Website Terms of Use

1. Welcome to our website, located at equalityinstitute.org (‘the Website’). This Website is owned and operated by Equal Research Pty Ltd trading as Equality Institute (ABN 66 606 843 163) (‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’).
2. If you, the person using our Website (‘you’, ‘your’) continue to use this Website, you’re agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms of use and disclaimer which govern our relationship with you in connection to the Website.
3. If you don’t agree with these terms, please don’t use our Website.
4. Please be aware that additional terms apply to the sale of our goods and services (such as our online courses and training).
5. We operate this Website for your general use and information only.
6. We can change the content of this Website at any time without letting you know.
7. We can decide to change these terms at any time by posting an updated version on our Website. If you continue using our Website after the updated terms have been posted, you’re agreeing to our new terms.
8. We can terminate these terms at any time without notice. If that happens, all disclaimers, indemnities, limitations of liability and any other clause by its nature intended to survive will survive termination of these terms and you will not be permitted to use the Website anymore.

Advice and Information Disclaimer

9. We may provide or publish general advice and information, including about our goods and services, believing it to be accurate, appropriate, current and reliable at the time but we don’t give any warranty of accuracy, appropriateness, currency or reliability.
10. It’s your responsibility to ensure that our Website, including our general information and advice is right for you.
11. Any advice and information on our Website is general in nature is not intended to constitute or substitute for professional advice such as financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, medical advice or any other advice. You should not rely on the information on our Website as such.
12. Unless required by law, we won’t accept any liability or responsibility (including for negligence) for any loss suffered because of your or a third-party’s reliance on any such general advice or information.

Enquiries with Our Team

13. From time to time, we may accept enquiries by phone, email and online. If you speak to one of our team for an initial call or email, or to make an enquiry, you understand that anything we say on that call or in an enquiry email is general information and is not professional advice.
14. If we make a recommendation about what products or services that we think would benefit you, it is your responsibility to consider whether these are right for you.
15. If you would like to engage us in relation to our goods or services, such as by signing up to our online learning content, training, courses or other digital products, this will be subject to additional terms and conditions.
16. Unless required by law, we will not accept any liability or responsibility (including liability for negligence) for any loss suffered because of your or any other person’s reliance on any information provided over the phone or by email.

Pre-purchase access to our Learning Management System (LMS)

17. We make access to our Website and Learning Management System (‘LMS’) (which forms a part of our Website) available to individuals for the purpose of allowing you to join our community, access and update your marketing preferences and to purchase access to our online courses and digital products.
18. Previews of our online course content are available for free (‘Free Previews’) and can be accessed through the LMS.
19. Your use of the LMS will be governed by these terms, until such a time that you purchase access to a course or digital product. At that point, your purchases and use of the LMS will be subject to additional terms and conditions.
20. Where you engage with our LMS, you understand and agree that your access is subject to the following:
    1. We provide you with access to the LMS and the Free Previews for your convenience and for ‘testing’ purposes only. You understand that the
       Free Previews do not represent the entire course or breadth of knowledge on the subject and is just a sample of what you may expect to learn from our complete courses, but we make no warranties or representations as to our course content, which may change from time to time;
    2. We own all the intellectual property rights in the intellectual property contained in the LMS and the Free Previews and we only grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access the Free Previews for the purpose of previewing our courses;
    3. You are prohibited from sharing, copying, or otherwise distributing content contained on our Website and the LMS including but not limited to the Free Previews;
    4. We give no warranty of accuracy, appropriateness, currency or reliability of the Free Previews;
    5. You are prohibited from using our Website and LMS content, including but not limited to the Free Previews for any commercial, illegal, or unauthorised purpose; and
    6. You are prohibited from modifying, adapting, reproducing or otherwise dealing with the Free Previews in an unauthorised manner.
21. If you breach these terms, we may immediately revoke your licence to the Free Previews without notice or compensation to you.

Security and Preferences

22. We use cookies to monitor browsing preferences and to help us improve, promote and protect our Website and services.
23. By continuing to use the Website, you agree to our use of cookies.
24. Our Website is securely hosted by Bone Digital and protected by an SSL Certificate. We use our best endeavours to ensure that Website is free of any malware (including bugs, viruses, trojan horses, ransomware or other harmful code or communications) which may be transmitted to or through the Website, including links to other sites but we don’t make warranties or guarantees as to safety and security.

Website Provided ‘As Is’ and Used at Own Risk

25. We make the Website available to you, however, you use it at entirely your own risk.
26. Everything on the Website is provided “as is” and “as available” – we do not make any representations or warranties of any kind – and, to the maximum extent permissible by law, we exclude all liability for loss or damage you might suffer because of:
    1. failures, errors, mistakes, inaccuracies, interruptions, defects, delays, viruses, lost, stolen, altered or misused data or unlawful third-party conduct arising out of the Website; or
    2. whole or partial discontinuation of the Website; or
    3. unsuitable or out of date information on the Website (including third-party material and advertisements on the Website); or
    4. You or any other person acting or not acting on any information; or
    5. personal injury or property damage of any nature resulting from Your or any other person’s access to or use of the Website; or
    6. any unauthorised access to or use of information or data, including personal and financial information, collected by us; or
    7. any interruption of transmission to or from the Website; or
    8. any malware (including bugs, viruses, trojan horses, ransomware or other harmful code or communications) which may be transmitted to or through the Website, including links to other sites; or
    9. costs incurred by You in using the Website; or
    10. links which are provided for Your convenience.
27. It is your responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this Website meet your specific requirements.
28. You indemnify us from and against all claims, suits, demands, actions, liabilities, costs and expenses (including legal costs and expenses on a full indemnity basis) resulting from your use of the Website.
29. This clause survives termination of this agreement.

Permitted Uses of the Website

30. You are permitted to use our Website to:
    1. view information we publish on it; or
    2. interact with us (for example through an article, blog or comment); or
    3. purchase a good or service from us;
    4. to make any enquiry leading to the purchase of our products or services; or
    5. to make an enquiry; or
    6. as otherwise specified by us in writing.

Prohibited Uses of the Website

31. You are only allowed to use our Website for lawful purposes. You are not permitted to use our Website for illegal activity or in a way that impacts negatively on others’ use and enjoyment of our Website.
32. We have a zero-tolerance policy for users who:
    1. behave unlawfully or encourage unlawful conduct; or
    2. post any defamatory, sexist, racist, discriminatory, obscene, offensive or scandalous material; or
    3. harass or cause distress or inconvenience to any person; or
    4. disrupt the Website.
33. We reserve the right to ban any users who engage in or encourage others to engage in (or who we reasonably suspect will engage in or encourage others to engage in) the above behaviour.
34. You are not permitted to (or attempt to, or encourage others to):
    1. change (including add or remove), deface, hack or otherwise interfere with our Website or any material or content displayed on our Website; or
    2. upload any Harmful Content.
35. You warrant to us that you will not upload or attempt to upload any such Harmful Content. You indemnify us on a continuing basis for any loss or damage we suffer because of any Harmful Content which you upload or attempt to upload to our Website.
36. Unauthorised use of our Website may be a criminal offence and/or give rise to a claim for damages.
37. You are prohibited from using or copying material on our Website for any purpose not authorised under these terms or without our written permission.
38. You are prohibited from copying content on our Website (including downloaded resources) in whole or in part for the purpose of using our content on your Website, to publish it elsewhere (such as social media), or to compete with us, without our written permission.
39. You warrant to us that you are not using and do not intend to (or encourage someone else to) use our Website for an unauthorised purpose.
40. This clause survives termination of this agreement.

Interacting with our Website

41. If we maintain a blog on our Website, we do so to keep you update to date with our industry and our business.
42. From time to time, we may allow you to publish content on our Website, including by submitting a post, commenting, or uploading content (‘Submissions’).
43. Where we allow Submissions, you acknowledge the following:
    1. we don’t regularly screen or review Submissions;
    2. we don’t necessarily endorse or support any views, opinions, standards, or information expressed in a Submission;
    3. you’re prohibited from making a Submission that is defamatory, offensive or otherwise inappropriate;
    4. we reserve the right to remove Submissions that we consider may not align with our brand values, are unlawful or illegal, may cause reputational damage, or that don’t comply with these terms;
    5. we own the intellectual property rights in Submissions you make to our Website;
    6. you warrant to us that all content in a Submission is original content unless otherwise disclosed to us, is true and correct to the best of your knowledge and that prior to making a submission, you were the rightful owner of all intellectual property rights in the Submission; and
    7. you indemnify us from and against all claims, suits, demands, actions, liabilities, costs and expenses (including legal costs and expenses on a full indemnity basis) resulting from your breach of the above warranty.
44. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, or that you think doesn’t comply with these terms, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at hello@equalityinstitute.organd we’ll review the material to see whether it should be removed.
45. This clause survives termination of this agreement.

Intellectual property

46. This Website contains material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the content, design, layout, appearance, look, graphics, text, logos, button icons, video images, images, audio clips, code, scripts, design elements and interactive features of the Website, and is protected by copyright under the laws of Australia and through international treaties.
47. Unless otherwise stated, we are the lawful owner or licensee of all copyright, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property rights in the Website.
48. Nothing in these terms is intended to transfer any intellectual property rights to you.
49. We reserve all our rights, including in relation to injunctive relief for copyright infringement and other intellectual property right infringement.
50. As a user of our Website, we grant you a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, revocable license to use our Website in accordance with these terms, to copy and store the Website and its content in your device’s cache memory and to print pages from the Website for your own personal and non-commercial use. We do not grant you any other rights in relation to the Website.
51. For the avoidance of doubt, you are specifically prohibited from using our Intellectual Property, including our Website content for commercial purposes or to compete with us.
52. In addition to any other rights we have at law, and to the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify us on a full indemnity basis for any breach of this intellectual property clause including for any costs we incur in seeking legal advice on the breach and in taking legal proceedings against you.
53. This clause survives termination of this agreement.

Sharing and promotion

54. If you would like to share our Website or social media content that is freely available for re-use or is in the public domain, you are permitted to do so if you credit our work and link back to our Website. This includes images produced by EQI on our Website and social media profiles, unless we explicitly cite a copyright notice indicating otherwise.
55. If you would like to share, re-publish or otherwise use our Website or content in a way that you are not expressly authorised to do so by these terms, please get in touch with us at hello@equalityinstitute.org.

Links to and from Our Website

56. We may include links to other websites which are not controlled by us. These links are provided for your convenience to provide you with further information.
57. You acknowledge that they are used at your own risk, and we do not necessarily endorse the content or opinions expressed in them. For your own safety, please make sure you check the protocols and standards of the linked sites before using them. We recommend that you also make enquiries about privacy practices before sharing information with a third party.
58. If you would like to link to our Website, please get in touch with us at hello@equalityinstitute.org with your website address, a brief description of your website and why you want to establish a link. Please note that if we allow you to link to our Website, we may impose additional terms or conditions. If we ask you to remove the link, refusal will constitute a breach of these terms.

Limitation and Exclusion of Liability

59. Subject to any non-excludable consumer guarantees and other consumer protection provisions set out in the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), the material displayed on this website is provided without any guarantees, conditions, or warranties as to its accuracy.
60. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the website owner hereby expressly excludes all warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law, or the law of equity, and shall not be liable for any damages whatsoever, including but not limited to any direct, indirect, special, consequential, punitive, or incidental damages, or damages for loss of use, profits, data, or other intangibles, damage to goodwill or reputation, or the cost of procurement of substitute goods and services arising out of or related to the use, inability to use, performance, or failures of this website or the linked sites and any materials posted on those sites, irrespective of whether such damages were foreseeable or arise in contract, tort, equity, restitution, by statute, at common law, or otherwise.
61. This clause survives termination of this agreement.

Dispute Resolution

62. If we disagree about something that relates to these terms, we both agree not to go straight to Court or a tribunal unless we need urgent relief (like an interlocutory order). The below process must be followed first.
63. First, we agree that the person with the problem must write to the other person letting them know about the problem and how they think it can be resolved.
64. Once the other person receives the written notice, we both have 20 business days to solve the matter between us.
65. If we cannot solve the problem, we agree to go to mediation. We agree to attend virtual mediation whenever possible, or else to go to mediation in Melbourne, VIC and split the fees of mediation equally between us. For the avoidance of doubt, you will be liable for the costs associated with your attendance at mediation, including but not limited to flights, transport, accommodation, etc.
66. If we cannot agree on a mediator, then we both agree to ask the President of the Law Society in VIC to appoint a mediator for us.
67. Communications during this process are confidential and must be treated as ‘without prejudice’ for the purposes of evidence law.
68. If, after trying in good faith to resolve the issue between us we cannot get anywhere, then we may commence proceedings.
69. This clause survives termination of this agreement.

General

70. If anything in these terms is unenforceable, illegal or void, it is severed, and the rest of the terms remains in force.
71. We make no warranty or representation in relation to the Website. All implied warranties (except for any statutory warranties which We cannot exclude) and conditions are expressly excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.
72. Any waiver by any party to a breach of these terms will not be deemed to be a waiver of a subsequent breach of the same or of a different kind.
73. Unless we say otherwise, our Website is not a part of another entity (such as Meta) and is not endorsed by or affiliated with any other Website or their owners.
74. No rule of construction applies to the disadvantage of a party because that party was responsible for the preparation of these terms or any party of it.
75. Neither party will be liable to the other party for any loss caused by any failure to observe these terms, where such failure is occasioned by causes beyond its reasonable control including, but not limited to, by fire, flood, pandemic, riot, strike, war, restrictions and prohibitions or any other actions by any government or semi government authorities, or major injury or illness of key personnel.
76. The law of VIC, Australia governs these terms and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of VIC.