• Login with Facebook
• Sign In
• Sign Up - it's free
• How It Works

Terms of Service

Welcome to www.appletree.com (this "Website") that is owned and operated by AppleTree.com, Inc. (collectively "AppleTree.com," "we," "our," or "us"). This Website strives to build a publicly viewable, openly editable and global interactive family tree - the one to which all humans belong (the "World's Family Tree"). We encourage users to edit the World's Family Tree to add their own family tree or that of their relatives and friends and any other person known to them. The terms "you," "your," and "yours" refer to anyone accessing, viewing, browsing, visiting or using this Website.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY - THESE TERMS OF SERVICE (THESE "TERMS") ARE A LEGALLY BINDING AGREEMENT WHICH GOVERN YOUR USE OF THIS WEBSITE. BY ACCESSING, VIEWING, BROWSING, VISITING OR USING THIS WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES (AS DEFINED BELOW) OFFERED THROUGH THIS WEBSITE YOU ACCEPT AND AGREE TO BE BOUND, WITHOUT LIMITATION OR QUALIFICATION, BY THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT ANY OF THESE TERMS, PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE. ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES, RULES, AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS MAY BE APPLICABLE TO CERTAIN SERVICES OR FEATURES OFFERED THROUGH THIS WEBSITE, WHICH ARE INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE INTO THESE TERMS. WE MAY CHANGE THESE TERMS AT OUR DISCRETION SO YOU SHOULD PERIODICALLY REVIEW THESE TERMS. YOUR CONTINUED USE AFTER ANY CHANGE INDICATES YOUR ACCEPTANCE SUCH CHANGE AND IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE BOUND BY A CHANGE, DISCONTINUE USE OF THE THIS WEBSITE OR THE SERVICES.

Eligibility

By using the Website, you represent and warrant that (a) all registration information you submit is truthful and accurate; (b) you will maintain the accuracy of such information; (c) you are 13 years of age or older; and (d) your use of the Website does not violate any applicable law or regulation. Your Account may be terminated without warning, if we believe that you are under 13 years of age.

Services

This Website offers you access to the World's Family Tree and a host of related content, tools and services including, without limitation, the tools and ability to search and edit the World's Family Tree, the option to upload, post, publish, display or make available any information, data, photographs, graphics, video, audio, messages, tags or other genealogical materials ("your content"), the ability to selectively allow access to your content to people you would like to share with, ability to join and participate in the discussion forums (collectively, the "Services").

From time to time, we may offer new services through this Website subject to additional terms and conditions. Please review all such terms and conditions before you use any of our new services.

Authorized Use

AppleTree.com grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right to access and use this Website and the Services for your personal use only, provided that you fully comply with these Terms. You shall not interfere or attempt to interfere with the operation of this Website in any way through any means or device including, but not limited to, spamming, hacking, uploading computer viruses or time bombs, or the means expressly prohibited by any provision of these terms and conditions of use. Except as expressly provided herein or otherwise allowed by AppleTree.com, you may not use this Website or the Services for any commercial purpose.

Registration

You are not required to register in order to access this Website. However, in order to use certain features or services offered through this Website, you will have to register and create a unique, password-protected account ("Account"). You agree to: (a) provide true, accurate, current, and complete information as prompted by the registration form; and (b) maintain and update such information to keep it true, accurate, current, and complete at all times. We reserve the right to delete your Account without warning if you are found to have misrepresented any of the registration information submitted. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and e-mail address. You agree to (a) immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your password or account, or any other breach of security, and (b) ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. You will be solely responsible for safeguarding your password and also for any actions under your password and Account, whether authorized by you or not.

Ownership

You acknowledge and agree that this Website and the Services use and contain proprietary and confidential technology and information owned by or licensed to AppleTree.com, and protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws and international treaties. The content displayed on, or through, this Website and the Services, including without limitation all information, data, text, software, graphics, messages, tags, or other materials (collectively "website content") is copyrighted by AppleTree.com or its licensors under United States and international copyright laws. Other than with respect to your submissions, and as expressly set forth in these Terms, the website content displayed on, or through, this Website and the Services may not be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, posted, transmitted, sold, offered for sale, or redistributed in any way without the prior written permission of AppleTree.com. AppleTree, AppleTree logo and other marks and logos displayed on the Website, constitute trademarks, trade names, or service marks ("Marks") of AppleTree.com or other entities. You are not authorized to use any such Marks. Ownership of all such Marks and the goodwill associated there with remains with Appletree.com or those other entities.

Acceptable Use Policy

In pursuit of building the one big family tree encompassing everyone that's ever lived, AppleTree.com has endeavored to provide a truly interactive and participative service. In order to maximize the value of such an interactive service, it is important that each user follows a basic set of rules and guidelines. We want this Website to be informative, appropriate, friendly, safe and enjoyable for all users. Therefore, at the minimum we expect you to always be respectful of other users.

As a condition of your use of this Website, you warrant to AppleTree.com that you: (i) will only use this Website and the Services for lawful purposes in accordance with these Terms; (ii) agree and consent to our Privacy Policy [Insert Link]; (iii) agree not to infringe the proprietary rights, intellectual property rights, rights of publicity or privacy rights of AppleTree.com or third parties in connection with your use of this Website or the Services; (iv) will not intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including but not limited to any regulations having the force of law, while using or accessing this Website or the Services; (v) will not harvest, gather or otherwise collect any information from this Website or the Services, for any purpose including, without limitation, transmitting any unsolicited advertising, junk mail, spam, or chain letters; (vi) will refrain from posting or publishing any false, fraudulent, unlawful, tortuous, profane, vulgar, harassing, abusive, threatening, inflammatory, libelous, defamatory, fraudulent or similarly harmful or discourteous content through this Website; (vii) will not interfere with others' right of enjoyment of this Website; (viii) will not access or attempt to access unauthorized areas of this Website, tamper with other users' postings, or unreasonably load or burden our servers; or (ix) impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person. Users who violate these terms and conditions of use, at AppleTree.com' sole discretion, may have their Account suspended or terminated, and may be prohibited from receiving any Services thereafter.

All your edits and inputs to the World's Family Tree including profiles added thereto ("your edits") and your content posted or published on the publicly available parts of this Website (collectively, "your submissions") are available for others to see and search. If another user contacts us with any concern regarding your submissions, we may contact you to address the concern and you agree to work with us in good faith to resolve the concern. In addition, we reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove your content (or any portion thereof) that gave rise to the concern, with or without notice to you. You acknowledge and agree that once incorporated into the tree, your edits become an integral part of the World's Family Tree and may not be deleted. However, we may in our sole discretion allow you to delete your edits.

Your Submissions

Subject to the licenses you are granting hereunder, you retain all right, title and interest, including without limitation all worldwide intellectual property rights, in and to your submissions. Except for your content that you make selectively available to people, you hereby grant us a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive, sub-licensable and transferable right and license, with a right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, edit, transmit, distribute, publicly perform, archive, and display your submissions in any medium now known or hereafter developed. You hereby expressly waive any and all so-called moral rights you may have in your submissions.

As part of the Services, we may provide bulletin boards, blogs, instant messaging, wikis and the like for posting user feedback, comments or other inputs, including but not limited to, with respect to the Website and the Services ("your feedback"). You understand and acknowledge that, subject and pursuant to the licenses set forth hereunder, we may display your feedback on the Website and use it for other marketing and business activities. In addition, we may, in our sole discretion, decide not to use your feedback, delete it from the Website, and even edit your feedback for both content and format. You hereby expressly waive any and all so-called moral rights you may have in your feedback.

You represent and warrant that your submissions (i) do not and will not, directly or indirectly, violate, infringe or breach any duty toward or rights of any person or entity, including without limitation any copyright, trademark, service mark, trade secret, other intellectual property, publicity or privacy right; (ii) do not contain any material that is sexual, pornographic, erotic, obscene, indecent or profane in its use of sexual language or description or depictions of sexual acts; (iii) are not false, inaccurate, fraudulent, misleading, hateful, tortuous, defamatory, slanderous, libelous, abusive, violent, threatening, profane, vulgar or obscene; (iv) do not harass others, promote bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any individual or group, promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, sexual orientation or age, or otherwise interfere with another party's use of the Website; (v) do not promote illegal or harmful activities or substances or provide instructional information about activities such as making or buying illegal weapons or substances; (vi) are not illegal, unlawful or contrary to the laws or regulations in any state or country where, as applicable, your submissions are created, displayed or accessed; (vii) do not contain any adware, malware, spyware, computer programming routines, software or viruses that are intended to damage, interfere with or in any way limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment, intercept or expropriate any system data or personal information, permit unauthorized access to the Service or any part thereof or disable, damage or erase any portion of the content or advertisements processed or stored therein; (viii) do not constitute unsolicited bulk email, junk mail, spam or chain letters. We will not be liable for any use or disclosures of any of your submissions, or any content contained therein.

General Representation and Warranty

You represent and warrant that your use of this Website will be in accordance with AppleTree.com's Privacy Policy, with these Terms, with any applicable laws and regulations, and with any other applicable policy or terms and conditions.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless AppleTree.com, its contractors and its licensors, and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims and expenses, including attorneys' fees, arising out of your use of this Website, the Services and any content, submissions, information, data, or other materials you access through this Website including but not limited to out of your violation of any representation or warranty contained in these Terms.

Content Disclaimer

AppleTree.com is neither a publisher nor a distributor of any content of any kind posted on this Website by its users including, without limitation, any edits or inputs to the World's Family Tree ("user content"). We have not reviewed, and cannot review, user content, and cannot therefore be responsible for that content, its use thereof or effects. By operating this Website, we do not represent or imply that we endorse any user content, or that we believe such user content to be accurate, useful or non-harmful. This Website may contain user content that is offensive, indecent or otherwise objectionable, as well as content that violates the privacy or publicity rights, or infringes the proprietary rights, of third parties. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we retain the right, in our sole discretion, but not the obligation, to monitor and/or delete any user content (a) that we believe to be in violation of these Terms, (b) about which we have received complaints, or (c) which we find to be objectionable for any reason, with or without notice to you. In addition, we have no control over, and shall have no legal liability for, any damages resulting from the use, including republication, or misuse, by any third party, of user content.

Disclaimer of Warranties

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, THIS WEBSITE, THE SERVICES AND ANY WEBSITE CONTENT YOU ACCESS THROUGH THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. YOU AGREE THAT YOU MUST EVALUATE, AND BEAR ALL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE OF THIS WEBSITE, THE SERVICES AND WEBSITE CONTENT YOU ACCESS THROUGH THIS WEBSITE, INCLUDING ANY RELIANCE ON THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR USEFULNESS THEREOF. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT (i) THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS; (ii) ACCESS TO THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE; (iii) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE; (iv) THE QUALITY OF ANY SERVICES OR WEBSITE CONTENT OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THIS WEBSITE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS; (v) ANY ERRORS IN THIS WEBSITE WILL BE CORRECTED; OR (vi) THIS WEBSITE OR THE SERVICES ON WHICH THEY ARE HOSTED ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THIS WEBSITE, THE SERVICES AND ANY WEBSITE CONTENT YOU ACCESS THROUGH THIS WEBSITE, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND TITLE.

Limitation of Liability

EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY STATED, IN NO EVENT WILL APPLETREE.COM, ITS CONTRACTORS OR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, UNDER ANY CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHER THEORY, RESULTING FROM ANY USE OF THIS WEBSITE, THE SERVICES AND ANY WEBSITE CONTENT YOU ACCESS THROUGH THIS WEBSITE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF DATA OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF APPLETREE.COM, ITS CONTRACTORS OR ITS LICENSORS WERE EXPRESSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Changes

We reserve the right, at any time and from time to time, to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Services (or any part thereof) without notice. You agree that AppleTree.com shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of this Website, the Services, or of any Website Content.

Third Party Websites

AppleTree.com has not reviewed, and cannot review, any of the material, including computer software, made available through the websites to which this Website links, and that link to this Website. AppleTree.com does not have any control over those non-AppleTree.com websites, and is not responsible for their contents or their use. By linking to a non-AppleTree.com website, AppleTree.com does not represent or imply that it endorses such website. You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses and other harmful or destructive content. AppleTree.com disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from your use of non-AppleTree.com websites.

Copyright Notice

It is our policy to comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"). In accordance with the DMCA, we shall: (i) block access to, or remove material that it believes in good faith infringes copyright of a third party; and (ii) remove and discontinue service to repeat infringers.

If you believe that content available by means of one of this Website infringes one or more of your copyrights, please immediately notify AppleTree.com's Copyright Agent by means of a mailed or faxed notice ("Infringement Notice") providing the information described below to the address or fax number listed below. If AppleTree.com takes action in response to an Infringement Notice, it will make a good faith attempt to contact the party that made such content available by means of the most recent email address, if any, provided by such party to AppleTree.com. Please be advised that you may be held liable for damages based on certain material misrepresentations contained in an Infringement Notice. Thus, if you are not sure content located on or linked-to by this Website infringes your copyright, you should consider first contacting an attorney.

All Infringement Notices should include the following:

• A signature, electronic or physical, of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf;
• An identification of the copyright claimed to have been infringed;
• A description of the nature and location of the content that you claim to infringe your copyright, in sufficient detail to permit AppleTree.com to find and positively identify that content;
• Your name, address, telephone number and email address; and
• A statement by you: (i) that you believe in good faith that the use of the content that you claim to infringe your copyright is not authorized by law, or by the copyright owner or such owner's agent; and, (ii) under penalty of perjury, that all of the information contained in your Infringement Notice is accurate, and that you are either the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf.

Infringement Notices should be sent to the following:

By mail:

By fax/e-mail:

Termination

You agree that AppleTree.com, in its sole discretion, may terminate your use of this Website and the Services, for any reason, including, without limitation, if we believe that you have violated or acted inconsistently with these Terms. You agree that any termination of your access to this Website or the Services may be effected without prior notice, and acknowledge and agree that we may immediately deactivate or delete your password and user name and all related information and files associated with it and/or bar any further access to such files or this Website and the Services. We shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your access to this Website and the Services.

Miscellaneous

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, excluding its conflicts of laws principles. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Products is excluded and does not apply to these Terms. If any dispute relating in any way to these Terms or the policies or your use of this Website shall be submitted to confidential arbitration in Santa Barbara County, California, USA, except that, to the extent you have in any manner violated or threatened to violate our intellectual property rights, we may seek injunctive or other appropriate relief in any state or federal court in the State of California, USA and you consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in such courts. Arbitration under these Terms shall be conducted under the rules then prevailing of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrator's award shall be binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no arbitration under these Terms shall be joined to an arbitration involving any other party subject to these Terms, whether through class arbitration proceedings or otherwise. The failure to require performance of any provision shall not affect our right to require performance at any time thereafter, nor shall a waiver of any breach or default of these Terms constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach or default or a waiver of the provision itself. If any portion of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, such portion will be modified to reflect the parties' intention and only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable, and the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in full force and effect. These Terms constitute the entire and exclusive understanding and agreement between you and us regarding this subject matter, and supersedes any and all prior or contemporaneous agreements or understandings, written and oral.