Terms and Conditions

1. The Services
This contract covers the provision of electronic mail, news and related Oscura services (the "Services") by us - Oscura Limited ("Oscura") of 10-14 Duke Street, Reading, RG1 4RU, to you ("the Customer"). This contract supersedes any and all preceding contracts with you for the Services. The Services and prices for the Services are those described in this document. All prices exclude VAT unless otherwise stated and are in UK £ Sterling. Keep a copy of this agreement for your records. This contract may not be varied other than in writing by a Director of Oscura. The Customer agrees to indemnify Oscura and any parent companies and associated companies and individuals against any costs, direct or indirect, arising from a deliberate misuse of the Services (such as dissemination of illegal, harassing or libellous information from or through Oscura systems) by the Customer, over and above the other explicit provisions described herein. The Customer will, also, indemnify Oscura and hold them harmless from, all cost, claim, liability and expense (including legal fees) arising out of or resulting from any trademark infringement, falsity or failure of the registration of a domain (under whichever body). The Customer agrees that Oscura is not responsible for the content of the data traffic that it carries on behalf of the Customer. Oscura reserves the right to vary prices and services from time to time, and to remove restrictions or reduce prices without notice to the Customer.

2. Charges
The Customer will pay for all charges arising under this contract from his or her subscription to the Service. All charges are payable on demand. Failure to make payment in full will result in withholding of domain transfers and/or the provision of services. It is the Customer's responsibility to keep his or her mailbox password secret. If a third party uses the Customer's mailbox name and password with or without the consent of the Customer, then the Customer will be responsible for any resulting charges. Oscura may charge the Customer a regular subscription fee, minimum charge, and connect time fees in accordance with the price list issued by Oscura from time to time. Additional charges (for use of services such as fax, telex or database enquiries) will be according to price schedules available on the Service, which may change without notice. Liability for charges starts on the first day in which Oscura first makes the Service available to the Customer.

3. Liability
Oscura shall not be responsible for any loss or consequential loss of any kind whatsoever arising from use of the System. Any liability to the Customer shall be limited to the remainder of any fees paid by the Customer for Services less any deductions for charges incurred.

4. Confidentiality and Proof of Delivery
Oscura recommends that the Customer should take protective steps towards ensuring confidentiality and proof of delivery in respect of information of a commercially or personally sensitive nature. Oscura cannot and will not accept responsibility for any loss sustained by the Customer in the use of the network or the Services.

5. Data Protection
The Customer undertakes to comply with all rules, regulations and laws relating to the Service or its use including the Data Protection Act 1984.

6. Assignment
The Customer will not, without the prior written consent of Oscura, assign this contract, or any rights or obligations arising under this contract.

7. Sub-licensing
The Customer will not hire out any of the mailbox names assigned to him or her to any third party without the prior written consent of Oscura.

8. Limitations
The Customer will not use the Service nor permit the Service to be used for the transmission of information which is criminal, defamatory, or in breach of a third party's intellectual property rights or rights of confidentiality, and will indemnify Oscura in the event of such information being transmitted.

9. Force Majeure
If Oscura is hindered or prevented from performing this contract owing to any cause beyond the reasonable control of Oscura, Oscura may at its sole option delay, suspend or cancel, in whole or in part, performance of the Services under the contract and Oscura shall not be held responsible for its inability to deliver the Services. In particular, Oscura cannot guarantee delivery or receipt of any electronic mail message or news article or any other data item, though it will make every reasonable effort to ensure such delivery or reception.

10. Termination
The annual contract is for 12 months on an ongoing annual basis. The quarterly contract is for 3 months on an ongoing quarterly basis. This contract may only be terminated by either party giving one month's written notice prior to the renewal date. Refunds will not be given. Oscura may terminate this contract without notice if the Customer fails to comply with any term of this contract.

11. Terms of this Agreement
If any of the above regulations prove to be invalid or void, the remainder of this agreement will remain in force. The parties will use their best endeavours to agree an alternative formulation for the disputed regulation as close as possible to the original intent of the parties. This agreement shall be subject to the laws of England.

12. Hacking
DON'T DO IT. If we suspect that you are hacking, we may disable your Oscura account without notice. Unfortunately, we may also have to disable other users' accounts temporarily while we check out the System. By signing you agree to pay liquidated damages of £500 for each instance of attempted hacking (by "hacking" we mean any kind of unreasonable use of the System: for example, unauthorised reading or altering of other users' data, or deliberate damage to us or to our System), and £2,000 for each instance of actual hacking. This is in addition to, and not in any way precluding, the possibility of prosecution under the Computer Misuse Act and other relevant legislation. We reserve the right to audit your actions, and inspect any file on the System, to try to prevent hacking; we will keep confidential any information we come across unless we are required to disclose it by law or to demonstrate hacking has taken place. You agree to keep your password(s) secure and sufficiently obscure.

13. Response Times
We will respond to all customers with a current, active and pre-paid contract within 1 working day. Our working hours are 9am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday with the exception of UK bank holidays. Our initial response may include resolution to your enquiry or we will inform you of time scales and any additional charges depending on your enquiry.

14. Complaints
Should you have reason to complain about your Services, or if you wish to report abuse of our services, you should initially contact us via e-mail to support@oscura.co.uk. Our standard response times will apply. If you do not receive a satisfactory response please contact us via telephone on 0118 9597200.

15. .uk Domain Registrations
Oscura are members of Nominet, the .uk domain agency. All .uk domain registrations are subject to Nominet's terms and conditions of domain name registration.