Revised: June 23, 2022

These Terms of Service constitute a legally binding agreement (this “Agreement”) between you and The Giving Back Fund, Inc. (herein referred to as “Giving Back”, “we,” “us,” or “our”) that governs your visit to or use of any platform, mobile application, or other technology that we or one of our affiliates sponsors in connection with our not-for-profit Life Calling Initiative and related missions and initiatives, including the websites, www.life-calling.org and www.aspeciesbetweenworlds.com, and the mobile apps, “A Land Between Worlds” and “A Species Between Worlds” (referred to all together as the “Life Calling Platform”).

By using the Life Calling Platform, you are saying that you understand this Agreement and accept all its terms, including our Privacy Policy, which is part of this Agreement. If you don’t agree, your option is not to use or access the Life Calling Platform.

1. The Life Calling Platform’s Intended Purpose

The Giving Back Fund, Inc. is a Massachusetts, USA not-for-profit organization, with tax exempt status pursuant to U.S. Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) (EIN 04-3367888).  In sponsoring the Life Calling Platform, we are promoting the Life Calling Initiative.  Founded by American artist and thinker, John Mack (see www.JohnMack.org), and expressed through his thought, photography, writing, and work, the Life Calling Initiative responds to threats to our humanity that are posed by our increasing reliance on technology and our resulting detachment from the natural world.  The Life Calling Platform provides a convenient way for individuals (which we refer to here as “Users”, “you”, “your”, or “yourself”) to learn about and engage with the Life Calling Initiative, in particular by providing access to our content, features, functionality, tools, solutions, and services  (together referred to here as “Platform Content”). To be clear, “Platform Content” includes all information we incorporate into the Life Calling Platform, including for example, data, text, messages, software, sound, music, displays, video, photographs, graphics, artwork, images, tags, as well as the design, selection, and arrangement thereof.  “Platform Content” includes without limitation artwork, poetry, writing, and other creative work owned exclusively by John Mack and licensed to Giving Back solely for purposes of the not-for-profit Life Calling Initiative.

2. Changes to this Agreement

We periodically update this Agreement. We will let you know when we do via an email, website post, in-app notification, or similar communications, depending on how you’ve elected to interact with the Life Calling Platform. All changes are effective immediately when we post them and apply to all access to and use of the Life Calling Platform thereafter.  Your continued use of the Life Calling Platform following the posting of revised Terms of Service means that you accept and agree to the changes.

3. Limited License Grant

Subject to the terms of this Agreement, Giving Back grants you a limited, non-exclusive, and nontransferable license to: (a) download, install, and use, as the case may be, any Platform Content on a mobile device or personal computer owned or otherwise controlled by you (“Your Device“) strictly in accordance with this Agreement and our documentation; and (b) access, stream, download, and use on Your Device the Platform Content, strictly in accordance with this Agreement and our documentation.

4. Reservation of Rights

You acknowledge and agree that the Life Calling Platform and Platform Content are provided under license, and not sold, to you. You do not acquire any ownership interest in the Life Calling Platform or Platform Content under this Agreement, or any other rights thereto other than to use the Life Calling Platform and Platform Content in accordance with the license granted, and subject to all terms, conditions, and restrictions, under this Agreement. Giving Back and its licensors, including without limitation John Mack, and its service providers reserve and shall retain their entire right, title, and interest in and to the Life Calling Platform and Platform Content, including all Intellectual Property Rights, as defined below, therein or relating thereto, except as expressly granted to you in this Agreement.

If you wish to use the Life Calling Platform or the Platform Content in a manner that exceeds your license and the restrictions of this Agreement, you may submit your prior written request to info@life-calling.org for our consideration.

5. Eligibility, Access, and Security

We reserve the right to withdraw, amend, or suspend the Life Calling Platform, and any service or material that we provide through the Life Calling Platform, in our sole discretion without notice. We will not be liable if for any reason all or any part of the Life Calling Platform is unavailable at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access to some or all parts of the Life Calling Platform to Users.

If you choose, or are provided with, a User name, password, or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any other person or entity.  You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to or use of your User name or password or any other breach of security.

6. Intellectual Property Rights

All Platform Content is owned by Giving Back, its licensors, including without limitation John Mack, or other providers of such material and are protected by United States and international Intellectual Property Rights.  “Intellectual Property Rights”  means all inventions, patents, utility models, trade and service marks, trade names, domain names, right in designs, copyrights, moral rights, topography rights, rights in databases, developments, research data, processes, formulas trade secrets and know-how, intellectual property, and other intangible proprietary or property rights, in all cases whether or not registered or registrable and including registrations and applications for registration of any of these and rights to apply for the same, rights to receive equitable remuneration in respect of any of these and all rights and forms of protection of a similar nature or having equivalent or similar effect to any of these anywhere in the world.

7. Trademarks

“Life Calling”, “Life Calling Initiative”, “Life-Calling.org”, “ASpeciesBetweenWorlds.com”, “A Species Between Worlds”, “A Land Between Worlds” and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs, and slogans are trademarks of John Mack, Giving Back, or its affiliates or licensors (referred to here as the “Life Calling Marks”).  Giving Back may, at its sole discretion, provide you with Life Calling Marks for certain limited purposes expressly stated by Giving Back (for instance, for the sole purpose of identifying yourself as a supporter of the Life Calling Initiative on your website, social media, and print media).  You must not use Life Calling Marks for any other purpose without our prior written permission, which you may request at info@life-calling.org.   All other names, logos, product and service names, designs, and slogans in the Life Calling Platform are the trademarks of their respective owners.

8. Authorization to Use Your Information, Image, and Feedback

“Your Information” means any information that you provide, publish, or post to or through the Life Calling Platform (including any profile or User account information that you provide).  You consent to us using Your Information for the purposes of facilitating your use of the Life Calling Platform, for example, to create a User account or profile.  Our collection and use of personal information in connection with the Life Calling Platform is as described in our Privacy Policy, which is part of this Agreement.  You agree to provide and maintain accurate, current and complete information and that we may rely on Your Information as accurate, current and complete.

“Your Information” includes any photograph, image, avatar, video or audio recording, that you capture and/or create within the Life Calling Platform, for example, in connection with creating your profile or User account, including without limitation of your own physical and/or vocal likeness.

We encourage Users to comment on the Life Calling Platform, provide suggestions and feedback for improving it, and vote on suggestions they like. You agree that all such comments, suggestions, and feedback will be non-confidential and that we own all rights to use and incorporate them into the Life Calling Platform, without payment or attribution to you.

To enable us to use Your Information for the purposes described in the Privacy Policy and this Agreement, you grant to us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable (through multiple tiers) right and license to exercise the copyright, publicity, and database rights you have in your Information, and to use, copy, perform, display and distribute Your Information to prepare derivative works, or incorporate into other works, Your Information, in any media now known or not currently known. Other than as expressly provided within the Life Calling Platform, you acknowledge that you have no right of approval, and YOU WAIVE ANY CLAIM (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, CLAIMS BASED ON INVASION OF PRIVACY, DEFAMATION, AND RIGHT OF PUBLICITY) ARISING OUT OF ANY USE, BLURRING, ALTERATION, DISTORTION, ILLUSIONARY EFFECT, OR ANY USE IN COMPOSITE OF MY NAME, PICTURE LIKENESS, VOICE, OR BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION FOR THE PERMITTED PURPOSES.

We shall have no obligation to use any of the rights you grant, and you represent that it is unnecessary for us to obtain permission from or to pay any third party in connection with the rights granted in this section.

9. Life Calling Communications

By entering into this Agreement, including by using the Life Calling Platform, you agree to receive communications from us, including via e-mail, calls, and push notifications, as the case may be, depending on the preferences that you have expressed and subject to the provisions of our Privacy Policy.  Communications from Giving Back, its affiliated companies and/or Users, may include but are not limited to:

• operational communications concerning your User account or use of the Life Calling Platform,
• updates concerning new and existing features on the Life Calling Platform,
• communications concerning Life Calling Initiative promotions and campaigns run by us or our third-party partners, and
• news concerning the Life Calling Initiative and general developments impacting our related missions and initiatives.

Standard text messaging charges applied by your cell phone carrier may apply to text messages that we send pursuant to your consent or request.

10. Prohibited Uses

You may use the Life Calling Platform only for lawful purposes and in accordance with this Agreement. In connection with your use of the Life Calling Platform, you acknowledge that you will not:

• violate in any way any federal, state, local, or international law or regulation;
• post, send, solicit, or obtain anything defamatory, fraudulent, violent, threatening, pornographic, racist, hateful, or otherwise objectionable in our sole opinion;
• impersonate any individual or entity, or infringe any person’s intellectual property rights, copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights;
• engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits any person’s use or enjoyment of the Life Calling Platform, or which, as determined solely by us, may harm us or our Users, or expose us or them to liability or reputational harm;
• transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional material, including any “junk mail”, “chain letter”, “spam”, or any other similar solicitation;
• hack or compromise in any way the integrity and security of the Life Calling Platform or the computers or devices of any of our Users;
• “frame” or “mirror” any part of the Life Calling Platform, without our prior written authorization or use meta tags or code or other devices containing any reference to us in order to direct any person to any other web site for any purpose;
• modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decipher, decompile or otherwise disassemble any portion of the Life Calling Platform;
• rent, lease, lend, sell, redistribute, license or sublicense the Life Calling Platform;
• use any robot, spider, or other automatic means to access the Life Calling Platform;
• use any manual process to monitor or copy any of the material in the Life Calling Platform or for any other unauthorized purpose without our prior written consent;
• allow any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful, to be introduced in to the Life Calling Platform;
• attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage, or disrupt any parts of the Life Calling Platform, the servers on which they operate, or any server, computer, or database to which the Life Calling Platform is connected;
• transfer or sell your User account, password and/or identification to any other party; or
• cause any person to engage in the foregoing prohibited activities.

11. Life Calling Platform Changes and Updates

We may from time to time in our sole discretion develop and provide updates to the Life Calling Platform, which may include content updates, upgrades, bug fixes, patches, error corrections, and/or new features (together, including related documentation, “Updates“). Updates may also modify or delete in their entirety certain features and functionality. You agree that we have no obligation to provide any Updates or to continue to provide or enable any particular features or functionality.

12. Linking to the Life Calling Platform and Social Media Features

You may link to the Life Calling Platform, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal, does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, and does not suggest any form of association, approval, or endorsement on our part without our express written consent.

The Life Calling Platform may provide certain social media features that enable you to:

• Link from your own or certain third-party websites or apps to certain content in the Life Calling Platform;
• Send emails or other communications with certain content, or links to certain content, in the Life Calling Platform;
• Cause limited portions of content in the Life Calling Platform to be displayed or appear to be displayed on your own or certain third-party websites or apps.

You may use these features solely as they are provided by us and solely in accordance with any additional terms and conditions that we provide with respect to such features. Any other linking activity or use of social media features without our prior written permission is strictly prohibited.

The website or app from which you are linking, or on which you make certain content accessible, must comply in all respects with the Prohibited Uses set out above in the “Prohibited Uses” section of this Agreement.

You agree to cooperate with us in immediately stopping any unauthorized framing or linking. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

We may disable all or any social media features and any links at any time without notice in our discretion.

13. Links from the Life Calling Platform

If the Life Calling Platform contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your convenience only. We have no control over the content of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. You access any of the third-party websites or apps linked to the Life Calling Platform entirely at your own risk and subject to their terms and conditions of use.

14. Disclaimer of Warranties

15. Limitation of Liability

16. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Giving Back, its affiliates, licensors, and service providers, and its and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, suppliers, successors, and assigns from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses, or fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of this Agreement or your use of the Life Calling Platform, including, but not limited to, any use of the Platform Content, other than as expressly authorized in this Agreement.

17. Term and Termination

• The term of this Agreement commences when you access, download, or install any Platform Content. The term will continue in effect until terminated by you or us as set forth in this section.
• You may terminate this Agreement by ceasing any and all access to the Life Calling Platform and by deleting any and all Platform Content and all copies thereof from Your Device.
• We may terminate this Agreement at any time without notice, with or without cause.
• Upon termination:
  • except as provided in the sections of this Agreement captioned “Changes to this Agreement”, “Reservation of Rights”, “Intellectual Property Rights”, “Trademarks”, “Your Information”, “Life Calling Communications”, “Prohibited Uses”, “Disclaimer of Warranties”, “Limitation of Liability”, “Indemnification”, “Term and Termination”, “Governing Law and Jurisdiction”, “Waiver and Severability”, and “Entire Agreement”, which shall survive any expiration or termination of this Agreement, all rights granted to you under this Agreement will also terminate; and
  • you must cease all use of the Life Calling Platform and delete all copies of any and all aspects of the Platform Content.

• Termination will not limit any of our rights or remedies at law or in equity.

18. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

All matters relating to the Life Calling Platform and this Agreement and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of Connecticut without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the State of Connecticut or any other jurisdiction).

Any legal suit, action, or proceeding arising out of, or related to, this Agreement or the Life Calling Platform shall be instituted exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut or the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut for the Judicial District of New Haven.  We retain the right to bring any suit, action, or proceeding against you for breach of this Agreement in your country of residence or any other relevant country. You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to venue in such courts.

19. Waiver and Severability

No waiver by us of any term or condition set out in this Agreement shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of ours to assert a right or provision under this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of this Agreement is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of this Agreement will continue in full force and effect.

20. Entire Agreement

This Agreement, our Privacy Policy, and any documents or communications referenced in this Agreement and our Privacy Policy, constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and us regarding the Life Calling Platform and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations, and warranties, both written and oral, regarding the Life Calling Platform.

21. Your Comments and Concerns

The Life Calling Platform is operated by The Giving Back Fund, Inc., 2208 Canyonback Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90049.

Feedback, comments, requests for technical support, and other communications relating to the Life Calling Platform should be directed to: info@life-calling.org.

Terms of service |  Privacy policy