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500px Terms of Service

500px.com

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Re: 500px Terms of Service

#41

As much as I think Terms of Service documents are broken, I don't like these supposed simplifications, because invariably they simplify too much. For example, in the real ToS, there's this clause: The license granted to 500px includes the right to use your Content fully or partially for promotional reasons and to distribute and redistribute your Content to other parties, web-sites, applications, and other entities (.…

I wonder if using a simplified explanation in anyway voids the actual TOS.

They've got that covered:

> The column on the right provides a short explanation of the terms of use and is not legally binding.

Re: 500px Terms of Service

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, this would make me feel so betrayed if I was a customer.

Agreed, I imagine this will not go over well with 500px users. You would think 500px would respect the IP savvy of artists and avoid (perhaps) patronizing them.

I don’t think it’s patronising at all. The site is acknowledging not only that their customers’ time is valuable, but also that most people won’t bother to read two sentences of plain English—let alone a couple dozen paragraphs of legalese. It may put 500px on slightly shakier legal ground, but as far as the users are concerned, it’s humanising and friendly.

Re: 500px Terms of Service

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if using a simplified explanation in anyway voids the actual TOS.

They've got that covered: > The column on the right provides a short explanation of the terms of use and is not legally binding.

Just because it says the terms are not legally binding does not make it so. In fact, I would not be surprised at all if having a short explanation invalidate it. Very risky.

Re: 500px Terms of Service

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've got that covered: > The column on the right provides a short explanation of the terms of use and is not legally binding.

Just because it says the terms are not legally binding does not make it so. In fact, I would not be surprised at all if having a short explanation invalidate it. Very risky.

I'm not sure how this differs from a preamble, which are often non-binding in and of themselves. That said, preambles do convey the intent of the agreement, so if something in the agreement is contrary to the intent... you could make an argument that there wasn't a meeting of the minds.

To the extent that the preamble and the legal text say the same thing in different ways, I think the company may be in a stronger position to enforce it. However, as you say, if the preamble contradicts the terms, then it's harder (if not impossible?) to enforce the contradictions.

In the end, it'll be a specific case and a specific judge that causes the interpretation... and other things such as representations of the service and any correspondence between the parties may also be taken into account.

I'm not a Lawyer, This isn't Legal Advice.

Re: 500px Terms of Service

#47
I cannot see half the page because my browser width is 1024px

Should people really be expected to horizontally scroll a dozen times to read a page.

Re: 500px Terms of Service

#48
Under the Fair Usage policy (emphasis mine):

Premium accounts are limited to maximum of 1,000 new photographs/images per week 100,000 photographs/ images in total (approximately 3,000Gb of storage) and 10Gb of data transfer per month. Awesome accounts that exceed a limit for several months will be notified of their usage and restrictions may be imposed if usage is not corrected.

---

A couple of things. First, what about Plus accounts that exceed a limit for several months? It would appear that the TOS don't cover any sort of restriction on those accounts.

More importantly, limted is not how the premium accounts are advertised at https://500px.com/upgrade the Plus and Awesome account don't say "1000 images/week" they say "Unlimited Uploads Upload ... as much as you want." Additionally no total storage limit is ever mentioned.

I know that the cellular companies and ISPs think that "Unlimited" actually means "limited" but it doesn't.

un·lim·it·ed, adj. 1. Lacking any controls 2. Boundless, infinite 3. not bounded by exceptions : undefined

That definition does not have "4. limit to be determined arbitrarily"

500px should either update their upgrade page advertisements to match their TOS, or--better--update their TOS to match their advertisement.

definition from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unlimited (I'd prefer an OED definition, but I don't have a subscription)

Re: 500px Terms of Service

#50
post #47

I cannot see half the page because my browser width is 1024px Should people really be expected to horizontally scroll a dozen times to read a page.

Same here. I usually don't come back to sites that do this. Plus, I find it ironic that a site called "500px" requires me to scroll horizontally on a 1024px browser window. =)
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