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Tripod Terms of Service

 

Last modified May 05, 2025

THESE TERMS OF SERVICE (the “TOS”) ESTABLISH A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND EDUCATION ELEMENTS, INC. A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF XANEDU PUBLISHING, INC. (“COMPANY”). YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY READ THESE TOS, AND THE COMPANY GENERAL PRIVACY POLICY AND THE COMPANY COPPA PRIVACY POLICY (THE “COMPANY PRIVACY POLICIES”), WHICH ARE INCORPORATED INTO, A PART OF, AND GOVERNED BY THESE TOS. BY USING OR ACCESSING THE SERVICE, OR BY GIVING ANOTHER PERSON ACCESS TO USE THE SERVICE, YOU AGREE THAT YOU AND SUCH PERSON ARE BOUND BY AND SHALL ABIDE BY THE TOS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TOS, YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE THE SERVICE OR TO PROVIDE ANOTHER PERSON WITH ACCESS TO USE THE SERVICE.

AS USED HEREIN, “YOU” (AND “YOUR”) (I) MEANS A USER OF THE SERVICE AND (II) WHEN THE USER OF THE SERVICE IS AUTHORIZED OR PROVIDED ACCESS TO USE THE SERVICE BY A SCHOOL (EACH, A “SCHOOL”), A TEACHER (A “TEACHER”) OR BY A SCHOOL DISTRICT OR STATE (EACH, A “DISTRICT”), ALSO INCLUDES SUCH SCHOOL, TEACHER OR DISTRICT.

COMPANY ADMINISTERS TRIPOD STUDENT SURVEYS (EACH, A “SURVEY”) TO ASSESS AND ANALYZE STUDENT PERCEPTION OF TEACHERS AND TEACHING-ENVIRONMENT EFFECTIVENESS. AS USED HEREIN, THE TERM “SERVICE” MEANS THE ADMINISTRATION OF OR PARTICIPATION IN THE STUDENT SURVEY SERVICES AND THE TRIPOD WEBSITE AND ANY TRIPOD MOBILE APPLICATIONS, INCLUDING ANY SOFTWARE OR SURVEY TOOLS ASSOCIATED WITH ANY OF THE FOREGOING.

  1. Changes to the TOS. Except with respect to Section 15.3 (Mandatory Arbitration), Company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to change, add to or delete any terms and conditions of the TOS at any time, effective with or without prior notice; provided, however, that Company will use reasonable efforts to provide You with notification of any material changes by email, postal mail, website posting, pop-up screen, or in-service notice. You should visit this page whenever You use the Service to review the TOS and learn if any terms have changed. If any future changes to the TOS are unacceptable to You or cause You to no longer be in compliance with the TOS, You must immediately stop using the Service. Continued use of the Service following any revision to the TOS constitutes Your acceptance of any and all such changes.
  2. Access to the Service.

2.1. Subject to Your acceptance of and compliance with the TOS, Company grants to You a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable limited license to use the Service for Your personal, non-commercial administration of or participation in one or more Tripod Survey to Your students. You agree not to use the Service for any commercial purposes, or to download, save, copy, transmit or distribute the Content of the Service (as defined in Section 5.1), except in the proper administration of or participation in the Survey, as contemplated by the TOS.

2.2. Company may change, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of the Service, impose limits on certain features, or restrict or prohibit Your access to parts or all of the Service at any time, all without notice or liability. You agree to be bound by any application-, tool- or content-specific rules published within the Service.

2.3. You expressly agree that the content of the Service may be viewed and accessed only by You, Your students (as needed to participate in the survey), Your School, and Your District.

2.4. Your use of the Service is conditioned upon Your compliance with the TOS; any use of the Service in violation of the TOS will be regarded as an infringement of Company’s copyrights in the Service and Content (as defined in Section 5.1). Company reserves the right to terminate Your access to the Service without notice if You violate the TOS or for any reason at Company’s discretion.

2.5. You will supply, without charge and in such time as not to delay or disrupt Company’s performance of the Services, all relevant and necessary information in its possession or available to it from its agents or consultants and all necessary approvals and consents.

  1. Access by Minors. If You provide a minor with access to use the Service, You hereby agree to the TOS on behalf of Yourself and such minor, and You understand and agree that You will be responsible for all uses of the Service by that minor whether or not You authorized such uses.
  2. Representations and Agreements of Schools and Districts. If You are a School, District or Teacher providing a student with access to the Service, You hereby represent, warrant and agree that You are authorized by such student’s parents or guardians to agree to the terms of the TOS; that You have obtained all parental consents and permissions in connection with the Service required by federal, state, and local law (and all regulations and rules thereunder), including without limitation the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act; and that You have, and hereby do, expressly agree to the terms of the TOS on Your behalf and on behalf of all teachers involved in conducting or administering the Surveys.
  3. Ownership of Intellectual Property.

5.1. Unless otherwise specified in writing, all materials that are part of the Service are owned, controlled, or licensed by Company and its licensors and are protected by law from unauthorized use. The entire contents of the Service (including without limitation all visual content, text (including without limitation, exam and survey questions) and the arrangement, sequence, structure, and organization of the survey items (questions) used in performing the Service) (collectively, the “Content”), are copyrighted under the United States copyright laws and/or similar laws of other jurisdictions. The terms “Tripod,” “Tripod Project,” “7Cs” and the Tripod logo are trademarks and service marks of Company and may not be used without the express written permission of Company.

5.2. You do not acquire any ownership rights by using the Service, or by downloading material from or uploading material to the Service.

5.3. All comments, feedback, suggestions, ideas, and other submissions disclosed, submitted, or offered by You in connection with Your use of the Service, including without limitation by email to Company(collectively, "Submissions") will be freely usable by Company; and in confirmation thereof You agree that, unless otherwise prohibited by law, Company may use, sell, exploit, disclose, revise, and delete the Submissions in any manner, without restriction, without compensation to You, and without identifying You as the creator. You represent and warrant that any Submissions are Your original creations and/or may be offered by You for free and unrestricted use by Company (as elaborated upon above) and that Company’s use of the Submissions will not infringe or violate the rights of any party, including without limitation any intellectual property rights or rights or privacy or publicity. You agree that the provisions in this paragraph will survive any termination of Your account(s), the Service, or the TOS.

  1. Passwords. You are responsible for all actions on the Service by You or under Your Service password or account and for taking all reasonable steps to ensure that no unauthorized person shall have access to Your Service password or account. Without limiting the foregoing: (a) You are responsible for all actions taken by individuals that You register or allow to access the Service; and (b) it is Your sole responsibility to (i) control the dissemination and use of any login code and password; (ii) authorize, monitor, and control access to and use of Your Service account and password; (iii) promptly inform Company of any need to deactivate a password. You grant Company and all other persons or entities involved in the operation of the Service the right to transmit, monitor, retrieve, store, and use any information recorded and/or stored in Your account in connection with the operation of the Service.
  2. Usage Rules. As a condition of Your use of and access to the Service, You agree that in connection with the use of the Service You, and any individuals to whom You provide access to the Service will not:

(a) copy or adapt the Service’s software including but not limited to Flash, PHP, HTML, Java, CSS, JavaScript or other code;

(b) reverse engineer, decompile, reverse assemble, modify or attempt to discover any software (source code or object code) that the Service creates to generate web pages, surveys or any software or other products or processes accessible through the Service;

(c) use or launch, develop or distribute any automated system, including, without limitation, any spider, robot (or "bot"), cheat utility, scraper or offline reader that accesses the Service, or use or launch any unauthorized script or other software;

(d) distribute any virus, time bomb, trap door, or other harmful or disruptive computer code, mechanism or program;

(e) cover or obscure any notice, banner, legend or warning contained on the Service;

(f) interfere with or circumvent any security feature of the Service or any feature that restricts or enforces limitations on use of or access to the Service;

(g) sell the Service or any part thereof including but not limited to user accounts and access to them in exchange for anything of value;

(h) violate any applicable law, including without limitation any applicable export laws;

(i) harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including email addresses;

(j) infringe or violate the rights of any other party, including without limitation any intellectual property rights or rights of privacy or publicity;

(k) deliberately mislead anyone as to Your identity or impersonate another;

(l) allow another person or entity to use Your identity in order to access the Service;

(m) inquire as to any person’s survey responses or otherwise solicit information in an attempt to ascertain a person’s survey response; and You will maintain the anonymity of student survey responses and avoid actions that suggest that You may learn student responses, except to the extent that You are a District whose agreement with Company otherwise contemplates (for legitimate research and evaluative purposes, all in compliance with applicable law);

(n) engage in any conduct deemed by Company to be in conflict with the spirit or intent of the Service, including without limitation, by restricting another authorized user from using or enjoying the Service or exposing Company or another to any liability or detriment of any kind; or

(o) violate the terms set forth in the “Administrative Guidelines” and the “Understanding Your Report” documents provided by Company.

  1. Privacy, Confidentiality and Protection of Personal Information.

(a) Company respects the privacy of visitors to, and users of, the Service. Information collected from You, and from any individual to whom You provide access to the Service, is subject to the Company’s Tripod Privacy Policies. Please see Company’s Tripod Privacy Policies at app.tripoded.com for more information on the collection and use of Your information. You acknowledge and agree that the Company’s Tripod Privacy Policies, including, but not limited to, the manner in which Company collects, uses and discloses Your personally identifiable information and non-personally identifiable information, is incorporated and made part of the TOS. By accepting the TOS, You agree to all of the terms of the Privacy Policies. If You are a School or District (or a representative thereof) or a Teacher that provides a user with access to use the Service, You agree to hold all user information You may receive from Company in confidence and in compliance with all applicable laws.

(b) You will hold in confidence all proprietary and confidential information Company discloses to you (including in written or online instructions or documentation) regarding the Company’s Tripod methodology, intellectual property and pricing (the “Confidential Information”) and will not disclose this Confidential Information to anyone other than its agents, employees and advisors whose access is reasonable under the circumstances and who are obligated to treat it as confidential, and will not directly or indirectly use or disclose Confidential Information except as reasonably necessary in using the Services as permitted by Company.

  1. Child Online Protection Act Notification. Pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 230(d) as amended, Company hereby notifies You that parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filtering services) are commercially available that may assist You in limiting access to material that is harmful to minors. Information identifying providers of such protection is available on the websites StaySafeOnline (http://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/), GetNetWise (http://kids.getnetwise.org/), and OnGuardOnline (http://www.onguardonline.com/). Please note that Company is not affiliated with the above listed sites, nor is the above intended as an endorsement of any of the products or services listed on such sites.
  2. Disclaimers; Limitations; Waivers of Liability.

10.1. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE (EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT REQUIRED BY LAW). WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER COMPANY NOR ITS AFFILIATES OR SUBSIDIARIES, OR ANY OF THEIR DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, ATTORNEYS, THIRD-PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS, DISTRIBUTORS, LICENSEES OR LICENSORS, NOR ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THE SERVICE (COLLECTIVELY, "COMPANY PARTIES") WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SERVICE, WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, UNCORRUPTED, ACCURATE, RELIABLE, COMPLETE, CURRENT, TIMELY, OR ERROR-FREE; THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED; OR THAT THE PAGES OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES THE SERVICE AVAILABLE ARE FREE FROM VIRUSES, WORMS OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

10.2. THE COMPANY PARTIES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, PERSONAL INJURY/WRONGFUL DEATH, LOST OR ANTICIPATED PROFITS, LOST DATA, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, THE USE OR MISUSE OF SUBMISSIONS OR CONTENT IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SERVICE, WHETHER OR NOT THE COMPANY PARTIES ARE ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN THE EVENT THAT ANY OF THE FOREGOING EXCLUSIONS OF LIABILITY IS FOUND BY A COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION TO BE UNENFORCEABLE, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL THE COMPANY PARTIES BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR MORE THAN THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID COMPANY IN THE NINETY (90) DAYS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE ON WHICH YOU FIRST ASSERT ANY SUCH CLAIM.

10.3. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THESE DISCLAIMERS OF LIABILITY APPLY TO ANY AND ALL DAMAGES OR INJURY WHATSOEVER CAUSED BY OR RELATED TO USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SERVICE UNDER ANY CAUSE OR ACTION OF ANY JURISDICTION, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ACTIONS FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY, BREACH OF CONTRACT OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE).

  1. You forever release, discharge, and covenant not to sue the Company Parties from any and all liability, claims, actions, and expenses that may arise, whether caused by the negligence of the Company Parties or otherwise, in connection with use of the Service or through or as a result of the Service. In other words, You agree that You cannot sue the Company Parties if anything happens to You, to any individual to whom You provide access to the Service, or to Your property through or as a result of the Service. You agree that the provisions in this paragraph will survive any termination of Your account(s), the Service, or the TOS.
  2. Indemnification. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Company Parties from and against all liability, claims, actions, and expenses, including attorneys' fees and costs, arising out of Your use of the Service, or that of any individual to whom You provide access to the Service, and/or Your or such person’s breach or alleged breach of any term, condition, obligation, representation or warranty in the TOS, except to the extent caused by the gross negligence or willful misconduct of the Company Parties. You agree that the provisions in this paragraph will survive any termination of Your account(s), the Service, or the TOS.
  3. Objectionable Content/Copyright Takedown. If you believe your rights have been violated by, or you otherwise object to, any posting, content or information on the Service, please contact us promptly so we can evaluate the claim and take appropriate action. If your complaint includes a claim of copyright infringement, the following policy will apply:

Copyright Policy: It is Company’s policy to respond promptly to claims of copyright infringement, and to remove, or disable access to, infringing material. If you believe that any of the content or materials appearing on this Service contain infringements, please send a notice to the individual and address stated below. Your notice should contain the following: a physical or electronic signature of a person (i.e., claimant) authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner; identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed; identification of the content or material claimed to be infringing; a reference or link to the infringing material or activity, or the subject of the infringing activity, including information to enable us to locate that material or reference; the address, telephone number or email address of the claimant; a statement that the claimant has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and a statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that the claimant is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. Company will also terminate a subscriber's account if a subscriber is deemed to be a repeat infringer, namely, one who has been notified of bona fide infringing activity more than twice. Our designated agent, to whom you should email your infringement claim (or other complaints), is:

Attention: BIZOPS

Education Elements, Inc.

4750 Venture Drive Suite 400, PMB#20
Ann Arbor, MI 48108-9505

888-212-3121

support@edelements.com

  1. Third Party Sites and Products. We may include links to third party sites or services, or information about third party products or services. You should review the terms of use and privacy policies of all sites and services You link to from or are referred to by our Service. We do not endorse or take responsibility for these third party offerings, nor do we vet or take responsibility for third party sites, services or products or the postings or communications of other users.
  2. Governing Law/Waiver of Injunctive Relief.

15.1. The TOS and all aspects of the Service will be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the United States and the State of Delaware governing contracts entered into and to be fully performed in the State of Delaware (i.e., without regard to conflict of laws provisions) regardless of Your location. With respect to any disputes or claims not subject to informal dispute resolution or arbitration (as set forth below), You agree not to commence or prosecute any action in connection therewith other than in the state or federal courts located in the State of Delaware, and You hereby consent to, and waive all defenses of lack of personal jurisdiction and inconvenience with respect to, venue and jurisdiction in the state and federal courts located in New Castle County, Delaware.

15.2. To expedite resolution and control the cost of any dispute, controversy or claim related to the TOS ("Dispute"), You and Education Elements agree to first attempt to negotiate any Dispute (except those Disputes expressly excluded in Section 15.5 below) informally for at least thirty (30) days before initiating any arbitration or court proceeding. Such informal negotiations commence upon written notice from one person to the other. You will send Your notice to Education Elements, Inc. (ATTENTION: BIZOPS), 4750 Venture Drive Suite 400, PMB#20 Ann Arbor, MI 48108-9505.

15.3. If You and Company are unable to resolve a Dispute through informal negotiations within 30 days, either You or Company may elect to have the Dispute (except those Disputes expressly excluded in Section 15.5 below) finally and exclusively resolved by binding arbitration. Any election to arbitrate by one party will be final and binding on the other. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT ABSENT THIS PROVISION, YOU WOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUE IN COURT AND HAVE A JURY TRIAL. The arbitration will be commenced and conducted under the Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures (the “Rules”) of JAMS, which is available at the JAMS website www.jamsadr.com. The determination of whether a Dispute is subject to arbitration will be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act and determined by a court rather than an arbitrator. Your arbitration fees and Your share of arbitrator compensation will be governed by the Rules. The arbitration may be conducted in person, through the submission of documents, by phone or online. The arbitrator will make a decision in writing, but need not provide a statement of reasons unless requested by a party. The arbitrator must follow applicable law, and any award may be challenged if the arbitrator fails to do so.

15.4. You and Company agree that any arbitration will be limited to the Dispute between Company and You individually. To the full extent permitted by law, (a) no arbitration will be joined with any other; (b) there is no right or authority for any Dispute to be arbitrated on a class-action basis or to utilize class action procedures; and (c) there is no right or authority for any Dispute to be brought in a purported representative capacity on behalf of the general public or any other persons.

15.5. Notwithstanding the above, You and Company agree that the following Disputes are not subject to the above provisions concerning informal negotiations and binding arbitration: (a) any Disputes seeking to enforce or protect, or concerning the validity of, any of Your or Company’s intellectual property rights; (b) any Dispute related to, or arising from, allegations of theft, piracy, invasion of privacy or unauthorized use; and (c) any claim for injunctive relief or to compel arbitration, to stay proceedings pending arbitration, or to confirm, modify, vacate or enter judgment on the award entered by the arbitrator.

  1. Waiver/Severability.

16.1. The failure of Company to require or enforce strict performance by You of any provision of the TOS or to exercise any right under them will not be construed as a waiver or relinquishment of Company’s right to assert or rely upon any such provision or right in that or any other instance.

16.2. You and Company agree that if any portion of the TOS is found illegal or unenforceable, in whole or in part by any court of competent jurisdiction, such provision will, as to such jurisdiction, be ineffective to the extent of such determination of invalidity or unenforceability without affecting the validity or enforceability thereof in any other manner or jurisdiction and without affecting the remaining provisions of the TOS, which will continue to be in full force and effect.

  1. Miscellaneous. Company operates and controls the Service from its offices in the United States. Company makes no representation that the Service is appropriate or available in other locations. The information provided on the Service is not intended for distribution to or use by any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject Company to any registration requirement within such jurisdiction or country. Accordingly, those persons who choose to access the Service from other locations do so on their own initiative and are solely responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable. The TOS is effective until terminated by either party. You may terminate the TOS by destroying all Service-related materials obtained from the Service, from Company, and from any related website or source. Company may terminate all privileges granted to You under the TOS, by notice from Company, if You fail to comply with any term or provision of the TOS or for any reason in Company’s discretion. Neither the course of conduct between the parties nor trade practice will act to modify the TOS. You may not assign the TOS without Company’s prior written consent. The TOS (including the Company’s Tripod Privacy Policies) contains the entire understanding of You and Company, and supersedes all prior understandings between the parties concerning its subject matter, and cannot be changed or modified by You. The section headings used in the TOS are for convenience only and will not be given any legal import. Upon Company’s request, You will furnish Company any documentation, substantiation or releases necessary to verify Your compliance with the TOS. You agree that the TOS will not be construed against Company by virtue of having drafted it. You hereby waive any and all defenses You may have based on the electronic form of the TOS and the lack of signing by the parties hereto to execute the TOS.
  2. Statute of Limitations. You and Company both agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to the TOS (including the Company’s Tripod Privacy Policies) or to the use of the Service must be filed within ONE (1) YEAR after such claim or cause of action arose or will be forever barred.