Empire Surfaces Distribution, Inc. (“Empire Surfaces”) maintains Empire Surfaces.com®, AmericanOlean.com®, MarazziUSA.com®, and SwiftTile.com® (collectively, known as the “Site”) for your personal entertainment, information, education and shopping convenience. You are encouraged to use and enjoy the Site, and with your use of the Site, you agree to these Terms of Service and Legal Notices below and the disclaimers and terms and conditions stated on the Site (“Terms of Service”). You may download material displayed on the Site for non–commercial, personal use provided you also retain all copyright, trademark and other proprietary notices contained in the material, do not modify or alter the material and do not copy or post the material on any network computer or broadcast the material in any media. It is strictly prohibited to modify, transmit, distribute, reuse, repost, “frame” or use the content of the Site including the text, images, audio and/or video for public or commercial purposes without written permission from an authorized representative of Empire Surfaces. It is strictly prohibited to download the images of the products within this site.

DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

The Site is provided on an “AS IS,” “as available” basis. Neither Empire Surfaces nor its affiliates, subsidiaries, or designees nor each of their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, third–party content providers, designers, contractors, distributors, merchants, sponsors, licensors or the like (collectively, “Associates”) warrant that use of the Site will be uninterrupted or error–free. Neither Empire Surfaces nor its Associates warrant the accuracy, integrity or completeness of the content provided on the Site or the products or services displayed on the Site. Further, Empire Surfaces makes no representation that content provided on the Site is applicable or appropriate for use in locations outside of the United States and Canada. Empire Surfaces specifically disclaims warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to warranties of title or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No oral advice or written information given by Empire Surfaces, nor its Associates, shall create a warranty. You expressly agree that use of the Site is at your sole risk.

Under no circumstances shall Empire Surfaces or its Associates be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages that result from the use of or inability to use the Site, including but not limited to reliance by a user on any information obtained at the Site, or that result from mistakes, omissions, interruptions, deletion of files or email, errors, defects, viruses, delays in operation or transmission, or any failure of performance, whether or not resulting from acts of God, communications failure, theft, destruction or unauthorized access to Empire Surfaces records, programs or services. The Limitation of Liability shall apply whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortuous action, even if an authorized representative of Empire Surfaces has been advised of or should have knowledge of the possibility of such damages. User hereby acknowledges that this paragraph shall apply to all content, merchandise and services available through the Site. Because some states do not allow the exclusion or Limitation of Liability for consequential or incidental damages, in such states liability is limited to the fullest extent permitted by law.

While Empire Surfaces takes steps to ensure the accuracy and completeness of product and third–party services provided, please refer to the originator of information for details, for example the manufacturer for complete product details.

PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

Content included on or comprising the Site, including information, data, software, photographs, graphs, videos, typefaces, graphics, music, sounds and other material (collectively, “Content”) are protected by copyrights, trademarks, patent or other proprietary rights, and these rights are valid and protected in all forms, media and technologies existing now or hereinafter developed. All Content is copyrighted as a collective work under the U.S. and international copyright laws, and Empire Surfaces owns, to the fullest extent allowed by such laws, the copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement, and enhancement of such Content. Except as expressly authorized or licensed, you may not copy, modify, remove, delete, augment, add to, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, lease or rental of, create derivative works from or in any way exploit any of the Content, in whole or in part.

APPLICABLE LAW

The Site is created, operated and controlled by Empire Surfaces in the State of Georgia, United States of America. As such, the laws of the State of Georgia will govern these Terms of Service without giving effect to any principles or conflicts of laws. We reserve the right to make changes to the Site and these Terms of Service at any time by updating this posting. By using the Site, you agree to be bound by any such revisions and should therefore periodically visit this page to determine the then current Terms of Service to which you are bound.

LINKS TO THIRD-PARTY SITES

The Site contains links to other sites. The links are meant to enable access to publicly available information to those who are allowed to the Site only. Empire Surfaces makes no representations whatsoever about any other web site which you may access through the Site. When you leave the Site, please understand that Empire Surfaces has no control over the content on that web site. In addition, a link to a non–Empire Surfaces web site does not imply and does not constitute sponsorship, endorsement, approval or responsibility for the content, or the use of such third–party web site. Empire Surfaces makes no representation or warranty as to any third–party products or services. No rights to use or copy the information on this or the third–party site are granted or implied.

USER GENERATED CONTENT

User Generated Content (“UGC”) refers to the content added by users or visitors to the Site, as opposed to content created by the Site. All content uploaded or posted or shared to the Site by any users is UGC. We do not check UGC for appropriateness, violations of copyright, trademarks, or other rights or other violations of these Terms. UGC, as a part of the Site, is provided without a warranty of any kind, in accordance with the terms of this Site.

By providing UGC, you grant Empire Surfaces, its legal representatives and successors, as well as persons and companies acting with its permission, the perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable right and license to use, copy, modify, delete in its entirety, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from and/or sell and/or distribute such content and/or incorporate such content into any form, medium or technology throughout the world without compensation to you.

You understand that we may use your UGC, and any ideas, concepts or know-how contained therein, without payment of money or any other form of consideration, for any purpose including advertising, promotional, marketing, publicity, trade or commercial purposes, without attribution, and without the requirement of any permission from or payment to you or to any other person or entity. You agree that UGC may be copied or exported from the Site and published elsewhere on the internet, including on any social media sites.

All UGC must comply with these Terms and our posting guidelines which may change from time to time. In addition, you understand that any UGC may be removed from the Site at any time for any reason.

When you submit UGC, you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control the rights to your UGC and that the UGC is your original creation, has not been copied, recreated, reproduced, previously published, derived from or otherwise taken in whole or in part from any other work and the UGC does not infringe the intellectual property, privacy or publicity rights or any other legal or moral rights of any third party, or violate applicable laws or regulations. You also warrant and represent that each person in the UGC has given their written permission and consent to be included and displayed publicly on the Site and our other social media sites and marketing materials and advertising, which you agree to provide to us upon request. You also represent and warrant that:

a. You are at the least the age of legal majority in the state in which you reside;

b. The UGC is not obscene, indecent, does not defame, disparage, invade the privacy of, or infringe upon or violate any rights of any kind whatsoever of any individual or entity;

c. The UGC does not violate any law, rule, or regulation of any governmental entity;

d. The UGC is not subject to any obligation of confidentiality;

e. The UGC does not contain any fraudulent statements or misrepresentations that could damage Empire Surfaces or any third party; and

f. You have not received any compensation of any kind for any UGC, unless properly disclosed pursuant to FTC guidelines.

You agree to indemnify and hold Empire Surfaces (and its officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, employees and third-party service providers), harmless from all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of a breach of your representations and warranties set forth above, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party. Upon submission of UGC you hereby release Empire Surfaces and Releasees from, and irrevocably waive, any and all claims that use of your UGC with or without your name infringes or violates your rights in the UGC or any work or material contained in your UGC.

You further agree not to post any content or mechanism that attempts to gain access to restricted areas of the Site, or collect or solicit passwords or personal information from other users, or otherwise engage in any commercial activities via the Site. In addition, you agree not to transmit, upload, post, e-mail, or otherwise make available any software viruses, unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, solicitation or promotional material, including chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of spam.

You understand that, under no circumstances will Empire Surfaces be liable in any way for any UGC, including, without limitation, for any errors or omissions in any UGC, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred by you as a result of the use of any UGC transmitted, uploaded, posted, e-mailed or otherwise made available via the Site.

You also agree that we are under no obligation to use any UGC. You acknowledge that we reserve the right to change, condense, edit, modify, transmit, display, or delete any UGC, and you waive any rights you have in having the material altered or changed posting, e-mailing or otherwise making available on the Site or other social media sites.

ARBITRATION

Except for intellectual property claims, any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of, relating to or concerning in any way these terms or website, whether sounding in contract, tort, or otherwise, shall be fully and finally settled by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association in Calhoun, Georgia. The arbitrator(s) may award declaratory or injunctive relief only in favor of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by that party’s individual claim. Judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Legal fees, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs of arbitration, shall be awarded to the prevailing party in the arbitration. Claims may only be brought by a party in its individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class or representative proceeding, and the arbitrator or arbitrators may not consolidate more than one person’s claims or otherwise preside over any class or representative proceeding.

Intellectual property claims not submitted for arbitration shall be brought in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, and the parties agree to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

DMCA

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law. If you believe in good faith that your copyrighted work has been reproduced on our site without authorization in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please notify us in writing to us at our designated address:

Mohawk Industries, Inc.
ATTN: Copyright Agent
Legal Department
160 S. Industrial Blvd
Calhoun, GA 30701
USA

Please note that all notices and counter-notices must meet statutory requirements imposed by the DMCA. Upon such notification, or if we learn of such a claim from another source, we may remove such UGC. Please also note that, if you materially misrepresent that online material, product, or activity is infringing your copyrights, you may be liable for damages (including court costs and attorneys’ fees) and could be subject to criminal prosecution for perjury.

These Terms of Service represent the entire agreement between you and Empire Surfaces regarding your access to and use of the Site and supersede any prior statements or representations. Any rights not expressly granted by these Terms are expressly reserved by Empire Surfaces. Content and features are subject to change or termination without notice in the editorial discretion of Empire Surfaces. By using the Site, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF SERVICE. If you are dissatisfied with the Site or any content on the Site or with these Terms of Service, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue using the Site.

Contact us if you have questions about our legal notice.