TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE (“TERMS”)
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE PORTAL.
CLIX is a pro bono initiative (the “Portal”) led by PILnet Hong Kong Limited (“PILnet”) and Equal Justice Limited 平義社有限公司 (“Equal Justice”). In these Terms, Equal Justice and PILnet will be collectively referred to “we”, “us” or “our” as joint operators of CLIX.
This Portal is a platform that manages the connection of individuals and organisations with legal assistance needs with organisations who have capabilities to provide pro bono legal services. The information and materials on this Portal should not be taken as legal or other professional advice from a qualified advisor.
Your use of the Portal and any of the services offered on the Portal (the “Services”) is subject to these Terms. By registering and continuing to use the Portal and any of our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms.
If you do not agree to these Terms, please stop accessing or using this Portal and/or the Services.
Your Representations to Us
1. By using the Portal, you warrant that:
You have obtained all necessary due authorisations, consents and rights to perform actions (including providing information and uploading information and content) on the Portal;
You shall provide accurate, complete and valid information at all times;
You have the legal right, power and authority to bind yourself and your organisation to these Terms;
You will comply with all applicable laws and regulatory requirements relating to the use of the Portal;
If you are a law firm, a barrister or a member of another professional body, you will comply with all relevant professional rules and obligations that apply to your use of the Portal.
2. You may not under any circumstances:
Use any of the information and materials on our Portal for any commercial purposes;
Interfere with other users’ use and enjoyment of the Portal and Services;
Interfere with our and our authorised third parties’ development, hosting or maintenance of the Portal;
Copy, sell, develop, assign, licence, distribute, transmit, display, rent, lease, loan, supply, publish or otherwise reproduce the Portal in any form by any means unless explicitly permitted under these Terms or by us;
Alter, edit or adapt the Portal, or otherwise modify, translate or create derivative works based on the Portal;
Adapt, modify, decompile, de-obfuscate, disassemble, localise, port and/or reverse engineer the Portal or otherwise attempt to discover the source code or underlying structures, ideas or algorithms in the Software;
Introduce (through uploading or providing data, information, materials or otherwise) any viruses, worms, malware, spyware, trojan horses or other harmful or malicious code or other conduct of a disruptive or destructive nature to the Portal;
Circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with any security-related features of the Portal;
Remove, obscure or destroy any copyright, proprietary or confidentiality notices or markings of CLIX or us, placed upon or contained within the Portal;
Access or use the Portal to monitor availability, performance or functionality for competitive purposes;
Create or sell technology add-ons related to the Portal;
Upload any content or materials which may infringe, misappropriate or violate any Intellectual Property Rights (as defined herein) and names of any third party or that contain malware;
Upload or make available to us any information or content that: (i) infringes or violates any publicity, privacy rights, law or regulation; (ii) is defamatory, harmful to minors, or materially false, misleading or inaccurate, and (iii) brings us into possible or actual disrepute.
Use of Portal and Services
3. We grant you a non-exclusive, limited, royalty-free, revocable, non-transferable and non-sublicensable (unless otherwise agreed with us in writing) licence to access the Portal and use the Services on our Portal.
Authorised Users
4. You may make the Portal available to your authorised users on a need-to-use basis (“Authorised Users"), provided that you remain liable for all acts and omissions of all Authorised Users who access the Portal and use Services on your behalf. Reference to “you” within these Terms include your Authorised Users, as applicable in the context.
5. You are responsible for ensuring that the Authorised Users are aware of these Terms and that they comply with them.
6. You remain responsible for providing access and control of login credentials and that only the Authorised Users access the Portal on your behalf.
7. You will take all reasonably necessary steps to safeguard access to the Portal and Services from unauthorised use or disclosure of login information and will notify us immediately of any potential or actual breach of access or security to the Portal.
8. You will promptly update any changes in details of your Authorised Users through the Portal.
Your User Type
9. By registering to use the Portal, you will be assigned a user type.
10. Each user will have specific rights and access to Portal functionalities, which may be added to or amended by us from time to time. Depending on the type of user you are, the Services offered to users include the ability to:
Post legal assistance requests and opportunities to opportunity boards in the Portal.
Manage connections, including sending connection requests and editing connections.
Directly send legal assistance requests and opportunities to connections.
Manage expressions of interest.
Manage workflows around the placement and management of legal assistance requests and opportunities.
Communicate with impact organisations, law firms and other legal services providers about legal assistance requests and opportunities.
Transfer documents and information to impact organisations, law firms and other legal services providers.
View and report on activity in the Portal.
If you have authority, manage your legal assistance organisation profile.
Manage your user profile(s) and user settings.
Request, provide and collect feedback from users and other third parties relating to the request and use of our Portal and the support offered as a result of our Services (“Feedback”).
Submit requests and applications for legal assistance to PILnet and Equal Justice to enable PILnet and Equal Justice to assign, direct, allocate resources and/or involve other uses or third parties to assist in the legal assistance request or related purposes.
Linking to Our Portal
11. You may link to our Portal provided that you do so in a fair and legal way that does not damage or take advantage of our reputation. The links must be clearly acknowledged and are not framed by advertising or any images or materials which may mislead or deceive a person as to the source or the author of CLIX’s materials.
12. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permissions without notice.
13. If you wish to link or make any use of content on our Portal other than as set out above, please contact hello@clixhk.org.
Data Privacy and Security
14. By accessing and using the Portal, you agree that we can collect, use and disclose any personal data (as defined under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486, Laws of Hong Kong (“PDPO”)) you provide to us in accordance with the PDPO and our Privacy Policy which may be found at https://www.clixhk.org/privacy-policy; (Equal Justice’s may be found at https://www.equaljustice.org/privacy-policy and PILnet’s may be found at https://www.pilnet.org/privacy-policy) as may be updated and/or amended by us from time to time.
15. In addition, by using the Portal, you consent to having certain anonymous data collected to help us understand how the Portal is being used and how we can improve it. This data is gathered automatically and includes, but is not limited to, your computer’s IP or “Internet Protocol” address, statistics about how you access or use the Portal and information provided through the use of “cookies”.
Confidentiality
16. You agree that all information, documents and materials obtained, provided or made available on, and through activities relating to, the Portal (including any correspondence through the Portal) constitutes Confidential Information.
17. You shall keep all Confidential Information confidential and not access, use or reproduce such Confidential Information other than for purposes strictly relating to the Portal, unless specifically authorised by us or the owner of the relevant Confidential Information (as relevant).
“Confidential Information” means information in any form or medium (whether oral, written, electronic or other) that is identified as confidential at the time of disclosure or is disclosed under circumstances that would reasonably indicate confidential treatment, whether or not marked, designated or otherwise identified as “confidential”.
Intellectual Property
18. The Intellectual Property Rights in and to the Portal and all information and materials on the Portal are owned, licensed to or controlled by Equal Justice and PILnet, our licensors or our service providers. We reserve the right to enforce our Intellectual Property Rights to the fullest extent under applicable law.
19. By using the Portal, you acknowledge that the Intellectual Property Rights of Feedback are and shall remain the property of Equal Justice and PILnet, and hereby assign any and all Intellectual Property Rights you may have presently or in the future in such Feedback to Equal Justice and PILnet upon creation.
20. The Trademarks are registered and unregistered trademarks of us or third parties. Nothing contained in these Terms should be construed as granting any licence or right of use of any Trademarks without our (or our licensors’) express permission of us or any other applicable Trademark owner.
21. You grant Equal Justice and PILnet each a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free and transferable licence, with the right to sub-licence, to use any uploaded information, data and materials to the Portal as we may determine necessary to perform the Services, and for the ongoing modification, development and improvement of the Portal and for our individual purposes.
22. You may be permitted to print off copy(ies) and may download extracts of any page(s) from our Portal for your personal, non-commercial use.
23. You agree that any copy and extracts from the Portal are considered general information only (and you acknowledge this does not constitute legal advice).
24. You must not modify the copies of the materials you have printed off or downloaded from the Portal. The content shall at all times be presented in an accurate and not confusing, misleading or deceptive manner.
25. For any copies or extracts obtained from the Portal, you must explicitly acknowledge PILnet and Equal Justice (and relevant licensors and any identified contributors) as the owners and/or authors of content on Portal and any propriety notices and disclaimers from that section of the Portal retained.
26. You shall not publish or reproduce (such as replicate the CLIX materials, information, content or any part of the Portal on any other medium) without the prior written approval of PILnet, Equal Justice and other relevant copyright owners.
“Intellectual Property Rights” means trademarks, service marks, rights in trade names, business names, logos or get-up, patents, rights in inventions, registered and unregistered design rights, copyrights, database rights, rights in domain names and URLs, rights protecting goodwill and reputation, and all other similar rights in any part of the world including where such rights are or may be obtained or enhanced by registration, any registrations, applications for registration and rights to apply for registration.
“Trademarks” means the trademarks, service marks, trade names and logos used and displayed on the Portal.
Indemnity
27. To the extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless each of PILnet and Equal Justice, our related corporations, our third party providers and each of their officers, directors, employees, agents, independent contractors, successors and assigns, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs, debts and expenses (including legal fees on a full indemnity basis) arising from or relating to: (i) your use of and access to the Portal and/or Services; (ii) your violation of any provision of these Terms; or (iii) your violation of any third party right, including any copyright, property or privacy right in connection with your use of the Portal and Services and all information and materials on the Portal.
Exclusion of Liability
28. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, PILnet, Equal Justice, our related corporations, our third-party providers and each of their officers, directors, employees, agents, independent contractors, successors and assigns disclaim liability for any losses arising from or in connection with any access or use of the Portal.
29. Access to the Portal is provided on an “as is” basis, without any express or implied warranties whatsoever, including the completeness, accuracy, functionality or availability, up-time of the Portal, our Services and the content made available through the Portal.
30. You acknowledge and understand that there is a likelihood of human and machine errors, omissions, delays and losses (including but not limited to viruses or inadvertent loss of data or damage to media) that may give rise to loss or damage to you or those accessing and using the Portal on behalf of you. We will not be liable for such errors, omissions, delays or losses.
31. Although it is our intention for our Services and the Portal to be available as much as possible, there may be occasions when our Services and the Portal may be suspended or interrupted, including, without limitation, for scheduled maintenance or upgrades, for emergency repairs, or due to failure of telecommunications links and/or equipment. We will not be liable for such errors, omissions, delays or losses.
32. We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites that link to our Portal or opinions and advice of other users to the Portal. Where our Portal contains links to other external internet sites, these links are provided for your information only. Such external links and other user information should not be interpreted as our endorsement, approval or verification and are accessed at your own risk. We have no control over the content of those external sites.
33. We make no guarantees that any or all legal assistance requests submitted to the Portal will be allocated a pro bono organisation for assistance. If we match a user with a pro bono organisation, this will be governed by a separate agreement between the user and the pro bono organisation on terms which we are not responsible for, and will not review any advice or information provided by a pro bono organisation to you.
Reservation of Rights
34. Fees
We reserve the right to charge fees for your use of certain Services or access to the Portal. If we impose any fees or update our fee arrangement with you, we will provide you with at least 45 days’ notice before any relevant fees become applicable.
You may cease use of the Services or the Portal if you do not accept the proposed fee arrangement. Continued use of the relevant Services after the expiry of the notice period indicates your agreement to our proposed fee arrangement.
35. Upgrade, Maintenance, and Suspension
We may at any time, without giving any reason or prior notice, upgrade, maintain, modify, alter, suspend, discontinue the provision of or remove, certain functionalities and Services of the Portal (in whole or in part). We shall not be liable for any loss caused to you by such upgrade, maintenance, modification, suspension or alteration.
We reserve the right, but shall not be obliged to: (i) monitor, screen or otherwise control any activity or content; (ii) investigate any violation of these Terms and take any action deemed appropriate; (iii) suspend, prevent, restrict or terminate your access to the Portal and/or Services for as long as we deem necessary; and/or (iv) report any activity suspected to be in violation of any applicable law, statute or regulation to the appropriate authorities and cooperate with such authorities.
36. Termination of the Portal for any reason shall not bring an end to your obligations under any provisions of these Terms which are meant to survive the termination, which include Terms relating to Intellectual Property, Confidentiality and Indemnity.
General
37. These Terms contain the whole agreement between you, PILnet and Equal Justice relating to the matters dealt with herein.
38. If any provision (or part of any provision) of these Terms is invalid or unenforceable, the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions (or parts thereof) shall not be affected and the other provisions (or parts thereof) shall remain in full force and effect as if the invalid or unenforceable parts had been deleted.
39. No failure or delay in exercising our rights under these Terms shall operate as a waiver nor shall such failure or delay affect our right to enforce our rights under these Terms.
40. You may not assign your rights under these Terms to anyone without our prior written consent. We may assign our rights under these Terms to any third party.
41. These Terms will bind you and us, and our respective successors in title and assigns. These Terms will continue to bind you notwithstanding any change in PILnet’s or Equal Justice’s name or constitution or PILnet’s or Equal Justice’s merger with any other entity (in which case these Terms will bind you to our successor entity).
Amendments
42. We may, at any time without notice to you, make amendments to these Terms as we may at our discretion deem fit from time to time. If you do not agree to be bound by the amendments, do not use the Portal and/or Services. You further agree that if you continue to use and/or access the Portal and/or Services, such use and/or access shall indicate: (i) acknowledgement by you of these Terms and its amendments; and (ii) agreement by you to abide and be bound by these Terms and its amendments.
Governing Law and Jurisdiction
43. These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Hong Kong SAR. You hereby agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms must be determined by the parties entering into mediation in good faith to settle such dispute and will do so in accordance with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (“CEDR”)’s prevailing model mediation procedure.
Last updated: 23 May 2023