Terms of Use — FishingGuider.org — Delaware Law, AAA Arbitration

1. Acceptance

By accessing or using fishingguider.org/, you agree to these Terms of Use and to our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Disclaimer, Copyright & IP Policy, Editorial Policy, Sources & Methodology, and Accessibility Statement. If you do not agree, please do not use the site.

2. Permitted Use

• Read content for personal, informational, or educational purposes
• Print or save individual pages for personal trip planning
• Share links to specific pages by URL
• Quote brief extracts under fair use (17 U.S.C. §107), with attribution to fishingguider.org/ and a link to the source page
• Use official agency links to buy licenses and confirm the current regulations
• Use the site as a starting point to plan a trip (verify rules on the official agency site before you fish)

3. Prohibited Use

• Use the site to misrepresent yourself as a state agency or official license vendor
• Scrape, mass-download, or systematically extract content for commercial republication or to build a competing directory
• Download, re-host, or re-upload any embedded video — videos may be viewed only via the embedded YouTube player
• Use the site to promote illegal gear, banned methods, or fishing in closed seasons
• Republish content under a different brand without permission
• Use the site to deliver malware or interfere with site operation in breach of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. §1030) or comparable state statutes
• Use the site in any manner that breaches FTC Act Section 5, your state’s UDAP statute, the Lanham Act, or any other applicable law

4. Your Consumer-Rights Position

5. Intellectual Property

The original editorial content of fishingguider.org/ — guide entries, technique write-ups, comparison tables, step-by-step guides, and design — is protected by copyright under U.S. copyright law (17 U.S.C. §101 et seq.). Subject to fair use (17 U.S.C. §107) and the permitted-use clause above, all rights reserved. We do not claim copyright in facts — a season date or a bag limit is not copyrightable.

U.S. federal-government works are public-domain under 17 U.S.C. §105. We use the names of agencies and organizations nominatively — for example, “NOAA Fisheries”, “U.S. Coast Guard”, a state fish-and-wildlife agency — to identify the body our content references. This is fair use under the Lanham Act §33(b)(4) (15 U.S.C. §1115(b)(4)) and the nominative-fair-use doctrine (New Kids on the Block v. News America, 9th Cir. 1992; Toyota Motor Sales v. Tabari, 9th Cir. 2010).

6. Embedded Video and YouTube Terms

7. User Submissions

If you send us a correction, comment, or suggestion, you grant us a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, and incorporate the submission into the site for editorial purposes. We will not publish your name or contact details without permission.

8. Third-Party Content and Links

The site links to and embeds content from state agencies, NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Coast Guard, YouTube, and other third parties. We do not control those sites or videos and are not responsible for their content, availability, accuracy, or privacy practices. A link or embed is not an endorsement.

9. Disclaimers

THE SITE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. We do not warrant that any regulation, season, limit, license rule, or other fishing detail is current at any specific moment — rules change frequently and sometimes mid-season, and the state agency’s own official page is the authoritative current reference.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, fishingguider.org/ AND ITS OPERATORS, EDITORS, CONTRIBUTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR INCIDENTAL LOSS ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR YOUR RELIANCE ON ANY CONTENT, INCLUDING ANY CITATION, FINE, INJURY, OR LOSS ARISING FROM RELIANCE ON A REGULATION OR LIMIT THAT HAD CHANGED, FROM ANY FISHING OR BOATING ACTIVITY, OR FROM ANY EMBEDDED VIDEO. Aggregate liability to any user is capped at one hundred U.S. dollars (US$100).

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes any liability that cannot be limited or excluded under applicable U.S. law — including liability for personal injury caused by gross negligence, fraud, or any liability your home state preserves under its consumer-protection statute.

11. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless fishingguider.org/ and its operators, editors, contributors, and agents from any claim, loss, liability, demand, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your breach of these Terms or your misuse of the site, including any unauthorized commercial scraping, any re-hosting of embedded video, any misrepresentation as an agency, or any unlawful fishing activity.

12. Binding Arbitration and Class-Action Waiver

You and fishingguider.org/ agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the site will be resolved by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, before a single arbitrator. The seat of arbitration is Wilmington, Delaware. Arbitration is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. §1 et seq.).

Class action waiver. You and we agree that each may bring claims against the other only in an individual capacity, and not as plaintiff or class member in any purported class or representative proceeding.

Exceptions to arbitration. Either party may bring an individual action in small-claims court for any claim within that court’s jurisdiction. You retain the right to file a complaint with any federal, state, or local agency — including the FTC or your state Attorney General — and nothing here limits such filings or any statutory right to pursue public-injunctive relief where state law preserves it (as under McGill v. Citibank in California).

30-day right to opt out of arbitration. You may opt out by emailing info@fishingguider.org within 30 days of first using the site, with the subject “Arbitration opt-out” and your contact details. Opt-out has no effect on any other provision.

13. Governing Law and Venue

These Terms and any non-contractual obligations are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, excluding its conflict-of-laws principles. Subject to the arbitration clause above, courts located in New Castle County, Delaware have exclusive jurisdiction. Mandatory consumer-protection provisions of the state where you are resident continue to apply.

14. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms. The “Last reviewed” date at the top reflects the current version. Material changes are flagged on the site for 30 days. Continued use after the effective date of changes constitutes acceptance.

15. Miscellaneous

• Severability. If any clause is found unenforceable, the rest of the Terms remain in effect.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce any clause is not a waiver of future enforcement.
• Entire agreement. These Terms with the policies incorporated by reference constitute the entire agreement.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with any sale, merger, or reorganization.
• Headings. Section headings are for convenience only.

16. Contact

For any question about these Terms, email info@fishingguider.org with the subject “Terms query”.