Legal Notice and Terms of Use

1. Website owner

This Website is owned by The Church of Almighty God (147-54 Ash Avenue, Flushing, New York 11355, US, EIN: 37-1820870).

Please check our Local Congregations List to see your local Church of Almighty God congregation's information and contact details.

2. Purpose, scope and duration

This Legal Notice regulates the use of the Website, as well as its access, browsing and, in general, the relationship of the Website's owner with any person accessing the Website (hereinafter referred to individually as the "User" or collectively as the "Users").

The Website provides Users with general information about The Church of Almighty God, its activities and events (hereinafter, the "Content(s)"), all in accordance with this Legal Notice.

The Church of Almighty God reserves the right to modify, at any time and without prior notice, the presentation, configuration and Content of the Website or the conditions required for access to and/or use of the Website, as well as to interrupt, suspend or terminate access to the Content of the Website, without the User being entitled to any compensation whatsoever.

Therefore, this Legal Notice is temporarily valid for as long as it is published online, until it is totally or partially modified and, at such time, the new legal notice made available to Users on this Website will come into effect.

Access, browsing and use of the Website by the User implies the express and unreserved acceptance of all the terms of this Legal Notice and any particular conditions, which have the same validity and effectiveness as any signed, written contract.

3. Access

Access to the Website is free of charge, except for the cost of connection through the corresponding telecommunications network for the User to have access to it.

The Church of Almighty God is not responsible for damages of any kind produced to the User arising from failures or disconnections in the telecommunications networks that lead to the suspension, cancellation or interruption of access to the Website.

4. Terms of use

The main purpose of these Terms of Use is to regulate access to the Website. Those who freely access the Website are obliged to observe them. Access to and browsing of the Website implies acceptance of these terms and conditions expressly and without reservations.

Furthermore, those who access the Website must also scrupulously observe applicable legislation and ethical codes.

Users with an excessive or abusive use of the Website may be denied access to it. The following actions shall be considered as excessive and/or abusive use: any use that goes against the general principles of good faith, morality and public order; any use that causes or may cause damage to the Website and/or third parties as well as their respective interests including copyright; any conduct aimed at disabling or impairing the operation and usability of the Website; any conduct that violates any specific instructions and/or warnings that may have been communicated by The Church of Almighty God or the personnel designated by it for this purpose. In particular, by way of illustration but not limitation, the following types of conduct are not permitted:

1) Denigrating the image of The Church of Almighty God;

2) Using computer viruses or any other code, file or program that is designed or intended to interrupt, damage or limit the operation of any software, hardware or telecommunications equipment, or to damage or obtain unauthorized access to data or other information of the Website or any third party;

3) Removing technical protections from computer programs, attempting to test the vulnerability of any system or network on the Website, or violating any security or authentication measures;

4) Using false identities or impersonating others when using the Website, including the use, where appropriate, of passwords of third parties;

5) Using the Contents of the Website for commercial purposes when this is not expressly authorized;

6) Associating the Contents of the Website with information of a pornographic nature, relating to any type of exploitation of a racist, xenophobic nature or linked to terrorism or arms trafficking;

7) Transforming, publicly communicating, distributing, assigning, reproducing or modifying the Contents of the Website, unless any of the exceptions valid in law or expressly authorized by The Church of Almighty God may be applied;

8) Failing to comply with the technical requirements or specifications established to access the Website;

9) Promoting, performing, supporting or encouraging actions contrary to free competition or that constitute unfair competition.

The operation of the Website is supported by servers of service providers, connected by public and private communications infrastructures.

Access to the Website may be suspended for technical reasons or for reasons of force majeure, such as:

1) Power or telephone failure;

2) Virus attacks to the servers that host the Website;

3) User errors when accessing the Website;

4) Fires, floods, earthquakes or other natural events;

5) Strikes or labor conflicts;

6) War conflicts or other situations of force majeure.

These causes, amongst others, are of an unforeseeable nature or are unavoidable even when they are expected or foreseeable.

In the event of technical issues or force majeure, The Church of Almighty God is exempt from any responsibility.

Failure to comply with any of the rules included in this Legal Notice or the legislation that protects them may be considered an illicit act, an offense or a crime or lead to an administrative sanction and will entitle The Church of Almighty God to claim civil, administrative, labor or criminal damages, as applicable.

The Church of Almighty God states that it has adopted the necessary measures, within its possibilities and the state of technology, to guarantee the operation of the Website and to detect the existence of viruses and other elements that may be harmful to Users. Nevertheless, the User must be aware that the security measures of online computer systems are not entirely reliable and that, therefore, The Church of Almighty God cannot guarantee the absence of viruses or other elements that may produce alterations in the User's computer systems (software and hardware) or in their electronic documents and files contained therein. As such, the User assumes any risk or damage that may occur therefore holding The Church of Almighty God harmless in this respect. In any event, the User is responsible for having the appropriate tools for detecting and deactivating harmful computer programs.

5. Embedded content or linked sites

Insertion of links from third-party web pages to the Website

If any User, entity or website wishes to insert any type of link from their web page to the Website, the link may only direct to the home page of the Website, except with the express prior written authorization of The Church of Almighty God. In addition, the link must be absolute and complete so that it takes Users to the URL of the Website and allows them to access the full screen of the home page of the Website.

In all cases, it is forbidden to use any type of frames to display the Website or permit the display of its Contents via any Internet addresses other than those of the Website itself, or in any case, when its Contents are displayed in conjunction with contents not belonging to the Website in a way that: 1) causes or may cause error or confusion in, or misleads or may mislead Users as to the true origin of the service or Contents; 2) constitutes an act of unfair comparison or imitation; 3) exploits the reputation and prestige of The Church of Almighty God; or 4) is otherwise prohibited by current legislation.

The establishment of a link does not imply the existence of legal relations between The Church of Almighty God and the owner of the third-party website, nor the acceptance, approval, sponsorship, verification or supervision by The Church of Almighty God of its contents or services.

The Church of Almighty God does not authorize the insertion of links to the Website from third-party websites that contain illicit, inappropriate or illegal materials, information or content that are in contravention of morality, public order or generally accepted social norms. However, The Church of Almighty God does not have the human or technical means to know and control all the information, content, products or services provided by the websites of third parties that may have established links to the Website, for which reason The Church of Almighty God does not assume any type of responsibility for any aspect related to said websites of third parties.

The Church of Almighty God reserves the right to immediately prohibit or disable at any time any link to the Website, especially where the activity or content of the third party's website in which the link is included is illegal. If Users have real knowledge of the unlawfulness of activities carried out through these third-party websites, please inform The Church of Almighty God immediately in order to disable the access link.

Insertion of links from the Website to third-party web pages

Any mention that may be made on the Website of other websites of third parties will be of a purely informative nature. The Church of Almighty God does not develop or administer said pages nor is the owner of the aforementioned URLs unless this is expressly mentioned. For this reason, The Church of Almighty God will not be responsible for the contents incorporated therein, nor for the damages derived from said access, nor for those generated by the services provided.

If Users have real knowledge of unlawful activities carried out through these linked sites, we kindly ask that they immediately inform The Church of Almighty God so that it may disable the access link.

6. Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights

The Church of Almighty God is the owner of the intellectual and industrial property rights of the Website including all the Contents and elements thereof (including but not limited to text, images, audio and video) available from the Website, as well as those that it has hosted on third-party sites either because they are its property, or because it has obtained the appropriate rights for their use. Likewise, The Church of Almighty God has obtained the appropriate authorizations regarding the image rights of those who appear on its Website.

The trademarks included in the Website are owned by The Church of Almighty God or third parties who have authorized The Church of Almighty God to use their trademarks on the Website. Those who browse the Website are prohibited from using such trademarks, logos and distinctive signs without the authorization of the owner or the license to use them.

All Content that is produced by The Church of Almighty God on this Website may be browsed and downloaded free of charge for personal, non-commercial use. Please contact us for prior authorization to publicly broadcast, publicly transmit, or otherwise reproduce the Contents of the Website. When using any Contents included in the Website, the User must also always comply with the following requirements:

1) A note stating that the Content "comes from The Church of Almighty God" must be included, as well as the website address of The Church of Almighty God: https://hmn.godfootsteps.org/;

2) The Content must be used as originally intended. Therefore, the User may not tamper with, distort, extract portions from the Content or create any other derivative works from it without the prior written authorization of The Church of Almighty God;

3) Any Content included in this Website shall not be used directly or indirectly for commercial purposes. Furthermore, the Content on this Website shall not be used to defame The Church of Almighty God nor go against the purpose of this Website, which is to bear testimony to and preach Almighty God's gospel.

4) The Content in this Website may include third party copyrighted material. This material cannot be used without receiving permission from the original author(s) or copyright holder(s). You will be held solely responsible for any and all consequences resulting from failure to uphold this clause and any ensuing liability for intellectual property infringement (including copyright infringement).

5) The use of The Church of Almighty God's contact data (postal address, telephone number, e-mail address) for the delivery of any type of commercial communication is prohibited, unless the necessary authorizations have been previously obtained in accordance with the applicable regulations.

7. Use and update

This Legal Notice (including the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy) is available to those who access the Website as Users or are interested in The Church of Almighty God's activities. This Legal Notice can be accessed and printed without the need to register.

The content of the standards contained in the Legal Notice shall be adapted in accordance with any modifications made to applicable legislation, the structure of The Church of Almighty God, or to the services, design or technical specifications of the Website, or its technological infrastructure, which shall be updated periodically and without prior notice.

Accordingly, we suggest you review this Legal Notice periodically to verify its changes over time.

8. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

This Legal Notice, which also includes the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy, shall be governed by the legislation of the State of New York, US. Due to the supranational nature of electronic communications infrastructures, those accessing the Website from countries and states other than the State of New York, US, must also observe the applicable legislation promulgated in their respective jurisdiction, insofar as these are of imperative application.

For the resolution of any controversy and/or discrepancy that may arise in relation to the existence, validity, interpretation, application, execution, non-compliance or nullity of this Legal Notice, the imperative rules on applicable legislation and competent jurisdiction shall apply.

9. Notice About Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Infringement

The Church of Almighty God respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you suspect that any Content on the Website infringes on such rights, please inform us immediately and provide valid, written proof. We will verify your claim and handle it appropriately in a timely manner. Please send the following information to contact.hmn@godfootsteps.org:

1) Proof of identity: Your full name or at the very least information to prove your identity, as well as contact information (phone number or email address).

2) Proof of intellectual property rights: Information that can confirm you own the rights to the intellectual property contained in the Website or that you are authorized to represent the owner of said intellectual property.

3) Written statement confirming infringing activity and the process in which infringement occurred: Confirmation that the Content contained in the Website infringes upon the intellectual property rights or other rights of another, and a written statement of specific reasons thereto.

4) Electronic or physical signature of the owner of the relevant intellectual property rights or of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the relevant intellectual property rights.

10. Other

1) The Content of this Website has been translated entirely by professional translators. However, due to linguistic differences or other factors, a small number of inaccuracies are inevitable. If you discover such an inaccuracy, please refer to the original Chinese version, and feel free to get in touch to let us know.

2) The English version of the Legal Notice is translated from Spanish. If any inconsistencies exist between the translation and the Spanish version, the Spanish version shall prevail.

Last updated: 2020-09-02