Genes Reunited Legal

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Terms and Conditions

Your continued use of the Genes Reunited Service constitutes your acceptance of the new Genes Reunited Terms and Conditions

1. Introduction

The Genes Reunited website is owned and run by brightsolid online publishing limited. These terms and conditions ("Terms") set out your rights and obligations, and those of brightsolid online publishing limited, a company registered in England under registration no. 04369607 and VAT no. 426 9170 84 ("Genes Reunited", "we" or "us"), in relation to use of the genealogy and family research services offered by us (the "Genes Reunited Service"). You may access the Genes Reunited Service through our websites at www.genesreunited.co.uk, www.genesreunited.com.au, www.genesreunited.co.nz, www.genesreunited.co.za and www.genesreunited.com or any other websites specified by us from time to time, (the "Websites"). Our contact details are listed below. "You" or "your" means you as a registered user of the Genes Reunited Service. You must be at least 16 years of age to use the Genes Reunited Service. You must not use the Genes Reunited Service if you are under 16 years of age without the supervision and permission of a parent, guardian or teacher. Parents and guardians will be held strictly responsible for any use of the Genes Reunited Service by a minor who is their responsibility. Your access to and use of the Websites and the Genes Reunited Service (regardless of whether you become a member or not) indicates your agreement to be legally bound by these Terms. If you do not wish to be legally bound by these Terms you must not use or access the Websites or the Genes Reunited Service. We reserve the right to change these Terms in our sole discretion from time to time by posting the amended Terms on the homepages of the Websites. Your continued use of the Genes Reunited Service after changes are posted indicates your acceptance of those changes. If you do not wish to be legally bound by any future amended Terms then do not continue to use or access the Genes Reunited Service. When you apply to register for membership or submit an order for any part of the Genes Reunited Service, your application or order constitutes an offer to us to purchase the Genes Reunited Service on these Terms. The contract for your order is formed when we send you an email confirming your order. We may in our sole and absolute discretion refuse your application for membership or your order for any reason without any liability to you.

2. Genes Reunited's Role

We provide the Genes Reunited Service and members can upload their family-related information. Whether you are a member or a non-member of the Genes Reunited Service, you acknowledge that we are not and cannot be responsible for the material provided by members whether on the Genes Reunited Service or outside of it. In particular, you should be aware that Genes Reunited does not generally pre-screen or monitor the material contributed by members or ensure that it is genuine. Genes Reunited is not an internet service provider. In order to use the Genes Reunited Service, you must have internet access and all the software and skills required for email and internet usage.

3. Privacy

Please read our Privacy Policy (which you can find by clicking here) which contains important information about the use of your personal data and other information regarding your privacy. By accepting these Terms and registering as a member of the Genes Reunited Service, you give your consent for your personal data to be stored and processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Any posting, including but not limited to the family tree details and/or message board postings you submit to the Genes Reunited Service (including any personal information you post) may be able to be viewed by non-Member internet users around the world including via internet search engines. We advise that you never reveal via the Genes Reunited Service any personal information about yourself or anyone else (for example: telephone numbers, home addresses or email addresses) which you do not want to be visible to third parties. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your details when using the Genes Reunited Service. We may send you emails relating to your use of the Genes Reunited Service from time to time for further details see our Privacy Policy.

4. Registration

Your registration for and membership of the Genes Reunited Service is personal to you. You may not sell, transfer or grant your registration or membership in part or in whole to any other person or organization. In order to use the Genes Reunited Service you must register your details with us. By registering with us you agree to provide complete, accurate and current personal data about yourself including your correct name and email address, (which must be under your control), and any other requested details. You may access and amend your personal data details at any time by logging onto the Genes Reunited Service and navigating to the "My Account" page. If you change your email address or any of your personal details, then you must inform us of the new email address or of changes to your personal details through the "My Account" page. It is your sole responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of your password and that you are responsible for all activity that occurs under your user name and password. We will not be liable where your password is used by someone else. You should notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your password and any breach of security as soon as you become aware of it. For security or other reasons, we may require you to change your password or other information which facilitates access to the Genes Reunited Service.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your personal data is up to date. We will rely on the information you provide to us. When registering, you understand and agree that you will not:

  • (i) select or use a name of another person with the intent to impersonate that person
  • (ii) use the rights of any person other than yourself without authorisation; or
  • (iii) use a name that we, in our sole discretion, deem offensive.

You will be required to pay to use some aspects of the Genes Reunited Service. When making a payment to us by providing details of your credit, debit or charge card, you must ensure that you are fully entitled to use that card and that there are sufficient available funds in your account to cover the charges which will be deducted from it for the Genes Reunited Service. At the end of the Genes Reunited registration form there is the option to also register on the sister site, Friends Reunited. If you tick the box to say you would also like to register on Friends Reunited, then you are agreeing to be legally bound by the terms and conditions of the Friends Reunited service when you use the Friends Reunited service. You can find the Friends Reunited terms and conditions by clicking here

5. Cancellation

Cooling Off Period

You may cancel your Standard, Gold or Platinum Membership of the Genes Reunited Service or your order for Credits (capitalised terms as defined in section 6 below), and obtain a full refund of any sums paid at any time during the 7 (seven) working days following the date on which we send an email to you confirming your order, PROVIDED THAT:

  • (a) where you are a Standard, Gold or Platinum Member, you have not sent any messages via the Genes Reunited Service;
  • (b) you have not used any of the Credits you have ordered; and
  • (c) where you are a Gold or Platinum Member, you have not accessed any Historical Records.

You agree and accept that once you have accepted these Terms by submitting an order for Standard, Gold or Platinum Membership or Credits, if you send any email messages to other members through your Standard, Gold or Platinum Membership or you use any Credits or your Gold or Platinum Membership to view Historical Records you will lose the right to change your mind and cancel your order under Distance Selling legislation. Cancellation of your membership of the Genes Reunited Service You may cancel your Free Membership of the Genes Reunited Service at any time via the "Help Page", or by emailing us at the email address below. You may cancel your Standard, Gold or Platinum Membership of the Genes Reunited at the end of your membership period by choosing not to renew your membership. Where you are a continuous Standard, Gold or Platinum Member you may cancel your membership by notifying us that you wish to cancel not less than 24 hours before your renewal date. Unless otherwise expressly stated to the contrary in these Terms, we shall not refund in whole or part any membership fees you have paid in the event you cancel your membership.

6. Membership Services and Fees

There are four categories of membership available for the Genes Reunited Service:

  • (A) Free Membership;
  • (B) Standard Membership; or
  • (C) Gold Membership (only available as a renewal option for existing Gold members); or
  • (D) Platinum Membership
  • (E) Free Trial Membership

All prices and offers for membership remain valid as advertised from time to time on the Genes Reunited Service.

(A) Free Members

(i) Core Service Use and Benefits for Free Members.

Free Members may:

  • (a) use the free facilities available on the Genes Reunited Service to add all or part of their family tree;
  • (b) search for individuals using criteria specified by the Genes Reunited Service;
  • (c) receive email messages sent by Standard and Gold Members. These will be sent to your registered email address and can be viewed in the Message Centre on the Genes Reunited Service.

(ii) Non-Core Service Use and Benefits for Free Members.

Free Members may also:

  • (a) upload photographs and videos. If any photograph or video contains the image of a living person, the member uploading it must obtain the prior consent of that person to the photograph or video appearing on the Genes Reunited Service; and
  • (b) opt to receive our newsletter or personalised notification emails relating to individuals listed in the Genes Reunited Service or in census records which appear to be a reasonably close match to people included in your family tree.

For full details about our email communications with you please see our Privacy Policy.

(B) Standard Members

(i) Core Service Use and Benefits for Standard Members.

Standard Members may (in addition to the services available to Free Members):

  • (a) send email messages to members;
  • (b) view the family trees of other members where express permission has been given by that member.

(ii) Non-Core Service Use and Benefits for Standard Members.

Standard Members may also post information and data to any message boards on the Genes Reunited Service.

Standard Membership Fees

You may upgrade to become a Standard Member at any time. You must pay the Standard Membership fee to become a Standard Member. The price of the Standard Membership fee will be as specified on the payment page on the Genes Reunited Service (and may differ depending on which country you reside in). The price of the Standard Membership fee includes Value Added Tax

Standard Membership is valid for the period of time specified on the payment page on the Genes Reunited Service after which you must pay again to continue your Standard Membership. Free credits given upon purchasing a Standard subscription will expire at the same time as your Standard Membership.

Genes Reunited reserves the right to change the amount of the Standard Membership fee and the period which it covers from time to time. Any such changes shall not affect your existing Standard Membership, and shall only take effect at the renewal of such Standard Membership.

You acknowledge and agree that we are entitled to alter the amount or the basis of the calculation of our fees from time to time, provided that such amount or basis is clearly stated at the time when you agree to take the relevant Genes Reunited Service or prior to any fees being taken.

Standard Membership may be fixed or continuous. If you have a fixed Standard Membership, you will need to renew it every time to continue benefiting from Standard Membership.

A continuous Standard Membership is automatically renewed every time your membership lapses and your credit card will be charged again based on the membership type you previously subscribed to. Credit card charges will be processed on the renewal date. Where the Standard Membership fee is going to increase we will send you notice of renewal 28 days before such automatic renewal. If you do not wish to proceed with automatic renewal of your continuous Standard Membership, you can cancel entirely or amend your Standard Membership period from continuous Standard Membership to a fixed Standard Membership on the "My Account" page or by emailing us at the email address below. Any such changes to your Standard Membership period must be completed at least 24 hours before the renewal date.

Please note that a continuous Standard Membership may lapse due to our inability to take payment using your selected payment method, for example where your credit card details have changed. In such an event, it is your responsibility to renew your Standard Membership by paying the Standard Membership Fees by alternative means.

We may remove any of the Core or non-Core Services at any time.

You will not be entitled to any refund of the Standard Membership fees except where we withdraw:

  • (a) a Core Service for Standard Members; or
  • (b) the whole of the Genes Reunited Service itself.

In such circumstances you may, in our sole discretion, be entitled to a refund of your Standard Membership fee for the remainder of the period to which that fee relates.

We may remove all or any part of the non-Core Services (such as message boards) from the Genes Reunited Service, either on a temporary or permanent basis, without liability to make a refund to you.

(iii) Additional services for Free Members and Standard Members

Free Members and Standard Members may also:

(a) search for free basic family tree information on the Genes Reunited Service from the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891,1901 and 1911 England and Wales census records, the birth, marriage and death indexes for England and Wales from 1837 to 2006 and British World War I and World War II death records ("Historical Records"); and

(b) purchase Genes Reunited Records Credits ("Credits") to view Historical Records in more detail via the Genes Reunited Service.

The exact content of the Historical Records is specified on the Genes Reunited Service but will include:

  • (i) full person results for a specified individual (from the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891,1901 and 1911 censuses);
  • (ii) full schedule results i.e. full results for anyone living with a specified individual at the time the census was carried out (from the 1901 census only);
  • (iii) census image (from the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses);
  • (iv) index image (birth, marriages and deaths from 1837 to 1983);
  • (v) full birth, marriage and death details (1984 - 2006);
  • (vi) full person results and index image from the World War I and World War II death lists; and
  • (vii) any other records we may, in our sole discretion, add from time to time.

Before viewing a record you will be informed of how many Credits it will cost.

You may purchase Credits on the Genes Reunited Service at any time. The cost of purchasing Credits and the period of time they are valid for will be specified on the payment page on the Genes Reunited Service The price of Credits includes Value Added Tax. Your Credit balance can be checked at any time in the "My Account" page of the Genes Reunited Service.

You will not be entitled to a refund or any compensation in whole or in part for any inaccuracies or for poor quality of the images of Historical Records except where:

  • (i) the image selected does not appear on-screen and is unavailable in its entirety; or
  • (ii) in our sole discretion, the image supplied to you is of such a poor quality as to render it unreadable.

Automatic Credit Top Ups

Automatic Credit Top Ups ensure that you will never run out of Credits when using the Genes Reunited Service. Your Credits will be automatically topped up every time your Credit balance falls below the following minimum threshold for the Credit bundle you have purchased:-

  • - Where a £5 Credit bundle (50 Credits) is purchased, the minimum threshold is 10 Credits; and
  • - Where a £17.95 Credit bundle (200 Credits) is purchased, the minimum threshold is 10 Credits.

Your Credit balance can be viewed at any time on the Website or in the "My Account" page. We will prompt you to automatically debit funds from your credit or debit card for the same number of Credits as originally purchased when the applicable minimum threshold is reached. If you do not wish to proceed with Automatic Credit Top Up, or if you want to opt-out of Automatic Credit Top Ups when you purchase a Credit bundle, you can cancel it at any time on the "My Account" page or by emailing us at the email address below. Any such changes to the Automatic Credit Top Up must be completed prior to your Credit balance reaching the applicable minimum threshold.

Please note that where we are unable to take payment using your selected payment method, for example because your credit or debit card details have changed, your Credit will not be automatically topped up. We will notify you by email if we are unable to take payment. In such an event, it is your responsibility to renew your Automatic Credit Top Up by purchasing Credits by alternative means.

(C) Gold Members

(i) Core Service Use and Benefits for Gold Members.

Gold Members shall receive all the core services available to Free Members and Standard Members.

(ii) Non-Core Service Use and Benefits for Gold Members.

Gold Members shall receive all the non-core services available to Free Members and Standard Members.

Gold Members may also

search for and view detailed Historical Records via the Genes Reunited Service.

The exact content of the Historical Records is specified on the Genes Reunited Service but will include:

  • (i) full person results for a specified individual (from the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses);
  • (ii) full schedule results i.e. full results for anyone living with a specified individual at the time the census was carried out (from the 1901 census only);
  • (iii) census image (from the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses);
  • (iv) index image (birth, marriages and deaths from 1837 to 1983);
  • (v) full birth, marriage and death details (1984 - 2006);
  • (vi) full person results and index image from the World War I and World War II death lists; and
  • (vii) any other records we may, in our sole discretion, add from time to time.

Gold Membership Fees

We no longer offer the option of Gold Membership. If you are currently a Gold Member you may continue your Gold membership for as long as you remain on a continuous Gold Membership. If you allow your Gold Membership to lapse you will not have the option to purchase a Gold Membership again.

Gold Membership is valid for the period of time specified on the payment page on the Genes Reunited Service after which you must pay again to continue your Gold Membership.

Genes Reunited reserves the right to change the amount of the Gold Membership fee and the period which it covers from time to time. Any such changes shall not affect your existing Gold Membership, and shall only take effect at the renewal of such Gold Membership.

You acknowledge and agree that we are entitled to alter the amount or the basis of the calculation of the Gold Membership fee from time to time, provided that such amount or basis is clearly stated at the time when you agree to take the relevant Genes Reunited Service or prior to any fees being taken.

Gold Membership may be fixed or continuous. If you have a fixed Gold Membership, you will need to renew it every time to continue benefiting from Gold Membership.

A continuous Gold Membership is automatically renewed every time and your credit card will be charged based on the membership type you previously subscribed to. Credit card charges will be processed on the renewal date. Where the Gold Membership fee is going to increase the notice of renewal will be sent 28 days before such automatic renewal. If you do not wish to proceed with automatic renewal of your continuous Gold Membership, you can cancel entirely or amend your Gold Membership period from continuous Gold Membership to a fixed Gold Membership on the "My Account" page or by emailing us at the email address below. Any such changes to your Gold Membership period must be completed at least 24 hours before the renewal date.

Please note that a continuous Gold Membership may lapse due to our inability to take payment using your selected payment method, for example where your credit card details have changed. In such an event, it is your responsibility to renew your Gold Membership by paying the Gold Membership Fees by alternative means.

We may remove any of the Core or non-Core Services at any time.

You will not be entitled to any refund of the Gold Membership fees except where we withdraw:

  • (a) a Core Service for Gold Members; or
  • (b) the whole of the Genes Reunited Service itself.

In such circumstances you may, in our sole discretion, be entitled to a refund of your Gold Membership fee for the remainder of the period to which that fee relates.

We may remove all or any part of the non-Core Services (with the exception of your access to Historical Records) from the Genes Reunited Service, either on a temporary or permanent basis, without liability to make a refund to you.

Where we remove your access to Historical Records you may, in our sole discretion, be entitled to a refund of part of your Gold Membership fee for the remainder of the period to which that fee relates.

We may also remove the option of offering Gold Membership to users of Genes Reunited in the future without notice to you.

(D) Platinum Members

(i) Core Service Use and Benefits for Platinum Members.

Platinum Members shall receive all the core services available to Free Members and Standard Members.

(ii) Non-Core Service Use and Benefits for Platinum Members.

Platinum Members shall receive all the non-core services available to Free Members and Standard Members.

Platinum Members may also receive all the non-core services available to a Gold member, and search for, and view detailed 1911 census Records via the Genes Reunited Service.

Platinum Membership Fees

You may upgrade to become a Platinum Member at any time. You must pay the Platinum Membership fee to become a Platinum Member. The price of the Platinum Membership fee will be as specified on the payment page on the Genes Reunited Service (and may differ depending on which country you reside in). The price of the Platinum Membership fee includes Value Added Tax.

Platinum Membership is valid for the period of time specified on the payment page on the Genes Reunited Service after which you must pay again to continue your Platinum Membership.

Genes Reunited reserves the right to change the amount of the Platinum Membership fee and the period which it covers from time to time. Any such changes shall not affect your existing Platinum Membership, and shall only take effect at the renewal of such Platinum Membership.

You acknowledge and agree that we are entitled to alter the amount or the basis of the calculation of the Platinum Membership fee from time to time, provided that such amount or basis is clearly stated at the time when you agree to take the relevant Genes Reunited Service or prior to any fees being taken.

Platinum Membership may be fixed or continuous. If you have a fixed Platinum Membership, you will need to renew it every time to continue benefiting from Platinum Membership.

A continuous Platinum Membership is automatically renewed every time and your credit card will be charged based on the membership type you previously subscribed to. Credit card charges will be processed on the renewal date. Where the Platinum Membership fee is going to increase the notice of renewal will be sent 28 days before such automatic renewal. If you do not wish to proceed with automatic renewal of your continuous Platinum Membership, you can cancel entirely or amend your Platinum Membership period from continuous Platinum Membership to a fixed Platinum Membership on the "My Account" page or by emailing us at the email address below. Any such changes to your Platinum Membership period must be completed at least 24 hours before the renewal date.

Please note that a continuous Platinum Membership may lapse due to our inability to take payment using your selected payment method, for example where your credit card details have changed. In such an event, it is your responsibility to renew your Platinum Membership by paying the Platinum Membership Fees by alternative means.

We may remove any of the Core or non-Core Services at any time.

You will not be entitled to any refund of the Platinum Membership fees except where we withdraw:

  • (a) a Core Service for Platinum Members; or
  • (b) the whole of the Genes Reunited Service itself.

In such circumstances you may, in our sole discretion, be entitled to a refund of your Platinum Membership fee for the remainder of the period to which that fee relates.

We may remove all or any part of the non-Core Services (with the exception of your access to Historical Records) from the Genes Reunited Service, either on a temporary or permanent basis, without liability to make a refund to you.

Where we remove your access to Historical Records you may, in our sole discretion, be entitled to a refund of part of your Platinum Membership fee for the remainder of the period to which that fee relates.

We may also remove the option of offering Platinum Membership to users of Genes Reunited in the future without notice to you.

Upgrading from Standard Membership to Platinum Membership

You may upgrade to be a Platinum Member at any time.

Where you are a Standard Member and upgrade to Platinum Membership you must pay the full Platinum Membership fee.

From the date on which we send an email to you confirming your upgrade order your Standard Membership will expire and you agree to waive all rights associated with such membership. In particular you acknowledge and agree that:

  • (a) you will have no entitlement to a refund of any fees paid in respect of your expired Standard Membership; and
  • (b) in the event that your Standard Membership expires during the period of 7 (seven) working days following the date on which we sent an email to you confirming your Standard Membership order, you will have no right of cancellation in respect of the Standard Membership as set out in Section 5 above.

Subject to Section 5 above, you may cancel your Platinum Membership and obtain a full refund of the sums paid in respect of the Platinum Membership at any time during the 7 (seven) working days following the date on which we send an email to you confirming your upgrade order.

The upgraded Platinum Membership is valid for the period of time specified on the payment page on the Genes Reunited Service after which you must pay again (at the full Platinum Membership rate as specified on the payment page on the Genes Reunited Service) to continue such Platinum Membership.

You acknowledge and agree that we are entitled to alter the amount or the basis of the calculation of our fees in relation to such upgrade from time to time provided that such amount or basis is clearly stated at the time when you agree to the upgrade or prior to any fees being taken.

Upgrading from Gold Membership to Platinum Membership

You may upgrade to be a Platinum Member at any time.

Where you are a Gold Member and upgrade to Platinum Membership during the period in which your Gold Membership is still valid the price of the Platinum Membership will be altered to reflect the value of your Gold Membership used.  Such alteration will be specified on the payment page on the Genes Reunited Service (and may differ depending on which country you reside in). The price will include Value Added Tax. For the avoidance of doubt, if you upgrade to Platinum Membership after the expiry of your Gold Membership, you must pay the full Platinum Membership fee.  This offer may be withdrawn at any time.

From the date on which we send an email to you confirming your upgrade order your Gold Membership will expire and you agree to waive all rights associated with such membership. In particular you acknowledge and agree that:

  • (a) you will have no entitlement to a refund of any fees paid in respect of your expired Gold Membership; and
  • (b) in the event that your Gold Membership expires during the period of 7 (seven) working days following the date on which we sent an email to you confirming your Gold Membership order, you will have no right of cancellation in respect of the Gold Membership as set out in Section 5 above.

Subject to Section 5 above, you may cancel your Platinum Membership and obtain a full refund of the sums paid in respect of the Platinum Membership (for the avoidance of doubt, where a discounted Platinum Membership fee was paid by you we will only refund the discounted amount and not the full Platinum Membership fee) at any time during the 7 (seven) working days following the date on which we send an email to you confirming your upgrade order.

The upgraded Platinum Membership is valid for the period of time specified on the payment page on the Genes Reunited Service after which you must pay again (at the full Platinum Membership rate as specified on the payment page on the Genes Reunited Service) to continue such Platinum Membership.

You acknowledge and agree that we are entitled to alter the amount or the basis of the calculation of our fees in relation to such upgrade from time to time provided that such amount or basis is clearly stated at the time when you agree to the upgrade or prior to any fees being taken.

(E) Free Trial Membership

You can sign up for a Free Trial which lets you view a selection of the records for a fixed period so you can try before you buy: this requires a credit card. We only allow one Free Trial per household and will stop you taking a Free Trial if we think you've already had one. No payment is taken from your card until your Free Trial comes to an end: you can cancel your Free Trial at any time from the 'my account' area on the website. When you get to the end of your Free Trial, if you have not cancelled by the day before the expiry date, you will automatically become a subscriber to the package your Free Trial was based on, and we will then take your first subscription payment.
Fair usage limits apply. Please see section 8 of our Terms and Conditions for more details.

7. Additional services

Genes Reunited or its affiliates may offer new or ancillary services through the Genes Reunited Service from time to time. Your use of those services may be subject to additional terms and conditions, or rules of use, which you must comply with. We may, in our sole discretion, terminate these Terms and our provision of the Genes Reunited Service to you, without any liability to you and without refunding any sums paid by you if you fail to comply with a material provision of the terms or rules governing such additional services.

Any new or ancillary services offered to you from time to time may require the payment of fees by you either to us or to a nominated third party on terms which will be provided to you at the time you submit your order for such new or ancillary services.

8. Restrictions on your use of the Genes Reunited Service

Fair usage: We have a fair usage limit for subscribers and people taking a Free Trial. You can view 5000 records each calendar month if you're a subscriber, or 600 during a Free Trial. If you get close to the limit, we'll send you an email to warn you. If you do manage to reach the limit, subscribers will need to wait for the next calendar month to start (when your monthly limit is automatically reset) and those on a Free Trial will need to buy a subscription to view more records.

The contents of the Genes Reunited Service, webpages, computer codes of elements comprising the Genes Reunited Service and any software provided to you by us may not be copied, reproduced, communicated and/or made available to the public, republished, downloaded, posted, recorded, broadcast or transmitted or used in any other way except for your own personal, private and non-commercial use, or unless otherwise expressly permitted by us.

You agree that you will not use the Genes Reunited Service in any way that may lead to the encouragement, procurement or carrying out of any criminal or unlawful activity, or cause distress, harm or inconvenience to any other person.

You will not do anything that may cause damage to the Genes Reunited Service or our servers, systems or equipment or those of third parties, nor access or attempt to access any users' data or to penetrate or attempt to penetrate the Genes Reunited Service security measures.

You shall not publicise, post or advertise your contact details (including your email or postal address, phone number, website address or any other contact details) to any other member of the Genes Reunited Service except by making contact with them through the Genes Reunited Service message centre.

You agree to compensate us in respect of any damages suffered by us or any of our losses resulting from any claim made by a third party in each case in respect of any matter arising from your use of the Genes Reunited Service in breach of these Terms or from your violation of any applicable law or regulation.

You agree not to give any indication that you have any commercial relationship with us, or that you are our agent or that we have endorsed any submission you may make.

We reserve the right to suspend, restrict or terminate your access to any part of, or all of the Genes Reunited Service at any time at our sole discretion.

We may also ban or suspend you as a user of the Genes Reunited Service if you do not comply with these Terms. Any person whose access has been suspended or terminated may not re-register for, or re-access, the Genes Reunited Service without our prior consent.

9. Further information about the Genes Reunited Service

We make no promises and offer no guarantees as to the truth or accuracy of any material available on the Genes Reunited Service whether it is provided by members or any other party.

Any content or information available on the Genes Reunited Service is not intended as advice and should not be relied on by you.

This Genes Reunited Service may from time to time contain links to other third party websites and services through advertising or otherwise. These links are provided for your ease of reference and convenience only. We have no control over those third party websites or services and are not responsible for their contents. We do not endorse the material contained in their websites or services, and have no association with their operators. You agree that we won't be party to any transaction or contract with a third party that you may enter into and we won't be liable to you for any loss or damage which you may suffer by using those third party websites and services. You agree that you will not involve us in any dispute you may have with such third party websites and services.

From time to time we enter into platform services agreements with third parties. These agreements allow third parties (such as Adobe) to install third party software and to incorporate content, material or applications on the Genes Reunited Service for use by Members ("Platform Applications").

You may choose whether or not to use Platform Applications. Prior to using a Platform Application, the third party provider may require you to agree to their own terms and conditions. If you do not wish to be bound by such terms and conditions, do not agree to them and cease your installation or use of the relevant Platform Application. We accept no responsibility for Platform Applications or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. You acknowledge that you install Platform Applications at your own risk. Genes Reunited shall not be responsible for any loss, damage or harm suffered by you or be a party to any dispute between you and any third party arising out of your use of a third party site or Platform Application or arising out of or in connection with the material included on the Genes Reunited Service by Members and other third parties.

You must exercise the same degree of caution in appraising what you see on the Genes Reunited Service as you do offline.

Even though members are prohibited from doing so, people may provide information, or otherwise behave, in a way that is unreliable, misleading or even illegal. You should also note that people may not necessarily be who they say they are.

Your use of the Genes Reunited Service is entirely at your own risk.

10. Intellectual Property

All intellectual property rights (including copyright, trade marks, and other intellectual property rights) in the Websites and all material or content made available by Genes Reunited via the Gene Reunited Service (excluding any Submissions by members (in respect of which see below)) shall remain at all times the property of Genes Reunited or Genes Reunited's licensors.

The names, images and logos identifying us, our partners or third parties and our/their products and services contained in the Genes Reunited Service are proprietary marks and may not be reproduced or otherwise used without express permission.

Nothing contained in these Terms shall be construed as conferring by implication any licence or right to use any trade mark, patent, design right or copyright of Genes Reunited or of any third party.

11. Your Submissions and Postings

We are able to offer our members the benefit of our “Keepsafe”.

The Keepsafe is an area of the Website that your Submissions can be directly uploaded to, organised into folders and attached to particular relations in your family tree.

When you upload your Submission you will be asked whether you wish the Submission to be public, private, shared with friends and family, or shared with your contacts.

  • If a Submission is public, it means it is viewable by any member of Genes Reunited
  • If a Submission is private it means that only the owner of the Submission can view it
  • If a Submission is shared with a contact, it means anyone in your contact list can view the Submission
  • If a Submission is shared with friends and family, it means anyone in or added to your friends and family list can view it

All Submissions uploaded will be stored by us and made searchable for other members. Submissions returned in search results will be shown as thumbnails with accompanying details. Submissions which have been marked as “private” will be shown in search results, but the thumbnail will be obscured.

Submissions marked as “public” can be viewed immediately at no charge.

If you want to view a Submission that is not public, you will have to seek permission from the relevant member. Members can be contacted via the Genes Message Centre.

We will charge you to use the Genes Message Centre. If you purchase Credits, we will charge you a one-off fee which will be as specified on the payment page of the Genes Reunited Service at the time of purchase. If you are a Standard Member, the price paid for your membership includes the charges for an unlimited number of messages to be sent to the Genes Message Centre for the duration of your subscription.

As part of the Genes Reunited Service we may offer you the facility to submit a contribution or upload any content to the Genes Reunited Service , such as any text (including, for instance, in forums, on message boards or information in your family tree), photographs, scanned documents, certificates, graphics, video or audio ("Submission"),

We shall not be responsible for the content of any Submissions contributed by members or the behaviour of members or users of the Genes Reunited Service.

Please note that where you make any of your details, information or Submissions available to other members, they may be able to copy and reproduce such details, information or Submissions against your wishes. Genes Reunited shall not be liable to you in the event that a member copies or reproduces your details, information or Submissions.

You are solely responsible for creating backup copies and replacing any content or Submissions you post or store on the Genes Reunited Service or provide to us.

You agree that any Submission you make to the Genes Reunited Service, is subject to the following additional terms:

You retain all ownership rights in any Submission you may make: You promise that you are the original owner of any Submission you make or you have the necessary licences, rights, consents, and permissions to authorise us to use your Submission. In particular, you promise that you have obtained the permission of all of the living people featured or referred to in the Submission (and if they are under 18 their parents' or guardians' permission as well) to the upload of the Submission and to our use of the Submission on the Genes Reunited Service. You agree to give us evidence of all such licences, rights, consents, and permissions if so requested by us. You acknowledge that the contents of any Submission material other than personal data will be considered non-confidential.

We do not claim ownership rights in the content of your Submission or any other item that you or any other member posts on the Website. By making a Submission to the Genes Reunited Service, you grant us a worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free and transferable licence (with the right to sub-license) to use, edit, reproduce, record, modify, translate, distribute, play, perform, make available to the other users of the Genes Reunited Services, prepare derivative works of and to display your Submission by any medium or method whether now known or later developed to be exercised in our sole discretion throughout the world for the full term of copyright and other rights and all renewable and extension thereof including, for the avoidance of doubt, the right to register any design rights and/or trademarks. You agree to waive your moral rights in your Submission.

You acknowledge and agree that where you make a Submission to a public section of the Genes Reunited Service or where you have added a Submission to your Keepsafe and it has been marked as public, your Submission shall be available for viewing by other Genes Reunited members and may be accessible to other internet users around the world.

You are responsible for the contents of any Submission you may make and the consequences arising from its use on the Genes Reunited Service. You will not upload to the Genes Reunited Service any material or content which is in any way defamatory, obscene, unlawful, harmful, offensive or inappropriate or infringes the rights of a third party or may have the effect of being harassing, threatening, abusive or hateful or that otherwise degrades or intimidates an individual or group of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age or disability. You agree not to infringe any laws in order to produce or make a Submission. You agree not to transfer files which contain viruses or other harmful programs. Further, you must not endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks in order to produce or make a Submission.

You also agree not to advertise or promote third parties' or your own goods or services including by way of the distribution of "spam" email. In particular, you agree not to use the Genes Reunited Service to provide links to third party websites. We do not guarantee or endorse any content posted on the Genes Reunited Service by members.

We may accept your Submission, modify your Submission, or refuse to display your Submission at any time in our sole and absolute discretion. We may also withdraw your Submission and/or suspend, restrict and/or terminate the Genes Reunited Service provided under these Terms immediately without notice to you for any reason, including, without limitation, where we suspect your Submission to be in any way defamatory, obscene, unlawful, harmful, offensive, inappropriate or to infringe the rights of a third party. We have no obligation to modify or remove any inappropriate, offensive or unlawful content.

Please note that we cannot accept any Submission containing any music, save where expressly permitted by us.

12. Reporting Abuse

If you see anything on the Genes Reunited Service which appears to breach these Terms, please contact us to inform us of such breach by using the "Report Abuse" function, or by clicking here or by emailing us at the address specified below, as we do not monitor every Submission contributed by members before it is placed on the Genes Reunited Service.

13. Our Liability to You

The Genes Reunited Service is provided on an 'as is' and 'as available' basis. We do not guarantee which aspect of the Genes Reunited Service will be available. We cannot promise that the Genes Reunited Service will be accurate, free from errors or omissions nor that it will be available uninterrupted and in a fully operating condition.

The Genes Reunited Service may be suspended temporarily and without notice in the case of system failure, maintenance or repair or for reasons reasonably beyond our control. We will not be liable to you or to any other person in the event that all or any part of the Genes Reunited Service is discontinued, modified or changed in any way.

The views expressed in any content or material which is uploaded by you or other users of the Genes Reunited Service do not reflect Genes Reunited's views. We make no promises and offer no guarantees as to the accuracy of any Submissions.

Genes Reunited accepts no responsibility and makes no promises or guarantees as to the quality of images or the accuracy of the Historical Records.

We accept liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or that of our employees and agents. We do not seek to exclude liability for fraudulent misrepresentation by use or our employees or agents.

Nothing in these Terms is intended to restrict your statutory rights as a consumer (including your rights to receive a reasonable standard of service, more details about which can be obtained from your local Trading Standards Office or Citizen's Advice Bureau);

We do not accept any liability for:

  • any damage or loss caused to you where you are not entering into these Terms as a consumer;
  • any damage to your computer, any software or for any loss of data that results from your use of the Genes Reunited Service;
  • any failure, any suspension and/or any termination of access to the Genes Reunited Service or any content or any failure by us to perform any of our obligations under these Terms in connection with or arising out of an event beyond our control. In these Terms, an "event beyond our control" shall include, without limitation, strikes, lock-outs or other industrial disputes, nuclear accident or acts of God, war or terrorist activity, riot, civil commotion, malicious damage, compliance with any law or government order, rule regulation or direction, accident or breakdown of plant or machinery, fire, flood, storm or default of suppliers, and where they are beyond our reasonable control, any other acts, events, omissions or accidents; and/or
  • any claims brought against you by a third party except as stated in these Terms.

These Terms shall not make us responsible for any damage or loss (including loss of profits, revenue or business) caused to you where such damage or loss is not reasonably foreseeable to you and us when you use the Genes Reunited Service, including where the damage or loss results from our breach of these Terms.

Our liability to you for any loss or damage in connection with these Terms shall be limited to the greater of:

  • (a) the Standard Membership fee where you are a fully paid Standard Member;
  • (b) the Gold Membership fee where you are a fully paid Gold Member;
  • (c)the Platinum Membership fee where you are a fully paid Platinum Member; or
  • (d) the sums paid by you to us under these Terms during the 12 months prior to the date when liability arises.

14. Assignment

We may wish to transfer our rights or obligations or sub-contract our obligations under these Terms to another other legal entity. You agree that we may do so provided that:

  • (i) this will not affect the standard of Service you receive under this Agreement; and
  • (ii) in the case of transfer only, after we notify you of the date on which we will transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to another legal entity, your only rights under or in connection with these Terms will be against the new legal entity and not against us.

These Terms are personal to you. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms to anyone else.

15. Third Party Rights

These Terms are not intended to give rights to anyone except you and us. This does not affect our right to transfer these Terms under clause 14.

16. Severability

If any provision of these Terms shall be found by any court or administrative body of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, such invalidity or unenforceability shall not affect the other provisions of these Terms which shall remain in full force and effect.

17. Law

These Terms are available in English only. We will do our best to resolve any disputes over these Terms. If you wish to take court proceedings against us you must do so within the United Kingdom. Relevant United Kingdom law will apply.

18. Keeping this Agreement

We don't separately file a copy of the Terms entered into by you and us when you register for the Genes Reunited Service. We recommend that you make a durable copy of these Terms by printing and/or saving a downloaded copy on your own computer. You can always access a copy of our latest Terms on the Websites.

19. Complaints

Complaints may be reported to us through our "contact us" link on the Genes Reunited Service or by post at Genes Reunited, 185 Fleet Street, London, EC4A 2HS. We will reply to all complaints within 4 working days.

20. Contact

You can contact us by post at Genes Reunited, 185 Fleet Street, London, EC4A 2HS. Please do not send cheques to this address. If you wish to pay by cheque please make your cheque payable to Findmypast Limited and send it to Genes Reunited, Finance Office, 2 Albert Square, Dundee, DD1 1DD. Please make sure you include your email address with all correspondence. Our registered office address is 185 Fleet Street, London, England, EC4A 2HS.

You may contact us by email at this address: [email protected]