Welcome to forest-lawn.com. Thank you for visiting this website.

These Terms of Use, together with the Privacy Policy that can be accessed by clicking the Privacy link at the bottom of the forest-lawn.com home page (the “Privacy Policy”), constitute a legally binding agreement between The Buffalo City Cemetery, Inc. d/b/a Forest Lawn and its affiliates, including without limitation Forest Lawn Heritage Foundation, Inc. (collectively, “Forest Lawn”) and you. In these Terms of Use, Forest Lawn is sometimes referred to as “we” or “us” or “our”.

Age Restrictions
You must be 18 years of age or older (or the age of majority, if higher) to order merchandise such as books at our online webstore (“Merchandise”), obtain copies of documents such as burial records (“Documents”), or to use the forest-lawn.com website, as well as any Forest Lawn social media pages, postings, blogs, videos, or related apps and materials.  Collectively, the forest-lawn.com website, social media pages, postings, blogs, videos, and related apps and materials are referred to as the “Website”.

Database
From time to time, the Website may include a Forest Lawn or third party page, app or database that you are authorized to access, and such page, app or database shall be referred to in these Terms of Use as a “Database.”

Legally Binding Agreement; Updates
By ordering Merchandise, obtaining copies of Documents, or accessing the Website, or a Database you agree to be legally bound by these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.

Forest Lawn reserves the right to update these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy at any time without prior notice.  By continuing to access the Website, order Merchandise or obtain copies of Documents, you will be legally bound by the then-current Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Governing Law
The Buffalo City Cemetery, Inc. and its affiliate, Forest Lawn Heritage Foundation, Inc., are New York corporations. The laws of the State of New York (without application of New York’s conflict of laws rules) shall govern all matters under these Terms of Use.  To the fullest extent allowed by law, you hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts located in Buffalo, New York for all disputes arising out of, or relating to, the Terms of Use, the Website, Merchandise, or any Document or Database.

Copyright Notice
Except for materials submitted by you or other persons or entities or taken from the public domain, all text, artwork, graphics and other works of authorship created by or for Forest Lawn and made part of the Website, together with the selection, arrangement and presentation of such materials, are protected copyrights of Forest Lawn.

Claims of Copyright Infringement
We respect the intellectual property of others. Pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512,part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, notifications of claimed copyright infringement must be sent to our designated agent (the “Designated Agent’):

Neil B Friedman
HODGSON RUSS, LLP
605 3rd Avenue, Suite 2300
New York, NY 10158
Phone: 646.218.7605
Email: nfriedma@hodgsonruss.com

IMPORTANT: The foregoing contact is for copyright claims only.  All other inquiries and concerns should be directed to Forest Lawn via the Contact Us page of the Website.

To be effective, the copyright claim must be a written communication that includes the following:

  1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
  2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
  3. Identification of 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 permit us to locate the material;
  4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted;
  5. A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Use of Website Materials
You may access, print or download one copy of information from the Website for your personal non-commercial use only, provided that you maintain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the materials.  You may not otherwise access, use, copy, distribute, upload, modify, or reuse such information without the express written permission of Forest Lawn.  Examples of prohibited actions include, without limitation, unauthorized copying of the Website content, framing the Website content, the use of bots or spiders or other similar electronic processes that may become available to scrape data from the Website, or using Website materials to create your own website.

Forest Lawn reserves the right, in its sole discretion and at any time, to disable your access to one or more features of the Website or terminate or suspend your account without notice.  If we take action against your account, you will not open another account without our permission, which we may withhold in our sole discretion. If we terminate or suspend your account because of your breach of these Terms of Use or other harmful activity by you, no portion of fees  paid by you will be refunded except as otherwise required by law. If we decide to suspend your access for any reason other than a breach or harmful activity by you, we will refund to you the portion of your membership or access fee corresponding to the unused portion of the relevant time period.

You may not engage in any activity related to the Website, Merchandise, Documents or any Database in any manner that is unlawful or that violates the rights of Forest Lawn or any third party.

You may not remove, circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with any security-related features of the Website.

Your access to the Database, if any, must be solely for the non-commercial purpose of performing lawful and appropriate searches for your own personal use. If relevant, you may be able to use the Website to communicate with relatives and others in order to collaborate and exchange family history related information. You agree to use our products only for reconnecting with friends, finding family members and friends, and other lawfully permitted reasons.You may not use the service to locate unrelated individuals under the age of 18.

International Use
You agree not to download or otherwise export any items in violation of United States export controls.  Although the Website may be accessed worldwide via the World Wide Web, we make no representation that materials accessed through the Website are appropriate or lawful outside the United States.

Ordering for Third Parties
If you use the Website to submit requests for or on behalf of a third party (“Third Party”), you are responsible for all Submissions and orders that you transmit. Despite the fact that you are submitting requests on behalf of a Third Party, you are directly responsible under these Terms of Use for fulfilling all user obligations and paying all applicable fees, charges and indemnification amounts.

Payment
The different payment options and services offered will be published on the relevant portion of the Website at the time a Document, Database, Merchandise or other service or item is offered or renewed. The terms and conditions applying to such memberships or other services or Merchandise will be incorporated into these Terms and Conditions. You must be 18 years or older to enter into any purchase or license through this Website. You agree to pay using a valid credit card or debit card (“Payment Method”) and affirm that you are authorized to use such Payment Method. We reserve the right to suspend use of the Website or any portion thereof to any delinquent account without notice. You agree to provide us with accurate payment information. You further agree that we may store and use the payment information you provide (including without limitation credit or debit card information) for use in maintaining your account and billing fees for future authorized purchases.

Refunds
Membership fees paid to Forest Lawn Heritage Foundation, Inc., a New York non-profit corporation, are non-refundable.  Payments for Merchandise are subject to a limited warranty as set forth in the Forest Lawn Online Merchandise Sales Terms And Conditions.  Membership constitutes support of Forest Lawn Heritage Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization, rather than formal membership with voting rights.

Renewal
Memberships will expire at the indicated date.  We will attempt to notify you via e-mail to invite you to renew your membership. If you do not renew your membership, you may lose access to various features of the Website.

Prices Subject to Change
Prices set forth at the Website may be changed by Forest Lawn at any time.

Materials that you Transmit
You, and not Forest Lawn, are solely responsible for all text, photos, images, data,  audio, video, and other materials of any kind (“Submissions”) that you upload, post, email or otherwise transmit (collectively, “transmit”) via any portion of the Website.  By transmitting your Submissions to Forest Lawn or a Third Party Provider (as hereinafter defined), you are certifying to us that you have the right to use and submit the Submissions and to authorize us to post an on-line memorial or otherwise use the Submissions for the purpose indicated. You agree not to use the Website to transmit: any Submissions that are in Forest Lawn’s sole discretion unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, or invasive of another’s privacy; impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity; any materials that you do not have a legal right to make available or that infringe any patent, trademark trade secret, copyright or other proprietary right of any party; any junk mail, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes or materials that contain viruses or other harmful components; or harvest or otherwise collection information about others.  You accept full legal liability for the content of material processed and printed on your behalf and under your instructions.

Forest Lawn does not endorse the contents of any Submissions and expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with Submissions. We disclaim any responsibility for prescreening or monitoring Submissions. However, we have the right at our sole discretion to remove or delete any Submissions that you Transmit or attempt to Transmit, to terminate your access to the Website, to close your account, and to reject any orders, all without giving our reason for doing so.

Forest Lawn is not responsible for the loss or damage of your Submissions. We are not obligated to store and preserve your Submission.  We may delete all Submissions in our sole discretion. If you desire a copy of your Submission, you should arrange to independently record or preserve your Submission. We will make available to a member a copy of the member’s submission(s)s for a nominal charge.

When you use the Website, you represent and warrant that all login information, credit card information or other information that you submit is truthful and accurate, and that you will maintain the accuracy of such information. You must provide a valid email address and any other information requested by Forest Lawn to complete any order. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and other login information and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your account.  We cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage from your failure to comply with this obligation. You agree to immediately notify Forest Lawn of any unauthorized use or suspected unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security.

You agree to let us, in our sole discretion, display an on-line memorial on the Website and in marketing materials.

Indemnification
You hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless Forest Lawn and its members, managers, trustees, directors, officers, employees, and agents, from and against any and all liability, cost and expense, including without limitation reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising from or related to your use or misuse of the Website, Merchandise, Documents, any Database and any linked sites.

Submissions of Other Users
You acknowledge that in using the Website you may be exposed to Submissions of other users and that Forest Lawn is not responsible for the content of those Submissions. You further acknowledge that you may be exposed to Submissions of other users that are inaccurate, offensive, indecent or otherwise problematic or objectionable.

Third Party Products, Services and Links
The Website may contain links to third party sites or resources, as well as third party products or services, that are not under the control of Forest Lawn.  Such links, products and services are provided to you as a convenience only, and Forest Lawn is not responsible for any such site, product or service.  The inclusion of such items does not imply that Forest Lawn endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content or the use of them. If you use third party links, products or services, you will be subject to the third party’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and other contractual provisions.

On-Line Memorials
Through the Website, you may be given access to a Database, which may involve a link to the website of a third party provider (“Third Party Provider”), allowing you to create an on-line memorial to one or more living or deceased persons.  Concerning your Submissions in connection with any such on-line memorial, you grant Forest Lawn and the Third Party Provider and its affiliates a transferable license to use, host, sublicense and distribute your Submissions to the extent and in the form or context we deem appropriate on or through any media or medium and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed or discovered. Except for the rights granted in these Terms and Conditions, Forest Lawn acquires no title or ownership rights in or to any content you submit and nothing in this Agreement conveys any ownership rights in the content you submit to us. Forest Lawn may display, copy and distribute information about on-line memorials and may index the names appearing in the on-line memorials to allow results to be found in searches. You agree that all information uploaded or provided to Forest Lawn is voluntary, and does not entitle you to any compensation or attribution. Outside of the Website, you maintain the right to publish, sell, transfer or share your individual family tree in any legal manner.

Grant of License to You
If from time to time the Website includes a Database, Forest Lawn grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Database for personal, non-commercial purposes and strictly subject to any and all limits imposed by Forest Lawn on the level of access you may be given concerning a Document or Database.  You may not modify, disassemble, decompile, hack or reverse engineer a Database or Document except as otherwise provided by law, or rent, lease, loan, resell, sublicense, distribute or otherwise transfer the Database or Document to a third party, or make any copies of a Database or Document except that you may download and print a copy of a Document for personal, non-commercial use. You will not remove, circumvent, disable, damage or otherwise interfere with security-related features of any Database or Document, or delete the copyright and other proprietary rights notices related thereto.  You acknowledge that Forest Lawn  may from time to time modify a Database or Document, disable a Database or Document, and make prior versions of a Database or Document unavailable.

Government End Users
If  any Forest Lawn materials (including without limitation the Website and any Database) are being licensed on behalf of the United States Government, then the Government agrees that said materials were developed at private expense and are provided with RESTRICTED RIGHTS. Use, duplication, or disclosure of the Database by the U.S. Government are subject to restrictions set forth in this Agreement and as provided in DFARS 227.7202-1(a) and 227.7202-3(a) (1995), DFARS 252.227-7013(c)(1)(ii) (OCT 1988), FAR 12.212(a) (1995), FAR 52.227-19 (June 1987), or FAR 52.227-14 (ALT III)(June 1987), as applicable.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES
EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY STATED IN THESE TERMS OF USE OR THE RELEVANT FOREST LAWN USER AGREEMENT OR FOREST LAWN ONLINE MERCHANDISE SALES TERMS AND CONDITIONS, THE WEBSITE AND THE MERCHANDISE, DOCUMENTS AND ANY DATABASE ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS, OR WARRANTIES RELATED TO BEING ACCURATE, SAFE, AVAILABLE, UNINTERRUPTED, DEFECT-FREE, OR FREE FROM VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE TOTAL LIABILITY OF FOREST LAWN, ITS MEMBERS, MANAGERS, TRUSTEES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS, TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE WEBSITE, MERCHANDISE, DOCUMENTS, OR ANY DATABASE, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION NEGLIGENCE), WARRANTY, OR OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE AMOUNTS PAID BY YOU DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE OF YOUR CLAIM FOR THE SPECIFIC ITEM OR SERVICE THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF THE CLAIM.

EXCLUSION OF DAMAGES
EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE PROVIDED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL FOREST LAWN, ITS MEMBERS, MANAGERS, TRUSTEES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS, BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY AND WHETHER ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

CERTAIN STATE LAWS
CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS, OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MIGHT HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.

Miscellaneous
Except to the extent that a Forest Lawn User Agreement and/or Forest Lawn Online Merchandise Sales Terms And Conditions applies, this Agreement represents the entire agreement between Forest Lawn and you with respect to the Website, Database, Documents and Merchandise. If we waive your breach of any provision of this Agreement, we have not waived our rights to pursue your subsequent breach of that provision or any other provision of this Agreement.  The determination by a court of competent jurisdiction that any portion of this Agreement is invalid or unenforceable on any ground shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any other portion of this Agreement.