Terms and conditions

LEGAL NOTICE

ATTENTION: This Legal Notice applies to the entire contents of www.thestudentroom.co.uk and the websites associated services (together the “Website”). This Legal Notice is issued by The Student Room Group Limited (company number: 4666380) whose registered office is Floor 6, Tower Point, 44 North Rd, Brighton BN1 1YR (“The Student Room Group”).

The terms of this Legal Notice along with the Privacy Policy (the “Terms”) apply to all:

a) users, members, subscribers, customers and person who visits and use the Website; and

b) community team, support team members, section leaders, PS helpers, wiki editors and any person holding a similar position of responsibility as may be identified by The Student Room Group from time to time (the “Moderators”);

(collectively or individually the “Users”).

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY. Using the Website indicates that you accept the Terms regardless of whether or not you choose to register with us. If you do not accept the Terms, do not use the Website.

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 By accessing any part of the Website, you shall be deemed to have accepted these Terms in full. If you do not accept these Terms in full, you must leave the Website immediately.

1.2 When using the Website, you will be subject to any additional posted guidelines or rules including (but not limited to), the “Forum Rules and Guidance”, “Announcements”, “Stickies” or any further guidance (which has been approved by The Student Room Group) posted on the Website from time to time by a Moderator relating to a specific activity or feature (together the “Guidelines”). All such Guidelines are incorporated by reference into these Terms.

1.3 The Student Room Group reserves the right to revise these Terms (including the Guidelines) at any time by updating them. You should check the Website from time to time to review the then current Terms, because it is binding on you. Certain provisions of these Terms may be superseded by expressly designated Terms or terms located on particular pages of the Website.

2 OWNERSHIP

2.1 You acknowledge that the Website is owned and operated by The Student Room Group. Except as provided in clause 2.2, the copyright and all other intellectual property rights in all material on the Website (including (but not limited to) photographs and graphical images) are owned by The Student Room Group or its licensors.

2.2 The copyright and any other intellectual property rights on the database, the design, text, pictures, graphics and the selection and arrangement of them and in all software compilations, coding, source code, software and in all documents and/or other material on the Web Site belongs to Us absolutely or is licensed to Us.

2.3 Users shall retain ownership rights in the text, messages, chat, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship or any other materials that they from time to time post or transmit to the Website (the “User-Generated Content”). Any User-Generated Content you post or transmit to the Website shall be considered non-confidential.

By submitting the User-Generated Content you hereby grant:

2.3.1 The Student Room Group a permanent, non-exclusive, assignable, royalty free licence to display, reproduce, distribute and modify your User-Generated Content.

2.3.2 to all other Users a non-exclusive licence to display, reproduce or perform (if applicable) your User-Generated Content solely as necessary for such User to participate in the relevant Website activity or functionality.

2.3.3 You may only download Coursework/essays from Our Website for Your own personal and non-commercial use.

2.3.4 You shall only use the Coursework for research purposes. You shall not pass off or attempt to pass off any Coursework as Your own work. To do so would constitute an infringement of copyright and moral rights and may also breach regulations set out by educational institutions. This will automatically give rights to the owner of such Rights to a legal action against You.

2.3.5 If You believe that the content of Our Web Site or Coursework in any way infringes Intellectual Property Rights belonging to You or any third party, please contact Us immediately.

2.3.6 With respect to the Coursework You elect to post to other publicly accessible areas of the Service, You grant Us the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Coursework (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed.

2.3.7 You acknowledge and agree that the Service and any necessary software used in connection with the Service ("Software ") contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws. You further acknowledge and agree that content contained in sponsor advertisements or information presented to you through the Service or advertisers is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents or other proprietary rights and laws. You agree not to modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based on the Service or the Software, in whole or in part.

3 USER-GENERATED CONTENT AND CONDUCT

3.1 Any use of the User-Generated Content by Users other than for private, non commercial research or study is strictly prohibited.

3.2 You are prohibited from posting or transmitting to or from the Website any material:

3.2.1 that is threatening, defamatory, obscene, indecent, seditious, offensive, pornographic, abusive, liable to incite racial hatred, discriminatory, menacing, scandalous, inflammatory, in breach of confidence, in breach of privacy or which may cause annoyance or inconvenience; or

3.2.2 for which you have not obtained all necessary licences and/or approvals; or

3.2.3 which constitutes or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise be contrary to the law of or infringe the rights of any third party, in any country in the world; or

3.2.4 which is technically harmful (including (but not limited to) computer viruses, logic bombs, Trojan horses, worms, harmful components, corrupted data or other malicious software or harmful data. (together “Inappropriate User-Generated Content”)

3.3 The Student Room Group shall fully co-operate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing The Student Room Group to disclose or identify or locate anyone posting any Inappropriate User-Generated Content.

3.4 The Student Room Group accepts no responsibility for actively monitoring any forums contained in the Website for Inappropriate User-Generated Content. You agree that The Student Room Group accept no liability whatsoever if The Student Room Group so chooses from time to time to edit, restrict or remove the User-Generated Content.

3.5 Private messages (PMs) are non-public direct messages sent between individual users that appear in a user’s inbox. Out of respect for user privacy, The Student Room's community moderation team only review PMs that are flagged for potential violations of The Student Room's Community Guidelines. PMs may be flagged by automated systems, reported by another user, or triggered by other investigative measures. As a result, the community moderation team may remove messages that violate The Student Room’s Community Guidelines or report potentially harmful content to the relevant authorities.

4 SUBMITTED COURSEWORK, ESSAYS AND NOTES

4.1 We shall have the sole discretion to edit, refuse to post or remove any Coursework that is submitted and/or posted to Our Web Site across our Network of Websites.

4.2 You are entirely responsible for all Coursework and other material that you upload, post, email or otherwise transmit via the Service. We shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that the work submitted by You belongs to you and it satisfies our standards. Please note that by submitting work You are declaring that you are the owner of all privileges to that work. However, We act in good faith upon your declaration that you sign when You submit your Registration Data. Under no circumstances will We be liable in any way for any Coursework and / or Submitted Coursework, including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in any Coursework and / or Submitted Coursework, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Coursework and / or Submitted Coursework posted, emailed or otherwise transmitted via the Service.

4.3 You shall be solely responsible for the content of any piece of Submitted Coursework that You supply and You will ensure that the Submitted Coursework does not contain any inaccurate, misleading and/or offensive information. You guarantee to Us that any Submitted Coursework supplied by You to Us:-

4.3.1 does not infringe any copyright or other personal or proprietary right of any other person or entity;

4.3.2 does not infringe any personal moral rights; and

4.3.3 is not immoral, unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, profane and/or does not cause offence.

4.4 All work that You submit that passes Our validation system will be subsequently submitted along with Your name to plagiarism detection software (a third party company which is hosted in the United States of America). This will protect Your submitted work against abuse from other users. The plagiarism detection software will store Your submitted work for the sole purpose of plagiarism detection, to safeguard Your work against future reproduction.

4.5 With respect to the Coursework You elect to post to other publicly accessible areas of the Service, You grant Us the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Coursework (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed.

5 PROHIBITED USE OF THE WEBSITE

5.1 No part of the Website may be reproduced or stored in any other website or included in any public or private electronic retrieval system or service without The Student Room Group’s prior written consent.

5.2 You agree that you will not:

5.2.1 use the Website for any purpose that is unlawful (including (but not limited to) by hacking) or prohibited by these Terms;

5.2.2 use the Website in such a manner as would, in the sole discretion of The Student Room Group, cause harm to the Website or other Users or otherwise interfere with the enjoyment of the Website;

5.2.3 harass, abuse, bully, threaten or defraud another User;

5.2.4 use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Website for any purpose;

5.2.5 attempt to gain authorised access to the Website through hacking, password mining or any other means; or

5.2.6 interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website.

6 MODERATORS (This section is only applicable to moderators)

6.1 Moderators shall be entitled to carry out such day-to-day tasks as are reasonably required for them to carry out their roles (as outlined in the relevant Guidelines), without prior approval from The Student Room Group.

6.2 Moderators shall only be entitled to appoint or delegate authority in relation to the Website (for instance (but not limited to) appointment of a Moderator) with the prior approval of The Student Room Group.

6.3 Each Moderator undertakes that they shall not at any time:

6.3.1 communicate or otherwise make available to any person, in whole or in part, any information provided by The Student Room Group or a User which is marked as confidential or is imparted in circumstances importing an obligation of confidence (for instance (but not limited to) private messages, anonymous posts by Users or posts by Users on a “Ask a Moderator” or “Ask a Mini-Moderator”) (“Confidential Information”);

6.3.2 use the Confidential Information in whole or in part for any research, development or manufacture;

6.4 A Moderator shall disclose Confidential Information:

6.4.1 to the extent required by law, by any governmental or other regulatory authority or by a court or other authority of competent jurisdiction provided that, to the extent it is permitted to do so, it gives The Student Room Group and, if relevant, the User as much notice of such disclosure as possible; or

6.4.2 to The Student Room Group if the Confidential Information is relevant or subject to an investigation by The Student Room Group for an alleged breach of these Terms, but only to that extent.

6.5 Each Moderator acknowledges and hereby agrees to adhere to the terms of the Privacy Policy and its obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 in respect of any personal or sensitive information relating to any person that it may have access to on the Website (or any part of it).

6.6 Each Moderator agrees that they will:

6.6.1 not use the Website or the powers conferred on them by The Student Room Group in such a manner as would, in the sole discretion of The Student Room Group, cause harm to the Website or other Users;

6.6.2 use all tools, access to the Website (or any part of it) and any other powers or authorities provided or delegated to them by The Student Room Group solely for the purposes of carrying out their responsibilities as detailed in The Guidelines, and at all times in good faith;

6.6.3 not unduly undermine or criticise User-Generated Content (including Confidential Information) on the Website; and;

6.6.4 not use User-Generated Content (including Confidential Information) to gain an unfair advantage over a User; and

6.6.5 immediately remove any content from the view of Users as soon as it becomes aware, or could reasonably be expected to be aware, of any User-Generated Content posted in breach of the Terms and assist in any subsequent investigation. If such content appears to be in significant breach of the law, or requires action or investigation from The Student Room Group, then in addition, they will immediately notify The Student Room Group.

6.6.6 immediately notify The Student Room Group in the event the Moderator receives a request from a third party or User requiring or requesting any User-Generated Content to be removed from the Website on grounds it is defamatory, illegal, infringing, in breach of confidence or privacy or otherwise in breach of the Terms and for whatever reason such request is not actioned by you by removing the identical material immediately on receipt.

6.7 The Student Room Group may terminate a position of a Moderator immediately without notice for any reason. In such circumstances the Moderator will cease to have access to the Website in its capacity as Moderator. The termination of a Moderator’s position will not affect clause 2, 9, 10 and 11 sub-clauses 6.3 to 6.5, and this sub-clause 6.7

6.8 Each Moderator agrees that they will seek The Student Room Group’s guidance if they are in doubt about any of the forgoing provisions of this clause 5.

7 LINKS TO AND FROM OTHER WEBSITES

7.1 Links to third party websites on the Website are provided solely for your convenience. If you use these links, you leave the Website. The Student Room Group has not reviewed all of these third party websites and does not control and is not responsible for these websites or their content or availability. The Student Room Group therefore does not endorse or make any representations about them, or any material 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 the Website, you do so entirely at your own risk.

7.2 If you would like to link to the Website, you may only do so on the basis that you link to, but do not replicate, any page of the Website, and subject to the following conditions:

7.2.1 you do not remove, distort or otherwise alter the size or appearance of The Student Room logo;

7.2.2 you do not in any way imply that The Student Room Group is endorsing any products or services other than its own;

7.2.3 you do not misrepresent your relationship with The Student Room Group nor present any other false information about The Student Room Group;

7.2.4 you do not otherwise use The Student Room mark displayed on the Website without express written permission from The Student Room Group;

7.2.5 you do not link from a website that you do not have the necessary authority or permission to link from; and

7.2.6 the website you are linking from does not contain content that is distasteful, offensive or controversial, infringes any intellectual property rights or other rights of The Student Room Group or any other person or otherwise does not comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

7.3 The Student Room Group expressly reserves the right to revoke the right granted in clause 7.2 for breach of these Terms and to take any action it deems appropriate.

7.4 You shall fully indemnify The Student Room Group for any loss or damage suffered by The Student Room Group or any of its group companies for breach of clause 7.2.

8 REGISTRATION

8.1 The Website is not available for any person under the age of 13 or to any registered member banned, suspended or removed from the Website.

8.2 Each registration for a membership is for a single user only. The Student Room Group does not permit you to share your user name and password with any other person nor with multiple users on a network.

8.3 Responsibility for the security of your password(s) rests with you.

8.4 At any time, and without cause, we may cancel or terminate your access to your membership account at any time in our sole discretion.

9 SERVICE ACCESS AND MODIFICATIONS

9.1 While The Student Room Group endeavours to ensure that the Website is normally available 24 hours a day, The Student Room Group shall not be liable if for any reason the Website is unavailable at any time or for any period.

9.2 Access to the Website may be suspended temporarily and without notice in the case of system failure, maintenance or repair or for reasons beyond The Student Room Group’s control.

9.3 We reserve the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, You agree that We shall not be liable to You or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.

10 PHOTO AND VIDEO CONSENT FOR PROMOTIONAL USE

10.1 When you take part in video content created for The Student Room, we will seek your informed consent. We will do this by asking you to sign a form before the project is undertaken. For students under 18, consent from the parent or guardian will also be required. For content created, we will agree from the outset of the brief if vouchers will be made available to those taking part, and if so the value of those. 

10.2 We store images, video, testimonials and any related information on secure servers. Usage of images, video, testimonials and other statements, will be for use in our marketing, publicity and general communications across a range of media. These include The Student Room website, The Uni Guide website, TSR Matters and company social media channels.  

10.2.1 We will usually keep audio-visual material in our library for no longer than seven years. However, we reserve the right to store images or video of particular importance or value for a longer period if still appropriate for our needs. 

10.2.2 Requests to remove content created for our off-site channels (i.e. social media) at a later date can be submitted to [email protected]. The Student Room Group would take reasonable steps to remove shared content (e.g. our social media channels and marketing materials), but would not be able to guarantee it could be entirely removed.   

11 DISCLAIMER

11.1 We shall have no Liability in respect of any acts and/or omissions, negligence, by PayPal including but not limited to Liability for the security of information that is passed by You to PayPal.

11.2 We shall use Our reasonable endeavours to ensure the security of Our Web Site. We shall have no Liability where the security of Our Web Site is breached due to acts and/or omissions by You and/or where We have taken all reasonable steps to protect the security and integrity of the Web Site.

11.3 We shall use Our reasonable endeavours to monitor the material on Our Web Site and to ensure that any material that is immoral, unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, profane and/or causes offence is removed from Our Web Site upon receipt of notice of any such material.

11.4 Any postings on the Web Site contain the questions, views, opinions and/or advice of -You and are not Ours.

11.5 We shall have no liability to You for any (including but not limited to):

11.5.1 direct, indirect, incidental, consequential losses or damages;

11.5.2 loss of profits and/or damage to goodwill;

11.5.3 use or inability to Use the Service;

11.5.4 loss of and/or corruption of data or other intangible loss;

11.5.5 transmission of virus and/or any other harmful code;

11.5.6 missed deadlines and/or failed exams;

11.5.7 damages, loss of data due to the network provider failure;

11.5.8 unauthorised access to or alteration of Your Coursework or any other data;

11.5.9 damage to your computer, loss of data resulting to the download of any Coursework from Our Web Site, be it from the result of software viruses, mail bombs, Trojan horses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, damage, corrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;

11.5.10 conduct of any third party

11.6 Our total Liability to You in relation to any one claim shall not exceed 100% of the initial Registration Fee (excluding automatic renewal fees paid) that You have paid to Us.

11.7 Nothing in these TOS shall exclude or limit Our Liability for death or personal injury due to Our negligence or any Liability which is due to Our fraud or any other Liability which we are not permitted to exclude or limit as a matter of law.

11.8 Nothing in this Contract shall exclude any of Your Statutory Rights as a consumer.

11.9 YOU FURTHERMORE ACKOWLEDGE THAT:

11.10.1 THE USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE DISCRETION AND RISK. THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED TERM OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY DESCRIPTION AND QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ANY TERM AS TO THE PROVISION OF SERVICES TO A STANDARD OF REASONABLE CARE AND SKILL OR AS TO NON-INFRINGEMENT OF ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.

11.10 WE MAKE NO WARRANTIES THAT:

11.10.1 THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE;

11.10.2 THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE;

11.10.3 ANY ERRORS IN THE SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED.

11.10.4 The Student Room Group does not warrant the accuracy and completeness of the material on the Website (including the User-Generated Content). The Student Room Group may make changes to the material on the Website (including User-Generated Content), or to the products and prices described in it, at any time without notice. The material on the Website may be out of date, and The Student Room Group makes no commitment to update such material.

11.10.5 The material on the Website (including the User-Generated Content) is provided "as is", without any conditions, warranties or other terms of any kind. Accordingly, to the maximum extent permitted by law, The Student Room Group provides you with the Website on the basis that The Student Room Group excludes all representations, warranties, conditions and other terms (including, without limitation, the conditions implied by law) which, but for these Terms, might have effect in relation to the Website (including the User-Generated Content).

12 LIABILITY

12.1 The Student Room Group, any other party (whether or not involved in creating, producing, maintaining or delivering the Website), and any of The Student Room Group’s group companies and the officers, directors, employees, shareholders or agents of any of them, exclude all liability and responsibility for any amount or kind of loss or damage that may result to you or a third party (including without limitation, any direct, indirect, punitive or consequential loss or damages, or any loss of income, profits, goodwill, data, contracts, use of money, or loss or damages arising from or connected in any way to business interruption, and whether in tort (including without limitation negligence), contract or otherwise) in connection with the Website (including the User-Generated Content) in any way or in connection with the use, inability to use or the results of use of the Website (including the User-Generated Content), any websites linked to the Website or the material on such websites, including but not limited to loss or damage due to viruses that may infect your computer equipment, software, data or other property on account of your access to, use of, or browsing the Website (including the User-Generated Content) or your downloading of any material from the Website (including the User-Generated Content) or any websites linked to the Website.

12.2 Nothing in these Terms shall exclude or limit The Student Room Group’s liability for:

12.2.1 death or personal injury caused by negligence (as such term is defined by the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977); or

12.2.2 fraud; or

12.2.3 misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter; or

12.2.4 any liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

12.3 If your use of material on the Website (including the User-Generated Content) results in the need for servicing, repair or correction of equipment, software or data, you assume all costs thereof.

YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY AND HOLD US AND OUR SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, AGENTS,, AND OTHER PARTNERS AND EMPLOYEES, HARMLESS FROM ANY LOSS, COSTS, CLAIMS OR DAMAGES OF WHATSOEVER NATURE, FEES, MADE BY ANY THIRD PARTY DUE TO OR ARISING OUT OF COURSEWORK YOU SUBMIT, POST TO OR TRANSMIT THROUGH THE SERVICE, YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, YOUR CONNECTION TO THE SERVICE, YOUR VIOLATION OF THE TOS, OR YOUR VIOLATION OF ANY RIGHTS OF ANOTHER.

13 GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law. Disputes arising in connection with these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

14 TERMINATION

14.1 We may terminate this Agreement immediately if You at any time:

14.1.1 breach the TOS; and/or

14.1.2 are suspected and/or found to be guilty of plagiarism or infringement of copyright in relation to any material provided by Us to You.

14.2 Either party may terminate this Agreement for any reason

14.2.1 for Us by giving you a 30 day written notice