epocrates, Inc. Terms of Use

The Services (as defined below) are provided to you in consideration for your agreement with, and subject to, the following Terms of Use, which may be updated from time to time without notice to you, along with any additional terms or conditions that are referenced herein or that otherwise may apply to specific portions of the Services or the epocrates website(s). Your use of the Services after the Terms of Use have been updated shall be deemed to constitute acceptance by you of any modifications, additions or deletions to the Terms of Use caused by such update. You must ensure that anyone accessing the Services via your account complies with the Terms of Use. You will always be able to view the most current version of these Terms of Use by clicking on a link at the bottom of any page within the Epocrates, Inc. website located at https://www.epocrates.com/By using the Services, you agree to these Terms of Use, whether or not you have registered with epocrates. If you do not agree to all of these Terms of Use, do not use the Services.

 

Scope of these Terms of Use

 

References to "Epocrates", "we", "us" or "our" in these Terms of Use mean Epocrates, Inc., including any company that epocrates controls (for example a subsidiary that it owns).

 

We provide epocrates members with access to a wide array of resources which may be provided to you in a variety of mediums and devices now known or hereinafter developed, including mobile applications. These resources include, without limitation, news, tools and applications, sponsored programming and communication tools, including content licensed from our licensors, such as the American Medical Association (collectively, the "Services").

 

Our Information

 

The information that we make available through the Services is intended for physicians and other healthcare professionals. Updating certain information, including Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®), through the Services is dependent on maintaining agreements with our licensors. While we hope you find the Services helpful, you should remember that it is not meant to serve as a substitute for your own clinical judgment as a healthcare professional and you should evaluate and independently verify the information and results from Services we provide. We do not provide professional advice or recommend particular products through our Services. If you are a consumer who chooses to use the professional-level information available to you through the Services, you do so at your own risk and you should not rely on that information as professional medical advice or use it to replace any relationship with your physician or other qualified healthcare professional. Individuals with any type of medical condition are specifically cautioned to seek professional medical advice before beginning any sort of health treatment. 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 personnel.

 

The epocrates' drug interaction checker included in the Services is based on two-drug combinations. The results returned by the checker reflect only paired interactions and compatibility and do not reflect interactions or incompatibilities arising from combinations of more than two drugs at a time.

 

Epocrates Provider Directory

 

The Epocrates Provider Directory is provided for informational purposes only. You assume full responsibility for the communications with any individual you contact through the Epocrates Provider Directory. The database of information which drives the Epocrates Provider Directory does not contain sufficient information with which to verify credentials under the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) of the Utilization Review Accreditation Committee (URAC), and use of the Epocrates Provider Directory to verify the credentials of physicians is prohibited. The inclusion of a healthcare professional in the Epocrates Provider Directory is not an endorsement of any such healthcare professional by epocrates, any of its licensors, affiliates or any third party sponsor of any component of the Services.

 

Proprietary Rights

 

epocrates owns all rights to its logos and trademarks used in connection with the Services. All other logos and trademarks used in connection with the Services are the property of their respective owners. CPT is copyrighted and licensed by the American Medical Association. CPT is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association.

 

You acknowledge and agree that the Services and information, content and software presented to you through the Services or used in connection with the Services contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected under U.S. and international intellectual property laws, including copyright, trademarks, service marks, patents or other proprietary rights and laws. Except as expressly authorized by us or our licensors, you agree not to sell, rewrite, modify, reproduce, distribute (via the Internet or other public computer based information system), redistribute, create derivative works (including translating), rent or provide any information presented to you through the Services, in whole or in part, to an unauthorized party. Further, you are prohibited from using, downloading, publishing, republishing, transferring, selling, leasing, licensing, duplicating, or "scraping" for commercial or any other purpose any database, in whole or in part, in any medium whatsoever, underlying any of the Services including, without limitation, the Epocrates Provider Directory and the Epocrates Rx drug reference tool.

 

The Services are being provided to you on a non-exclusive, non-transferable basis solely for your internal use in the U.S. You may view information provided through the Services online or download or print individual articles for backup or archival purposes only. All copies of the information provided through the Services must include any trademark or copyright notices or disclaimers, and you may not remove any trademark or copyright notices or disclaimers from our or our licensors' materials. We and our licensors reserve all other rights not granted in these Terms of Use. 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.

 

Linking to Us

 

Usually, we don't mind if you include a simple link from your website to our website(s). However, you must first ask our permission if you intend to frame our website(s) or incorporate all or a portion of our website(s) into a different site or product in such a way that is not clear to the users that we are the source of the content. You are not allowed to link to us if you engage in the publication or promotion of illegal, obscene, or offensive content, or if the link in any way negatively impacts on our reputation.

 

Passwords and User Restrictions

 

You may be required to create an epocrates account in order to access the Services. By creating an account, you represent and warrant that all information that you provide on the registration form is current, complete and accurate to the best of your knowledge. You agree to maintain and properly update your registration information so that it remains current, complete and accurate. During the registration process, you may be required to choose a password. You acknowledge and agree that epocrates may rely on this password to identify you. You are responsible for all use of your epocrates account, regardless of whether you authorized such access or use, and for ensuring that all use of your account complies fully with the provisions of these Terms of Use. You agree to notify epocrates immediately of all unauthorized use of your account and if the security or secrecy of your account login information has been compromised. You may be held responsible for any losses incurred by epocrates or any other user of the Service that are in any way related to your failure to maintain the security of your account information.

 

By using the Services, you represent that you are 18 years of age or older.

 

Member Conduct when Using Community and Communication Services

 

If you use a community and communication feature of the Services (each, a "Community and Communication Service"), you are responsible for all communications, information, data, text, music, sound, graphics, messages and other material ("Content") that you upload, post, transmit, email or otherwise distribute through a Community and Communication Service. Neither we nor our licensors are responsible for the consequences of the Content posted by you or any other party through a Community and Communication Service, and as such, do not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. You understand that by using a Community and Communication Service, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive or objectionable. In no event will we be liable in any way for any Content or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content uploaded, posted, transmitted, emailed or otherwise made available through a Community and Communication Service. In cases where you feel threatened or believe someone else is in danger, you should contact your local law enforcement agency immediately. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately.

 

When you use a Community and Communication Service, you agree not to:

 

  1. Violate local, state, national, or international laws;
  2. Post, upload, email, transmit or otherwise distribute any Content that infringes on the intellectual property rights of others or on the privacy or publicity rights of others;
  3. Post, upload, email, transmit or otherwise distribute any Content that is unlawful, harmful, obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, slanderous, hateful, or embarrassing to any other person or entity as we may determine in our sole discretion;
  4. Harm minors in any way;
  5. Post advertisements or solicitations of business;
  6. Forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through a Community and Communication Service;
  7. Post, upload, email, transmit or otherwise distribute chain letters, pyramid schemes, unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or spam;
  8. Impersonate another person or business entity or stalk or otherwise harass another person;
  9. Post, upload, email, transmit or otherwise distribute viruses or other harmful computer code designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the use of any computer software or hardware;
  10. Harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including email addresses;
  11. Allow any other person or entity to use your identification for posting or viewing comments;
  12. Interfere with or disrupt a Community and Communication Service or computers, networks or other hardware connected to a Community and Communication Service, or disregard any requirements or policies of networks connected to a Community and Communication Service;
  13. Engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying a Community and Communication Service, or which, in our sole judgment, exposes us or our licensors, customers or suppliers to any liability or detriment of any type;
  14. Fail to respect other members' privacy. This includes revealing another member's password, phone number, address, or any other personally identifiable information;
  15. Create member names, or post, solicit or send messages, text or photographs that are sexually explicit, that denigrate, threaten, abuse or harm others in any way; or

 

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

 

  1. Record or pre-screen the dialogue through a Community and Communication Service;
  2. Investigate an allegation that a communication does not conform to the terms of this section and determine in our sole discretion to remove or request the removal of the Content;
  3. Remove Content which is abusive, objectionable, illegal, or disruptive, or that otherwise fails to conform with these Terms of Use;
  4. Terminate your access to any or all Community and Communication Services upon our determination that you have violated these Terms of Use; or
  5. Edit Content.

You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. You acknowledge, consent and agree that we may investigate your use of a Community and Communication Service in order to determine whether a violation of the Terms of Use has occurred or to comply with any applicable law, regulation, governmental request or legal process.

You agree and acknowledge that the processing and transmission of a Community and Communication Service, including your Content, may involve transmissions over various networks and devices and modifications may be required for such transmissions.

Information that You Provide to the Services

When you submit information to areas of the Services that are publicly available, you give us an irrevocable, perpetual license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display that information in connection with the Services. We will consider requests to remove information that you make publicly available through the Services on an individual basis (contact us at the email address we provide at the end of this document). See our Privacy Policy section below for an explanation of how we use information that you provide to the Services and your rights to change or delete it. We ask that you not post any messages with misleading, false, or inappropriate language or statements. We reserve the right to remove any Content that we deem offensive or fraudulent at any time without your consent, as further described below. We cannot and do not assume any responsibility or liability for any information you submit in connection with the Services, or your or third parties' use or misuse of information transmitted or received using the Services.

 

General Practices Regarding Use and Storage

 

You acknowledge that epocrates may establish general practices and limits concerning use of the Services, including without limitation the maximum number of days that messages, postings or other uploaded Content will be retained by the Services, the maximum number of messages that may be sent from or received by an account on the Services, the maximum size of any message that may be sent from or received by an account on the Services, the maximum disk space that will be allotted on epocrates' servers on your behalf, and the maximum number of times (and the maximum duration for which) you may access the Services in a given period of time. You agree that epocrates has no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to store any messages and other communications or other Content maintained or transmitted by the Services. You acknowledge that epocrates reserves the right to modify these general practices and limits from time to time.

 

You expressly agree that epocrates may preserve any transmittal or communication by you through the Services, or any service offered through the Services, and may disclose that information if legally required to do so or if epocrates determines that the disclosure is reasonably necessary to enforce these Terms of Use or to protect any rights hereunder or to respond to claims of wrongdoing by others. Please visit our Privacy Policy for our complete policy on what information we collect, how we may use that information and when we share it.

 

Privacy Policy

 

When you use our mobile applications, in addition to information described in our Privacy Policy, such as your profile and contact information, we automatically collect certain information from your device including your precise geolocation, information about your device such as the device type, device ID, operating system, wireless service provider and information about the operation of our application and your usage of our application, including features you used, pages you viewed, and when and for how long you used the application. By using epocrates mobile applications, you agree that epocrates may collect this information and use, transmit, process, and store that information as described in Epocrates' Privacy Policy including to provide and improve our Services.

 

epocrates does not make any representations or guaranty about whether the Services are adequate to meet your privacy and security compliance obligations under HIPAA or any other standards, laws, rules or regulations. You are responsible for assessing your privacy and security needs and determining whether your use of our Services is appropriate to comply with your obligations.

 

You can review our Privacy Policy at https://www.epocrates.com/privacy.

 

Equipment

 

When using the Services, information will be transmitted over a medium that may be beyond the control of epocrates, our licensors or suppliers. Accordingly, neither epocrates, its licensors nor suppliers assume liability for or relating to the delay, failure, interruption or corruption of any data or other information transmitted in connection with your use of the Services. You are responsible for obtaining and maintaining all connectivity, computer software, hardware and other equipment needed to access the Services and all charges related to the same.

 

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 California in the U.S. The Services are to be used only in the U.S. Since the laws of each state or country able to access the Services may differ, by accessing the Services, you agree that the statutes and laws of the State of California, without regard to choice of laws principles, will apply to all matters relating to use of the Services. No waiver of any of these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such terms or any other term. We make no representation that materials made available through the Services are appropriate or available for use in other locations, and accessing them from territories where their contents are illegal is prohibited. If you access the Services from outside the U.S., you are responsible for compliance with the laws of your jurisdiction.

 

U.S. Government Rights

 

The Services include CPT which is commercial technical data and/or computer data bases and/or commercial computer software and/or commercial computer software documentation, as applicable, which was developed exclusively at private expense by the American Medical Association, 515 North State Street, Chicago, Illinois 60654. U.S. government rights to use, modify, reproduce, release, perform, display, or disclose these technical data and/or computer data bases and/or computer software and/or computer software documentation are subject to the limited rights restrictions of DFARS 252.227-7015(b)(2) (November 1995) and/or subject to the restrictions of DFARS 227.7202-1(a) (June 1995) and DFARS 227.7202-3(a) (June 1995), as applicable, for U.S. Department of Defense procurements and the limited rights restrictions of FAR 52.227-14 (December 2007) and/or subject to the restricted rights provisions of FAR 52.227-14 (December 2007) and FAR 52.227-19 (December 2007), as applicable, and any applicable agency FAR supplements, for non-Department of Defense Federal procurements.

 

Consequences

 

We may also take any legal action we think is appropriate. If your violation of these Terms of Use causes harm to others, you agree to hold us and our licensors and affiliates harmless against any liability for that harm. If there is any dispute between us concerning these Terms of Use or your use of the Services, you agree to submit the dispute to non-binding mediation, followed by binding arbitration. Both the mediation and the arbitration will be governed under the rules of the American Arbitration Association, and the venue for the arbitration will be California.

 

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, any associated email address, and remove any information you uploaded or provided to the Services with or without notice. Cause for termination shall include, but not be limited to, (a) breaches or violations of these Terms of Use or other incorporated agreements or guidelines, (b) requests by law enforcement or other government agencies, (c) a request by you (self-initiated account deletions), (d) discontinuance or material modification to the Services (or any part thereof), (e) unexpected 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 neither we nor our licensors shall be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your account, any associated email address, or access to the Services or any portion thereof.

 

Survival

 

The following provisions survive the expiration or termination of these Terms of Use for any reason whatsoever: Liability, Member Conduct, Proprietary Rights, Indemnity, Laws that Govern this Agreement and Consequences.

 

Liability

 

Your use of the Services is at your own risk. The Services and information included therein are provided on an "as is" basis. WE AND OUR LICENSORS, INCLUDING THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, AND SUPPLIERS, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, ACCURACY, NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTIES' RIGHTS, FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND THAT THE SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS AS AN END USER OF THE SERVICES. NEITHER EPOCRATES NOR ITS LICENSORS OR SUPPLIERS WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE. Without limiting the foregoing, we, our licensors, and our suppliers make no representations or warranties about the following:

 

  1. The accuracy, reliability, completeness, currentness, or timeliness of the Services or information contained therein.
  2. The satisfaction of any government regulations requiring disclosure of information on prescription drug products or the approval or compliance of any software tools available through the Services.

 

In no event will we, our licensors, our suppliers, or any third parties mentioned on our website(s) be liable for any damages (including, without limitation, incidental, consequential and special damages, personal injury/wrongful death, lost profits for sequence, accuracy or completeness of information included in the Services, or damages resulting from lost data or business interruption) resulting from the use of, misuse of, inability to use or interpretation of the information contained in the Services or information contained therein, whether based on warranty, contract, tort, or any other legal theory, and whether or not we, our licensors, our suppliers, or any third parties mentioned within the Services are advised of the possibility of such damages. We, our licensors, our suppliers, or any third parties mentioned within the Services shall be liable only to the extent of actual damages incurred by you, not to exceed U.S. $100. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the American Medical Association's sole responsibility under these Terms of Use is to make available to us replacement copies of the CPT in the event the CPT data is not intact. 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 contained therein. 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 of Use are exclusive and are limited to those expressly provided for in these Terms of Use.

 

Indemnity

 

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us and our 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 violation of these Terms of Use.

 

Notice and Take Down Procedures and Copyright Agent

 

If you believe any materials accessible on or from the Services infringe your copyright, you may request removal of those materials (or access thereto) from the Services by contacting epocrates at legal@epocrates.com 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.

 

In an effort to protect the rights of copyright owners, we maintain a policy for the termination, in appropriate circumstances, of subscribers and account holders who are repeat infringers.

 

Additional Terms

 

Some of the Services implement the Google Maps web mapping service. Your use of Google Maps is subject to Google's terms of use, located at http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/help/terms_maps.html.

 

Complete Agreement

 

Except as expressly provided in a particular "legal notice" on the website, these Terms of Use constitutes the entire agreement between you and epocrates with respect to your use (and prior use) of the Services. If any provision of these Terms of Use is deemed to be unenforceable as written by a court of competent jurisdiction, the parties intend that such provision shall be modified to the extent necessary to make the provision enforceable. If the provision cannot be modified in this manner to make it enforceable, the parties intend that the provision shall be removed and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

 

Questions or Concerns about Our Terms of Use

 

For questions or concerns about these terms of use, please send an email to legal@epocrates.com.

 

Date of Last Revision: July 8, 2013