Privacy Notice
Sophia Institute, Inc. (“Sophia Institute®“) knows that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This notice describes our privacy policy. By visiting the sophiainstitute.com Web site, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Notice.
What Personal Information About Customers Does this Website Gather?
The information we learn from customers helps us personalize and continually improve your shopping experience at sophiainstitute.com. Here are the types of information we gather.
- Information You Give Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our Web site or give us in any other way. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of many of our features. We use the information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your requests, customizing future shopping for you, improving our stores, and communicating with you.
- Automatic Information: We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many Web sites, we use “cookies,” and we obtain certain types of information when your Web browser accesses sophiainstitute.com. A number of companies offer utilities designed to help you visit Web sites anonymously. Although we will not be able to provide you with a personalized experience at sophiainstitute.com if we cannot recognize you, we want you to be aware that these tools exist.
- E-mail Communications: To help us make e-mails more useful and interesting, we often receive a confirmation when you open e-mail from sophiainstitute.com if your computer supports such capabilities. We also compare our customer list to lists received from other companies, in an effort to avoid sending unnecessary messages to our customers. If you do not want to receive e-mail or other mail from us, please notify us accordingly via e-mail at [email protected].
- Information from Other Sources: For reasons such as improving personalization of our service (for example, providing better product recommendations or special offers that we think will interest you), we might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information. We also sometimes receive updated delivery and address information from our shippers or other sources so that we can correct our records and deliver your next purchase or communication more easily.
What About Cookies?
Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and to provide you certain online shopping features.
The “help” portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. However, cookies allow you to take full advantage of some of sophiainstitute.com’s features, and we recommend that you leave them turned on.
Does Sophia Institute® Share the Information It Receives?
Information about our customers is an important part of our business, and we are not in the business of selling it to others. We share customer information only with the companies with whom Sophia Institute, Inc. works or is affiliated, as described below.
Affiliated Businesses We Do Not Control: We work closely with our affiliated businesses, which are linked to the sophiainstitute.com Web site. In some cases, these businesses may operate stores or sell offerings to you at sophiainstitute.com. In other cases, we may operate stores, provide services, or sell product lines jointly with these businesses. You can tell when another business is involved in your transactions, and we share customer information related to those transactions with that business.
Agents: We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include fulfilling orders, delivering packages, sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, processing credit card payments, maintaining and/or hosting the sophiainstitute.com Web site or our e-mail servers, and providing customer service. They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
Promotional Offers: Sometimes we send offers to selected groups of Sophia Institute customers on behalf of other businesses. When we do this, we do not give that business your name and address. If you do not want to receive such offers, please notify us accordingly via e-mail at [email protected].
Business Transfers: As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or buy stores or assets. In such transactions, customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets. Also, in the unlikely event that Sophia Institute, or substantially all of its assets are acquired, customer information will of course be one of the transferred assets.
Protection of Sophia Institute® and Others: We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with law; enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property, or safety of Sophia Institute, the sophiainstitute.com Web site, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
With Your Consent: Other than as set out above, you will receive notice when information about you might go to third parties, and you will have an opportunity to choose not to share the information.
How Secure Is Information About Me?
We work to protect the security of your information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input.
We transmit your entire credit card number and related credit information to the appropriate credit card processing company on a secure basis during order processing.
It is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer. Be sure to sign off when finished using a shared computer.
What Information Can I Access?
Sophia Institute may give you access to the following information about you for the limited purpose of viewing and, in certain cases, updating that information. This list will change as our Web site evolves: Your Account and Account Maintenance
What Choices Do I Have?
As discussed above, you can always choose not to provide information, even though it might be needed to make a purchase or to take advantage of certain sophiainstitute.com features.
- You can add or update certain information on pages such as those listed in the “What Information Can I Access?” section above. When you update information, we usually keep a copy of the prior version for our records.
- If you do not want to receive e-mail or other mail from us, please notify us accordingly via e-mail at [email protected]. (If you do not want to receive Terms of Use and other legal notices from us, such as this Privacy Notice, those notices will still govern your use of sophiainstitute.com, and it is your responsibility to review them for changes.)
- The “help” portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. However, you may not be able to use some features of sophiainstitute.com if you do not use cookies.
- The Federal Trade Commission provides useful information about online privacy on its own Web site (www.ftc.gov).
Children
Sophia Institute does not sell products for purchase by children. We sell children’s products for purchase by adults. If you are under 18, you may use sophiainstitute.com only with involvement and/or supervision of a parent or guardian.
Terms of Use, Notices, and Revisions
If you choose to visit the sophiainstitute.com Web site, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Notice and our Terms of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of the law of the State of New Hampshire USA. If you have any concern about privacy at sophiainstitute.com, please send us a thorough description to [email protected], and we will try to resolve it. Our business changes constantly. This Notice and the Terms of Use will change also, and use of information that we gather now is subject to the Privacy Notice in effect at the time of use. We may e-mail periodic reminders of our notices and conditions, unless you have instructed us not to, but you should check our Web site frequently to see recent changes.
Terms of Use
Welcome to sophiainstitute.com. Sophia Institute, Inc. (“Sophia Institute®“) and its affiliates provide their services to you subject to the following conditions. If you visit or shop at sophiainstitute.com, you accept these conditions. Please read them carefully. In addition, when you use any current or future Sophia Institute® service or visit or purchase from any business affiliated with Sophia Institute®, whether or not included in the sophiainstitute.com Web site, you will also be subject to the guidelines and conditions applicable to such service or business.
Privacy
Please review our Privacy Notice, which also governs your visit to sophiainstitute.com, to understand our practices.
Copyright
All content included on this site, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads, data compilations, and software, is the property of Sophia Institute® or its content suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws. The compilation of all content on this site is the exclusive property of Sophia Institute® and protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. All software used on this site is the property of Sophia Institute® or its software suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws.
Trademarks
SOPHIA INSTITUTE, a trademark; SOPHIA INSTITUTE PRESS, a trademark; THE CATHOLIC READER, a trademark; and other marks indicated on our site are trademarks of Sophia Institute®, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Sophia Institute’s trademarks and trade dress may not be used in connection with any product or service that is not Sophia Institute’s, in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among customers, or in any manner that disparages or discredits Sophia Institute®. All other trademarks not owned by Sophia Institute® that appear on this site are the property of their respective owners, who may or may not be affiliated with, connected to, or sponsored by Sophia Institute®.
License and Site Access
Sophia Institute® grants you a limited license to access and make personal use of this site and not to download (other than page caching) or modify it, or any portion of it, except with express written consent of Sophia Institute®. This license does not include any resale or commercial use of this site or its contents; any collection and use of any product listings, descriptions, or prices; any derivative use of this site or its contents; any downloading or copying of account information for the benefit of another merchant; or any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools. This site or any portion of this site may not be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, visited, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose without express written consent of Sophia Institute®. You may not frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information (including images, text, page layout, or form) of Sophia Institute® and our affiliates without express written consent. You may not use any meta tags or any other “hidden text” utilizing Sophia Institute’s name or trademarks without the express written consent of Sophia Institute®. Any unauthorized use terminates the permission or license granted by Sophia Institute®. You are granted a limited, revocable, and nonexclusive right to create a hyperlink to the home page of sophiainstitute.com so long as the link does not portray Sophia Institute®, its affiliates, or their products or services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive matter. You may not use any Sophia Institute® logo or other proprietary graphic or trademark as part of the link without express written permission.
Your Account
If you use this site, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password and for restricting access to your computer, and you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account or password. The sophiainstitute.com Web site does not sell products for children. It sells its products to adults, who can purchase them with a credit card. If you are under 18, you may use sophiainstitute.com only with involvement of a parent or guardian. Sophiainstitute.com and its affiliates reserve the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, remove or edit content, or cancel orders in their sole discretion.
Reviews, Comments, Communications, and Other Content
Visitors may post comments and other content and communications; and submit suggestions, ideas, comments, questions, or other information, so long as the content is not illegal, obscene, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, infringing of intellectual property rights, or otherwise injurious to third parties or objectionable and does not consist of or contain software viruses, political campaigning, commercial solicitation, chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of “spam.” You may not use a false e-mail address, impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise mislead as to the origin of a card or other content. Sophia Institute® reserves the right (but not the obligation) to remove or edit such content, but does not regularly review posted content.
If you do post content or submit material, and unless we indicate otherwise, you grant Sophia Institute and its affiliates a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media. You grant Sophia Institute® and its affiliates and sublicensees the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such content, if they choose. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you post; that the content is accurate; that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify Sophia Institute® or its affiliates for all claims resulting from content you supply. Sophia Institute® has the right but not the obligation to monitor and edit or remove any activity or content. Sophia Institute® takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content posted by you or any third party.
Copyright Complaints
Sophia Institute® and its affiliates respect the intellectual property of others. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please follow our Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement.
Risk of Loss
All items purchased from the sophiainstitute.com Web site are made pursuant to a shipment contract. This means that the risk of loss and title for such items pass to you upon our delivery to the carrier.
Product Descriptions
Sophia Institute® and its affiliates attempt to be as accurate as possible. However, Sophia Institute® does not warrant that product descriptions or other content of this site is accurate, complete, reliable, current, or error-free. If a product offered by Sophia Institute® itself is not as described, your sole remedy is to return it in unused condition.
Other Businesses
Parties other than Sophia Institute® may operate stores, provide services, or sell product lines on this site. In addition, we may provide links to the sites of affiliated companies and certain other businesses. We are not responsible for examining or evaluating, and we do not warrant the offerings of, any of these businesses or individuals or the content of their Web sites. Sophia Institute® does not assume any responsibility or liability for the actions, product, and content of all these and any other third parties. You should carefully review their privacy statements and other conditions of use. If you connect to or use these sites, you do so at your sole risk.
Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability
THIS SITE IS PROVIDED BY SOPHIA INSTITUTE® ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. SOPHIA INSTITUTE® MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE OPERATION OF THIS SITE OR THE INFORMATION, CONTENT, MATERIALS, OR PRODUCTS INCLUDED ON, AND/OR ORDERED FROM, THIS SITE. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THIS SITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. TO THE FULL EXTENT PERMISSIBLE BY APPLICABLE LAW, SOPHIA INSTITUTE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
SOPHIA INSTITUTE® DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THIS SITE, ITS SERVERS, OR E-MAIL SENT FROM SOPHIA INSTITUTE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. SOPHIA INSTITUTE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM THE USE OF THIS SITE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY AND CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.
CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS, OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MIGHT HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.
Applicable Law
By visiting the sophiainstitute.com Web site, you agree that the laws of the State of New Hampshire USA, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern these Terms of Use and any dispute of any sort that might arise between you and Sophia Institute or its affiliates.
Disputes
Any dispute relating in any way to your visit to the sophiainstitute.com Web site or to products you purchase through sophiainstitute.com or from Sophia Institute shall be submitted to confidential arbitration in Manchester, New Hampshire USA, except that, to the extent you have in any manner violated or threatened to violate Sophia Institute’s intellectual property rights, Sophia Institute® may seek injunctive or other appropriate relief in any state or federal court in the State of New Hampshire USA, and you consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in such courts. Arbitration under this agreement shall be conducted under the rules then prevailing of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrator’s award shall be binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no arbitration under this Agreement shall be joined to an arbitration involving any other party subject to this Agreement, whether through class arbitration proceedings or otherwise.
Site Policies, Modification, and Severability
Please review our other policies posted on this site. These policies also govern your visit to the sophiainstitute.com Web site. We reserve the right to make changes to our site, policies, and these Terms of Use at any time. If any of these conditions shall be deemed invalid, void, or for any reason unenforceable, that condition shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining condition.
Our Address
Sophia Institute, Inc.
P.O. Box 5284
Manchester, NH 03108-5284
Note and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement
If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide Sophia Institute’s copyright agent the written information specified below. Please note that this procedure is exclusively for notifying Sophia Institute® and its affiliates that your copyrighted material has been infringed.
- An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
- A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed upon;
- A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;
- Your address, telephone number, and e-mail address;
- A statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
- A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.
Sophia Institute’s Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on its site is Mark Wright, who can be reached as follows:
Mark Wright
McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton, P.A.
900 Elm Street
P.O. Box 326
Manchester, NH 03105-0326
phone: (603) 628-1311
email: [email protected]