TheStreet.com

Terms of Use for RealMoney Blogs

Last revised: January 20, 2005

Introduction and Terms of Use

Welcome to RealMoney Blogs (the "Blogs"). You must be a paid subscriber to RealMoney to post comments on the Blogs. In order to use the Blogs, you will need to create a new user name (known as an "Alias") and password. Your existing RealMoney Username and password will not work for the Blogs. Your use of the Blogs will be subject to the RealMoney Terms of Use as well as the additional terms and conditions detailed below (collectively, the "Terms of Use"). By submitting an Alias and password on the Blog registration page, you are agreeing to be bound by the Terms of Use.

TheStreet.com reserves the right to terminate your access to the Blogs and, in egregious cases, your membership in TheStreet.com and subscription to RealMoney, in the event you violate the Terms of Use. In such case, you will not receive a refund of any portion of the subscription fee paid by you.

Introduction

Our Blogs are intended to serve as a discussion center for thoughtful subscribers who make their own investment decisions, with or without the help of a broker. They are not the place for stock touters, cheerleaders or hypesters. To preserve the spirit of accountability, honesty and informed dialogue that we have fostered at our many sites, we strongly encourage all participants to disclose any positions they have in stocks being discussed (e.g., long, short, no position).

We also respectfully ask that you not engage in any:

• Stock touting.
• Personal attacks.
• Profanity, vulgarity or offensive conduct of any kind.
• Business solicitations or advertising.
• Inappropriate, unethical or misleading behavior.

These standards are designed to ensure that the dialogue on the Blogs is credible, responsible, intelligent and informative. We cannot guarantee that subscribers who comment on our Blogs will tell the truth, and we will not monitor the veracity of names and positions or the content of any posts. However, by setting out the above guidelines, we hope to raise the credibility of the discussion and foster a spirit of open, honest exchanges of information. In addition, please be advised that although any subscriber who posts a comment will be publicly identifiable only by the Alias he or she chose during registration, TheStreet.com's records will contain the actual identity of the author of any comment posted to any of its Blogs.

If you have any comments on our policies, or complaints or concerns of any kind about any posts on the Blogs, please contact us at blogs@thestreet.com. We will review all of the information that you communicate to us, but we may not be able to take action or respond directly to each e-mail.

Terms of Use

The Blogs are a service provided by TheStreet.com to paid subscribers of its RealMoney service. Accordingly, your access to the Blogs will be terminated upon expiration of your RealMoney subscription. When you access, transmit information (which we will refer to as "posting a comment" or some variation of these words), or use the Blogs in any way, you will be bound by the RealMoney Terms of Use as well as the additional terms set forth herein (collectively, the "Terms of Use"). By submitting a username and password on the Blog registration page, you are agreeing to be bound by the Terms of Use.

You agree to:

• Post comments in both tone and content that contribute in a positive and high quality manner to the substantive exchange of information and the subject matter of the Blogs.
• Automatically grant - yourself or because you have the unrestricted right from the actual owner - TheStreet.com a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive and fully transferable and sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display comments you post (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate any one of those comments in other works now or in the future.
• Be responsible for all statements made and acts or omissions that occur on your subscription account while your password is being used.
• Waive any and all rights against TheStreet.com and hold TheStreet.com harmless in connection with any claims relating to any action taken by TheStreet.com as part of its investigation of a suspected violation or result of its conclusion that a violation of the Terms of Use has occurred, including but not limited to the removal of posts from any Blog or a suspension or termination of your membership account;
• Maintain and promptly update your registration data to keep it true, accurate, current and complete.

You agree not to:

• Choose an alias that is threatening, abusive, offensive, harassing, derisive, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, hatefully, racially, ethnically or otherwise or objectionable.
• Post any comment that you either know or should know is false, deceptive or misleading, or misrepresent or deceive others as to the source, accuracy, integrity or completeness of any comment you post.
• Post any comment that is unlawful, harmful or injurious to others, threatening, abusive, offensive, harassing, derisive, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, hatefully, racially, ethnically or otherwise tortious or objectionable.
• Post any comment that does or may invade the privacy or violate or infringe on any rights of others, including, without limitation, copyrights and other intellectual property rights.
• By use of your Alias or in any comment, impersonate any person, firm or entity, falsely or deceptively state, infer or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with or connection to any person, firm or entity.
• Post any comment which, either the act of posting or the comment itself, you do not have a right to do under any law, regulation or order of any court, or as a result of an employment, contractual, fiduciary or other legal obligation or relationship.
• Post any advertising, promotional materials, so called "chain letters," "pyramid" or other schemes or invitations to participate in these or any other form of solicitation or promotion.
• Post any non-public or otherwise restricted, confidential or proprietary information without authorization.
• Violate any local, state, national or international law, regulation or order of any court, including but not limited to regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, any rules of any securities exchange, including without limitation, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or The Nasdaq Stock Market.

TheStreet.com has the right in its sole discretion, arbitrarily and/or for any reason and without any notice whatsoever, to edit, move, delete, and/or remove any Blog comment posted on any of its Blogs at any time. Without limiting the foregoing, TheStreet.com has the right to delete any Blog comment that TheStreet.com believes, in its sole discretion, does or may violate the Terms of Use. You agree to indemnify and hold TheStreet.com harmless from any claim, action or demand made by any third party and all damages, losses, liabilities, costs and expenses (including attorneys' fees), in connection with or arising out of your violation of the Terms of Use.

Important Caveats

While we believe that the Blogs can and should be a positive environment for the exchange of information, you understand that the Blogs are open for posting to all paid subscribers of RealMoney. Some individuals may post comments that may be offensive, indecent, objectionable, false, misleading or simply inappropriate. The Blogs may also provide, and individuals may post comments, with links to other Web sites or resources over which TheStreet.com has no control, nor any responsibility or liability.

Each individual who posts a comment is solely responsible for her or his own acts, including the content, context or information in the comment he or she posts. This means that each individual, and not TheStreet.com, is entirely responsible for anything and everything she or he posts on any Blog. TheStreet.com does not and does not intend to pre-screen any comments posted on its Blogs and TheStreet.com cannot and does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of anything that may appear on its Blogs.

The Blogs may contain inaccurate or misleading financial information and you should not rely on any Blog to make or modify any investment decisions. Clearly, TheStreet.com is not and will not be liable if you do rely upon, act upon or otherwise use Blog comments in any way - that is solely your responsibility.

Participation

We urge and encourage participants posting comments on the Blogs to include their full name in any comment and to disclose any positions held in securities they discuss in any comment (e.g., long, short, no position). TheStreet.com cannot and will not attempt to monitor or verify the accuracy of this information. However, we believe the truthful inclusion of this information can help foster a more credible and open dialogue.

You will need to create an Alias and password for use on the Blogs. You will not be able to use your RealMoney username and password. You must be a paid subscriber of RealMoney to create an Alias and password and post comments on any of the Blogs.

Privacy

TheStreet.com reserves the right to access and disclose any information, including actual user names of accounts and other information, to comply with applicable laws and lawful requests from law enforcement and regulatory agencies, to operate its systems properly or to protect itself or its members. To view our full Privacy Policy, please click here.

A Word About Complaints Regarding Comments and Blogs

If you believe that any comment posted or other conduct in connection with the Blogs infringes or violates your rights or is in violation of the Terms of Use, please notify TheStreet.com at blogs@thestreet.com. When you notify us, please identify yourself with your real name and the best way to contact you if we need further information from you regarding your complaint. TheStreet.com, however, does not guarantee any action or response based on such information.

Disclaimer of Warranties and Liability

You expressly agree that under no circumstances is theStreet.com responsible, nor will theStreet.com be liable for any comment posted or for any loss or damage of any kind, that arises or results from comments posted on any of its blogs, the blogs themselves, or any comment deleted by theStreet.com from any of its blogs. This inculdes not only the comments posted, but also any external sites or resources, content, advertising, products, services or any other materials or information on or available from any person, firm or entity other than theStreet.com, posted on any of its blogs.

TheStreet.com disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement. This disclaimer includes, direct, indirect, incidental, consequential and any and all forms of damages, regardless of the form of action or the basis of the claim.

Modification of Terms of use

TheStreet.com reserves the right to change, modify, add or remove all or part of the Terms of Use at any time without prior notice.