General Disclaimer

The following are the rules, conditions, and guidelines that apply to the American Thoracic Society, Inc. ("ATS") Website.

The ATS Website is provided by the ATS for educational and scientific purposes in furtherance of ATS's non profit and tax exempt status. ATS makes no representations or warranties about the accuracy or suitability of this information for any purpose. Errors and omissions may occur. Therefore, ATS disclaims any warranty, whether express or implied, as to any matter relating to this service and all information provided, including but not limited to the or fitness for any particular purpose. In no event shall ATS be liable for any indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of any use of reliance of any information contained herein. Nor does ATS assume any responsibility for failure or delay in updating or removing the information contained herein.

Moreover, information provided on the Website does not constitute medical advice or treatment nor should it be considered as a replacement of the patient/physician relationship or a physician's professional judgement. ATS expressly disclaims all liability for treatment, diagnosis, decisions and actions taken or not taken in reliance upon information contained in this Website.

RULES FOR USE

To maintain an informative and valuable Website that meets the needs of all Users but avoids harm to others, Users must adhere to the following Rules for Use:

1. All materials posted on this site are subject to copyrights owned by ATS and other individuals or entities. Users may download, print or transmit information from the ATS Website only for personal and private use. Any reproduction, retransmission, or republication of all or part of any document found on this site is expressly prohibited, unless ATS or the copyright owner of the material has expressly granted its prior written consent to so reproduce, retransmit, or republish the material. All other rights reserved.
   
2. Although the site includes links providing direct access to other Internet sites, ATS takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, and does not exert any editorial or other control over those other sites.
   
3. Users may not post or transmit any messages that are libelous, defamatory, abusive, anti-competitive, illegal, or violate any other person's copyrights, privacy rights, trademarks, trade secrets, or rights in other confidential information.
   
4. ATS does not intend to discourage Users from taking controversial positions or expressing what may be unpopular views; however, ATS reserves the right to take such action as it deems appropriate in cases where ATS Website is inappropriately used to disseminate statements or materials that are reasonably construed as abusive, destructive, harmful, or threatening to the safety of others.
   
5. The names, trademarks, service marks and logos of ATS appearing on this site may not be used in any advertising or publicity, or otherwise used to indicate ATS's sponsorship, endorsement of, or affiliation with any product or service, without ATS's prior express written permission.
   
6. Users may not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting any material, the posting party warrants and represents that it owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner to use it in such manner. By posting communications, User grants to ATS a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, translate, distribute, perform and display those communications alone or as part of other works in any form, media, or technology, whether known or hereafter developed and sublicense such rights through multiple tiers of sublicenses. User further agrees to grant other Users the right to access, view, store, and reproduce the communications for personal use.
   
7. ATS does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings, nor does ATS exercise editorial control over postings. Notwithstanding the above, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of ATS, ATS reserves the right, but has no obligation, to review and remove such postings that ATS considers to be inappropriate, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable.

Links to Other Organizations

As an educational and scientific benefit pursuant to ATS's non profit and tax exempt status, ATS has developed a list of online resources on the Web. The purpose of the resources is to empower visitors to the ATS site with the ability to quickly and easily access desired information. Hyperlinks are provided as a browsing convenience and do not represent any endorsement or approval by ATS. By providing links to other Websites, ATS does not endorse or approve of the policies or practices of, or opinions expressed on, those sites; nor does ATS make any representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or suitability of any items or claims contained therein.

Although the site includes links providing direct access to other Internet sites, ATS takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on other sites, and does not exert any editorial or other control over any other sites.

The nature of the Internet allows for limitless links from one Website to another without knowledge of, or permission by, the site host. Therefore, ATS cannot be responsible for content on any Website connected via Hyperlink to ATS Website. Upon request, however, ATS will investigate links to its Website and attempt to determine if they are inappropriate or contrary to ATS's mission. In such cases, ATS will request that the link be removed.

Sites requesting linkage are evaluated according to the following criteria:

1. The content of the link must be consistent with the non profit and tax exempt purposes of ATS.
2. The content must be updated on a regular basis.
3. Links to commercial sites will be reviewed and considered on a case-by-case basis.
4. Cooperative links may involve the use of logos, and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
5. Cooperative links should have equal representation on both sites.
6. The ATS will ask linked sites for a list of funding sources. ATS will not link to tobacco-funded Websites.
7. The ATS will not link to sites with any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive or illegal information and or graphics.
8. ATS reserves the right, but does not have the obligation, to review such links periodically. ATS reserves the right to remove any links that it deems no longer consistent with the purposes of ATS.
9. ATS must be advised of major changes on cooperative links that may after the way in which the ATS link is perceived.

Members Only Guidelines

The American Thoracic Society, Inc. ("ATS") provides services for its members on the Internet for educational and scientific purposes only in furtherance of ATS's non profit and tax exempt status. When clinical matters are discussed on the ATS Website, the opinions presented are those of the discussants only. ATS does not exert any editorial control over the content of any messages or discussions posted on the ATS Website. The material discussed on the ATS Website is not intended to present the only or necessarily best information nor only information or viewpoints approved or endorsed by ATS, but rather presents the individual approach or opinion of the discussant or entity. ATS express disclaims any and all liability for injury and other damages that may result from an individual using or relying on any information discussed or posted on the ATS Website, whether these claims are asserted by a physician or any other person. In addition, ATS specifically is not responsible for the accuracy or suitability of the content of any material presented or discussed on the ATS Website.

Members are not allowed to post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, anti-competitive, illegal, or illegal materials. Members are not allowed to post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that it owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owners to use it in such manner. By posting communications, User grants to ATS a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, translate, distribute, perform and display those communications alone or as part of other works in any form, media, or technology, whether known or hereafter developed and sublicense such rights through multiple tiers of sublicenses. User further agrees to grant other Users the right to access, view, store, and reproduce the communications for personal use.

Members or others should not post any anticompetitive information or material, such as information or material regarding specific prices or fees charged or paid. Members or others also should not post any information or material concerning discounts or terms or conditions of sale or service either obtained by or offered to another person or entity.

ATS does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate or objectionable postings, and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of ATS, reserves the right, but has no obligation to, review and remove such postings that ATS considers to be inappropriate, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable.

Online Roster Guidelines

The ATS Roster has been placed online to enhance communication among ATS members. This is a member service, and is not to be used for commercial purposes. It is the members' responsibility not to share membership information with other individuals or institutions.

For security reasons, please follow these guidelines:

1. Do not give out your user name and password to anyone.
2. Do not distribute or reveal any membership information except your own.

ATS reserves the right to terminate access to any member or person who does not abide by these Guidelines.