Terms of Use for UC San Diego Online Courses

Online Courses

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your use of the University of California, San Diego (“UC San Diego”), UC San Diego Online platform, website, applications, and other services provided through UC San Diego Online (“Services”), which is owned by UC San Diego and operated by UC San Diego or its service providers. Please read these Terms carefully, and contact us at online@ucsd.edu if you have any questions.

Use of UC San Diego Online

In order to participate in or use UC San Diego Online, you must agree to these Terms, including the Honor Code and Privacy Policy. BY ACCESSING OR USING SERVICES YOU INDICATE THAT YOU HAVE READ THESE TERMS, THE PRIVACY POLICY, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS, INCLUDING THE PRIVACY POLICY AND THE HONOR CODE AND ALL OTHER POLICIES REFERENCED IN THESE TERMS.

UC SAN DIEGO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MODIFY THESE TERMS AT ANY TIME AND WILL PUBLISH NOTICE OF ANY MODIFICATIONS ON-LINE AT Online.UCSD.EDU. BY CONTINUING TO ACCESS OR USE SERVICES AFTER NOTICE OF SUCH MODIFICATIONS HAS BEEN PUBLISHED, YOU SIGNIFY YOUR AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND BY THE MODIFICATIONS.

User Age and Eligibility

Use of or participation in UC San Diego Online is restricted to those individuals who have registered; who have agreed to these Terms; who are 18 years of age and over, emancipated minors, or who possess parental or legal guardian consent; and who are fully able and competent to enter into these Terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations and warranties herein.

Any use or access by anyone under the age of 13 is prohibited. If you are under 13 years of age, do not use UC San Diego Online. By accessing or using UC San Diego Online you affirm that you are at least 13 years old and meet the eligibility requirements.

If you have questions about your eligibility, please contact us at online@ucsd.edu.

Certain courses may also have additional eligibility requirements as specified in the specific course description.

Access to UC San Diego Online

While portions of UC San Diego Online, such as certain websites, may be available to the general public, other portions are restricted to registered users. You agree that you will not access any registration-required portions of the UC San Diego Online platform if you do not meet the eligibility requirements.

UC San Diego is not responsible for any delay, inability or failure to access UC San Diego Online due to any cause, including but not limited to acts of God, natural disasters, government orders, labor unrest, malfunction of user hardware or software, interruption in internet service, loss or corruption of data, and unanticipated suspension or cessation of service from any underlying service provider.

User Accounts

Registration. In order to use or participate in UC San Diego Online, you must register and create a User Account. You are required to provide a valid email address ("Email Address") and create a user password ("User Password") and a unique username, which will be publicly visible on the forum and other locations on the platform. In setting up your User Account, you may also be prompted or required to enter additional information. Please review the Privacy Policy for further detail about information we collect from you.

Course Registration. In order to participate in an online course you may be required to register for the course. You may be required to provide additional information at the time of registration including, without limitation, evidence of eligibility or of successful completion of prerequisite courses. You may be required to pay a fee to register in some courses.

You understand and agree that all information provided by you is accurate, current, and complete and that you will maintain and update your information to keep it accurate, current, and complete. You acknowledge that if any information provided by you is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, we reserve the right to refuse access to the selected course or to terminate your use of UC San Diego Online. You agree that you will never divulge or share access or access information to your User Account with any third party for any reason.

Fees and Refunds

Courses may be made available for free or for a fee at the sole discretion of UC San Diego. Course fees, if applicable, are due and payable at the time of registration for the course or at the time of requesting a service or materials for which a fee is required. UC San Diego expressly reserves the right to refuse to permit access to any fee-based course if the fee is not paid, is cancelled, or is not processed for any reason.

For a period of fourteen (14) calendar days from the course start date ("Refund Period"), you may withdraw or unenroll from the course by clicking on the unenroll link and your payment will be automatically refunded. Refunds will be credited to the credit card used when you registered and may take up to two billing cycles to process. UC San Diego has no obligation to issue a refund after the Refund Period, but if you believe a refund is warranted, please contact us at online@ucsd.edu.

License to Use UC San Diego Online’s Materials

Unless otherwise indicated, UC San Diego Online and all their content, such as text, images, and the HTML used to generate the pages (“Material”), are the property of UC San Diego or that of its suppliers or licensors and are protected by patent, trademark, and/or copyright under US or foreign laws. In consideration for your agreement to these Terms, UC San Diego grants you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use UC San Diego Online and the Material only for your own personal, non-commercial use. You shall not otherwise copy, reproduce, duplicate, retransmit, distribute, publish, scrape, download in bulk, sell, resell, commercially exploit or otherwise transfer any Material or modify or create derivative works of the Material. The burden of determining that use of any Material is permissible rests with you, the User. Some Material may be provided by third parties, and the use of that Material is subject to rules and restrictions as indicated on the site where they are located. You agree to be bound by all such rules and restrictions.

Modifications to UC San Diego Online

UC San Diego reserves the right, for any reason or no reason, in our sole discretion and without notice, to terminate, change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of UC San Diego Online, including without limitation, information, data, text, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages, courses, Material, features and/or hours of availability, instructors and we will not be liable to you or to any third party for doing so. We may also impose rules and limits on the use of UC San Diego Online or restrict your access to part, or the entire, UC San Diego Online without notice or penalty.

Rules for Online Conduct

You agree to use UC San Diego Online in accordance with all applicable laws. You are responsible for your own communications, including the upload, transmission and posting of information, and are responsible for the consequences of their posting.

Copyrighted material, including without limitation software, graphics, text, photographs, sound, video and musical recordings, may not be placed on UC San Diego Online without the express permission of the owner of the copyright in the material, or other legal entitlement to use the material.

Security

UC San Diego works to protect the security of your account and related information, but UC San Diego cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security. You agree to notify UC San Diego immediately of any compromise or unauthorized use of your account by contacting servicedesk@ucsd.edu.

You agree not to:

Violate local, state, national, or international law or breach any of your contractual obligations or fiduciary duties.
Share your password, let anyone access your account, or do anything that might put your account at risk.
Attempt to access any other user's account.
Reproduce, transfer, sell, resell, or otherwise misuse any content from UC San Diego Online, unless specifically authorized to do so.
Access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of our systems, unless specifically authorized to do so.
Break or circumvent our authentication or security or otherwise test the vulnerability of our systems or networks, unless specifically authorized to do so.
Try to reverse engineer any portion of UC San Diego Online.
Try to interfere with any user, host, or network, for example by sending a virus, overloading, spamming, or mail-bombing.
Use UC San Diego Online to distribute malware.
Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.
Encourage or help anyone do any of the above.

Content Disclaimer

The text and other material in UC San Diego Online may include the opinions of an instructor or other person and are not statements of advice, endorsement, opinion, or information of UC San Diego.

UC San Diego Online may also include the personal opinions and other expressions by Users who post entries on a wide range of topics. Neither the content of the forums, nor the links to other web sites, are screened, approved, reviewed, or endorsed by UC San Diego or any other related entity. UC San Diego is not a publisher of any of the content of the forums, or of any content that may be available through links to and from them.

User Content

UC San Diego Online enables you to share your content, such as homework, quizzes, exams, projects, other assignments you submit, posts you make in the forums, and the like ("User Content"), with UC San Diego, UC San Diego Online, instructors, and/or other users. You retain all intellectual property rights in, and are responsible for, the User Content you share. User Content does not include course content or other materials made available on or placed on to the UC San Diego Online platform by or on behalf of UC San Diego Online’s Content Providers or their instructors teaching using UC San Diego Online.

You represent and warrant that any material you submit to UC San Diego Online, instructors or other Users is accurate and complete and will not violate or infringe the rights of any third party, including without limitation privacy, publicity, intellectual property and any other proprietary rights, such as copyright, trademark and patent rights. You represent and warrant that you have all the necessary rights and licenses to use the material and to permit use of the material by UC San Diego and other researchers.

You agree that, if a third party claims that any material you have contributed to a site, forum, or any other part of the UC San Diego Online platform, is unlawful, you will bear the burden of establishing that the material complies with all applicable laws.

Grant of license. By your submission of any material in connection with this course, you hereby grant UC San Diego an irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty free, fully transferable, worldwide license to use, disclose, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, publicly perform, publicly display and provide to other researchers any such submission. You hereby grant Users in your online course a license to use your User Content (including the right to copy, modify and distribute such content) in conjunction with their participation in the course.

User Status

You agree and acknowledge that your access to the Site, participation in an online course and your agreement to these Terms do not confer any right to access or use the resources of UC San Diego or establish any relationship with UC San Diego or its instructors beyond UC San Diego Online. You agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between UC San Diego and you as a result of these Terms or your use of UC San Diego Online.

International Use

UC San Diego does not represent that materials on UC San Diego Online are appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United States. Persons who choose to use UC San Diego Online from other locations do so on their own initiative, and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable. You agree to comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations in connection with your use of UC San Diego Online. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you agree to comply with all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside.

Links to Other Sites

Pages and sites within the UC San Diego Online platform may include hyperlinks to sites maintained or controlled by others. UC San Diego is not responsible for and does not routinely screen, approve, review or endorse the contents of or use of any of the products or services that may be offered at other sites. These links do not imply UC San Diego's endorsement of or association with the linked sites. UC San Diego is not responsible for and shall in no event be liable, directly or indirectly, to anyone for any loss or damage arising from or occasioned by the creation or use of the linked sites or the information or material accessed through those linked sites. If you choose to use Social Auth login, we may receive from the authenticator your name, email, and public profile information, and the authenticator is notified of your login to this site.

Violations and Enforcement

Reporting Violations
Any actual or suspected violation of these Terms should be reported to online@ucsd.edu.
UC San Diego Response to a Reported or Suspected Violation
Upon receiving notice or information that you have violated these Terms or any applicable law or University policy, UC San Diego may temporarily suspend your privileges pending further proceedings.

A User accused of a violation will be notified in writing of the charge(s) and will have an opportunity to respond in writing before UC San Diego makes a final decision about the violation or imposes a permanent sanction. Appropriate cases will be referred to the UC San Diego disciplinary authority appropriate to the violator’s status (e.g., Office of Student Life or employee’s supervisor) or to appropriate law enforcement authorities.

In addition to sanctions available under applicable law and UC San Diego and University of California policies, UC San Diego may impose a temporary or permanent reduction or elimination of access privileges to UC San Diego Online.

If UC San Diego believes it necessary to preserve the integrity of Computing and Communication Resources or data, UC San Diego may temporarily suspend any account, whether or not the account User is suspected of any violation. UC San Diego will provide appropriate notice and an opportunity to respond in writing to the User.

No refunds will be issued if you are found to have violated these Terms.

Choice of Law/Forum Selection

UC San Diego Online is managed by UC San Diego, located in California. You agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or any content posted to a site, forum, or elsewhere within the UC San Diego Online platform, including copies and republication thereof, whether based in contract, tort, statutory or other law, will be governed by the laws of the State of California, excluding its conflicts of law provisions. You further consent to the personal jurisdiction of and exclusive venue in the federal and state courts located in and serving San Diego County, California, as the legal forum for any such dispute.

Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICES AND ANY INFORMATION, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES THEREIN ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR USE OF A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT.

UC SAN DIEGO DOES NOT WARRANT, AND HEREBY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY OF THE SERVICES, SITES WITHIN THE SERVICE PLATFORM, INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM A SITE, OR LINK TO A SITE. UC SAN DIEGO DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL OPERATE IN AN UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE MANNER OR THAT THE SERVICES ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. YOU AGREE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT USE OF THE SERVICES OR OF INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM OR THROUGH THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, UC SAN DIEGO DOES NOT WARRANT THAT (A) THE SERVICES WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR EXPECTATIONS OR ACHIEVE THE INTENDED PURPOSES, (B) THE SERVICES WILL BE FREE OF OUTAGES, INTERRUPTIONS, DELAYS, SECURITY FLAWS, AND ERRORS, (C) THE INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICES WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, CURRENT, ERROR-FREE, COMPLETELY SECURE OR RELIABLE, (D) THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TRANSMIT OR RECEIVE INFORMATION FROM OR THROUGH THE SERVICES OR (E) THAT DEFECTS IN OR ON THE SERVICES WILL BE CORRECTED.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, UC SAN DIEGO SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS, OR TO YOUR (OR ANY THIRD PARTY/'S) USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES, OR TO YOUR PLACEMENT OF CONTENT ON THE SERVICES PLATFORM OR ANYWHERE WITHIN THE SERVICES, OR TO YOUR RELIANCE UPON INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM OR THROUGH THE SERVICES. IN PARTICULAR, UC SAN DIEGO WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, WHETHER FORESEEABLE OR UNFORESEEABLE, (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, CLAIMS FOR DEFAMATION, ERRORS, LOSS OF DATA, OR INTERRUPTION IN AVAILABILITY OF DATA), ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS, YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES, OR YOUR PLACEMENT OF CONTENT ON THE SERVICES PLATFORM OR SITES, OR TO YOUR RELIANCE UPON INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM OR THROUGH THE SERVICES, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STATUTORY OR OTHER LAW, EVEN IF UC SAN DIEGO OR ITS REPRESENTATIVES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL UC SAN DIEGO’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATED TO THE SERVICES EXCEED TWENTY U.S. DOLLARS ($20) OR THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF FEES RECEIVED BY UC SAN DIEGO FROM YOU FOR THE USE OF PAID SERVICES DURING THE PAST SIX MONTHS, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE DISCLAIMERS AND THE LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY SET FORTH IN THIS TERMS OF USE REFLECT A REASONABLE AND FAIR ALLOCATION OF RISK BETWEEN YOU AND UC SAN DIEGO, AND THAT THESE LIMITATIONS ARE ESSENTIAL BASIS TO UC SAN DIEGO’S ABILITY TO MAKE THE SERVICES AVAILABLE TO YOU ON AN ECONOMICALLY FEASIBLE BASIS.

YOU AGREE THAT ANY CAUSE OF ACTION RELATED TO THE SERVICES MUST COMMENCE WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES. OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.

Termination Rights

You agree that: UC San Diego, in its sole discretion, may terminate your use of UC San Diego Online or your participation in an online course activity, for any reason or no reason and at any time; UC San Diego shall not have any liability to you for such termination; and that you are not entitled to any course credit or to any student or academic grievance procedures in connection with such a termination.

Consumer Notice

If you have any questions regarding UC San Diego Online, you may contact online@ucsd.edu. The Public Inquiry Unit of the Office of the California Attorney General may be contacted at P.O. Box 944255, Sacramento, CA 94244-2550.

Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California website users are entitled to the following specific consumer rights notice: The Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 1625 N. Market Blvd., Suite S-202, Sacramento, California 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.

Proprietary Rights

The logos, names, and graphics on the Site of UC San Diego or any of its affiliates, may be trademarks of UC San Diego or its affiliates. Use, reproduction, copying or redistribution of UC San Diego trademarks, without the prior written permission of UC San Diego or its affiliates, is prohibited. All other trademarks or servicemarks appearing on the Site are the marks of their respective owners.

You will not use the UC name, abbreviation of the UC name, trade names and/or trademarks (i.e., logos and seals) or any derivation thereof, in any form or manner in advertisements, reports, or other information released to the public, or place the UC name, abbreviations, trade names and/or trademarks or any derivation thereof on any consumer goods, products, or services for sale or distribution to the public, without UC’s prior written approval. You agree to comply at all times with California Education Code Section 92000.

Except as otherwise provided herein, use of UC San Diego Online does not grant you a license to any content, features or Material you may access through UC San Diego Online, and you may not modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works of such content, features or Material, in whole or in part. Any commercial use of UC San Diego Online is strictly prohibited except as allowed herein or otherwise approved by us. You may not download or save a copy of any of the content or screens for any purpose except as otherwise provided by UC San Diego. If you make use of UC San Diego Online, other than as provided herein, in doing so you may violate copyright and other laws of the United States, other countries, as well as applicable state laws and may be subject to liability for such unauthorized use. We do not grant any license or other authorization to any user of our trademarks, registered trademarks, service marks, other copyrightable material or any other intellectual property by including them in UC San Diego Online.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold UC San Diego, its instructors, officers, agents, employees, and assignees, harmless from any claims, actions, demands, losses or damages, including legal fees, arising out of, resulting from or in any way related to your participation in an online course, use of UC San Diego Online, placement of any content onto a Site or violation of these Terms. You further agree to fully cooperate in UC San Diego’s defense against any such claims.

Severability; Waiver

If a particular provision of these Terms is not enforceable, this will not affect any other terms. If you do not comply with these Terms, and UC San Diego does not take immediate action, this does not indicate that UC San Diego relinquishes any rights that it may have, including taking action in the future).

COPYRIGHT

This policy was last updated on February 18, 2020