IFA Terms of Use

Welcome to the IFA Website

Welcome to the IFA ("Us" or "Our" or "We") Website

– and thank You for visiting. We hope You enjoy the experience!

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) are a legal contract between You and Us (collectively, "Everyone") and govern Your use of all the text, data, information, software, graphics, photographs and more (all of which We refer to as “Materials”) that We and Our affiliates may make available to You, as well as any services (“Services”) We may provide through any of Our websites (all of which are referred to in these Terms as this “Website”).

READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY BEFORE BROWSING THIS WEBSITE.  USING THIS WEBSITE INDICATES THAT YOU HAVE BOTH READ AND ACCEPT THESE TERMS.  YOU CANNOT USE THIS WEBSITE IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE TERMS.

CHANGES.

We may alter the Materials and Services We offer You and/or choose to modify, suspend or discontinue this Website at any time and without notifying You.  We may also change, update, add or remove provisions (collectively, “modifications”) of these Terms from time to time.  Because Everyone benefits from clarity, We promise to inform You of any modifications to these Terms by posting them on this Website and, if You have registered with Us, by describing the modifications to these Terms in an email that We will send to the address that You provided during registration.  To be sure We properly reach Your email inbox, We just ask that You let Us know if Your preferred email address changes at any time after Your registration.

If You object to any such modifications, Your sole recourse shall be to cease using this Website.  Continued use of this Website following notice of any such modifications indicates You acknowledge and agree to be bound by the modifications. Also, please know that these Terms may be superseded by expressly-designated legal notices or terms located on particular pages of this Website.  These expressly-designated legal notices or terms are incorporated into these Terms and supersede the provision(s) of these Terms that are designated as being superseded.

GENERAL USE.

By using this Website, You promise that You are at least 18 years of age.

We invite You to use this Website for Your personal use ("Permitted Purposes") – enjoy!

In these Terms we are granting You a limited, personal, non-exclusive and non-transferable license to use and to display the Materials; Your right to use the Materials is conditioned on Your compliance with these Terms.  You have no other rights in this Website or any Materials and You may not modify, edit, copy, reproduce, create derivative works of, reverse engineer, alter, enhance or in any way exploit any of this Website or Materials in any manner.  If You make copies of any of this Website while engaging in Permitted Purposes then We ask that You be sure to keep on the copies all of Our copyright and other proprietary notices as they appear on this Website.  

Unfortunately, if You breach any of these Terms the above license will terminate automatically and You must immediately destroy any downloaded or printed Materials (and any copies thereof).

MOBILE APPLICATIONS.

From time to time, you may be provided with the opportunity to download and use one or more mobile applications in connection with Your use of the Website.  Your use of any such mobile application will be subject to separate terms of use or terms of service that we will make available to you in connection with your downloading of the application. You must agree to and abide by the terms of use or terms of service that correspond to a mobile application in order to make use of that mobile application. 

USING THIS WEBSITE AND THE WEBSITE’S SERVICES.

We appreciate You visiting this Website and allow You to do just that – stop by and leisurely check it out without even registering with Us!

However, in order to access certain password-restricted areas of this Website (such as viewing this Website’s blog posts and other User Submissions (defined below)) and to use certain Services and Materials offered on and through this Website, You must be a member. You may apply to become a member of IFA by completing the membership application available at member.franchise.org.

MEMBERSHIPS.

If You want a membership with Us, You must submit the following information through the account registration page on this Website: 

• A working email address;
• First and last name;
• Company name;
• Address;
• Phone number.

You may also provide additional, optional information so that We can provide You a more customized experience when using this Website –but, We will leave that decision with You.  Once You submit the required registration information, an automated email with a username and password to access your account via the Website will be sent to You. However, We alone will determine whether or not to approve Your membership. If You are not approved for membership, any pending orders will be canceled; however, your online account will remain active. Subject to our sole discretion, you may retain the right to update Your personal profile, make donations to IFA’s Foundation, apply for and join IFA’s CFE Program, and submit CFE credits that have been accrued towards IFA’s CFE Program. For so long as You use the account, You agree to provide true, accurate, current, and complete information which can be accomplished by logging into Your account and making relevant changes directly or contacting Us using the below contact information and We can make the changes for You.  And, if You forget Your password – no worries as We will happily send a password update to Your provided email address.

You are responsible for complying with these Terms when You access this Website, whether directly or through any account that You may setup through or on this Website.  Because it is Your account, it is Your job to obtain and maintain all equipment and services needed for access to and use of This Website as well as paying related charges.  It is also Your responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of Your password(s), including any password of a third-party site that We may allow You to use to access this Website.  Should You believe Your password or security for This Website has been breached in any way, You must immediately notify Us.

Each membership and the rights and privileges provided to a member is personal and non-transferable.

PAYMENTS.

You agree to pay all applicable fees related to Your membership, which are described fully on Our Member Portal. We may suspend or terminate Your membership if Your payment is late and/or Your offered payment method (e.g., credit card or check) cannot be processed.  By providing a payment method, You expressly authorize Us to charge the applicable fees on said payment method as well as taxes and other charges incurred thereto at regular intervals, all of which depend on Your particular membership and utilized services.

We understand that You might cancel Your membership, but please know that We will not provide any refund(s) and You will be responsible for paying any balance due on the account.  To make things less complicated, You agree that We may charge any unpaid fees to Your provided payment method and/or send You a bill for such unpaid fees.

A member can terminate his or her membership at any time by contacting the membership department at 1-202-628-8000. If You chose to terminate your membership, membership fees that You have paid may be refunded to You in whole or in part at Our sole discretion.

We reserve the right to terminate the account of members who infringe copyright or any other intellectual property right, who violate these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy, or for any other reason deemed appropriate in Our sole discretion. If We terminate your account, membership fees that You have paid will not be refunded to You in whole or in part.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS.

By using the Website and/or the Services provided on or through the Website, You consent to receiving electronic communications from Us.  These electronic communications may include notices about applicable fees and charges, transactional information and other information concerning or related to the Website and/or Services provided on or through the Website.  These electronic communications are part of Your relationship with Us.  You agree that any notices, agreements, disclosures or other communications that We send You electronically will satisfy any legal communication requirements, including that such communications be in writing.

PRIVACY POLICY.

We respect the information that You provide to Us, and want to be sure You fully understand exactly how We use that information.  So, please review Our Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) which explains everything.

LINKS TO THIRD-PARTY SITES.

We think links are convenient, and We sometimes provide links on his Website to third-party websites.  If You use these links, You will leave this Website. We are not obligated to review any third-party websites that You link to from this Website, We do not control any of the third-party websites, and We are not responsible for any of the third-party websites (or the products, services, or content available through any of them). Thus, We do not endorse or make any representations about such third-party websites, any information, software, products, services, or materials found there or any results that may be obtained from using them. If You decide to access any of the third-party websites linked to from this Website, You do this entirely at Your own risk and You must follow the privacy policies and terms and conditions for those third-party websites. Certain areas of this Website may allow You to interact and/or conduct transactions with one or more third-party websites, and, if applicable, allow you to configure your privacy settings in that third-party website account to permit Your activities on this Website to be shared with Your contacts in your third-party site account.

UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.

To be clear, We authorize Your use of this Website only for Permitted Purposes.  Any other use of this Website beyond the Permitted Purposes is prohibited and, therefore, constitutes unauthorized use of this Website.  This is because as between You and Us, all rights in this Website remain Our property.

Unauthorized use of this Website may result in violation of various United States and international copyright laws.  Because We prefer keeping this relationship drama-free, We want to give You examples of things to avoid.  So, unless You have written permission from Us stating otherwise, You are not authorized to use this Website in any of the following ways (these are examples only and the list below is not a complete list of everything that You are not permitted to do):

• For any public or commercial purpose which includes use of this Website on another site or through a networked computer environment;
• In a manner that modifies, publicly displays, publicly performs, reproduces or distributes any of this Website;
• In a manner that violates any local, state, national, foreign, or international statute, regulation, rule, order, treaty, or other law;
• To stalk, harass, or harm another individual;
• To impersonate any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent Your affiliation with a person or entity;
• To interfere with or disrupt this Website or servers or networks connected to this Website;
• To use any data mining, robots, or similar data gathering or extraction methods in connection with this Website; or
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of this Website or any other accounts, computer systems, or networks connected to this Website, whether through hacking, password mining, or any other means.

You agree to hire attorneys to defend Us if You violate these Terms and that violation results in a problem for Us.  You also agree to pay any damages that We may end up having to pay as a result of Your violation.  You alone are responsible for any violation of these Terms by You.  We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by You and, in such case, You agree to cooperate with Our defense of such claim.

PROPRIETARY RIGHTS.

 "International Franchise Association" and “IFA” are trademarks that belong to Us.  Other trademarks, names and logos on this Website are the property of their respective owners.

Unless otherwise specified in these Terms, all Materials, including the arrangement of them on this Website are Our sole property,  Copyright © 2019.  All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.  Except as otherwise required or limited by applicable law, any reproduction, distribution, modification, retransmission, or publication of any copyrighted material is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of the copyright owner or license. 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT.

We respect the intellectual property rights of others and encourage You to do the same. Accordingly, We have a policy of removing User Submissions that violate intellectual property rights of others, suspending access to this Website (or any portion thereof) to any user who uses this Website in violation of someone’s intellectual property rights, and/or terminating in appropriate circumstances the account of any user who uses the this Website in violation of someone’s intellectual property rights.

Pursuant to Title 17 of the United States Code, Section 512, We have implemented procedures for receiving written notification of claimed copyright infringement and for processing such claims in accordance with such law. If You believe Your copyright or other intellectual property right is being infringed by a user of this Website, please provide written notice to Our Agent for notice of claims of infringement:

Attn: DMCA Agent   

Email: [email protected]

To be sure the matter is handled immediately, Your written notice must:

• Contain Your physical or electronic signature;
• Identify the copyrighted work or other intellectual property alleged to have been infringed;
• Identify the allegedly infringing material in a sufficiently precise manner to allow Us to locate that material;
• Contain adequate information by which We can contact You (including postal address, telephone number, and e-mail address);
• Contain a statement that You have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted material or other intellectual property is not authorized by the owner, the owner's agent or the law;
• Contain a statement that the information in the written notice is accurate; and
• Contain statement, under penalty of perjury, that You are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright or other intellectual property right owner.

Unless the notice pertains to copyright or other intellectual property infringement, the Agent will be unable to address the listed concern.

Submitting a DMCA Counter-Notification

We will notify You that We have removed or disabled access to copyright-protected material that You provided, if such removal is pursuant to a validly received DMCA take-down notice. In response, You may provide Our Agent with a written counter-notification that includes the following information:

1.  Your physical or electronic signature;

2.  Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled, and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;

3.  A statement from You under the penalty of perjury, that You have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled; and

4.  Your name, physical address and telephone number, and a statement that You consent to the jurisdiction of a court for the judicial district in which Your physical address is located, or if Your physical address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which We may be located, and that You will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of allegedly infringing material or an agent of such person.

Termination of Repeat Infringers

We reserve the right, in Our sole discretion, to terminate the account or access of any user of this Website or Service who is the subject of repeated DMCA or other infringement notifications. 

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES.

THIS WEBSITE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "WITH ALL FAULTS" AND THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THIS WEBSITE IS WITH YOU.

WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND (EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY) WITH RESPECT TO THIS WEBSITE, WHICH INCLUDES BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.

THIS MEANS THAT WE DO NOT PROMISE YOU THAT THE WEBSITE IS FREE OF PROBLEMS.  Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, We make no warranty that this Website will meet Your requirements or that this Website will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error free or that defects in this Website will be corrected. We make no warranty as to the results that may be obtained from the use of this Website or as to the accuracy or reliability of any information obtained through this Website. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by You through this Website or from Us or Our subsidiaries/other affiliated companies shall create any warranty. We disclaim all equitable indemnities.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.

WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM YOUR DISPLAYING, COPYING, OR DOWNLOADING ANY MATERIALS TO OR FROM THIS WEBSITE.  TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL WE BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INDIRECT, EXTRAORDINARY, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOSS OF DATA, REVENUE, PROFITS, USE OR OTHER ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE) HOWEVER ARISING, EVEN IF WE KNOW THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

LOCAL LAWS; EXPORT CONTROL.

We control and operate this Website from Our headquarters in the United States of America and the entirety of this Website may not be appropriate or available for use in other locations.  If You use this Website outside the United States of America, You are solely responsible for following applicable local laws.

FEEDBACK.

Any submissions by You to Us (e.g., comments, questions, suggestions, materials – collectively, “Feedback”) through any communication whatsoever (e.g., call, fax, email) will be treated as both non-confidential and non-proprietary.  Except as prohibited by applicable law, you hereby assign all right, title, and interest in, and We are free to use, without any attribution or compensation to You, any ideas, know-how, concepts, techniques, or other intellectual property and proprietary rights contained in the Feedback, whether or not patentable, for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to, developing, manufacturing, having manufactured, licensing, marketing, and selling, directly or indirectly, products and services using such Feedback.  Where the foregoing assignment is prohibited by law, you hereby grant Us an exclusive, transferable, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid up license (including the right to sublicense) to use and exploit all Feedback as We may determine in our sole discretion.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, you understand and agree that We are not obligated to use, display, reproduce, or distribute any such ideas, know-how, concepts, or techniques contained in the Feedback, and You have no right to compel such use, display, reproduction, or distribution.

LANGUAGE.

The Parties hereto have expressly required that these Terms and all documents and notices relating thereto be drafted in the English language.

GENERAL.

We think direct communication resolves most issues – if We feel that You are not complying with these Terms, We will tell You.  We will even provide You with recommended necessary corrective action(s) because We value this relationship.

However, certain violations of these Terms, as determined by Us, may require immediate termination of Your access to this Website without prior notice to You.  The District of Columbia state law and applicable U.S. federal law, without regard to the choice or conflicts of law provisions, will govern these Terms.  Foreign laws do not apply.  Any disputes relating to these Terms or this Website will be heard in the courts located in District of Columbia.  If any of these Terms are deemed inconsistent with applicable law, then such term(s) shall be interpreted to reflect the intentions of the parties, and no other terms will be modified.  By choosing not to enforced any of these Terms, We are not waiving Our rights.  These Terms are the entire agreement between You and Us and, therefore, supersede all prior or contemporaneous negotiations, discussions or agreements between Everyone about this Website.  The proprietary rights, disclaimer of warranties, representations made by You, indemnities, limitations of liability and general provisions shall survive any termination of these Terms.

CALIFORNIA CONSUMER NOTICE.

Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California users are entitled to the following consumer rights notice: This Website and Service are provided by IFA, Legal Department, 1900 K Street, NW Suite 700, Washington DC 20006.  If You have purchased anything from the Site or through the Service, a description of what You have purchased and relevant pricing information are posted as part of the ordering process for this Site (please consult Your individual purchase confirmation e-mail for the charges You incurred).  If You have a question or complaint regarding the Website or Service, please contact Customer Service at [email protected].  You may also contact Us by writing IFA, Legal Department, 1900 K Street, NW Suite 700, Washington DC 20006. California residents may reach the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs by post at 1625 North Market Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95834 or by telephone at (916) 445-1254 or (800) 952-5210 or Hearing Impaired at TDD (800) 326-2297 or TDD (916) 322-1700.

CONTACT US.

If You have any questions about these Terms or otherwise need to contact Us for any reason, You can reach Us at Legal Department
1900 K Street, NW Suite 700
Washington DC 20006
[email protected].