OGN December 2024 (Volume: 41 / Issue: 12)

Website User Agreement & Terms of Service



Terms and Conditions of use

These are our terms and conditions for the use of OGNNEWS.COM which you may access in several ways, including but not limited to the World Wide Web via OGNNEWS.COM, digital television, PDA, mobile phone and RSS feeds. In these terms and conditions, when we say the " OGNNEWS.COM site" (OGN) we mean the digital information network operated by or on behalf of OGN by Al Hilal Publishing & Marketing Group ( also referred to as the "Owner") regardless of how you access OGN, as well as any OGN apps whether you access those via a OGN site or a third party site. However when you access the OGN site, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THESE TERMS OF USE, DISCONTINUE ALL USE OF OGN. If you have accessed the OGN site from the United States or Australia, you also agree to be bound by additional terms contained at the end of these terms and conditions.

1. Registration

A. Your access of the OGN site requires registration by becoming a registered member and creating an account with us. You agree to be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your passwords or other account identifiers which you choose and all activities that occur under your account.
B. By registering on the OGN site, you agree that:
(i) your account and password are personal to you and may not be used by anyone else to access the OGN site;
(ii) you will not do anything which would assist anyone who is not a registered user to gain access to any registration area of the OGN site; and
(iii) you will not create registration accounts for the purpose of abusing the functionality of the site, or other users; nor will you seek to pass yourself off as another user.
C. You agree to notify us immediately if you become aware of any unauthorised use of your password or account identifiers by others.

2. Termination of registration

A. If you no longer wish to have a registered account, you may terminate your account by sending an email to legal@OGNNEWS.COM . IF YOU NO LONGER ACCEPT THIS END USER AGREEMENT & TERMS OF SERVICE, OR ANY FUTURE MODIFICATION TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, YOU MUST CEASE USING THE OGN SITE. CONTINUED USE OF THE OGN SITE INDICATES YOUR CONTINUED ACCEPTANCE OF THIS WEBSITE USER AGREEMENT & TERMS OF SERVICE TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
B. If, for any reason, we believe that you have not complied with these terms and conditions, we may, at our sole discretion, cancel your access to the registration areas of OGN site immediately and without prior notice.
C. We may terminate your registered account, at our sole discretion, by emailing you at the address you have registered stating that the agreement has terminated.

3. Use of material appearing on the OGN Site

A. Your use of the OGN site is for your own personal and non-commercial use only. You acknowledge that, as between OGN and you, except for user content and advertisements (as discussed below), OGN is the sole owner of all content on the OGN site, including, without limitation, all applicable copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, trade names, logos, and other intellectual property rights thereto, as well as text, images, graphics, logos, audio, video and other material appearing on the OGN site ("OGN Content"). The OGN site and the OGN Content are protected by the copyright laws and other intellectual property laws of the Kingdom of Bahrain and are protected globally by applicable international copyright treaties.
B. You may download content and print extracts from the OGN site for your own personal and non-commercial use only, provided you maintain and abide by any author attribution, copyright or trademark notice or restriction in any material that you download or print. You may not use any OGN Content for any other purpose without our prior written approval. Except as expressly authorised by the Owners, you are not allowed to create a database in electronic or paper form comprising all or part of the material appearing on the OGN Site.
C. If you wish to use our content other than as permitted by these terms and conditions, please contact us at syndication@OGNNEWS.COM For all other inquiries about distribution or reproduction of the materials, please contact syndication@OGNNEWS.COM

4. Disclaimer of liability

A. To the extent permitted at law, we do not accept any responsibility for any statements in the OGN content. Nothing in the OGN Content is provided for any specific purpose or at the request of any particular person. For the avoidance of confusion, we will not be liable for any loss caused as a result of your doing, or not doing, anything as a result of viewing, reading or listening to the OGN Content or any part of it. You can access other sites via links from the OGN Site. These sites are not under our control and we are not responsible in any way for any of their contents.
B. We give no warranties of any kind concerning the OGN site or the OGN Content. In particular, we do not warrant that the OGN site or any of its contents is virus free. You must take your own precautions in this respect as we accept no responsibility for any infection by virus or other contamination or by anything which has destructive properties.
C. Although we will do our best to provide constant, uninterrupted access to the OGN site, we do not guarantee this. We accept no responsibility or liability for any interruption or delay.
D. If you are accessing the OGN site from the United States or Australia, the additional disclaimers and limitations of liability in Sections 16 and 17 and apply.

5. Third party Advertising on the OGN Site

A. You will see advertising material submitted by third parties on the OGN site. Each individual advertiser is solely responsible for the content of its advertising material.
B. OGN does not in any circumstance accept responsibility for the accuracy or otherwise of any Advertisement or message published or its compliance with any legal or regulatory requirements (nor is any kind of warranty expressed or implied by such publication). OGN specifically disclaims all and any liability to the Buyer, Advertisers, readers and users or any other person of any kind for loss or damage of any nature whatsoever and however arising, whether due to inaccuracy, error, omission or any other cause, and whether on the part of OGN or its employees or agents or any other person. Under no circumstances shall OGN be liable to the Buyer, Advertisers, readers and users or any other person for any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages of any kind, including, without limitation, those resulting from loss of sales, loss of goodwill, loss of profits, whether or not we were advised of the possibility of such losses. In all other respects, OGN’s liability shall be limited to the relevant fee paid by the Buyer.
C. If you want to advertise on the OGN site, please email the advertising help team at ads@OGNNEWS.COM, and they will pass your details on to our advertising sales team.

6. Special Features

A. OGN is an innovative evolving medium and features may be added or withdrawn from time to time. Each feature will be delivered in line with the terms of service of OGN and will managed in accordance with the ethics of the OGN website 7. User and Advertising content

A. Users of our site may be permitted to submit content for publication for various areas of the OGN site subject to the moderation by our Editor. Interactions with our site are governed by our Readers Participation Guidelines which are incorporated in these terms and conditions and listed separately. You will be deemed to consent to these guidelines, and these terms and conditions, if you choose to post any content or comments to the OGN site.
B. When you submit content to us, you agree and represent that you have created that content, or you have received permission from, or are authorised by, the owner of any part of the content to submit it to the OGN site.
C. You or the owner of the content still own the copyright in the content sent to us, but by submitting content to us, you are granting us an unconditional, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully transferable, perpetual worldwide licence to use, publish and/or transmit, and to authorise third-parties to use, publish and/or transmit your content in any format and on any platform, either now known or hereinafter invented.
D. You acknowledge and agree that when you post content on the OGN site or view content provided by others, you are doing so at your own discretion and risk, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, of that content. You further acknowledge and agree that the views expressed by you and other users in that content do not necessarily reflect the views of OGN, and we do not support or endorse any user content. You acknowledge that we have the obligation to pre-screen, monitor, review, or edit any content posted by you and other users on the OGN site.
E. We, or authorised third parties, reserve the right to cut, crop, edit or refuse to publish, your content at our or their sole discretion. We may remove your content from use at any time.
F. We accept no liability in respect of any content submitted by users and published by us or by authorised third parties.
G. You warrant that the content or advert you submit to us is not obscene, threatening, harassing, libelous, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of another's privacy, offensive, defamatory of any person or illegal. You warrant that the content or advert you submit to us does not infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other intellectual or proprietary or privacy right of any party or individual.
H. You agree not to (i) post content which is deliberately intended to upset or harm other users; (ii) use the OGN site to post or otherwise transmit content that victimises, harasses, degrades, or intimidates an individual or group of individuals on the basis of any impermissible classification, including, without limitation, religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, creed, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, military status or disability; (iii) post or otherwise transmit any content that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files, or programs designed to interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of the OGN site or any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment; (iv) upload or otherwise transmit any content, or take any other actions with respect to your use of the OGN site, that would constitute, or would otherwise encourage, criminal conduct or give rise to civil liability; or (v) use the OGN site for commercial purposes, including, without limitation, submitting any material to solicit funds or to promote, advertise or solicit the sale of any goods or services unless agreed by OGN advertising sales team.
I. You understand that the technical processing and transmission of the OGN site may involve (i) transmissions over various networks; and (ii) changes to content to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices. OGN assumes no responsibility for the deletion or failure to store postings of content or advertisements or other information submitted by you or other users to the OGN site.
J. Any queries regarding issues of copyright and your content should be directed in the first instance to editor@OGNNEWS.COM.

8. Apps

A. You may download certain OGN apps ("Apps") either from OGN sites or from third party app stores or shops. All of these terms apply to the maximum extent relevant to your use of the Apps (and in particular, the terms of section 6 apply where you are using an App to submit user content to the OGN site).
B. In addition to the limitations on our liability set out in Section 4, 16 and 17, we shall not be liable for any damage caused to or interference with any equipment or other Apps or content of any description.

9. Data protection

I. Please see our privacy policy for details of how personally identifiable information is collected and may be processed or shared with others. You will find the complete online Privacy Policy at OGNNEWS.COM/help/privacy-policy.

10. Website User Changes to Agreement & Terms of Service
A. Please note that we may change these terms and conditions from time to time at our sole discretion and we reserve the right to do so without your consent. Any revised terms and conditions will be applicable at the time of posting on the OGN site. Please ensure that you review these terms and conditions regularly as you will be deemed to have accepted a variation if you continue to use the OGN site after it has been posted.

11. Governing law & jurisdiction (except for US users)
A. These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Bahrain courts, provided that use of the OGN site in the United States is governed by Section below entitled Governing law & jurisdiction (for US users)

12. Indemnification
A. The Site content, including the information, names, images, pictures, logos and icons regarding or relating to the Owner, its products and/or services (or to third party products and services), is provided "AS IS" and on an "IS AVAILABLE" basis without any representations. The Owner does not warrant that the functions contained in the Site content will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that the Site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses, bugs, corrupt data, "trojan horses", "worms" or any other harmful software.
B. OGN assumes no responsibility to you or any third party for any errors or omissions of any kind in the Site content or deriving therefrom and disclaims all warranties and to any other matter relating to the Site and the Site content, including but not limited to, any kind of warranty made (whether express or implied by law), including the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy.
C. Under no circumstances will we be liable for any damages and/or losses and/or other claims (whether the same were foreseen, foreseeable, known or otherwise) arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of the Site or the content available or referred to on the Site or on any other site that you may access through the Site, even if advised of the possibility of such damages, including without limitation:
i. loss of data;
ii. loss of revenue or anticipated profits;
iii. loss of business;
iv. loss of opportunity;
v. loss of goodwill or injury to reputation/defamation;
vi. losses suffered by third parties; or
vii. any indirect, consequential, special, incidental or exemplary damages.
D. OGN reserves the right to modify or suspend the Site at any time and for so long as the Owner (at its sole discretion) may wish, as well as change or remove any Site content from the Site, in whole or in part, at its sole discretion, at any time without notice and without any liability whatsoever.
E. Links available on the Site will allow you to link to websites not maintained or controlled by the gdnlife.com. We provide these links for your convenience and are not responsible for the contents of any linked websites. OGN cannot and does not warrant the accuracy, completeness, non-infringement, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose of any information available through these links and makes no representation or endorsement whatsoever about any other website which you may access through the Site. It is your responsibility to ensure that any website you choose to use is free of potentially destructive items such as viruses.
F. You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless OGN, its Owners, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and each of their respective officers, directors, and employees from any and all claims, liabilities, costs, and expenses, including, but not limited to, attorneys' fees and expenses, arising out a breach by you or any user of your account of these terms and conditions or privacy policy or arising out of a breach of your obligations, representation and warranties under these terms and conditions.

13. No waiver
A. Our failure to insist upon or enforce any provision of these terms of service shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right of OGN.

Additional terms of use for users in the United States and Australia

14. Additional restrictions on user content for US users
A. Our failure to insist upon or enforce any provision of these terms of service shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right of OGN.

15. DMCA notice for US users
A. If you are a US copyright owner or an agent of a US copyright owner and believe that any user content or other content on the OGN site infringes upon your copyrights, you may submit a notification pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(3), the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") by providing our designated copyright agent with the following information in writing:
(i) identification of the copyrighted work or works claimed to have been infringed;
(ii) identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;
(iii) your contact information including name a address, telephone number, and, if available, an email address;
(iv) a statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorised by the owner of the work, its agent, or the law;
(v) a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorised to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed; and
(vi) your physical or electronic signature;
B. OGN’s designated copyright agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement is: legal@oilandgasnew.com. Only DMCA notices should go to the designated copyright agent. You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with all of the requirements of this Section, your DMCA notice may not be valid.

16. Governing law & jurisdiction (for US users)
A. If you have accessed the OGN site from the US, these terms and conditions are governed by the laws of the United States of America and the laws of the State of New York. You agree that exclusive jurisdiction for any claim or dispute with OGN or relating in any way to your use of the OGN site resides in the courts of the County of New York, State of New York, and you further agree and expressly consent to the exercise of personal jurisdiction in the courts of the County of New York, State of New York, in connection with any such dispute and including any claim involving OGN and content providers. You agree that any cause of action or claim that you may have with respect to your use of the OGN site must be commenced within one year after the act or omission giving rise to the claim or cause of action arose.

17. Limitation of liability
A. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHERWISE, IN NO EVENT WILL OGNOR ITS AFFILIATES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS, BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT OR INDIRECT LOSS, DAMAGE, COST, EXPENSE OR LIABILITY OF ANY KIND ("LOSS") ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE AVAILABILITY, USE, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE THE OGNSITE, INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION): (i) DAMAGES FOR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS AND OTHER PROFITS, LOSS OF PROGRAMS, COST OF REPLACING EQUIPMENT OR SOFTWARE OR LOSS OF RECORDS, INFORMATION OR DATA, LOSS OF USE OF DATA, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, LOSS OF CUSTOMERS, LOSS OF OR DAMAGE TO REPUTATION, LOSS OF CAPITAL, DOWNTIME COSTS, LOSS UNDER OR IN RELATION TO ANY OTHER CONTRACT, OR LOSS OF ANTICIPATED SAVINGS OR BENEFITS; (ii) ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL LOSS; OR (iii) ANY LOSS ATTRIBUTABLE TO ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR OTHER INACCURACIES IN THE GDNLIFE.COMSITE. THE EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY IN THIS SECTION 17 APPLIES EVEN IF OGN SHALL HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS.
B. BECAUSE SOME STATES OR JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR PARTICULAR KINDS OF LOSS, IN SUCH STATES OR JURISDICTIONS, OGN’s LIABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW (THEREBY MINIMIZING OGN’s LIABILITY TO YOU TO THE LOWEST AMOUNT THAT APPLICABLE LAW PERMITS).

18. Exclusion of warranties (for Australian users)
A. The Australian Consumer Law may confer certain rights and remedies on you in relation to the provision by OGN of goods and services under these terms and conditions. Notwithstanding the disclaimers and limitations of liability in Sections 4, 16 and 17 above, these terms and conditions do not exclude, restrict or modify the application of any condition, warranty, guarantee, right or remedy conferred by or implied under any provision of the Australian Consumer Law or any other statute where to do so would: (i) contravene the relevant statute; or (ii) cause any part of these terms and conditions to be void and/or unenforceable ("Non-Excludable Obligation").
B. BECAUSE SOME STATES OR JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR PARTICULAR KINDS OF LOSS, IN SUCH STATES OR JURISDICTIONS, OGN’s LIABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW (THEREBY MINIMIZING OGN’s LIABILITY TO YOU TO THE LOWEST AMOUNT THAT APPLICABLE LAW PERMITS).

19. Non-Excludable Obligations (for Australian users)
A. In relation to Non-Excludable Obligations (other than a guarantee as to title, encumbrances or quiet possession conferred by the Australian Consumer Law), except for goods or services of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption (in respect of which our liability is not so limited under these terms and conditions), OGN’s liability to you for a failure to comply with any Non-Excludable Obligation is limited to: (i) in the case of services, the lowest of the cost of supplying the services again and payment of the cost of having the services supplied again; and (ii) in the case of goods, the lowest of the cost of replacing the goods, supplying equivalent goods or having the goods repaired, or payment of the cost of replacing the goods, supplying equivalent goods or having the goods repaired.

Reader's/User’s Policy: Matter of Fact
OGN is committed to being fair. If there is an error in the site we will correct it promptly and fully. If you come across any factual errors, mistakes or inaccuracies, please let us know by emailing editor@OGNNEWS.COM
• We will publish corrections as quickly as possible, be it factual errors, mistakes or inaccuracies
• Our policy is to be correct and if we are wrong, to publish a correction the next day.
• Clarifications will also be published if important details that impacted the presentation of the story were omitted, despite the overall story being accurate.
• Corrections will be published in the same section as the original story appeared

Reader's/User’s Policy: Copyright
1. When you submit any contribution (including any text, photographs or graphics) to the site OGN owned by Al Hilal Publishing & Marketing Group (hereinafter referred to as the "Owner") you agree, by submitting your contribution, to grant the Owners a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play, make available to the public, and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to your contribution worldwide and/or to incorporate your contribution in other works in any media now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in your contribution. If you do not want to grant to the Owners the rights set out above, you must not submit your contribution.
2. Further to paragraph 1, by submitting your contribution, you warrant that your contribution; is your own original work and that you have the right to make it available to the Owners for all the purposes specified above; is not defamatory; will not cause harm; and does not infringe any law; and indemnify the Owners against all legal fees, damages and other expenses that may be incurred by the Owners as a result of your breach of the above warranty; and waive any moral rights in your contribution for the purposes of its submission to and publication and the purposes specified above. Any material submitted, is assumed to have been supplied in full knowledge and acceptance of these terms.