Last Updated: November 2022

Please read these Terms of Use (this “Agreement”) carefully. This Agreement is between The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (“ICIJ,” “we,” or “us”) and you or the entity that you represent (as applicable), and relates to your access to or use of the website located at https://www.icij.org, together with all content and data to the extent made available through such website (the “Service”).

By accessing or using the Service, you agree to this Agreement. Your access to or use of the Service is also governed by ICIJ’s Privacy Policy (the “Privacy Policy”).

You represent and warrant that you are of legal age and are not a person barred from receiving the Service under the laws of the United States or other applicable jurisdiction. If you are not of legal age, you must not use the Service. You also represent and warrant that you are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in this Agreement, and to abide by and comply with this Agreement.

If you are an individual accessing or using the Service on behalf of, or for the benefit of, any corporation, partnership, or other entity with which you are associated (an “Organization”), then you are agreeing to this Agreement on behalf of yourself and such Organization, and you represent and warrant that you have the legal authority to bind such Organization to this Agreement. References to “you” and “your” in this Agreement refer to both the individual using the Service and to any such Organization.

This Agreement contains a mandatory arbitration provision that, as further set forth below, requires the use of arbitration on an individual basis to resolve disputes, rather than jury trials or any other court proceedings, or class actions of any kind.

Changes to this Agreement

ICIJ may modify this Agreement from time to time. Such modifications will be effective immediately upon notice to you either by (1) email or conventional mail, (2) posting a revised version of this Agreement on ICIJ’s website (which you agree shall be deemed constructive notice), or (3) any other reasonable means. Your continued use of the Service following notice of any modification to this Agreement constitutes your acceptance of the modified Agreement. The “Last Updated” date above indicates when this Agreement was last changed. ICIJ recommends you check this Agreement frequently for changes. ICIJ may, at any time and without liability, modify or discontinue all or part of the Service (including access to the Service via any third-party links) or offer opportunities to some or all Service users.

Use of Service – Limited License

The Service is proprietary to ICIJ and, with the exception of User Submissions and Outside Content, all content provided through the Service is owned by ICIJ. Conditioned upon your compliance with this Agreement, you may access and view the Service solely for your personal, noncommercial use. Unless you have written authorization to do so from ICIJ, or ICIJ publishes a particular piece of content under license terms that explicitly grant permission to do so, you may NOT make commercial use of the Service and may NOT reprint, republish, or distribute content available through the Service in any manner. Other than as expressly provided in this Agreement, ICIJ and its licensors reserve all rights in and to the Service. You agree to be jointly and severally liable for all actions of all individuals who use the Service on your behalf.

Donations

We may allow you to donate to ICIJ through the Service. We work with third-party payment processors to process all donations. If you choose to make a donation to ICIJ through the Service, such third-party payment processor may collect and store information about you and your donation. Please review the Privacy Policy for more information.

You represent and warrant that, for all donations, (1) you will not use an invalid or unauthorized payment method, (2) you agree to be charged using the payment method you designate, and (3) all donations are final and non-refundable (except as otherwise determined in ICIJ’s sole discretion).

If you make a donation through the Service, you agree to pay any applicable fees (including standard credit card processing fees) and taxes.

User Submissions

Users of the Service may make available certain materials (each, a “User Submission”) through or in connection with the Service. ICIJ has no control over and is not responsible for any use or misuse (including any distribution) by any third party of User Submissions. If you choose to make any of your personally identifiable or other information publicly available through the Service, you do so at your own risk.

For purposes of clarity, you retain ownership of your User Submissions. For each User Submission, you hereby grant to ICIJ a worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, and fully sublicensable (through multiple tiers) license, without additional consideration to you or any third party, to reproduce, distribute, perform and display (publicly or otherwise), create derivative works of, adapt, modify, and otherwise use, analyze, and exploit such User Submission, in any format or media now known or hereafter developed, and for any purpose (including promotional purposes, such as testimonials).

In addition, if you provide to us any ideas, proposals, suggestions or other materials (“Feedback”), whether related to the Service or otherwise, such Feedback will be deemed a User Submission, and you hereby acknowledge and agree that such Feedback is not confidential, and that your provision of such Feedback is gratuitous, unsolicited, and without restriction, and does not place ICIJ under any fiduciary or other obligation.

You represent, warrant, and covenant that you have all rights necessary to grant the licenses granted in this section, and that your User Submissions, and your provision thereof through and in connection with the Service, are complete and accurate, and are not fraudulent, tortious, or otherwise in violation of any applicable law or any right of any third party. You further irrevocably waive any “moral rights” or other rights with respect to attribution of authorship or integrity of materials regarding each User Submission that you may have under any applicable law under any legal theory.

We may (but have no obligation to) monitor, evaluate, alter, or remove User Submissions before or after they appear on the Service, or analyze your access to or use of the Service. Your submission of information, including User Submissions, through the Service is governed by the Privacy Policy.

ICIJ takes the protection of its sources seriously. If you submit tips or leak information to ICIJ in a manner designated by ICIJ for such submissions, the information you submit will be considered a User Submission for purposes of this Agreement, but ICIJ will make every possible lawful effort to protect your identity as submitter of such information (consistent with journalistic standards).

Rules of Conduct

In connection with the Service, you must not:

  • Post, transmit, or otherwise make available through or in connection with the Service any materials that are or may be: (1) threatening, harassing, degrading, hateful, or intimidating, or otherwise fail to respect the rights and dignity of others; (2) defamatory, libelous, fraudulent, or otherwise tortious; or (3) obscene, indecent, pornographic, or otherwise objectionable.
  • Post, transmit, or otherwise make available through or in connection with the Service any virus, worm, Trojan horse, Easter egg, time bomb, spyware, or other computer code, file, or program that is or is potentially harmful or invasive or intended to damage or hijack the operation of, or to monitor the use of, any hardware, software, or equipment (each, a “Virus”).
  • Use the Service for any purpose that is fraudulent or otherwise tortious or unlawful.
  • Harvest or collect information about users of the Service.
  • Interfere with or disrupt the operation of the Service or the servers or networks used to make the Service available, including by hacking or defacing any portion of the Service; or violate any requirement, procedure, or policy of such servers or networks.
  • Restrict or inhibit any other person from using the Service.
  • Reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, create derivative works of, sell, rent, lease, loan, timeshare, distribute, or otherwise exploit any portion of (or any use of) the Service except as expressly authorized herein, without ICIJ’s express prior written consent.
  • Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any portion of the Service, except where such restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable law.
  • Remove any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary rights notice from the Service.
  • Frame or mirror any portion of the Service, or otherwise incorporate any portion of the Service into any product or service, without ICIJ’s express prior written consent.
  • Systematically download and store the Service content.

Subject to compliance with any instructions posted in the robots.txt file located in the Service’s root directory, ICIJ grants to the operators of public search engines permission to use spiders to copy materials from the Service for the sole purpose of (and solely to the extent necessary for) creating publicly available, searchable indices of such materials, but not caches or archives of such materials. ICIJ reserves the right to revoke such permission either generally or in specific cases, at any time and without notice.

You are responsible for obtaining, maintaining and paying for all hardware and all telecommunications and other services needed to use the Service.

Compliance with Laws

As a condition of your access to and use of the Service, you agree that you will not use the Service for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by this Agreement and that you will comply with all applicable laws and any conditions or restrictions imposed by this Agreement.

Our Proprietary Rights

We and our suppliers own the Service, which is protected by proprietary rights and laws. All trade names, trademarks, service marks, and logos on the Service are the property of us or their respective owners. You may not use our trade names, trademarks, service marks, or logos in connection with any product or service that is not ours, or in any manner that is likely to cause confusion. Nothing contained on the Service should be construed as granting any right to use any trade names, trademarks, service marks, or logos without the express prior written consent of the owner.

Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation on Liability

While we try to maintain the timeliness, integrity, and security of the Service, we do not guarantee that the Service is or will remain updated, complete, correct, or secure, or that access to the Service will be uninterrupted. The Service may include inaccuracies, errors, and materials that violate or conflict with this Agreement.

To the fullest extent permitted under applicable law, (1) the Service is provided on an “as is,” “where is,” and “where available” basis, without any warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, and (2) ICIJ disclaims all warranties, express, implied, or statutory, including the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and title, with respect to the Service. We neither warrant nor represent that the services or information available through the Service will enable you to achieve any particular result or outcome, legal, economic, educational, or otherwise.

To the fullest extent permitted under applicable law, (1) ICIJ, its directors, employees, contract employees, independent contractors, outside contributors, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertisers, and agents (together, the “ICIJ Parties”) will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages of any kind, under any contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or other theory, including damages for loss of profits, use or data, loss of other intangibles, loss of security of User Submissions (including unauthorized interception by third parties of any User Submissions), even if advised in advance of the possibility of such damages or losses; (2) without limiting the foregoing, The ICIJ Parties will not be liable for damages of any kind resulting from your use of or inability to use the Service, including from any Virus that may be transmitted in connection therewith; (3) your sole and exclusive remedy for dissatisfaction with the Service is to stop using the Service; and (4) the maximum aggregate liability of ICIJ for all damages, losses, and causes of action, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, shall be one hundred dollars ($100.00).

All limitations of liability of any kind in this Agreement, including in this section, are made for the benefit of the ICIJ Parties and their respective successors and assigns.

Indemnity

To the fullest extent permitted under applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the ICIJ Parties, and their respective successors and assigns, from and against all claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses, and fees (including attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to (1) your use of, or activities in connection with, the Service (including all User Submissions), and (2) any violation or alleged violation of this Agreement by you.

Third-Party Content and Advertisers

The Service may contain information, products, services, or other content made available by a third party other than ICIJ, including without limitation articles licensed to ICIJ, third-party advertisements, and content made available via links (collectively, “Outside Content”). You understand that Outside Content available through the Service is the sole responsibility of the person or entity who created such content. You acknowledge that ICIJ does not control nor endorse, nor is it responsible for, Outside Content and, as such, ICIJ does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, quality, validity, timeliness, completeness, reliability, legality, usefulness or safety of such Outside Content or any intellectual property rights therein. Certain Outside Content may, among other things, be inaccurate, misleading, or deceptive. Nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to be a representation or warranty by ICIJ with respect to any Outside Content. We have no obligation to monitor Outside Content, but we may block or disable access to any Outside Content (in whole or part) through the Service at any time. In addition, the availability of any Outside Content through the Service does not imply our endorsement of, or our affiliation with, any provider of such Outside Content, nor does such availability create any legal relationship between you and any such provider. By accessing Outside Content through the Service, you are directing us to access, route, and transmit to you the applicable Outside Content.

Your use of Outside Content is at your own risk and is subject to any additional terms, conditions, and policies applicable to such Outside Content (such as terms of service or privacy policies of the providers of such Outside Content).

DMCA and Copyright Infringement

It is ICIJ’s policy to comply with the Copyright Act and with the notice and take-down provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”). If you believe in good faith that materials available on the Service infringe your copyright, you or your agent may contact us by sending us a notice as provided under the then-current statutory requirements imposed by the DMCA. If you believe that a notice of copyright infringement has been wrongly filed, you may submit a DMCA-compliant counter-notice.

Notices and counter-notices with respect to the Service should be sent to: Hamish Boland-Rudder, ICIJ, Inc., 1730 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Suite 317, Washington, D.C. 20036. See http://www.copyright.gov/ for details and a list of information you must submit to ICIJ with your notice or counter-notice.

Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

This Agreement is governed by and shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the District of Columbia, without regard to its principles of conflicts of law.

Except for disputes that qualify for small claims court, all disputes arising out of or related to this Agreement or any aspect of the relationship between you and ICIJ, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation, or any other legal theory, will be resolved through final and binding arbitration before a neutral arbitrator instead of in a court by a judge or jury, and each of ICIJ and you hereby waive the right to trial by a jury. Each of ICIJ and you hereby agree that any arbitration under this Agreement will take place on an individual basis; class arbitrations and class actions are not permitted and you hereby agree to give up the ability to participate in a class action. The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules (currently available at https://www.adr.org/sites/default/files/Consumer%20Rules.pdf), as amended by this Agreement. The arbitrator will conduct hearings, if any, by teleconference or videoconference, rather than by personal appearances, unless the arbitrator determines upon request by you or by us that an in-person hearing is appropriate. Any in-person appearances will be held at a location which is reasonably convenient to both parties with due consideration of their ability to travel and other pertinent circumstances. If the parties are unable to agree on a location, such determination should be made by the AAA or by the arbitrator. The arbitrator’s decision will follow the terms of this Agreement and will be final and binding. The arbitrator will have authority to award temporary, interim, or permanent injunctive relief or relief providing for specific performance of this Agreement, but only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by the individual claim before the arbitrator. The award rendered by the arbitrator may be confirmed and enforced in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, nothing in this Agreement will preclude you from bringing issues to the attention of federal, state, or local agencies and, if the law allows, they can seek relief against us for you.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, for all claims arising out of or related to this Agreement or the Service that are not subject to arbitration under the previous paragraph, you agree to personal jurisdiction by the courts located in the District of Columbia, and waive any jurisdictional, venue, or inconvenient forum objections to such courts. If you are outside the United States, you further agree that the remedy for any breach of this Agreement involving unauthorized access or other infringement of our intellectual property rights shall be an award of damages equivalent to the statutory damages recoverable under the United States Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 501 et seq.

Termination

This Agreement is effective until terminated. ICIJ may terminate or suspend your use of the Service at any time and without prior notice, for any or no reason, including if ICIJ believes that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of this Agreement. Upon any such termination or suspension, your right to use the Service will immediately cease, and ICIJ may, without liability to you or any third party, immediately deactivate or delete any login credentials, account information, and all associated materials, without any obligation to provide any further access to such materials. Other than the “Use of Service – Limited License” section, the remainder of this Agreement shall survive any expiration or termination of this Agreement.

Miscellaneous

This Agreement does not, and shall not be construed to, create any partnership, joint venture, employer-employee, agency, or franchisor-franchisee relationship between you and ICIJ. If any provision of this Agreement is found to be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, that provision will be deemed severable from this Agreement and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provision. You may not assign, transfer, or sublicense any or all of your rights or obligations under this Agreement without our express prior written consent, and any attempted assignment, transfer, or sublicense without such consent shall be void. We may assign, transfer, or sublicense any or all of our rights or obligations under this Agreement without restriction. No waiver by either party of any breach or default under this Agreement will be deemed to be a waiver of any preceding or subsequent breach or default. Any heading, caption or section title contained herein is for convenience only, and in no way defines or explains any section or provision. All terms defined in the singular shall have the same meanings when used in the plural, where appropriate and unless otherwise specified. Any use of the term “including” or variations thereof in this Agreement shall be construed as if followed by the phrase “without limitation.” This Agreement, including the Privacy Policy and any terms and conditions incorporated herein and therein, is the entire agreement between you and ICIJ relating to the subject matter hereof, and supersedes any and all prior or contemporaneous written or oral agreements or understandings between you and ICIJ relating to such subject matter. Notices to you (including notices of changes to this Agreement) may be made via posting to the Service or by email (including in each case via links), or by regular mail. Without limitation, a printed version of this Agreement and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this Agreement to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form. ICIJ will not be responsible for any failure to fulfill any obligation due to any cause beyond its control.