Google Gadgets and Themes API Terms of Service

Google Gadgets and Themes API Terms of Service

Last updated: September 2008

Welcome to Google!

1. Your relationship with Google

1.1 Your use of the Google Gadgets or Themes API (referred to as "Gadgets API" in this document) is subject to the terms of a legal agreement between you and Google. "Google" means Google Inc., whose principal place of business is at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States.

1.2 Unless otherwise agreed in writing with Google, your agreement with Google will always include, at a minimum, the terms and conditions set out in this document, including the relevant Program Policies (Google Gadgets, Themes). These are referred to below as the "Gadgets Terms." If you use the Gadgets API in conjunction with any other Google Data APIs or any other Google product or service (collectively, the "Services"), your agreement with Google will also include the terms applicable to those Services. All of these are referred to below as the "Additional Terms." Where Additional Terms apply, these will be accessible for you to read either within, or through your use of, that Service.

1.3 The Gadgets Terms, together with Google's Privacy Policy and the Additional Terms, form a legally binding agreement between you and Google in relation to your use of the Services. It is important that you take the time to read them carefully. Collectively, this legal agreement is referred to below as the "Terms."

1.4 If there is any contradiction between what the Additional Terms say and what the Gadgets Terms say, then the Gadgets Terms shall take precedence only as it relates to the Gadgets API, and not to any other Services.

1.5 You represent and warrant that you have full power, capacity and authority to accept these Terms. If you are accepting on behalf of your employer or another entity, you represent and warrant that you have full legal authority to bind your employer or such entity to these terms and conditions. If you don't have the legal authority to bind, please ensure that an authorized person from your entity consents to and accepts this agreement.

1.6 In this agreement, a "Gadget" consists of (1) a file consisting of code, including XML, HTML or JavaScript that uses the Google Gadgets Application Program Interface or Themes Application Program Interface ("Gadgets API") and (2) any "Content" contained within or made available through this file, including but not limited to data, written text, flash, images and computer code. Gadgets may have various forms, including "Themes" and "Gadget Ads."

2. Accepting the Terms

2.1 In order to use the Gadgets API you must first agree to the Terms. You may not use the Gadgets API if you do not accept the Terms. Before you continue, you should print or save a local copy of the Terms for your records.

2.2 You can accept the Terms by:

(A) clicking to accept or agree to the Terms, where this option is made available to you by Google in the user interface for any Services; or

(B) actually using Gadgets APIs. In this case, you understand and agree that Google will treat your use of a Gadgets API as acceptance of the Terms from that point onwards.

2.3 You may not use the Gadgets API and may not accept the Terms if you are a person barred from using the Services under the laws of the United States or the country in which you are resident or from which you use the Services.

3. Privacy and your Personal Information

3.1 For information about Google's data protection practices, please read Google's privacy policy at http://www.google.com/privacy.html. This policy explains how Google treats your personal information, and protects your privacy when you use the Services.

3.2 You agree to the use of your data in accordance with Google's privacy policy.

4. Provision of Services by Google

4.1 Google has subsidiaries and affiliated legal entities around the world ("Subsidiaries and Affiliates"). Sometimes, these companies will be providing the Services to you on behalf of Google itself. You acknowledge and agree that Subsidiaries and Affiliates will be entitled to provide the Services to you.

4.2 Google is constantly innovating in order to provide the best possible experience for its users. You acknowledge and agree that the form and nature of the Services which Google provides may change from time to time without prior notice to you. As part of this continuing innovation, you acknowledge and agree that Google may stop (permanently or temporarily) providing the Services (or any features within the Services) to you or to users generally at Google's sole discretion, without prior notice to you. Google reserves the right to refuse or discontinue participation to anyone, and to disable users' access to any Service, Gadget or Content, at any time in its sole discretion with or without notice.

4.3 You acknowledge and agree that if Google disables access to your account, you may be prevented from accessing the Services, the Gadgets API, your account details or any files or other data which is contained in your account.

4.4 You acknowledge and agree that while Google may not currently have set a fixed upper limit on the number of transmissions you may send or receive through the Services or on the amount of storage space used for the provision of any Services; such fixed upper limits may be set by Google at any time, at Google's discretion.

5. Use of the Services by you

5.1 In order to access certain Services, you may be required to provide information about yourself (such as identification or contact details) as part of the registration process for the Services, or as part of your continued use of the Services. You agree that any information you give to Google will always be accurate, correct and up to date. As part of your Gadget specification, Google may ask that you include in the file for your Gadget information such as your name and email address. Any information that you include in the Gadget file will be publicly available as part of the source code for your Gadget and Google (or others) may contact you regarding the Gadget using that information. Google may use this information when featuring the Gadget in our directory or for other uses.

5.2 You agree to use the Services only for purposes: (1) that are permitted by the Terms; (2) that are permitted by any applicable law, regulation, third-party contract, or generally accepted practices or guidelines in the relevant jurisdictions (including any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the United States or other relevant countries); and (3) that do no violate the legal rights of any third party, including but not limited to copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, and rights against defamation.

5.3 You agree that you will not engage in any activity that interferes with or disrupts the Services (or the servers and networks which are connected to the Services), including submitting or developing Gadgets that contain any harmful or malicious code, including but not limited to viruses and worms.

5.4 You agree that if you use the Gadgets API to develop a service for other users, you agree to protect the privacy and legal rights of those users. If your Gadget enables you or any party to gain access to information about users of the Services, including but not limited to personally identifying information or non-personally identifying usage information, you or the party receiving the information must make publicly available on your website, and abide by, a legally adequate privacy policy. If your application stores information submitted by users, it must do so securely. If the user provides you with Google Account information, you may only use that information to access the user's Google Account when, and for the limited purposes for which, the user has given you permission to do so.

5.5 Unless you have been specifically permitted to do so in a separate agreement with Google, you agree that you will not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, trade or resell the Gadgets API or the Services for any purpose, except as permitted by the Terms.

5.6 You agree that you are solely responsible for (and that Google has no responsibility to you or to any third party for) any breach of your obligations under the Terms and for the consequences (including any loss or damage which Google may suffer) of any such breach.

6. Your Gadget

6.1 Subject to the provisions in the Terms, you may develop, display and/or distribute your Gadget using the Services as part of a commercial or non-commercial enterprise, and you may develop your Gadget for use in accessing paid content or services. You may not charge users any separate fee for the use of the Gadget, unless you have entered into a separate agreement with Google or obtained Google's written permission. If you wish to sell or transfer your Gadget, you must obtain Google's written permission. The distribution of Gadgets on third party pages is generally governed by the Syndicated Google Gadgets Terms of Service for Webmasters. Themes may not be distributed on third party pages. For Gadgets created through the Gadget Ads programs, distribution is governed by the relevant Google AdSense terms.

6.2 Google reserves the right (but shall have no obligation) to pre-screen, review, flag, filter, modify, refuse or remove any Gadget from any Service.

6.3 You understand that by using the Services, your Gadget may be linked to, associated with or run on websites or other third party services that you may find offensive, indecent or objectionable and that, in this respect, you use the Services at your own risk.

6.4 You agree that you are solely responsible for (and that Google has no responsibility to you or to any third party for) the Gadget and any related Content that you create, transmit or display while using the Services, including whether the Gadget displays or behaves properly and you agree to maintain a fully functional Gadget at all times. You agree to promptly remove from Google's hosted Gadget directory any Gadget that you are no longer maintaining, and to cease all use of the Gadgets API if you are not maintaining any Gadgets. Google is not in any way responsible for the subsequent use or misuse by users who access your Gadget.

6.5 Your Gadget and related Content may not violate any posted Program Policies (Google Gadgets, Themes) or violate Google's Software Principles available at http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/software_principles.html (or such successor URL as Google may provide) and other policies as Google may develop from time to time.

7. Google's Proprietary Rights

7.1 You acknowledge and agree that Google (or Google's licensors) own all legal right, title and interest in and to the Services, including any intellectual property rights which subsist in the Services (whether those rights happen to be registered or not, and wherever in the world those rights may exist).

7.2 Unless you have agreed otherwise in writing with Google, nothing in the Terms gives you a right to use any of Google's trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features. If you have been given an explicit right to use any of these brand features in a separate written agreement with Google, then you agree that your use of such features shall be in compliance with that agreement, any applicable provisions of the Terms, and Google's brand feature use guidelines as updated from time to time. These guidelines can be viewed online here (or such other URL as Google may provide for this purpose from time to time).

7.3 You agree that you shall not remove, obscure, or alter any proprietary rights notices (including copyright and trademark notices) which may be affixed to or contained within the Services. Unless you have been expressly authorized to do so in writing by Google, you agree that in using the Services, you will not use any trademark, service mark, trade name, logo of any company or organization in a way that is likely or intended to cause confusion about the owner or authorized user of such marks, names or logos.

8. License from Google

8.1 Google gives you a personal, worldwide, royalty-free, non-assignable and non-exclusive license to use software, including the Gadgets API and any other client library, provided to you by Google as part of the Services (collectively referred to as the "Software" below). This license is for the sole purpose of enabling you to use and enjoy the benefit of the Services as provided by Google, in the manner permitted by the Terms.

8.2 You may not (and you may not permit anyone else to) copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, decompile or otherwise attempt to extract the source code of the Services or Software or any part thereof, unless this is expressly permitted or required by law, or unless you have been specifically told that you may do so by Google, in writing (e.g., through an open source software license).

8.3 Unless Google has given you specific written permission to do so (e.g., through an open source software license), you may not assign (or grant a sub-license of) your rights to use the Software, grant a security interest in or over your rights to use the Software, or otherwise transfer any part of your rights to use the Software.

8.4 Use, reproduction and distribution of components of the Software released under an open source software license are governed solely by the terms of that open source software license.

9 Content License from You

9.1 You represent and warrant that you own and/or have obtained the necessary legal rights to provide all Content contained in or transmitted through the Gadget, and will maintain these rights for as long as the Gadget is available to users.

9.2 Google claims no ownership over any Gadget or Content (e.g., source code, feeds, images, text) provided by you to be used with the Services. You retain copyright and any other rights, including all intellectual property rights, you already hold in the Gadget or Content. You agree that you are responsible for protecting and enforcing those rights and that Google has no obligation to do so on your behalf.

9.3 If you choose to submit your Gadget to Google, you direct and authorize Google and its affiliates to host, link to, and otherwise incorporate your Gadget into the Google Services, and you grant Google a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to incorporate, copy, distribute, create derivative works of, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, test, and otherwise use this Content.

9.4 You agree that Google, in its sole discretion, may use your trade names, trademarks, service marks, Gadgets, logos, domain names and other distinctive brand features in presentations, marketing materials, customer lists, financial reports and Web site listings (including links to your website) for the purpose of advertising or publicizing your use of the Services.

10. Your Passwords and Account Security

10.1 You agree and understand that you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of passwords or developer keys associated with any account you use to access the Services. Accordingly, you agree that you will be solely responsible to Google for your use of the Services including, but not limited to, activities that occur under your account or developer key. If you become aware of any unauthorized use of your password or of your account, you agree to notify Google immediately.

11. Ending your relationship with Google

11.1 The Terms will continue to apply until terminated by either you or Google as set out below.

11.2 You may terminate your legal agreement with Google by discontinuing your use of the Services at any time. You do not need to specifically inform Google when you stop using the Services.

11.3 Google may, at any time, terminate its legal agreement with you at its discretion without prior notice to you.

11.4 Nothing in this Section shall affect Google's rights regarding provision of Services under Section 4 of the Terms.

11.5 When these Terms come to an end, all of the legal rights, obligations and liabilities that you and Google have benefited from, been subject to (or which have accrued over time whilst the Terms have been in force) or which are expressed to continue indefinitely, shall be unaffected by this cessation, and the provisions of Sections 12, 13, 14 and 19 shall continue to apply to such rights, obligations and liabilities indefinitely.

11.6 In the event either you or Google chooses to terminate your use of the Services or your use of the Gadgets API, you will promptly remove the Gadget from the Gadget directory, cease all use of the Gadgets API or, if Google expressly so requests, use of the API by that Gadget.

12. EXCLUSION OF WARRANTIES

12.1 NOTHING IN THESE TERMS, INCLUDING SECTIONS 12 AND 13, SHALL EXCLUDE OR LIMIT GOOGLE'S WARRANTY OR LIABILITY FOR LOSSES WHICH MAY NOT BE LAWFULLY EXCLUDED OR LIMITED BY APPLICABLE LAW. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY NEGLIGENCE, BREACH OF CONTRACT OR BREACH OF IMPLIED TERMS, OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. ACCORDINGLY, ONLY THE LIMITATIONS WHICH ARE LAWFUL IN YOUR JURISDICTION WILL APPLY TO YOU AND OUR LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

12.2 YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND THAT THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." IN PARTICULAR, GOOGLE, ITS SUBSIDIARIES AND AFFILIATES, AND ITS LICENSORS DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT TO YOU THAT:

(A) YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS,

(B) YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE OR FREE FROM ERROR,

(C) ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED BY YOU AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, AND

(D) THAT DEFECTS IN THE OPERATION OR FUNCTIONALITY OF ANY SOFTWARE PROVIDED TO YOU AS PART OF THE SERVICES WILL BE CORRECTED.

12.3 ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICES IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR OTHER DEVICE OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL.

12.4 NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM GOOGLE OR THROUGH OR FROM THE SERVICES SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THE TERMS.

12.5 GOOGLE FURTHER EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

13. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

13.1 EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED IN THE INDEMNITY PROVISION (PARAGRAPH 14) AND SUBJECT TO PARAGRAPH 12.1, YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT GOOGLE, ITS SUBSIDIARIES AND AFFILIATES, AND ITS LICENSORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR:

(A) ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES WHICH MAY BE INCURRED BY YOU, HOWEVER CAUSED AND UNDER ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY. THIS SHALL INCLUDE, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, ANY LOSS OF PROFIT (WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY), ANY LOSS OF GOODWILL OR BUSINESS REPUTATION, ANY LOSS OF DATA SUFFERED, COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSS;

(B) ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE WHICH MAY BE INCURRED BY YOU, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OR DAMAGES A RESULT OF:

(I) ANY RELIANCE PLACED BY YOU ON THE COMPLETENESS, ACCURACY OR EXISTENCE OF ANY ADVERTISING, OR AS A RESULT OF ANY RELATIONSHIP OR TRANSACTION BETWEEN YOU AND ANY ADVERTISER OR SPONSOR WHOSE ADVERTISING APPEARS ON THE SERVICES;

(II) ANY CHANGES WHICH GOOGLE MAY MAKE TO THE SERVICES, OR FOR ANY PERMANENT OR TEMPORARY CESSATION IN THE PROVISION OF THE SERVICES (OR ANY FEATURES WITHIN THE SERVICES);

(III) THE DELETION OF, CORRUPTION OF, OR FAILURE TO STORE, ANY CONTENT AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS DATA MAINTAINED OR TRANSMITTED BY OR THROUGH YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES;

(III) YOUR FAILURE TO PROVIDE GOOGLE WITH ACCURATE ACCOUNT INFORMATION;

(IV) YOUR FAILURE TO KEEP YOUR PASSWORD OR ACCOUNT DETAILS SECURE AND CONFIDENTIAL;

13.2 THE LIMITATIONS ON GOOGLE'S LIABILITY TO YOU IN PARAGRAPH 12.1 ABOVE SHALL APPLY WHETHER OR NOT GOOGLE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF OR SHOULD HAVE BEEN AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY SUCH LOSSES ARISING.

14. Indemnity

14.1 You hereby agree to indemnify, defend and hold Google, its partners, officers, directors, agents, affiliates, and licensors ("the Indemnified Parties") harmless from and against any claim or liability arising out of: (i) your use of the Gadgets API in breach of the Terms or applicable policies; (ii) your Gadget or Content; (iii) any use by users of your Gadget or Content; (iv) any breach of or noncompliance with any representation, warranty or obligation in these Terms or applicable policies; and (v) any claim that your use of Gadgets API or your Gadget or Content violates any applicable law, including without limitation that it infringes the rights of a third party. You shall cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defence of any claim. Google reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you. You acknowledge that damages for improper use of the Gadgets API may be irreparable; therefore, Google is entitled to seek equitable relief, including injunction and preliminary injunction, in addition to all other remedies. This section shall take only precedence over the indemnity provision provided in any Additional Terms as it relates to the Gadgets API, and not to any other Services.

15. Copyright and Trademark Policies

15.1 It is Google's policy to respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with applicable international intellectual property law (including, in the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and to terminating the accounts of repeat infringers. Details of Google's policy can be found here.

15.2 Google operates a trademark complaint procedure that can be found here (Google Gadgets, Themes) .

16. Other Content

16.1 The Services may include hyperlinks to other web sites or content or resources. Google has no control over any web sites or resources which are provided by companies or persons other than Google. You acknowledge and agree that Google is not responsible for the availability of any such external sites or resources, and does not endorse any advertising, products or other materials on or available from such web sites or resources.

16.2 You acknowledge and agree that Google is not liable for any loss or damage which may be incurred by you as a result of the availability of those external sites or resources, or as a result of any reliance placed by you on the completeness, accuracy or existence of any advertising, products or other materials on, or available from, such web sites or resources.

17. Language of the Terms

17.1 Where Google has provided you with a translation of the English language version of the Terms, then you agree that the translation is provided for your convenience only and that the English language versions of the Terms will govern your relationship with Google.

17.2 If there is any contradiction between what the English language version of the Terms says and what a translation says, then the English language version shall take precedence.

18. Changes to the Terms

18.1 Google reserves the right to make changes to the Terms from time to time. When these changes are made, Google will make a new copy of the Terms available here (Google Gadgets, Themes) .

18.2 You understand and agree that if you use the Services after the date on which the Terms have changed, Google will treat your use as acceptance of the updated Terms. If a modification is unacceptable to you, you may terminate the Terms by ceasing use of the API and removing the XML files specifying your Gadget from the internet.

19. General Legal Terms

19.1 The Terms (i.e., the Gadgets Terms, Google Privacy Policy plus any Additional Terms) constitute the whole legal agreement between you and Google and govern your use of the Services (but excluding any services which Google may provide to you under a separate written agreement), and completely replace and supersede any prior agreements between you and Google, written or oral, in relation to the Services. The Terms may be assigned by Google and shall inure to the benefit of Google, its successors and assigns.

19.2 You agree that Google may provide you with notices, including those regarding changes to the Terms, by email, regular mail, or postings on the Services.

19.3 You agree that if Google does not exercise or enforce any legal right or remedy which is contained in the Terms (or which Google has the benefit of under any applicable law), this will not be taken to be a formal waiver of Google's rights and that those rights or remedies will still be available to Google. Any waiver of any provision of these Gadget Terms will be effective only if in writing and signed by Google.

19.4 If any court of law, having the jurisdiction to decide on this matter, rules that any provision of these Terms is invalid, then that provision will be removed from the Terms without affecting the rest of the Terms. The remaining provisions of the Terms will continue to be valid and enforceable.

19.5 You acknowledge and agree that each member of the group of companies of which Google is the parent shall be third party beneficiaries to the Terms and that such other companies shall be entitled to directly enforce, and rely upon, any provision of the Terms which confers a benefit on (or rights in favor of) them. Other than this, no other person or company shall be third party beneficiaries to the Terms.

19.6 The Terms, and your relationship with Google under the Terms, shall be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to its conflict of laws provisions. You and Google agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within the county of Santa Clara, California to resolve any legal matter arising from the Terms. Notwithstanding this, you agree that Google shall still be allowed to apply for injunctive remedies (or an equivalent type of urgent legal relief) in any jurisdiction.