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Microsoft Service Agreement
Last Updated: June 2009
THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING MICROSOFT!

1. WHAT THE CONTRACT COVERS. This Agreement is made up of this Microsoft Hohm Service Agreement and any supplement provided with this service. This is a contract between you and Microsoft Corporation, unless otherwise we specify a different Microsoft entity in a service supplement. Microsoft is referred to as "Microsoft," "we," "us" or "our". The terms of this contract apply in addition to any specific notifications, terms, conditions, limitations or disclaimers displayed in the service.

Unless otherwise specified in the service, the service is intended for use within the United States only. The service is designed for individuals 18 years of age or older.

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE DO NOT PROVIDE WARRANTIES FOR THE SERVICE. THE CONTRACT ALSO LIMITS OUR LIABILITY. THESE TERMS ARE IN SECTIONS 15, 16 AND IN SUPPLEMENT, WE ASK YOU TO READ THEM CAREFULLY.

2. IF THE SERVICE IS A "BETA" VERSION. The service may not work the way a final version of the service will work.

3. WINDOWS LIVE ID MEMBER ACCOUNT. To use the service, you may have to establish a Windows Live ID Account. If so, you are responsible for your compliance with the Windows Live ID terms and conditions or other terms of use as may be required to open and use a Windows Live ID Account. The Windows Live ID terms of use apply to your use of the service. Opening a Windows Live ID Account requires you to complete the registration process by providing us with current, complete and accurate information as prompted by the registration form. You also will choose a password and a user name Windows Live ID.

4. SERVICE ACCOUNT, PASSWORD, AND SECURITY. You may be required to create a separate account for your use of the service, your ("Service Account.") You agree to keep all of your passwords and accounts secret. Furthermore, you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your Service Account. Only you may use your service account. Microsoft will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of someone else using your passwords or accounts, either with or without your knowledge. However, you will be held liable for losses incurred by Microsoft or another party due to someone else using your accounts or passwords. You may not use anyone else's Service Account at any time without the permission of the Service Account holder.

5. WHEN YOU MAY USE THE SERVICE. You may start using the service as soon as you have finished the installation or sign-up process. No withdrawal right or other "cooling off" period applies to the service and you waive any applicable "cooling off" period, except if the law requires a "cooling off" period despite your waiver and even when a service starts right away.

6. HOW YOU MAY USE THE SERVICE. In using the service, you will:

  • obey any applicable laws and regulations;
  • obey any codes of conduct or other notices we provide;
  • obey the Microsoft Anti-spam Policy, which is available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117951; and
  • promptly notify us if you learn of any unauthorized use of any of your accounts or any security breach related to the service.

7. CODE OF CONDUCT. In using the service, you may not:

  • engage in, facilitate or further unlawful conduct;
  • use the service in a way that harms us or our advertisers, affiliates, resellers, distributors and/or vendors, or any customer of ours or our advertisers, affiliates, resellers, distributors and/or vendors;
  • use any unauthorized third party software or service to access any Microsoft instant messaging, social networking, or other communication or transmission network;
  • use any automated process or service to access and/or use the service (such as a BOT, a spider, periodic caching of information stored by Microsoft, or "meta-searching");
  • use any unauthorized means to copy, store, archive, create a database of results from, modify or reroute, or attempt to modify or reroute, the service;
  • damage, disable, overburden, or impair the service (or the network(s) connected to the service) or interfere with anyone's use and enjoyment of the service; or
  • resell or redistribute the service, or any part of the software and service. Further, you will not upload, post, transmit, transfer, distribute or facilitate distribution of any content (including text, images, sound, video, data, information or software) or otherwise use the service in a way that:
  • depicts nudity of any sort including full or partial human nudity or nudity in non-human forms such as cartoons, fantasy art or manga.
  • incites, advocates, or expresses pornography, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity, hatred, bigotry, racism, or gratuitous violence.
  • misrepresents the source of anything you post or upload, including impersonation of another individual or entity.
  • provides or creates links to external sites that violate these terms.
  • includes content that is protected by intellectual property laws, rights of privacy or publicity, or any other applicable law unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consents.
  • is intended to harm or exploit minors in any way.
  • is designed to solicit, or collect personally identifiable information of any minor (as defined in your jurisdiction), including, but not limited to: name, email address, home address, phone number, or the name of their school.
  • invades anyone's privacy by attempting to harvest, collect, store, or publish private or personally identifiable information, such as passwords, account information, credit card numbers, addresses, or other contact information without their knowledge and willing consent.
  • threatens, stalks, defames, defrauds, degrades, victimizes or intimidates an individual or group of individuals for any reason; including on the basis of age, gender, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, race or religion; or incites or encourages anyone else to do so.
  • harms or disrupts, or intends to harm or disrupt, another user's computer or would allow you or others to illegally access software or bypass security on Web sites, or servers, including but not limited to spamming.
  • attempts to impersonate a Microsoft employee, agent, manager, host, administrator, moderator, another user or any other person through any means.
  • promotes or otherwise facilitates the purchase and sale of ammunition or firearms.
  • contains or could be considered 'junk mail', 'spam', 'chain letters', 'pyramid schemes', 'affiliate marketing' or unsolicited commercial advertisement.
  • mischaracterizes content you post or upload or contains the same or similar content to other content you have already posted.
  • attempts to manipulate the services, including ranking and reputation systems in the services, by violating any of the provisions of these terms, colluding with others on voting or using multiple profiles.
  • offers to make international money transfers for amounts exceeding the asking price of an item, with intent to request a refund of any portion of the payment.
  • contains advertising for money making schemes, discount cards, credit counseling, online surveys or online contests.

You will not use any form of automated device or computer program that enables the submission of postings without the express written consent of Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft reserves the right, at its sole discretion, and without any obligation to do so, to review and remove user-created services and content at will and without notice, and delete content and accounts. Microsoft reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to ban participants or terminate access to services.

We encourage you to not share information that others could use to harm you. Microsoft is not responsible for the content of any user-created posting, listing or message. The decision to view content or engage with others is yours. We advise you to use your judgment.

You are responsible for protecting your computer against interference, spyware or viruses that may be encountered for downloaded items from the service. We recommend you install a virus protection program on your computer and keep it up to date.

8. YOUR CONTENT. You understand that Microsoft does not control or endorse the content that you and others post or provide on the service. Except for material that we license to you, we do not claim ownership of the content you post or provide on the service.

The service includes public areas available to the general public, shared areas available to others you have selected and personal areas where you have not granted access to others. If you share content with others on the service, in either public or shared areas, then you understand and agree that others with whom you have shared content may use that content. You grant to those members of the public to whom you have permitted access free, nonexclusive permission to use, copy, distribute and display the content solely in connection with the service and other Microsoft products and services. If you do not want others to have those rights, please do not share your content with them.

You understand that Microsoft may need and you hereby authorize Microsoft to use, modify, copy, distribute and display content posted on the service to the extent necessary to provide the service. This includes:

  • storing and retrieving the content;
  • making the content available to you and those members of the public to whom you have granted access or to the general public (for content posted on public areas of the service);
  • conforming to connecting networks' technical requirements; and
  • conforming to the limitations and terms of the service.

You understand that sharing content that violates others' copyrights and other intellectual property rights violates this contract. You represent and warrant that you have all the rights necessary for you to grant the rights in this section 8 and that the use and publication of the content does not breach any law. We will not pay you for your content. We may refuse to publish your content and may remove your content from the service at any time.

9. RESPECT COPYRIGHT. Please respect the rights of artists and creators. Content such as music, photos and video may be protected by copyright. People appearing in content may have a right to control use of their image. You may not share other people's content unless you own the rights or have permission from the owner.

10. FEEDBACK. If you provide feedback to Microsoft, you give to Microsoft, without charge, the right to use, share and commercialize your feedback in any way and for any purpose. You also give to third parties, without charge, any patent rights needed for their products, technologies and services to use or interface with any specific parts of a Microsoft software or service that includes the feedback. You will not give feedback that is subject to a license that requires Microsoft to grant any rights or make any payments to third parties because the feedback was incorporated into our software, documentation or other products. These rights survive this agreement.

11. PRIVACY. In order to operate and provide our services, we collect certain information about you. We use and protect that information as described in the Microsoft Online Privacy Statement, http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=81184.

In particular, we may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the service; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers or the public.

In order to provide you the service, we may collect certain information about service performance, your machine and your service use. We may automatically upload this information from your machine. This data will not personally identify you. You may read about this information collection in more detail in the privacy policy at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=81184.

Personal information collected through our services may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries or service providers maintain facilities. By using a service, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country. Microsoft abides by the safe harbor framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use and retention of data from the European Union, the European Economic Area, and Switzerland.

The service is a private computer network that Microsoft operates for the benefit of itself and its customers. Microsoft retains the right to block or otherwise prevent delivery of any type of email or other communication to or from the service as part of our efforts to protect the service, protect our customers or stop you from breaching this contract. These means may hinder or break your use of the service or the software.

12. SOFTWARE. If you receive software from us as part of the service, your use of that software is under the terms of the license that is presented to you for acceptance for that software. If there is no license presented to you, or unless otherwise stated in this contract, then we grant you the right to use the software only for the authorized use of the service on that number of devices stated in your service offer. We reserve all other rights to the software. You will not disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer, or work around any technical limitations in any software included in the service, except and only to the extent that the law expressly permits this activity. Unless we notify you otherwise, your license to use the software will end on the date your service ends, and you must promptly uninstall the software. We may disable the software after the date the service ends.

The software is subject to United States export laws and regulations. You must comply with all domestic and international export laws and regulations that apply to the software. These laws include restrictions on destinations, end users and end use. For additional information, see http://www.microsoft.com/exporting (available in English only).

13. YOUR DEALINGS WITH OTHERS. You may be able to view advertisements and/or purchase items from third parties on the service. If you obtain anything from a third party (including third-party offered services) through the service, you understand that your relationship with respect to those things is with the third party directly and not with Microsoft. In the event you assert a claim that relates to or implicates your relationship with a third party, you shall only assert such claim against the third party, and you will not assert any such claim against Microsoft, even if Microsoft assisted in billing for the third-party offering.

You are solely responsible for your dealings with any third party, including:

  • delivery of and payment for goods and services;
  • determining, collecting and remitting to the appropriate authority all taxes (if any) arising from or related to such orders or transactions; and
  • the purchase and use by you of any third-party products and services.

In using the service, you may be able to collect personal information about third parties through your dealings with such third parties. If you do, you agree to (a) post a privacy policy on your web site that, at a minimum, discloses any and all uses of personal information that you collect from such third parties, (b) provide a hypertext link to your privacy policy on the home page of your web site and on all pages where you collect personal information from third parties, including on checkout pages, and (c) use personal information only as expressly permitted by your privacy policy.

14. INDEMNITY. At Microsoft's request, you will defend, hold harmless, and indemnify Microsoft and its directors, officers, employees, agents, subsidiaries, affiliates and each of their successors from and against all third-party claims, actions, demands, proceedings, damages, costs and liabilities of any kind (collectively, "Claims") to the extent that the Claims arise out of or relate your use of the service, your materials, your violation of laws or applicable regulations in the use of the service, or your breach of your warranties or obligations under these terms.

15. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY. We provide the service "as-is," "with all faults" and "as available." We do not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of information available from the service. We and our affiliates, resellers, distributors and vendors (collectively, the "Microsoft parties") give no express warranties, guarantees or conditions. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws that this contract cannot change. We exclude any implied warranties including those of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, workmanlike effort and non-infringement.

16. LIABILITY LIMITATION. You can recover from the Microsoft parties only direct damages up to an amount equal to your service fee for one month. You cannot recover any other damages that arise from the use of the software or service, including consequential, lost profits, special, indirect, incidental or punitive damages.

This limitation applies to anything related to:

  • the service,
  • content (including code) on third party Internet sites, third party programs or third party conduct,
  • the loss of any portion, or the entirety, of your data
  • viruses or other disabling features that affect your access to or use of the service,
  • incompatibility between the service and other services, software and hardware,
  • delays or failures you may have in initiating, conducting or completing any transmissions or transactions in connection with the service in an accurate or timely manner, and
  • claims for breach of contract, breach of warranty, guarantee or condition, strict liability, negligence, or other tort.

It also applies even if:

  • this remedy does not fully compensate you for any losses, or fails of its essential purpose; or
  • Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages.

Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you. They also may not apply to you because your province or country may not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental, consequential or other damages.

17. SUPPORT. We may offer support for the service. Please see the product specific supplemental service agreement or the other materials we publish in connection with a particular service for more information.

18. THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. The service may enable you to connect to and make use of certain third-party products and services, content, and sites not within Microsoft's control. You agree that your use of such third-party products, services and sites is at your own risk, and that the use of such third-party products, services or sites is subject to applicable licenses, privacy policies and terms of service between you and the third party. We are in no way responsible for any third party products, sites, applications, software or content made available on or through the service. Provision of third party products, services, content, or sites does not imply Microsoft's endorsement thereof.

19. CHANGES TO THE SERVICE; CANCELLATION OF THE SERVICE. We may change the service or delete features at any time and for any reason. We may cancel or suspend your use of the service at any time. Our cancellation or suspension may be without cause and/or without notice. Upon service cancellation, your right to use the service stops right away.

20. DATA. Upon termination or cancellation of the service by you or us for any reason, Microsoft may delete your data permanently from our servers. You are responsible for taking all necessary steps to back up your data and ensuring that you maintain your primary means of business. Once the service is cancelled or suspended, any data you have stored on the service may not be retrieved later.

21. HOW WE MAY CHANGE THIS CONTRACT. We may change this Service Agreement in our discretion by posting new applicable terms and conditions. If you do not agree to the changes, then you must stop using the service. If you do not stop using the service, then your use of the service will continue under the changed Service Agreement.

22. INTERPRETING THE CONTRACT. All parts of this contract apply to the maximum extent permitted by law. A court may hold that we cannot enforce a part of this contract as written. If this happens, then you and we will replace that part with terms that most closely match the intent of the part that we cannot enforce. The rest of this contract will not change. This is the entire contract between you and us regarding your use of the service. It supersedes any prior contract or statements regarding your use of the service. If you have confidentiality obligations related to the service, those obligations remain in force (for example, you may have been a beta tester). The section titles in the contract do not limit the other terms of this contract.

23. ASSIGNMENT. We may assign this contract, in whole or in part, at any time with or without notice to you. You may not assign this contract, or any part of it, to any other person. Any attempt by you to do so is void. You may not transfer to anyone else, either temporarily or permanently, any rights to use the service or any part of the service.

24. NO THIRD PARTY BENEFICIARIES. This contract is solely for your and our benefit. It is not for the benefit of any other person, except for permitted successors and assigns under this contract.

25. CLAIMS MUST BE FILED WITHIN ONE YEAR. Any claim related to this contract or the service may not be brought unless brought within one year. The one-year period begins on the date when the claim first could be filed. If it is not filed in time, then that claim is permanently barred. This applies to you and your successors. It also applies to us and our successors and assigns.

26. NOTICES. We may provide notices to you through posting them on the applicable service or by e-mailing your Windows Live ID Account. You may notify us as stated in the customer support or "help" area for the service. We do not accept e-mail notices. This contract is in electronic form. We have promised to send you certain information in connection with the service and have the right to send you certain additional information. There may be other information regarding the service that the law requires us to send you. We may send you this information in electronic form. You have the right to withdraw this consent, but if you do, we may cancel your service. We may provide required information to you:

  • by e-mail at the e-mail address you specified when you signed up for your service;
  • by access to a Microsoft web site that will be designated in an e-mail notice sent to you at the time the information is available; or
  • by access to a Microsoft web site that will be generally designated in advance for this purpose. Notices provided to you via e-mail will be deemed given and received on the transmission date of the e-mail. As long as you can access and use the service, you have the necessary software and hardware to receive these notices. If you do not consent to receive any notices electronically, you must stop using the service.

27. CHOICE OF LAW AND LOCATION FOR RESOLVING DISPUTES. Unless otherwise set forth in a supplement for a particular service, these terms of service will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington and the United States of America, without regard to conflicts of law provisions. Any dispute, claim, or action arising out of or relating to this Agreement or your use of the service shall be decided in the state or federal courts located in King County, Washington.

NOTICES AND PROCEDURE FOR MAKING CLAIMS OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
Under Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(2), notifications of claimed copyright infringement should be sent to service provider's designated agent. ALL INQUIRIES NOT RELEVANT TO THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE WILL RECEIVE NO RESPONSE. See Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement at http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyrtInfrg.htm.

COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK NOTICES
All contents of the service are Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052-6399 U.S.A. All rights reserved. Copyright and other intellectual property laws and treaties protect any software or content provided as part of the service. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, places or events is intended or should be inferred. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.

Microsoft Service Agreement Supplement
Last updated: June 2009

Note that this is a supplement to the Microsoft Hohm Service Agreement. Both this Supplement and the Service Agreement apply to your use of the Microsoft Hohm software and service.

THIS IS A BETA VERSION. The Hohm service is a pre-release version. It may not work the way a final version of the software or service will. We may change it for the final, commercial version. We also reserve the right not to release a commercial version.

ADDITIONAL LIMITATION OF LIABILITY/NO RESPONSIBILITY. Not all features of the service are available to all users in all regions. Specifically, your current energy provider may not be participating in automated data feeds to the service. We accept no liability for energy usage data provided to you by the service, including, but not limited to, the accuracy, latency, granularity or availability of the energy usage data. Further, we are not responsible for any recommendations that the service may give to you, any actions you take as a result of recommendations that we give to you, or any costs incurred or associated with any actions you take as a result of any recommendations we give you. Finally, we are not liable, under any circumstances, for your energy bill or any fluctuations in the amount of your energy bill.

ENERGY PROVIDER DATAFEED. One feature of the Hohm Service allows you to retrieve past and ongoing information about your energy bill and usage from your energy company. If you use this feature, you consent to Microsoft retrieving this information on your behalf. Microsoft's ability to retrieve the data depends on the availability of this data from your energy company.

ACCOUNT AND DATA STORAGE. Your home profile and related data feeds from your energy provider(s) are specific to a given physical address and a given utility meter or account. If you move to another address, you will be required to set up a new home profile and establish new data feeds (if available in your new area). You may also be required to establish a new Windows Live ID for your new address.

If you delete your account with the Hohm Service, Microsoft will not retain any of your data (including, but not limited to, personal data, energy usage data, or home profile information), other than anonymous aggregated data that Microsoft may have collected during your use of the service. If you do not use your account for a period of 13 months, Microsoft may delete your account information without notice to you. Termination or cancellation of the Hohm service will not affect your account(s) with your energy provider(s).

ADDITIONAL PRIVACY PROVISIONS. The data collected by Microsoft through the Microsoft Hohm blog site at blogs.microsoft-hohm.com hosted for Microsoft by ORCS Web, Inc. is covered by the Microsoft Hohm Blog Page Privacy Statement; it does not apply to other online or offline Microsoft sites, products, or services, including the Microsoft Hohm service at www.microsoft-hohm.com. The data collected by Microsoft through the Microsoft Hohm partner site at mshohm.orcsweb.com/partners hosted for Microsoft by ORCS Web, Inc. is covered by the Microsoft Hohm Partner Page Privacy Statement; it does not apply to other online or offline Microsoft sites, products, or services, including the Microsoft Hohm service at www.microsoft-hohm.com.

SUPPORT. We may offer support for the service. Limited customer support is available at: Hohm Support .

© 2009 Microsoft Corp