Terms of Service

SERIOUS MARKET TERMS OF SERVICE

Last Updated: June 12, 2024

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) apply to your access to and use of (i) the Serious Market site currently located at serious.market (or any successor links) and all associated web pages, websites, and social media pages (together, the “Sites”) and any online services and features made available through the Site (including the Sites, the “Services”) to the extent provided by or on behalf Serious Market (“Serious.Market”, “we”, “our”, or “us”). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use any Services. For purposes of these Terms, “user”, “you”, and “your” mean you as the user of the Services. If you use the Services on behalf of a company or other entity then “you” includes you and that entity, and you represent and warrant that (a) you are an authorized representative of the entity with the authority to bind the entity to these Terms, and (b) you agree to these Terms on the entity’s behalf.

BY AGREEING TO THESE TERMS, EXCEPT FOR (I) CERTAIN TYPES OF DISPUTES DESCRIBED IN SECTION 21, (II) WHERE YOU EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO OPT OUT OF ARBITRATION AS DESCRIBED IN SECTION 21, OR (III) TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW, DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND SERIOUS.MARKET WILL BE RESOLVED SOLELY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT AS A CLASS ARBITRATION, CLASS ACTION, ANY OTHER KIND OF REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING, OR BY JURY TRIAL. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use our Services.

1 Introduction

2 Changes to these Terms

We may make changes to these Terms. The “Last Updated” date above indicates when these Terms were last changed. If we make future changes, we may provide you with notice of such changes, such as by sending an email, providing a notice through our Services, or updating the date at the top of these Terms. Unless we say otherwise in our notice, the amended Terms will be effective immediately, and your continued use of our Services after we provide such notice will confirm your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the amended Terms, you must immediately stop using our Services.

3 Modifying or Terminating Our Services

We reserve the right to modify our Services or to suspend or terminate providing all or part of our Services at any time; charge, modify, or waive any fees required to use the Services; or offer opportunities to some or all users of the Services. We may provide you with notice in advance of the suspension or discontinuation of all or part of our Services, such as by sending an email or providing a notice through our Services. All modifications and additions to the Services will be governed by these Terms and, if applicable, the Supplemental Terms, unless otherwise expressly stated by in writing, and we may decide to make changes to these Terms to address such modifications or additions of functionality or features. You have the right to stop using our Services at any time, and you may terminate these Terms by ceasing use of our Services. We are not responsible for any loss or harm related to your inability to access or use our Services.

4 Eligibility and Use Restrictions

You represent and warrant that you satisfy all eligibility requirements set forth in these Terms or otherwise stated by Serious.Market in connection with the Services. We may, in our sole discretion, refuse to grant you access to the Services and/or suspend or terminate your access to the Services if you do not satisfy (or no longer satisfy) one of the eligibility requirements listed herein.

5 Your Information

You may provide certain information to Serious.Market in connection with your access or use of our Services, or we may otherwise collect certain information about you when you access or use our Services. You agree to receive emails or text messages, and other types of communication from Serious.Market via the Services using the email address or other contact information you provide in connection with the Services. You represent and warrant that any information that you provide to Serious.Market in connection with the Services are accurate.

For information about how we collect, use, share and otherwise process information about you, please see our Privacy Policy https://serious.market/privacy.

6 Accounts

7 User Content

8 Prohibited Conduct

You will not use our Services if you are not eligible to use our Services in accordance with Section 4 and will not use our Services other than for their intended purpose. Further, you will not, in connection with our Services:

  1. Violate any applicable law, contract, intellectual property right, or other third-party right or commit a tort;
  2. Engage in any harassing, threatening, intimidating, predatory, or stalking conduct; Use or attempt to use another user’s account or information without authorization from that user and Serious.Market;
  3. Impersonate or post on behalf of any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
  4. Sell or resell our Services;
  5. Engage in behaviors that have the intention or the effect of artificially causing an item or collection to appear in a certain area on our Site, at the top of search results, or artificially increasing view counts, favorites, or other metrics that Serious.Market might use to surface or sort items, collections, or search results;
  6. Use the Services or data collected from our Services for any advertising or direct marketing activity (including without limitation, email marketing, SMS marketing, and telemarketing);
  7. Use the Services to mint Memes that give owners rights to participate in an ICO or any securities offering, or that are redeemable for securities, commodities, or other financial instruments;
  8. Use the Services to engage in price manipulation, fraud, or other deceptive, misleading, or manipulative activity;
  9. Use the Services to mint stolen items, fraudulently obtained items, items taken without authorization, and/or any other illegally obtained items;
  10. Infringe or violate the intellectual property rights or any other rights of others;
    • Copy, reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, or publicly display all or portions of our Services, except as expressly permitted by us or our licensors;
    • Modify our Services, remove any proprietary rights notices or markings, or otherwise make any derivative works based upon our Services;
    • Use our Services in any manner that could interfere with, disrupt, negatively affect, or inhibit other users from fully enjoying our Services or that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the functioning of our Services in any manner;
    • Reverse engineer any aspect of our Services or do anything that might discover or reveal source code, or bypass or circumvent measures employed to prevent or limit access to any part of our Services;
    • Use any data mining, robots, or similar data gathering or extraction methods designed to scrape or extract data from our Services except in accordance with instructions contained in our robot.txt file and only to compile for search results, provided that Serious.Market grants to the operators of public search engines permission to use spiders to copy materials from the Site for the sole purpose of (and solely to the extent necessary for) creating publicly available, searchable indices of such materials, but not caches or archives of such materials. Serious.Market reserves the right to revoke such permission either generally or in specific cases, at any time and without notice;
    • Use our Services for the development of any software program, including, but not limited to, training a machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) system.
    • Develop or use any applications or software that interact with our Services without our prior written consent;
    • Send, distribute, or post spam, unsolicited or bulk commercial electronic communications, chain letters, or pyramid schemes;
  11. Link to any online portion of the Services in a manner that damages or exploits, in our sole discretion, our reputation or suggests any form or association, approval, or endorsement by Serious.Market; or
    • Use our Services for any illegal or unauthorized purpose, or engage in, encourage, or promote any activity that breaches these Terms.
    • Enforcement of this Section 8 is solely at Serious.Market’s discretion, and failure to enforce this section in some instances does not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce it in other instances. Please note that parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filtering Services) may be commercially available to assist you in limiting access to material that is harmful to people under 18 or the age of the legal majority. Information identifying current providers of such protections should be available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_content-control_software_and_providers (last checked on February 14, 2024).

9 Digital Assets

  1. Users are solely responsible for Content related to their Memes. You bear responsibility for verifying the legitimacy, authenticity, and legality of Memes that you purchase from users on our Services. We cannot guarantee that any Memes visible on our Services will always remain visible and/or available.
  2. These Terms solely govern the use of our Services. Memes are available on public blockchains and may be purchased, sold, or transferred by buyers, sellers, or creators without the use of our Services and therefore without agreeing to our Terms. There may be terms and conditions that apply to the Memes themselves set directly between buyers, sellers, and/or creators with respect to the Meme including with respect to the use of the Meme content and rights and obligations associated with a given Meme (“Meme Terms”). Serious.Market does not set the Meme Terms and is not party to any such Meme Terms, which are solely between the buyer, seller, or creator. The buyer, seller, or creator are entirely responsible for communicating, promulgating, agreeing to, and enforcing Meme Terms. You are responsible for reviewing such Meme Terms.

10 Ownership; Limited License

The Services, including the text, graphics, images, photographs, videos, illustrations, and other content contained therein, and all intellectual property rights therein and thereto, are owned by Serious.Market or our licensors and are protected under both United States and foreign laws. Except as explicitly stated in these Terms, all rights in and to the Services, including all intellectual property rights therein and thereto, are reserved by us or our licensors. Subject to your compliance with these Terms (including Sections 7 and 8), you are hereby granted a limited, nonexclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to access and use our Services for internal use and solely with respect to any applications included in the Services. Any use of the Services other than as specifically authorized herein, without our prior written permission, is strictly prohibited and will terminate the license granted herein and violate our intellectual property rights. Any applications included in the Services are licensed (not sold), and if you fail to comply with any of the terms or conditions of these Terms, you must immediately cease using the applicable application.

11 Trademarks

Serious.Market, srsmkt, Srs, SM and our logos, product or service names, slogans, and the look and feel of the Services are trademarks of Serious.Market and may not be copied, imitated or used, in whole or in part, without our prior written permission. All other trademarks, registered trademarks, product names, and company names or logos mentioned on or in connection with the Services are the property of their respective owners. Reference to any products, services, processes, or other information by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, supplier, or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation by us.

12 Feedback

You may voluntarily post, submit, or otherwise communicate to us any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, original or creative materials, or other information about Serious.Market or our Services (collectively, “Feedback”). You understand that we may use such Feedback for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgement or compensation to you, including to develop, copy, publish, or improve the Feedback or Services, or to improve or develop new products, services, or the Services in Serious.Market’s sole discretion. Serious.Market will exclusively own all improvements to, or new, Serious.Market products, services, or Services based on any Feedback. You understand that Serious.Market may treat Feedback as nonconfidential.

13 Repeat Infringer Policy; Copyright Complaints

Designated Agent:      Serious.Market

Telephone Number:    (415) 960-8926

Email Address:            info@serious.market

Please see Section 512(c)(3) of the DMCA for the requirements of a proper notification. If you fail to comply with all of the requirements of Section 512(c)(3) of the DMCA, your notice may not be effective. If you knowingly materially misrepresent that any activity or material on our Services are infringing, you may be liable to Serious.Market for certain costs and damages.

14 Third-Party Content

15 Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Serious.Market and our subsidiaries and affiliates, and each of our respective officers, directors, agents, partners, and employees (individually and collectively, the “Serious.Market Parties”) from and against any actions, losses, liabilities, claims, demands, damages, expenses or costs (“Actions”) arising out of or related to: (a) your access to or use of the Services; (b) your User Content or Feedback; (c) your breach of these Terms; (d) your violation, misappropriation, or infringement of any rights of another (including intellectual property rights or privacy rights); or (e) your conduct in connection with the Services. You will promptly notify Serious.Market Parties of any third-party Actions, cooperate with Serious.Market Parties in defending such Actions, and pay all fees, costs, and expenses associated with defending such Actions (including attorneys’ fees). The Serious.Market Parties will have control of the defense or settlement, at Serious.Market’s sole option, of any third-party Actions. This indemnity is in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other indemnities set forth in a written agreement between you and Serious.Market or the other Serious.Market Parties.

16 Disclaimers

Your use of our Services and any content or materials provided therein or therewith (including the Third-Party Content and Third-Party Materials) is at your sole risk. Except as otherwise provided in a writing by us and to the fullest extent permitted under applicable law, our Services, and any content or materials provided therein or therewith (including the Third-Party Content and Third-Party Materials) are provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Serious.Market disclaims all warranties with respect to the foregoing, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. In addition, Serious.Market does not represent or warrant that our Services or any content provided therein or therewith (including the Third-Party Content, Third-Party Materials, content linked to or associated with any Memes and any Memes you interact with using our Services) are accurate, complete, reliable, current, or error-free or that access to our Services or any content provided therein or therewith (including the Third-Party Content, Third-Party Materials, content linked to or associated with any Memes and any Memes you interact with using our Services) will be uninterrupted. While Serious.Market attempts to make your use of our Services and any content provided therein or therewith (including the Third-Party Content and Third-Party Materials) safe, we cannot and do not represent or warrant that our Services or any content provided therein or therewith (including the Third-Party Content, Third-Party Materials, content linked to or associated with any Memes or Memes and any Memes or Memes you interact with using our Services) or our servers are free of viruses or other harmful components or content or materials. You assume the entire risk as to the quality and performance of the Services and any content provided therein or therewith (including the Third-Party Content, Third-Party Materials, content linked to or associated with any Memes or Memes and any Memes or Memes you interact with using our Services). All disclaimers of any kind (including in this section and elsewhere in these Terms) are made for the benefit of Serious.Market, Serious.Market Parties, and Serious.Market’s respective shareholders, agents, representatives, licensors, suppliers, and service providers, as well as their respective successors and assigns.

17 Assumption of Risk

You accept and acknowledge:

18 Limitation of Liability

19 Release

Serious.Market is not party to any agreement between any users. Serious.Market and the other Serious.Market Parties have no responsibility or liability for any disputes between you and other users. If such a dispute arises, you may seek to resolve it directly with such user. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you release Serious.Market and the other Serious.Market Parties from responsibility, liability, claims, demands, and/or damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown (including claims of negligence), arising out of or related to disputes between users and the acts or omissions of third parties. If you are a consumer who resides in California, you hereby waive your rights under California Civil Code § 1542, which provides: “A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party.”

20 Dispute Resolution; Binding Arbitration

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY BECAUSE IT REQUIRES YOU AND SERIOUS.MARKET TO ARBITRATE CERTAIN DISPUTES AND CLAIMS AND LIMITS THE MANNER IN WHICH WE CAN SEEK RELIEF FROM EACH OTHER. ARBITRATION PRECLUDES YOU AND SERIOUS.MARKET FROM SUING IN COURT OR HAVING A JURY TRIAL. YOU AND SERIOUS.MARKET AGREE THAT ARBITRATION WILL BE SOLELY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT AS A CLASS ARBITRATION, CLASS ACTION, OR ANY OTHER KIND OF REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. SERO AND YOU ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO TRIAL BY A JURY.

THE PARTIES ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE TERMS OF THIS SECTION ARE INTENDED TO REDUCE THE FINANCIAL BURDENS ASSOCIATED WITH RESOLVING THEIR DISPUTES AND ARE NOT INTENDED TO DELAY ADJUDICATION OF ANY PARTY’S CLAIMS.

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW, IN SECTION 21(L), IF YOU WISH TO OPT OUT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF ARBITRATION ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS. NO CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTIONS OR ARBITRATIONS ARE ALLOWED UNDER THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT.

If NAM notifies the parties in writing (email suffices) that it is not available to arbitrate any Claim, then that Claim may only be settled by binding individual arbitration conducted by American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), https://www.adr.org. For Claims that must be arbitrated by AAA, if you are a “Consumer,” meaning that you only use the Services for personal, family or household purposes, the then-current version of the AAA’s Consumer Arbitration Rules are the Rules applicable to Claims between you and Serious.Market as modified by this Agreement. For Claims that must be arbitrated by AAA, if you are not a Consumer, the then-current version of the AAA’s Commercial Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures are the Rules applicable to Claims between you and Serious.Market as modified by this Agreement.

This Agreement affects interstate commerce, and the enforceability of this Section 21 will be substantively and procedurally governed by the FAA to the extent permitted by law. As limited by the FAA, this Agreement, and the Rules, the arbitrator will have exclusive authority to make all procedural and substantive decisions regarding any Claim and to grant any remedy that would otherwise be available in court, including the power to determine the question of arbitrability. To the fullest extent allowed by applicable law, the arbitrator may only award legal or equitable remedies that are individual to you or Serious.Market to satisfy one of our individual Claims (that the arbitrator determines are supported by credible relevant evidence).

Instructions for filing a demand for arbitration with NAM are available on the NAM website or by calling NAM at 800-358-2550, and instructions for filing a demand for arbitration with AAA are available on the AAA website or by calling AAA at 800-778-7879. You will email any demand for arbitration to info@serious.market. Serious.Market will send any demand for arbitration to you by certified mail or email using the contact information you have provided to Serious.Market.

The arbitration will be conducted by a single arbitrator in the English language. You and Serious.Market both agree that the arbitrator will be bound by this Agreement.

For Claims in which the claimant seeks less than USD $10,000, the arbitrator will decide the matter solely based on written submissions, without a formal hearing, unless the arbitrator decides that a formal hearing is necessary. For Claims in which the claimant seeks USD $10,000 or more, or smaller matters in which the arbitrator determines a hearing to be necessary, hearings will be conducted by video or telephone, unless the arbitrator determines an in-person hearing to be necessary. If an in-person hearing is required and you reside in the United States, the hearing will take place in San Francisco, California, unless the arbitrator determines that this would pose a hardship for you, in which case the in-person hearing may be conducted in the claimant’s state and county of residence. If you reside outside the United States, the site of any in-person hearing will be determined by the applicable Rules.

The arbitrator (not a judge or jury) will resolve all Claims in arbitration. Unless you and Serious.Market agree otherwise, any decision or award will include a written statement stating the decision of each Claim and the basis for the award, including the arbitrator’s essential factual and legal findings and conclusions.

An arbitration award, and any judgment confirming it, apply only to that specific case; it cannot be used or offered as precedent in any other case except to enforce the award itself unless the parties agree prior to issuance of the award. Any arbitration decision or award may be enforced as a final judgment by any court of competent jurisdiction or, if applicable, application may be made to such court for judicial confirmation of any award and an order of enforcement.

Coordinated Claims may only be filed in arbitration as permitted by the process set forth below. Applicable statutes of limitations will be tolled for Claims asserted in Coordinated Claims from the time a compliant Claimant Notice has been received by a party until this Agreement permits such Coordinated Claim to be filed in arbitration or court.

Initial Bellwether: The bellwether process set forth in this section will not proceed until counsel representing the Coordinated Claims has advised the other party in writing (email suffices) that all or substantially all the Claimant Notices for the Coordinated Claims have been provided.

After that point, counsel for the parties will select 30 Coordinated Claims to proceed in arbitration as a bellwether to allow each side to test the merits of its arguments. Each side will select 15 claimants who have provided compliant Claimant Notices for this purpose, and only those chosen cases may be filed with the arbitration provider. The parties acknowledge that resolution of some Coordinated Claims will be delayed by this bellwether process. Any remaining Coordinated Claims shall not be filed or deemed filed in arbitration, nor shall any arbitration fees be assessed in connection with those Claims, unless and until they are selected to be filed in individual arbitration proceedings as set out in this Section 21(k).

A single arbitrator will preside over each Coordinated Claim chosen for a bellwether proceeding, and only one Coordinated Claim may be assigned to each arbitrator as part of a bellwether process unless the parties agree otherwise.

Mediation: Once the arbitrations that are part of the bellwether process have concluded (or sooner if the claimants and the other party agree), counsel for the parties must engage in a single mediation of all remaining Coordinated Claims, with the mediator’s fee paid for by Serious.Market. Counsel for the claimants and the other party must agree on a mediator within 30 days after the conclusion of the last bellwether arbitration. If counsel for the claimants and the other party cannot agree on a mediator within 30 days, the arbitration provider will appoint a mediator as an administrative matter. All parties will cooperate for the purpose of ensuring that the mediation is scheduled as quickly as practicable after the mediator is appointed.

Remaining Claims: If the mediation process concludes with 100 or more unresolved Coordinated Claims remaining, any party to a remaining Coordinated Claim may elect to no longer have the arbitration requirement in this Section 21 apply to all remaining Coordinated Claims for which a compliant Claimant Notice was received by the other party but that were not resolved in the bellwether process or global mediation. To be effective, such an election must be communicated in writing (email suffices) to counsel for the opposing party within 30 days of mediation concluding. Coordinated Claims released from the arbitration requirement must be resolved in accordance with Section 22.

If the mediation process concludes with fewer than 100 Coordinated Claims remaining or if no party makes a timely election as provided for in the previous paragraph, the arbitrator will randomly select 50 Coordinated Claims (or the total remaining amount if less than 50) to proceed in arbitration as a second batch. The arbitrator will randomly select eligible claimants who have provided compliant Claimant Notices for this purpose, and only those chosen cases may be filed with the arbitration provider. Once all arbitrations in the foregoing process are complete, the parties will repeat this process until all Coordinated Claims have been arbitrated.

If Coordinated Claims released from the arbitration requirement are brought in court, claimants may seek class treatment, but to the fullest extent allowed by applicable law, the classes sought may comprise only the claimants in Coordinated Claims for which a compliant Claimant Notice was received by the other party. Any party may contest class certification at any stage of the litigation and on any available basis.

A court will have authority to enforce the bellwether and mediation processes defined in this section and may enjoin the filing of lawsuits or arbitration demands not made in compliance with it.

22 Governing Law

Any Claims will be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of California, except to the extent preempted by U.S. Federal Law, without regard to conflict of law rules or principles (whether of the State of California or any other jurisdiction) that would cause the application of the laws of any other jurisdiction. If any Claim is not subject to arbitration pursuant to Section 21, then the state and federal courts located in the County of San Francisco, California, will have exclusive jurisdiction. You and Serious.Market waive any objection to venue in any such courts. If your local law requires that consumer contracts be interpreted subject to local law and enforced in the courts of that jurisdiction, this section may not apply to you only to the extent that local law conflicts with this section.

23 Modifying and Terminating Our Services

We reserve the right to modify our Services or to suspend or terminate providing all or part of our Services at any time; charge, modify, or waive any fees required to use the Services; or offer opportunities to some or all end users of the Services. We may provide you with notice in advance of the suspension or discontinuation of all or part of our Services, such as by sending an email or providing a notice through our Services. All modifications and additions to the Services will be governed by these Terms or the Supplemental Terms, unless otherwise expressly stated by Serious.Market in writing. You also have the right to stop using our Services at any time, and you may terminate these Terms by ceasing use of our Services. We are not responsible for any loss or harm related to your inability to access or use our Services.

24 Severability

If any portion of these Terms other than Section 21 is found to be unenforceable or unlawful for any reason, including but not limited to because it is found to be unconscionable, (a) the unenforceable or unlawful provision will be severed from these Terms; (b) severance of the unenforceable or unlawful provision will have no impact whatsoever on the remainder of these Terms; and (c) the unenforceable or unlawful provision may be revised to the extent required to render these Terms enforceable or valid, and the rights and responsibilities of the parties will be interpreted and enforced accordingly, so as to preserve these Terms and the intent of these Terms to the fullest possible extent.

25 Export Control

You are responsible for compliance with United States export controls and for any violation of such controls, including any United States embargoes or other federal rules and regulations restricting exports. You represent, warrant and covenant that you are not (a) located in, or a resident or a national of, any country subject to a U.S. government embargo or other restriction, or that has been designated by the U.S. government as a “terrorist supporting” country; or (b) on any of the U.S. government lists of restricted end users.

26 Miscellaneous