1. Using this Software

1.1 CGPublisher is an online software environment which allows knowledge producing communities to collaborate in the creation of works of intellectual property, and then communicate these works to the public through the Internet.

1.2 CGPublisher is online computer software. To use CGPublisher, you need a computer with Internet access, a recent release of a web browser and software for creating digital content.

2. Copyright

The creators of the works on this site ask that you respect their rights. All software and content in the CGPublisher environment is copyright and is protected by international copyright laws. In viewing this site, or purchasing a work or downloading a work at no charge, you, the consumer, agree to the following conditions:

2.1 Copyright: As well as content developed by Common Ground Publishing, the various creators and contributors involved in publishing through this website are the copyright owners. They, and the publisher, Common Ground Publishing, ask that you respect their copyright.

2.2 Fair Use: In the case of publications which draw on the content of this work, fair use is allowed. This includes short quotations for the purposes of criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, research or scholarship. The publisher defines fair use as up to five consecutive sentences directly quoted at one time in the case of prose, or up to five lines but no more than one tenth of the text in the case of poetry. Diagrams, tables or images may not be used without permission.

2.3 Permission to Reproduce: If you wish to copy all or part of a work in any way – duplicating the electronic file, quoting in another work beyond what we define as “fair use”, or photocopying, for instance – you may. However, to attain permission to reproduce you need to email us. A fee may be charged. The creators of the work rely on your honesty. However, you will held be liable for any infringement of copyright for which you are responsible.

2.4 Rights of Acknowledgment: You are required to respect the creator’s “moral rights”, including the right of attribution and the right to be spoken about fairly. Never plagiarise. Always acknowledge and accurately cite sources in the case of quotes which constitute “fair use”, or when you have received permission from Common Ground Publishing to reproduce. Also, make sure you acknowledge and cite and your source when you are paraphrasing another person’s ideas or expression.

2.5 Privacy: If you have so indicated at the point of purchase, Common Ground Publishing, the host of the CGPublisher software, may send you information by email. Information about you and your purchase will not be passed on to any other person or organisation.

2.6 Copying: You may not copy the printed version of any work published through this site without permission of the conference, by emailing us. In the case of the electronic version of this work either purchased as a single product or made available through subscription, you may:

• Keep one copy of the file on your computer or a removable storage medium.
• Make a second copy onto another storage medium for the purpose of a backing up your computer.
• Copy it onto another computer or storage medium, providing you remove it from your original computer or storage medium.
• Print out one copy on paper.
• But you may not:
• Make a copy of the file, other than for the purpose of computer backup or moving it from one location or storage medium to another.
• Break the file into sections (it must always remain as a whole file), or remove the copyright information.
• Sell or give away the file to another person. If another person wants a copy, you should direct them to our conference sites where they can purchase their own copy.
• Email the file to another person. Emailing a file as an attachment is a form of copying.
• Print out more than one copy of this file, or photocopy the printout.

In making a purchase, downloading an electronic work or establishing a CGPublisher account, you have agreed to the above conditions.

3. Payment Policy – Conferences

3.1 Payment Deadline: Payment is due within 30 days of receiving your registration invoice. Registration and payment must be completed no later than two weeks before the first day of the conference. Your registration will not be processed until payment is received in full. In addition, if you have submitted a proposal, you will not be scheduled in the conference program until payment is received.

3.2 Payment Options: Payment may be made by cheque, bank transfer or credit card (MasterCard, Visa or American Express). All payments will be in US Dollars (USD).

3.2a Payment by Bank Transfer: If you select ‘Bank Transfer’ as your payment method, the bank account details will be listed in your registration confirmation email. You may also contact
accounts@commongroundpublishing.com for details.

Bank Transfers outside the US: For any bank transfer made from outside the US, please include an additional US$30 per transfer to the total amount transmitted. (This fee covers intermediary banks’ service charges.) All bank charges for remittances are to be borne by the participant. Failure to pay this fee will result in an incomplete registration.

Please include your registration number in the description section of your transfer.

3.2b Payment by Check: Checks should be made out to “COMMON GROUND PUBLISHING” in USD. Your name and registration number should be typed or printed clearly on the bottom of the Check or on the Check stub.

For Checks in USD, please mail them to: Common Ground Publishing, 
University of Illinois Research Park
, 2001 South First St, Suite 202, 
Champaign, IL 61820 USA

3.3c Payment by Credit Card: You will need to supply your Card Type (Visa, MasterCard or American Express), card number, card verification number, expiration date and name on the card. Please note all transactions by credit card will appear on your statement as payment to “Common Ground Publishing”.

3.3 Institutional Payments: If we have not received an institutional payment two weeks before the conference, we will require you to pay in person. As soon as the institutional payment is made, we will make a refund to you by the same method.

3.4 On-site Payment: As a general rule, on-site payments will not be accepted. In exceptional circumstances, registrations can be paid on-site, but only by prior arrangement – please email us.

4. Returns and Refunds – Physical and Electronic Products

4.1 Physical Products: If you are dissatisfied with your purchase, printed materials and other physical products published and sold through CGPublisher can be returned to Common Ground Publishing within 14 days of receipt, and your money will be refunded.

4.2 Electronic Products: Returns are not accepted on electronic materials, nor refunds given.

5. Cancellation/Refund Policy – Conferences

5.1 Registration Fees: If you are unable to attend the Conference, and are unable to transfer your registration to another person, you may request a refund of your Conference registration fee. You need to send us a written request via email. The amount you are refunded will depend upon the date that we receive your request. (For other options, please also see ‘5.4 Changing Your Registration Type’ and ‘5.5 Substitution Policy’.)

Refund Policy:

• If you cancel your registration and submit your request for a refund earlier than 60 days prior to the first day of the Conference, you will be refunded 80% of your registration fees.
• If you cancel your registration and submit your request for a refund between 60 AND 30 days prior to the first day of the Conference, you will be refunded 50% of your registration fees.
• If you cancel your registration and submit your request for a refund less than 30 days prior to the first day of the Conference, you will receive no refund.
• No exception will be made to the cancellation/refund policy for registrants unable to obtain a travel Visa. Obtaining a travel Visa is the responsibility of the registrant. We will assist by providing an invitation letter for paid registrants but we are not an authority on Visa issues, nor can we help with expediting the Visa process.
• No exception will be made to the cancellation/refund policy for registrants due to travel related issues, natural disasters, or other acts of God

Offset Policy:

• You may cancel your registration anytime and offset registration fees to another Common Ground Publishing conference for the same registrant with a $35 administrative fee applied.

Please submit your requests by email. 

5.2 Extra Fees (including, but not limited to, accommodations, conference dinners, and conference tours): Cancellation of extras within six weeks of conference will incur fees depending on the time limits given by the conference staff via email and website notification. Substitutions are possible; however, if it is past the deadline given for changes to extras, then the registrant is responsible for finding a substitute.

• No exception will be made to the cancellation/refund policy for registrants due to travel related issues, natural disasters, other acts of God, and issues with attaining a Visa.

Please submit your requests to:
Email: refunds@commongroundpublishing.com
Subject line: REFUND REQUEST

5.3 Refund Processing Time: Please allow 2-4 weeks to receive any refund.

5.4 Changing Your Registration Type: You may change your registration type if you wish. At any time, you can upgrade your registration and no fees will be charged. Also, if you are unable to attend the conference, you may change your registration type to that of ‘virtual’.

• US$35 administrative processing fee will be retained by Common Ground from any applicable refund for a downgrade in registration.
• If the change happens between 30 and 60 days before the conference, the lesser of 50% of the remainder or $35 may be refunded.
• If less than 30 days, no refund will be issued, but the offset policy may apply. Please email refunds@commongroundpublishing.com for more details.
• Please see the ‘Registration Options and Fees’ link, on the ‘Register’ page of the conference website.

Please submit your request by email.

5.5 Substitution Policy: Attendee substitutions are allowed, but notification must be made in writing via email. Registrants who fail to attend the Conference and do not notify Common Ground Publishing are responsible for full payment.

Please submit your requests by email.

6. Disclaimers

6.1 As a software provider, Common Ground does not endorse any products marketed through its software and accepts no liability or responsibility for any aspects of any of the works published using the software. If you have any difficulties, please contact the publisher directly.

6.2 Publishers may use the CGPublisher software to creators’ works, or as a consumer, you may use the software to purchase works. CGPublisher simply provides a medium for these transactions. All responsibility for product delivery, quality and content rests with the publishers.

6.3 As a software provider, Common Ground has no control over content. The copyright of all content entered into or uploaded to the software and is creators, contributors and publishers. The responsibility for that content is entirely theirs. Common Ground may, however, at its own discretion terminate without notice any person or organisation access to CGPublisher and remove any part or any of the content that a person or organisation has stored on our server. You agree that we will not be liable to you or any other person or organisation if we take any of these actions.

6.4 We do not guarantee the accuracy or legality of any content posted to the web or published using the CGPublisher software. As a consequence, we will not accept any claims made against us in relation to this content.

6.5 Common Ground will not take any responsibility for the use of your account by other people, with or without your permission, and expressly forbids you from permitting another person to use your account or giving them your password.

7. Privacy and Security

7.1 Common Ground respects the privacy of the users of its software and the visitors to the sites generated using the software. No personal or contact data will be passed on to any other person or organisation without your permission, or unless we are required by law. Common Ground may from time to time contact all uses of CGPublisher on matters connected with its software and related services.

7.2 CGPublisher has a private collaborations space and a public communications space. All data entered into the private collaborations space, including all contact details, will be accessible to persons and representatives of organisations with whom you choose to collaborate (other creators or contributors to a work, publishers and conference organisers as nominated or agreed by you). However, none of this data will be divulged to any other person or organisation, nor will it be made public through the web, without your permission or posting by you to your CGPublisher-generated web space.

7.3 Publishers and conferences using this software are expressly forbidden to send invitations to collaborate or any other material to users of CGPublisher who have not made first contact with them, either through CGPublisher or some other verifiable means. Common Ground reserves the right to remove publishers or conferences who initiate contact with registered users of CGPublisher. If you believe you have been contacted incorrectly or improperly, please contact us.

7.4 CGPublisher requires that “cookies” are enabled on your web-browser. Data which is collected using cookies will be aggregated, for instance as a part of general website useage statistics made available to publishers. No individuals will be identified.

7.5 Personal information, credit card or bank account details, content not yet posted to the web and unpublished content is all stored securely on the Common Ground server. It can only be accessed by persons or organisations who have permission to access that data.

8. About these Conditions

These conditions may be updated from time to time. The current agreement is posted on every page of this website and replaces all earlier agreements. Please return to these conditions regularly to check for updates. This agreement is governed by the laws of the state of Illinois in the United States of America, where Common Ground’s main office and development team are located. We do not guarantee the accuracy or legality of any content posted to the web or published using the CGPublisher software. As a consequence, we will not accept any claims made against us in relation to this content.