Providing the service to you

4. Getting started

4.1 You will need to provide suitable computer hardware, software and telecommunications equipment and services necessary to access and use the service. This contract does not include the provision of telecommunications services necessary to connect to the service or obtain access to the internet.

4.2 By signing up for the service, you are agreeing to immediate provision of the service and you cannot cancel the service under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.

5. Your instructions

We may accept instructions regarding the service from someone we are satisfied has your authority.

6. Making sure the service is secure

6.1 We will issue you with a set of usernames and passwords. These are essential for your secure use of the service so you must ensure that they are kept confidential, secure and are used in accordance with all relevant instructions.

6.2 If we think there is likely to be a breach of security or misuse of the service we may: (a) change your password and then we will notify you that we have done this; and/or (b) suspend username and password access to the service (please also see paragraph 15).

6.3 If you think that any username or password has become known by someone not authorised to use it, or if any password is being or is likely to be used in an unauthorised way, you need to inform us immediately.

6.4 If you are using pay as you go, you need to make your Caller Line Identification (CLI) available when using the service to connect to the internet. This is so that we can improve the safety and security of the service. If you have disabled CLI we may temporarily enable it to allow this connection.

6.5 If any of the information you give to us when you sign up for the service changes, including any changes to your payment details, you must inform us immediately.

7. Things we may have to do

7.1 We may need to temporarily suspend the service for operational reasons (e.g. for repairs, planned maintenance or upgrades), but before we do we will give you as much notice as we can. We promise to restore the service as soon as possible after any suspension.

7.2 We may have to alter code or access numbers or technical specification associated with the service for operational reasons, and where we need to tell you about this we will give you as much notice as we can.

7.3 We may give you instructions about health and safety issues when using the service, or on your use of the service to ensure the quality of the service we provide to you and other customers and you agree to observe them.

8. Repairing faults in the service

8.1 Although we attempt to provide you with the best possible service, we cannot guarantee that the service will never be faulty. However, we will correct all reported faults as soon as we reasonably can.

8.2 If there is a fault with the service or you forget a password you should contact the eMerlin team.

8.3 Sometimes we may monitor or record calls to or from the eMerlin team for training or to improve the quality of our customer service.

What we need you to do

9. Paying our charges

9.1 You must pay any applicable charges for the service.

10. Use of the service

10.1 You must take all reasonable precautions to ensure that no one (including you) uses the service:
(a) fraudulently or in connection with a criminal offence;

(b) to send, knowingly receive, upload, download or use any material which is offensive, abusive, indecent, defamatory, obscene or menacing, or in breach of copyright, confidence, privacy or any other rights;

(c) to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety;

(d) to spam or to send or provide unsolicited advertising or promotional material or, knowingly to receive responses to any spam, unsolicited advertising or promotional material sent or provided by any third party;

(e) in an unlawful manner, in contravention of any legislation, laws, licence or third party rights or in contravention of our Acceptable Use Policies may be amended from time to time; or

(f) in a way that does not comply with any instructions that we have given you.

The action we can take if the service is used in any of these ways is explained in paragraphs 14 and 15.

10.2 If we think that your use of the service may:

(i) impair the security of the system and/or the network used to provide the service; or

(ii) cause detrimental performance of the service to you or any other customer; we may suspend your access to the service. Suspension is further explained in paragraphs 14 and 15. If possible, we will give you prior notice if we do suspend your service.
10.3 Where we provide you with email facilities, web hosting or other services that involve us providing storage space on our systems, we may impose limits (which we may vary from time to time) on the storage space we provide to you in order to ensure the quality of the service to you and other users. These limits may relate to the physical amount of web-space or the number of mailboxes made available to you, email messages that can be stored and/or the size of any attachments you can send. We may reject or delete material that exceeds the relevant limit.

10.4 We may make available to you software that enables you to use the service. You must not copy or modify this software (unless allowed by law). It is important that you only access the service through this software or in an alternative way permitted by us and you must not attempt to circumvent any security measures in the service.

10.5 When we provide you with the service it, and any associated software, is intended for your use only. Therefore, you must not re-sell, transfer, assign or sub-license the service (or any part of it) or the associated software to anyone else.

10.6 You must use the correct dialler as explained to you during registration. You are responsible for any additional call charges incurred as a result of using an incorrect dialler.

Other uses of the service

11. When we provide you with content

11.1 As part of the service we may provide you with applications, data, information, video, graphics, sound, music, photographs, software or any other material. This content is always changing as we try to provide you with the best possible service, and therefore you may notice changes in the content that you can access.

11.2 The content we provide to you can only be used for your own purposes and is protected by copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights. You are not allowed to copy, store, adapt, modify, transmit, distribute externally, play or show in public, broadcast or publish any part of the content.

11.3 Although we take precautions, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the content. For this reason, your use of the content (for whatever purpose) is at your own risk.

11.4 Some of the content will have its own terms and conditions. These may be displayed online or elsewhere. If you access this content you will need to comply with those terms and conditions. You should be aware that any content provided on a subscription basis as part of the service will cease when this contract ends.

11.5 Content on the eMerlin service, other than eMerlin content or third party content with its own terms and conditions, is licensed to you by Yahoo! and you must comply with the Yahoo! Terms of Service regarding use of that content.

12. Your web site

12.1 As part of the service you may be able to set up your own web site(s). If you do this you are responsible for the material that you or anyone else puts on your web site(s). You must include your contact details (e.g. email address) clearly on your web site(s).

12.2 Material on your web site(s) must not, and the use of it must not, in any way be unlawful. In particular, you must ensure that all necessary licences and consents (including those from owners of copyrights, performing rights and any other relevant intellectual property rights) have been obtained.

13. Your use of the internet

The service allows you to access the internet. The internet is separate from the service and use of the internet is at your own risk and subject to any applicable laws. We have no responsibility for any goods, services, information, software, or other materials you obtain when using the internet.

If things go wrong

14. If you break this contract

We can suspend the service or end this contract (or both) at any time:
(a) with immediate effect if you materially breach this contract;

(b) with immediate effect if we believe that the service is being used in a way described in paragraph 10.1 or 10.2, even if you do not know that the service is being used in such a way;

(c) upon reasonable notice if you breach this contract in any other way and fail to remedy the breach within a reasonable period of being asked to do so; or

(d) with immediate effect if bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings are brought against you, or an arrangement with creditors is made, or a receiver or administrator is appointed over any of your assets, or you go into liquidation.

(e) with immediate effect if we have terminated your use of any service previously provided to you due to your breach.
If we have suspended or terminated this contract under paragraphs (a), (b), (d) or (e) above, we will inform you of such suspension or termination as soon as reasonably possible and explain why we have taken this action.

15. Suspension of the service

15.1 If we decide to suspend the service, a password or username (for any reason), we will restore it (if neither of us have ended this contract) when you satisfy us that you will only use the service as we have agreed.

15.2 If we decide to suspend the service under paragraph 14, this contract will continue during the period of suspension and you will have to pay all relevant charges.

15.3 If you do not use your email account for a period of ninety days or more, we may suspend your email account without notice. In such circumstances we will: (a) delete all emails in your email account; (b) reject all emails sent to your email account and notify the sender that your email account is inactive; and (c) cancel all email functionality provided to you as part of the service.

We will restore your email account if you use it at any time after suspension. We may terminate your email account without notice if you do not access it for 12 months.

16. Matters beyond our reasonable control

If we cannot do what we have promised in this contract because of something beyond our reasonable control (including, without limitation, industrial disputes involving our employees), we will not be liable for this. If the events continue for more than three months, we can terminate this contract immediately by giving you written notice. Please see paragraph 18 for your right to end this contract.

17. Our liability to you

17.1 We will be liable if you are injured or die as a result of our negligence. We do not limit that liability by paragraphs 17.2 or 17.3 or in any other way.

17.2 We have no liability (whether in negligence or otherwise) for any loss not reasonably foreseeable by us when this contract starts, nor any loss of opportunity, goodwill, reputation, business, revenue, profit, or savings you expected to make, wasted expenditure or data being lost or corrupted.

17.3 Any liability we have of any sort (including liability for negligence) is limited to £250,000 for any event or related series of events and £500,000 for all events in any 12 month period.

17.4 We do not have any liability of any sort (including liability for negligence) for the acts or omissions of other providers of telecommunication services or for faults in or failures of their networks and equipment.

17.5 Each provision of this paragraph 17 operates separately in itself and survives independently of the others.

18. Ending this contract

This contract can be ended by:
(a) us giving one month's notice to you; or

(b) you giving one day's notice to us.

Other things we need to tell you

19. How this contract can be changed

We may change this contract, including our charges, at any time. We will give you at least 14 days notice of any changes before they take effect.

20. How this contract can be transferred Neither of us can transfer this contract or any part of it except that we can transfer all or part of it to a company that is a subsidiary or holding company of ours, or a subsidiary of that holding company (all as defined by Section 736 of the Companies Act 1985 as amended by the Companies Act 1989).

21. How to give notice

21.1 If either of us gives a notice to the other under this contract this must be done either by email using the service, or in writing and delivered by hand or sent by pre-paid post to the addressee at the following address: (a) To us: at the postal address or email address shown on the appropriate web site or an alternative address which we may give you. (b) To you: if you are a company at your registered address, or at the postal address you specify when registering for the service or an alternative address which you may give us, or at the email address provided to you as part of the service.

21.2 You are responsible for checking the mail sent to the email address provided to you as part of the service.

22. Waiver

Neither of us shall be considered to have waived any right under this contract because of failure or delay in exercising that right.

23. Third party rights

A person who is not a party to this contract has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this contract but this does not affect any right or remedy of a third party which exists or is available apart from that Act.

24. The law that relates to this contract

English Law governs this contract and we both agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts