Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between you ("User") and FairGame Initiative ("FairGame," "we," "us," or "our"), an Ohio nonprofit organization, governing your use of the FairGame website located at fairgameinitiative.org and all associated portals, services, and features (collectively, the "Platform").

By accessing or using the Platform — including creating an account, submitting a registration form, or uploading any content — you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Platform.

If you are a parent or legal guardian accepting these Terms on behalf of a minor, you accept full responsibility for the minor's use of the Platform and their compliance with these Terms.

2. Eligibility and Account Types

The Platform provides the following account types, each with specific eligibility requirements:

Student Accounts (Individual)

Open to K–12 students enrolled in Ohio schools. Students under 13 must have verifiable parental consent on file before account activation. All student accounts require age confirmation at registration.

Student Ambassador Accounts

Open to student leaders participating in FairGame outreach and program support. Ambassadors must also confirm they are 13 or older at registration. Ambassadors under 13 require parental consent.

Teacher / School Professional Accounts

Open to K–12 educators, school administrators, and STEM professionals affiliated with Ohio schools. Teacher accounts are invite-only and require FairGame approval.

Judge / Mentor Accounts

Open to adult professionals with STEM backgrounds who have applied and been approved through our volunteer registration process.

Admin Accounts

Restricted to authorized FairGame Initiative personnel only.

3. Account Responsibilities

You are responsible for:

• Providing accurate, truthful information during registration and keeping it current
• Maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account credentials
• All activity that occurs under your account
• Notifying us immediately at fairgameinitiative@outlook.com if you suspect unauthorized access to your account

You may not share your login credentials with another person. Accounts are non-transferable.

FairGame reserves the right to require additional verification before granting or restoring access to any account.

4. Minor Users — Age Requirement & Parental Consent

Students Ages 13–17

Students between the ages of 13 and 17 may use the Platform. However, a parent or legal guardian is deemed to accept these Terms and the Privacy Policy on the student's behalf at the time of account creation. We encourage parents to review our Privacy Policy to understand what data we collect and how it is protected.

Students Under Age 13

Students who indicate they are under 13 will be required to provide a parent or guardian email address. The account will not be activated until FairGame has sent a consent notification and received verifiable parental consent. FairGame reserves the right to request additional verification of parental consent.

If we discover that an account was created by a child under 13 without parental consent, we will immediately deactivate the account and delete the associated data within 30 days.

Parental Rights

Parents of minor users have the right to: review the personal information collected about their child; request correction or deletion of that information; and withdraw consent, which will result in account deactivation. Contact us at fairgameinitiative@outlook.com to exercise these rights.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree to use the Platform only for its intended purposes — participating in, administering, or supporting FairGame's science fair programs. You agree not to:

• Provide false or misleading information during registration or at any other time
• Attempt to access accounts, data, or systems you are not authorized to access
• Upload malicious software, scripts, or content intended to disrupt or harm the Platform
• Use the Platform to harass, threaten, or harm any other user
• Use the Platform for any commercial purpose, solicitation, or advertising
• Scrape, harvest, or otherwise systematically extract data from the Platform
• Circumvent or attempt to circumvent any security or access control measure
• Use another user's credentials or impersonate another user
• Violate any applicable local, state, or federal law

Violations of these rules may result in immediate account suspension and, where applicable, reporting to appropriate authorities.

6. User-Submitted Content

You retain ownership of any content you upload to the Platform (such as project abstracts, research documents, or mentor session notes). By uploading content, you grant FairGame a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to store, display, and share that content within the Platform for program delivery purposes only.

You represent and warrant that any content you submit:

• Is your original work or you have the right to submit it
• Does not infringe any third-party intellectual property, privacy, or other rights
• Does not contain offensive, harmful, or unlawful material
• Does not contain personal information about third parties that you do not have authority to disclose

FairGame reserves the right to remove any content that violates these Terms or applicable law.

7. Teacher & School Professional Obligations (FERPA)

By uploading or entering student information through a teacher or school professional account, you represent and warrant that:

• You have appropriate authorization from your school or district to share student information with FairGame for science fair program delivery purposes
• Where required by your school or district policy, you have obtained or facilitated parental consent for the sharing of student information
• You will upload only the minimum information necessary: student name, school, grade, project title, and field of study
• You will not upload any prohibited data including home addresses, Social Security Numbers, dates of birth, financial information, medical information, or disciplinary records
• You will promptly notify FairGame if any student data you have shared needs to be corrected or deleted

FairGame treats all student information uploaded by teacher accounts as subject to FERPA-equivalent protections, consistent with our role as a third-party contractor supporting educational activities.

Teachers who violate these obligations may have their accounts suspended and may be reported to their school administration.

8. Data Collection & Privacy

Your use of the Platform is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which explains in detail what personal information we collect, how we use it, how we protect it, and your rights. Our Privacy Policy is incorporated into and forms part of these Terms.

Key commitments:

• We do not sell or rent your personal information to any third party
• We do not display advertising on our Platform
• Student data is never made publicly accessible
• We collect only the minimum data necessary to deliver our programs

9. Intellectual Property

All content on the FairGame Platform that is not user-submitted — including but not limited to the FairGame name, logo, website design, graphics, text, and program materials — is the intellectual property of FairGame Initiative and is protected by applicable copyright and trademark law.

You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, or create derivative works from FairGame's original content without prior written permission from FairGame Initiative.

Student competition materials (project abstracts, research papers, presentations) remain the intellectual property of the student who created them.

10. Disclaimers & Limitation of Liability

The Platform is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied. FairGame does not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful components.

To the fullest extent permitted by Ohio law, FairGame Initiative, its officers, directors, volunteers, and agents shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or exemplary damages arising from your use of or inability to use the Platform, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

FairGame's total liability to any user shall not exceed the greater of (a) amounts paid by that user to FairGame in the 12 months preceding the claim (which, for free-of-charge users, is $0), or (b) $100.

Nothing in these Terms limits liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, fraud, or any matter that cannot be excluded by law.

11. Termination

FairGame reserves the right to suspend or terminate any account at any time, with or without notice, for:

• Violation of these Terms or our Privacy Policy
• Providing false information during registration
• Any conduct that FairGame, in its sole discretion, believes is harmful to users, the Platform, or the FairGame program

You may request termination of your account at any time by emailing fairgameinitiative@outlook.com. We will process deletion requests within 30 days. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (including IP, disclaimers, and governing law) will survive.

12. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Ohio, without regard to its conflict of law principles. Any dispute arising under these Terms shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Ohio, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts.

13. Changes to These Terms

FairGame reserves the right to update these Terms at any time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify registered users via email. Your continued use of the Platform after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

If you do not agree to any revised Terms, you should discontinue use of the Platform and contact us to request account deletion.

14. Contact