Terms and conditions of use


Welcome to our website. These are our terms and conditions for use, which you may access in several ways, including but not limited to the World Wide Web via samoaobserver.ws, mobile phone and facebook feeds. In these terms and conditions, when we say the “Samoa Observer site” we mean the website operated by or on behalf of the Samoa Observer Newspaper, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.

1. Subscription

You may access areas of the Samoa Observer site that require subscription by creating an account with us. You agree to be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your passwords or other account identifiers which you choose and all activities that occur under your account.

By subscribing to the Samoa Observer site, you agree that:

  1. you are an individual and not an organisation or company;
  2. your account and password are personal to you and may not be used by anyone else to access the Samoa Observer site;
  3. you will not do anything which would assist anyone who is not a subscribed user to gain access to any subscriber only area of the Samoa Observer site; and
  4. you will not create subscription accounts for the purpose of abusing the functionality of the site, or other users; nor will you seek to pass yourself off as another user.
  5. If you subscribe during a promotion, you agree that you will be charged the promotional price every 4 weeks for 52 weeks, then full price every 4 weeks thereafter. Sales tax may apply.
  6. If there are any changes to subscription charges, we will notify you of the new amount at least 10 days in advance of the date of your next payment.

2. Termination of registration

If you no longer wish to have a subscription account, you may terminate your account yourself on our website. If you no longer accept these terms and conditions, or any future modification to these terms and conditions, you must cease using the Samoa Observer site. Continued use of the Samoa Observer site indicates your continued acceptance of these terms and conditions.

If, for any reason, we believe that you have not complied with these terms and conditions, we may, at our sole discretion, cancel your access to the registration areas of the Samoa Observer Site immediately and without prior notice.

We may terminate your subscription account, at our sole discretion, by emailing you at the address you have registered stating that the agreement has terminated.

3. Use of material appearing on the Samoa Observer site

Your use of the Samoa Observer site is for your own personal and non-commercial use only. You acknowledge that, as between the Samoa Observer Newspaper and you, except for user content and advertisements (as discussed below), The Samoa Observer Newspaper is the sole owner of all content on the Samoa Observer site, including, without limitation, all applicable copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, trade names, logos, and other intellectual property rights thereto, as well as text, stories, images, graphics, logos, audio, video and other material appearing on the Samoa Observer site (“The Samoa Observer Newspaper Content”). The Samoa Observer site and the Samoa Observer Newspaper Content are protected by the copyright laws and other intellectual property laws the government of Samoa and New Zealand and are protected globally by applicable international copyright treaties.

You may download and print extracts from the the Samoa Observer Newspaper Content for your own personal and non-commercial use only, provided you maintain and abide by any author attribution, copyright or trademark notice or restriction in any material that you download or print. You may not use any of the Samoa Observer Newspaper Content for any other purpose without our prior written approval. Except as expressly authorised by the Samoa Observer Newspaper, you are not allowed to create a database in electronic or paper form comprising all or part of the material appearing on the Samoa Observer site.

If you wish to use our content other than as permitted by these terms and conditions, please contact us at [email protected]

4. Disclaimer of liability

To the extent permitted at law, we do not accept any responsibility for any statement in the Samoa Observer Newspaper Content. Nothing in the Samoa Observer Newspaper Content is provided for any specific purpose or at the request of any particular person. For the avoidance of confusion, we will not be liable for any loss caused as a result of your doing, or not doing, anything as a result of viewing, reading or listening to the Samoa Observer Newspaper Content or any part of it. You can access other sites via links from the Samoa Observer site. These sites are not under our control and we are not responsible in any way for any of their contents.

We give no warranties of any kind concerning the Samoa Observer site or the Samoa Observer Newspaper Content. In particular, we do not warrant that the Samoa Observer site or any of its contents is virus free. You must take your own precautions in this respect as we accept no responsibility for any infection by virus or other contamination or by anything which has destructive properties.

Although we will do our best to provide constant, uninterrupted access to the Samoa Observer site, we do not guarantee this. We accept no responsibility or liability for any interruption or delay.

5. Third party advertising on the Samoa Observer site

You will see advertising material submitted by third parties on the Samoa Observer site. Each individual advertiser is solely responsible for the content of its advertising material. We accept no responsibility for the content of advertising material, including, without limitation, any error, omission or inaccuracy therein.

If you want to advertise on the Samoa Observer site, please email the user help team at [email protected] and they will pass your details on to our advertising sales team.

6. User content

Users of our site may be permitted to submit content for publication in various areas of the Samoa Observer site.

You will be deemed to consent to these terms and conditions, if you choose to post any content or comments to the Samoa Observer site.

When you submit content to us, you agree and represent that you have created that content, or you have received permission from, or are authorised by, the owner of any part of the content to submit it to the Samoa Observer site.

You or the owner of the content still own the copyright in the content sent to us, but by submitting content to us, you are granting us an unconditional, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully transferable, perpetual worldwide license to use, publish and/or transmit, and to authorise third-parties to use, publish and/or transmit your content in any format and on any platform, either now known or hereinafter invented.

You acknowledge and agree that when you post content on the Samoa Observer site or view content provided by others, you are doing so at your own discretion and risk, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, of that content. You further acknowledge and agree that the views expressed by you and other users in that content do not necessarily reflect the views of the Samoa Observer Newspaper, and we do not support or endorse any user content. You acknowledge that we have no obligation to pre-screen, monitor, review, or edit any content posted by you and other users on the Samoa Observer site.

We, or authorised third parties, reserve the right to cut, crop, edit or refuse to publish, your content at our or their sole discretion. We may remove your content from use at any time.

We accept no liability in respect of any content submitted by users and published by us or by authorised third parties.

You warrant that the content you submit to us is not obscene, threatening, harassing, libelous, deceptive, fraudulent, and invasive of another’s privacy, offensive, defamatory of any person or illegal. You warrant that the content you submit to us does not infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other intellectual or proprietary or privacy right of any party or individual.

You agree not to (i) post content which is deliberately intended to upset or harm other users; (ii) use the Samoa Observer site to post or otherwise transmit content that victimises, harasses, degrades, or intimidates an individual or group of individuals on the basis of any impermissible classification, including, without limitation, religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, creed, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, military status or disability; (iii) post or otherwise transmit any content that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files, or programs designed to interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of the Samoa Observer site or any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment; (iv) upload or otherwise transmit any content, or take any other actions with respect to your use of the Samoa Observer site, that would constitute, or would otherwise encourage, criminal conduct or give rise to civil liability; or (v) use the Samoa Observer site for commercial purposes, including, without limitation, submitting any material to solicit funds or to promote, advertise or solicit the sale of any goods or services.

You understand that the technical processing and transmission of the Samoa Observer site may involve (i) transmissions over various networks; and (ii) changes to content to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices. The Samoa Observer Newspaper assumes no responsibility for the deletion or failure to store postings of content or other information submitted by you or other users to the Samoa Observer site.

If you are under 16, you confirm that you have permission of your parent or the Samoa Observer Newspaper to submit content.

Any queries regarding copyright and your content should be directed in the first instance to [email protected]

Readers of our print products submitting content to the Samoa Observer Newspaper News & Media should read our terms here.

7. Data protection

To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our privacy policy at samoaobserver.ws/privacy

8. Changes to these terms and conditions of use

Please note that we may change these terms and conditions from time to time at our sole discretion and we reserve the right to do without your consent. Any revised terms and conditions will be applicable at the time of posting on the Samoa Observer site. Please ensure that you review these terms and conditions regularly as you will be deemed to have accepted a variation if you continue to use the Samoa Observer site after it has been posted.

9. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Samoa Observer Newspaper, its parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and each of their respective officers, directors, and employees from any and all claims, liabilities, costs, and expenses, including, but not limited to, attorneys’ fees and expenses, arising out a breach by you or any user of your account of these terms and conditions or privacy policy or arising out of a breach of your obligations, representation and warranties under these terms and conditions.

10. No waiver

Our failure to insist upon or enforce any provision of these terms of service shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right of the Samoa Observer Newspaper.

11. Additional disclaimers

Visitors to the Samoa Observer site agree that their use of the Samoa Observer site is at their own sole risk. The Samoa Observer site is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied including but not limited to: (i) any warranties concerning the availability, accuracy, appropriateness, reliability, timeliness, or usefulness of the content of the Samoa Observer site; and (ii) any warranties of title, warranty of non-infringement, or warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The Samoa Observer Newspaper also makes no representations and warranties as to any linked sites and the Samoa Observer Newspaper has no liability or responsibility with respect to your use of such sites. In some instances, content made available on the Samoa Observer site may represent the opinions and judgments of providers or users, such as user content. The Samoa Observer Newspaper and its affiliates do not endorse nor shall they be responsible or liable for the accuracy or reliability of any statement made on the Samoa Observer site by anyone other than authorised Samoa Observer employees acting in such capacity.

This disclaimer of liability applies to any damages or injuries caused by the Samoa Observer site, including, without limitation, those damages or injuries occurring as a result of: (i) any error, omission, deletion, or defect in the content available on the Samoa Observer site; or (ii) any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction of records, information or data, unauthorised access to, alteration of, or use of records, information or data, whether for breach of contract, tort, negligence, defamation, or any other cause of action. The Samoa Observer Newspaper does not warrant or guarantee that access to the Samoa Observer site will be uninterrupted or error-free.

Applicable law may not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so the above exclusion may not apply to you.

12. Limitation of liability

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHERWISE, IN NO EVENT WILL THE SAMOA OBSERVER NEWSPAPER OR ITS AFFILIATES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS, BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT OR INDIRECT LOSS, DAMAGE, COST, EXPENSE OR LIABILITY OF ANY KIND (“LOSS”) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE AVAILABILITY, USE, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE THE SAMOA OBSERVER SITE, INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION): (i) DAMAGES FOR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS AND OTHER PROFITS, LOSS OF PROGRAMS, COST OF REPLACING EQUIPMENT OR SOFTWARE OR LOSS OF RECORDS, INFORMATION OR DATA, LOSS OF USE OF DATA, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, LOSS OF CUSTOMERS, LOSS OF OR DAMAGE TO REPUTATION, LOSS OF CAPITAL, DOWNTIME COSTS, LOSS UNDER OR IN RELATION TO ANY OTHER CONTRACT, OR LOSS OF ANTICIPATED SAVINGS OR BENEFITS; (ii) ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL LOSS; OR (iii) ANY LOSS ATTRIBUTABLE TO ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR OTHER INACCURACIES IN THE SAMOA OBSERVER SITE. THE EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY IN THIS SECTION 17 APPLIES EVEN IF THE SAMOA OBSERVER NEWSPAPER SHALL HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS.

BECAUSE SOME COUNTRIES OR JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR PARTICULAR KINDS OF LOSS, IN SUCH COUNTRIES OR JURISDICTIONS, THE SAMOA OBSERVER NEWSPAPER’S LIABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW (THEREBY MINIMIZING THE SAMOA OBSERVER NEWSPAPER’S LIABILITY TO YOU TO THE LOWEST AMOUNT THAT APPLICABLE LAW PERMITS).

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