Social Media Policy

The Technical Association of the Pulp & Paper Industry Inc. (The “Association”) provides access to social media forums to its members as an association service. This policy governs your use of Association-related social media forums provided by and hosted on third-party social media sites. Access to these forums is controlled by the Association, and is specifically conditioned on your acceptance of and adherence to this Policy. This Policy applies to any social media forum, whether LinkedIn, Facebook, or any such system existing now or in the future to which this Policy is intended to apply. The following Social Media Policy must be agreed to by each participant prior to first social media forum use. You, the participant, agree that you will adhere to this Policy and that violation could result in termination of the right to participate in any social media forum, legal liability, loss of Association membership, and other consequences.

You understand that this Policy may be altered in the future, and that continuing usage of the social media forums constitutes your agreement to be bound by the rules herein as they may be amended. The most current version of this Policy will be available from the Association by email request and also posted inside the social media forums. In addition to the rules listed in this Policy, please be advised that your use and access of third party social media forums is also governed by those third party sites’ rules and policies. In particular, the Association can make no privacy guarantees to you for your content and activities taking place on third party social media sites. Your privacy is governed only by those third party social media sites’ privacy policies, and you agree to hold the Association harmless for any conduct of the third party social media sites.

If, at any time, you no longer agree to be bound by this Policy, you must terminate your usage of the social media forums.

The social media forums are provided on an “as is” basis, and may be changed, temporarily unavailable, or discontinued at any time.

1. Your Content
   
   1. You represent by submitting any content to the social media forums that you are either: (a) the creator and owner of such content, (b) claiming reasonable fair use, or, (c) that you have obtained all necessary licenses and permissions required to allow you to post the content and license it to the Association in accordance with this paragraph. You hereby assume all liability for content you post and will indemnify the Association for claims arising from your content, including, but not limited to claims of defamation and intellectual property infringement claims. You retain copyright and other proprietary and intellectual property rights in content you submit, post, display, or share on or through the social media forums. By submitting your content to the Association, however, you grant to the Association and its members a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, use, and distribute any content you submit, post, display, or share on or through the social media forums.
   2. You also agree that you will not use any name, logo, or other trademark of any entity in a way that is likely or intended to cause confusion about the origin or authorized users of such marks, names, or logos.
   3. Keep in mind that the responsibility for all content belongs solely to the person from which such content originated. The Association does not endorse any particular opinion expressed through the social media forums and cannot be responsible for them.
   4. The Association reserves the right to screen, review, filter, modify, or remove any content posted by any user to the social media forums, but has no obligation to do so. As such, you understand that in using social media forums, you may be exposed to certain content that you find offensive, indecent, or objectionable. If you encounter such content, please bring it to the attention of The Association by emailing networking@tappi.org.
   5. Any individuals who believe that their intellectual property rights have been infringed upon by or through user-submitted content should contact networking@tappi.org to request that the materials be removed. The Association will investigate the request and remove content as appropriate, and where possible.
   6. You may have access to proprietary and confidential information, in the course of employment or a contractual relationship or otherwise. This information should never be posted to the social media forums without express permission of the owner of such information. The Association will in no way be responsible for your violation of trade secret laws or disclosure of information prohibited by contract or other law.
2. Antitrust
   By using the social media forums, you understand that content posted is, in effect, an ongoing "meeting" of participants. Such meetings often involve competitors. The same rules that apply at physical meetings also apply in the social media forums. Content is recorded, and participants must take special care to strictly adhere to the Association antitrust policy. Messages between competitors regarding prices, fees, discounts, terms and conditions of sale, profits, profit margins, cost data, market shares, sales territories, customer allocation, etc. are expressly prohibited. Participants may not discuss engaging in any group boycotts.
3. Appropriate Conduct
   You agree to adhere to the following rules on acceptable social media forum behavior and agree to communicate in a manner which furthers the Association’s mission to foster the vitality of the global forest products, pulp, paper, tissue, packaging, and associated industries by delivering technical knowledge, valuable networks, and professional growth for our members through a safe, informative, and appropriate forum.
   
   In using the social media forums, you will not:
   
   • Defame, harass, abuse, attack, or threaten any participant or other person;
   • Reveal any private information about any person without permission from that person to do so;
   • Post any inappropriate content, photos or videos, including defamatory, obscene, sexually explicit, or illegal content;
   • Use profanity;
   • Advertise for yourself or any business;
   • Post content not reasonably within the topic of discussion or within a topic reasonably related to the social media forum purpose;
   • Transmit any viruses, worms, or other items of a destructive nature, or use any device which searches, collects, archives, or indexes any content to collect information about users or for any purposes not in accordance with this Policy;
   • Impersonate any person or entity, or falsely claim association or affiliation with any person or entity; or,
   • Otherwise manipulate, abuse, or “hack,” the social media forums in a manner inconsistent with their intended purposes.

If you have any questions about this Social Media Policy, or any other questions regarding the Site, please Contact Us.