Terms of Use for STRIX Forum

The Terms of Use for STRIX Forum are formally written in Japanese, and all other translations of the Terms are provided for reference purposes only. If there is any inconsistency between the Terms for reference other than in Japanese and the Terms in Japanese, the Terms in Japanese shall prevail.

Article 1 Introduction

These Terms of Use for STRIX Forum (hereinafter referred to as the “Terms”) apply to all actions you take while using this website to perform the functions provided on the website (means the STRIX Forum, hereinafter referred to as the “Site”) by Soft Gear Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Soft Gear”). In this context, “you” refers to all users (individuals and corporations) who view the Site regardless of whether or not they have registered their accounts.
The Terms set forth the terms of use of the Site. You shall use the Site in accordance with the Terms.
By using the Site, you agree to all of the terms and conditions of the Terms.
The Terms are formally written in Japanese, and all other translations of the Terms are provided for reference purposes only. If there is any inconsistency between the Terms for reference other than in Japanese and the Terms in Japanese, the Terms in Japanese shall prevail.

Article 2 Definitions

The terms used herein shall have the following meanings.

(1) Registered e-mail address
The e-mail address information provided by you to Soft Gear for the purpose of registering an account on the Site.
(2) Password
A character string used to identify you by checking with the registered e-mail address when you use the Site.
(3) Post
Your act of uploading information such as questions about STRIX products to the Site.

Article 3 Your Management Obligations

Password
(1) You may only use your login information and password for personal purposes and shall not allow any third party to use them. Unless permitted by Soft Gear, you shall not disclose, lend, exchange, sell, change the name of, donate, pledge, grant as security, transfer or otherwise allow any third party to use or dispose of any username, password or related account information.
(2) You shall keep the password you use to access the Site confidential. When the Site is used with the registered password, Soft Gear may treat it as having been used by the person who registered for use, and any liability arising from such use shall belong to the person who registered for use.
(3) Upon discovery of any unauthorized use of your username or password, you shall immediately notify Soft Gear and make reasonable efforts to remedy the same.
(4) Soft Gear shall have no liability for any damages caused by your failure to fulfil the foregoing obligations.
(5) You may be liable to Soft Gear and third parties for damages caused by unauthorized use of your username or password.
(6) The provisions of (1) through (4) above do not apply if you use the Site with your Google account.
Discussion (Posting Forum)
(1) A general thread (hereinafter referred to as “Posting Forum”) is a thread in which the users of the Site discuss a particular topic. The posts on Posting Forum are made by the users of the Site, and Soft Gear controls whether the content posted on the Posting Forum can be published. However, Soft Gear shall not be responsible for any content, products, information, or other materials related to the Posting Forum.
(2) Soft Gear may close or remove the Posting Forum or change the administrator of the Posting Forum in any of the following cases.
- a. If the account of a contributor to the Posting Forum is suspended or deleted; or
- b. If Soft Gear determines that the use or purpose of the Posting Forum is contrary to the Terms, or if Soft Gear otherwise determines it as necessary.

Article 4 Account Retention

You shall have one account per person. One person cannot have more than one account, and multiple persons cannot jointly have one account. However, this shall not apply when specifically approved by Soft Gear.
You may not assign or lend your account to a third party under any circumstances.

Article 5 Changes to the Terms

Soft Gear may change the Terms at any time and for any reason at its discretion.
The changed Terms shall become effective from the time when they are displayed on the Site, unless otherwise specified by Soft Gear.
Your use of the Site after the changes to the Terms have become effective constitutes your acceptance of all the terms and conditions of the Terms as amended.

Article 6 Handling of Personal Information

Soft Gear shall handle personal information appropriately in accordance with our “Privacy Policy.” The Privacy Policy is incorporated into the Terms by reference in this provision.
Soft Gear makes no warranty that any information obtained on or through the Site is complete, accurate or up to date. Soft Gear shall not be liable for your use or reliance on such information.

Article 7 Secrecy of Communications

Soft Gear shall protect the secrecy of your communications in accordance with Article 4 of the Telecommunications Business Act (Act No. 86 of 1984) and other applicable laws and regulations.
Notwithstanding the provision of the preceding paragraph, if Soft Gear determines that any of the following items is applicable, it may, without prior notice to you, view, provide, use, disclose or delete the posted contents or any other information relating to the secrecy of your communications, and Soft Gear shall assume no responsibility for it.
- (1) If it is done pursuant to an enforceable disposition or court order or warrant in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Act No. 131 of 1948) or the Act on Communications Interception for Criminal Investigation (Act No. 137 of 1999);
- (2) If an enforceable disposition under laws and regulations is executed;
- (3) If Soft Gear determines that it is necessary to respond to transmission-prevention measures or disclosure of sender information, etc. in accordance with the Act on the Limitation of Liability for Damages of Specified Telecommunications Service Providers and the Right to Demand Disclosure of Identification Information of the Sender (Act No. 137 of 2001);
- (4) If Soft Gear deems it necessary for protecting the life, body, property, honor or privacy of any other person;
- (5) In addition to each of the foregoing, if Soft Gear reasonably determines that there is a justifiable cause for noncompliance with the law; or
- (6) When Soft Gear has your consent as the person who uses the Site.

Article 8 Preparation of the Usage Environment

You shall, at your own responsibility and expense, properly maintain all equipment, software and communication methods necessary to use the Site.
You shall take security measures according to your usage environment, such as preventing computer virus infection, unauthorized access, and information leakage.
Soft Gear shall not be involved in or be responsible for your usage environment.

Article 9 Your Responsibilities

You shall use the Site at your own risk, and you are responsible for any actions you take using the Site and the consequences thereof.
You are solely responsible for any information you post using the Site. Soft Gear shall not be responsible for the content of any information posted by you using the Site.
If you defame another person, infringe a privacy right, disclose personal information of a third party without permission, commit an act in violation of the Copyright Act (Act No. 48 of 1970), or infringe another person’s rights, you shall settle such matter at your own responsibility and expense, and Soft Gear shall have no liability whatsoever.
You acknowledge that there is no obligation on Soft Gear to store any information you post using the Site, and you shall take appropriate backups of any posts as needed.

Article 10 Code of Conduct

You shall comply with laws and regulations and respect the rights and dignity of third parties. You agree not to engage in any of the following fraudulent acts.

(1) Any act that enables the following to be posted, transmitted or made available in connection with the Site.
- a. Materials which may:
  - (i) give rise to criminal or civil liability;
  - (ii) promote a potential criminal act; or
  - (iii) promote illegal activities or activities such as hacking, cracking (codes etc.) and phreaking, or provide information on the method thereof.
- b. Viruses, worms, Trojan horses, Easter eggs, time bombs, spyware and other computer code, files or programs which:
  - (i) are potentially harmful or invasive;
  - (ii) are capable of, or are intended to, damage or take control of the operation of hardware, software or other equipment;
  - (iii) are capable of, or are intended to monitor the use of hardware, software or other equipment.
- c. Unsolicited advertising, promotional materials, junk e-mail, spam, chain letters, multi-level marketing or other solicitation of investment opportunities, etc.
  - (i) Any non-public information or materials of companies that have not been properly authorized.
(2) Any act that attempts to obtain an improper advantage for yourself or a third party in connection with the use of the Site. This includes such act conducted by using fraudulent activity, bugs, automated software, bots, hacks, unauthorized modifications (mods), or other unauthorized third-party software, or by looking for bugs or errors on the Site. You agree not to communicate any bugs or errors of the Site to anyone other than Soft Gear.
(3) Any act that uses the Site to create or assist in the creation of software, automated software, bots, hacks, unauthorized modifications (mods), or other unauthorized third-party software that engages in unauthorized activities.
(4) Any act that uses the Site to defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise prejudice the legal rights of third parties (including, but not limited to, privacy rights and portrait rights) or to collect personal information that identifies users of the Site.
(5) Any act that interferes with the operation of the Site or the servers or networks used to provide the Site. This includes an act which places an unreasonable or disproportionately heavy load on the Site, the servers or networks for the Site, or violates the requirements, procedures, policies, or rules of those networks.
(6) Any act that limits or inhibits a third party’s use of the Site by hacking or rewriting a part of the Site.
(7) Any act that modifies, alters, creates adaptations of, translates, reverse-engineers, decompiles or disassembles any portion of the Site.
(8) Any act that removes any notices of copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights that appear on the Site or any materials derived from the Site.
(9) Any act that creates any frame or mirror of any part of the Site without the prior written consent of Soft Gear.
(10) Any act that creates a database by downloading and retaining information and materials via systems on or through the Site.
(11) Any act that uses any robot, spider, site search and analysis application or other manual or automated device to retrieve, index, extract (scrape), data mine or otherwise collect information and material available on or via the Site, or to circumvent or reproduce the navigational structure or display of the Site, without the prior written consent of Soft Gear.

Article 11 Prohibited Acts

Soft Gear prohibits any act relating to the use of the Site that Soft Gear determines as falling under any of the following items, whether it is intentional or negligent. If you engage in any of the acts set forth in the preceding items or any of the following prohibited acts, Soft Gear may, without prior notice, delete the relevant part, suspend the use of the Site or deprive you of your user license. In such case, Soft Gear will not accept any questions or complaints regarding the results of deletion or suspension of use.

(1) Antisocial behaviour
- a. Any act in violation of laws and regulations or public order and morals;
- b. Any criminal act or any act of warning, involvement or encouraging the same;
- c. Any act of posting or registering any information containing false or misleading information;
- d. Any act that imposes burdens on servers beyond the scope of normal use, or promotes such situation, or otherwise interferes with or disrupts the operation or provision of the Site or the use of the Site by other users;
- e. Any act that infringes on the intellectual property rights (patent rights, trademark rights, copyrights, and trade secrets, etc.) of a third party;
- f. Any act of infringing upon the reputation or honor of a third party, or infringing upon the privacy right, portrait right or any other rights of a third party;
- g. Posting words or other expressions that may glamorize, induce or encourage suicide, self-harm or drug abuse;
- h. Any act of harassing or defaming a third party by any means including stalking; or
- i. Posting any expression that may lead to discrimination based on ethnicity, race, gender, age, etc.
(2) Act of obscenity, violent expression or act for dating
- a. Posting of images, videos (moving pictures), illustrations or paintings that are considered to be obscene, such as highly exposed nudity including wearing underwear, pictures with a close-up of the chest or buttocks or genitals exposed, whether with or without mosaic, blurring or artistic quality, or posting of any words or phrases that apply to sexual intercourse or the genitals, or any other obscene expressions;
- b. Posting of violent or grotesque photos or other images, words or other expressions that general users find offensive;
- c. Posting of any sexual expression or any expression with the intention of doing so on the Site;
- d. Inducing people to adult websites by linking to them;
- e. Posting of links to websites for downloading child prostitution/pornography or unmodified video clips;
- f. Introducing adult-related products by posting;
- g. Any act determined by Soft Gear as having the main purpose of seeking or inducing someone of the opposite sex; or
- h. Other acts that are considered to have an adverse effect on the personality development of minors (tattoos, underage drinking, smoking, etc.).
(3) Commercial activity
- a. Posting information or sending a chat for the purpose of buying, selling or exchanging goods or websites (including advertising, notification and solicitation thereof), whether for profit or non-profit;
- b. Using (in any form such as use, reproduction, duplication, copying, selling, reselling, etc.) the Site provided by Soft Gear, in whole or in part, for commercial purposes;
- c. Using, by way of sale, publication or otherwise, any information obtained through the Site other than for personal use, or causing any other user or third party to do the same; or
- d. Posting the following information:
  - (a) Information to solicit third parties such as pyramid schemes, chain mail, MLM (multi-level marketing), and paid-to-read e-mail;
  - (b) Information that leads to affiliates or websites that generate profit such as points through invitation;
  - (c) Information including information products;
  - (d) All medical and medical-like activities for profit or non-profit (whether it uses drugs, spiritual activities, power stones, counseling, fortune-telling, etc. in the form of activities); or
  - (e) Collecting or accumulating personal information about other users, or attempting to do so.
(4) Posting personal information
- a. Posting of information that can identify an individual such as an e-mail address, telephone number, license plate, financial institution account number, and address of the individual or a third party; or
- b. An act of impersonating a third party by posting or registering false information (including personal information such as a name, birthday, e-mail address and address), or an act of using the Site by any person other than the user himself/herself using the registration information (e-mail address, password, etc.) even when the permission of the user has been obtained.
(5) Others
- a. An act of posting indiscriminately;
- b. Political activities and religious activities;
- c. An act of registering with the Site again by a user whose use has been suspended due to a violation;
- d. An act of inviting intentionally or negligently a user whose use has been suspended due to a violation;
- e. Use of a single user license by more than one person;
- f. Holding multiple user licenses by one person;
- g. Transferring the right to use any part of the Site other than in a manner prescribed by Soft Gear;
- h. Using the right to use a part of the Site to bargain for cash or other property or property benefits, or to advertise, announce or solicit to use a bargain;
- i. Leaving a large volume of indiscriminate access logs for the purpose of inducing access;
- j. Promoting activities of antisocial forces, etc. or providing benefits, directly or indirectly, to antisocial forces, etc. through the use of the Site; or
- k. Other acts deemed inappropriate by Soft Gear on reasonable grounds.

Article 12 Changes, etc. of the Site

Soft Gear may make additions, change, suspend, or terminate the Site at any time and for the convenience of Soft Gear.

Article 13 Rights on Posting

When you make posts to the Posting Forum, you shall warrant to Soft Gear that such posting of information does not infringe the rights of any third party. In the event of any dispute with a third party, you shall be responsible for resolving such dispute at your own expense and shall not cause any trouble or damage to Soft Gear.

Article 14 License, etc. of Posted Contents

You may post or edit on the Site only text, images, videos (moving pictures) and other information that you own the copyright or other necessary intellectual property rights to or for which you have obtained the necessary permission from the right holder.
Soft Gear shall be free to use the information posted by you, regardless of the extent necessary for the smooth provision of the Site, construction, improvement and maintenance of the system.
When Soft Gear uses posted information in the form prescribed in the preceding paragraph, Soft Gear may omit part of the information or the indication of username.

Article 15 Disclaimer

Soft Gear shall not be involved in your communications or activities. In the event of a dispute between users, such dispute shall be resolved between the relevant users and Soft Gear shall not be responsible therefor.
Soft Gear shall not be liable for any damages resulting from the addition or modification of the contents of the Site or the interruption or termination of the Site. The same shall apply to the case where the display speed is reduced or problems occur due to excessive access or other unexpected factors.
Soft Gear has no obligation to monitor or store any information posted by you.
Soft Gear shall not be responsible for the legality, morality, reliability or accuracy of any information posted by you. Moreover, Soft Gear shall not be responsible for the conformity of the information posted by you to the internal rules of the corporation or organization to which you belong.
If Soft Gear determines that it has reasonable grounds to believe that any user has committed or is likely to commit an act that violates the Terms or other terms of use, etc., Soft Gear may forcibly terminate the membership of the user who has committed such act, delete all or part of the information such as posting, etc., or change the scope of disclosure, etc., and Soft Gear shall not be responsible for any damages resulting therefrom.
If any provision of the Terms is found to conflict with any law or regulation (including the Consumer Contract Act) or is found not to be legally binding with respect to either party, such provision, to the extent it is found to conflict with such law or regulation or not legally binding, shall be deemed null and void, and all other provisions of the Terms shall remain in full force and effect.

Article 16 Right to Delete

In any of the following cases, Soft Gear may take disadvantageous measures, such as deletion of all or part (including non-disclosure of posts by Soft Gear) or change of the scope of disclosure, with respect to information such as posts, regardless of whether such information is illegal or violates the terms of use.

(1) If Soft Gear determines that information that includes photographs of or depicts the naked body (a body that lacks all or some clothes) of a person (including characters of cartoons and anime, whether the person is real or not) has been posted.
(2) When a public institution or an expert (the national government, local governments, credibility confirmation bodies stipulated in the guidelines of the Act on the Limitation of Liability for Damages of Specified Telecommunications Service Providers and the Right to Demand Disclosure of Identification Information of the Senders, Internet Hotline Center Japan, lawyers, etc.) indicates or expresses an opinion that the posting is illegal, violates public order and morals, or infringes the rights of others.
(3) When a claim is made by a person who claims to be a right holder that the posting violates his or her rights. Provided, however, that this shall be limited to the case where Soft Gear determines that a person who claims to be a right holder is the right holder as a result of a careful examination by Soft Gear upon presentation of materials that can reasonably lead to the judgement that it is the right holder.
(4) Other cases when Soft Gear determines that you violate Article 10 of the Terms.

Article 17 Validity of the Terms other Terms of Use, Etc.

Even if a part of the provisions of the Terms and other terms of use, etc. are determined to be invalid under laws and regulations, other provisions of the Terms and other terms of use, etc. shall remain effective.
Even if part of the terms of use, etc. is invalidated or cancelled in relation to a certain user, the terms of use, etc. shall remain effective in relation to other users.

Article 18 Dealing with Violations of the Terms or Other Terms of Use

If you find any violation of the Terms or other terms of use, please notify us through the contact form.
If you are deemed to have violated the Terms or any other terms of use, etc., or if Soft Gear considers it necessary, Soft Gear may take the following measures against you.
- (1) Request you to stop any act that violates the Terms or any other terms of use and not to repeat the same act;
- (2) Request you to voluntarily delete or correct the posts;
- (3) Delete all or part of the post;
- (4) Delete your account; or
- (5) Not accept your account registration.
You may not object to any action taken by Soft Gear pursuant to Article 10, Article 11, Article 12, Article 15, Article 16, or Paragraph 2 of this Article in response to your violation of the Terms or any other terms of use, etc.

Article 19 Governing Law and Jurisdiction

The Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Japan.
The Tokyo District Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction in the first instance over any litigation between you and Soft Gear.

April 26, 2023 Enacted