators, but retain the right to have those suggested Collaborator revisions approved by an Owner, Author, or Co-Author before such revisions are incorporated into the knol.  A choice of open collaboration means that knol Owners allow all suggestions made by Collaborators to be immediately incorporated into the knol without any need for approval.  Knol Owners may change the collaboration model for a knol at any time.  By selecting a collaboration model, an Owner agrees on his or her own behalf, and on behalf of any other member of the Author Team, to allow the modification, revision, editing, and creation of derivative works based on the relevant knol in accordance with the selected collaboration model as described above. By submitting suggested revisions, Collaborators agree that their submissions may be incorporated into the knol under the licensing terms selected by the Owner, and that the Owner has the right to manage the Administrative Settings for the knol as described above.

4.5.  Comments.  Any user is free to post comments in response to knols. Comments will not be incorporated directly into the knol itself, but may be shown in connection with the knol and be available for viewing by readers and other users.

4.6.  Reviews.  Any user is free to write a review of a knol.  In addition, both Authors and Co-Authors of a knol can invite another person to write a review of their knol.  You agree that any member of an Author Team who extends an invitation to a Reviewer acts on behalf of the entire Author Team, and that the resulting review may be posted in conjunction with a knol, regardless of the content of the review. 

4.7.   AdSense Participation.  Knol provides Owners the option of allowing Google-placed advertisements to appear alongside their knols through AdSense for Content, Google's content-targeted advertising program.  This means that Owners do not select keywords or categories for ads on their knols. Instead, Google's servers determine what your knol is about and display the most relevant ads to your readers. Owners can apply for participation in the AdSense program on Knol by selecting this option in their Administrative Settings and signing up through the interface located there.  Owners can join their existing AdSense account to their knols, or, if not already an AdSense account holder, apply for a new AdSense account.  Please note that AdSense participation is subject to (a) AdSense Terms and Conditions, which are located at https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms, (b) AdSense Program Policies, at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=48182, and (c) the usual application and approval process associated with Google’s AdSense program.  Knol users are not guaranteed approval or acceptance into the AdSense program and applications from Knol users will be neither distinguished from nor treated any differently than any other application to AdSense.  Because an Owner of a knol both controls and is responsible for the AdSense account associated with a given knol, all distributions and payments resulting from a knol’s AdSense monetization will be directed to the knol Owner to whom the related AdSense account is linked, and not to any other members of an Author Team, without regard to any actual or potential joint copyright ownership or private contractual agreement among Author Team members.  It shall be the responsibility of the members of an Author Team to agree among themselves regarding any division of monies or payments derived from or associated with their knol’s inclusion in the AdSense program, and you hereby agree that Google shall have no obligation to make AdSense payments to any individual other than the linked AdSense account holder, and that Google shall have no involvement, liability or responsibility in connection with any dispute arising therefrom.

4.8.  Author Profiles. You may create and modify your Knol Author profile associated with your Knol Account provided you give accurate information, and comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and legal obligations. 

5.      Your Intellectual Property Rights.

5.1.  No Google Ownership of User Content.  Google claims no ownership or control over any content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through the Service. You or a third party licensor, as appropriate, retain all patent, trademark and copyright to any content you submit, post or display on or through the Service and you are responsible for protecting those rights, as appropriate.

5.2.  License to Use Google-Provided Third-Party Materials.  Google may occasionally provide you with certain third-party materials (such as cartoons, images, and other content) that we have licensed from the copyright owner, allowing Knol users to incorporate the material into their knols under certain terms and conditions (“Licensed Content”).  Such Licensed Content, when available, will be provided to you as an option for inclusion in your knol at our discretion through the Knol author tool.   Google hereby grants you a limited, royalty-free license to use such Licensed Content as may be available through the Knol author tool in your knol on the Service, in exactly the manner and format provided to you through the Knol author tool, and in no other manner or location.  Your use of Licensed Content is subject to the terms and conditions of our agreement with our Licensed Content partners, and your ability to use the Licensed Content may be terminated or disabled at any time for any reason, at Google’s sole discretion.  You hereby agree that you will not use the Licensed Content in any manner other than that specified through the Knol author tool, and that you have no rights in or to the Licensed Content other than the limited right to use it on and through the Service as specified in this Agreement.

5.3.  License to Author Team.  By soliciting, accepting, or approving the contributions of Author Team members, you agree to extend to them all necessary rights (including the right to modify, revise, edit, and create derivate works from your knol, as applicable) to submit and have their contributions incorporated into your knol.

5.4.  License from Author Team.  By submitting your contribution as a member of an Author Team, you agree to abide by the licensing terms and other Administrative Settings selected by the Owner(s) of the knol to which you are contributing, and to extend to the knol’s Owner and other members of the Author Team, as applicable, all necessary rights (including the right to modify, revise, edit, and create derivative works from your contribution, as applicable) to include your contributions in their knol.

5.5.  Owner’s Licensing Options.  As part of the rights and responsibilities of controlling Administrative Settings for a knol, an Owner must choose the licensing model for that knol, which will define the rights governing use of that knol by the public at large.  An Owner may select either an “all rights reserved” model of traditional copyright, or you may choose the “some rights reserved” model, by which you agree to submit, post, publish, and display your knol through the Service under a Creative Commons license as presented in the Administrative Settings interface.  An Owner may change the selected licensing option at any time.  Please note, however, that a license may not be revoked as to those who have already used your work in reliance on the license granted, so modifications to your license option will apply only prospectively.  Please also be aware that the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) is not currently deemed compatible with Creative Commons licenses, and that content licensed under GFDL terms therefore may not be available for reuse under a Creative Commons or other non-GFDL license.  For the avoidance of doubt, Google may choose to exercise the rights granted under (a) the Creative Commons public licenses, if any, you apply to your materials or (b) this Agreement.   

6.      Google’s Intellectual Property Rights.

 You acknowledge that Google owns all right, title and interest in and to the Service, including all intellectual property rights (the "Google Rights"). Google Rights are protected by U.S. and international intellectual property laws. Accordingly, you agree that you will not copy, reproduce, alter, modify, or create derivative works from the Service or Licensed Content. You also agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automated device, or manual process to monitor or copy any content from the Service, except as permitted in connection with the regular indexing of content and webpages as carried out by Internet search engines.   Unless expressly authorized in writing by Google, you agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, trade, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes (a) any portion of the Service, (b) use of the Service, or (c) access to the Service.

7.      Reservation of Google Rights.

 You understand and agree that nothing will restrict Google from using or displaying content Google obtains from a source other than you.   Nothing in this Agreement affects any right that either party would have had, or shall have, independent of the Agreement including but not limited to rights under the U.S. Copyright Act or analogous laws in other jurisdictions. 

8.      License to Google.

 By submitting, posting or displaying content as an Author, Co-Author, Collaborator, Commenter, Reviewer, or User on or through the Service,  you grant to Google a non‑exclusive, perpetual, worldwide and royalty-free right and license to (i) use, copy, distribute, transmit, modify, create derivative works based on, publicly perform (including but not limited to by digital audio transmission), and publicly display the content through Google services; (ii) allow other users to access and use the content through Google services; and (iii) permit Google to display advertisements on the Google sites containing the content.  In addition, you grant to Google a nonexclusive, perpetual, worldwide and royalty-free license to use your name, likeness, image, voice, and biographical information (and, where applicable, your trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, and other business identifiers) in connection with the content and Google’s use of the content through the Google services.   

9.      Privacy.

As a condition of using the Service, you agree to the terms of the Google Privacy Policy (http://www.google.com/privacy.html), which may be updated from time to time, as expressed in the most recent version that exists at the time of your use.  You agree that Google may access or disclose your personal information, including the content of your communications, if Google is required to do so in order to comply with any valid legal process or governmental request (such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order), or as otherwise provided in these Terms of Service and the general Google Privacy Policy.  Personal information collected by Google may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Google Inc. or its agents maintain facilities.  By using the Service, you consent to any such transfer of information outside your country. 

10.  Publicity.

Any use of Google’s trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features (“Brand Features”), including “Knol,” “knols,” and “knol.google.com” must be in compliance with this Agreement and in compliance with Google’s then current Brand Features use guidelines, and any content contained or referenced therein, which may be found at the following URL:  http://www.google.com/permissions/guidelines.html (or such other URL as Google may provide from time to time). 

11.  Representations and Warranties.

You represent and warrant that (a) you have full power and authority to enter into this agreement, (b) that you have all necessary rights to grant the licenses set forth in this Agreement, (c) that your submission of content does not violate any obligation you owe to a third party, and (d) that all of the information provided by you to Google to participate in the Service is correct and current.  You also represent and warrant that (a) to the extent that your knol presents factual information, that the information is factually accurate, (b) the material presented in your knol reflects your sound scholarly, professional, and/or learned presentation of the subject matter of the knol.

12.  Indemnification.

You agree to hold harmless and indemnify Google, and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, licensors, and employees from and against any third-party claim (including any claim involving Authors, Co-Authors, Collaborators, Reviewers, Commenters, and Users) arising from or in any way related to your use of the Service, including any liability or expense arising from all claims, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys' fees, of every kind and nature.  In such a case, Google will provide you with written notice of such claim, suit or action. 

13.  Term and Termination.

Google may, in its sole discretion, at any time and for any reason, terminate the Service, terminate this Agreement, or suspend or terminate your account. In the event of termination, your account will be disabled and you may not be granted access to your account or any files or other content contained in your account although residual copies of information may remain in our system for some time for back-up purposes. Sections  2, 3, 4-8 and 9-16 of this Terms of Service, along with applicable provisions of the general Terms of Service, shall survive expiration or termination.

14. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT:

1. YOUR USE OF KNOL IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. KNOL IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. GOOGLE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
2. GOOGLE MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT (i) KNOL WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (ii) THE USE OF KNOL WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, (iii) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF KNOL WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, (iv) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH KNOL WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND (V) ANY ERRORS IN THE SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED.
3. ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF KNOL IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL.
4. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM GOOGLE OR THROUGH OR FROM KNOL SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THE TERMS OF SERVICE.

15. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT GOOGLE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF GOOGLE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES) RESULTING FROM: (i) THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE GOOGLE SERVICES; (ii) THE COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS AND SERVICES RESULTING FROM ANY GOODS, DATA, INFORMATION OR SERVICES PURCHASED OR OBTAINED OR MESSAGES RECEIVED OR TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO THROUGH OR FROM GOOGLE SERVICES; (iii) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (iv) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON GOOGLE SERVICES; OR (v) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO GOOGLE SERVICES.

16.  General Terms

       If you have not signed a separate written agreement with Google related to the Service, this Agreement is the entire agreement between you and Google related to the Service, replacing any prior agreements.  If there is any conflict between this Agreement and a signed written agreement between you and Google related to the Service, the signed written agreement will control.  You may also be subject to additional terms and conditions that may apply when you use or purchase certain other Google services, affiliate services, third-party content or third-party software.

You agree that Google may provide you with notices, including those regarding changes to the Agreement, by email, regular mail, or postings on Google services.

The parties are independent contractors, and this Agreement does not create an agency, partnership or joint venture.

Google’s licensors may be third-party beneficiaries to this Agreement.  There are no other third-party beneficiaries to this Agreement.  The parties are independent contractors, and nothing in this Agreement, as between Google and any other party, creates an agency, partnership, or joint venture.

If Google provides you with a translation of the English language version of this Agreement, the English language version of this Agreement will control if there is any conflict. 

Failure to enforce a provision in this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of that provision.  If any provision is found unenforceable, it and any related provisions will be interpreted to best accomplish the unenforceable provision’s essential purpose.    

You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising of or related to use of Google services or the Agreement must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred. 

These terms are governed by California law, excluding California’s choice of law rules. The exclusive venue for any dispute relating to these Terms is the state and federal courts located in Santa Clara County, California, and you and Google consent to personal jurisdiction in the state and federal courts there. Nothing in these Terms limits your or Google’s ability to seek equitable relief. 

17.  Copyright Information.  It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).  If you believe that your copyright has been infringed on the Service, please refer to http://www.google.com/dmca_knol.html for information on how to file or respond to a notice of infringement.