Terms of Use

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE.

By using this site and/or any materials downloaded or otherwise obtained directly or indirectly from this site, you agree to the following terms of use ("Terms"). The NAHB Research Center reserves the right, at any time and without prior notification, to modify, alter, or update these Terms. If you continue to use this site after changes have been made, you are signifying your acceptance of the new Terms, regardless of whether you have reviewed the new Terms.

Certain areas of this site may include additional guidelines or rules that supplement these Terms. By using those areas of this site, you are agreeing to comply with those additional guidelines and rules as well.

Access to Site

To access this site, you must have access to a compatible web browser. You are responsible for obtaining and maintaining all Internet access services, computer hardware, software and other equipment and services needed for access to and use of this site and paying all charges related thereto.

Copyright and Trademarks

All trademarks (TM), service marks (SM), and trade names are proprietary to the Research Center, or their respective owners. You may not use any such marks for any purpose whatsoever without the express prior written permission of the Research Center, or their respective owners.

You may not distribute any materials downloaded or otherwise obtained from this site to any other persons or organizations unless such materials are accompanied by a copy of these Terms, which shall be binding on such persons or organizations. Alternatively, you may refer such persons or organizations to such materials by way of a link to this site. Certain documents, images and other materials appearing on this site have been obtained from individuals or other organizations not affiliated with the Research Center and may be subject to additional restrictions on use. In some cases, permission to use such materials must be obtained directly from the applicable individual or organization. You may contact the webmaster at webmaster@nahbrc.com to determine which materials are subject to such restrictions or require permission for use. Except as expressly provided above, you may not reproduce, download, republish, frame, transmit, distribute, sell, license, modify, alter, reverse engineer or prepare derivative works from this site, any materials downloaded or otherwise obtained from this site, or any portion of such works or materials, except with the express prior written permission of the Research Center. Nothing contained in this site shall be construed as conferring by implication, estoppel or otherwise any license or right under any copyright, patent, trademark or other proprietary interest of the Research Center or any third party. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.

Use of spiders, robots and similar data mining and extraction tools is expressly prohibited, except by publicly available Internet search engine portals for purposes of indexing the website.

Feedback and Other Suggestions

Although comments and questions about this site are welcomed, the Research Center does not accept unsolicited submissions, creative ideas or other content for the site. Any messages, suggestions, ideas or concepts that are submitted shall become, and remain, the exclusive property of the Research Center. Furthermore, the Research Center is not responsible for the confidentiality of any information communicated to the Research Center. If you choose to submit material to the Research Center, you agree that the Research Center is entitled to unrestricted use of such submissions throughout the world for any purpose whatsoever, including advertising and promotional purposes, and including but not limited to the right to reproduce, distribute, display, perform and modify the material in any manner or media, without compensation to you or any other party.

User Registration

To fully use this site, you must register as a member. Your site usage membership will remain active until cancelled. You may cancel your membership at any time by contacting pct@nahbrc.com. As part of the registration process, you will select a password and enter a valid e-mail address. You agree that your registration information will at all times correctly represent your professional affiliation, experience, qualifications, and ability to transact business. You may not use a login name of another entity or person. You may not disclose or share your password to any third parties or use your password for any unauthorized purpose. You agree to notify the Research Center at pct@nahbrc.com of any unauthorized use of your account or breach of security, including loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of your password or credit card information. You will be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password(s).

Others' Information.  The Research Center does not guarantee the accuracy of the information on the Site or ownership or availability of technologies listed, nor the identities or the qualifications of the users of the Services. While the Research Center believes such information is posted in good faith, you are responsible for verifying the accuracy of such information as part of your discussions with other parties.  The Research Center does not control the information provided by others (including feedback) that is made available through the Services. Other user's information may be offensive, harmful or inaccurate. You agree to look solely to the posting party for any claims you may have regarding their information. If you have a dispute with another user of these Services, you release the Research Center from all claims of any kind arising out of such dispute. If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code section 1542, which says: "A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor."

Your Information. You may have the opportunity to communicate with other users. Any information you provide to this site or other users during your registration or use of these Services, in any public message area, through any mail feature, or which is otherwise generated out of your use of the Services, is subject to the following:

  1. Your Content. You are solely responsible for the content of your information, and this site acts merely as a conduit for its distribution and publication. However, the Research Center reserves the right to take any action with respect to such information it deems necessary or appropriate in its sole discretion (including editing minor typographical problems and removal) if the Research Center believes information you provide is inappropriate for the Site or other Services, may create liability for the Research Center, or may cause the Research Center to lose (in whole or in part) the services of its ISPs or other suppliers. You agree that your information will be accurate and will not to the best of your knowledge: (a) infringe any third party's copyright, trademark, or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy; (b) violate any law or regulation (including without limitation those governing export control, consumer protection, unfair competition, anti-discrimination or false advertising); nor (c) be defamatory, libellous, unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing.
  2. Privacy. The Research Center will only use your information with its Privacy Policy.

Responses to Offerings or Needs. If you respond, with a question or introduction request, to any listing party, you agree that all information provided to this site as part of your registration and your submitted response can be shared with the listing party. You agree that all submissions are voluntary and submitted on a NON-CONFIDENTIAL basis on your part and that no confidential or contractual relationship is to be established by the submissions or implied from consideration of the submissions. The Research Center will consider this information otherwise private and will not share this information with any party other than the listing party.

Additional Conditions regarding responses to TechNeeds. If you respond, with a question or introduction request, to a TechNeed listing party, you agree that your are the owner of the submitted information and that you are legally free to make the disclosure and to convey patent rights to the submissions being offered for disclosure. You also agree that your response is subject to the following:

  1. For submissions covered by patents. You agree to RELY WHOLLY ON YOUR PATENT RIGHTS, AS DEFINED BY THE CLAIMS OF AN ISSUED PATENT.
  2. For submissions covered by pending applications for patents or provisional applications. You agree to rely for your protection wholly on such rights as you may have under the patent laws of the countries in which you have filed.
  3. For submissions that have not been covered by a patent, pending patent application or provisional patent. You agree that they will be considered with the understanding that the use of such submissions and the compensation, if any, to be paid for them are matters resting solely within the discretion of the listing party.

Prohibited Activities

Users agree not to post on the site any information or material that: (a) is unlawful, profane, hateful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, obscene, vulgar, libelous, defamatory, deceptive, fraudulent, tortuous or that encourages criminal activity; (b) infringes upon or misappropriates any third party's intellectual property or other proprietary rights; (c) invades or otherwise violates any third party's privacy; (d) impersonates another user, person, corporation or entity; (e) contains viruses or any other computer code, files or programs that interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any software, hardware or telecommunications equipment, or otherwise permits or enables the unauthorized use of a computer or computer network or interferes with the use of this site; (f) is racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable; or (g) violates these Terms. All determinations regarding the removal of such material shall be made at the Research Center's sole discretion.

Users are prohibited from using this site for chain letters, junk mail, spamming, or unauthorized commercial activities of any kind.

The Research Center's Rights

You expressly acknowledge and agree that the Research Center reserves the right to monitor, reject, edit and/or remove any user postings for any reason in its sole discretion, including any messages forwarded to third parties via the website. Without limiting the foregoing, the Research Center may remove any material that it feels is defamatory, damaging, illegal, in any way offensive or annoying, that infringes upon or otherwise violates any third party's rights, or that the Research Center otherwise determines is inconsistent with its policies and/or these Terms. A user's access to all or any portion of this site may be suspended or terminated at the sole discretion of the Research Center if it feels that the user's conduct is inappropriate. Although the Research Center may from time to time monitor user postings, in no event does it assume any particular obligation to do so or liability for any failure or delay in either monitoring user postings or removing specific material.

The Research Center shall have the right to disclose any content or communication of any kind when requested by governmental or quasi-governmental authorities to conduct an investigation, hearing or the like; to allow the Research Center or a governmental or quasi-governmental authority to verify or enforce compliance with the policies governing this site and applicable laws; or to allow the Research Center to protect against misuse or unauthorized use of this site and all portions thereof. The Research Center also may disclose any content or communication of any kind whenever we believe disclosure is necessary to limit our legal liability; to protect or defend our rights or property; to protect the safety, rights, or property of our users; or to satisfy any legal obligation.

The Research Center has the right to any and all legal methods for identifying persons responsible for the illegal or unlawful uploading of information to, alteration of information on, or interference with the operation of this site or any part of the network to which it is connected.

Links and Advertising

For your convenience, this site provides links to websites operated by third parties. The Research Center has no control over and does not endorse or otherwise guarantee such websites. This site may also feature advertisements and sponsorships from third parties. The inclusion of an advertisement or sponsorship on this site does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the Research Center with respect to any products or services of such third parties. The Research Center does not assume any responsibility or liability for the availability of such websites, advertising, or sponsorships; for any content, advertising, software, products, services and other materials on or available from such websites; or for such sponsors or the parties that operate such websites or display such advertisements. The Research Center shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss of any sort caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, advertising, software, products, services or other materials on or available through any such website or third party. Your correspondence or business dealings with such third parties, including but not limited to the payment and delivery of goods or services and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such third party. You should carefully review their privacy statements and other conditions of use. Your use of such websites and associated products and services is entirely at your own risk.

Links may be made to our website from other personal and organizational web pages. We require that you link to our site rather than downloading portions of it to another web server, so that our viewers will see our most up-to-date information.

No Rendering of Advice

The information contained in or made available through this site is provided for informational purposes only. The Research Center is not engaged in providing legal, engineering, consulting, design, architectural, accounting, or other professional services of any kind through this site, and any user requiring such services is advised to seek the assistance of a competent professional. Your use of this site does not give rise to a client, advisory, fiduciary or professional services relationship between you and the Research Center.

Limitation of Liability

THE RESEARCH CENTER, ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS AND THEIR THIRD PARTY SUPPLIERS, ADVERTISERS, SPONSORS, AND EMPLOYEES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSSES OR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE OR ANY MATERIALS OR INFORMATION CONTAINED IN OR MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THIS SITE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, DATA OR USE OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES), EVEN IF SUCH PARTY KNEW OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE FOREGOING LIMITATION SHALL APPLY REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION AND WHETHER IN CONTRACT, BREACH OF WARRANTY, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE. THIS INCLUDES DAMAGES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR GROSS NEGLIGENCE.

THE RESEARCH CENTER, ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS AND THEIR THIRD PARTY SUPPLIERS, ADVERTISERS, SPONSORS AND EMPLOYEES CANNOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANY THIRD PARTY CLAIMS, LIABILITY, DAMAGES, OR COSTS ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND/OR ANY MATERIALS OBTAINED FROM THIS SITE, YOUR VIOLATION OF THESE TERMS OF USE, OR THE ACTIVITIES OF ANY USER OF YOUR ACCOUNT.

BECAUSE SOME STATES OR JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, IN SUCH STATES OR JURISDICTIONS THE RESEARCH CENTER'S LIABILITY, AND THE LIABILITY OF ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS AND THEIR SUPPLIERS, ADVERTISERS, SPONSORS, AND EMPLOYEES, SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

Termination and Suspension; Modifications to Site

The Research Center reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate, suspend or otherwise restrict your access to or use of this site (or any portion hereof) with or without notice at any time for any reason whatsoever, including without limitation if the Research Center believes that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of these Terms. In addition, the Research Center reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify or temporarily or permanently suspend or discontinue this site (or any aspect or feature hereof) with or without notice at any time. The Research Center shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any such termination, suspension, restriction, modification or discontinuation.

Indemnification

By using this site and/or posting or distributing material, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Research Center, its affiliates and third party suppliers, advertisers, and sponsors, and its and their officers, directors, employees, contractors and agents, for any and all claims, damages, defense costs, attorneys' fees and expenses, losses and causes of action arising out of your use or misuse of the site or any materials obtained from this site, posting of any material to this site, distributing of any materials obtained from this site, violation of any rights of any third party, or breach of these Terms. The Research Center reserves the right, at its expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which event you agree to cooperate with the Research Center in asserting any available defenses.

Governing Law; Exclusive Jurisdiction; Waiver of Jury Trial

The Research Center operates and maintains this site from within the United States of America. The Research Center makes no representation that this site or any content on or accessed through this site is appropriate or available for use in locations other than the United States of America. You are responsible for compliance with all local laws and regulations, as applicable, including but not limited to all applicable laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content, as well as all applicable export control laws. These Terms and the relationship between you and the Research Center shall be governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, USA, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods shall have no applicability to these Terms. The parties hereby agree to waive and opt-out of any application of the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA), or any version thereof, adopted by any State in any form. SUBJECT TO THE DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURES SET FORTH ABOVE, ANY LEGAL ACTION OR PROCEEDING ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THIS SITE SHALL BE INSTITUTED ONLY IN A STATE OR FEDERAL COURT LOCATED IN THE STATE OF MARYLAND, USA, AND YOU EXPRESSLY CONSENT TO THE PERSONAL AND EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OF SUCH COURTS. EACH PARTY HEREBY WAIVES ITS RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY FOR ANY DISPUTES BETWEEN THE PARTIES.

Miscellaneous

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and the Research Center with respect to your access to and use of this site and supersede any prior or contemporaneous agreements, whether written or oral, between you and the Research Center with respect to the subject matter hereof. The failure of the Research Center 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 or unenforceable, 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 shall remain in full force and effect. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of this site or these Terms must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred. The section headings used herein are for convenience only and shall not be given any legal or contractual effect.

Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement

Pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(2), all notifications of claimed copyright infringement on the Research Center website should be sent ONLY to our Designated Agent.

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS PROVIDED SOLELY FOR NOTIFYING THE RESEARCH CENTER THAT YOUR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL MAY HAVE BEEN INFRINGED BY OUR USERS. Do not send any inquiries unrelated to copyright infringement (e.g., requests for technical assistance or customer service) to the contact listed below. You will not receive a response if sent to that contact.

Written notification must be submitted to the following Designated Agent:

Service Provider(s): NAHB Research Center, Inc.
Name of Agent Designated to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement: Randy Cantrell
Full Address of Designated Agent to Which Notification Should be Sent: NAHB Research Center, Inc., 400 Prince Georges Blvd., Upper Marlboro, MD 20774
Telephone Number of Designated Agent: (301) 249-4000
Facsimile Number of Designated Agent: (301) 430-6310
E-mail Address of Designated Agent: rcantrell@nahbrc.com

Under Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(3)(A), the Notification of Claimed Infringement must include the following:

  1. An electronic or physical signature of the owner or of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
  2. Identification of the copyrighted work (or works) that you claim has been infringed;
  3. A description of the material that you claim is infringing, and the location where the original or an authorized copy of the copyrighted work exists (for example, the URL of the page of the website where it is lawfully posted; the name, edition and pages of a book from which an excerpt was copied; etc.);
  4. A clear description of where the infringing material is located on our website, including as applicable its URL, so that we can locate the material;
  5. Your address, telephone number and e-mail address;
  6. A statement that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and
  7. 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.