Terms of Use

By logging into CrowdedText.com with your CrowdedText.com User Account, you agree to the following terms and conditions.

1. Services Offered by CrowdedText.com

CrowdedText provides an online service, in accordance with and subject to, the terms and conditions of this Agreement, whereby (“Services”)

  1. Customers may, by way of a Writing Contest, solicit Entries by Writers(in which case, pursuant to clause 6, Customers will make an upfront payment of the Customer Payment at this time)
  2. Writers may bid for the tender to provide a contest Entry to a Customer
  3. When one or more winning Entries is chosen by the Customer, CrowdedText will pay each Writer separately for their successful Entry, based on the amount chosen by the Customer

You may use the Services in the capacity as a Customer, Writer or both a Customer and a Writer. The terms and conditions of this Agreement will apply to your use of the Services in either or both of those capacities.

2. User Accounts at CrowdedText.com

You agree to create a User Account with CrowdedText in order to use the Services.

Your User Account will permit you to login to CrowdedText.com to manage your User Account, make use of CrowdedText.com and to manage other details involving your relationship with CrowdedText.

You agree to keep confidential and secure any username or password used to access your User Account.

You warrant that all information provided to CrowdedText in the setup of your User Account is true and correct in every detail.

You agree to only maintain one User Account in relation to your use of the Services and CrowdedText.com.

You agree to provide CrowdedText with all identification documents (including copies of passports and drivers licences) which CrowdedText requests from you from time to time for the purposes of verifying your identity.

You agree that you will only use your User Account and CrowdedText.com for the purposes of using the Services and for no other purpose. In particular, in using your User Account and accessing CrowdedText.com, you will not:

  1. resell or sublicense the use of CrowdedText.com or your User Account to any other person
  2. use your User Account in a fraudulent or illegal manner, or email or send any materials from your User Account which are offensive, unlawful, harassing, libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene or otherwise objectionable
  3. use your User Account to stalk or harass another person
  4. use your User Account to impersonate any person in any way whatsoever
  5. use your User Account to infringe the copyright, trademark, patent or other Intellectual Property Rights of any person
  6. use your User Account for sending advertising, chain letters, junk mail, “spamming” or any other type of unsolicited email
  7. forge or alter the header or address information contained in any email or communication which you send from your User Account or in relation to the Services
  8. use your User Account to send or deliver viruses, spyware, malware or other harmful, disruptive, or destructive files
  9. use your User Account in such a way which damages CrowdedText.com or denies access to CrowdedText.com to other users of CrowdedText.com
  10. intentionally or recklessly use your User Account in a way that degrades the performance of CrowdedText.com for other users
  11. cancel a Writing Contest initiated by you for the purpose of contracting separately with a Writer you meet through CrowdedText.com which results in you avoiding paying CrowdedText any Customer Payment or any fees and charges of CrowdedText. In these circumstances, without limiting CrowdedText remedies against you, CrowdedText may recover its lost fees and charges and the Customer Payment from you by suspending your User Account

CrowdedText may suspend your User Account and your use of the Services at any time, with or without notice to you, and for any reason in its sole and absolute discretion, including if

  1. CrowdedText considers that you have breached any of your obligations to CrowdedText under this Agreement
  2. CrowdedText considers that you have used your User Account in bad faith
  3. CrowdedText considers that you have colluded in relation to the awarding of a winner in a Writing Contest or awarding a separate User Account held by you as the successful Writing in a Writing Contest
  4. you are using the Services to participate in a Writing Contest (either as Customer or Writer), which in CrowdedText’s sole and absolute opinion is offensive, immoral, unethical or is likely to bring CrowdedText into disrepute
  5. you are using your User Account or the Services for illegal or fraudulent means or in a manner which CrowdedText in its sole discretion considers offensive, unlawful, harassing, libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene or otherwise objectionable
  6. in CrowdedText’s sole and absolute opinion, the provision of the Services to you is resulting in an unreasonable load on CrowdedText’s servers

3. Hosting a Writing Contest at CrowdedText.com

The following applies when you use the services of CrowdedText as a Customer to host a Writing Contest:

To host a writing contest, you must, through CrowdedText.com

  1. Choose the type of Writing Contest you wish to hold. The types of Writing Contests available will be determined by CrowdedText from time to time.
  2. Display your Writing Contest information to Writers
  3. Specify the prize amount you wish to pay for the winning entry, which will be added to the totla Customer Payment
  4. Specify any other details relating to the Writing Contest as required from time to time by CrowdedText
  5. Pay CrowdedText the Customer Payment in accordance with clause 6

You are obliged to choose a winning Entry. If you do not choose a winning entry within the time frame specified by CrowdedText, then your Customer Payment will be retained by CrowdedText and no winning Entry will be chosen and you will have no right to use any of the Entries submitted to the contest. In some circumstances, you may however seek a refund of your Customer Payment, pursuant to your rights under clause 7 of these terms.

You, as a Customer, must not reuse or reproduce any Entry which is not chosen by you as a winning Entry.

The winning entry will be delivered by the winning Writer in a reasonable, and easily editable format chosen by you, the Contest Holder. Some reasonable formats are .txt, .doc, and .odt files.

4. Submitting Contest Entries at CrowdedText.com

The following applies when you use the services of CrowdedText as a Writer, submitting and Entry to a Writing Contest:

You agree to participate in Writing Contests hosted on CrowdedText only via the methods available in CrowdedText.com and otherwise specified by CrowdedText from time to time.

To participate in a Writing Contest as a Writer, you must submit an Entry to the Contest being hosted by a Customer. The Entry, as submitted, must meet the Customer's requirements as laid out in the Writing Contest information section.

The Entry must be submitted via CrowdedText.com and/or using any methodology, file format or technology specified by CrowdedText from time to time.

You undertake and warrant that the Entry will not infringe or be a derivative of the Intellectual Property Rights of a third party nor will it be a derivative of any other Entry submitted to CrowdedText.com by another Writer.

Your Entry must not include a Third Party Work unless the inclusion of the Third Party Work is authorized by generally accepted "Fair Use" principles. If Third Party Work is included, it must be cited properly with the original source clearly identified.

If your Entry is selected by a Customer as a winning Entry, then you must deliver the winning entry a reasonable, and easily editable format chosen by you, the Contest Holder. Some reasonable formats are .txt, .doc, and .odt files. CrowdedText will then pay you the prize fee determined by the Customer.

Payments to Writers are made every Monday.

You acknowledge and agree that CrowdedText or a Customer may restrict your ability to enter any one Writing Contest and/or invite only specific Writers to a Writing Contest, and CrowdedText has not made any representation or warranty that you will win any minimum number of Writing Contests or earn any income, or any minimum amount of income, from entering Writing Contests.

5. Agreement Between Contest Holders and Writers

Once a Customer selects a winning Entry, the Customer and the Writer will be deemed to have entered into a separate binding agreement in relation to the provision of the Entry and the Customer's rights in relation to the Entry. CrowdedText and its third party providers will not be a party to this separate agreement and will have no liability whatsoever in relation to the performance or failure to perform of a Customer or Writer under the terms of the separate agreement.

The separate agreement is as follows:

Upon receipt of payment for the winning Entry, the Writer hereby assigns to the Customer, all Intellectual Property Rights which the Writer has or may in the future have in the Entry.

The Writer warrants that prior to supplying the Entry to the Customer, the Writer has disclosed to the Customer any Intellectual Property Rights in the Entry which may be held by a third party.

If the Entry incorporates the Intellectual Property Rights of a third party, then:

1. the Writer warrants that it has obtained a license from the relevant third party to incorporate the Intellectual Property Rights of that third party in the entry("Third Party License");
2. if the Third Party License is capable of assignment to the Customer, then the Writer hereby assigns and transfers to the Customer, and the Customer hereby agrees to take an assignment and transfer of, the Third Party License and all of the rights and obligations of the Writer under the Third Party License;
3. the Writer warrants that unless expressly stated to the contrary by the Writer prior to providing the Customer with the Entry and prior to the conclusion of the Writing Contest, the Third Party License provides the Customer with a worldwide, royalty free, perpetual right to display, distribute and reproduce (in any form) the Intellectual Property Rights of the third party contained in the Entry.

The Writer hereby indemnifies and keeps indemnified the Customer, CrowdedText and CrowdedText third party providers ("Indemnified Parties") against any loss, cost, expense or damage (including legal costs on a full indemnity basis) which the Indemnified Parties may suffer or incur as a result of a breach by the Writer of any third party Intellectual Property Rights that have not been .

6. Payments

Payments to CrowdedText are made via credit card.

When you, as a Customer, launch a Writing Contest, you will pay CrowdedText a total amount ("Customer Payment") which is comprised of:

  1. the price or portion of the Customer Payment which will be paid to the Writer for their winning Entry awarded through your Writing Contest ("Writer Fee");
  2. any fees and charges imposed by CrowdedText;
  3. fees and charges imposed by a third party on CrowdedText in respect of the Writing Contest;
  4. any Taxes which may be levied on the provision of the Entry to you;
  5. any Taxes which may be levied on the provision of any other goods or services by CrowdedText; and
  6. any portion of the Customer Payment retained by CrowdedText after deduction or payment of the above amounts.

If you are a Writer, you must have a Paypal account to receive the prize money.

7. Refunds

If a Writing Contest does not receive at least five (5) entries within seven (7) days of the Writing Contest launching, CrowdedText will issue a refund to Customer of the Contest Listing Fee, and the Prize amount. The 10% prize handling fee will not be refunded.

CrowdedText may also issue a refund if:

  1. CrowdedText is required by law or considers that it is required by law to do so;
  2. CrowdedText determines that issuing a refund to the Customer will avoid any dispute or increased costs to CrowdedText;
  3. CrowdedText issues the refund to the Customer in accordance with any refund policy specified by CrowdedText from time to time;
  4. the order placed by the Customer is found to be fraudulent;
  5. the Customer placed a duplicate order in error;
  6. in CrowdedText’s sole opinion, CrowdedText considers that it is likely that the refund is necessary to avoid a credit card charge back

If CrowdedText issues you a refund, that refund will be paid to you using the same payment methods you used to remit the Payment to CrowdedText or via any other method CrowdedText chooses from time to time.

8. Limited Liability

You acknowledge that CrowdedText and its third party providers have made no warranties that the Services will be error free.

You agree that CrowdedText and its third party providers will not be liable or responsible for any failure in, or delay to, the provision of the Services or in CrowdedText complying with its obligations under this Agreement where such failure or delay has a arisen as a direct or indirect result of:

  1. fire, earthquake, storm, flood, hurricane, inclement weather or other act of God, war, terrorism, explosion, sabotage, industrial accident or an industrial strike;
  2. denial of service attacks, telecommunications failure, hardware failure or the failure of software provided by a third party to function in accordance with its specifications;
  3. a significant demand is placed on CrowdedText's services which is above the usual level of demand and which results in a failure of CrowdedText's software and hardware to function correctly;
  4. the failure of any third party (including without limitation, any bank or other financial organization) to fulfill any obligations to CrowdedText;
  5. any other circumstances or event similar to the above which are beyond the reasonable control of CrowdedText.

You acknowledge and agree that CrowdedText and its third party providers have not made and will not make any express or implied warranties in relation to the Services or any other goods or services provided by CrowdedText under this Agreement, other than those warranties expressly contained in this Agreement. Any term that would be implied into this Agreement, including without limitation any condition or warranty, is hereby excluded.

You agree that CrowdedText and its third party providers will not be liable in respect of any claim by you (whether contractual, tortious, statutory or otherwise) for any direct, special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages or injury including, but not limited to, any loss of profits, contracts, revenue or data arising out of or in connection with the provision of the Services or the provision of any other goods or services under this Agreement and whether as a result of any breach or default by, or any negligence of, CrowdedText or its third party providers.

The maximum liability of CrowdedText under this Agreement for any and all breaches of this Agreement and for any negligence in relation to this Agreement, will not exceed the lesser of: the amount of the payments paid for the Services by you; or the total amount of the Winning Entry Fee received by you.

Any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement which limit or exclude any term, condition or warranty, express or implied, or the liability of CrowdedText will apply to the extent permitted by law and will not be construed as excluding, qualifying or limiting your statutory rights or remedies arising by virtue of the breach of any implied term of this Agreement where such exclusion, qualification or limitation would be prohibited by legislation.

9. Indemnity

You indemnify CrowdedText, its agents, officers, employees, and third party providers (“Indemnified”) against any loss, cost, expense or damage (including legal costs on a full indemnity basis) which any of the Indemnified suffer or incur as a direct or indirect result of:

  1. any breach by you of any representation, warranty or term of this Agreement;
  2. any breach by you of your obligations to a third party, including another Customer or Writer;
  3. any infringement by you of the Intellectual Property Rights of a third party;
  4. any legal proceedings threatened or initiated against CrowdedText by a third party as a result of the events described in clause 15(1) to (3) above.

10. Intellectual Property

You acknowledge that CrowdedText.com is the owner of all Intellectual Property Rights which subsist in your User Account and CrowdedText (excluding the content of your contest entries). You acknowledge that you have no Intellectual Property Rights in your User Account or in CrowdedText.com.

You acknowledge that the ownership of the Intellectual Property Rights in any entry provided pursuant to a Writing Contest will be set out in the separate agreement that is solely between the Contest Holder and the Writer.

11. Miscellaneous

CrowdedText may amend the terms and conditions of this Agreement at any time. Such amendments will take effect from the date of their notification to you (“Amendment Date”). You agree that without limiting the ways in which it may be bound by such amendments, you will be deemed to have agreed to such amendments by making use of or accessing your User Account or CrowdedText after the Amendment Date.

Unless otherwise requested in writing by you, CrowdedText may use your corporate identity (if applicable) as part of promoting the Services and CrowdedText in the market place.

If any provision or paragraph of this Agreement is judged invalid or unenforceable for any reason whatsoever by a court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity or unenforceability (unless deletion of such provision would materially adversely affect one of the parties) will not affect the operation or interpretation of any other provision of this Agreement to the intent that the invalid or unenforceable provision will be treated as severed from this Agreement.

CrowdedText may assign its rights and novate or transfer obligations which arise under this Agreement. You must not assign, novate or otherwise transfer your rights or obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of CrowdedText (which may be withheld).

The parties acknowledge and agree that no rule of construction applies to the disadvantage of a party because that party was responsible for the preparation of this Agreement or part of it.

You also agree that you will not use the Services for any illegal or fraudulent purpose or for any purpose other than holding or entering into Writing Contests as a Customer or Writer, and you will comply with all laws which must be complied with in relation to a Writing Contest or the supply of an Entry.