Terms of service

William Stout Architectural Books (“Stout Books,” “we,” “our,” and “us”) provides and maintains this website for information and communication purposes. These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of our website (stoutbooks.com) or any other website, mobile site, application, service, platform or other tool on which these terms are posted or appear (collectively, “Site” or “Sites”). “You” refers to you as a user of the Site.

By accessing, browsing, or using this site, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, accepted, and agreed to these terms without limitation or qualification. If you do not accept these Terms or you do not meet or comply with their provisions, you may not use the Sites.

1. Changes to Terms

We, may, at any time, for any reason and without notice, make changes to (i) the Site, including its look, feel, format, and content, as well as (ii) the products and/or services as described in this Website. Any modifications will take effect when posted to the Site. Therefore, each time you access the Site, you need to review the Terms upon which access and use of this Site is conditioned. You are responsible for complying with the most current version of the Terms of Use posted on the Site. By your continuing use of the Site after changes are posted, you will be deemed to have accepted such changes.

2. Jurisdiction

The Site is directed to those individuals and entities located in the United States. It is not directed to any person or entity in any jurisdiction where (by reason of nationality, residence, citizenship or otherwise) the publication or availability of the Site and its content, including its products and services, are unavailable or otherwise contrary to local laws or regulations. If this applies to you, you are not authorized to access or use any of the information on this Site. We make no representation that the information, opinions, advice or other content on the Site is appropriate or that its products and services are available outside of the United States. Those who choose to access this Site from other locations do so at their own risk and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws.

3. User Content

The Site may allow you to upload, submit, store, send, or receive content and data (“User Content”). You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that User Content.

When you upload, submit, store, send, or receive User Content to or through the Site and related services (including by posting to social media and tagging one of our promotional hashtags), you give us permission to reproduce and use your User Content as follows: you grant to us and those we work with a license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as translations, adaptations, or other changes we make so that User Content works better with the Site), publicly perform, publicly display, and distribute your User Content. This license is for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving the Site, and to develop new services. Our license to your User Content is non-exclusive, meaning you may use the User Content for your own purposes or let others use your User Content for their purposes. This license is fully paid and royalty free, meaning we do not owe you anything else in connection with our use of your User Content. We may exercise our rights under this license anywhere in the world and in any media. Lastly, this license is perpetual, meaning that our rights under this license continue even after you stop using the Site.

You promise that:

  • (a) you own all rights to your User Content or, alternatively, that you have the right to give us the rights described above; and
  • (b) your User Content does not infringe the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, publicity rights, or other legal rights of any third party.

We may refuse to accept or transmit User Content for any reason. We may remove User Content from the Site for any reason.

4. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Site. If you are under the age of majority in your state of residence (a minor) your parent or legal guardian must agree to these Terms on your behalf and you may only access and use the Site with permission from your parent or legal guardian.

5. Copyrights and Trademarks

Other than User Content, we own or license all right, title, and interest in and to (a) the Site, including all software, text, media, and other content available on the Site (“Content”); (b) our trademarks, logos, trade name, and brand elements (“Marks”); and the trademarks, logos, trade name, and brand elements of third party licensors, suppliers and partners (“Third-Party Content”). The Site, Content, Third-Party Content and Marks are protected by United States and international laws and treaty provisions. The look and feel of the Site are protected by copyrights. You may access, download and print materials on this Site solely for your personal and non-commercial use; however, any printout of this Site, or portions of the Site, must include our copyright notice. No right, title or interest in any of the materials contained on this Site is transferred to you as a result of accessing, downloading or printing such materials. You may not copy, modify, distribute, transmit, display, reproduce, publish, license any part of this Site; create derivative works from, link to or frame in another website, use on any other website (including, without limitation, the HTML/CSS, Javascript, or visual design elements or concepts), transfer or sell any information obtained from this Site without our prior written permission. You may not use any metatags or any other “hidden text” utilizing any of our names or trademarks without our express written consent.

6. Links to Third-Party Sites

For your convenience, we may provide links to various other websites that may be of interest to you and for your convenience only. However, we do not control or endorse such websites and is not responsible for their content nor is it responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any information, data, opinions, advice, or statements contained within such websites. Please read the terms and conditions or terms of use policies of any other company or website you may link to from our Site. These Terms apply only to the Site and the associated products and services we offer. If you decide to access any of the third-party sites linked to this Site, you do so at your own risk. We reserve the right to terminate any link or linking program at any time. We disclaim all warranties, express and implied, as to the accuracy, validity, and legality or otherwise of any materials or information contained on such third-party sites.

7. Hyperlinks to our Site

You are granted a limited, nonexclusive right to create a “hypertext” link to the Site provided that such link is to the entry or home page of this Site and does not portray us or any of our services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise defamatory manner. This limited right may be revoked by us at any time for any reason whatsoever. You may not use, frame, or utilize framing techniques to enclose any Marks or other proprietary information including the Content or User Content found at or on the Site, the content of any text or the layout/design of any page of the Site or any form contained on a page of the Site without our express prior written consent in each instance. In addition, you may not use any meta-tags or any other “hidden text” utilizing our company name, Marks, or product or service name without express written consent from us in each instance.

8. Use of the Site

We grant you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, nontransferable license to access and make personal use of the Site and Content and other information contained on the Site. This license does not include any resale or commercial use of the Site; any collection and commercial use of any of Content; any non-personal use of our product or service names, listings, descriptions, or prices; any derivative use of the Site; any downloading, copying, or other use of the Site or Content for the benefit of any third party; or any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools. You may use the Site only as permitted by law. All rights not expressly granted to you in these Terms are reserved and retained by us and/or our suppliers and licensors. The licenses granted by us to you automatically terminate if you do not comply with these Terms.

You are responsible for your use of the Site, and for any use of the Site made using your account. Our goal is to create a positive, useful, and safe user experience. To promote this goal, we prohibit certain kinds of conduct that may be harmful to other users or to us. When you use the Site, you may not:

  • (a) violate any law or regulation;
  • (b) violate, infringe, or misappropriate others’ intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other legal rights;
  • (c) post or share anything that is illegal, abusive, harassing, harmful to reputation, pornographic, indecent, profane, obscene, hateful, racist, or otherwise objectionable;
  • (d) send unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or commercial communications, such as spam;
  • (e) engage in spidering or harvesting, or participate in the use of software, including spyware, designed to collect data from the Site;
  • (f) transmit any viruses or other computer instructions or technological means whose purpose is to disrupt, damage, or interfere with the use of computers or related systems;
  • (g) stalk, harass, or harm another individual;
  • (h) impersonate any person or entity or perform any other similar fraudulent activity, such as phishing;
  • (i) use any means to scrape or crawl any Web pages contained in the Site;
  • (j) attempt to circumvent any technological measure implemented by us or any of our providers or any other third party (including another user) to protect the Site;
  • (k) attempt to decipher, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer any of the software or other underlying code used to provide the Site;
  • (l) circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the Site or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Content and/or User Content or enforce limitations on use of the Site or any such content therein or
  • (m) advocate, encourage, or assist any third party in doing any of the foregoing.

9. DMCA Copyright Policy

Stout Books honors copyright laws, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and takes reasonable steps to expeditiously remove from our Sites any infringing material that we become aware of. If you believe that anything on the Sites infringes a copyright that you own or control, please file a notice with our designated agent: Director of Digital Development, The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, 1251 San Antonio Road, CA 94952 (dmca@eamesinstitute.org). Don’t use this email address for anything other than reporting copyright infringement, as such emails will be ignored. To report other forms of infringement on the Services, please use the tool accessible here. If you file a notice with our Copyright Agent, it must comply with the requirements set forth at 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3). That means the notice must:

  • contain the physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner;
  • identify the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
  • identify the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed, or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to let us locate the material;
  • provide your contact information, including your address, telephone number, and an email address;
  • provide a personal statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  • provide a statement that the information in the notification is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

10. Disclaimers

THE SITE AND OUR CONTENT ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THOSE ARISING OUT OF A COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE, BY YOUR USE OF THIS SITE THAT YOUR USE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK, THAT YOU ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH ALL NECESSARY SERVICING OR REPAIRS OF ANY EQUIPMENT YOU USE IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE, AND THAT WE AND OUR OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, DIRECTORS, SHAREHOLDERS, PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, AGENTS, AND LICENSORS (“AFFILIATES”) SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE.

IN PARTICULAR AND TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW WE AND OUR AFFILIATES MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF CONTENT AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SITE, OR THE CONTENT OF THE SITE OR ONLINE SERVICES LINKED TO OR INTEGRATED WITH THE SITE. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE AND OUR AFFILIATES WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY: (a) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT; (b) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE SITE; (c) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SERVERS OR OF ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION OR USER DATA; (d) ANY INTERRUPTION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM THE SITE; (e) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED ON OR THROUGH THE SITE BY ANY THIRD PARTY; OR (f) ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED OR SHARED THROUGH THE SITE.

11. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL WE OR OUR AFFILIATES BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING FOR THE INDIRECT LOSS OF PROFIT, REVENUE, OR DATA) ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SITE, HOWEVER CAUSED, AND UNDER WHATEVER CLAIM, CAUSE OF ACTION OR THEORY OF LIABILITY BROUGHT (INCLUDING UNDER ANY CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, OR OTHER TORT THEORY OF LIABILITY) EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY UNDER THESE TERMS, FROM ALL CAUSES OF ACTION AND ALL THEORIES OF LIABILITY, WILL BE LIMITED TO AND WILL NOT EXCEED ANY AMOUNT YOU HAVE ACTUALLY PAID US DURING THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE DATE OF THE ACTIVITY OR OMISSION GIVING RISE TO SUCH CLAIM, CAUSE OF ACTION OR THEORY OF LIABILITY, OR ONE HUNDRED UNITED STATES DOLLARS (USD $100), WHICHEVER IS GREATER.

You understand and agree that we have entered into these Terms with you in reliance upon the limitations of liability set forth in these Terms, which allocate risk between us and form the basis of a bargain between the parties. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for damages. Accordingly, some of the above limitations and disclaimers may not apply to you. To the extent we may not, as a matter of applicable law, disclaim any warranty or limit our liability, the scope and duration of such warranty and the extent of our liability will be the minimum permitted under such law.

12. Site, Product, and Service Availability

The Sites may contain references or cross references to products, opportunities, and services that are not available in every location.

13. Inaccuracy Disclaimer

From time to time there may be information on our Site that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies, or omissions that may relate to product or service descriptions, pricing, and availability. We reserve the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions and to change or update information at any time without prior notice (including after you have submitted your order). If you do not wish to continue your purchase or service after pricing or other information has been corrected, please contact us right away and we will work with you to cancel your service or return your order.

14. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy (https://stoutbooks.com/policies/privacy-policy) explains how we collect, use and protect, and when we share, personal information and other data with others. By agreeing to these Terms, you also agree to the Privacy Policy. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account information, including your username and password. You are responsible for all activities that occur under your account, and you agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access or use of your account. We are not responsible or liable for any damage or loss related to any unauthorized access or use of your account or personal information.

15. Termination

We reserve the right to not provide the Site to any person. We also reserve the right to terminate any user’s right to access the Site at any time, in our discretion. If you violate any of these Terms, your permission to use the Site automatically terminates.

16. Limitation on Time to File Claims

Regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, all Claims must be filed within one (1) year after such Claim arose, or else that Claim will be barred forever.

17. Exclusive Venue

To the extent that these Terms allow you or Stout Books to initiate litigation in a court, both you and Stout Books agree that, except for a claim that may be brought in small claims court, all claims and disputes (whether contract, tort, or otherwise), including statutory claims and disputes, arising out of or relating to the Terms or the use of the Services will be litigated exclusively in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. If, however, that court would lack original jurisdiction over the litigation, then all such claims and disputes will be litigated exclusively in the Marin County Superior Court. You and Stout Books consent to the personal jurisdiction of both courts.

18. Choice of Law

Except to the extent they are preempted by U.S. federal law, the laws of California, other than its conflict-of-laws principles, govern these Terms and any claims and disputes (whether contract, tort, or otherwise) arising out of or relating to these Terms or their subject matter.

19. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, then that provision will be removed from these Terms and not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

20. California Residents

If you are a California resident, in accordance with Cal. Civ. Code § 1789.3, you may report complaints to the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs by contacting them in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112 Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.

21. Final Terms/Entire Agreement

These Terms make up the entire agreement between you and Stout Books, and supersede any prior agreements. These Terms do not create or confer any third-party beneficiary rights. If we do not enforce a provision in these Terms, it will not be considered a waiver of our rights to enforce these Terms. We reserve the right to transfer our rights under these Terms and provide the Services using another entity, provided that entity upholds these Terms. You may not transfer any of your rights or obligations under these Terms without our consent. We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you. Where we have provided summary sections in these Terms, these summaries have been included for your convenience only and you should read these Terms in full to understand your legal rights and obligations.

Effective Date: May 7, 2025

Terms Last Updated: May 7, 2025