Intellectual Property Policy

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This Intellectual Property Policy was last updated on October 31, 2021.

The GroKool platform is available to communities as a private labeled enterprise platform. Compared to boot-strapping various point applications to achieve a similar purpose, GroKool provides a private, secure, and branded environment in one integrated platform, providing a richer and simplified user experience, enabling a holistic environment to serve an association's needs for 

• marketing, advertising, and awareness, 
• administration, revenue generation, and community building, 
• professional development and career advancement, 
• member networking and information sharing, and 
• management of missions and projects.

We do not review or edit the content for legal issues, and we are not in a position to determine the legality of posted content. However, it is important to us that users posting content on GroKool respect the intellectual property of others. When You post content on the platform, You make the promise that You have the necessary authorization or rights to use all the content contained in posting.

Infringing activity is not tolerated on or through our platform.

This policy addresses what we do in the event of copyright infringement reports from content owners and trademark infringement claims from trademark owners with respect to the content on the GroKool platform. The policy also addresses what we do when GroKool users are copied on third-party platforms without their consent.

GroKool’s policy is to remove Activities from our service when they are reported as infringing in a copyright infringement notice received from the owner of the original content. It is also our policy to remove all Activities or Participation in Activities from any Coach, Learner, Parents / Guardians who are determined to be a repeat infringer (for whom GroKool has received more than two valid takedown notices). We reserve the right to terminate a Coach’s, Learner’s, Parent’s / Guardian’s account at any time, including when they post content in violation of the copyrights of others.

If you would like to report content on the GroKool platform and if you are the owner or the designated agent of the owner of the rights to the content that you believe the content is infringing, please email support@grokool.com.Before you submit a copyright infringement report, please remember these important things:

• We cannot process a copyright claim that is not submitted by the owner of the copyright or its designated agent. This is because we have no way of knowing whether a user who published the content you are reporting has received proper permission from the owner to use the content. We will ask you to provide further information and an electronic signature to confirm that you are the copyright owner or have authority to represent the copyright owner (including if the copyright owner is an organization).

• Your copyright claim has to be sufficiently substantiated for us be able to address it. This means:

1. You provide sufficient information for us to contact you, including your full legal name, an email address, physical address, and (optional) telephone number.
2. If you are filing a report on behalf of an organization, you include the name of the organization and your relationship to the organization.
3. You precisely identify the original copyrighted material or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered in your notification, you provide a sufficiently representative list of such original material (such as a URL where the material is located);
4. You provide sufficient information for us to locate the reportedly infringing content(s) on the GroKool site (the URL on our website and the exact subject of the content and user;
5. You add a statement saying: “I declare, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this complaint is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf and I 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”.

• Knowingly submitting a false or misleading claim of infringement is illegal and you could be held liable and have to pay damages as a result. GroKool reserves the right to seek damages from anyone who submits a notification of claimed infringement in violation of the law.

• There are types of content that are not protected by copyright. Copyright law doesn’t cover short phrases (like business names, book titles, and slogans), intangible concepts (like processes, ideas, and recipes), or facts. Before you submit a copyright claim, make sure that the content copied in the content(s) is indeed protected by copyright. If you need to report a trademark violation, please email support@grokool.com.

• Consider whether the use of your material in the content is “fair use”. Copyright law includes a “fair use” exception for certain uses of copyrighted content that are considered to be in the public interest. Fair use covers things like criticism, commentary, news reporting, and research. In considering whether an Activity’s use of your material qualifies as fair use, you should look at:

1. The purpose of the use (whether the content is paid or unpaid for, whether the content critiques/parodies/transforms your material)
2. The type of copyrighted work being used (whether your work is factual or creative)
3. The portion being used (whether the content uses small, necessary excerpts of your material or substantial portions of it)
4. The effect on the market for your material (whether potential buyers would purchase the content instead of your material)

Before you submit a copyright claim, make sure that use of the content copied in the GroKool content does not qualify as fair use.

If we receive a valid copyright violation report, we will send a copy of that report to the user who posted the reported content along with a notification that 1) the content was reported for copyright infringement and 2) we are removing the content or specific contents from the GroKool platform. We will also ask that the user send back to us to submit a counter-notification. If your content has been reported for copyright infringement and removed from the GroKool platform, and if you believe we made a mistake or that you have permission from the owner of the reported content to use such content in your Activity, then you may send us a counter-notification.

The best way to provide us with a counter-notification is to email support@grokool.com. To be effective, a counter notification must be in writing and include the following information:  

• Your physical or electronic signature;
• Your name, address, and email address or telephone number,
• Identification of the content that was removed and the location (URL) at which it appeared before it was removed (you can access this information from the copyright infringement report filed against your content, we always attach a copy when we notify you);
• A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled; and
• A statement that you consent to (i) GroKool sharing your name and contact information with the claimant; (ii) receiving service of process for any legal action by the claimant or an agent of the claimant and (ii) accepting the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which you reside (if in the U.S.), or if you reside outside of the U.S., the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (headquarters of GroKool).

Knowingly submitting a false or misleading counter-notification to a claim of infringement is illegal and you could be held liable and have to pay damages as a result. GroKool reserves the right to seek damages from any party that submits a counter-notification of claimed infringement or counter-notification in violation of the law.

We understand that when you post and make available your contents on the GroKool platform, you want to make sure that you will not find your related content offered on another platform without your permission.

In the event you find your content available on another platform without your permission, please email us at support@grokool.com. Please keep in mind that since GroKool doesn’t control the content on other sites, we may not always be successful, especially if your content is on a site outside of the US or EU. Certain countries take different approaches to copyright law; as such, we cannot guarantee the infringing party or hosting site will comply with our notices and remove the infringing content from their platform.

GroKool’s policy is to remove contents from our service when they are reported as infringing a third-party trademark. We also reserve the right to terminate a user’s account at any time, including when they post content in violation of the trademark rights of others.

• Your trademark claim has to be sufficiently substantiated for us be able to address it. 

This means your communication must include substantially the following:

1. Your complete contact information (full name, mailing address, and email or phone number).
2. The specific word, symbol, etc. for which you claim trademark rights.
3. The basis for your claim of trademark rights (such as a national or community registration), including registration number, if applicable.
4. The country or jurisdiction in which you claim trademark rights.
5. The category of goods and/or services for which you assert rights.
6. Sufficient information for us to locate the material on GroKool that you believe violates your trademark rights (web addresses/URLs of the allegedly infringing content).
7. A description of how you believe this content infringes your trademark.
8. If you are not the rights holder, an explanation of your relationship to the rights holder.
9. The following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use of the trademark as described above in the manner complained of is not authorized by the trademark owner, its agent, or the law.”
10. The following statement: "The information in this notice is accurate, and I declare, under penalty of perjury, that I am the owner or authorized to act on behalf of the owner of a trademark that is allegedly infringed."
11. Your electronic signature ("/s/" followed by your full name, e.g., "/s/ Jane Doe") or physical signature.

• Submitting a false or misleading claim of infringement could result in liability for you. GroKool reserves the right to  seek damages from any party that submits a false or misleading notification of claimed trademark infringement.

•  Consider whether the use of your trademark in the Activity is “nominative fair use”. Trademark law protects the use of a name or brand for selling products and services, with the goal of preventing consumer confusion. Most countries’ laws include an exception for “fair use”, which allows others to use a trademark for factually referencing the trademarked product or service, or commenting on or criticizing the mark. Consider the likelihood that others would be confused into thinking that your company or brand had created or is sponsoring the content. Before you submit a trademark claim, make sure that use of your trademark in the content does not qualify as fair use

GroKool’s Designated Agent for notices of reported infringement can be contacted in the following manner:

• Via Email: support@grokool.com
• Via U.S. Mail: GroKool, Inc. 817 E. Ogden Ave. #3700, Lisle, IL 60532 Attn: Copyright Team