Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

 

E-Group Rules & Etiquette

 

This site is provided as a service for the members of EPCOR® - Electronic Payments Core of Knowledge® (“EPCOR”). Thank you for being part of our Knowledge Community (the “Community”). To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.

 

By joining and using this Community, you agree that you have read and will follow the rules, guidelines, and “legal stuff” below (collectively, the “Code of Conduct”). You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to this medium. This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience and participate in ongoing conversations.

 

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions regarding the Community and/or these guidelines, please contact us through the contact information available on http://www.epcor.org (the “Website”). In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate access to this Community for anyone who we believe has violated the letter or spirit of these rules.

 

The Rules

 

  • You may use the materials or content made available to you in connection with your use of the Community only as permitted by this Code of Conduct and only in a manner that does not interfere with EPCOR’s right or ability to provide the services or any third party’s right or ability to use or enjoy the services.
  • Do not challenge or attack others. The discussions and comments are meant to stimulate conversation, not to create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may.
  • Do not post commercial messages. Contact people directly with product and service information if you believe it would help them.
  • Use caution when discussing products or making other comments. Information posted on the lists and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, antitrust, and other laws and regulations. You may not make any postings that violate any laws, rules, or regulations.
  • Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that may lead to price fixing, a boycott of another’s business or other conduct intended to illegally restrict trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection or termination of customers or suppliers.
  • All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
  • You may not impersonate another person or submit any false information to us.
  • You may not collect any information from us or other users without their permission.
  • Remember that other participants have the right to reproduce postings to this site unless you specify otherwise.
  • Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate lists or libraries. Do not spam several lists or libraries with the same message.
  • All messages must add to the body of knowledge in the Community.
  • Though we do not undertake any obligation to screen posts or monitor the site for violations of this Code of Conduct, we reserve the right to reject or remove any message for any reason.
  • If you believe that any material posted in the Community violates this Code of Conduct, please contact us through the Website. However, if your complaint involves intellectual property rights, please see our Intellectual Property Policy below for submission procedures.
  • Avoid sharing certain personally identifiable information belonging to you, your organization or your clients. Personally identifiable information that should be withheld from the community includes but is not limited to social security numbers, identifiable information belonging to your clients, routing numbers and account numbers. EPCOR will not be liable for any indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages resulting for information shared within the community.


Discussion Group Etiquette 

  • Include a signature tag on all messages. Include your name, affiliation and location.
  • State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
  • Include only the relevant portions of the original message in your reply. Delete any header information, and put your response before the original posting.
  • Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information that everyone can benefit from.
  • Send messages such as “thanks for the information” or “me, too” to individuals -- not to the entire list. Do this by using the “Reply to Sender” link to the left of every message.
  • Do not send administrative messages, such as those which state “remove me from the list.” Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing your e-mail address, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new e-mail address. Simply change your settings.
  • Warn other list subscribers of lengthy messages either in the subject line or at the beginning of the message body with a line that says “Long Message.”

 

The Legal Stuff

 

License

 

By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants EPCOR and users of this site the nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free right and license to display, modify, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print and use such information or other material, and sublicense such rights to other users.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

EPCOR PROVIDES THE SERVICES ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS.  WE HEREBY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.  EPCOR MAKES NO REPRESENTATION  OR WARRANTY WITH RESPECT TO ANY THIRD PARTY MATERIALS, INFORMATION, GOODS, OR SERVICES, WHETHER RECEIVED OR ACCESSED VIA ANY LINKS PROVIDED BY OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICES OR OTHERWISE. 

EXCLUSION OF DAMAGES

EPCOR WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE OR SPECIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES RELATING TO LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA OR LOSS OF GOODWILL) ARISING OUT OF, RELATING TO OR CONNECTED WITH THE USE OF THE SERVICES, REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION ON WHICH THEY ARE BASED, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OCCURRING.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

IN NO EVENT WILL THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF EPCOR ARISING FROM, RELATING TO, OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS CODE OF CONDUCT OR THE SERVICES EXCEED THE GREATER OF: (I) AMOUNTS THAT YOU PAID EPCOR FOR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES OR (II) $20.

STATE LAW RIGHTS

CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES.  AS SUCH, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.  UNLESS LIMITED OR MODIFIED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE FOREGOING DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS APPLY, EVEN IF ANY REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold EPCOR and its employees, representatives, agents, attorneys, affiliates, directors, officers, members, and managers (“Indemnified Parties”) harmless from any damage, loss, cost or expense (including, without limitation, attorneys’ fees and costs) incurred in connection with any third party claim, demand or action (“Claim”) brought or asserted against any of the Indemnified Parties:  (i) alleging facts or circumstances that would constitute a breach by you of any provision of this Code of Conduct or (ii) arising from, related to, or connected with your use of the services.  If you are obligated to provide indemnification pursuant to this provision, EPCOR may, in its sole and absolute discretion, control the disposition of any Claim at your sole cost and expense.  Without limiting the foregoing, you may not settle, compromise or in any other manner dispose of any Claim without the consent of EPCOR.

Governing Law

This Code of Conduct and all other matters arising from, related to, or connected with the Community will be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Missouri, without reference to any principle that would cause the application of the law of any other State.

Informal Dispute Resolution

If you have any dispute with us or any related third party, arising out of, relating to, or connected with the services, you agree to contact us through the contact information available on the Website; provide a brief, written description of the dispute and your contact information (including your username, if your dispute relates to an account); and give EPCOR thirty (30) days within which to resolve the dispute to your satisfaction.  If EPCOR does not resolve the dispute through good faith negotiations under this informal process, you may pursue the dispute in accordance with the arbitration agreement below. 

Arbitration Agreement

Any claims by EPCOR, or claims by you that are not resolved by the informal resolution procedure above, arising out of, relating to, or connected with this Code of Conduct or the Community must be asserted individually in binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) in accordance with its Commercial Arbitration Rules and Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes (including utilizing desk, phone or video conference proceedings where appropriate and permitted to mitigate costs of travel).  Furthermore, in no event will the terms of this section limit EPCOR’s ability to investigate complaints or reported violations of this Code of Conduct or to take any action EPCOR deems necessary and appropriate to mitigate actions against EPCOR, including reporting any suspected unlawful activity to law enforcement officials, regulators, or other third parties.  If EPCOR reasonably believes that you have in any manner acted or failed to act in any manner that may cause harm to EPCOR or any third party, EPCOR may seek injunctive or other appropriate relief in any court of competent jurisdiction

 

 

Infringement Policy

EPCOR respects the rights of others and we expect users of our websites to do the same.  We have a policy of terminating users who repeatedly infringe the copyrights of others.  If you have evidence, know, or have a good faith belief that your rights or the rights of a third party have been violated and you want us to delete, edit, or disable the material in question, you may file a notice under this policy with the all of the following information in writing (see 17 U.S.C. 512(c)(3) for further detail):

  1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of a right that is allegedly infringed;
  2. Identification of the copyrighted work or other right claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works or other rights at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works or rights at that site;
  3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material;
  4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail;
  5. A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of a right that is allegedly infringed.

For this notification to be effective, you must provide it to our designated Copyright Agent at:

EPCOR
Attn: Designated Copyright Agent
2345 Grand Blvd, Suite 1700
Kansas City, MO 64108

Alternatively, you may fax the notification to our designated Copyright Agent at (816) 471-7665.  On the fax cover sheet, please include “Attn: Designated Copyright Agent.”

For clarity, except for notices of copyright infringement, only notices as described above should go to the Copyright Agent; any other feedback, comments, requests for technical support, and other communications should be directed to EPCOR through the contact information available on the Website. You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with all of the requirements of this policy, your notice may not be valid.