The Affiliate is responsible for all content posted on the Affiliate Sites. The Affiliate must not engage in the following prohibited conduct:
a) Illegal or Objectionable Content. The Affiliate will not disseminate, post on the Affiliate Sites, or provide links to any sexually explicit materials. Nor will the Affiliate disseminate, post on the Affiliate Sites, or provide links to any content or materials of the following nature: warez, distribution of pirated content, prostitution or escort services, human trafficking, gambling, or controlled substances (including related paraphernalia).
b) Spam. The Affiliate will not disseminate spam in connection with the Program or otherwise promote the Program Sites or the products available on the Program Sites to or through any spam lists. The Company imposes a strict, no-spam policy for participants in the Program. What is spamming will evolve over time as new technologies and methodologies emerge for spammers to find new ways to abuse the Program.
c) Fraudulent and Deceptive Trade Practices. The Affiliate will not engage in any fraudulent, deceptive, or unfair transactions or trade practices. The Affiliate will comply with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) statutes and regulations and all related rules, policies, and advisory opinions in advertising, marketing, and promoting the Program and the Program Site, including the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 8401–8405); Guides Against Deceptive Pricing (16 C.F.R. Part 233); Guides Against Bait Advertising (16 C.F.R. Part 238); Guides Concerning Use of the Word “Free” and Similar Representations (16 C.F.R. Part 251); Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 C.F.R. Part 255); Use of Pre-Notification Negative Option Plans (16 C.F.R. Part 425); FTC Policy Statement on Deception; FTC Policy Statement on Advertising Substantiation; FTC Policy Statement on Unfairness; and FTC .com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising.
d) Defamation and Related Conduct. The Affiliate will not publish content on the Affiliate Sites that is defamatory, libelous, threatening, abusive, hateful, derogatory, disparaging, or otherwise injurious to any person or the reputation of anyone.
e) Intellectual-Property Rights. The Affiliate will not publish content on the Affiliate Sites that infringes the intellectual-property rights or other legal rights of any person, including copyright, patent, trademark, service mark, trade secret, trade dress, right of privacy, right of publicity, moral right, and any other proprietary right.
f) Cybersquatting or Typosquatting. The Affiliate will not use or register or try to use or register any domain name (including second-level, third-level, fourth-level, fifth-level, and so on), subdomain name, or directory that is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Company or another person has intellectual property or other legal rights in, including the Company Marks.
g) Paid Search Advertising Schemes. The Affiliate will not bid on or purchase any online paid advertising schemes that incorporate or are confusingly similar to the Company’s trademarks, service marks, domain names, or URLs, including the Company Marks. The prohibited advertising schemes include pay-per-click models, sponsored links, search engine keywords, AdWords, or similar advertising schemes.
h) Metatags. The Affiliate will not use any false, misleading, or infringing metatags tied to the Affiliate Sites. In addition, the Affiliate will not use any metatags that would imply or suggest that underage or illegal content may be found on the Affiliate Sites or one or more Program Sites.
i) Unethical Marketing Practices. The Affiliate will not try to intercept, direct, redirect, divert, or usurp traffic (including through user-installed software) from, or divert fees from, any other participant in the Program. The Affiliate will not directly or indirectly offer any person any consideration or incentive (including payment of money or granting of any discounts or other benefits) to go to one or more Program Sites using the Promotional Links on the Affiliate Sites; nor will the Affiliate require any person to purchase products from one or more Program Sites as a prerequisite to accessing other products or services.
j) Misrepresentation of Relationship. The Affiliate will not misrepresent the Affiliate’s contractual relationship with the Company or imply that any relationship exists with the Company except as expressly provided in this agreement. For example, the Affiliate will not publish any statement indicating that the Company supports, endorses, or contributes to the Affiliate Sites except as expressly provided in this agreement.
k) Deceptive Emails. The Affiliate must not use the Company Marks, the Company name, or the product names in the “sent from” or “from” line of any emails sent by the Affiliate to market the Program, the Program Sites, or the products available on the Program Sites.
l) Unauthorized Access. The Affiliate’s unauthorized access or duplication of any Licensed Materials or other content that the Affiliate obtains directly or indirectly through its participation in the Program is a material breach of this agreement.
m) Malicious Code, Viruses, Etc. The Affiliate will not use or offer for download any material that contains a virus malware, or malicious code, for example, a trojan horse, that has the potential of causing disruption or damage to any computer system, network, or server. The Affiliate will be liable to the Company for all damage caused by any program of this nature.
n) Links to and Content of Others. The Affiliate will not use the Licensed Materials, the Company Marks, or any other of the Company’s intellectual property to promote or link to any other website. No links to other sites are permitted on pages where the Licensed Materials are used.
o) Use of Unapproved Promotional Materials. The Affiliate will only use the Licensed Materials provided by the Company unless the Company states otherwise in writing. The Affiliate will not use any other material, whether created by the Affiliate or others, to promote the Program or the Program Sites unless the Company states otherwise in writing.
p) Abuse of Promotional Links. The Affiliate will not abuse the Promotional Links, including by using the Promotional Links to purchase products on one or more Program Sites; sharing, posting, or spamming the Promotional Links in any area of the Program Sites; and recruiting existing customers to purchase products via the Promotional Links.