Medscape Network Terms of Use

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) apply to your use of the websites, mobile applications and other resources provided by WebMD LLC and its affiliates (referred to collectively as “WebMD,” “us,” “we” and “our”) that are intended for use by healthcare professionals, which we refer to as the “Medscape Network,” including the personalized information and services that meet the needs and interests of users of the Medscape Network such as medical news, reference content, clinical tools, applications, sponsored programs, advertising, email communications, continuing medical education, market research opportunities and discussion forums (collectively, the “Services”). You will always be able to view the most current version of these Terms by clicking on the Terms of Use link at the bottom of any page of a Medscape Network property. Note that these Terms do not apply to our properties and services that display a link to different terms of use. In the event that we expand the Medscape Network through our acquisition of another company and/or its properties, that company may operate its properties subject to its own terms of use accessible via a link on such properties until we integrate its practices with ours, at which point a link to these Terms will be displayed on its properties. By using the Services, you agree to these Terms, whether or not you are a registered member of the Medscape Network. These Terms govern your use of the Services and create a binding legal agreement that we may enforce against you in the event of a violation. If you do not agree to all of these Terms of Use, do not use the Services!

Account Registration

You must register an account with the Medscape Network to access all of the Services. Registration requires you to provide us with your name, email address, profession, specialty and other information specified in the registration form (“Registration Information”), and to select a username and password that will be associated with your account. You agree that your Registration Information is true, accurate, current, and complete, and you will promptly update your Registration Information as necessary so that it continues to be true, accurate, current and complete. We may attempt to verify the accuracy of the Registration Information that you have provided and update it as necessary. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your Medscape account username and password and you may not permit another person to use your username and password to access the Services. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. If you believe that the security of your account information has been compromised, you should immediately change your username and password through the account settings feature or notify us and we will assist you. We shall have no liability for any unauthorized access to or use of your account information.

Use of the Services

The Services are intended for physicians and other healthcare professionals. By using the Services, you represent and warrant that you have the right, authority, and capacity to agree to and abide by these Terms and that you are not prohibited from using the Services or any portion thereof.

The information and tools that we make available through the Services are provided for educational and informational purposes only. While we hope you find the Services useful to you as a healthcare professional, they are in no way intended to serve as a diagnostic service or platform, to provide certainty with respect to a diagnosis, to recommend a particular product or therapy or to otherwise substitute for the clinical judgment of a qualified healthcare professional. You agree that you will not use the Services with the intention of creating any kind of physician/patient relationship, e.g., to diagnose or treat users. You are solely responsible for evaluating the information obtained from the Services and for your use or misuse of such information in connection with your treatment decisions or otherwise. You agree that you shall be solely responsible for your compliance with all laws and standards of professional practice applicable to you and the practice of medicine or other relevant health profession.

Notwithstanding anything stated herein, you may be subject to certain obligations and responsibilities associated with the jurisdiction in which you practice medicine or another health profession. We make no representation or warranty as to the legal compliance of the Services or the Medscape Content and you are solely responsible for compliance with the laws of your jurisdiction, with respect to your use and misuse of the Services and the Medscape Content. We reserve the right, at any time in our sole discretion, to limit the availability and accessibility of the Medscape Network, the Services and the Medscape Content to any person, geographic area or jurisdiction we so desire.

If you are a consumer who chooses to access the professional-level information made available through the Services, you should not rely on that information as professional medical advice or use the Services as a replacement for any relationship with your physician or other qualified healthcare professional. For medical concerns, including decisions about medications and other treatments, consumers should always consult their physician or, in serious cases, seek immediate assistance from emergency medical personnel.

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, you are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable license to use the Services and to view the information and materials made available through the Services, including User Content, as defined below, (“Medscape Content”) solely for your personal and professional use. You shall not use, copy, adapt, modify, prepare derivative works based upon, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast or otherwise exploit the Services, Medscape Content, or Medscape Network properties, except as expressly permitted in these Terms. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved by us and our respective licensors, as applicable.

The Medscape Network may contain links to third-party websites or resources which are not part of the Medscape Network. You agree that we are not responsible or liable for these websites and resources including, without limitation, their availability or the content and information that they provide. The inclusion in the Medscape Network of third party resources, including links to third party websites, does not imply our endorsement of these resources.

You agree that you will not engage in any of the following activities in connection with your use of the Services:

  1. Forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any content transmitted through the Services;
  2. Use, display, mirror or frame a Medscape Site or Medscape App, or any component thereof, or WebMD or Medscape’s trademark, logo or other proprietary information, without the written consent of WebMD or Medscape, as applicable;
  3. Remove any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices contained within the Medscape Network, including those of WebMD or Medscape and any of their respective licensors;
  4. Infringe or use any of our brands, logos trademarks or other proprietary marks in any business name, email, URL or other context unless expressly approved in writing by WebMD or Medscape, as applicable;
  5. Attempt to circumvent any protective technological measure associated with the Services;
  6. Attempt to access or search any Medscape Network properties or any content contained therein through the use of any engine, software, tool, agent, device or mechanism (including scripts, bots, spiders, scraper, crawlers, data mining tools or the like) other than through software generally available through web browsers;
  7. Post, upload, transmit or otherwise distribute chain letters, pyramid schemes, advertising or spam;
  8. Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with another person or entity;
  9. Harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including email addresses;
  10. Interfere with or disrupt any of the Services or the associated computer or technical delivery systems;
  11. Interfere with, or attempt to interfere with, the access of any user, host or network, including, without limitation, sending a virus, overloading, flooding, spamming, or mail-bombing a Medscape Site or a Medscape App;
  12. Fail to respect another user’s privacy. This includes revealing another user’s password, phone number, address, instant messenger I.D. or address or any other personally identifiable information; or
  13. Use any Medscape Network property, the Services or any Medscape Content in any manner not permitted by these Terms.

We may (but are not obligated to) do any or all of the following without notice:

  1. Record or pre-screen User Content submissions to public areas within the Medscape Network;
  2. Investigate your use of the Services as we deem appropriate to comply with any applicable law, regulation, government request or legal process;
  3. Remove User Content which we believe does not comply with these Terms of Use;
  4. Terminate your access to the Medscape Network upon our determination that you have violated these Terms of Use; and
  5. Edit Medscape Content.

Information that you Make Available through the Services

Certain Services enable users to submit content which may include, without limitation, text, images, photographs, figures, charts, graphics, reports, data and sound (“User Content”). User Content does not include Registration Information. When you submit User Content through the Services you automatically grant to us a perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid up, transferable, sub-licensable (through multiple tiers) license to distribute, transmit, copy, host, publicly display and perform, excerpt, index, tag, modify, adapt, sell, create derivative works from, and otherwise use and exploit such User Content in any media, form or format now known or hereafter developed, both within and outside of the Medscape Network for any purpose that is consistent with the Medscape Privacy Policy. You agree that you are solely responsible for all User Content that you submit through the Services. You represent and warrant that you either are the sole and exclusive owner of all User Content or you have all rights, licenses, consents and releases that are necessary to grant to us the rights in such User Content as specified in these Terms.

You are solely responsible for ensuring that the User Content that you make available through the Services complies with applicable laws including, without limitation, those relating to privacy, and also best clinical and ethical practices. Prior to submitting any User Content to the Services, you must remove any information that identifies an individual or could reasonably enable the identification of an individual, e.g., name, e-mail address, social security number, insurance number or other unique identification number, biometric identifiers, facial photographs, photographs of identifying marks such as tattoos or scars. You shall be solely responsible for any claims arising from your failure to de-identify User Content that you submit through the Services.

You agree that you will not use the Services to make available User Content that:

  1. you do not have the right to make available under any contractual or fiduciary agreement or law;
  2. infringes, misappropriates or violates a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy;
  3. results in the violation of any applicable law or regulation, including, but not limited to, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or any other applicable privacy laws;
  4. is unlawful, harmful, obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, slanderous, offensive, or embarrassing to any other person or entity;
  5. promotes discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, harassment or harm against any individual or group;
  6. promotes illegal activity;
  7. is fraudulent, false, misleading or deceptive;
  8. constitutes an advertisement or solicitation of business; or
  9. contains viruses or other harmful computer code designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the use of any computer software or hardware.

Medscape For You

Medscape For You is a free, personalized web service offered solely to registered users of the Medscape Network. The service is uniquely tied to each registered user’s registration information and interests provided to the Medscape Network. Medscape For You algorithmically uses this information to locate and identify news, journal and magazine article headlines and WebMD original content tailored for each registered user based on profession, specialty and other information provided to us by such users and which are then selected by such users for reference. The headlines, active links and other source identifiers have not been altered, edited, or deleted from original sources, except as permitted by license, are not a substitute for the original source and are protected by copyright owned by the attributed party. For the full article, users are encouraged to follow the applicable active link to the original website.

Proprietary Rights

You acknowledge and agree that the Medscape Network and any software used in connection with the Medscape Network (“Software”) contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws. You further acknowledge and agree that the Medscape Content is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents or other proprietary rights and laws. Except as expressly permitted by applicable law or as authorized by us or the applicable licensor, you agree not to modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute, transmit, broadcast, publicly perform, create derivative works from, or “scrape” for commercial or any other purpose, the Medscape Network, the Medscape Content or the Software, in whole or in part. Any use of the Medscape Network or the Services not expressly permitted by these Terms is a breach of these Terms and may violate our and third parties’ intellectual property rights.

You may view information provided through the Services online, download individual articles to your computer or mobile device for later reading or print a copy of an article for yourself. You may not remove any copyright notices from our materials. You agree not to access the Services by any means other than through the interface that is provided by us for use in accessing the Services.

Privacy Policy

The Medscape Network Privacy Policy, located at https://www.medscape.com/public/privacy, provides information about our collection, use and disclosure of information about users of the Services. By accessing and using the Services, you agree to the terms of the Privacy Policy and acknowledge and agree that the Privacy Policy forms an integral part of these Terms.

Dealing with Third Parties

Your correspondence or business dealings with, or participation in promotions of, advertisers or other third parties found on or through the Services, including requests for and delivery of goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such third party. You agree that we shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the introduction of such third parties through the Services.

Laws that Govern this Agreement

We control those components of the Services made available through our respective websites from our offices within the state of New York in the United States of America. By accessing the Services, you agree that the statutes and laws of the state of New York, without regard to choice of laws principles, will apply to all matters relating to use of the Services.

Termination and Modification

You agree that we may, under certain circumstances and without prior notice, discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Services (or any part thereof) or eliminate your account and remove any User Content that you have made available through the Services, with or without notice, for any of the following reasons (which are not intended to be exclusive): (a) breaches or violations of these Terms or other incorporated agreements or guidelines, (b) requests by law enforcement or other government agencies, (c) a request by you, (d) discontinuance or material modification to the Services (or any part thereof), (e) technical or security issues or problems, (f) extended periods of inactivity, and/or (g) your engagement in fraudulent or illegal activities. You agree that all terminations for cause shall be made at our sole discretion, and we shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your account or access to the Services.

Disclaimer

THE MEDSCAPE NETWORK, PROPERTIES, SERVICES, AND MEDSCAPE CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, QUIET ENJOYMENT OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING OUT OF COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT THE MEDSCAPE NETWORK, SERVICES OR MEDSCAPE CONTENT WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR BE AVAILABLE ON AN UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE BASIS. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY AS TO THE ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS OR RELIABILITY OF ANY CONTENT OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES. NO INFORMATION PROVIDED THROUGH THE SERVICES OR BY US IN ORAL OR WRITTEN FORM WILL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY MADE HEREIN YOUR RELIANCE UPON THE CONTENT OBTAINED OR USED BY YOU THROUGH THE SERVICES IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF YOUR COMMUNICATIONS AND INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER USERS OF THE MEDSCAPE NETWORK. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WE DO NOT ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR SCREENING ANY USER OF THE MEDSCAPE NETWORK NOR DO WE VERIFY OR TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR USER CONTENT. WE DO NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE AND WE DO NOT RECOMMEND OR ENDORSE ANY SPECIFIC PRODUCTS, PRODUCT USERS, THERAPIES, TESTS, PHYSICIANS, HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONS OR OPINIONS.

Liability

In no event will any of us or our respective directors, officers, employees, contractors, agents, sponsors, licensors or any other person or entity involved in creating, developing or delivering the Medscape Network, the Services or the Medscape Content be liable for any damages (including, without limitation, incidental and consequential damages, personal injury/wrongful death, lost profits, or damages resulting from lost data or business interruption) arising out of or in connection with these Terms or from the use of or inability to access or use the Medscape Network, the Services or the Medscape Content, or from any communications or interactions with other persons with whom you communicate or interact as a result of your use of the Services, whether based on warranty, contract, tort, or any other legal theory, and whether or not we, our licensors, ours suppliers, or any third parties mentioned with the Services are advised of the possibility of such damages. We, our licensors, our suppliers, or any third parties mentioned within the Services are not liable for any personal injury, including death, caused by your use or misuse of the Services or any information provided through the Services. Any claims arising in connection with your use of the Services must be brought within one (1) year of the date of the event giving rise to such action occurred. Remedies under these Terms are exclusive and are limited to those expressly provided for in these Terms. The limitations of damages set forth above are fundamental elements of the basis of the bargain between us and you.

Indemnity

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold each of us and our respective officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, and suppliers, harmless from and against any claims, actions or demands, liabilities and settlements including without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, resulting from, or alleged to result from, your access to or use of the Medscape Network, the Services and the Medscape Content or your violation of these Terms.

Notice and Take Down Procedures and Copyright Agent

If you believe in good faith any materials within the Medscape Network infringe your copyright, you may request removal of those materials (or access thereto) by contacting our copyright agent (identified below) and providing the following information:

  1. Identification of the copyrighted work that you believe to be infringed. Please describe the work, and where possible include a copy or the location (e.g., URL) of an authorized version of the work.
  2. Identification of the material that you believe to be infringing and its location. Please describe the material, and provide us with its URL or any other pertinent information that will allow us to locate the material.
  3. Your name, address, telephone number and (if available) e-mail address.
  4. A statement that you have a good faith belief that the complained of use of the materials is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
  5. A statement that the information that you have supplied is accurate, and indicating that “under penalty of perjury,” you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.
  6. A signature or the electronic equivalent from the copyright holder or authorized representative.

Our agent for copyright issues relating to this web site is as follows:

WebMD LLC
Attn: Designated Copyright Agent
1201 Peachtree Street, NE
400 Colony Square, Suite 2100
Atlanta, Georgia 30361
[email protected]
Or call: 866-788-3097

Any notification by a copyright owner or a person authorized to act on its behalf that fails to comply with requirements specified above shall not be considered sufficient notice and shall not be deemed to confer upon us actual knowledge of facts or circumstances from which infringing material or acts are evident. We may terminate the account of any user who we determine is a repeat infringer.

Modifications

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify, discontinue or terminate any of the Services, the Medscape Content or these Terms, at any time and without prior notice. If we modify these Terms in a material way, we will provide notice of such modification within the Medscape Network. By continuing to access or use the Services after we have modified these Terms, you agree to be bound by the modified Terms. If the modified Terms are not acceptable to you, you agree to immediately stop using the Medscape Network and the Services.

Complete Agreement

Except as expressly provided in a particular “legal notice” on the website, these Terms (including the Medscape Network Privacy Policy) constitute the entire agreement between you, WebMD and Medscape with respect to your use (and prior use) of the Medscape Network and the associated Services and Medscape Content.

These Terms constitute the entire and exclusive understanding and agreement between WebMD, Medscape and you regarding Medscape Network and the Services and these Terms supersede and replace any and all prior oral or written understandings or agreements between WebMD, Medscape and you regarding the Medscape Network and the Services.

Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms, by operation of law or otherwise, without our prior written consent. Any attempt by you to assign or transfer these Terms, without such consent, will be null and of no effect. We may assign or transfer these Terms, at our sole discretion, without restriction. Subject to the foregoing, these Terms will bind and inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns. Further, any of us may exercise the rights described in these Terms.

Notices

Any notices or other communications permitted or required hereunder, including those regarding material modifications to these Terms, will be in a written form and given: (i) by us via email (in each case to the email address included in your Registration Information); or (ii) by posting within the Medscape Network. For notices made by e-mail, the date of receipt will be deemed the date on which such notice is transmitted.

No Waiver

Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not constitute a waiver of future enforcement of that right or provision. Except as expressly set forth in these Terms, the exercise by either party of any of its remedies under these Terms will be without prejudice to its other remedies under these Terms or otherwise.

Survival

All provisions of these Terms shall survive termination of your Medscape Network account except for your license to access and use the Services and the Medscape Content.

Contact Us

If you have questions about the Services or these Terms, or you wish to provide feedback, please contact us at [email protected]. By submitting feedback and suggestions, you grant a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and royalty-free license to any intellectual property rights you may have in your feedback and suggestions to us to use to improve the Services.

Last updated: November 22, 2022

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