Terms & Conditions

Last updated: February 26, 2024

Please read these Terms and Conditions ("Terms", "Terms and Conditions") carefully before using the https://www.metrotimes.com website (the "Service") operated by Big Lou Holdings, LLC ("us", "we", or "our").

Your access to and use of the Service is conditioned upon your acceptance of and compliance with these Terms. These Terms apply to all visitors, users and others who wish to access or use the Service.

By accessing or using the Service you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you disagree with any part of the terms then you do not have permission to access the Service.

Communications

By creating an Account, signing up for a contest, purchasing a ticket, or subscribing to a newsletter on our service, you agree to subscribe to newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information we may send. However, you may opt out of receiving any, or all, of these communications from us by following the unsubscribe link or instructions provided in any email we send.

Content

Our Service allows you to submit, post, link, store, share and otherwise make available certain information, text, graphics, videos, or other material ("Content"). You are responsible for the Content that you post on or through the Service, including its legality, reliability, and appropriateness.

By posting Content on or through the Service, You represent and warrant that: (i) the Content is yours (you own it) and/or you have the right to use it and the right to grant us the rights and license as provided in these Terms, and (ii) that the posting of your Content on or through the Service does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights or any other rights of any person or entity. We reserve the right to terminate the account of anyone found to be infringing on a copyright.

You retain any and all of your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Service and you are responsible for protecting those rights. We take no responsibility and assume no liability for Content you or any third party posts on or through the Service. However, by posting Content using the Service you grant us the right and license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Content on and through the Service. You agree that this license includes the right for us to make your Content available to other users of the Service, who may also use your Content subject to these Terms.

Big Lou Holdings, LLC has the right but not the obligation to monitor and edit all Content provided by users. While the administrators and moderators of this user generated content or postings will attempt to remove any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. Therefore you acknowledge that all posts made to these forums, opinions posted and user generated content express the views and opinions of the author and not the administrators, moderators, metrotimes.com or its affiliates and parent company or companies or webmaster and hence will not be held liable.

You agree not to post, email, or otherwise make available Content: *that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, pornographic, libelous, or invasive of another's privacy, or harms minors in any way;

• that harasses, degrades, intimidates or is hateful toward an individual or group of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age, or disability;
• that purports to be from any person or entity, including but not limited to a Provider employee, or falsely states or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity;
• that includes personal or identifying information about another person without that person's explicit consent;
• that is false, deceptive, misleading, deceitful, mis-informative, or constitutes "bait and switch"; that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party, or Content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships.
• that advertises any illegal services or the sale of any items the sale of which is prohibited or restricted by applicable law, including without limitation items the sale of which is prohibited or regulated by law
• that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
• that disrupts the normal flow of dialogue with an excessive number of messages (flooding attack) to the Service, or that otherwise negatively affects other users' ability to use the Service;

or

• that employs misleading email addresses, or forged headers or otherwise manipulated identifiers in order to disguise the origin of Content transmitted through the Service.

Additionally, you agree not to: *contact anyone who has asked not to be contacted;

• "stalk" or otherwise harass anyone;
• collect personal data about other users for commercial or unlawful purposes; use automated means, including scripts, spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools, or the like to download data from or upload data to the Service;
• post irrelevant Content, repeatedly post the same or similar Content or otherwise impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
• attempt to gain unauthorized access to Provider’s computer systems or any other user's computer systems, or engage in any activity that disrupts, diminishes the quality of, interferes with the performance of, or impairs the functionality of, the Service.
• Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned (and your service provider being informed). You agree that the webmaster, administrator and moderators of this forum have the right to remove, move or close any topic at any time should they see fit. As a user you agree to any information you have entered above being stored in a database. While this information will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent the webmaster, administrator and moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.

In addition, Content found on or through this Service are the property of Big Lou Holdings, LLC or used with permission. You may not distribute, modify, transmit, reuse, download, repost, copy, or use said Content, whether in whole or in part, for commercial purposes or for personal gain, without express advance written permission from us.

Ad hominem attacks on other posters and posts that degrade the level of discourse will be removed. Repeat violators of this policy will be banned from posting in the future.

Accounts

Detroit Metro Times does not require registration to access or view any free content and services within the site.

When you create an account with us, you guarantee that you are above the age of 18, and that the information you provide us is accurate, complete, and current at all times. Inaccurate, incomplete, or obsolete information may result in the immediate termination of your account on the Service.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password, including but not limited to the restriction of access to your computer and/or account. You agree to accept responsibility for any and all activities or actions that occur under your account and/or password, whether your password is with our Service or a third-party service. You must notify us immediately upon becoming aware of any breach of security or unauthorized use of your account.

You may not use as a username the name of another person or entity or that is not lawfully available for use, a name or trademark that is subject to any rights of another person or entity other than you, without appropriate authorization. You may not use as a username any name that is offensive, vulgar or obscene.

Membership Accounts

Detroit Metro Times offers paid membership accounts with some limited benefits available per membership level. Membership accounts are offered through a partnership with third-party service Pico, and can be managed, updated, or canceled at any time by the user/member.

When you create a membership account with us, you guarantee that you are above the age of 18, and that the information you provide us is accurate, complete, and current at all times. Inaccurate, incomplete, or obsolete information may result in the immediate termination of your account on the Service.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password, including but not limited to the restriction of access to your computer and/or account. You agree to accept responsibility for any and all activities or actions that occur under your account and/or password, whether your password is with our Service or a third-party service. You must notify us immediately upon becoming aware of any breach of security or unauthorized use of your account.

You may not use as a username the name of another person or entity or that is not lawfully available for use, a name or trademark that is subject to any rights of another person or entity other than you, without appropriate authorization. You may not use as a username any name that is offensive, vulgar or obscene.

As part of your membership account, you agree to receive emails regarding your account, membership promotions, or other communications in regard to membership. These emails are separate from any Detroit Metro Times editorial newsletter subscriptions to which you may opt-in.

For membership programs, we store customer emails, some geo-location information based on IP, but not your direct IP address. We may also store information about user actions you take on our site such as article views and user interactions. For a full overview of what data we track and collect, visit https://trypico.com/terms. You may cancel your membership at any time, and request data deletion at https://trypico.com/terms or [email protected].

Copyright Policy

We respect the intellectual property rights of others. It is our policy to respond to any claim that Content posted on the Service infringes on the copyright or other intellectual property rights ("Infringement") of any person or entity.

If you are a copyright owner, or authorized on behalf of one, and you believe that the copyrighted work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please submit your claim via email to [email protected], with the subject line: "Copyright Infringement" and include in your claim a detailed description of the alleged Infringement as detailed below, under "DMCA Notice and Procedure for Copyright Infringement Claims"

You may be held accountable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) for misrepresentation or bad-faith claims on the infringement of any Content found on and/or through the Service on your copyright.

DMCA Notice and Procedure for Copyright Infringement Claims

You may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by providing our Copyright Agent with the following information in writing (see 17 U.S.C 512(c)(3) for further detail):

• an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright's interest;
• a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed, including the URL (i.e., web page address) of the location where the copyrighted work exists or a copy of the copyrighted work;
• identification of the URL or other specific location on the Service where the material that you claim is infringing is located;
• your address, telephone number, and email address;
• a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
• a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.
• You can contact our Copyright Agent via email at [email protected]

Intellectual Property

The Service and its original content (excluding Content provided by users), features and functionality are and will remain the exclusive property of Big Lou Holdings, LLC and its licensors. The Service is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws of both the United States and foreign countries. Our trademarks and trade dress may not be used in connection with any product or service without the prior written consent of Big Lou Holdings, LLC.

Links To Other Web Sites

Our Service may contain links to third party web sites or services that are not owned or controlled by Big Lou Holdings, LLC

Big Lou Holdings, LLC has no control over, and assumes no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third party web sites or services. We do not warrant the offerings of any of these entities/individuals or their websites.

You acknowledge and agree that Big Lou Holdings, LLC shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, goods or services available on or through any such third party web sites or services.

We strongly advise you to read the terms and conditions and privacy policies of any third party web sites or services that you visit.

Termination

We may terminate or suspend your account and bar access to the Service immediately, without prior notice or liability, under our sole discretion, for any reason whatsoever and without limitation, including but not limited to a breach of the Terms.

If you wish to terminate your account, you may simply discontinue using the Service.

All provisions of the Terms which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Big Lou Holdings, LLC and its licensee and licensors, and their employees, contractors, agents, officers and directors, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees), resulting from or arising out of a) your use and access of the Service, by you or any person using your account and password; b) a breach of these Terms, or c) Content posted on the Service.

Limitation Of Liability

In no event shall Big Lou Holdings, LLC, nor its directors, employees, partners, agents, suppliers, or affiliates, be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, including without limitation, loss of profits, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting from (i) your access to or use of or inability to access or use the Service; (ii) any conduct or content of any third party on the Service; (iii) any content obtained from the Service; and (iv) unauthorized access, use or alteration of your transmissions or content, whether based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence) or any other legal theory, whether or not we have been informed of the possibility of such damage, and even if a remedy set forth herein is found to have failed of its essential purpose.

Disclaimer

Your use of the Service is at your sole risk. The Service is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. The Service is provided without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement or course of performance.

Big Lou Holdings, LLC its subsidiaries, affiliates, and its licensors do not warrant that a) the Service will function uninterrupted, secure or available at any particular time or location; b) any errors or defects will be corrected; c) the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components; or d) the results of using the Service will meet your requirements.

Exclusions

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the limitations above may not apply to you.

Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of Michigan, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of those rights. If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable by a court, the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in effect. These Terms constitute the entire agreement between us regarding our Service, and supersede and replace any prior agreements we might have had between us regarding the Service.

Changes

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time. Such notice of a change or termination of these Terms may be provided by e-mail or by posting the changes in an appropriate location on the Web site.

By continuing to access or use our Service after any revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised terms. If you do not agree to the new terms, you are no longer authorized to use the Service.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at [email protected].

Contests/Giveaways Rules and Restrictions | Last updated: February 26, 2024

Employees of Detroit Metro Times, Inc., their parent, subsidiary, and affiliated companies, and members of the immediate family or household of anyone so employed are ineligible to participate or win.

No purchase or internet access necessary. To enter, complete a 3x5 card with your name, home address, age, telephone number and e-mail address (if you have one) together with any other information required in the contest description. Submit your entry to Detroit Metro Times Contests, PO Box 20734, Ferndale, MI 48220. Contest begins and ends as specified in the contest description. All entries must be received by the date required in the contest description. Entry limited as specified in the contest description. Incomplete entries are void. No mechanically reproduced entries permitted. Not responsible for lost, late or misdirected entries, illegible entries or entries containing incorrect information. Not responsible for any problems or technical malfunctions of any telephone, computer or on-line or Internet systems or services. Entries become the property of the Detroit Metro Times and will not be acknowledged or returned. Prize winners will be selected from a random drawing held on or about the date specified in the contest description from among all eligible entries received.

Prize drawings will be conducted by Detroit Metro Times Contests, PO Box 20734, Ferndale, MI 48220. The Prizewinners will be notified by mail, email or telephone. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Any other expenses, including travel and lodging expenses, relating to the prize package not specified are the sole responsibility of winners. Open to legal U.S. residents who, as of the date specified in the contest description are the age specified in the contest description. All contests are open to legal Michigan residents only (ages 21 and over unless otherwise stated). All contests are void where prohibited.

All federal/state/local taxes are the sole responsibility of Prizewinners. All federal/state/local laws and regulations apply. Potential Prizewinners must execute an Affidavit of Eligibility/Release of Liability/Prize Acceptance Form within 15 days of notification. Noncompliance/return of prize notification as undeliverable will result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner. By entering, participants agree to release and hold harmless Detroit Metro Times, Inc., their parent, subsidiary and affiliated entities, directors, officers, employees, attorneys, agents, and representatives from any damage, injury, death, loss, claim, action, demand, or other liability that may arise from their acceptance and/or use of any prize or their participation in this promotion, or from any misuse, or malfunction of any prize awarded.

Winner is not entitled to transfer prize or obtain a substitute prize. Detroit Metro Times, at its sole discretion, may substitute a prize of equal or greater value. Acceptance of Prize constitutes consent to use winner’s name and likeness for editorial, advertising and publicity purposes without additional compensation, except where prohibited by law. Detroit Metro Times further reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the sweepstakes in the event the sweepstakes is not capable of completion as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering or technical failures of any kind. By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decision of the judges.

A reader is eligible to win a Detroit Metro Times prize only once every thirty (30) days. All winners must present valid identification Winners must pick up their prize at Detroit Metro Times offices between 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday, unless alternate arrangements have been made through the Detroit Metro Times Promotions Department. Winners will have thirty (30) days to pick up their prize. Failure to pick up their prize will result in forfeiture of said prize. Detroit Metro Times reserves the right to disqualify any contest participant for failure to comply with the rules. All decisions of Detroit Metro Times are final. Detroit Metro Times reserves the right to supplement or change contest rules at any time. Detroit Metro Times reserves the right to make changes to the rules of any contest. Material changes will be published in the paper or otherwise publicly disseminated.

Decisions of the judges with respect to all sweepstakes matters are final. By participating in this promotion, entrants agree to be bound by the Official Rules and decisions of the judges. Detroit Metro Times is not responsible for any typographical or other error in the printing of the offer, administration of the contest or in the announcement of the prizes. Copies of the written contest rules are available by request to PO Box 20734, Ferndale, MI 48220.