Terms of Use

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE. BY USING THIS SITE, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE, PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS SITE.

1. General. This site is owned and operated by Fictionwise LLC, a Barnes and Noble company, and may also be referred to as Fictionwise.com or Fictionwise. Fictionwise has the right at any time to change or discontinue any aspect or feature of the site, including, without limitation, the content, hours of availability, and equipment needed for access or use of the site. These terms of use apply to all users of Fictionwise, from one-time users to people browsing the website to Fictionwise members. Individual Fictionwise members are limited to a single individual.

2. Restrictions on Use.

• A. You shall use the site for lawful purposes only. You shall not post or transmit through the site any material that (i) violates or infringes in any way upon the rights of others, (ii) is unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, vulgar, obscene, profane or otherwise objectionable, or (iii) encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, gives rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any law. Without Fictionwise's express prior approval, you shall not post or transmit through the site any material that contains advertising or any solicitation with respect to products or services. You shall not use the site to advertise or perform any commercial solicitation, including, without limitation, the solicitation of users to become subscribers of other on-line information services. Any conduct by you that in Fictionwise's discretion restricts or inhibits any other user from using or enjoying the site will not be permitted. You shall not falsify credit card information used for purchases, including but not limited to the country associated with the billing address of any credit cards used at our sites. Falsifying credit card information may result in immediate and permanent suspension of your account.
• B. The site contains copyrighted material, trademarks and other proprietary information, including, without limitation, eBooks, downloadable files, text, software, photos, video, graphics, music and sound, and the contents of the site are copyrighted under the United States copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, display, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit, any of the content, in whole or in part. No copying, redistribution, retransmission, publication or commercial exploitation of downloaded material will be permitted without the express written permission of Fictionwise and the copyright owner. In the event of any permitted copying, redistribution or publication of copyrighted material, no changes in or deletion of author attribution, trademark legend or copyright notice shall be made. You acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights by downloading copyrighted material. Fictionwise eBooks can not be printed.
• C. You shall not upload, post or otherwise make available on the site any material protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right without the express permission of the owner of the copyright, trademark or other proprietary right and the burden of determining that any material is not protected by copyright rests with you. You shall be solely liable for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyrights, proprietary rights, or any other harm resulting from such a submission. By submitting material to any public area of the site, you automatically grant, or warrant that the owner of such material has expressly granted Fictionwise the royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, display, translate and distribute such material (in whole or in part) and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed. You also permit any other user of the site to access, view, store or reproduce the material for that user's personal use. You grant Fictionwise the right to edit, copy, display, publish and distribute any material made available on the site by you.
• D. Your access to the site, other than to portions open to the public, is controlled by your individual password. You may not share your password with anyone else or permit your password to be used to provide anyone else with access to non-public portions of the site.
• E. The foregoing provisions of Section 3 are for the benefit of Fictionwise, its subsidiaries, affiliates and its third party content providers and licensors and each shall have the right to assert and enforce such provisions directly or on its own behalf.

3. Disclaimer of Warranty; Limitation of Liability.

• A. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THE SITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. NEITHER FICTIONWISE, ITS AFFILIATES NOR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS OR LICENSORS WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE; NOR DO THEY MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE SITE, OR AS TO THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY INFORMATION, SERVICE OR MERCHANDISE PROVIDED THROUGH THE SITE.
• B. THE SITE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ADDITIONALLY, THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES AS TO THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SITE.
• C. IN NO EVENT WILL FICTIONWISE, OR ANY PERSON OR ENTITY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING OR DISTRIBUTING THE SITE OR THE CONTENT INCLUDED THEREIN, BE LIABLE IN CONTRACT, IN TORT (INCLUDING FOR ITS OWN NEGLIGENCE) OR UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY (INCLUDING STRICT LIABILITY) FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR SIMILAR DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST PROFITS OR REVENUES, LOSS OF USE OR SIMILAR ECONOMIC LOSS, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY TO ALL USE OF AND CONTENT ON THE SITE. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN NO EVENT SHALL Fictionwise's TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES AND CAUSES OF ACTION WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING ITS OWN NEGLIGENCE) OR UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY (INCLUDING STRICT LIABILITY) EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESSING THIS SITE.
• D. THE ABOVE DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY APPLIES TO ANY DAMAGES OR INJURY CAUSED BY ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INACCURACY, INTERRUPTION, DELETION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMPUTER VIRUS, COMMUNICATION LINE FAILURE, THEFT OR DESTRUCTION OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO, ALTERATION OF, OR USE OF THIS SITE, WHETHER FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORTIOUS BEHAVIOR (INCLUDING STRICT LIABILITY), NEGLIGENCE, OR UNDER ANY OTHER CAUSE OF ACTION. YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT Fictionwise IS NOT LIABLE FOR THE DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF OTHER USERS OR THIRD-PARTIES AND THAT THE RISK OF INJURY FROM THE FOREGOING RESTS ENTIRELY WITH YOU.

4. Monitoring. Fictionwise shall have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor the content of the site including any chat rooms and forums, to determine compliance with these Terms of Use and any operating rules established by Fictionwise and to satisfy any law, regulation or authorized government request. Fictionwise shall have the right in its sole discretion to edit, refuse to post or remove any material submitted to or posted on the site. Without limiting the foregoing, Fictionwise shall have the right to remove any material that Fictionwise in its sole discretion, finds to be in violation of the provisions hereof or otherwise objectionable.

5. Indemnification. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Fictionwise and its affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any and all claims, actions, demands, damages, costs, liabilities, losses and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of your use of the site.

6. Trademarks. Fictionwise, Fictionwise.com, and all page headers, custom graphics and button icons are service marks, trademarks, and/or trade dress of Fictionwise. All rights reserved. All other trademarks appearing on the site are the property of their respective owners.

7. Third Party Content. Fictionwise has no more editorial control over content than does a public library, bookstore, or newsstand. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including information providers and users, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of Fictionwise. In many instances, the content available through the site represents the opinions and judgments of the respective information provider or user. Fictionwise neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the site by anyone other than authorized Fictionwise employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities.

8. Micropay Accounts. If a Fictionwise Member decides to close his or her Fictionwise Account and not buy from Fictionwise in the future, then he or she may request a refund of remaining deposited monies in their Micropay account by sending email to [email protected] Fictionwise will refund the money within 60 days.
Note 1: registered members who win Micropay dollars as part of a Fictionwise prize program cannot redeem such winnings for cash.
Note 2: Micropay dollars added to a members Mircopay account through the Fictionwise "Recommend a Friend" program cannot be redeemed or refunded for cash. This rule is in place to discourage "spamming" in this program.
Note 3: Micropay dollars added via the Fictionwise Rebate Program (also called Rapid Rebate) cannot be redeemed or refunded in cash.
Note 4: Micropay Rebate dollars expire after six months of account inactivity.

9. Ebooks. After purchasing any downloadable eBook or product from Fictionwise.com, it is the Fictionwise Member's responsibility to download the eBook or product within 1 hour of purchase. If you believe an error has been made in the purchase, please do not download the eBook (you must contact us explaining the error at [email protected]). Once you download the eBook, then it is impossible for us to refund you for it. Please note: Because of the constantly evolving nature of the eBook industry and eBook formats, we do not guarantee that eBooks you purchase from Fictionwise will always be available in the formats that we "currently" support. That is why it is important that you download the eBook in the format of your choice immediately after purchasing.

Fictionwise, however, will make efforts to keep the product listed and available for download in the Fictionwise member's "Bookshelf" for one week, and longer when possible -- but this is not guaranteed.

YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE that Fictionwise has the right to put a temporary hold on any account while it validates credit card or Micropay purchases and/or reviews such transactions for potential fraud. While an account is on hold, downloading eBooks is not allowed. Once the purchase is validated, the hold will be removed and downloading will be possible. Or, if the transaction is fraudulent, then the account will be frozen and other actions will be taken

Important Notice: eBooks cannot be printed, copied, or "loaned" to others due to copyright laws.

Important Notice: Once an eBook is downloaded, it cannot be refunded or exchanged for another eBook for for a different format of the same eBook.

All eBooks at Fictionwise.com are the exclusive property of the publisher or its licensors and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. The download of these product(s) is intended for the Fictionwise Member's personal and noncommercial use. Any other use of eBooks downloaded from Fictionwise.com is strictly prohibited. Users may not modify, transmit, publish, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the content of these product(s), in whole or in part. By downloading Fictionwise eBooks, the User hereby acknowledges and agrees to these terms.

10. "Recommend a Friend" Program. This program is being released as a Beta Test at this time. Testing of the program will continue and errors may occur during this testing period. Fictionwise will attempt to fix errors as quickly as possible, but in some cases that may not be possible during this beta period. The program works like this:

-- In the "bookshelf" area, Fictionwise members (which we will call the "recommender" in this example) will have the option to email a "friend" to recommend an eBook. -- The email generated for this purpose will automatically create a 10% discounted coupon that can be used by the "friend" to purchase the specific eBook that is being recommended. -- If the "friend" uses the coupon, then the recommender will receive 10% of the "friend's" total eBook purchase resulting from the coupon. This amount will be put into the recommender's Micropay Account. Note: any Micropay dollars generated through Fictionwise's Recommend a Friend program can only be used by the recommender for future Fictionwise eBook purchases. It CANNOT be refunded or redeemed by the recommender for cash. -- SPECIAL NOTE: This program has been requested by our Fictionwise members. Its intent is to allow members to recommend eBooks to their friends. In no case should this program be used to SPAM people or to send unwanted email or to send a recommendation to a mailing list. Fictionwise has put safe guards in place to reduce the possibility of SPAM. For example, the Coupon that is created can only be used ONCE. Therefore there is no benefit to send the Coupon code to multiple people. Also, our program allows our users to only send one recommendation out at a time (e.g., multiple email addresses cannot be put into the "TO" field of the email form). If Fictionwise discovers that members are using the program to somehow spam people, then that member may be suspended from Fictionwise.

11. Changed Terms. Fictionwise has the right at any time to change or modify these Terms of Use applicable to use of the site, or any part thereof, or to impose new conditions. Such changes, modifications, additions or deletions shall be effective immediately upon notice thereof, which may be given by any means including, without limitation, posting on the site, or by electronic or conventional mail, or by any other means. Any use of the site by you after such notice shall be deemed to constitute acceptance of such changes, modifications, additions or deletions.

12. Miscellaneous. These Terms of Use shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New Jersey, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. No waiver by either party of any breach or default hereunder shall be deemed to be a waiver of any preceding or subsequent breach or default. The section headings used herein are for convenience only and shall not be given any legal import.