Legal

Welcome to Ghostmistress!

The Ghostmistress.com site is an online literary forum that allows teens to share, review and promote writing.  Before you start using the Website, please take a few minutes to read the following so that you understand the rules of the road.

1.  Your Agreement

  • If you don’t agree with the Posting Guidelines and the Privacy Policy, then we ask that you please not use the Website.
  • You must be at least 13 years old to register with or submit your writing to the Website.
  • From time to time, we may make changes to the Posting Guidelines and the Privacy Policy.  Once we post such changes on the Website, those changes will apply to your use of the Website going forward, so please check the Website regularly for any changes.

    • 2.  Accounts

  • You do not need to sign up for a user account (an “Account”) in order to access the parts of the Website that are available to the general public.  However, some parts of the Website are restricted to users with Accounts.  In order to access those parts of the Website, you will have to create an Account.
  • By creating an Account you are representing that (a) all registration information you submit is truthful and accurate and (b) you are at least 13 years old.
  • Your Account is personal to you.  You are solely responsible for the activity that occurs on your Account, so you should keep your Account password secure.  Please notify Ghostmistress immediately of any unauthorized use of your Account.  You are not allowed to use any other user’s Account.
  • Ghostmistress reserves the right to terminate any Account and/or take down your profile for any reason in Ghostmistress’s sole discretion.

    • 3.  General Rules and Regulations
    You must abide by the following rules and regulations when you use the website:

  • You agree not to use the Website to solicit Website users or to collect or use for commercial purposes any personally-identifiable information regarding Website users,
  • You may access the Website’s content only through conventional access to the Website itself, and not through any automated means (e.g., “spiders”).  (However, operators of public search engines are permitted to use spiders to copy materials from the Website for as necessary for creating publicly available searchable indices of the materials.)
  • You agree not to use the Website in any manner that interferes with, disrupts or creates an undue burden on the Website or the networks or services that support the Website.
  • You agree not to use the any information obtained from the Website in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person.
  • You must use the Website strictly in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
  • Ghostmistress reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate action against anyone who in believes may be violating any of these provisions, including by reporting that person to law enforcement authorities.

    • 4.  Publications

  • If you register for an Account, you will be able to submit stories and other writings, which may include multimedia such as videos and photographs, that you have created for posting on the Website.
  • By submitting your work to us, you represent that (1) such work is your original work of authorship and (2) the work complies with Ghostmistress’s Posting Guidelines.  You are solely responsible for your own work and the consequences of posting them on the Website.
  • You will retain all of your ownership rights in your work.  You grant Ghostmistress a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable license to (i) use, copy, distribute and display your work in connection with the operation and promotion of the Ghostmistress Website. Ghostmistress will contact you and request your permission prior to using, copying, selling, distributing, creating derivative works, and translating your work in the form of an anthology in any format, including, without limitation, in hardcover, paperback, and electronic form. Ghostmistress will not use your work in an anthology without your permission.
  • Ghostmistress has no obligation to post any work that is submitted to the Website.  Ghostmistress has the right, but not the obligation, to review the content of the work, and may remove any work from the Website at any time at its sole discretion.
  • Ghostmistress does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of any work.  You understand that when using the Ghostmistress Website, you will be exposed to work from a variety of sources, and that it is possible that you may find the content of a work to be objectionable.  If you believe that a work does not meet the requirements of Ghostmistress’s Posting Guidelines, please let us know and we will investigate the matter.

    • 5.  User Community

  • If you create an Account, you may be provided access to various Website features (for example, user profile pages; comments pages and messaging features) that allow you to participate in the Website’s User Community.
  • You are solely responsible for any messages, comments, profiles, multimedia, and other information that you submit to the User Community.  Ghostmistress does not endorse the User Community Content.  When participating in the User Community, please treat others with respect.  You agree not to post any User Community Content that violates Ghostmistress’s Content Policy that is described below.  Ghostmistress has the right, but not the obligation, to review the User Community Content, and may remove any User Community Content from the Website at any time at its sole discretion.
  • If your Publication is posted on the Website, others in the User Community will be invited to post comments regarding your Publication.  As the Website is a platform for the exchange of creative ideas and views, you understand that Comments made may be negative as well as positive, and that you might not  agree with the comments of other users.

    • 6.  Content Policy. You will not submit any Publication or User Community Content (collectively, “Content”) to the Website that:

  • contains sexually explicit, obscene, defamatory or libelous material;
  • promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual;
  • harasses or advocates harassment of another person;
  • promotes illegal activities or conduct;
  • contains any telephone numbers, street addresses or email addresses of any individual;
  • violates any copyright or right of publicity or privacy; or
  • is contrary to any applicable law.

    • If you believe that your work has been copied on the Website in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide Ghostmistress’s agent with notice in accordance with the requirements of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, including (i) a description of the copyrighted work that has been infringed and the specific location on this Website where such work is located; (ii) a description of the location of the original or an authorized copy of the copyrighted work; (iii) your address, telephone number and e-mail address; (iv) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; (v) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf; and (vi) an electronic or physical signature of the owner of the copyright or the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest.

  • Libel

    • If you believe the Website contains material that is libelous of you or otherwise violates your non-copyright interests, please notify us.  Ghostmistress will make all reasonable endeavors to investigate your concern within a reasonable time and, if appropriate, remove the offending Content.

    8.  Links to Third Party Websites. The Ghostmistress Website may contain links to third party websites.  Any such links are provided for your convenience only.  Ghostmistress does not control those websites, and is not responsible for their contents or practices, including their privacy practices.  Ghostmistress does not endorse the operators of those sites, nor does Ghostmistress endorse or make any representations with respect to the contents of those sites or any products offered on those sites.

    9. Miscellaneous Legal Stuff

    • Ghostmistress is not in any manner responsible for the communications and materials posted or created by users accessing the Website. You acknowledge that by providing yourself with the ability to view and distribute Content on the Website, Ghostmistress is merely acting as a passive conduit for such distribution and is not undertaking any obligation or liability relating to any Content or activities on the Website.
    • This Website and the Content and any other materials provided through the Website are provided “as is” and without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. GHOSTMISTRESS DOES NOT MAKE, AND HEREBY DISCLAIMS, ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THIS WEBSITE, THE CONTENT AND ANY OTHER MATERIALS PROVIDED THROUGHOUT THE WEBSITE, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM A COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, A COURSE OF DEALING OR TRADE USAGE.  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL GHOSTMISTRESS OR ANY OF ITS MEMBERS, MANAGERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS OR SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, LOST DATA OR INFORMATION, LOSS OF USE OF THIS WEBSITE) ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THE WEBSITE, THE CONTENT OR ANY OTHER MATERIALS PROVIDED THROUGH THE WEBSITE, EVEN IF GHOSTMISTRESS IS INFORMED IN ADVANCE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY.  Some jurisdictions do not allow exclusion of certain warranties or limitations of liability, so the above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you. Ghostmistress’s liability in such case will be limited to the greatest extent permitted by law.
    • You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold Ghostmistress and its officers, directors, members, managers, employees, agents, affiliates, suppliers, successors and assigns harmless from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses and expenses (including without limitation reasonable fees and costs for attorneys and investigations) arising out of, based on, or in connection with: (i) your use of and access to the Ghostmistress Website, and any Content you submit to the Website (including, but not limited to, any claims relating to infringement or violation of any third party copyrights, rights of privacy or publicity and other intellectual property rights) or (ii) your violation of any term of these Terms of Service. This defense and indemnification obligation will survive your use of the Ghostmistress Website.
    • These Terms of Service, and any rights and licenses granted hereunder, may be assigned by Ghostmistress without restriction.
    • This Agreement, and all matters arising directly or indirectly from your access to or other use of this Website, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. You hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York, and waive any jurisdictional, venue, or inconvenient forum objections to such courts.
    • If any provision of this Agreement is held to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, such illegality, invalidity or unenforceability shall apply only to such provision and shall not in any manner affect or render illegal, invalid or unenforceable any other provision of this Agreement, and that provision and this Agreement generally shall be reformed, construed and enforced so as to most nearly give lawful effect to the intent of the parties as expressed in this Agreement.
    • This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and Ghostmistress with respect to the Website, and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals, whether electronic, oral or written, between you and us with respect to the Website.

    10. Questions? Send us an email at hoongyee@gmail.com.