Terms of Service- Fortinet Community

Acceptance of Terms

Fortinet Community is defined as a knowledge sharing hub; a place to collaborate, share insights and experiences, and get answers to questions, located at https://community.fortinet.com. Fortinet, Inc. (“Fortinet”) makes available this platform as a service to facilitate the Fortinet Community, subject to the following Terms of Service (“TOS”), which may be updated from time to time in Fortinet’s discretion.
The most current version of the TOS can be reviewed through our community website (https://community.fortinet.com). The Terms of Service governs the Fortinet Community members, member organizations, affiliate organizations, Fortinet authorized partners, and vendors who access to the Fortinet Community website (collectively referred to hereafter as “Member(s)”).

Fortinet Community Representatives

Fortinet uses a third party, Khoros, LLC (“Khoros”) to host the Fortinet Community platform and website. Member understands, agrees, and authorizes Khoros to host, collect and maintain data, administer, monitor, and other like activities necessary to provide the Fortinet Community service.

Description of Service

The Fortinet Community website currently provides members with access to a collection of resources, including, various communications tools, forums, media content, file areas, and personalized content through its online interface. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any new features that augment or enhance the current service shall be likewise subject to the TOS. The Member is responsible for obtaining access to the Fortinet Community and that access may involve third-party fees (such as Internet service provider or airtime charges). The Member is responsible for those fees. In addition, Member must provide and is responsible for all equipment necessary to access the Community.

Registration Obligations

Member understands that registration is required for posting content on the Fortinet Community. In consideration of the use of the Fortinet Community, Member agrees to provide true, accurate, current, and complete information about themselves and their organization upon registration and in any other communications or materials relating to your identification and authorization as a registered user (such information being the “Registration Data”), and further agrees to maintain and update the Registration Data to keep it true, current, accurate, and complete. If Member provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, or if Fortinet has reasonable grounds to suspect that the information you have provided is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, Fortinet has the right to suspend or terminate your account and deny you any and all current or future use of the Fortinet Community, or any portion thereof.

In addition, Member understands that in order to keep them informed, Fortinet Community will send email based communications to the Member on a periodic basis notifying them of any Fortinet Community updates, maintenance notification, news, and other events. Member consents and agrees that receiving these emails may be part of their use of the Community, and if they wish to not receive certain emails they may opt out accordingly in their member profile.

Privacy of Member Information

You authorize Fortinet’s collection, use, protection and transfer of your information as described herein and in Fortinet’s Privacy Policy. By registering and using the Fortinet Community platform, Member understands and expressly consents to the association of their ‘User Name/Screen Name’ with any content they post and that such information will be visible to visitors and users of the website. The Member may elect to share their specific account information with other Members through the Fortinet Community Member directory. If a member would not like their information shared in the Member Directory they may opt-out of this membership benefit through their member profile. Member agrees not to use any information from the member directory for soliciting or other commercial purposes, and shall only use the information for purposes of participating in the Fortinet Community. If Fortinet determines that a Member is using the Member Directory for soliciting or other impermissible purposes, their account will be terminated and they may be subject to legal action. You may not transfer your account(s) to another person or register an account on behalf of another person. Minors are not permitted to register an account, even if such minors parents, guardian or other authorized adult has authorized such minor to do so. If you do not wish your email address or other personal information to be visible to other Users, do not use such information as your User name.

Member Account, Password and Security

The Member will receive a username and password as part of the Fortinet Community registration process. Member is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and account and is responsible for all activities that occur under such password or account. Member agrees to immediately notify Fortinet Community or its representatives of any unauthorized use of Member’s password or account or any other breach of security. Member must ensure that Member logs out from its account at the end of each session. Fortinet Community and its representatives will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from Member’s failure to comply with this Section.

Contributions

There are opportunities for you as a Fortinet Community member to actively participate by creating, providing, sharing and uploading information to the Fortinet Community such as comments, ideas or suggestions for new or improved software products, technologies, marketing/advertising campaigns or product names, data, articles, documents, discussion forum threads, blog entries, computer code, such as software sample code, source code, scripts, patches, bug fixes, binaries or executables, or other data, material or information (individually and collectively “Contributions”).

Contributions Ownership, Rights and Responsibilities

Fortinet may, in its discretion, decide to claim ownership of any Contributions that you or other users post, upload, submit or otherwise provide to the Fortinet Community. By providing Contributions, you grant to Fortinet and each Fortinet Community member under all intellectual, industrial and proprietary rights a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicensable, transferable, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable license to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, display, perform and otherwise fully exploit such Contributions for any and all purposes. In order to grant Fortinet and other users of the Fortinet Community the rights, permissions and licenses described herein, you represent and warrant that you either own or have all the necessary intellectual property rights in the Contributions and that your Contributions or the providing of your Contributions to the Fortinet Community do(es) not violate any intellectual, industrial or other proprietary right(s) of others. By uploading Contributions to the Fortinet Community, you warrant that you are not uploading viruses, worms, Trojan horses or other malicious, illegal, or unlawful code which is designed to interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any software or hardware. You acknowledge and agree that all Contributions are provided on a non-confidential basis notwithstanding any designation or notation of confidentiality. All Contributions are subject to these Terms of Use, and Fortinet reserves the right to remove at any time, without notice, any Contribution in violation thereof. For clarity, however, Fortinet has no obligation to monitor or remove Contributions, and Fortinet assumes no responsibility or liability for Contributions shared among users.

Member Conduct

Member understands that all information, data, text, software, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages or other materials (“Content”), whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, are the sole responsibility of the Member from which such Content originated. This means that the Member, and not Fortinet Community or its representatives, is entirely responsible for all Content that it uploads, posts, emails, transmits or otherwise makes available via the Community. Fortinet Community and its representatives do not control the Content posted via the Community and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. Member agrees to not use the Community to:

  • Upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially or ethnically objectionable.
  • Harm any other individual in any way; including collecting personally identifiable information (PII) including, but not limited to: name, email address, home address, phone number.
  • Treat others in a way that can be thought as threatening, stalking, insulting, or intimidate another person or group of people. This includes insulting or teasing others about grammar or content that is not relevant to the community topics.
  • Impersonate any person or entity, including, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent its affiliation with a person or entity.
  • Forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through the Community.
  • Upload, post, email, link to, transmit or otherwise make available any type or portion of Content that Member does not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements).
  • Upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any type or portion of Content that contains images of nudity of any sort, including photography, cartoons, or fantasy art.
  • Upload, post, email, link to, transmit or otherwise make available any type or portion of Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights (“Rights”) of any party.
  • Upload, post, email, link to, transmit or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” or “pyramid schemes”.
  • Upload, post, email, link to, transmit or otherwise make available any material that contains, malicious content, software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment.
  • Disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, repost or change a threat for your own purposes, cause a screen to “scroll” faster than other users of the Community are able to type, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users’ ability to engage in real-time exchanges.
  • Interfere with or disrupt the Community or servers or networks connected to the Community.
  • Intentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including, but not limited to, regulations promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, any rules of any national or other securities exchange, including, without limitation, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ, and any regulations having the force of law.
  • “Stalk” or otherwise harass another; including on the basis of age, gender, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, race or religion. Collect or store personal data about other users.

Fortinet will not condone conduct that invades other Member’s privacy or compromises the security of the site. Participating in the following in any way will result in termination from this community:

  • Invading anyone’s privacy by attempting to harvest, collect, store, or publish private or personally identifiable information, such as passwords, account information, credit card numbers, addresses, or other contact information without that person’s knowledge and willing consent.
  • Posting or spreading any malicious content including but not limited to viruses, worms, malware, or other software intended to harm another Member’s computer.
  • Impersonating a Fortinet employee, Fortinet Community agent, manager, host, administrator, moderator, another user, volunteer, or any other person through any means.
  • Pirating software or products, or offering pirated software or products for sale, including posting product keys.
  • Promoting or otherwise facilitating the purchase and sale of ammunition or firearms.
  • Posting ‘spam,’ ‘pyramid schemes,’ ‘affiliate marketing,’ or unsolicited commercial advertisements of any kind, including advertising for money making schemes, discount cards, credit counseling, online surveys or online contests.
  • Attempting to manipulate the forums, or other community features, including ranking and reputation systems, by violating any of the provisions of the TOS, colluding with others on voting, or using multiple profiles.
  • Offering to make international money transfers for amounts exceeding the asking price of an item, with intent to request a refund of any portion of the payment.
  • Using any form of automated device or computer program that enables the submission of postings without the express written consent of Fortinet Community.

Member understands agreeing to not use the Community as listed above means that in the event the Member does not adhere to Fortinet Community website policies, may terminate their membership. Member acknowledges that Fortinet Community and its representatives do not pre-screen Content, but that Fortinet Community and its representatives shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to reclassify within the Community any Content that is available via the Community. Without limiting the foregoing, Fortinet Community and its representatives shall have the right to remove any Content that violates the TOS. Member understands that the technical processing and transmission of the Community, including its Content, may involve (a) transmissions over various networks; and (b) changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices.

Compliance with Law

Member agrees to comply with all legal requirements applicable to Member’s use of the Fortinet Community, including all legal requirements applicable to member’s provision, review, and receipt of data or materials.

Indemnity

Member agrees to indemnify and hold Fortinet Community and its representatives, their subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, co-branders, sponsors or other partners, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, due to or arising out of (i) Content that Member submits, posts, transmits or makes available through the Community, (ii) Member’s breach of the TOS or (iii) Member’s violation of law.

No Resale of Service

Member agrees not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of the Community, use of the Community, or access to the Community. Dealings with Advertisers Member’s correspondence or business dealings with, or participation in promotions of, advertisers found on or through the Community, including payment and delivery of related goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between Member and such advertiser. Member agrees that Fortinet Community and its representatives shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of such advertisers on the Community.

Links

Fortinet Community website may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other World Wide Web sites or resources. Because Fortinet Community and its representatives have no control over such sites and resources, Member acknowledges and agrees that Fortinet Community and its representatives are not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any Content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. Member further acknowledges and agrees that Fortinet Community and its representatives shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any third party sites or resources, or any goods or services available on or through any such site or resource.

Fortinet Community’s Proprietary Rights

Member acknowledges and agrees that the Community and any necessary software used in connection with the Community (“Software”) contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws. Member further acknowledges and agrees that Content contained in sponsor advertisements or information presented to Member through the Community or advertisers may be protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents or other proprietary rights and laws. Except as expressly authorized by Fortinet Community and its representatives, or advertisers, Member agrees not to modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based on the Community or the Software, in whole or in part. Fortinet Community grants Member a personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive right and license to use the object code of its Software on their computer; provided that Member does not (and does not allow any third party to) copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, reverse assemble or otherwise attempt to discover any source code, sell, assign, sublicense, grant a security interest in or otherwise transfer any right in the Software. The Member is not permitted to upload, post, link to or direct a Member to any content that could be malicious in any form. Member agrees not to modify the Software in any manner or form, or to use modified versions of the Software, including (without limitation) for the purpose of obtaining unauthorized access to the Community or Member information. Member agrees not to access the Community by any means other than through the interface that is provided by Fortinet Community and its representatives for use in accessing the Community. The Member is not permitted to impersonate other Members, capture or track other Member’s behavior. Member agrees to comply with all relevant laws relating in any manner to Member’s use of Fortinet Community.

Disclaimer Of Warranties

Member expressly understands and agrees that:

  • Member’s use of the Community is at its sole risk to the extent permitted by law. The Community is provided on an “as-is” and “as-available” basis.
  • Fortinet Community and its representatives expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Fortinet Community and its representatives make no warranty that (i) the Community and information received through the Community will meet member’s requirements, (ii) the Community will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, error-free, or virus-free, (iii) any information that may be obtained from the use of the Community will be accurate or reliable, (iv) any errors in the software will be corrected.
  • Any material downloaded, viewed or otherwise obtained through the use of the Community is done at member’s own discretion and risk and that member will be solely responsible for any damage to member’s computer systems and networks, or loss of data that results from the download, viewing or use of any such material.

Exclusions & limitations

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages. Fortinet Community and it representatives, and its licensors shall not be responsible or liable for the accuracy, usefulness or availability of any information transmitted or made available via the Community, and shall not be responsible or liable for any trading or investment decisions made based on such information.

Notice

Notices to Member may be made via email. The Community may also provide notices of changes to the TOS or other matters by displaying notices or links to notices to you generally on the Community. Any Notice that Member is required or may desire to give to Fortinet Community and its representatives under or in conjunction with the TOS or any agreement between the parties shall be made via email to Fortinet [email protected] and shall be deemed to have been duly delivered based on the date that the electronic mail is received by Fortinet Community mail servers.

Trademarks & Logos

All trademarks, service marks, trade names or other words or symbols (“Marks”) identifying Fortinet Community and its representatives will remain such Party’s exclusive property. Member agrees to not take any action that jeopardizes the other Party’s proprietary rights or acquire any rights in the Marks. Except as specifically stated otherwise in an addendum or amendment hereto, no license to use any Fortinet Community logo or the logos of their representatives is granted in this section.

Copyrights & Copyright Agents

Fortinet Community and its representatives respect the intellectual property of others and require Members to do the same. If Member believes that its work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or its intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide Fortinet Community the following information at [email protected]

  • An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest.
  • A description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that Member claims have been infringed.
  • A description of where the material that Member claims are infringing is located on the site. Member’s address, telephone number, and email address.
  • A statement by Member that Member has a good faith belief that the copyright owner, its agent, or the law does not authorize the disputed use.
  • A statement by Member, that the above information in Member’s notice is accurate and that Member is the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf.
  • Upon receipt of such information, Fortinet Community and its representatives, at its sole discretion, may perform an investigation and may take appropriate action if it desires.

General Information

The TOS and any Subscription Agreement between Member and Fortinet Community and its representatives constitute the entire agreement between member and Fortinet Community and its representatives and govern its use of the Community, superseding any prior agreements between Member and Fortinet Community and its representatives. The failure of Fortinet Community or its representatives to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the TOS shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the TOS is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, 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 the TOS remain in full force and effect.

* The Fortinet Community TOS and specifically incorporates the Fortinet website’s TOS