VetMedAcademy Terms of Use 

Effective Date: May 25, 2018
Last Updated Date: October 23, 2022

I. Introduction and Eligibility
 

Please read these Terms of Use (“Terms”) carefully before using the websites and resources of the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization VetMedAcademy.org (subsequently called VMA).

These Terms include VMA’s Privacy Notice, which is incorporated by reference into these Terms. This agreement is a legally binding contract.

Revisions to Terms. We may revise these Terms in the future and will note this by posting an updated version. Please periodically visit this page to review the most current Terms, because you are bound by them. Your continued use of VMA after a change to these Terms constitutes your binding acceptance of these Terms. If we implement changes to these Terms which would materially affect your rights or obligations as set forth in these Terms, we will make reasonable efforts to provide notice and obtain consent as may be required by law.

Binding Agreement. These Terms constitute a binding agreement between you and VMA (“VetMedAcademy”,“VetMedAcademy.org” “we,” “us”). “You” and “users” shall mean all visitors to VetMedAcademy. You accept these Terms each time you access VMA’s website and resources. If you do not accept these Terms, you must not use VMA.

Age- and Education-Appropriate Learning Resources. VetMedAcademy sites are targeted toward veterinary and animal health students and educators. No part of its content is directed to persons under the age of 13. IF YOU ARE UNDER 13 YEARS OF AGE, PLEASE DO NOT USE OR ACCESS VetMedAcademy AT ANY TIME OR IN ANY MANNER.  Those between 13 and 18 may apply for access only with parental or guardian approval.

 

If a VMA registrant misrepresents his/her educational background, stage of training, or professional role during registration, VMA holds no responsibility for enforcing this age requirement. 

Agent of a Company, Entity, or Organization. If you are using VetMedAcademy on behalf of a company, entity, or organization (collectively “Organization”), then you represent and warrant that you:

1. are an authorized representative of that Organization;
2. have the authority to bind that Organization to these Terms; and
3. agree to be bound by these Terms on behalf of that Organization.

II. About VetMedAcademy

VetMedAcademy is a non-profit organization (charity) that provides an online platform for content and learning management. “VetMedAcademy”, “VetMedAcademy.org” or “VMA” mean any website, mobile application, or internet service under VetMedAcademy’s control in connection with providing the educational resources and services at https://vetmedacademy.org and https://vmacad.org and any connections to other sites from those sites.  Information and digital resources not under the sole control of VMA that are “curated” (identified and aggregated) and linked to VMA’s websites will be identified as external resources that will remain under the control and responsibility of the sources of those resources.  The terms “post” and “posting” as used in these Terms shall mean the act of submitting, uploading, publishing, displaying, or similar action on VMA.
 

Released Parties Defined. “Released Parties” include VetMedAcademy and its affiliates, officers, employees, agents, partners, and licensors.
 

III. Login, Password, Membership Profile and Security

General membership to VetMedAcademy, and access to most learning resources, is free.

 

To access the member-only sections of the websites, login is required. A login combination, utilizing a unique username, email address and a password, is created by the member as part of the submission of a fully completed membership application.

 

For security purposes, the site allows only 1 account per email address to allow secure communications about account status and settings.

Managing User Profile. Profiles belong to the member listed in the profile, regardless of who creates the profile. Private profile information, such as the password, will only be provided to the member via the email address of record in the profile. Only the member may request to have their profile deleted. All membership and profile related requests should be sent to the administrators and Data Protection Officer at vma@vetmedacademy.org.

The VetMedAcademy website is covered by our SSL certificate - you will see a security lock on all pages and the https:// domain designation. Member data retained within the VetMedAcademy database is protected by encryption. In addition, access to various levels of member data is limited to VetMedAcademy staff members who need to utilize the data to provide member services or to assist members with problem resolution. Information within one member's profile is not shared with any other site members without the express written permission of the member.

IV. Privacy
 

“Personal Data” means information that alone or when in combination with other information may be used to identify or that is identifiable to an individual. Personal Information does not include information that has been anonymized so that it does not allow a third party to easily identify a specific individual. We collect, retain and process Personal Information about you in order to provide the services on VMA. Please refer to the Privacy Notice about your rights to manage this information.
 

Privacy Policy. Our information collection and use policies with respect to the privacy of your Personal Information are stated in VMA’s Privacy Notice as stated above. You further acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for: (i) the accuracy and content of Personal Information and (ii) if you are providing Personal Information about a third party to us, for obtaining any consents and authorizations of the applicable third party that may be required by applicable law before providing such Personal Information to us.
 

European Union Data Protection Legislation. Personal Information provided to us through VetMedAcademy may include “personal data” as defined by and subject to any national law of an EU member state adopted pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“Personal Data”) also called the General Data Privacy Regulations (GDPR). With regard to our processing of Personal Data, if you are a user using VetMedAcademy, we serve as the manager of the personal data you provide to us. If you are or represent a 3rd party academic entity, (i) you acknowledge and agree that you are the controller of such Personal Data and we are a processor of such Personal Data under the Terms of Use, (ii) you will comply with your obligations as a controller under applicable law, and (iii) you and we agree to comply with the Data Processing Agreement available at Privacy Notice. In the event Personal Data processed by us is transferred from any EU member country to the United States, (A) if you are an individual, you explicitly consent to the transfer of your data to the United States.
 

VetMedAcademy Holds No Responsibility for Compliance with FERPA’s Student Grade Security:

Although VetMedAcademy and its learning management system offers the opportunity for instructors, including university faculty, to house learning modules for their students, and thereby track student performance (grades), VetMedAcademy takes no responsibility for the accuracy or safe-keeping of student grades associated with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in the U.S., leaving this responsibility to instructors and institutions of academic record (Details on FERPA: https://nces.ed.gov/pubs97/web/97859.asp).    VetMedAcademy does offer the opportunity for some resources, under Creative Commons Attribution guidelines, to be shared to a secure university site where academic faculty may be able to appropriately protect this data.
 

Posting Options in Forums: The "VetMedAcademy Forums,” either general, or learning module-specific, are message boards that are a component of VetMedAcademy’s platforms providing members with features that facilitate communication with other members. All forum topics are viewable only by authenticated (logged in) members for member privacy. Members have the ability to personalize their Member Profile including privacy and networking settings. VetMedAcademy allows anonymous posting to protect privacy. Postings of this nature are queued until moderated and approved.
 

Participation In Surveys (Polls) on VetMedAcademy. You may choose to participate in polls conducted on VetMedAcademy by answering questions in questionnaires about the services provided by VMA.  In most cases, the results will be aggregated and handled anonymously.  If other conditions apply, the documentation on the poll will not this, allowing you to participate or not.
 

Summary of Data contained within VetMedAcademy master member database and how it is used:

1. To facilitate participation in any of VetMedAcademy's online learning resources.
2. In group analytics such as aggregate number of site visits or page usage without direct identification of individual components. This never contains any individual or personal data.
3. Information is provided, as outlined within the specific opportunity, for any certificates, badges, awards or premiums in which the site member might opt to participate.
4. Information provided by a learning module participant within a survey (poll) used to improve the quality of the learning resource offerings. Individual survey statements may be used by VetMedAcademy but will never be identified by member unless that member gives specific written permission for the use of his or her name.

VetMedAcademy member email addresses are never sold to outside companies.

V. VetMedAcademy’s Content, Intellectual Property, and Proper Use
 

VetMedAcademy Service Marks and Logos. The contents of VetMedAcademy include: designs, text, graphics, images, video, information, logos, button icons, software, audio files, computer code, and other VMA content not covered under a Creative Commons license described below (in sum, called “VetMedAcademy Content”).  “VetMedAcademy,” and “VetMedAcademy.org,” and associated logos and product and service names are or may be trademarks of VetMedAcademy. You must preserve all copyright, trademarks, service marks, and other proprietary notices contained in the original VetMedAcademy Content on any copy you make of this same content. However, you agree not to display or use in any manner the VetMedAcademy Marks without our prior written permission for each use and subject to the terms of such permission.
 

VetMedAcademy Content. All VetMedAcademy Content and the compilation (meaning the collection, arrangement, and assembly) of such content are the property of VetMedAcademy and are protected under copyright, trademark, and other laws. VetMedAcademy owns or has rights to all of the content made available through its websites or other means, but you may use it as you use this service and may be able to use parts of the content under Creative Commons Attribution guidelines.
 

License to You. We authorize you, subject to these Terms, to access and use https://vetmedacademy.org and VetMedAcademy Content. You understand and agree that you will not obtain, as a result of your use of VetMedAcademy, any right, title, or interest in or to such content provided on VetMedAcademy, or in any intellectual property rights (including, without limitation, any copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, or other rights) in the content. This license is revocable at any time without notice and with or without cause. Unauthorized use of VetMedAcademy Content may violate copyright, trademark, and applicable communications regulations and statutes and is strictly prohibited.
 

Content Disclaimer. We make no representations about accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of any content on VetMedAcademy. VetMedAcademy may include links to third party websites and applications. Similarly, we make no representations about accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of any data from a third-party service provider or the quality or nature of third-party products or services obtained through VetMedAcademy.
 

VetMedAcademy does not provide medical advice. VetMedAcademy and the content available on its properties (https://vetmedacademy.org, https://vmacad.org, its YouTube channel, and other channels and social media) do not provide a diagnosis or other recommendation for treatment and are not a substitute for the professional judgment of a health care professional in diagnosis and treatment of any animal. The determination of the need for veterinary services should be made only by a veterinarian or other license animal health care provider. Always seek the advice of a veterinarian with any questions you have regarding a clinical condition.

You are responsible for evaluating whether you want to access or use them. We are not responsible for and do not endorse any features, content, advertising, products, or other materials on other websites or applications. That is, VMA is not responsible for the effects of your reliance upon the content.
 

Creative Commons Licenses. To the extent possible and appropriate, VetMedAcademy seeks primarily to make educational resources from contributors available under a Creative Commons license.  Certain Creative Commons licenses, such as Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (BY-NC-SA), prohibit its use for commercial purposes without prior written approval and require attribution to VetMedAcademy and the content author. You may not use such content for commercial purposes unless you have the written consent from VetMedAcademy and the author. If you want to reproduce such content you must properly attribute VetMedAcademy and the content author. Some content, such as lecture slides, course syllabi, and professors’ notes, may not be sharable under a Creative Commons license. Please contact us at vma@vetmedacademy.org if you have questions about what content may be shared.
 

User-Owned and Released Content. VetMedAcademy may provide you with the ability to create, post, or share content (“Your User Content”). VetMedAcademy claims no ownership nor control over Your User Content that is not made available under a Creative Commons license. You or a third-party licensor, as appropriate, retain all copyright, patent, and trademark rights to any of the content you post on or through VetMedAcademy. You are responsible for protecting those rights. However, you must also represent and warrant that: (i) you own the content posted by you on or through VetMedAcademy or otherwise have the right to grant the licenses set forth in these Terms, (ii) the posting and use of Your User Content on or through VetMedAcademy does not violate the privacy, intellectual property and contract rights, or copyrights or creative commons licenses, or any other rights of any person, and (iii) the posting of Your User Content on VetMedAcademy breaches no contract between you and a third party. You also acknowledge and agree that Your User Content is non-confidential and non-proprietary.
 

Use of Posted Content. You, or the people who allow you to use their content, own all of the content you post on VetMedAcademy. However, anytime you make your content “public,” we may use it for any purpose, including in our marketing materials. Following communication with you, we may also modify your content for presentational purposes. This license applies to all message posts or question responses. By creating, posting, or sharing Your User Content and keeping it “private” through your platform settings, you grant VetMedAcademy a world-wide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, modify, remove, publish, transmit, or display such content on https://vetmedacademy.org  or https://vmacad.org, or related websites for the sole purpose of providing VetMedAcademy services and resources. VetMedAcademy reserves the right to refuse to accept, post, display, or transmit any User Content in its sole discretion. Within a reasonable time after you terminate your account, your Personal Information will be deleted and will no longer be stored by VetMedAcademy. The license you grant VetMedAcademy under these Terms includes VetMedAcademy’s use of aggregated information from your account in the manner described in these terms and in the Privacy Notice even after it is cancelled.
 

Third Partner Partner Content. VetMedAcademy may occasionally display content from other content partners. You may not copy, modify, translate, publish, broadcast, transmit, distribute, perform, display, or sell any content appearing on or through VetMedAcademy.

 

VI. User Contributions and Etiquette

 

Approval as a Contributor (Instructor/Curator/Editor). To post educational resources on VMA as an “Instructor/Curator,” or “Editor” you must be approved by VMA’s administrators.  Email vma@vetmedacademy.org if interested. If you post information in an educational module forum or on VMA’s general forums, you agree that VMA’s administrators and editors have the right of final approval for such contributions.

 

No Liability by VetMedAcademy for User Actions or Actions on User: We are not liable for the actions of Users when they use VetMedAcademy. We may also change VMA at any time and are not liable for effects that such changes would have for you

 

User Prohibitions:
 

The following uses of VetMedAcademy are prohibited. You may not:

1. attempt to interfere with, harm, reverse engineer, steal from, or gain unauthorized access to VetMedAcademy or user account;
2. frame or link to content available on VetMedAcademy unless allowed or permission is obtained from VMA and, if appropriate, the author of said content;
3. use data mining on any content other than content provided under a Creative Commons license;
4. use robots or other data gathering devices on or through VetMedAcademy, without permission;
5. post incomplete, false, or misleading information, impersonate another person, or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
6. disclose personal information about another person or harass, abuse, or post objectionable material
7. post offensive and/or unreasonably graphic material, such as text or images to which the average user animal health professional would take offense
8. post plagiarized content;
9. post advertising or marketing links or content, except as specifically allowed by these Terms

 

User Disputes. We are not responsible for any disputes or disagreements between you and any third party you interact with using VetMedAcademy. You assume all risk associated with dealing with third parties. You agree to resolve disputes directly with the other party. You release VetMedAcademy of all claims, demands, and damages in disputes among users of VetMedAcademy. You also agree not to involve us in such disputes.
 

Copyright Disputes. Tell us if you think a user has violated your copyright using VetMedAcademy, or if you think someone incorrectly reported that you violated his or her copyright. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law. If you believe in good faith that materials posted on VetMedAcademy infringe your copyright, you (or your agent) may send VetMedAcademy a “Notification of Claimed Infringement” requesting that the material be removed, or access to it blocked. The notice must include the following information:

1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the works that have been allegedly infringed;
2. Identification of the copyrighted work(s) on VetMedAcademy alleged to have been infringed so that it might be located by VMA.
3. Your name, address, telephone number, and email address (if available);
4. A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
5. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

If you believe in good faith that a notice of copyright infringement has been wrongly filed against you, the DMCA permits you to send VetMedAcademy a counter-notice. Notices and counter-notices must meet the then-current statutory requirements imposed by the DMCA; see http://www.loc.gov/copyright for details. Notices and counter-notices with respect to VetMedAcademy should be sent to vma@vetmedacademy.org. Consult your legal advisor before filing a notice or counter-notice as there are penalties for false claims under the DMCA.
 

VII. Interacting with VetMedAcademy Websites

Session Cookie. A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's computer tied to information about the user. We use session ID cookies. Once users close the browser the cookie simply expires. The cookie is needed to allow us to distinguish one member from the other for the purposes of site login.

If you opt to run your computer on high security, it will likely block the cookie. Adding the VetMedAcademy websites (https://vetmedacademy.org and https://vmacad.org) to your list of trusted/allowed websites will enable the cookie without lowering your security level.

Mailing Opt In and Opt Out. Each member has the right to opt in, or out, of newsletter mailings managed by the portal webpage at https://vetmedacademy.org and Mailchimp, except for site-wide critical information announcements. The options to opt into the VetMedAcademy Newsletter are contained within each member's profile and your enrollment status is shown in the footer at https://vetmedacademy.org. It is one of the settings requiring member input in the initial membership form and may be changed at any time by logging into VetMedAcademy, signing in, choose  and accessing the profile. Alternately, a member can send an email to vma@VetMedAcademy.org and request to be removed from future newsletters or blog feeds. Information on opting in or out will also be provided at the bottom of every communication.

In addition, members learning modules on https://vmacad.org may have topical message boards and members can set their preferences for receiving notices of posts, from none to individual notice to posting digests daily. There is absolutely no obligation for a VetMedAcademy member to participate in the module forum. At any time, a member may change their settings for the forum message board while retaining their ability to participate in learning resources and other educational opportunities offered to members.
 

Offsite Links. The VetMedAcademy website provides information on free-course sponsors and other opportunities we believe would be of interest to our members. Links to other websites are often provided. VetMedAcademy has no jurisdiction or liability for information, recommendations, malware or any other component of offsite website and other links.
 

VetMedAcademy Financial Transactions. Most of VetMedAcademy’s learning resource offerings are provided for free, but there are opportunities for conducting financial transactions for 2 general purposes:

1. Donations to VetMedAcademy as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

2. Occasional premium educational offerings the income from which are designed to help support the general mission of the organization.

VetMedAcademy uses the secure PayPal e-commerce gateway to facilitate the process of verifying transaction approval from the appropriate credit card bank. Information on Authorize may be viewed at https://www.paypal.com. Members can individually set preferred settings for providing credit card information or paying through an individual PayPal account.
 

VII. General Terms

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and VetMedAcademy concerning your use of VetMedAcademy’s educational resources and services. Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of these Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of these Terms remain in full force and effect. The section titles and annotations in these Terms are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.
 

VIII. Arbitration, Class Waiver, and Waiver of Jury Trial

VetMedAcademy’s primary office and site of 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is located in Florida, so all disputes must be resolved there. We will use arbitration to resolve any problems, and you cannot join a class action lawsuit or obtain a jury trial for any disputes you have with us related to your use of VetMedAcademy. These Terms and the relationship between you and VetMedAcademy shall be governed by the laws of the state of Florida without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You and VetMedAcademy agree to submit to the personal and exclusive arbitration of any disputes relating to your use of VetMedAcademy under the rules of the American Arbitration Association. Any such arbitration, to the extent necessary, shall be conducted in or around Seminole, Florida. You covenant not to sue VetMedAcademy in any other forum.

 

You also acknowledge and understand that, with respect to any dispute with the Released Parties arising out of or relating to your use of VetMedAcademy or these Terms:

1. You are giving up your right to have a trial by jury;
2. You are giving up your right to serve as a representative, as a private attorney general, or in any other representative capacity, or to participate as a member of a class of claimants, in any lawsuit involving any such dispute; and
3. You must file any claim within one (1) year after such claim arose or it is forever barred.

IX. Consequences of Violating These Terms
 

If you do not follow these Terms of Use, we may prohibit your use of VetMedAcademy.
 

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account and prevent access to VetMedAcademy for any reason, at our discretion. We reserve the right to refuse to provide VetMedAcademy resources to you in the future. VetMedAcademy is under no obligation to review any User Content. Notwithstanding the above, VetMedAcademy may review and remove any User Content at any time for any reason, including activity which, in its sole judgment: violates these Terms; violates applicable laws, rules, or regulations; is abusive, disruptive, offensive or illegal; or violates the rights of, or harms or threatens the safety of, users of VetMedAcademy. You are responsible for any claims, fees, fines, penalties, and other liability incurred by us or others caused by or arising out of your breach of these Terms and your use of VetMedAcademy.
 

Contact Information:

VetMedAcademy may be reached via email at vma@vetmedacademy.org for general questions, for learning module-related questions; and for questions related to login, membership forms, data privacy issues, or other related items.

vma@vetmedacademy.org