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To enroll in the Japanese Online
Institute (JOI) and to purchase and/or make use of
JOI lessons, you agree to the following terms and
conditions of use (hereinafter "the Terms"). By
enrolling in JOI, you accept all terms and
conditions fully. If you disagree with any part of
these terms and conditions, please refrain from
enrolling.
This agreement represents the entire
contract between you and JOI with respect to the
web site and the fee-based services therein.
Definitions
Earth Communications, Inc., herewith
will be referred to as "the Company", the service
provided, a web based language lesson service,
will be herewith referred to as "the Service", and
the web site offering the service will be referred
to as "the Site".
Term 1: Modifications to
the Terms
1. The Company has the right
to modify this agreement and any policies
affecting or pertaining to the Site only
after informing the users of any changes
that may concern them.
2. By displaying any change in the terms and
contract on the Site in a rational and clear
manner, or through direct communication via
email, the Company will be deemed to have
informed the members. |
Term 2: Member Registration
A person is considered to be an Applicant
if that person has begun the process of
registration but has not received a confirmation
of service. One becomes a Member only after the
full process of registration, transaction and
confirmation is complete.
If an Applicant is below the age of 20, a parent,
guardian, or responsible adult must complete the
application process on the Applicant's behalf.
1. Member registration
is equivalent to agreement to these terms
and conditions.
2. By accepting the Terms you also accept
the methods of payment system used and set
forth on the Site.
3. You agree not to create a false
identity or give any false information,
including email addresses, for the purpose
of misleading or any other purposes.
4. The Terms refer to the Member as an
individual. For companies, clubs,
organizations, or other groups, a separate
application system is used. Please contact
us directly.
5. As a Member you agree that the material
and content contained within or provided
by the Company is for your own personal
use only and may not be used for
commercial purposes or distributed
commercially.
6. Membership may be refused by the
Company, at the sole discretion of the
Company. An Applicant may be deemed
incapable of receiving Membership by the
Company for the reasons below.
1. The Applicant is
shown not to exist.
2. The Applicant is already a
Member.
3. The person has been banned from
the Service previously for
activities that the Company deemed
in violation of the terms set forth
herewith.
4. Information provided by the
Applicant in the registration
process has been deemed untrue,
misleading, incomplete or in any
manner incomprehensible.
5. The credit company or other
financial services company dealing
with the Site payment system elected
not to authorize payment for reasons
beyond the Company's knowledge.
6. The Applicant has previously been
a Member and has had an
inappropriate payment of fees record
in the past.
7. The Applicant does not have the
legal standing to agree to these
terms due to age, mental ability, or
legal requirement of guardianship.
8. Other reasons of incapability as
set forth in Term 12.
9. Any other reason that the Company
deems rational to disallow
Membership. |
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Term 3: Membership Qualification
1. Only an Applicant that has
satisfied the conditions specified in Term 2
is considered a Member.
2. However, if the Company confers
Membership to an Applicant who later is
shown to have failed to satisfy the Terms of
Membership as described herein, the Company
reserves the right to revoke the Membership.
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Term 4: Disclosure of Change of
Information
1. If any of the information
given in the registration form changes (such
as, but not limited to legal name or
address), the Member must inform the Company
of all such changes immediately.
2. The onus of disclosure lies on the
Member. Any communication by email that is
not received will be regarded as
undisclosed. |
Term 5: Members' Privacy
All information collected by the Company
through the Membership Application will be
regarded as fully protected information under
Internet Privacy Laws. Information will not be
released to a third party except if one or more of
the following conditions is met.
1. The Member agrees to have
his or her information released.
2. The Company is ordered by law to release
specific information.
3. The identity of the individual cannot be
discerned (an unlikely case). |
Term 6: Methods of Informing Members
1. The Company has the right
to modify this agreement and any policies
affecting or pertaining to the Site but will
use the system of placing information on the
Site as our main method of Information
dissemination. We will endeavor to set out
all changes in a rational and clear manner.
Placing information on the Site meets the
Company's disclosure requirements under this
agreement.
2. Email communication informing Members of
any changes in the terms will be made if
deemed necessary by the Company. |
Term 7: User ID and Password
1. In order to access the
Service, you will be required to make use of
a username and a registration password. You
are responsible for the security and proper
use of this username and password and must
take all necessary steps to ensure that this
information is kept confidential, used
properly, and not disclosed to any other
person.
2. You are responsible for ensuring that
there is no unauthorized access to your
username or password. You will be entirely
liable for all activities conducted through
your username whether authorized by you or
not.
3. You must inform the Company immediately
if you have any reason to believe that a
password has become known to someone not
authorized to use it or if a password is
being or is likely to be used in an
unauthorized way.
4. Membership may be rescinded if members
are discovered sharing or selling passwords
to third parties.
5. You must inform the Company immediately
if you have any reason to believe that a
password has been lost, stolen, or
compromised in any way. |
Term 8: Billing Policy
1. Under the Terms, you agree
to pay via credit card, PayPal transfer, or
direct bank transfer the charges as set
forth on the Site.
2. Once the payment transaction has been
completed, the commencement of Service
occurs. It is only after this confirmation
has occurred that Service begins.
3. If there is any change in the price of
Service, the Company will inform members on
the Site and by email communication. |
Term 9: Limitations of Service
Members agree to the limitations of
the Service as set forth in the Terms and on the
Site.
1. Lesson packages
The Company has established prices of
these lesson packages, and the Members who
have completed payment will, unless in
violation of these terms and conditions,
have full use of the services within the
limitations of the package purchased. When
all lessons has been taken, or when the
expiration date of the lessons has passed,
the Member must discontinue use of the
Service until the Member re-enrolls and
re-accepts the Terms.
2. Limitation of use
1. The price and
services provided are limited to
those specified on the Site. Members
may not expect any other services or
charges. The Service commences once
the Member has completed enrollment
procedures.
2. The lessons are provided on the
Site within a package system, and
the fee of service works under a
package system. Any division of fees
to smaller units is not possible,
regardless of whether any lesson
tickets remain unused beyond the
expiration date of the package
established at the time of purchase.
3. The Company does not guarantee
lessons with a particular
curriculum, teacher, or time of day.
4. All unused lesson tickets become
invalid on and unusuable beyond the
expiration date established at the
time of purchase, regarding of the
reason or circumstances for their
non-use.
5. If a Member elects to cancel
his/her Membership, the cancellation
must follow the rules and limits as
explained within these terms.
6. An expiration date applies to all
lesson ticket purchases, as
specified at the time of purchase.
For a given expiration date, all
tickets must be used (i.e., lessons
completed) no later than 00:00 Japan
time (GMT + 9 hours) on that
expiration date. |
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3. Refunds of membership fees
Regardless of whether a Member
wishes to cancel his/her membership, the
Company shall not refund the lesson fee in
part or whole, including but not limited to
unforeseen circumstances including the
Member's computer system failure, Internet
provider failure, inability or difficulty
making use of the Service for technical or
other reasons, an operational failure of the
Company's system, circumstances resulting
from natural disasters, circumstances
resulting from political crises, and
circumstances resulting from war.
The foregoing notwithstanding, in accordance
with the "cooling off" provision of Japan's
commerce law, Members who reside in Japan
and who have purchased a ticket package
having a total lesson fee of 50,000 yen or
more and an expiration term of two months or
longer shall be granted a refund of the
unused portion of said package, provided the
Member requests a refund and subject to the
following terms. |
| Contract
cancellation ("cooling off") is offered
without condition for a period of eight
days starting with the day following the
establishment of the contract (including
Saturday, Sunday, and holidays), provided
the Member notifies the Company in
writing. |
| Cooling off takes
effect from the time the written
notification of contract cancellation is
sent. The applicant (the person or legal
entity requesting contract cancellation)
shall send a postcard or other printed
form to the Company with the following
information: |
(1) Applicant's
name (if the applicant's name and the
Member's name differ, include the Member's
name as well)
(2) Application date or date of contract
establishment
(3) Date of acceptance of written contract
(e-mail from the Company establishing the
contract)
(4) Name of lesson package
(5) Lesson fee covered by the contract
(6) Reason for cancellation of the
contract in question
(7) Date this printed form was written
(8) Name and address of person writing
this printed form |
| Note: The use of
delivery-certified mail, registered mail,
and/or contents-certified mail is
recommended, because these services offer
proof to the Member of his/her application
for contract cancellation. |
Early Contract Cancellation
If the cooling off period has passed at the time a
cancellation request is received, a refund of
unused lesson tickets shall be available, subject
to a cancellation fee and other terms as listed
below. In the cancellation request, please include
the Member's name, username, address, telephone
number, lesson package name, lesson fee covered by
the contract, and reason for cancellation.
1. After the cooling off period expires, in the
event the Member has made no use of the Company's
service (no tickets have been used):
■The lesson fee applicable to
the unused tickets shall be calculated by
multiplying the per-ticket price at the time
of purchase by the number of unused tickets.
■A cancellation fee of 15,000 yen shall be
assessed.
■The Member shall be responsible for any
bank transfer fees associated with the
refund. |
2. After the cooling off period expires, in the
event the Member has made use of the Company's
service (one or more tickets have been used) and
the Member requests a refund of the unused
tickets:
■The lesson fee applicable to
the unused tickets shall be calculated by
multiplying the per-ticket price at the time
of purchase by the number of unused tickets.
■A cancellation fee equivalent to 20% of the
lesson fee applicable to the unused tickets
or 50,000 yen, whichever is less, shall be
assessed.
■The Member shall be responsible for any
bank transfer fees associated with the
refund. |
Term 10: Member Responsibility
1. Members may not render the
Site or the Service for any inappropriate
use.
2. The Company, the Site, the teachers, and
the Members are all bound by the laws,
rules, and rights as normally used on the
Internet on any matters not specified or
indicated in the Terms. You also agree to
comply with Internet protocols and
standards.
3. The Company will protect all Members'
registration information using Internet
Standard Protocol measures for security of
data.
4. If the data is breached or hacked by a
third party, the Company cannot bear a
responsibility for any resulting damage or
personal loss.
5. Members may not use any material gained
from the Company's site for sale or
distribution purposes to a third party.
6. Payments to the Company are made through
PayPal. In the case of any transaction
difficulties or mishandling of data between
the Member and PayPal, the Company may
require, as a condition of Membership, the
Member to deal directly with PayPal. |
Term 11: Banned Activities
1. You agree that the material
and content contained within or provided by
the Company is for your own personal use
only and may not be used for commercial
purposes or distributed commercially.
2. You may not conduct any acts that are
counter to internationally acceptable laws
and statutes, including but not restricted
to Copyright Infringement Laws, Privacy
Laws, Patent Infringement Laws, and Human
Rights Abuse Laws.
3. You may not mirror any material contained
on the Site or any other material provided
to you through the web lesson.
4. You, the Member personally or through any
third party, agree not to use the Service
made available to you on the Site to conduct
acts which would cause the whole or part of
service to be interrupted, damaged, rendered
less efficient or impaired in any way.
5. You, the Member personally or through any
third party, agree not to use the Service
for any improper, immoral, fraudulent or
unlawful purposes or to send receive,
upload, download, use or reuse any material
which is offensive, abusive, indecent,
defamatory, obscene, or menacing.
6. You, the Member personally or through any
third party, agree not to use the Service
for any political, religious, or other acts
that may be deemed as similar.
7. You, the Member personally or through any
third party, agree not to use the Service
made available to you on the Site to conduct
acts which are considered defamatory to the
Company.
8. You, the Member personally or through any
third party, agree not to use the Service
made available to you on the Site to conduct
acts which are considered indecent, a
nuisance, or inconvenient to the Service
provided by the Company.
9. You, the Member personally or through any
third party, agree not to use the Service
made available to you on the Site to conduct
acts which are considered criminal by
accepted law.
10. You, the Member personally or through
any third party, agree not to use the
Service made available to you on the Site to
conduct acts which are considered damaging
to the Company and the Service in any way.
11. You, the Member personally or through
any third party, agree not to use the
Service made available to you on the Site to
conduct acts which appear to be criminal by
reasonable observance.
12. You, the Member personally or through
any third party, agree not to use the
Service made available to you on the Site to
conduct acts or prepare to conduct acts that
are damaging to the Service or the Company.
13. You, the Member personally or through
any third party, agree not to use the
Service made available to you on the Site to
divulge information that is false or other
than truthful.
14. You, the Member personally or through
any third party, agree not to use the
Service made available to you on the Site to
conduct acts or prepare to conduct acts that
are profit motivated or are aimed at
financial gain.
15. You, the Member personally or through
any third party, agree not to use the
Service made available to you on the Site to
conduct acts or prepare to conduct acts that
are considered harmful to minors.
16. You, the Member personally or through
any third party, agree not to use the
Service made available to you on the Site to
conduct acts or prepare to conduct acts that
are deemed offensive, abusive, indecent,
defamatory, obscene, menacing or damaging to
the Service, the Company, and/or its
Members.
17. You, the Member personally or through
any third party, agree not to use the
Service made available to you on the Site to
conduct acts or prepare to conduct acts that
deemed to be racially discriminatory or
conduct any form of discrimination.
18. You, the Member personally or through
any third party, agree not to conduct any
act not mentioned above that the Company
judges to be unacceptable. |
Term 12: Suspension or Revocation of
Membership
The Company may terminate the Terms and revoke
Membership at any time in whole or in part with
immediate effect if:
1. You fail to comply with any
terms of this agreement; or
2. You supply information to the Company
which the Company deems false or misleading,
or under circumstances laid out in Term 2
and/or Term 11; or
3. You are found to have misused your
password or username; or
4. You are found to have behaved in a way
that is unacceptable by the Company; or
5. You are found to have behaved in a way
which is underhanded and/or criminal; or
6. You are found to have misused the System
for financial gain; or
7. You have failed to pay Membership fees;
or
8. You are found to have behaved in a way
which is discriminatory, defamatory,
offensive, of an obscene or menacing
character, or which in the Company's
judgment causes nuisance, annoyance,
inconvenience to any of the Members or
teachers; or
9. The Company has made numerous attempts
but has been unable to contact the Member;
or
10. You, the Member personally or through
any third party, violate any term laid out
herein; or
11. You conduct yourself or incite or cause
others to act in a way that is unacceptable
by the Company. |
Term 13: Change of
Service and Termination of Service
1. The Company reserves the
right to change or terminate the Terms of
the Service after a disclosure of changes is
made to all Members.
2. The Company reserves the right to change
or terminate or the Terms of the Service to
any Members who contravene the terms as set
out herein. |
Term 14: Postponement
of Service and Termination of Service
1. The Company reserves the
right to postpone Service for any technical
or other reasons deemed necessary for the
continuity of service. In such instances the
Company will attempt to inform the affected
Members in advance.
2. The Company cannot take responsibility
for any loss incurred by postponement or
termination of Service resulting from
third-party, illegal, or disruptive
behavior. |
Term 15: Indemnity
1. The Company cannot by
responsible for losses suffered due to an
inability to provide the Service caused by
any factor outside the Company's control,
including but not limited to technical
breakdown, industrial action, default or
failure of a third party, war,
governmental action, or by any act or
decision made by a court of competent
jurisdiction.
2. The Company will not be liable to
Members in the following circumstances:
1. Any dissatisfaction
by Members failing to reach their
individual academic or other goals.
2. As explained in Term 9, the
inability of a Member to find a
lesson schedule to match the
Member's preferred method or motive
of study.
3. Any information sent from the
Company's computer is not received
by the Member's computer.
4. Any difficulties that may arise
due the time difference between the
Member's location and the Company's
location or the physical location of
the Site.
5. If, unbeknownst to the Company,
information sent from the Company
contains elements of falsehood.
6. The Service is inexplicably or
unforeseeably interrupted.
7. The Member's computer or access
to the Service is interrupted or
terminated by and restricted to
Internet services and providers, the
Company's system failure, natural
disasters, political acts, or war. |
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3. In no case is the Company
liable for any losses a Member suffers if
the Company is unable to provide the Service
to the Member because of any factor outside
the Company's control, including but not
limited to technical breakdown, industrial
action, default or failure of a third party,
war, governmental action, or by any act or
decision made by a court of competent
jurisdiction.
4. The Company is not responsible for loss
incurred by Members who violate the terms
set forth herein.
5. The Company cannot guarantee the Service
in the event of failure to satisfy. |
Term 16
The company cannot take responsibility
for any mental, physical, financial, or other
damage that results from the cancellation,
postponement, or inability to use the Service by
Members or any other third parties acting on a
Member's behalf.
Term 17: Copyright Violation
1. The system, layout, design,
and content of the Site are protected by
copyright and may not be reproduced,
mirrored, mimicked, reverse engineered, or
broadcast without the express permission of
the Company.
2. By submitting as a researcher or
contributor any content or material to or
through the Site, you do so with the
knowledge that the Company or the Site may
copy, modify, distribute or create a
derivative work from that content in any
form. You warrant that the content or
material is fit for these purposes and agree
to indemnify the Company against all current
or future claims. You warrant and grant to
the Site a non-exclusive license to copy,
modify, distribute, and/or create a
derivative work from that content or
material or make use of any concepts
described in the content in the Company's
products or services without liability. You
further agree not to take action against the
Company in relation to our use, non-use,
modification, distribution, or other actions
taken with respect to your content or
material. You also grant the Site and the
Company the right to use such content for
personal, non-commercial purposes. |
Term 18: Change of Ownership
If there is a change of ownership
that affects the Service in any way, the Company
will inform the Members as soon as possible.
Term 19: Jurisdiction of
the Terms
The Terms take effect under the
National Law of Japan, and under International
Internet Protocol.
Term 20: Legal Action
If any legal action is sought or is
to be brought against the Company, the District
Court of Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan is the court of
first jurisdiction. The burden of any legal fees
shall not be borne by the Company unless thus
ordered to do so.
Term 21: Applicable
Language
This English-language document is a
translation of the original terms and conditions
as set out in the original Japanese text on this
site. The Japanese text takes legal precedent.
Took effect on February 14, 2006
Modified April 10, 2006
Modified February 14, 2007
Modified September 25, 2008
Modified March 16, 2009
Modified April 1, 2010
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