Legal Provisions

Privacy Policy

(Effective as of May 13, 2020)

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (“EMKF”) is committed to protecting the personal information you provide when you visit our Site (“Your Information”). Your use of this site (the "Site") is governed by this Privacy Policy. EMKF reserves the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time by posting a notice on the home page of the Site. Your use of the Site after the notice is posted indicates you agree to the changes. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into EMKF’s Terms of Use so please be sure to read all of the terms that govern your use of the Site. Capitalized terms used without definitions in this Privacy Policy are defined in the Terms of Use.

Collection of Your Information
Your Information is collected on the Site when you voluntarily provide it. We also automatically collect certain online activity information as described below under “Log Files.” For example, EMKF collects Your Information (including your username and email address) when you register and open an Account.  You may fill out a Profile (including your first and/or last name, physical address, telephone number and, if applicable, organizational affiliation information) to supplement Your Information. 

If you decide to participate in a business plan competition, EMKF collects Your Information on behalf of the applicable business plan competition organizer. If a business plan competition organizer charges a Competition Fee, Your Information (including credit card account and billing information) may be collected by a third-party merchant service provider on behalf of the business plan competition organizer for the purpose of conducting your payment transaction. When you provide Your Information to the business plan competition organizer or third-party merchant service provider, collection and use of Your Information will be governed by the privacy policy of the business plan competition organizer or third-party merchant service provider.

Use and Disclosure of Your Information
EMKF will use Your Information to facilitate the services you request through the Site.  EMKF may display Your Information from your Profile on the Site and/or to other persons to facilitate social networking in the iStart community. Please do not include any information in your Profile that you do not wish EMKF to share with others in this manner. We may also permit you to opt-in to sharing your profile information with third party social networking sites, such as Facebook.

If your e-mail address or account is affiliated with a business plan competition organizer, EMKF may provide the business plan competition organizer with access to Your Information, including your e-mail address and phone number. That business plan competition organizer may display Your Information on the Site in connection with the competition and provide competition judges with access to Your Information. If a business plan competition organizer knows your name or e-mail address, EMKF may confirm to the business plan competition organizer that you have an account and use your e-mail address to invite you to become affiliated with a business plan competition. 

If you request information about or sign up for a business plan competition, EMKF will provide Your Information to that business plan competition organizer, who may use Your Information (i) to facilitate the services you request through the Site; (ii) to contact you about your request; (iii) to contact you about your participation in the competition and related activities; (iv) to provide updates; (v) to pursue additional discussion and/or collaboration with you and (vi) for other purposes you opt in to accept. EMKF may additionally provide Your Information to specific business plan competition organizers and other end users in response to your request, to facilitate the services you request through the Site, or if you opt in to share Your Information with them.

EMKF may use your information for the purposes described in the previous paragraph, as well as (vii) to contact you after a competition for follow-up and (viii) for research purposes, provided any research results will be published in an anonymous form.

EMKF will also share Your Information with its affiliated organizations for use consistent with their charitable purposes and with its service providers for the purpose of operating the site, facilitating the services you request and performing research. Business plan competition organizers, EMKF’s service providers and its affiliated entities with whom it shares Your Information are required to use Your Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

EMKF may also use Your Information in an aggregated, anonymous form consistent with EMKF’s charitable purposes, including disclosing it to certain third parties for research purposes (e.g., EMKF’s affiliated entities, the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and similar agencies) and publishing research based on analysis of data.

EMKF will not sell or rent Your Information to third parties for marketing purposes and will require its service providers with whom it shares Your Information not to use Your Information (in aggregated or other forms) for direct marketing, advertising, or other commercial purposes.

EMKF may also use Your Information for such purposes as contacting you to let you know about updates to the Site, activities related to the Site, and EMKF’s related charitable activities. You may unsubscribe to these messages by following the procedures described in the correspondence.

As we continue to develop our organization, we may buy or sell parts of our organization or assets. In such transactions, confidential customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets and may be disclosed in connection with negotiations relating to a proposed transaction. In the event of a transaction involving the sale of some or all of EMKF’s organization, customer and site visitor information may be one of the transferred assets.  In such case, the transferred information may become subject to a different privacy policy.

EMKF reserves the right to disclose Your Information to respond to a subpoena, court order or other legal process, to defend EMKF against legal claims, or if EMKF determines it is necessary to investigate or take action in connection with activities that EMKF suspects are illegal, threaten the safety of any person or are in violation of these Terms.

Cookies
EMKF may use “cookies” to make it easier for users to access the Site. A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive.  We use cookies to allow faster and easier access to your account information, monitor traffic on the site and measure traffic patterns to improve functionality.  You may disable cookies in your internet browser, but this may limit your access to the Site and affect your use of certain features or functions. Web pages may in the future contain electronic images known as Web beacons  (sometimes called clear giffs or Web bugs) or other advanced technologies that are useful in the provision of services to you.  We may use such devices to verify compliance with our terms and conditions of use or with any promotions on the site.

Collection and Use of Anonymous Information/Log Files

As is true of most Web sites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files.  This information includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, on-site bookmarks, on-site subscriptions, clickstream data and site navigation history. 

We use this information, which does not identify individual users, to analyze trends, to administer the site, to track users’ movements around the site and to gather information about our user base as a whole.  EMKF may collect this non-personal information even if you are not registered on the Site.

We may link this automatically-collected data to personally identifiable information.  This information is tied to personally identifiable information to provide you with feedback about your experiences on the Site and to provide you with information that you may find interesting or informative.  EMKF may also link this information to a particular individual or combine it with personal information if EMKF has determined that it needs to identify a user because of safety or security issues or to comply with legal requirements.  We do not share this automatically-collected data with third parties except those that provide direct services to us to facilitate the upkeep and operation of the Site

Security
EMKF uses reasonable precautions to host and maintain the Site in a secure manner and to safeguard it from unauthorized access but it does not take special precautions, such as Secure Socket Layer encryption.  Your Information is stored in limited access servers. Neither EMKF nor its service providers can guarantee that any transmission of personal information over the Internet will be secure and you use the Site at your own risk.

Location of Servers and Transfer of Your Information
Your Information will be transferred to and stored in servers located in the United States. 

Your Consent
By using the Site, you expressly consent to this Privacy Policy and the uses of Your Information described in it. By providing Your Information on the Site, you consent to transfer of Your Information to the United States and storage, processing and use of Your Information in the United States and to the transfer of Your Information to EMKF’s service providers.  You further consent to use and disclosure of Your Information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

Review and Update of Your Information; Deactivation of Your Account
You should be sure that your Profile is always accurate and complete. You may review your Profile at any time. You may modify your Profile information at any time by logging into your account. If you wish to deactivate your registration at any time, if your Account is in good standing, you may log into your account and click on the "Delete Account" feature.  However, we may retain a copy of Your Information for archival purposes.

EU Data Directive Privacy Notice
EMKF is committed to compliance with its privacy obligations in the United States and throughout the world. This EU Data Directive Privacy Notice sets forth the privacy principles EMKF follows with respect to personal information transferred from within the European Union to the United States. This notice applies to the personal information of European Union Citizens maintained by EMKF in the EMKF database.

Privacy Principles

Notice
EMKF notifies data subjects about the purposes for which it collects and uses information about them. See "Collection of Your Information" and "Use and Disclosure of Your Information" above. Individuals may contact EMKF's privacy director with the contact information provided below with any inquiries or complaints or to request information about the types of third parties (other than third party processors) to which it discloses the information and the choices and means it offers for limiting use and disclosure of personal information.

Choice
For disclosures not covered by the "Use and Disclosure of Your Information" section above, EMKF will give data subjects the opportunity to choose whether Your Information will be disclosed to a third party (other than service providers) or used for a purpose incompatible with the purpose for which it was originally collected or subsequently authorized by the individual. By posting a Profile, you are choosing to have Your Information shared in the iStart Community.  See "Use and Disclosure of Your Information" and "Review and Update of Your Information; Deactivation of Your Account" above for details on how to update or remove Your Information. 

Access
Your Profile information is easily accessible by you.  See "Review and Update of Your Information; Deactivation of Your Account"

Security
EMKF takes reasonable precautions to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. See "Security" above.

Limitations
EMKF's adherence to these principles may be limited to the extent required to respond to a legal or ethical obligation and to the extent expressly permitted by an applicable law, rule or regulation.

Contact EMKF
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact EMKF at:

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Attn: Privacy Director
4801 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, Missouri 64110
Tel: 816-932-1000
Email: [email protected]

Terms of Use

(Effective as of May 13, 2020)

Please read these Terms of Use carefully, as they contain certain limitations, exclusions and a Binding Arbitration provision.

1. Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; The Site.  Welcome to the iStart site (the "Site"), which is operated by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (“EMKF” or “we” or “us”), a not-for-profit organization that is exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.  EMKF operates the Site to further EMKF’s charitable mission.
2. Acceptance of Terms; Changes to Terms.  These Terms of Use, including the Privacy Policy (collectively, “Terms”), govern your use of the Site.  Please read all of the Terms carefully.  By using the Site, you agree to comply with and be bound by these Terms.  If you do not agree to the Terms, you are not authorized to use the Site.  EMKF reserves the right to modify the Terms at any time by posting a notice on the home page of the Site.  Your use of the Site after the notice is posted indicates you agree to the changes.
3. Privacy.  Please be sure to review EMKF’s Privacy Policy, which is part of these Terms.

4. Registration; Suspension or Termination of Account; Access from other Countries; Special Accounts and Roles.

   (A) Registration.  To access certain information and functionality, you must register on the Site and open a user account (“Account”).  You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the user name and password associated with your Account and for all activity under your Account, and you may not transfer your Account to another party. You warrant that all information you provide to EMKF is accurate and we request that you update your Account as necessary to keep it accurate and complete.  There may be eligibility requirements for registration.

   (B) Suspension or Termination of Account, Access or Group Activity.  EMKF reserves the right in its sole discretion to suspend or terminate your Account or to block access to the Site at any time (i) if it suspects that you have not complied with these Terms or any specific terms relating to specific services accessed through the site, (ii) if a business plan competition organizer notifies us that you have violated a competition's rules (as defined in Paragraph 5), (iii) if we receive multiple notices of infringement in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act relating to your Account(s), or (iv) for other reasons that EMKF determines in good faith are necessary or appropriate, including if EMKF suspects you are using or attempting to use the Site in any way that violates any applicable laws or regulations.  EMKF may also suspend or terminate your Account for prolonged inactivity in your Account. We may also terminate your access to or administrative rights in any User Input Room (as defined in paragraph 5) for any of the above reasons.  You agree that neither EMKF nor its service providers are liable to you for any loss or damages that may result from our refusal to provide you access to the Site.  You may terminate your Account at any time.

   (C) Access from other Countries.  EMKF makes no representation or warranty that any competition or content accessible through the Site are appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United States. If you choose to access the Site from other locations, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. You are not authorized to access the Site from any location where doing so would be illegal.  

   (D) Special Accounts and Roles.  EMKF may offer you the opportunity to create a special account or role through the Site, for example a Student Account. Such special accounts or roles may be subject to additional terms and conditions. For example, a Student Account may only be opened by an active student and the benefits of the Student Account will be terminated one year after the graduation date provided by the student. EMKF may terminate the special account or role if you breach the additional terms and conditions relating to the account or role.  

5. Use of Site for Lawful Purposes; Export Controls; Confidential Information; User Content.

   (A) Lawful Purposes.  You agree to use the Site only for lawful purposes and not in any way that would violate (i) the rights of EMKF, a business plan competition organizer, a university, any other organization affiliated with a competition or any other party or (ii) any applicable law. 

   (B) Export Controls.  The United States export control laws regulate the export of technology originating in the United States, including electronic transmission of information and software to foreign countries and to certain foreign nationals.  You agree to comply with all applicable export control laws and regulations including the Export Administration Regulations maintained by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the U.S. Department of Commerce, trade and economic sanctions maintained by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations maintained by the Department of State, and the Uniting and Strengthening of America by Providing Appropriate Tools to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 and not to transfer, by electronic transmission or otherwise, any content published on the Site to either a foreign destination or foreign national in violation of applicable law.

   (C) Confidential Information.  If you are a business plan competition organizer or judge, you may receive personal or confidential information of individual users (“User Confidential Information”) in connection with competition or a request for information.  You shall use at least the same degree of care in safeguarding the User Confidential Information as confidential as you use in safeguarding your own confidential information, but in no event shall you use less than due diligence and care.  You shall only forward such User Confidential Information to others within your organization on a need to know basis. 

   (D) User Content. 
   (i) EMKF may offer the opportunity for you and others to contribute ideas, comments, questions and other communications to or from the Site (the "User Content") in message boards, group areas, communities, blogs, competition sub-sites, e-mail and other features of the Site ("User Input Rooms") that may be offered from time to time and may be operated by EMKF, by a business plan competition organizer, or by a third party. User Content shall include any business plans and related information you submit through the Site.  You shall not (nor cause any third party to) use the Site to perform any illegal activities (including defaming, abusing, harassing, stalking, threatening or otherwise violating the legal rights - such as rights of privacy -of others) or immoral activities.  Specifically, but not by way of limitation, you shall not undertake any of the following types of activities:

   1. transmitting information that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;
   2. transmitting any material that contains software viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, or any other computer code, files, or programs which may interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
   3. impersonating anyone or any entity, or falsely stating or otherwise misrepresenting your affiliation with a person or entity;
   4. advertising or disseminating commercial content;
   5. interfering with or disrupting the Site;
   6. disrupting the activities or enjoyment of the Site for other users; or
   7. collecting or storing personal data about other users, except as needed for activities permitted on the Site.

   (ii) You should exercise discretion before relying on information contained in User Content. You agree to evaluate, and assume all risks associated with the use of any User Content, including without limitation any risk relating to any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such User Content. EMKF assumes no responsibility for the information contained in User Content.

   (iii)  You agree that EMKF, in its sole discretion, may remove any User Content from a User Input Room offered by EMKF, at any time and for any or no reason. You agree that EMKF shall not be liable to you or any third party for any deletion of any User Content on the Site.  You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time.

   (iv)  You acknowledge and agree that EMKF may preserve and disclose User Content if required to do so by law or if EMKF believes in good faith that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process, enforce this Agreement, respond to a claim that User Content violates any third party's rights, or protect the right, property or personal safety of EMKF, any users of the Site, or the public. You also acknowledge that the technical processing and transmission of the Site, including without limitation User Content, may involve transmissions over various networks and changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices.

   (v)  EMKF may offer the opportunity for you and others to contribute User Content in User Input Rooms operated by a third party that may be offered from time to time. EMKF assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever for such User Content, or for the use of any User Input Room operated by a third party. Without limitation to the foregoing, EMKF shall not be liable for the collection, use or disclosure of any personal information by, in or through a User Input Room operated by a third party. In such circumstances, you must refer to any terms of service and privacy statement of the third party operating the User Input Room.

   (vi)  Subject to any applicable law and the requirements of the EMKF's privacy policy, any communications sent by you via this Site or otherwise to EMKF (including without limitation User Content) are on a non-confidential basis, and EMKF is under no obligation to refrain from reproducing, publishing or otherwise using them in any way or for any purpose related to the Site or its users. You shall be responsible for the content and information contained in any communication sent by you to this Site or otherwise to EMKF, including without limitation for its truthfulness and accuracy.

   (vii)  EMKF does not claim any ownership rights in the User Content you post to the Site.  When you post User Content to the Site, you grant to EMKF, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant to EMKF, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt, distribute, create derivative works from and otherwise use such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Site.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, EMKF will not publicly display your business plans without your prior consent, but may display a summary or abstract of your plan unless you opt out of such display.

   (vii)  The administrator of any User Input Room determines its membership and may terminate access by any individual user at any time.

6. Intellectual Property.

   (A) Content.  The content on the Site is owned by or licensed to EMKF.  As between you and the business plan competition organizers, you retain ownership of all rights, including copyrights, patents, and other intellectual property rights, in the business plans you submit through the Site.  As between you and EMKF, EMKF owns all rights, including copyrights, patents, and other intellectual property rights, in the Site.  You agree not to copy any content on the Site (unless it is User Content generated by you or you are permitted to do so by a Competition Agreement) or to modify, decompile, disassemble, create derivative works from or otherwise reverse engineer any content on the site, or other content or computer programs associated with the Site. 

   (B)  Restrictions on Data Usage.  You may not, without the prior written permission of EMKF, use any computer code, data mining software, robot, bot, spider, scraper, or other automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology having similar process or functionality, or any manual process, to deeplink to, redistribute, retransmit, republish, commercially exploit, display or copy in bulk the content found on or through the Site.

   (C) Trademarks.  EMKF owns all rights in its name, trademarks, service marks, logos, and other indicia of source (“EMKF Trademarks”), including Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and iStart.  You may not use any EMKF Trademarks in connection with any products or services or in any manner that could tarnish any EMKF Trademarks or disparage EMKF.  The trademarks of the various business plan competitions are owned by, and may be used only as permitted by, the applicable business plan competition organizer.  The trademarks of the various schools and other organizations are owned by, and may be used only as permitted by, the applicable school or other organization. 

   (D) Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement/Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  EMKF will process notices of alleged infringement which it receives and will take appropriate action as required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable intellectual property laws.  If you believe that your work has been copied on the Site in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide EMKF’s Copyright Agent with the following information in a notice (“Notice”).  To be effective, the Notice must be in writing and contain the following information (DMCA 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3)):

   (i) an electronic or physical signature of the person who is authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner;

   (ii) a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;

   (iii) identification of the copyrighted work you claim is being infringed (and, if possible, a location where an authorized copy of the copyrighted work exists, for example the URL of the website where it is posted or the name of the book in which it has been published);

   (iv) identification of the URL or other specific location on the Site where the material that you claim is infringing is located (you must include enough information so that EMKF can locate the material);

   (v) your address, telephone number, and email address;

   (vi) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and

   (vii) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

   Send the Notice to EMKF’s Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement as follows:

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Attn: DMCA Copyright Agent
4801 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, Missouri  64110
Tel: 816-932-1000
Email: [email protected]

7. Links.  From time to time, EMKF may provide links to other sites that may be of interest to you.  Such links do not mean that EMKF endorses any other site or its products or services.  You acknowledge that EMKF has no control over or responsibility for the content or practices of any other site.  Please read any terms of use and privacy policies that govern activities on other sites. 
8. Disclaimers.  THE SITE IS OFFERED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS AND YOU USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.  NEITHER EMKF NOR ITS SERVICE PROVIDERS MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, THAT THE SITE WILL OPERATE WITHOUT ERROR OR INTERRUPTION OR BE FREE FROM VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS OR THAT THE INFORMATION ON THE SITE, INCLUDING THE BUSINESS PLANS AND CONTENT PROVIDED BY OTHER USERS, WILL BE ACCURATE, TIMELY OR COMPLETE.  TO THE FULL EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, EMKF AND ITS SERVICE PROVIDERS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, NONINFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE (EVEN IF THE PURPOSE HAS BEEN DISCLOSED). 
9. Limitation of Liability.  NEITHER EMKF NOR Any Service Provider WILL BE LIABLE UNDER CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHER LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY (WHETHER OR NOT EMKF HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE), FOR (A) ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST REVENUE, LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR LOST DATA) ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE OR (B) ANY DAMAGES, LOSS OR INJURY BASED ON ERRORS, OMISSIONS, INTERRUPTIONS, INACCURACIES OR SIMILAR PROBLEMS ARISING IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF, INTERACTION WITH, OR TRANSACTIONS THROUGH THE SITE.  NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN, EMKF'S LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER, AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE ACTION, WILL AT ALL TIMES BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID, IF ANY, BY YOU TO EMKF, AND IF NO AMOUNTS WERE PAID WILL NOT EXCEED $1000. THESE LIMITATIONS WILL APPLY REGARDLESS OF ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.  SOME STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS OF CERTAIN DAMAGES AND SO SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. 
10. Indemnity.  By using the Site, you agree to indemnify and hold EMKF and its directors, officers, employees, licensors, service providers, contractors, and agents (“EMKF Indemnitees”) harmless from any claims, liability, loss, damage or expense (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs) that any EMKF Indemnitee may incur based on your use of the Site, your transactions through the Site, the competitions operated through the Site, your breach of these Terms or any competition rules, your violation of the rights of a third party or your violation of any law, including export control laws.
11. Contact Us.  The Site is owned and operated by Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation  If you have any questions about any of these Terms, please contact us at:

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Attn: iStart Director
4801 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, Missouri  64110
Tel: 816-932-1000
Email: [email protected]

12. Dispute Resolution

    (A) Governing Law.  These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the laws of the State of Missouri applicable to contracts executed and performed within Missouri, without giving any effect to any conflict of laws rules that may result in the application of the laws of any other jurisdiction.  These Terms are deemed executed and enforceable in the State of Missouri.

    (B)  Binding Arbitration. If a dispute arises between you and EMKF, each party irrevocably agrees to (i) resolve the dispute through binding arbitration conducted in Kansas City, Missouri in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), (ii) bring any dispute to enforce arbitration under these Terms or to pursue injunctive relief exclusively in the federal and state courts located in Jackson County, Missouri, United States of America and (iii) submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of those courts and waive any objection to the exclusive jurisdiction of those courts based on forum non conveniens or other grounds.  Each party will be responsible for its expenses and an equal share of the arbitrators' and administrative fees of arbitration.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, EMKF will have the right to seek temporary injunctive relief if it determines it is necessary in connection with any breach of these Terms that could result in irreparable harm to EMKF (including infringement of any intellectual property).

13. General Provisions

    (A) Assignment.  You may not assign these Terms or any of your obligations under them without EMKF’s prior written consent and any attempted assignment is null and void.  EMKF may assign these Terms and any of its obligations under them at any time for any reason.

    (B) Relationship of Parties.  You and EMKF are independent contractors and these Terms may not be used to construe a joint venture, employee, partnership, agency or similar relationship between you and EMKF.

    (C) Electronic Communications; Binding and Entire Agreement; English Language.  You agree that (i) these Terms constitute an agreement “signed by you” under any applicable law; (ii) any notices or other communication regarding your use of the Site may be provided to you electronically (by posting on the Site, by email, and other electronic formats) and will be considered received upon posting or other distribution, but EMKF reserves the right to provide communications in paper format.  These Terms (including the Privacy Policy) constitute the entire agreement between you and EMKF and supersede all other agreements, oral or written, concerning its subject matter.  You consent to the use of the English language in these Terms and all documents or notices relating to them and your use of the Site.

    (D) Including.  The word “including” as used in these Terms means “including, without being limited to.”

    (E) Severability.  If any of these Terms is determined to be unenforceable for any reason, then the unenforceable provision will be deemed amended in a manner that will most nearly carry out the intent of the provision to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law or deleted if amendment is not possible, and the remaining Terms will be enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.

    (F) No Waiver.  EMKF’s failure to enforce these Terms in every instance in which they might apply is not a waiver of any of EMKF’s rights, and EMKF reserves its right to take all legal steps available to enforce these Terms.

    (G) Survival.  Paragraphs 3, 5(C), 6, 8, 9, 10, 12 and 14 (and any other sections that by their intent should survive) will survive any termination of these Terms.

    (H) Force Majeure.  If EMKF is unable to perform its services or any of its obligations due to any cause beyond its reasonable control, including computer, telecommunications or other equipment failures, electrical power failures, strikes, labor disputes, shortage of labor or materials, civil disturbances, fires, floods, storms, explosions, acts of God, war, terrorist acts, governmental actions, non-performance of third parties or similar reasons, then EMKF’s performance will be excused and the time for performance will be extended until a reasonable time following the end of the event of force majeure.