1 Terms of Service

1.1 The Agreement.

The Confederation of Democratic Simulators ("CDS") offers to allow you to participate in its land cooperative ("Cooperative") and in-world government ("Government") contained in its collection of simulators ("City") in the multiplayer online service "Second Life," solely conditioned on your agreement to all of the terms and conditions contained in this Terms of Service document (the "Agreement"), your compliance with the posted City Standards on the CDS website(s), and adherence to all in-world laws, covenants, and guidelines. Your participation in the cooperative constitutes your agreement to all such terms and conditions and your agreement to comply with the City Standards. To confirm your agreement, you should accept this Agreement. If you do not so agree, you should decline this agreement, in which case you are prohibited from joining the cooperative. Purchasing land ("Land") from the cooperative will be considered acceptance of this Agreement. If you have any questions regarding these terms and conditions or the City Standards, please contact a CDS customer service representative.

1.2 Changes to these Terms.

The CDS reserves the right to change the address of its Website at any time for any or no reason. The CDS may amend this Agreement (including without limitation the pricing terms set forth herein) and/or modify the City Standards at any time in its sole discretion by posting the amended Agreement or modified City Standards at http://Neufreistadt.info or another current website designated by the CDS or by communicating these changes through the primary contact methods you have established with us. Amendments to the Agreement will be effective after the amended Agreement is posted. Modifications to the Community Standards will be effective immediately upon posting. Your use of the City or its Services after the effective date of any amendments to this Agreement constitutes your agreement to the amendments. You agree to check this Agreement and the Community Standards periodically so you will be familiar with their content as amended or modified from time to time.

1.3. Compliance with Linden Policy.

Linden Research, Inc. ("Linden") provides the multi-player online service "Second Life," through which the CDS offers its service. Acceptance of this agreement constitutes your agreement to all Linden terms and conditions as outlined in the Linden Community Standards and Linden Terms of Service, which you can find at these links: www.secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php and www.secondlife.com/corporate/cs.php. Terms and conditions outlined in the Linden Community Standards and Linden Terms of Service supercede all terms and conditions outlined in this Agreement.

2. Land

2.1 Eligibility

You must purchase Land with the CDS (your "Membership") to participate in the cooperative. Standard Membership is permitted only for adult individuals who are 18 years of age or older. Those who meet these standards, open an account and maintain their account in good standing are sometimes referred to in this Agreement as "Citizens." By accepting this agreement in connection with purchasing land you represent that you are an adult 18 years of age or older.

2.2 Registration Obligations.

You agree to provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by either the registration form or CDS contact ("Registration Data") and maintain and promptly update the Registration Data to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. The CDS reserves all rights to vigorously pursue legal action against all persons who misrepresent personal information or are otherwise untruthful about their identity.

2.3 Membership.

By owning Land you agree that even though you may retain certain copyright or other intellectual property rights with respect to works you create (your "Content," as defined in Section 6.1 below) while owning Land (as specified in Section 5.3 below), you do not own any content on community Land (including without limitation any data representing or embodying any or all of your Content).

3. BILLING POLICIES

3.1 Membership Types and Charges.

Membership is granted through a one-time payment for a share of a Simulator and maintained by paying recurring Land Use Fees determined by the location amount of Land held.

3.2 Payment Terms.

Land use fees will be charged once each month and will reflect the pro-rated amount of land held during the previous month. The CDS is not responsible for any charges or expenses you incur resulting from charges billed by CDS in accordance with these Terms of Service. By providing a credit card number, PayPal account address, or an in-world CDS account number, you authorize CDS to continue charging the account for all charges due to the CDS until your CDS membership is terminated by either you or the CDS.

3.3. Billing Periods for Recurring Charges.

Monthly accounts will be billed monthly on the same date of each month (e.g. the 10th of each month), beginning on the day you pay for your share of the sim.

3.4 Cancellation, Refunds, Reactivation.

Membership may be canceled simply by selling your share of the Sim either to CDS or to a CDS-approved third party unless your Membership or this Agreement is suspended or terminated based on our belief that you have violated or acted inconsistently with Section 5.1 of this Agreement. THERE WILL BE NO REFUNDS FOR REPOSSESSED LAND.

3.5 Membership Retention.

If your account is past due, any land held by your Character in that account will be repossessed by the Cooperative after 30 days. Any objects on that parcel of land will be returned to you or deleted. You understand and agree that none of the actions specified in this Section 3.5 will constitute a violation of any copyright or other intellectual property rights you may have in any of your Content, and for the avoidance of doubt you hereby grant CDS the irrevocable and perpetual right to take any or all of the actions specified in this Section 3.5 under the circumstances described.

4. LICENSE

4.1 License.

Subject to the terms of this Agreement, the CDS grants to you a non-exclusive, limited, fully revocable license ("Deed") to use the Land during the time you have paid for but only as long as you are in full compliance with these terms and conditions. You may not charge any third party for using your Land unless by prior agreement with the Cooperative. You may not modify, adapt, reverse engineer (except as otherwise permitted by applicable law), decompile or attempt to discover the source code of the CDS vendor(s) or voting booths, ATM, rental boxes, or any other coded city infrastructure ("Infrastructure"), or create any derivative works of the Infrastructure, or otherwise use the Infrastructure except as expressly provided in this Agreement.

You may not copy or distribute any of the materials associated with the CDS or its Infrastructure. Nothing in this Agreement, or on the CDS site(s), shall be construed as granting you any other rights or privileges of any kind with respect to the Land other than your own. You acknowledge that your participation in the CDS does not make you a CDS employee and that you do not expect to be compensated for such participation.

4.2 Internet Service.

You acknowledge that the CDS is not a traditional game provider; instead the CDS acts as a cooperative allowing users to purchase shares of a sim for their personal use. In addition, the CDS may allow some users to alter the city environment on a real-time basis. The CDS is not involved in actual communications between citizens or even in citizens' interactions with the virtual world. As a result, the CDS has limited control over the quality, safety, morality, legality, truthfulness or accuracy of various aspects of the city. As a condition of access to the CDS, you release the CDS (and the CDS's shareholders, partners, affiliates, directors, officers, subsidiaries, employees, agents, suppliers, licensees, distributors) from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with any dispute you have or claim to have with one or more Participants. You further understand and agree that: (a) The CDS will have the right but not the obligation to resolve disputes between Participants relating to the City; (b) to the extent that the CDS elects to resolve such disputes, it will do so in good faith based solely on the general rules and standards of the City and will not make judgments regarding legal issues or claims; (c) The CDS's resolution of such disputes will be final with respect to the virtual world of the City but will have no bearing on any federal-level (Linden-moderated) or real-world legal disputes in which Participants may become involved; and (d) you hereby release the CDS (and the CDS's shareholders, partners, affiliates, directors, officers, subsidiaries, employees, agents, suppliers, licensees, distributors) from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with the CDS's resolution of disputes relating to the City.

4.3 All Data Is Temporary.

When entering the City, you may accumulate treasure, experience points, equipment, or other value or status indicators and contribute to the environment ("Accumulated Status"). THIS DATA, AND ANY OTHER DATA RESIDING ON THE CDS'S SERVERS, MAY BE RESET AT ANY TIME FOR ANY OR NO REASON. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT, NOTWITHSTANDING ANY COPYRIGHT OR OTHER RIGHTS YOU MAY HAVE WITH RESPECT TO ITEMS YOU CREATE USING THE SERVICE, ALL OF YOUR CONTENT AND ACCUMULATED STATUS HAS NO INTRINSIC CASH VALUE AND THAT THE CDS DOES NOT ENDORSE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS (SUBJECT TO ANY UNDERLYING RIGHTS IN THE CONTENT), ANY VALUE, CASH OR OTHERWISE, ATTRIBUTED TO CONTENT OR ACCUMULATED STATUS.

5. USER CONDUCT

5.1 Participant Conduct.

In addition to abiding at all times by the Community Standards, you agree that you shall not: (i) take any action or upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit Content that infringes or violates any third party rights; (ii) impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a CDS member, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity; (iii) take any action or upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit Content that violates any law or regulation; (iv) take any action or upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit Content as determined by the CDS at its sole discretion that is harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, causes tort, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable; (v) take any actions or upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit Content that contains any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots or other computer programming routines that are intended to damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or personal information; (vi) take any action or upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Content that would violate any right or duty under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements); (vii) upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation; (viii) interfere with or disrupt the City or servers or networks connected to the City, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the City; (ix) attempt to gain access to any other user's Account or password; or (x) "stalk" or otherwise harass another user. You agree that the CDS may take whatever steps it deems necessary to abridge, or prevent behavior of any sort in the City in its sole discretion, without notice to you.

5.2 Use as Provided.

The CDS has designed the City to be experienced only as offered by the CDS at its web site or partner websites. You agree to use the City only as offered by the CDS at its web site or partner websites and not through any other means. You further agree not to create or provide any other means through which the City may be accessed or used. You acknowledge that you do not have the right to create, publish, distribute, create derivative works from or use any software programs, utilities, applications, emulators or tools derived from or created for the City, except that you may use the Land and Infrastructure to the extent expressly permitted by this Agreement. You are prohibited from taking any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the CDS's infrastructure.

5.3 Participant Content.

Participants can create Content in the CDS in various forms. The CDS acknowledges and agrees that, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, including without limitation the limited licenses granted by you to the CDS herein, you will retain any and all applicable copyright and/or other intellectual property rights with respect to any Content you create in the City. NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING, YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT BY SUBMITTING YOUR CONTENT TO ANY AREA OF THE SERVICE, YOU AUTOMATICALLY GRANT (AND YOU REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO GRANT) TO THE CDS: (A) THE ROYALTY-FREE, FULLY PAID-UP, PERPETUAL, IRREVOCABLE, NON-EXCLUSIVE RIGHT AND LICENSE TO USE AND REPRODUCE (AND TO AUTHORIZE THIRD PARTIES TO USE AND REPRODUCE) ANY OF YOUR CONTENT IN ANY OR ALL MEDIA FOR MARKETING AND/OR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE; (B) THE PERPETUAL AND IRREVOCABLE RIGHT TO DELETE ANY OR ALL OF YOUR CONTENT FROM THE CDS'S SIMULATORS AND FROM THE SERVICE, WHETHER INTENTIONALLY OR UNINTENTIONALLY, AND FOR ANY REASON OR NO REASON, WITHOUT ANY LIABILITY OF ANY KIND TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY; AND (C) THE ROYALTY-FREE, FULLY PAID-UP, PERPETUAL, IRREVOCABLE, NON-EXCLUSIVE RIGHT AND LICENSE TO COPY, ANALYZE AND USE ANY OF YOUR CONTENT AS THE CDS MAY DEEM NECESSARY OR DESIRABLE FOR PURPOSES OF DEBUGGING, TESTING AND/OR PROVIDING SUPPORT SERVICES IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE. YOU ALSO UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT BY SUBMITTING YOUR CONTENT TO ANY AREA OF THE SERVICE, YOU AUTOMATICALLY GRANT (OR YOU WARRANT THAT THE OWNER OF SUCH CONTENT HAS EXPRESSLY GRANTED) TO THE CDS AND TO ALL OTHER SECOND LIFE PARTICIPANTS A NON-EXCLUSIVE, WORLDWIDE, FULLY PAID-UP, TRANSFERABLE, IRREVOCABLE, ROYALTY-FREE AND PERPETUAL LICENSE, UNDER ANY AND ALL PATENT RIGHTS YOU MAY HAVE OR OBTAIN WITH RESPECT TO YOUR CONTENT, TO USE YOUR CONTENT FOR ALL PURPOSES WITHIN THE SERVICE. YOU FURTHER AGREE THAT YOU WILL NOT MAKE ANY CLAIMS AGAINST THE CDS OR AGAINST OTHER SECOND LIFE PARTICIPANTS BASED ON ANY ALLEGATIONS THAT ANY ACTIVITIES BY EITHER OF THE FOREGOING WITHIN THE SERVICE INFRINGE YOUR (OR ANYONE ELSE'S) PATENT RIGHTS. YOU FURTHER UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT: (I) YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR UNDERSTANDING ALL COPYRIGHT, PATENT, TRADEMARK, TRADE SECRET AND OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OR OTHER LAWS THAT MAY APPLY TO YOUR CONTENT HEREUNDER; (II) YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR, AND LINDEN WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY IN CONNECTION WITH, THE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES OF ANY ACTIONS OR FAILURES TO ACT ON YOUR PART WHILE USING THE SERVICE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY LEGAL CONSEQUENCES RELATING TO YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS; AND (III) LINDEN'S ACKNOWLEDGMENT HEREUNDER OF YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN YOUR CONTENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A LEGAL OPINION OR LEGAL ADVICE, BUT IS INTENDED SOLELY AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE CDS'S INTENTION NOT TO REQUIRE PARTICIPANTS TO FOREGO THEIR NORMAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO CONTENT THEY CREATE USING THE SERVICE, SUBJECT TO THE TERMS SPECIFIED HEREIN.

5.4 Age.

Membership is prohibited to users under 18 years of age. The CDS cannot absolutely control whether minors gain access to the City and makes no representation that users are not minors. The CDS cannot ensure that other users will not provide Content or access to Content that parents or guardians may find inappropriate or that any user may find objectionable. You are prohibited from conducting any activity that is not in compliance with the Community Standards, local laws, and covenants.

6. CONTENT

6.1 Content.

You acknowledge that: (i) by entering the City you may have access to graphics, sound effects, music, video, audio, animation, text and other creative output (collectively, "Content"), and (ii) Content may be provided under license by independent content providers, including contributions from other Participants (all such independent content providers, "Content Providers"). The CDS does not pre-screen Content. YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT THE CDS HAS THE RIGHT, BUT NOT THE OBLIGATION, TO REMOVE ANY CONTENT (INCLUDING YOURS) IN WHOLE OR IN PART AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON OR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE AND WITH NO LIABILITY OF ANY KIND.

6.2 Rights in Content.

You acknowledge that the CDS and other Content Providers have rights in their respective Content under copyright and other applicable laws and treaty provisions, that they retain all such rights and that you accept full responsibility and liability for your use of any Content in violation of any such rights. You agree that your creation of Content is not in any way based upon any expectation of compensation from the CDS. You shall indemnify and hold the CDS harmless from and against any claims by third parties that your Content infringes upon, violates or misappropriates any of their intellectual property or proprietary rights.

6.3 Textures and Environmental Content.

During any period in which your membership is in good standing, the CDS gives you permission to create still and/or moving pictures in-world which use or include the "textures" and/or "environmental content" included in the CDS's Content in the City.

6.4 CDS Treasury.

You acknowledge that the CDS includes a component of in-world fictional banking. You agree that the CDS has the absolute right to manage, regulate, control, modify and/or eliminate currency held in city accounts as it sees fit in its sole discretion, and that the CDS will have no liability to you based on its exercise of such right.

7. INTERRUPTION OF OR CHANGES TO SERVICE

7.1 Termination.

The CDS has the right at any time for any reason or no reason to suspend or terminate your Membership, terminate this Agreement, and/or refuse any and all current or future use of the City without notice or liability to you. Upon request from the CDS, you agree to delete any electronic or printed copies of information or software programs that you received from the CDS. In the event that the CDS suspends or terminates your Membership or this Agreement, you understand and agree that: (a) you shall receive no refund or exchange for any Land owned, and Land investments, any Land Use Fees, any Linden Dollars (L$) that you hold in the Bank or in the Treasury, or for anything else (other than potentially receiving a refund for a portion of the initial land purchase price, as described in this Section 7.1 below); (b) The CDS will attempt to sell at auction any land that you hold, and that any money received from such auctions will be applied to satisfy your existing obligations to the CDS and others, as determined by the CDS in its sole discretion; and (c) in addition to any money that you owe, you will be charged the lesser of (i) the aggregate amount received from such auctions and (ii) one hundred dollars ($100) (the Resale Fee) as reimbursement for costs associated with the resale of land. Any money remaining from the sale of land after the repayment of your obligations and the Resale Fee may be returned to you. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no money will be returned to you in the event that your Membership is terminated due to suspicions of fraud, violations of other laws or regulations, or deliberate disruptions to or interference with the City.

7.2 Interruption.

The CDS reserves the right to interrupt access to the City with or without prior notice for any reason or no reason. You agree that the CDS will not be liable for any interruption of access to the City, delay or failure to perform, and understand that you shall not be entitled to any refunds of fees for interruption of service or failure to perform.

7.3 Changes.

The CDS has the right at any time for any reason or no reason to change and/or eliminate any aspect(s) of the City as it sees fit in its sole discretion.

8. PRIVACY

8.1 Privacy Policy.

The personal information you provide us during registration is used for the CDS's internal purposes only. The CDS uses the information it collects to learn what you like and to improve the City. Except as otherwise expressly permitted by this Agreement or as otherwise authorized by you, the CDS will not give any of your personal information to any third party without your express approval except as reasonably required by law, as authorized by this provision or as necessary to protect the CDS, its agents and other Participants. The CDS does not guarantee the security of any of your private transmissions against unauthorized or unlawful interception or access by third parties. The CDS can (and you authorize the CDS to) disclose any information about you to private entities, law enforcement agencies or government officials, as the CDS, in its sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate to investigate or resolve possible problems or inquiries, or as otherwise required by law. You agree that the CDS may communicate with you via email and any similar technology for any purpose relating to the City, the CDS Software and any services or software which may in the future be provided by the CDS or on the CDS's behalf.

8.2 CDS Observation.

You acknowledge and agree that the CDS, in its sole discretion, may track, record, observe or follow any and all of your interactions within the City.

9. NO WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER

9.1 Disclaimer.

THE CDS PROVIDES THE CITY AND ALL OTHER SERVICES STRICTLY ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, PROVIDED AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, WRITTEN OR ORAL, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF TITLE, NONINFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Without limiting the foregoing, the CDS does not ensure continuous, error-free, secure or virus-free operation of the City, the Infrastructure or your Membership, and you understand that you shall not be entitled to refunds for fees based on the CDS's failure to provide any of the foregoing. Some states do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties, and to that extent, the foregoing disclaimer may not apply to you.

10. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CDS OR ANY OF ITS SHAREHOLDERS, PARTNERS, AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, SUBSIDIARIES, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, SUPPLIERS, LICENSEES OR DISTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, ARISING (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE) OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE CITY OR ITS SERVICES (INCLUDING ITS MODIFICATION OR TERMINATION), THE INFRASTRUCTURE, YOUR MEMBERSHIP (INCLUDING ITS TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION) OR THIS AGREEMENT, WHETHER OR NOT THE CDS MAY HAVE BEEN ADVISED THAT ANY SUCH DAMAGES MIGHT OR COULD OCCUR AND NOTWITHSTANDING THE FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY REMEDY. IN ADDITION, IN NO EVENT WILL THE CDS'S CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR DIRECT DAMAGES OF ANY KIND OR NATURE EXCEED TEN DOLLARS (U.S. $10.00). Some states do not allow the foregoing limitations of liability, so to the extent that it is impermissible, this limitation may not apply to you. You agree that the CDS cannot be held responsible or liable for anything that occurs or results from accessing the City.

11. INDEMNIFICATION.

At the CDS's request, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the CDS, its shareholders, partners, affiliates, directors, officers, subsidiaries, employees, agents, suppliers, licensees, distributors, Content Providers, and other Participants of the City, from all damages, liabilities, claims and expenses, including without limitation attorneys' fees and costs, arising from any breach of this Agreement by you, or from your use of the City or Services.

12. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION.

Our policy is to not respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement. Questions concerning copyright should be addressed to Linden Labs the company which provides our supporting infrastructure. The CDS is not affiliated with Linden in any way. Please see Section 12 of Linden Labs corporate Terms of Service for further instructions. The information can be found at: http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php.

13. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

The rights and obligations of the parties under this Agreement shall not be governed by the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods; rather such rights and obligations shall be governed by and construed under the laws of the State of California , including its Uniform Commercial Code, without reference to conflict of laws principles. Any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with this Agreement or the performance, breach or termination thereof, shall be finally settled by binding arbitration in San Francisco, California under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce by three arbitrators appointed in accordance with said rules. Judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrators may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Notwithstanding the foregoing, either party may apply to any court of competent jurisdiction for injunctive relief or enforcement of this arbitration provision without breach of this arbitration provision. The CDS's failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive the CDS's right to act with respect to that breach or subsequent or similar breaches. You may not assign or transfer this Agreement or your rights hereunder, and any attempt to do so is void. This Agreement sets forth the entire understanding and agreement between you and the CDS with respect to the subject matter hereof. Notwithstanding anything else in this Agreement, no default, delay or failure to perform on the part of the CDS shall be considered a breach of this Agreement if such default, delay or failure to perform is shown to be due to causes beyond the reasonable control of the CDS.