These terms (the “Terms”) describe the rights and responsibilities that apply to use of the website at www.ripeta.com (the “Site”), and the products and services made available in connection with the Site (together with the Site, “Ripeta” as further defined below). Please read them carefully. By accessing or otherwise using the Site or any other part of Ripeta, you agree to be bound by these “Terms” as part of a legally binding contract.

Some Introductions

About Us

Ripeta is operated by Digital Science & Research Solutions Inc (“Digital Science”), a Delaware corporation with offices at 625 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

About You

If you agree to these Terms as an individual, you must be at least 16 years old and otherwise of legal age to form a binding contract. If you are acting on behalf of an institution, business, organization, agency or other entity (an “Organization”), you must ensure that: (i) you have authority to bind that Organization to these Terms, and your agreement to these Terms will be treated as the agreement of the Organization, and (ii) any individual or entity to whom you provide access to Ripeta  is made aware of and complies with these Terms. In that case, “you” and “your” in these Terms shall refer to the Organization you represent.

About Ripeta

You acknowledge that Ripeta is owned by or licensed to Digital Science and/or its affiliates, and is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, trade secrets and/or other industrial and proprietary rights and laws, including international conventions and treaties (“Proprietary Rights”). In particular, you acknowledge that the Site and other parts of Ripeta, including its underlying databases, are protected by copyright as collective works and/or compilations pursuant to copyright and database laws. 

Nothing in this Agreement shall operate to transfer any Proprietary Rights in any part of Ripeta or give rise to any implied rights. You agree not to remove, suppress or modify in any way the proprietary markings, including any trademark or copyright notice, used in relation to any Content or other part of Ripeta.

Reference to “Ripeta” in these Terms includes associated documentation, browser extensions and APIs, and other sites and services that refer to these terms, operated by or on behalf of Digital Science, as the context permits.

Using Ripeta

Acceptable Use

Without prejudice to any Contract, Ripeta is provided only for your personal, non-commercial research purposes, at all times subject to these Terms. You shall not otherwise use any part of Ripeta without the prior and express written agreement of Digital Science.

By way of example, and not as a limitation, you shall not, do or assist, encourage or permit any person to do any of the following in respect of any part of Ripeta:

• copy, save to the extent necessary for viewing any content on Ripeta in your browser or where specifically made available for download, for that purpose;
• distribute, give or allow access to or otherwise make available to any other person, or frame, mirror, overlay, or employ other technologies used to enclose, display or similar;
• modify, translate, adapt or create derivative works;
• sell, rent, lease, license, loan, commercialize or use for the benefit of any other person nor in connection with any direct or indirect revenue-generating activities (including generating internet traffic for websites containing advertising) or that result in developments that are used for such activities. For the avoidance of doubt, uses in connection with work that is carried out on the request, or at the direction or expense, of a person will be considered as being for the benefit of that person;

• send altered, deceptive or false source-identifying information, including “spoofing” or “phishing”, run any form of auto-responder or “spam” or use in connection with any unsolicited communication, advertising or similar;
• use in connection with any search functionality, or to otherwise power any products / apps / tools / systems, accessed by or on behalf of any other person;

• attempt to bypass any measure intended to prevent or restrict non-authorized use, make use of any means of access not made available for that purpose (including via accounts, computer systems or networks connected to Ripeta) or probe, scan, or test for vulnerabilities;
• decipher, decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise attempt to derive any source code or underlying ideas or algorithms except to the extent reserved by applicable laws and having given Digital Science prior notice;
• use any manual or automated means, including robots, scripts, or spiders to access, monitor, crawl, scrape, spider or mine, except those expressly authorized by Digital Science in advance in writing.

Additionally, you must not take any action that imposes or may impose (as determined by Digital Science in its sole discretion) an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on Digital Science (or its third party providers’) infrastructure nor interfere or attempt to interfere with the normal and proper working of Ripeta  or any activities conducted on Ripeta. Without limiting that discretion, Digital Science may determine unreasonable usage by comparing your activity for any given period against the average for all equivalent users of the relevant part of Ripeta.

Registration

You may browse the Site without registering, but as a condition to using certain parts of Ripeta, for example to deposit or publish Content, you may be required to register with Digital Science and select a password and user name (“User ID”). You must not: (i) select or use as a User ID a name of another person with the intent to impersonate that person; (ii) use as a User ID a name subject to any rights of a person other than you without appropriate authorization; or (iii) use as a User ID a name that is otherwise offensive or obscene. Digital Science reserves the right to refuse registration of, or cancel a User ID in its sole discretion. You are solely responsible for activity that occurs on your account and shall be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any password. You shall not: (i) impersonate or try to impersonate another person; (ii) disclose your password to anyone else; (iii) allow anyone else to use your account; or (iv) use anyone else’s account. You must immediately notify Digital Science in writing of any unauthorized use of your account, or other account related security breach of which you become aware.

You represent that all information you provide is accurate and truthful and that you will maintain the accuracy and truthfulness of such information by any feature we make available for that purpose or otherwise by notifying Digital Science in writing.

Privacy

Privacy Policy

For information on how Digital Science collects, processes and uses your personal information, please refer to the privacy policy at www.ripeta.com/privacy, which is subject to and forms part of these Terms. 

User Submissions

What’s a User Submission?

Ripeta may provide you with the ability to deposit or otherwise submit (“Submit” or similar) content on or to the Site or otherwise using Ripeta (collectively, the “User Submissions”).

Ownership

Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of any User Submissions from you to Digital Science, so you must ensure that Digital Science is authorized and otherwise free to lawfully host and otherwise use any User Submission as envisaged by these Terms or the relevant Service. You also agree to provide such information as Digital Science may request to demonstrate that you own or otherwise control all rights required to make any Submission in accordance with these Terms and to grant the rights envisaged.

For clarity, these Terms do not grant Digital Science any rights to Submissions beyond those required to operate, support, provide and develop Ripeta and related services, or as otherwise specified. For example, these will include rights to host, reformat, index and analyze User Submissions and for product improvement, analytical, verification, aggregate reporting and research purposes, and to retain indefinitely any extract of the User Submissions that may be included in, or relied on to compile, the reports we deliver as part of a Service. 

For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in these Terms will limit our right to retain and use any Submissions in accordance with the creative commons or other license that such Submission may have been published under. 

Content You Must Not Submit

You shall ensure that no part of any User Submission: (i) violates, infringes or makes unauthorised use of any Proprietary Rights (ii) is defamatory, derogatory, discriminatory or violates any rights of privacy (iii) breaches, causes the breach, or promotes or encourages the breach of, any applicable law (iv) contains a virus, malware or other potentially harmful component, information or instructions (v) is indecent, obscene, offensive, abusive, sexually explicit, violent or pornographic (vi) contains educational records, health or other sensitive personal, highly classified or regulated information or personal information of others, or which you are not authorised to upload, publish or share (vii) is fraudulent or known to be false or misleading or (viii) could result in any claim or action against Digital Science or affiliates, or damage their goodwill or reputation in any way.

Legal 

Separate Contract and Additional Terms

If you are accessing and/or otherwise using Ripeta pursuant to a separate agreement between Digital Science (or one of its affiliates) and the Organization that you belong to or are acting for (“Contract”), your use will also be subject to the Contract, provided to the extent there is any conflict, the terms of the Contract shall prevail. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in these Terms shall impose additional obligations on any such Organization nor give rise to any claims by it against Digital Science (or any of its affiliates), whose relationship with the Organization shall be exclusively governed by the Contract.

Usage restrictions and other additional terms and conditions (“Additional Terms”) may apply to certain parts of Ripeta  and shall form part of these Terms. You shall comply with all Additional Terms referenced on any part of Ripeta  you use, including as may be posted to the Site or otherwise that you are given notice of, and to the extent there is any conflict between the Additional Terms and other parts of these Terms, the Additional Terms shall prevail in respect of the relevant part of Ripeta.

Changes to Ripeta

Digital Science reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change, suspend, or discontinue any part of Ripeta  at any time without notice to you. 

Changes to these Terms

Digital Science reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or replace any of these Terms at any time. You are responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with any such modifications. Your continued use of Ripeta following the posting of any changes to the Site or otherwise notified to you constitutes acceptance of those changes.

These Terms were last updated in January 2022. 

Third Party Sites

If any part of Ripeta  is made available on or through other websites or other resources on the Internet and or includes links to such resources, or other websites or resources contain links to any part of Ripeta, this is done for convenience only and any access to, use of and/or reliance upon such resources is done entirely at your own risk and Digital Science disclaims all liability arising therefrom.

Termination

Digital Science may terminate your access to all or any part of Ripeta  at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately, which may result in the forfeiture and destruction of information associated with your account, including User Submissions. Upon termination, all rights granted under this Agreement shall terminate and you shall immediately stop using Ripeta. If you wish to terminate your account, you may do so by following instructions available on the relevant part of Ripeta. All provisions of these Terms which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnities and limitations of liability.

Warranty Disclaimer

RIPETA IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” AND IS WITHOUT WARRANTY, CONDITION OR GUARANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, TITLE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ALL OF WHICH ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT NO WARRANTY IS GIVEN THAT RIPETA WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, FREE FROM VIRUSES OR ERROR-FREE.  YOUR USE OF RIPETA IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE FOREGOING PROVISIONS SHALL APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

US Electronic Communications Privacy Act Notice (18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2711): FIGSHARE MAKES NO GUARANTY OF CONFIDENTIALITY OR PRIVACY OF ANY COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TRANSMITTED ON RIPETA OR ANY SITE LINKED TO RIPETA. Digital Science will not be liable for the privacy of email addresses, registration and identification information, disk space, communications, confidential or trade-secret information, or any other content stored on Digital Science’s equipment, transmitted over networks accessed by the Site, or otherwise connected with your use of Ripeta.

Indemnification

You shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Digital Science and its affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees or agents, on demand from all losses, liabilities, claims, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, that arise from or relate to your use or misuse of, or access to, Ripeta, violation of these Terms, or infringement or violation by you or caused by you, or any third party using your account, of any Proprietary Rights or other right of any person. Digital Science reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will assist and cooperate with Digital Science in asserting any available defenses.

US Government users

Ripeta is provided as “commercial computer software” / “commercial computer software documentation” and other commercial items including “technical data of a commercial item”, as applicable. If any U.S. Government user requires rights beyond those expressly granted in these Terms, or has other requirements not met by these Terms / Ripeta, it should immediately discontinue use of Ripeta.

Limitation of Liability

IN NO EVENT SHALL DIGITAL SCIENCE, ITS AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, PARTNERS, INTEGRATORS OR LICENSORS (NONE OF WHICH, FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS CLAUSE, SHALL INCLUDE YOU) OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE WITH RESPECT TO ANY PART OF RIPETA OR THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS AGREEMENT UNDER CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, NEGLIGENCE, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY (I) FOR ANY AMOUNT IN EXCESS OF THE GREATER OF ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100) (IN THE AGGREGATE) OR THE FEES PAID BY YOU FOR THE SERVICE DURING THE 12-MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE CLAIM; (II) FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER; (III) FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, BUSINESS OR SAVINGS, DEPLETION OF GOODWILL AND/OR SIMILAR LOSSES NOR FOR DATA LOSS OR CORRUPTION; OR (IV) FOR ANY MATTER ARISING FROM YOUR BREACH OR NEGLIGENCE, OR BEYOND FIGSHARE’S REASONABLE CONTROL. THE FOREGOING PROVISIONS SHALL APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

Fees

Although parts of Ripeta  may be made available for free to certain users, this is done at Digital Science’s absolute discretion. Digital Science reserves the right to introduce new fees and change its price list at any time, upon notice to you, including by posting details of such change on the Site. 

Disputes

A printed version of these Terms and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to these Terms to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, excluding its conflicts of law rules, and the United States of America. Any dispute arising from or relating to the subject matter of these Terms shall be finally settled by arbitration in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, using the English language in accordance with the Arbitration Rules and Procedures of Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc. (“JAMS”) then in effect, by one commercial arbitrator with substantial experience in resolving intellectual property and commercial contract disputes, who shall be selected from the appropriate list of JAMS arbitrators in accordance with the Arbitration Rules and Procedures of JAMS. The prevailing party in any arbitration or other proceeding arising under these Terms shall be entitled to receive reimbursement of its reasonable expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees, expert witness fees and all other expenses) incurred in connection therewith. Judgment upon the award so rendered may be entered in a court having jurisdiction or application may be made to such court for judicial acceptance of any award and an order of enforcement, as the case may be. Notwithstanding the foregoing, each party shall have the right to institute an action in a court of proper jurisdiction for injunctive or other equitable relief pending a final decision by the arbitrator. For all purposes of these Terms, the parties consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in the United States Federal Courts or state courts located in the District of Massachusetts. Use of Ripeta  is not authorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these Terms, including this section.

Integration and Severability

These Terms are the entire agreement between you and Digital Science with respect to the Site and other parts of Ripeta, and supersede all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals (whether oral, written or electronic) between you and Digital Science with respect to the same. If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that these Terms will otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable. The failure of either party to exercise any right provided for herein shall not be deemed a waiver of any further rights hereunder.

Miscellaneous

Digital Science shall not be liable for any failure to perform its obligations hereunder where such failure results from any cause beyond Digital Science’s reasonable control, including mechanical, electronic or communications failure or degradation (including “line-noise” interference). These Terms are personal to you, and are not assignable, transferable or sublicensable by you except with Digital Science’s prior written consent. Digital Science may assign, transfer or delegate any of its rights and obligations hereunder without consent. Any reference to “includes” and “including” shall mean including without limitation and general words shall not be given a restrictive meaning by reason of the fact that they are followed by particular examples intended to be embraced by the general words. No agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment relationship is created as a result of these Terms and neither party has any authority of any kind to bind the other in any respect. 

All notices under the Contract will be in writing and by email, although notice of information that is not specific to you may also be given by posting on a status or other webpage related to, or otherwise via, Ripeta.  Notices to Digital Science must be sent to info@ripeta.com, except for legal notices, such as notices of termination or a claim, which must also be sent by hand or registered mail to the UK address below and marked for the attention of the Legal Department. Notices will be deemed to have been duly given (i) in the case of emails (except legal notices) the business day after it is sent; (ii) in the case of notices via Ripeta, the day of the notice; and (iii) in the case of legal notices, if delivered by hand, upon delivery, or if sent by registered mail, on the recorded date of receipt .

Getting in touch

Your Feedback

Feedback, suggestions or other comments about Ripeta are welcome. Please keep in mind these may be used and disclosed without any obligation to you.

Contact

If you have any questions about these terms or any part of Ripeta, please email us at info@ripeta.com or write to us at: 

If you’re based in Europe: 4 Crinan Street, London N1 9XW, UK

If you’re based outside of Europe: 625 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

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US Copyright Dispute Policy

Digital Science has adopted the following policy toward copyright infringement in the United States in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or DMCA. The address of Digital Science’s Designated Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement (“Designated Agent”) is listed at the end of this Section. It is Digital Science’s policy to (1) block access to or remove material that it believes in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our advertisers, affiliates, content providers, members or users; and (2) remove and discontinue service to repeat offenders.

Procedure for Reporting Copyright Infringements:

If you believe that material or content residing on or accessible through Ripeta infringes a copyright, please send a notice of copyright infringement containing the following information to the Designated Agent listed below:

• a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright that has been allegedly infringed;
• identification of works or materials being infringed;
• identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing including information regarding the location of the infringing materials that the copyright owner seeks to have removed, with sufficient detail so that Digital Science is capable of finding and verifying its existence;
• contact information about the notifier including address, telephone number and, if available, email address;
• a statement that the notifier has a good faith belief that the material identified in (3) is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
• a statement made under penalty of perjury that the information provided is accurate and the notifying party is authorized to make the complaint on behalf of the copyright owner.

Once Proper Bona Fide Infringement Notification is Received by the Designated Agent it is Digital Science’s policy:

• to remove or disable access to the infringing material;
• to notify the content provider, member or user, that it has removed or disabled access to the material; and
• that repeat offenders will have the infringing material removed from the system and that Digital Science will terminate such content provider’s, member’s or user’s access to Ripeta.

Procedure to Supply a Counter-Notice to the Designated Agent:

If the content provider, member or user believes that the material that was removed (or to which access was disabled) is not infringing, or the content provider, member or user believes that it has the right to post and use such material from the copyright owner, the copyright owner’s agent, or, pursuant to the law, the content provider, member, or user, must send a counter-notice containing the following information to the Designated Agent listed below:

• a physical or electronic signature of the content provider, member or user;
  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 disabled;
• a statement that the content provider, member or user has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material; and
• content provider’s, member’s or user’s name, address, telephone number, and, if available, email address, and a statement that such person or entity consents to the jurisdiction of the Federal Court for the judicial district in which the content provider’s, member’s or user’s address is located, or, if the content provider’s, member’s or user’s address is located outside the United States, for any judicial district in which Digital Science is located, and that such person or entity will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.

If a counter-notice is received by the Designated Agent, Digital Science may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that Digital Science may replace the removed material or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the content provider, member or user, the removed material may be replaced or access to it restored in 10 to 14 business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice, at Digital Science’s discretion.

Please contact Digital Science’s Designated Agent to receive notification of claimed infringement at copyright@digital-science.com or the following address:

Digital Science
625 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139
Attention: Legal Department