Terms of use

  1. These are our terms ("Terms")

    1. PressPatron is a platform by which Supporters can make Contributions to Publishers, and is provided by us (Ripple Media Limited).
    2. These Terms apply to your use of the Services. By accessing or registering with the Website, or by using the Platform, you accept and agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not accept these Terms, you should not use the Services.
    3. These Terms were last updated: 21 April 2021.
    4. Please see our Privacy Policy for information about how we collect, process, and store personal information. You should read our Privacy Policy carefully (available at www.presspatron.com/privacy).

  2. Amendment to these Terms

    1. We reserve the right to make changes to these Terms at any time, effective upon publishing these Terms on the Website. By continuing to use the Services after that notification, you agree to be bound by the Terms as amended.

  3. Acceptable use of the Services

    1. You agree to only use the Services in a way that complies with all applicable laws and regulations and that does not infringe our rights, or the rights of anyone else, nor inhibits or restrict any User’s use of the Services.
    2. Without limiting clause 3.1, in particular, you agree not to:
      • damage or harm the Services, or any underlying or connected network or system;
      • use a harvesting bot, robot, spider, scraper, reverse engineering, or other unauthorised automated means to access the Services or content featured on the Services or discover source code for any purpose;
      • bypass or ignore instructions contained in our robots.txt file;
      • introduce any viruses, content or code to the Services that is harmful;
      • do anything that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working of the Services, such as a denial of service attack;
      • use the Services to do anything unlawful;
      • facilitate or encourage any violations of these Terms;
      • solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else; or
      • bully, intimidate, threaten or harass any User,

      or attempt to do any of the above.

    3. When posting or uploading any User Content through the Services:
      • you warrant that you own any intellectual property rights in such User Content, that it is non-confidential, and that you have all necessary rights to post and disclose such User Content and grant the rights granted herein with respect to the User Content;
      • you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid and sub-licensable licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your User Content in and in connection with the Services, in all media formats and channels now known or later developed without compensation to you; and
      • you will not create, upload or post any User Content to the Services (or use the Services to transmit any communication) which is in our view illegal, unlawful, misleading, defamatory, malicious, obscene, pornographic, harassing, threatening, infringing of intellectual property rights, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, inflammatory, fraudulent, misleading, or otherwise objectionable.
    4. You acknowledge and agree that we may use, copy, distribute, disclose, amend or moderate User Content at any time for the following purposes:
      • operating the Services;
      • complying with the law or legal proceedings served on us;
      • enforcing and investigating potential breaches of these Terms or any other unauthorised use of the Services; or
      • protecting our rights, property, or the safety of our employees, Users or the public,

      or, to the extent that the User Content contains personal information, as otherwise set out in our Privacy Policy.

    5. You are responsible for all activity resulting from your use of the Services. You agree to defend and indemnify us and our officers, directors, agents, partners and employees, and will keep us indemnified, from and against all forms of liability, action, claims, proceeding, demand, cost, loss, damages, charge and expense (Claims) which we may incur, be subject to or suffer as a result of, or that arise in any manner from:
      • your breach of these Terms;
      • your User Content;
      • your misappropriation, infringement or violation of any rights of another (including intellectual property rights or privacy rights); or
      • your misuse of the Services of misconduct in connection with the Services.

      You also agree that we will have control of the defence or settlement, at our sole option, of any third-party Claims. This indemnity is in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other indemnities set forth in a written agreement between you and us.

    6. Without limiting any other rights and remedies available to us, if we believe you have breached or are in breach of these Terms, we may:
      • issue a warning to you;
      • limit your activities on the Services;
      • suspend or cancel your access to the Services; and/or
      • delete, remove or amend User Content.
    7. We reserve the right to comply with any law enforcement authority or court order requesting or directing us to suspend or cancel your use of the Services. At our discretion, and according to any applicable laws, we will seek to notify you of any such request or directive.

  4. Features

    1. As a SaaS (Software as a Service) based platform you understand that we may update the Services by adding, modifying and/or removing features. We will endeavour to let you know about these changes in advance, but these updates may be pushed out with little or no notice.

  5. Accounts

    1. You may use some parts of the Services without creating an account. However, creating an account is required to access some features of the Services. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing the functionality within the Supporter Dashboard and Publisher Dashboard.
    2. We reserve the right to decline any Publisher’s account registration.
    3. Registering for an account is free.
    4. To register for an account, you must be 18 years old or over.
    5. You agree that you cannot transfer, sell, lease, lend or trade your account without our prior written consent.

  6. Fees

    1. Publishers are required to pay us a commission fee for their use of the Services, as well as payment processing fees. These fees are deducted from Supporter Contributions and invoiced to Publishers. Our fees are set out in the fee schedule, which is available at www.presspatron.com/pricing
    2. We may amend our fees and pricing from time to time by notice to Publishers.

  7. Payments and Contributions

    1. The Services allow Supporters to use a credit card to make Contributions to Publishers. All Contributions are unconditional, non-refundable, non-transferable and non-disputable through the Platform or Services once processed. Any requests for refunds or questions or disputes regarding Contributions must be directed to the applicable Publisher.
    2. Supporters can choose whether Contributions are one-time, monthly or annual.
    3. In the case of monthly and annual Contributions, Supporters agree to a recurring payment plan that automatically charges their nominated sum to their designated credit card according to a monthly or annual cycle. Recurring Contributions can be cancelled within the Supporter Dashboard, please visit our FAQ for instructions.
    4. We reserve the right to decline a Contribution if it violates these Terms, is fraudulent, breaks applicable laws, or is deemed invalid due to other compliance reasons.
    5. We are not responsible for ensuring that a Publisher applies Contributions in any particular way, or that Contributions are applied for a particular purpose. Nor are we responsible for the fulfillment of any transaction where a Publisher offers goods or services in return for a Contribution. You agree not to involve, or attempt to involve us, in any dispute or in the resolution of disputes that arise between you and any Publisher.

  8. Credit card transactions

    1. Credit card transactions are securely processed by Stripe, a third party payment processor, and are subject to Stripe’s Terms of Service (available at stripe.com/us/legal). Stripe maintains administrative, technical, and physical procedures to protect information stored on their servers, as outlined within their privacy policy at stripe.com/us/privacy. We do not store credit card numbers on our servers.
    2. Stripe is solely responsible for credit card transactions made while using our Services and, to the extent not restricted by law, we exclude all liability for, and assume no responsibility for, such transactions.
    3. By creating a Publisher account, Publishers permit us to create a Stripe Connect Account on their behalf and agree to be bound by the Stripe Connected Account Agreement (www.stripe.com/connect-account/legal), which includes the Stripe Terms of Service (www.stripe.com/us/legal). As a condition of us enabling payment processing services through Stripe, you agree to provide us accurate and complete information about you and/or your organisation, and you authorise us to share with Stripe this information and transaction data related to your use of the payment processing services.
    4. In the event that any refunds are processed through the Services, such refunds will be deducted from the amount payable to Publishers.

  9. Tax

    1. It is your responsibility to determine what, if any, taxes apply to each transaction completed via the Services. We are not responsible for any User’s tax obligations, or for confirming the charitable status of Publishers. Please consult the relevant authority (or authorities) within your tax jurisdiction to clarify your tax obligations.
    2. It is the responsibility of the Supporter to contact a Publisher directly to confirm the charitable status of their contribution, and to request any official documentation that may be required for tax purposes.

  10. Your information

    1. You are responsible for:
      • ensuring all information you provide to us is complete, accurate and current when you are registering for an account ("Account Information")
      • maintaining and updating your Account Information to ensure it is kept current at all times;
      • providing all information requested by us to satisfy obligations we may have under any laws and any "know your customer" obligations for the purposes of anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism; and
      • keeping your login details and password secure, and you agree not to share your password with anyone else or allow any other persons to access the Services through your account.
    2. We will take reasonable precautions to keep your account secure and protect it from unauthorised access. However, we will not be liable in any circumstances for any loss or damage incurred as a result of someone else using your account or profile. You agree that we are entitled to rely on the authenticity and authority of your username, password and session-specific codes generated by your hardware device to process actions or requests you submit to the Website and/or the Platform, and that we may do so without further enquiry.
    3. You agree to inform us immediately of any known or suspected unauthorised access to and use of the Services through your account.

  11. Account cancellation

    1. You can request the cancellation of your account at any time by emailing us here, with “Account Cancellation” in the subject line. Please send your request using the email address associated with your account, and allow 5-10 working days for your request to be processed.
    2. We reserve the right to suspend or cancel your account and your use of the Services without notice at any time in our sole discretion, including if we consider that you have acted in breach of any of these Terms. If you have registered under multiple aliases, all of these aliases will be disabled. If we suspend or cancel your account, you must not create another one without our prior approval.
    3. All of your User Content and data may be deleted from our systems immediately upon cancellation of your account. Your User Content and data cannot be recovered once deleted. We are not liable for any loss or damage following, or as a result of, the cancellation of your account, and it is your responsibility to ensure that any User Content or data which you require is backed-up or replicated before cancellation.
    4. If a Publisher account is cancelled, you agree that we may decide, in our sole discretion, to:
      • disperse any Contributions, that we hold in respect of that Publisher, to the Publisher (less any fees); and/or
      • refund any Contributions, that we hold in respect of that Publisher, to the relevant Supporters; and/or
      • cancel any recurring Contributions pledged in respect of that Publisher.
    5. If a Supporter account is cancelled, they will not be able to make any further one-time or recurring Contributions.

  12. Intellectual Property

    1. We own all data and all intellectual property rights existing in or created through the Services (or have obtained rights to use the intellectual property of others), including the Site Materials, all software code underlying and forming part of the Services, and any improvements, enhancements, modifications or adaptions to the Services. You retain all intellectual property rights in and to your User Content, subject to the license you grant us in these Terms.
    2. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-sublicensable license to access and use the Services. Such license does not include, and you are prohibited from:
      • any resale or commercial use of the Services or the Site Materials;
      • the distribution, public performance or public display of any Site Materials;
      • modifying or otherwise making any derivative uses of the Website and the Site Materials, or any part of them;
      • use of any data mining, robots or similar data gathering or extraction methods;
      • downloading (other than the page caching) of any portion of the Website, the Site Materials or any information contained within them, except as expressly permitted on the Website; or
      • any use of the Website or the Site Materials other than for its intended purpose.

      Such unauthorized use may also violate applicable laws including without limitation copyright and trademark laws and applicable communications regulations and statutes. Unless explicitly stated in these Terms, nothing in these Terms shall be construed as conferring any license to intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, implication or otherwise. This license is revocable at any time.

    3. You may view, save, copy and print any part of the Services (including the content of the Services) for your personal use only. Subject to clause 12.4, you must obtain written permission from us to otherwise use, copy, modify, or distribute any part of the Services (including the content of the Services) in any way. If you wish to use any third party material identified as such on the Services, you must obtain the prior consent of the relevant owner. If you would like permission to use any part of the Services (other than saving, copying and printing any part of the Services for personal use), please contact us here.
    4. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a non-exclusive limited right to use our logo when linking to the Services. You may not use our logo for any other purpose without our express written permission. You must comply with any instructions that we may give you from time to time about your use of our logo. Unless you have our express written consent, you must not:
      • alter our logo in any way;
      • use our logo in a way that suggests any type of association, affiliation, sponsorship, or partnership with us or in any source identifying or trademark manner;
      • use our logo in a way that is harmful, deceptive, obscene or otherwise objectionable to the average person; or
      • use our logo to, or in connection with, content that disparages us or damages our reputation.

      All use of our logo will inure to our sole benefit.

  13. Digital Millennium Copyright Act

    1. The terms in Appendix A (“Repeat Infringers – Copyright Complaints”) apply to your use of the Services.

  14. The Website and Platform links to other services, websites and apps

    1. You acknowledge and agree that:
      • third party websites, services, or content used in connection with (or incorporated into) the Services (Third Party Content) is provided for your convenience only, and the inclusion of Third Party Content does not imply that we endorse or verify such Third Party Content;
      • The providers of Third Party Content express their own views and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ripple Media Limited;
      • we are not responsible or liable for any Third Party Content or for any loss or damage incurred by you or harm caused to you as a result of your access to Third Party Content; and
      • we do not endorse, and are not responsible or liable for, any third party products or services referred to or accessed through any Third Party Content.
    2. Your use of and access to third party websites or services will be governed by their terms of use and privacy policies. When accessing a third party website or application, we recommend that you read their terms of use and privacy policy.
    3. You may create a hyperlink to our Services from another website. However, this link must not be presented in any way that implies that we endorse that site or the products or services available on or through that site. Any use of our name or logo in connection with the hyperlink must comply with the terms outlined within 12.4. If you create a hyperlink text to the Services, you are responsible for all direct and indirect consequences of the link.

  15. For Publishers

    1. Authority to create a Publisher account

    2. If you create a Publisher account, then you warrant that you have been authorised to act on behalf of the named legal entity for whom you are using the Services and have the authority to bind it to these Terms.

    3. Content published to our Services

    4. We are not obliged to monitor the uploading of User Content to the Services. However, we may monitor such User Content at our option and may remove, amend or decline to publish any User Content at any time in our sole discretion, including if we consider it to be inappropriate or that it otherwise breaches these Terms.

    5. Content on Publisher Websites

    6. Without limiting clause 14, we are not responsible for any content on Publisher Websites. We have no responsibility to monitor Publisher Websites and no obligation to suspend or cancel a Publisher’s account, unless explicitly required by law.
    7. Without limiting clause 11.2, we reserve the right to suspend or cancel a Publisher’s use of the Services without notice if we consider that the content on the Publisher Website is in breach of any applicable law or that we find objectionable.
    8. When evaluating whether or not to suspend or cancel a Publisher’s account, we may consider the public interest associated with any offending content. We may also issue a Publisher with a warning to provide opportunity to remove or alter the offending content. However, we are not obligated to do any of the foregoing, and clause 3.6 and 11.2 is not limited by this clause 15.5.

    9. Collecting information

    10. If you collect information (including personal information) for us or share any information you have collected on to us, you warrant that you are authorised to collect, and share with us, such information, and have complied with any applicable laws (including privacy laws) in doing so and that such sharing of information is prominently disclosed in your privacy policy. You further agree to use any information that you obtain through the Services in strict compliance with your privacy policy. Your privacy policy will be displayed in a prominent location on your website.

    11. Contacting Supporters

    12. Publishers agree not to contact Supporters in a manner that is overly excessive, or that can reasonably be considered as spam.

  16. Liability

    1. Use of the Services is at your sole risk. The Services are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis without any warranty or condition of any kind, either express or implied. To avoid doubt, we do not warrant that: (a) the Service will meet your specific requirements; (b) the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error free; (c) the quality of any products, services, information or other material obtained by you through the Service will meet your expectations; or (d) any errors in the Service will be corrected.
    2. We do not represent that the Services (of any part of them) are error-free or will satisfy all of your requirements. We will endeavour to promptly address (during normal business hours) critical technical issues that may arise in connection with the Services.
    3. From time to time, we may issue an update to the Services which may add, modify and/or remove features. We will endeavour to let you know about these changes in advance, but these updates may be pushed out with little or no notice, and we reserve the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the Services or any features or functionality thereof at any time without notice and without obligation or liability to you.
    4. Without limitation, to the fullest extent allowable by law, the disclaimers in this clause 16 extend to implied warranties or conditions, including without limitation implied warranties of merchantable quality, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringements, or warranties arising by statute or otherwise in law or from a course of dealing or usage of trade. Without limiting the foregoing, to the extent that any User is using the Services for the purposes of a business, the guarantees provided under consumer protection laws do not apply to the greatest extent that it is possible under relevant law to exclude or agree. For example, to the extent the Services are used in New Zealand, the parties agree that the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 does not apply.
    5. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law we will not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data, User Content or other intangible losses (even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from the use of, or the inability to use, the Services or any Site Materials or User Content contained within the Services. We will not be liable for the timing of payments and payouts to or from Users. We will not be liable for the conduct of Publishers or Supporters. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you.
    6. We may use third party suppliers to provide necessary hardware, software, networking, connectivity, storage and related technology required to provide the Services. The acts and omissions of those third party suppliers may be outside of our control, and we do not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a result of any act or omission of any third party supplier.
    7. In any event, you agree that to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, our total aggregate liability, whether in contract, warranty, tort, or other theory, in relation to your use of or inability to use the Services or any act or omission by us will not exceed US$100 in aggregate in any circumstances.
    8. We are merely a platform and are not responsible for screening, reviewing, recommending, or endorsing any Publishers who appear on our Services, or any of their publications. You are solely responsible for determining whether you should contribute to any Publisher. We are not responsible for ensuring that any Publisher applies Contributions in any particular way, or that Contributions are applied for a particular purpose. Nor are we responsible for the fulfillment of any transaction where a Publisher offers goods or services in return for a Contribution. Your dealings or correspondence with, and your Contributions to, Publishers are solely between you and such Publisher, and we are not responsible or liable in any manner for any Publishers or their conduct or publications.
    9. The limitations of liability set forth in this clause 16 will not limit or exclude liability for gross negligence, fraud or intentional misconduct by us or for any other matters in which liability cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

  17. Disputes

    1. All Contributions are transactions between Supporters and Publishers; our Services merely provide a tool to facilitate these transactions. Except to the extent you wish to notify us of any breach of these Terms, you agree not to involve, or attempt to involve us, in any dispute or in the resolution of disputes that arise between you and any Publisher or Supporter.
    2. In particular, if you are dissatisfied with a Publisher regarding a Contribution, or wish to request a refund, then you agree to approach the Publisher directly.
    3. Supporters may wish to notify us if they have a dispute with a Publisher regarding their Contribution, by contacting us here. If a Publisher is in breach of our Terms, we may suspend or cancel their account. However, such actions are in our sole discretion.
    4. Without limiting clauses 7.1, 7.5 or 16.1, we may grant refunds to Supporters in exceptional circumstances, at our sole discretion.

  18. This is a legal agreement, so some general provisions apply

    1. These Terms are governed by New Zealand law, and you submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts for any matter or dispute arising in relation to these Terms.
    2. These Terms and our Privacy Policy constitute our entire agreement and supersede all prior agreements, arrangements, understandings and representations (whether oral or written) given by or made between us and you, in relation to these Terms or use of the Services.
    3. If any provision of these Terms is found by a court or other competent authority to be invalid, unenforceable or in conflict with the law, that provision is limited or eliminated to the minimum extent so that these Terms otherwise remain in full effect.
    4. If we do not exercise or enforce any right available to us under these Terms, it does not constitute a waiver of those rights.
    5. The headings used throughout these Terms are provided for your convenience and do not affect the meaning of these Terms.

  19. Contact us

    1. If you have any questions about these Terms or the Services, or if you would like to give us feedback or notice, you can contact us via email by clicking here.

  20. Definitions

    1. Within these Terms, the following words have the corresponding meanings:
      • "Contributions" means the one-time and/or recurring payments that Supporters make to Publishers of their choice;
      • "Platform" means the PressPatron online tools that allow Supporters to make Contributions to Publishers;
      • "Publisher" means any blogger, journalist, news organisation or other account holder that uses the Services to accept Contributions from Supporters;
      • "Publisher Dashboard" means the Website interface used by Publishers to undertake tasks such as: viewing an overview of Supporters and Contributions, updating their campaign, and editing account information.
      • "Publisher Website" means any website in which the Platform has been embedded, or the website of a Publisher who uses the Services.
      • "Supporter" means any person or organisation that makes a Contribution using the Platform;
      • "Supporter Dashboard" means the Website interface used by Supporters to undertake tasks such as: viewing Contributions, editing payment preferences, making new Contributions, and editing account information.
      • "Services" means the Website and the Platform, used together or separately;
      • “Site Materials” means the content of the Website, such as text, graphics, logos, icons, sound recordings and other data.
      • "User", “you” and “your” means anyone who interacts with the Services, including Supporters and Publishers;
      • "User Content" means any messages, text, photos, videos, software, links, applications, or other materials posted to or communicated to us through the Services by any Publisher, Supporter, or any other User.
      • "Website" means the PressPatron website, available at www.presspatron.com; and
      • "we", "us" and “our” means Ripple Media Limited, who provides the Services.