PRESSBOOKS PLATFORM TERMS OF USE

(Last modified on January 23, 2025)

1. Introduction and Definitions

Welcome to the Pressbooks Platform! We hope you will enjoy and appreciate using the Platform. These Terms of Use (the “TOU”) cover a variety of topics, so please refer to the following definitions for clarification:

“Institution” refers to the college, university, library, or other institution which has contracted with Pressbooks to provide the Platform to you, a student or other person related to the Institution.

“Platform” is the proprietary Platform that Pressbooks has developed for authors and available on the web which you are accessing at this current URL, that allows for online creating, editing and formatting of books and other structured documents in multiple formats including but not limited to Web, PDF, and EPUB (collectively “eBooks”), and various related functionalities.

“Pressbooks” refers to Book Oven Inc. d.b.a Pressbooks., a duly incorporated company in the Province of Quebec, Canada at the address listed below, who owns and operates the Platform. Where the present TOU refer to “Pressbooks”, they may refer to Book Oven Inc. and / or its affiliates, subsidiaries and parent companies and their respective shareholders, officers, directors, employees, agents, partners, principals, representatives, successors and assigns (collectively “Representatives”), depending on the context. Any reference to “we”, “our”, or “us” in these TOU shall also refer to Pressbooks. In these TOU, a Platform user may be referred to as “you”. When a Platform user has created an account and is logged in, they may be referred to as a “Logged-in User”.

Additional definitions shall be made throughout these TOU, but they will be recognizable as they will be capitalized, bolded, and in quotation marks.

2. Acceptance and Modifications of the TOU; Additional Agreements

By using the Platform, or clicking or tapping the acceptance box, you hereby accept to be bound by these TOU without any reservations, modifications, additions or deletions. If you do not agree to all the provisions contained in the TOU, you are not authorized to use the Platform. The TOU are a legal and binding agreement between you and us.

Pressbooks reserves the right, at any time and without prior notice, to modify or replace any of the TOU. Any changes to the TOU can be found at this URL. It is your responsibility to check the TOU periodically for changes. Your use of the Platform following the posting of any changes to the TOU constitutes acceptance of those changes. If there are any significant changes to the TOU that materially affect your relationship with us, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to notify you by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your account, by posting a prominent notice when you log in to your account for the first time following those changes, or by posting a prominent notice upon your first visit to the Platform following those changes.

You have been granted access to the Platform by your Institution, who have signed an Agreement with Pressbooks for the provision of the Platform to you and other users (the “Institution Agreement”). While the Institution Agreement covers many aspects of the provision of the Platform to you, you are also covered by these TOU. We ask that you read them carefully.

3. Contacting Us

If you have any questions about the TOU, please contact:

Pressbooks Legal Services

legal@pressbooks.com 

or:

Pressbooks Legal Services

5455 De Gaspe Avenue, Suite 710

Montreal, Québec

Canada

H2T 3B3

If you have any questions regarding the Platform itself, please contact your network manager.  

4. General Code of Conduct for Use of the Platform

In addition to the more specific rules found elsewhere in these TOU, you agree that by using the Platform, you will:

1. Not use the Platform in any manner that in any way violates these TOU or any other applicable policy posted by Pressbooks;

2. Not use the Platform in any manner that violates any intellectual property rights of Pressbooks or any third party;

3. Not use the Platform in any manner to propagate spam, including but not limited to unsolicited advertising or bulk electronic mail or messages, including to link to a spam or phishing website;

4. Not use the Platform in any manner to propagate software viruses, Trojan horses, worms, or any other malicious or non-malicious computer code, files, or programs that are designed or intended to disrupt, damage, limit or interfere with the proper function of any software, hardware, or telecommunications equipment in any form whether belonging to Pressbooks or a third party, or to damage or obtain unauthorized access to any system, data, or other information (whether personal data or not) of Pressbooks, other Platform users, or any other third party;

5. Not: (1) take any action that imposes or may impose (as determined by Pressbooks in its sole discretion) an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on Pressbooks’ (or its third party providers’) infrastructures; (2) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper functioning of the Platform or any activities conducted through the Platform; (3) bypass any measures Pressbooks may use to prevent or restrict access to the Platform or any element thereof; (4) use manual or automated software, devices, or other processes to “crawl” or “spider” any page of the Platform; or (5) harvest or scrape any content from the Platform in an unreasonable manner;

6. Not take any action or use any process that removes, modifies, disables, blocks, obscures or otherwise impairs any advertising in connection with the Platform;

7. Not use the Platform to advertise or promote websites or services that are not expressly approved in advance in writing by Pressbooks, or as permitted by these TOU;

8. Not use the Platform to in any way collect information (whether personal data or not) of any third party;

9. Not interfere with any third party’s use or enjoyment of the Platform;

10. Not encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense or give rise to civil liability;

11. Not attempt to do any of the foregoing prohibitions;

12. Use the Platform in good faith, and in compliance with all applicable local, provincial, state, national, and international laws.

5. Accounts and Passwords

In order to be able to use the Platform, you will be required to create an account, or you will have an account created for you. Accounts are available to anyone who is eligible under the Institution Agreement, subject to the restrictions and conditions as outlined elsewhere in these TOU and / or in the Institution Agreement.

As part of the account registration or first-time login, you will be asked to choose a password. It is your responsibility to create a password of sufficient strength that cannot easily be discovered by third parties, and that meets any requirements as presented upon signing up. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password, and are responsible for all activities that occur under your account. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security regarding your account.

If you are a Logged-in User, it is strongly suggested that you log out of your account at the end of every session, or not leave a logged-in account unattended for any period of time. Pressbooks and its Representatives will not be held liable for any losses or damages, direct or indirect, pecuniary or non-pecuniary, resulting from your failure to log out at the end of the session, an unattended logged-in session, or a third party using the Platform with your account information and accessing your account through any means, and disclaims any responsibility in this regard.

Pressbooks reserves the right to suspend or terminate your account, at its sole discretion, at any time and for any reason, including but not limited to whether you have violated the letter or spirit of the TOU, as more fully described hereinbelow.

6. Proprietary and Intellectual Property Rights; User Data and eBooks; eBooks Content Policy

a. Pressbooks’ Rights

You acknowledge that: (a) the Platform contains proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws, and (b) Pressbooks and/or third parties own all right, title and interest in and to the Platform and content that may be presented or accessed through the Platform (except for eBooks and User Data as defined below), including without limitation all Intellectual Property Rights therein and thereto. All rights not specifically granted under these TOU are reserved to Pressbooks and its licensors. “Intellectual Property Rights” means any and all rights existing from time to time under patent law, copyright law, trade secret law, trademark law, unfair competition law, and any and all other proprietary rights, whether registered or not, and any and all applications, renewals, extensions and restorations thereof, now or hereafter in force and effect worldwide.

You agree that you will not, and will not allow any third party, to (i) copy, sell, license, distribute, transfer, modify, adapt, translate, prepare derivative works from, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise attempt to derive source code from, the Platform, or content that may be presented or accessed through the Platform (except for eBooks and User Data as defined below) for any purpose, unless otherwise permitted by these TOU or the functionalities of the Platform; (ii) take any action to circumvent or defeat the security deployed or enforced by any functionality contained in the Platform; or (iii) remove, obscure, or alter Pressbooks’ or any third party’s copyright notices, trademarks, or other proprietary rights notices affixed to or contained within or accessed in conjunction with or through the Platform.

The content, arrangement and layout of the Platform, including but not limited to the trademarks, photos, logos, videos, audio, images, text (in the form of plain text, HTML, or PDFs) and Computer Code are proprietary to Pressbooks, either owned or under license, and may not be copied, imitated, reproduced, displayed, distributed, transmitted, decompiled or otherwise used without the express permission of Pressbooks, or as permitted by the functionality of the Platform or these TOU. Any unauthorized use of the content, arrangement or layout of the Platform, Computer Code, images, logos, videos, audio or trademarks found on the Platform or any portion of or derivative works thereof may violate civil or criminal laws, including but not limited to intellectual property laws, and Pressbooks may take action accordingly.

The above paragraph further applies to third party property used as part of the Platform, including but not limited to third party Computer Code. For the purposes of the present section, “Computer Code” includes but is not limited to source code in any programming language, object code, frameworks, CSS, PHP, JavaScript or similar files, templates, modules, or any similar files, and related documentation.

b. Submitted Information

If you choose to communicate to Pressbooks (via any means, including but not limited to by email) suggestions for improvements to the Platform or any idea or proposal related to Pressbooks or its businesses or properties generally (collectively, “Feedback”), Pressbooks shall own all right, title, and interest in and to the Feedback and will be entitled to use the Feedback without restriction. You hereby irrevocably assign all right, title and interest in and to the Feedback to Pressbooks and waive in favor of Pressbooks, its successors and assigns all your moral rights in the Feedback, and agree to provide Pressbooks such assistance as Pressbooks may require to document, perfect, and maintain Pressbooks’ rights to the Feedback. You acknowledge and agree that, by providing any Feedback to Pressbooks, you are not entitled to any compensation or reimbursement of any kind from Pressbooks under any circumstances.

c. Your User Data and eBooks

All information you create, submit or upload through the Platform as a Logged-in User in the creation of eBooks whether in the form of a text, documents, graphics, images, or any other form of inputted information, and all their associated Intellectual Property Rights (collectively “User Data”) and any eBooks created remain your property, or otherwise owned as described in the eBooks Content Policy below.

Your access to the inputted User Data and any created eBooks (whether in-progress or finished) is contingent upon the existence of the Institution Agreement. You are expected to maintain copies of all User Data inputted into the Platform. Pressbooks adheres to its best practice policies and procedures to prevent data loss, including a daily system data back-up regime, but does not make any guarantees that there will be no loss of User Data or eBooks. Furthermore, Pressbooks is under no obligation to retain copies of your User Data or any in-progress or finalised eBooks following termination of your access to the Platform for any reason.

Without limiting the generality of the disclaimers found further in these TOU, Pressbooks and / or its Representatives shall in no way be held responsible for any losses or damages, direct or indirect, pecuniary or otherwise, resulting from any loss of User Data or eBooks no matter how caused, or Pressbooks’ deletion of your User Data or eBooks following the termination of your account, and Pressbooks disclaims any responsibility thereto.

d. User Data and eBooks Content Policy

As a Logged-in User, you can create, upload or submit User Data to create eBooks. By creating, submitting and / or uploading User Data on the Platform to create eBooks, you agree to be bound by the Pressbooks policy for User Data and eBooks as described in this section (the “eBooks Content Policy”).

When you create, upload or submit User Data and create eBooks, you acknowledge and agree to the following:

1. User Data created, submitted or uploaded by you does not violate any intellectual property right or other proprietary right of a third party. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you acknowledge that any User Data is your own original work, or works for which you have been granted a valid license to reproduce or display. You affirm, represent and warrant that: (1) you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to use and authorize Pressbooks to use all Intellectual Property Rights and other proprietary rights in and to the User Data and eBooks (or the individual constituent elements thereof) as set out herein; and (2) have all necessary consents to collect, use and disclose any personally identifiable information (of yourself or third parties) contained or displayed in any User Data to enable inclusion and use in the eBooks in the manner contemplated by the Platform and these TOU;
2. As mentioned above you retain all of your ownership rights in the User Data you submit and eBooks you create However, by submitting User Data to Pressbooks, you hereby grant Pressbooks a non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, edit, translate, reproduce, distribute, display, and / or perform and otherwise fully exploit the User Data and eBooks in connection with the Platform and / or Pressbooks' (and its successors' and affiliates') business or activities, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Platform (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels without any compensation to you, unless otherwise specified in any license you impose on any eBook. You understand and agree that Pressbooks may retain, display or distribute copies of eBooks that have been removed or deleted if permitted by the copyright license imposed by you on the eBook;
3. You also hereby grant other users or visitors of the Platform or a non-exclusive license to access your User Data and eBooks as allowed by the Platform, and to use, reproduce, distribute, or display eBooks as permitted through the functionality of the Platform, under these TOU, and in accordance with any license you impose on your eBooks;
4. The licenses granted by you in the previous two paragraphs in regard the User Data and eBooks are perpetual and irrevocable, and apply throughout the world and in any and all media as applicable;
5. You will not create or upload any User Data that is unlawful, such as User Data that is threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, fraudulent, invasive of another’s privacy, or otherwise tortuous. Furthermore, you will not create or upload any User Data or eBooks that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise offensive to any minority or group; contains any adult content or political militancy; or create or upload any User Data or eBooks that contains any viruses, commercial solicitations, mass mailing, chain mailing or any other form of spam;
6. You will not include in User Data or eBooks links to any third-party website that is a spam or phishing website, to any website that sells goods or services, or to any website that may violate any applicable law;
7. Your eBooks are not named in a manner that misleads your readers into thinking that you are another person or company; and
8. Your User Data or eBooks do not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party, and does not otherwise violate any applicable law.

Where you are accessing or downloading eBooks of a Platform user, you acknowledge that any use of User Data or eBooks accessed or downloaded by you while using the Platform is at your own risk and you will be solely responsible for any damage or loss to you or any third party arising therefrom, and Pressbooks disclaims any responsibility in this regard.

If you as a Platform visitor believe that a user has posted User Data or eBooks that violate this eBooks Content Policy, please contact us at report@pressbooks.com so that we may conduct an inquiry. Pressbooks retains absolute discretion whether to remove or modify any User Data or eBooks or take any other action pursuant to your report.

User Data and eBooks are not edited, curated or otherwise modified or checked by Pressbooks prior to posting on the Platform. Pressbooks reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to refuse to display any eBook, or to remove or modify immediately and without notice any eBook that violates the eBook Content Policy, these TOU, or for any other legitimate reason.

Pressbooks and its Representatives will not be held liable for any damages, pecuniary or otherwise, to you or any third party arising from your submission or use of User Data or eBooks, whether it violates the eBooks Content Policy or not, or our removal or modification thereof, and disclaims any responsibility in this regard. To the extent permitted by law, Pressbooks assumes no liability or responsibility to any person with respect to any User Data or eBooks including, but not limited to, defamation, errors, obscenity, falsehoods or omissions that may be encountered within any User Data or eBooks.

7. Termination of the Platform and the TOU

You agree that Pressbooks, in their sole discretion, with or without cause, has the right (but not the obligation) to block your IP address, revoke your account credentials, or otherwise terminate your access to or use of the Platform (or any part thereof), immediately and without notice, for any reason, including, without limitation, if Pressbooks believes that you have acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the TOU.

Pressbooks may also, in their sole discretion and at any time, discontinue providing the Platform, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that Pressbooks shall not be liable to you or any third party for any losses or damages, pecuniary or non-pecuniary, resulting from termination of your access to the Platform, or from Pressbooks’ termination of the Platform or any part thereof.

You may also choose to terminate your access to the Platform by deleting your account.

Finally, your access to the Platform shall terminate when the Institution Agreement is terminated between your Institution and Pressbooks.

Termination of the Platform or your access to the Platform shall terminate the present TOU as between you and Pressbooks. All provisions of these TOU which by their nature should survive termination of these TOU shall survive termination, including without limitation, intellectual property provisions, disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.

8. Disclaimer of Warranties

You expressly understand and agree that your use of the Platform, the information or material thereon (whether provided by Pressbooks or third parties) or any activity arising from your use of the Platform or the information thereon or the materials streamed or downloaded therefrom is at your sole risk. The Platform, any materials downloaded or streamed therefrom, or any third party materials, are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis, and you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer or device or loss of data that results from the download, stream or access of any material obtained through the use of the Platform or any other functionalities of the Platform, or losses or damages (pecuniary or otherwise) resulting from (i) your use of the Platform, the information thereon, any materials downloaded or streamed therefrom, or (ii) any activity arising from the use of the Platform or the information or any materials downloaded or streamed therefrom.

Pressbooks expressly disclaims all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to: warranties of title and non-infringement; warranties that the Platform, the information thereon or any materials downloaded or streamed therefrom, and any third-party materials will be uninterrupted, error-free, accurate, reliable and free from virus and other harmful components; and the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Pressbooks, and its Representatives do not warrant that: (i) the Platform will be secure or available at any particular time or location; (ii) any defects or errors or omissions will be corrected; (iii) any content or software available at or through the Platform is free of viruses or other harmful components; or (iv) the results of using the Platform, or any activity arising therefrom or any content downloaded or streamed therefrom will meet your requirements.

9. Limitation of Liability

In no case will Pressbooks or its Representatives be liable for any indirect, special, consequential, exemplary, punitive damages or other damages, or for any losses, damages, liabilities, costs and expenses arising out of or relating to (i) your access, use, misuse or inability to access or use the Platform, or (ii) the interruption, suspension or termination of any part of or all the Platform; and in both cases (i) and (ii) regardless of the cause of action (whether in contract, warranty, delict, quasi-delict, tort, negligence, strict liability or any other theory of liability) and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

You expressly understand and agree that Pressbooks or its Representatives shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages, including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses, in contract, tort, strict liability, negligence, general civil liability or any other cause of action under legal or equitable theory, relating to the Platform, the information on the Platform, your use of the Platform, activities arising from your use of the Platform any third party materials on the Platform, or any materials downloaded from the Platform. This limitation of liability applies, without limitation, to any damages or injury caused by any error, omission or other failure of performance by Pressbooks or its Representatives, or any Business User; any interruption, defect or delay in operation or transmission, including communication line failure; any computer virus; and any theft, destruction or alteration of, or unauthorized access to or use of, any electronic records.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages, so the above exclusions and limitations may or may not apply to you.

10. Indemnity

Notwithstanding any other term of the TOU or any act or failure to act by Pressbooks or its Representatives, you agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Pressbooks and its Representatives, or its affiliates and their Representatives, from and against any damages, liabilities, costs and expenses (including attorneys’ fees), claims or demands, arising out of (i) your use of or connection to the Platform or the information thereon or information or materials downloaded or streamed therefrom; (ii) your participation in any activities arising from the Platform or the information thereon or information or materials downloaded or streamed therefrom; (iii) your violation of, or failure to perform your obligations under the TOU; or (iv) your violation of any rights of a third party.

11. Governing Laws and Jurisdiction

These TOU, and your use of the Platform shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Quebec, Canada in force at the time without regard to conflict of law provisions. You agree that any legal action or proceeding between you and Pressbooks shall be brought exclusively in the courts located in the judicial district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Pressbooks shall have the right to bring action against you in courts of competent jurisdiction in the jurisdiction in which you reside or are located: (i) to seek injunctive relief against you; (ii) to obtain a judgment against you where a judgment by the Montreal court will, or may not be, enforced by the jurisdiction in which you reside or are located; or (iii) to enforce in your jurisdiction a judgment obtained against you in the Montreal court.

12. Miscellaneous Provisions

1. The TOU and the Institution Agreement constitute the entire agreement between you and Pressbooks with respect to your use of the Platform, superseding any prior agreements between you and Pressbooks, its predecessors, affiliates or subsidiaries. In the event of any conflict between these TOU and the Institution Agreement, the Institution Agreement shall prevail to the extent required to resolve such conflict.

2. Pressbooks shall not be liable for any failure to perform its obligations under the present TOU

where such failure results from any cause beyond Pressbooks’ reasonable control, including, but not limited to, mechanical, electronic or communications failure or degradation, or any force majeure event.

3. If any provision of the TOU is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavour to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the TOU or Privacy Policy, as the case may be, shall remain in full force and effect. 

4. The failure of Pressbooks to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these TOU does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision, which will still be available to Pressbooks.

5. The section titles in the TOU are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.

6. The parties acknowledge having expressly required that these TOU are to be drawn up in the English language. Les parties aux présentes reconnaissent avoir expressément exigé que les présentes Conditions d’utilisation et la Politique de confidentialité soient rédigées en anglais.

© Book Oven Inc. d.b.a Pressbooks 2025