Affiliate TOS Page

Last Modified: January 20, 2021

PLEASE READ THIS MELANIN PRENEURS™ AFFILIATE PROGRAM AGREEMENT CAREFULLY.

This is a contract between you (the “Affiliate”) and us (“MelaninPreneurs™”). The MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program Agreement applies to your participation in our MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program (the “Affiliate Program”). You are not able to participate in our Affiliate Program unless you agree to the terms set below.

MelaninPreneurs™ will periodically update these terms, and reserve the right to replace these terms in in part or in its entirety if, for example, the Affiliate Program changes, ends, or becomes part of an existing or new program. If MelaninPreneurs™ updates or replaces the terms MelaninPreneurs™ will let you know via email. If you don’t agree to the update or replacement, you can choose to terminate as describe herein.

DEFINITIONS

“MelaninPreneurs™” means a company owned, operated or controlled by Bailey Sessoms, LLC.

“MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program” means our marketing affiliate program as described in this Agreement.

“Affiliate Link” means the unique tracking link you place on your site or promote through other channels.

“Affiliate Lead” means a customer prospect who clicks on the Affiliate Link that we have made available to you via the Affiliate Tool.

“Affiliate Policies” means the policies applicable to affiliates which we may make available to you from time to time.

“Affiliate Tool” means the tool that we make available to you upon your acceptance into the Affiliate Program and for you to use in order to participate in the Affiliate Program.

“Agreement” means this MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program Agreement and all materials referred or linked to in here.

“Commission” means an amount described within the MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program Policies on this website for each Customer Transaction.

“Customer” means the authorized actual user of the MelaninPreneurs™ Products who has purchased the MelaninPreneurs™ products after being an Affiliate Lead.

“Customer Transactions” means transactions by Affiliate Leads that are eligible for Commission pursuant to the ‘Customer Transactions’ section of this Agreement.

“Customer Data” means all information that Customer submits or collects via the MelaninPreneurs™ Products and all materials that Customer provides or posts, uploads, inputs or submits for public display through the MelaninPreneurs™ Products.

“MelaninPreneurs™ Content” means all information, data, text, messages, software, sound, music, video, photographs, graphics, images, and tags that we incorporate into our services.

“MelaninPreneurs™ Products” means Products other than MelaninPreneurs™ grant program offerings.

“Program Policies” means the landing page: https://melaninpreneurs.com/affiliate-tos-page where you may access all the up to date guidelines and policies for the MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program.

“We”, “us”, “our”, and “MelaninPreneurs™” means MelaninPreneurs™.

“You” and “Affiliate” means the party, other than MelaninPreneurs™, entering into this Agreement and participating in the Affiliate Program.

NON-EXCLUSIVITY

This Agreement does not create an exclusive agreement between you and MelaninPreneurs™. Both you and MelaninPreneurs™ have the right to work with other parties in connection with the design, sale, installation, implementation and use of similar services and products of third parties.

AFFILIATE ACCEPTANCE

Once you complete an application to become an Affiliate, MelaninPreneurs™ will review your application and notify you of your acceptance to participate in the Affiliate Program. Before your application is accepted, MelaninPreneurs™ reserves the right to review your application directly with you, and contact you for additional information. MelaninPreneurs™ may require you complete certain requirements before your application is accepted. If we do not notify you within fourteen (14) days from your application, your application is considered to be rejected.

If you are accepted to participate in the Affiliate Program, then upon notification of acceptance, the terms and conditions of this Agreement shall apply in full force and effect, until terminated, pursuant to the terms set forth below. In addition, you will be required to complete any enrollment criteria set out in the Program Policies. Failure to complete any enrollment criteria within fourteen (14) days of your acceptance will result in the immediate termination of this Agreement and you will no longer be able to participate in the Affiliate Program.

You agree to comply with the terms and conditions of this Agreement at all times, including any applicable Program Policies.

CUSTOMERS TRANSACTIONS

Affiliate Program Limits. Each accepted Affiliate Lead will expire according to the information provided on the Program Policies from the initial date the Affiliate Lead clicked on the Affiliate Link that was made available by you. We will pay you Commission for each new Customer who completes a Customer Transaction after clicking on an Affiliate Lead made available by you, provided that you remain eligible to receive Commission pursuant to the terms of this Agreement.

Eligibility. To be eligible for Commission an Affiliate Lead must be accepted and valid Customer Transaction must have occurred.

Acceptance and Validity. You will only be eligible for a Commission payment for any Customer Transactions that derived from Affiliate Leads generated by the Affiliate Link that we make available to you and are accepted by MelaninPreneurs™. An Affiliate Lead is not considered valid if it’s first click on the Affiliate Link is after this Agreement has expired or terminated.

Engagement with Prospects. Once we have received the Affiliate Lead information, we may elect to engage with the prospect directly, regardless of whether or not the Affiliate Lead is valid. If an Affiliate Lead is not valid then we may choose to maintain it in our database and we may choose to engage with such Affiliate Lead. Any engagement between MelaninPreneurs™ and an Affiliate Lead will be at MelaninPreneurs™’s discretion.

Commission and Payment. Requirements for Payment; Forfeiture. In order to receive payment under this Agreement, you must have:

(i) agreed to the terms of this Agreement (generally completed through the Affiliate Tool);

(ii) completed all steps necessary to create your account in the Affiliate Tool in accordance with our directions,

(iii) have a valid and up-to-date PayPal account and updated the Affiliate Tool with such account,

(iv) completed any and all required tax documentation in order for MelaninPreneurs™ to process any payments that may be owed to you,

(v) have not been already been permanently terminated from the MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program due to violating any terms under the MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program’s Policies or for any other reason.

Notwithstanding the foregoing or anything to the contrary in this Agreement, if any of the requirements set forth in section 5(i-v) remain outstanding for thirty (30) days immediately following the close of a Customer Transaction (excluding permanent termination from the MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program), then your right to receive Commission arising from any and all Customer Transactions with the associated Customer will be forever forfeited (each, a “Forfeited Transaction”). We will have no obligation to pay you Commission associated with a Forfeited Transaction. Once you comply with all of the requirements in section 5(i-iv), then you will be eligible to receive Commission on Customer Transactions, as long as these Customer Transactions do not involve the same Customer associated with a Forfeited Transaction.

Commission Payment. We, or a MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate, pay Commission on the 5th of each month for commissions that qualified in the previous month that you become eligible for according to the Eligibility section above. We pay all Commission in US dollars and within the US only. We will not pay more than one Commission payment or other similar referral fee on any given Customer Transaction (unless we choose to in our discretion).

Taxes. You are responsible for payment of all taxes applicable to the Commission. All amounts payable by us to you are subject to offset by us against any amounts owed by you to us.

Commission Amounts. We reserve the right to alter or change the Commission amount. We will post all information regarding the Commission amount on the Program Policies Page.

TRADEMARKS

You grant to us a nonexclusive, nontransferable, royalty-free right to use and display your trademarks, service marks and logos (“Affiliate Marks”) in connection with the Affiliate Program and this Agreement.

During the term of this Agreement, in the event that we make our trademark available to you within the Affiliate Tool, you may use our trademark as long as you follow the usage requirements in this section.

You must:
(i) only use the images of our trademark that we make available to you, without altering them in any way;
(ii) only use our trademarks in connection with the Affiliate Program and this Agreement; and
(iii) immediately comply if we request that you discontinue use.

You must not:
(i) use the MelaninPreneurs™ trademark in a misleading or disparaging way;
(ii) use the MelaninPreneurs™ trademark in a way that implies or suggests we endorse, sponsor or approve of your services or products; or
(iii) use the MelaninPreneurs™ trademark in violation of applicable law or in connection with an obscene, indecent, or unlawful topic or material.

PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

MelaninPreneurs™’s Proprietary Rights. No license to any software is granted by this Agreement. The MelaninPreneurs™ Products are protected by intellectual property laws. The MelaninPreneurs™ Products belong to and are the property of us or our licensors (if any). We retain all ownership rights in the MelaninPreneurs™ Products. You agree not to copy, rent, lease, sell, distribute, or create derivative works based on the MelaninPreneurs™ Content, or the MelaninPreneurs™ Products in whole or in part, by any means, except as expressly authorized in writing by us. MelaninPreneurs™, the Sprocket Design, the MelaninPreneurs™ logos, and other marks that we use from time to time are our trademarks and you may not use them without our prior written permission, except as otherwise set forth in this Agreement.

We encourage all customers, affiliates and partners to comment on the MelaninPreneurs™ Products, provide suggestions for improving them, and vote on suggestions they like. You agree that all such comments and suggestions will be non-confidential and that we own all rights to use and incorporate them into the MelaninPreneurs™ Products, without payment to you.

Customer’s Proprietary Rights. As between you and Customer, Customer retains the right to access and use the Customer portal associated with the MelaninPreneurs™ Products. For the avoidance of doubt, Customer will own and retain all rights to the Customer Data.

CONFIDENTIALITY

As used herein, “Confidential Information” means all confidential information disclosed by a party (“Disclosing Party”) to the other party (“Receiving Party”),

(i) whether orally or in writing, that is designated as confidential, and
(ii) MelaninPreneurs™ customer and prospect information, whether or not otherwise designated as confidential.

Confidential Information does not include any information that:
(i) is or becomes generally known to the public without breach of any obligation owed to the Disclosing Party or
(ii) was known to the Receiving Party prior to its disclosure by the Disclosing Party without breach of any obligation owed to the Disclosing Party.

The Receiving Party shall:
(i) protect the confidentiality of the Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party using the same degree of care that it uses with its own confidential information, but in no event less than reasonable care,
(ii) not use any Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party for any purpose outside the scope of this Agreement,
(iii) not disclose Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party to any third party, and
(iv) limit access to Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party to its employees, contractors and agents.

The Receiving Party may disclose Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party if required to do so under any federal, state, or local law, statute, rule or regulation, subpoena or legal process.

OPT OUT AND UNSUBSCRIBING

You will comply promptly with all opt out, unsubscribe, “do not call” and “do not send” requests. For the duration of this Agreement, you will establish and maintain systems and procedures appropriate to effectuate all opt out, unsubscribe, “do not call” and “do not send” requests.

TERM AND TERMINATION

Term. This Agreement will apply for as long as you participate in the Affiliate Program, until terminated.

Termination Without Cause. Both you and MelaninPreneurs™ may terminate this Agreement on fifteen (15) days written notice to the other party.

Termination for Agreement Changes. If we update or replace the terms of this Agreement, you may terminate this Agreement  upon written notice to us and this Agreement twill terminate within 5 business days after receiving such notice.

Termination for Cause. We may terminate this Agreement:
(i) upon fifteen (15) days’ notice to you of a material breach if such breach remains uncured at the expiration of such period,
(ii) upon fifteen (15) days notice to you of non-payment of any amount due to us if such amount remains unpaid at the expiration of such period,
(iii) immediately, if you become the subject of a petition in bankruptcy or any other proceeding relating to insolvency, receivership, liquidation or assignment for the benefit of creditors,
(iv) immediately, if you breach the terms applicable to your subscription with us (if you have one), including if you default on your payment obligations to us or our affiliate, or
(v) immediately, if we determine that you are acting, or have acted, in a way that has or may negatively reflect on or affect us, our prospects, or our customers.

Effects of Expiration/Termination. Expiration of this Agreement, and termination of this Agreement:

(i) without cause by us,
(ii) by you with cause,
(iii) by you according to the ‘Termination for Agreement Changes’ section, shall not affect our obligation to pay you a Commission, so long as the related payment by the Customer Transaction is recognized by us within thirty (30) days after the date of such termination or expiration and provided that in no event shall you be entitled to payment of Commission under this Agreement if you are eligible to receive a revenue share payment under the Sales Solution Program Agreement, Sales Referral Program Agreement or Agency Partner Program Agreement. We will not pay you fees on Customer Transactions recognized by us after thirty (30) days after the date of such termination or expiration set out above. Provided however, in the event of termination without cause by you, or for cause by us, our obligation to pay and your right to receive any Commission will terminate upon the date of such termination, regardless of whether you would have otherwise been eligible to receive Commission prior to the date of termination. Except as expressly set forth in this section, you are not eligible to receive a Commission payment after expiration or termination of this Agreement. Upon termination or expiration, you will discontinue all use of and delete the Affiliate Tool that we make available to you for your participation in the Affiliate Program. Upon termination or expiration, an Affiliate Lead is not considered valid, and we may choose to maintain it in our database and engage with such a prospect.

Upon termination or expiration, you will immediately discontinue all use of our trademark and references to this Affiliate Program from your website(s) and other collateral. For the avoidance of doubt, termination or expiration of this Agreement shall not cause a Customer’s subscription agreement to be terminated.

AFFILIATE REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES

You represent and warrant that:
(i) you have all sufficient rights and permissions to participate in the MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program and to provision MelaninPreneurs™ with Affiliate Lead’s for our use in sales and marketing efforts or as otherwise set forth in this Agreement,
(ii) your participation in this MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program will not conflict with any of your existing agreements or arrangements; and
(iii) you own or have sufficient rights to use and to grant to us our right to use the Affiliate Marks.

You further represent and warrant that:
(i) you will ensure that you are compliant with any trade or regulatory requirements that may apply to your participation in the MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program (for example, by clearly stating you are a MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate on any website(s) you own where you make an Affiliate Link available);
(ii) you will accurately provide in the Affiliate Tool all websites and domains you own where you intend to use Affiliate Links to generate Affiliate Leads;
(iii) you will not purchase ads that direct to your site(s) or through an Affiliate Link that could be considered as competing with MelaninPreneurs™’s own advertising, including, but not limited to, our branded keywords;
(iv) you will not participate in cookie stuffing or pop-ups, false or misleading links are strictly prohibited;
(v) outside of what is provided to you using the Affiliate Tool, you will not attempt to mask the referring URL information;
(vi) you will not use your own Affiliate Link to purchase MelaninPreneurs™ products for yourself.

INDEMNIFICATION

You will indemnify, defend and hold us harmless, at your expense, against any third-party claim, suit, action, or proceeding (each, an “Action”) brought against us (and our officers, directors, employees, agents, service providers, licensors, and affiliates) by a third party not affiliated with us to the extent that such Action is based upon or arises out of:

(a) your participation in the Affiliate Program,
(b) our use of the prospect data you provided us,
(c) your noncompliance with or breach of this Agreement,
(d) your use of the Affiliate Tool, or
(e) our use of the Affiliate Marks.

We will:
notify you in writing within thirty (30) days of our becoming aware of any such claim; give you sole control of the defense or settlement of such a claim; and provide you (at your expense) with any and all information and assistance reasonably requested by you to handle the defense or settlement of the claim. You shall not accept any settlement that:

(a) imposes an obligation on us;
(b) requires us to make an admission; or
(c) imposes liability not covered by these indemnifications or places restrictions on us without our prior written consent.

DISCLAIMERS; LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

Disclaimer of Warranties. WE AND OUR AFFILIATED COMPANIES AND AGENTS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, TIMELINESS, SECURITY OR ACCURACY OF THE MelaninPreneurs™ PRODUCTS, MelaninPreneurs™ CONTENT, THE AFFILIATE PROGRAM OR THE AFFILIATE TOOL FOR ANY PURPOSE. APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACES (APIs) AND THE AFFILIATE TOOL MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE AT ALL TIMES. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE MelaninPreneurs™ PRODUCTS AND AFFILIATE TOOL ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND. WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND WITH REGARD TO THE MelaninPreneurs™ PRODUCTS AND THE AFFILIATE TOOL INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

No Indirect Damages. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL EITHER PARTY BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS OR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES.

Limitation of Liability. IF, NOTWITHSTANDING THE OTHER TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, WE ARE DETERMINED TO HAVE ANY LIABILITY TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY, THE PARTIES AGREE THAT OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO THE TOTAL COMMISSION AMOUNTS YOU HAVE ACTUALLY EARNED FOR THE RELATED CUSTOMER TRANSACTIONS IN THE TWELVE MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO A CLAIM.

Cookie Duration. COOKIES USED AS PART OF THIS AFFILIATE PROGRAM HAVE A 90 DAY DURATION. IF A POTENTIAL CUSTOMER CLEARS THEIR COOKIES DURING THIS PERIOD, MelaninPreneurs™ SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY COMMISSIONS THAT MAY HAVE BEEN OWED TO YOU.

NON-SOLICITATION

You agree not to directly solicit for employment any of our employees or contractors during the term of this Agreement and for a period of twelve (12) months following the termination or expiration of this Agreement. This provision is not intended to limit the mobility of either our employees or contractors.

GENERAL

Amendment; No Waiver. We may update and change any part or all of this Agreement, including by replacing it in its entirety. If we update or change this Agreement, the updated Agreement will be made available to you via the Affiliate Tool and we will let you know by email. The updated Agreement will become effective and binding on the next business day after we have notified you. When we change this Agreement, the “Last Modified” date above will be updated to reflect the date of the most recent version. We encourage you to review this Agreement periodically. If you don’t agree to the update, change or replacement, you can choose to terminate as we describe above. No delay in exercising any right or remedy or failure to object will be a waiver of such right or remedy or any other right or remedy. A waiver on one occasion will not be a waiver of any right or remedy on any future occasion.

Applicable Law. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Maryland, without regard to the conflict of laws provisions thereof. In the event either of us initiates an action in connection with this Agreement or any other dispute between the parties, the exclusive venue and jurisdiction of such action shall be in the state and federal courts in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

Force Majeure. Neither party will be responsible for failure or delay of performance if caused by: an act of war, hostility, or sabotage; act of God; electrical, internet, or telecommunication outage that is not caused by the obligated party; government restrictions; or other event outside the reasonable control of the obligated party. Each party will use reasonable efforts to mitigate the effect of a force majeure event.

Actions Permitted. Except for actions for nonpayment (except for terms stated under “Force Majeure” of this Agreement) or breach of a party’s proprietary rights, no action, regardless of form, arising out of or relating to this Agreement may be brought by either party more than one (1) year after the cause of action has accrued.

Relationship of the Parties. Both you and we agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between you and us as a result of this Agreement.

Compliance with Applicable Laws. You shall comply, and shall ensure that any third parties performing Affiliate activities on your behalf comply, with all applicable foreign and domestic laws (including without limitation export laws and laws applicable to sending of unsolicited email), governmental regulations, ordinances, and judicial administrative orders. You shall not engage in any deceptive, misleading, illegal or unethical marketing activities, or activities that otherwise may be detrimental to us, our customers, or to the public.

Severability. If any part of this Agreement is determined to be invalid or unenforceable by applicable law, then the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision and the remainder of this Agreement will continue in effect.

Notices. Notice will be sent to the contact address set forth herein (as such may be changed by notice given to the other party), and will be deemed delivered as of the date of actual receipt.

To MelaninPreneurs™:
Bailey Sessoms, LLC
Attn: MelaninPreneurs™ – General Counsel
PO Box 424, Odenton, MD 21113,

To you:
Your address as provided in our affiliate account information for you. We may give electronic notices specific to you by email to your e-mail address(es) on record in our account information for you.

DATA PROCESSING

Purposes of processing. The parties acknowledge that in connection with the Marketing Affiliate Program, each party may provide or make available to the other party Personal Data. Each party shall process such data:

(i) for the purposes described the Agreement; and/or
(ii) as may otherwise be permitted under Applicable Data Protection Law.

Relationship of the parties. Each party will process the copy of the Personal Data in its possession or control as an independent controller (not as a joint controller with the other party). For the avoidance of doubt and without prejudice to the foregoing, MelaninPreneurs™ shall be an independent controller of any Personal Data that it receives or shares with Affiliate in connection with the Marketing Affiliate Program.

Compliance with law. Each party shall separately comply with its obligations under Applicable Data Protection Law and this Addendum when processing Personal Data. Neither party shall be responsible for the other party’s compliance with Applicable Data Protection Law. In particular, each party shall be individually responsible for ensuring that its processing of the Personal Data is lawful, fair and transparent, and shall make available to data subjects a privacy statement that fulfills the requirements of Applicable Data Protection Law.

Security: Each party shall implement and maintain all appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect any copies of the Personal Data in their possession or control from

(a) accidental or unlawful destruction, and
(b) loss, alteration, or unauthorized disclosure or access (a “Security Incident”) and to preserve the security and confidentiality of such Personal Data. Each party shall notify the other party without undue delay on becoming aware of any breach of EU Data Protection Law/Applicable Data Protection Law.

ENTIRE AGREEMENT

This Agreement is the entire agreement between us for the MelaninPreneurs™ Affiliate Program and supersedes all other proposals and agreements, whether electronic, oral or written, between us.

Assignment. You will not assign or transfer this Agreement, including any assignment or transfer by reason of merger, reorganization, sale of all or substantially all of its assets, change of control or operation of law, without our prior written consent. We may assign this Agreement to any affiliate or in the event of merger, reorganization, sale of all or substantially all of our assets, change of control or operation of law.

No Licenses. We grant to you only the rights and licenses expressly stated in this Agreement, and you receive no other rights or licenses with respect to us, the MelaninPreneurs™ Products, our trademarks, or any other property or right of ours.

Sales by MelaninPreneurs™. This Agreement shall in no way limit our right to sell the MelaninPreneurs™ Products, directly or indirectly, to any current or prospective customers.

Authority. Each party represents and warrants to the other that it has full power and authority to enter into this Agreement and that it is binding upon such party and enforceable in accordance with its terms.

Survival. The following sections shall survive the expiration or termination of this Agreement: ‘Commission and Payment’, ‘Proprietary Rights’, ‘Confidentiality’, ‘Effects of Termination/Expiration’, ‘Indemnification’, ‘Disclaimers; Limitation of Liability’, ‘Non-Solicitation’ and ‘General’.