General Terms and Conditions

Last updated: June 25 ^th, 2022.

Access to and use of this website ‘www.vedantausa.org’ (the “Site”), including but not limited to any audio or visual lectures, recordings, webcasts, subscription and use of downloads/online courses, trademarks, books, Compact Discs [CD’s], Digital Versatile Disc’s [DVD’s] and any other content or images appearing in the website (‘Service’) is provided by Vedanta Cultural Foundation USA, Inc. ( ‘We’, ‘Us’ and ‘Our’) on the following terms and conditions set out below. References to you as the recipient of the Services herein shall include You, Your and the User. Party shall mean ‘Vedanta Cultural Foundation USA, Inc. (VCF)’ or ‘You’ and Parties shall mean ‘Vedanta Cultural Foundation USA, Inc. (VCF)’ and ‘You’ collectively.

By using the Service You hereby understand, accept and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions set out herein without any modification or reservation whatsoever (“Terms and Conditions”), which shall take effect immediately from your first use of the Service. You shall also be subject to any additional terms posted with respect to individual sections of the Service. If You do not agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions, please do not access, use and/or contribute to the Service.

We reserve the right, in Our sole discretion, without any obligation and without any notice requirement and for any reason, to change, improve or correct the information and materials available on the Site and to suspend and/or deny access to this Site or portions thereof for scheduled or unscheduled maintenance, upgrades, improvements, corrections or otherwise.

You acknowledge, consent and agree that We may access, preserve and disclose Your Information and content if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access, preservation, or disclosure is reasonably necessary: (i) to comply with legal process; (ii) to enforce the Terms and Conditions; (iii) to respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third parties; (iv) to respond to Your requests for customer service; or (v) to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of VCF, its users and the public.

Definitions

In addition to the terms defined above, the following terms shall have the following meanings ascribed to them:

“Account” Your personal account with Us whereby using the user name and password assigned to You, You are given access to certain features of the Site such as online courses, downloads, information on webcasts and any other features/services that are indicated as requiring access through the personal account.

“Registration’’ means Your providing Your details in the “Apply”, “Join”, “RSVP”, or “Register” section of the Site so that You can register for Our upcoming events or to enable us to create an Account in Your name and issue You with a [user name and password] for purposes of accessing and using the Account.

“Information” means any information relating to Your use of the Site including information related to Your past use of the Site, information that You provide to Us during the process of registration or making any purchases or subscribing to any part of the Service, or information You have provided to Us in the feedback area or by emailing us at info@vedantausa.org.

“Personal Information” Personal Information shall, for this Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, refer to any information that identifies or can be used to identify, contact or locate You, including, but not limited to, name, address, IP address, phone number and email ID.

“Retention Period” The duration we retain the personal information is as long as the service exists. If You do not wish to store Your personal information with Us You may choose to do so by sending Us an email at info@vedantausa.org.

1. You hereby undertake to use the Service only for lawful purposes and agree not to use the Service or any part thereof for commercial purposes.
2. Any order You place through the Site with respect to those features of the Service that entail a purchase transaction constitutes an offer from You to Us to purchase that feature of the Service from Us. The particular feature will be made available to You once Your payment is authorized. Consideration for the same is payable in advance. VCF shall be under no obligation to provide the feature or any part thereof until consideration in respect of the same has been received in full.
3. VCF warrants that it has the right to provide the Service and will use reasonable skill and care in making the Service available to you and in ensuring its availability. Because of the nature of the internet, errors and omissions do occur and VCF does not give any other warranties in respect of the Service.
4. VCF shall not provide refunds for any donations whatsoever.
5. VCF may sponsor paid or unpaid events involving questions from the attendees. Due to time and content considerations, it is possible that the question from a paid attendee will not be taken up by the VCF speaker or panel. No refunds will be issued to an attendee for such unanswered questions or clarifications. VCF shall not provide refunds, whether in part or full, in respect of any part of the Service for which payment has been rendered, except as per the clause 6 of this agreement. VCF decisions in this regard are final.

6. In the event that VCF withdraws from this agreement or is permanently unable to deliver any feature of the Service which entails a payment transaction and for which the requisite payment has been made by You, a refund will be provided to you in respect of that particular feature of the Service that remains undelivered at the sole discretion of VCF.
7. VCF reserves the right to deny admission to our events when we have a reasonable basis to believe that the person’s attendance would pose a danger to himself/herself or others at the event. VCF decisions in this regard are final.
8. You shall use the Service only in a way that does not infringe the rights of, restrict or inhibit anyone else’s use and enjoyment of the Site and the rendering of our Service. You shall not engage in harassing or causing any inconvenience to any person using the Site or Our Services, transmitting obscene, unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable content or disturbing the normal flow of dialogue within the Service.
9. If We believe that Your use of the Service is adversely affecting Our network (or any part thereof) or that of Our other users, we reserve the right to regulate/manage Your usage of the Service which may include but not be limited to temporarily/permanently blocking your access to the Service or suspending Your Account.
10. Your Information and any other personal information provided through the Site as a part of the registration process and/or any other correspondence with Us shall be collected, stored, transferred, and used in accordance with applicable laws and you hereby render your full consent for the same.
11. We provide a Privacy Policy explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way Your information is collected, handled, dealt with, and used at or in connection with this Site. Click here to show and/or print a copy of this Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms and Conditions. By accepting these Terms and Conditions you shall also be deemed to have accepted the terms of the Privacy Policy.
12. You represent and warrant that:

a) at the time of Registration Your age is eighteen years or older;
b) the details You have provided during registration or at any time thereafter are correct and complete.

13. You shall update Us with any change to Your Information by emailing us at info@vedantausa.org so that We may effectively communicate with You.
14. Upon registering for an Account with Us, You shall be provided with a username and password which You hereby undertake to maintain confidentially and not disclose or share them with anyone. You agree to (a) immediately notify Us of any unauthorized use of your password or user name or any other breach of security; (b) defend, indemnify, and hold Us harmless from any loss or damage arising from unauthorized use of your password or user name.
15. If We have reason to believe that there is a likely breach of security or misuse of Your Account or the Site, We may require You to change Your password, which You undertake to do forthwith or We may suspend Your Account.
16. The Site is owned by VCF. All copyright, trademarks, design rights, patents and other intellectual property rights (registered and/or unregistered) comprising part or all of the Service and all content (including all applications and materials) [hereinafter referred to as ‘content’] located on or available on the Site including the Service is owned by the respective copyright holder, Avula Parthasarathy, VCF, and Gautam Jain. VCF has a license/ right to use the content on the website (www.vedantausa.org) and the ownership of the content remains vested in the respective copyright holder.  Using the Service does not give You any ownership of any intellectual property rights in the Service. You agree that the Service and other content provided on the Site, either by VCF or through third parties, may be protected by intellectual property laws of USA or the applicable laws of any other jurisdiction. Your attempt to modify, copy, distribute, transmit, resell, redistribute, broadcast, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, frame, transfer, or otherwise use in whole or in part, any intellectual property contained in the Service and any other content provided on the Site may subject You to infringement actions by Avula Parthasarathy,  VCF, Gautam Jain, or third parties as the case may be.
17. You agree not to reproduce, republish, copy, disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer, download, broadcast, transmit, post, make available to the public, or otherwise use the content on the Site in any way other than for your own personal private, non-commercial use and that you shall not redistribute, transmit, assign, sell, broadcast, rent, share, lend, modify, adapt, edit, license or otherwise transfer or use the Service or any part thereof. We do not grant You any synchronization, public performance, promotional use, commercial sale, resale, reproduction or distribution rights for the Service or any part thereof. You also agree not to create derivative works, adapt or alter from any of the content on the Site.
18. You further agree not to:
    1. Impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
    2. Forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any data transmitted to other users;
    3. Transmit, access or communicate any data that you do not have a right to transmit 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 non-disclosure agreements);
    4. Transmit, access, or communicate any data that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;
    5. Transmit or communicate any data that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
    6. Interfere with or disrupt the Site or any other user’s use of the Site;
    7. Include programs which contain viruses, worms, ‘time bombs’ and/or ‘Trojan horses’ or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, harm, overload, collapse, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications;
    8. Allow usage by others in such a way as to violate these Terms and Conditions.

19. The name(s), logo(s), images on the Site and all other intellectual property comprising the Services are subject to copyright, design rights and trade-marks of Avula Parthasarathy, VCF, and Gautam Jain. Nothing contained in these Terms and Conditions may be construed as conferring any license or right to use any trade-mark, design right, or copyright.
20. Your access to the Service may be occasionally interrupted to allow for repairs, maintenance or introduction of new features or services. In the event of such interruptions, we will undertake all possible efforts to restore the Service within a reasonable period of time.
21. We may terminate your access to the Site or any part thereof or suspend or cancel Your Account immediately at Our reasonable discretion and/or if You breach any of Your obligations under these Terms and Conditions.
22. You shall have the option of canceling Your Registration at any time by informing Us in writing at info@vedantausa.org.

23. The suspension/cancellation of your registration shall not affect either Party’s statutory rights or liabilities.
24. We accept no, and You hereby absolve Us, of any and all liability for the content provided as a part of the Service that you find to be objectionable.
25. Third Parties

Payments –  VCF is a non-profit business registered in New Jersey. In the event You decide to make a  payment for the purchase of any publication,  registration for any event or online course, You will be redirected to a third-party payment gateway such as Zoom, PayPal, Chase QuickPay, Square, and Eventbrite, to make the payment. Your credit/debit/net-banking details are not handled by VCF. All payment handling is managed through a third party. The third parties are independent contractors. Nothing contained in these Terms and Conditions shall be construed to create the relationship of employer and employee, principal and agent, partnership or joint venture, or any other fiduciary relationship between the third parties and VCF. While we do our best-effort research to select our providers, VCF has no responsibility for the quality, accuracy, timeliness, reliability or any other aspect of the features/transactions of the Service that are directed to and/or handled by the third party. In the event, Your activity is interrupted due to faulty internet connection, or other electronic or wireless device, slowdowns or capacity limitations in the electronic/mobile device, or the web domain of the website to which You are redirected to enable the payment gateway, it is expressly clarified that We shall not be responsible for any loss, damage or liability incurred by You including but not limited to the incorrect amount charged to Your account/debited, password invalidated, non-acceptance of payment method, amount charged or debited more than once, etc. You release Us from any damages that You incur and agree not to assert any claims demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected and unsuspected against Us, arising from such features/transactions. You fully understand and agree that: a) We are not in any way responsible for the security of Your banking details in connection with any payment; and b) It is Your responsibility to review the Terms and conditions of Zoom,  PayPal, Eventbrite, Chase QuickPay, and Square, or any other third party through which You are effecting any payment to Us.

Use of other third-party providers: We may use the following third parties to do the following:

1. Zoom – To process registration and participation of online events and payments.
2. Getresponse– For sending reminders and promotional material via e-mail.
3. Textlocal– For sending reminders and promotional material via SMS.
4. Twilio – For sending reminders and promotional material via SMS.
5. JotForm– To process registrations for events/courses.
6. WPForms – To process registrations for events/courses.
7. FaceBook – For assistance in promoting our events/courses to prospects.
8. Twitter – For assistance in promoting our events/courses to prospects.
9. Instagram – For assistance in promoting our events/courses to prospects.
10. YouTube – To upload and share video content related to our Services.
11. PayPal – To process online payment for donations and purchased Services.
12. Eventbrite – To process registration and participation of online events and payments.
13. Chase QuickPay – To process online payment for donations and purchased Services.
14. Square – To process online payment for donations and purchased Services.
15. Mailchimp – For sending reminders and promotional material via e-mail and social media websites.
16. ConstantConact – For sending reminders and promotional material via e-mail and social media websites.

26. Copyright Infringement

Content available on the Website or through the Service may include material provided by or received from third parties. VCF does not permit the use of content on its websites that infringes on the trademark or copyrights of others and will remove any such content if properly notified of such violation in accordance with the procedure set forth below.

To notify VCF of alleged copyright or trademark infringement on any VCF affiliated website, send a written communication to the designated agent for such claims at the following address:

Vedanta Cultural Foundation USA 
500 Crossfields Lane
Somerset, NJ 08873
Tel: 732 469 0799

27. Governing Law

These Terms of Use and your use of the Site are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New Jersey applicable to agreements made and to be entirely performed within the State of New Jersey, without regards to its conflict of law principles.

28. Dispute Resolution

Informal Negotiations

To expedite resolution and control the cost of any dispute or claim related to these Terms of Use (each a “Dispute” and collectively, the “Disputes”) brought by either You or Us (individually, a “Party” and collectively, the “Parties”). The Parties agree to first attempt to negotiate any Dispute (except those Disputes expressly provided below)  informally for at least thirty (30) days before initiating arbitration. Such informal negotiations commence upon written notice from one Party to the other Party.

Binding Arbitration

If the Parties are unable to resolve a Dispute through informal negotiations, the Dispute (except those Disputes expressly excluded below) will be finally and exclusively resolved through binding arbitration. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WITHOUT THIS PROVISION, YOU WOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUE IN THE COURT AND HAVE A JURY TRIAL. The arbitration shall be commenced and conducted under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and where appropriate, the AAA’s Supplementary Procedure for Consumer Related Disputes (“AAA Consumer Rules”) both of which are available at the AAA website www.adr.org. Your arbitration fees and your share of arbitrator compensation shall be governed by the AAA Consumer Rules, and where appropriate, limited by the AAA Consumer Rules. The Arbitration may be conducted in person, through the submission of documents, phone, or online. The arbitrator will make a decision in writing, but need not provided a statement of reasons unless requested by either Party. The arbitrator must follow applicable law, and any award may be challenged if the arbitrator fails to do so. Except where otherwise required by the applicable AAA rules or applicable law. The arbitration will take place in Somerset, New Jersey. Except as otherwise provided therein, the Parties may litigate in court to compel arbitration. Stay proceedings pending arbitration, or to confirm, modify, vacate, or enter judgement on the award entered by the arbitrator.

If for any reason, a Dispute proceeds in court rather than arbitration, the Dispute shall be commenced or prosecuted in the state and federal courts located in Somerset, New Jersey, and the Parties hereby consent to, and waive all defenses of lack of personal jurisdiction, and forum non conveniens with respect to venue and jurisdiction in such state and federal courts. Application of the United Nations Convention or Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA) is excluded from these Terms of Use.

In no event shall any Dispute brought by either Party related to any way to the Site be commenced more than one (1) years after the cause of action arose. If this provision is found to be illegal or unenforceable, then either Party will elect to arbitrate any Dispute failing within that portion of this provision found to be illegal or unenforceable, and such Dispute shall be decided by a court of competent jurisdiction within the courts listed for jurisdiction above, and the Parties agree to submit the personal jurisdiction to that court.

Restrictions

The Parties agree that any arbitration shall be limited to the Dispute between the Parties individually. To the full extent permitted by law; (a) no arbitration shall be joined with any other proceeding; (b) there is no right or authority for any Dispute to be arbitrated on a class-action basis or to utilize class action procedures; and (c) there is no right or authority for any Dispute to be brought in a purported representative capacity of behalf of the general public or any other persons.

Exceptions to Informal Negotiations and Arbitration

The Parties agree that the following Disputes are not subject to the above provisions concerning informal and binding arbitration: (a) any Dispute seeking to enforce or protect or concerning the validity of any of the Intellectual Property rights of a Party; (b) any Dispute related to or arising from allegations of theft, piracy, invasion of privacy, or unauthorized use; (c) any claim or injunctive relief if this provision is found to be illegal or unenforceable, then neither Party will elect to arbitrate any Dispute falling within that portion of this provision found to be illegal or unenforceable and such Dispute shall be decided by a court of competent jurisdiction within the courts listed for jurisdictions above, and the Parties agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of that court.

29. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability:
    1.  ALL CONTENT PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE SERVICE, INCLUDING THE INFORMATION, NAMES, IMAGES, PICTURES, LOGOS AND ICONS REGARDING OR RELATING TO VCF, ITS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES (OR TO THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES), IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND ON AN “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, VCF EXCLUDES ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES (WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED BY LAW), INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, COMPATIBILITY, SECURITY, AND ACCURACY. VCF DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS OR PERFORMANCE OF ANY ASPECT OF THE SERVICE OR ANY OF ITS CONTENT. WHILE WE TRY TO ENSURE THAT ALL CONTENT PROVIDED BY VCF IS CORRECT AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION NO RESPONSIBILITY IS ACCEPTED BY OR ON BEHALF OF VCF FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS OR INACCURATE CONTENT COMPRISING ANY PART OF THE SERVICE.
    2. NEITHER VCF NOR ANY OF ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES OR REPRESENTATIVES SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSSES OR DAMAGES (WHETHER SUCH DAMAGE OR LOSSES WERE FORESEEN, FORESEEABLE, KNOWN OR OTHERWISE) INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: (i) LOSS OF DATA; (ii) LOSS OF REVENUE OR ANTICIPATED PROFITS; (iii) LOSS OF BUSINESS; (iv) LOSS OF OPPORTUNITY OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS; (v) LOSS OF GOODWILL OR INJURY TO REPUTATION; (vi) LOSSES SUFFERED BY THIRD PARTIES; OR (vii) ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION.
    3. NEITHER VCF NOR ANY OF ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES OR REPRESENTATIVES SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY LOSSES OR DAMAGES (WHETHER FORESEEN, FORESEEABLE, KNOWN OR OTHERWISE) RESULTING FROM YOUR INTERACTION, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY PURCHASES, TRANSACTIONS, DEALINGS WITH THE CENTRES REFERENCED ON THE SITE. THE CENTRES AND THE INDIVIDUALS WORKING THEREAT ARE INDEPENDENT ENTITIES AND ARE IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH VCF. NO RECOURSE SHALL BE HAD TO VCF WITH RESPECT TO ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE RESULTING FROM YOUR INTERACTION WITH ANY OF THE CENTRES LISTED ON THE SITE AND/OR THE INDIVIDUALS WORKING/ASSOCIATED WITH THEM.
    4. THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. YOU ASSUME ALL RISK FOR ANY USE OF THE SERVICE WHICH MAY RESULT IN DAMAGE OR INJURY TO PERSONS, BUSINESS OR FINANCES.

30. You hereby indemnify, defend and hold harmless VCF and its officers, directors, employees, agents, distributors, affiliates and all persons claiming under VCF from and against any and all losses, claims, demands, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses, including reasonable legal fees and expert witness fees, resulting from Your breach of any of the provisions mentioned in these Terms and Conditions, representations or warranties, and/or from Your placement or transmission of any content onto VCF’s servers, and/or infringement by You of any content on the Site, including any claims against You alleging misuse or unauthorized usage of the information, data and content available on the Site and/or from Your use of any Service or the Site itself.
31. California Users and Residents

If any complaint with Us is not satisfactorily resolved, you can contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd, Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834 or by telephone at (800) 952-5210 or (916) 445-1254.

32. Termination and Amendments. Your rights with regard to the Service will automatically terminate without notice and without refund of any fees or any other compensation if you fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions. We may amend the Terms and Conditions at our sole discretion by posting the revised terms online. Changes to the Terms and Conditions will be effective as of the date they are posted on the Site. We recommend you review these Terms and Conditions regularly for any updates as indicated by the revision date at the top. Your continued use of the Service after any amendment evidences Your agreement and explicit renewal of your consent.
33. Severability. If any term or condition mentioned herein is deemed invalid, void, or for any reason unenforceable, that part shall be deemed severed and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining terms or conditions.
34. Entire Agreement. The provisions set out herein, comprise the entire agreement between You and Us in respect of the Service and Your use of the Site and all previous communication in respect of the same shall be deemed ineffectual and nonbinding.