These Terms and Conditions address COMET’s direct relationship with Publishers and Advertisers. If you are a member of a third-party network utilizing the COMET Exchange platform, then you may be subject to additional terms and conditions with respect to such network. Moreover, these Term & Conditions do not apply to Network Operators. Your contract contains a separate set of terms and conditions.
Welcome to the COMET, an advertising sale and management service (the “Service”). An Advertiser places a text, image or rich media advertisement (“Advertisement”) via the Service into an Ad Space that is displayed on one or more Web Sites (“Site(s)”). This Ad Space is managed by the web site publisher (the “Publisher”). The Service runs on software developed and hosted by COMET, LLC (611 Gateway Boulevard, South San Francisco, CA 94080 USA) (“COMET”), its subsidiaries, third party contractors and licensees. Advertisements are viewed by individuals (“Viewers”), who access Advertisements via the World Wide Web.
The Service enables a Publisher and an Advertiser to create, execute, and manage online advertising transactions. COMET is not involved in the actual transaction between an Advertiser and a Publisher, is not the agent of, and has no authority for or control over either party for any purpose. Any Publisher who uses the Service to sell and/or manage Advertisements, and any Advertiser who uses the Service to buy and/or manage Advertisements must accept the Terms and Conditions of this Agreement in full. By registering for and using the Service, you agree to be bound by all terms and conditions of this Agreement, and all policies and guidelines of the Service are incorporated herein by reference.
COMET reserves the right to change any of the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement or any policies or guidelines governing the Service, at any time and in its sole and absolute discretion. Any changes will be effective upon posting of the revisions to this page. You are responsible for reviewing any applicable changes. Changes may be posted without notice to you. Your continued use of the Service following COMET’s posting of any changes will constitute your acceptance of such changes or modifications. At any time upon request by COMET, you agree to sign a non-electronic version of this Agreement. If you do not agree to any changes to this Agreement, you must terminate this Agreement pursuant to section 5.3.
Publisher and Advertiser Guidelines (the “Guidelines”) cover the specific use of the Service, and can be found below. The Guidelines, as they may be modified from time to time, are incorporated herein by reference, and have the same force and effect as if they were fully part of this Agreement.
1.1 Your relationship to COMET is one of an independent contractor and/or customer. No employer-employee, agency, joint venture, franchise, sales representative or partnership relationship is created by this Agreement or by your use of the Service.
1.2 You are solely responsible for the language, customization, and accuracy of the Site Content in which your Ad Spaces appear, and for all materials and content related to the sale of advertising in your Ad Spaces including, but not limited to: (a) the creation of Ad Space descriptions and logos; (b) the placement of Ad Space Javascript into the relevant Site(s); (c) the acceptance or rejection of Advertisements submitted to your Ad Spaces; (d) the accuracy and appropriateness of materials you post on your Site(s); (e) ensuring that content published on your Site(s) does not violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party; and are not in COMET’s sole discretion, defamatory, obscene, threatening, libelous, abusive, hateful, or illegal. COMET reserves the right to deactivate any Ad Space at its sole discretion based on Site Content.
1.3 Publisher agrees to refrain from using any device, software, or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Service or any activities conducted on COMET’s servers. Publisher agrees not to take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the Service infrastructure. Publisher agrees not to impede or interfere with others’ use of the Service. Publisher further agrees not to alter or tamper with any information or materials on or associated with the Service.
1.4 Publisher agrees to abide by the Publisher Guidelines available below.
1.5 Publisher shall provide COMET with accurate, complete, and updated registration information. Failure to do so shall constitute a breach of this Agreement, which may result in immediate termination of this Agreement. COMET reserves the right to refuse any application at its sole discretion.
1.6 Publisher may not select or use a user name or Ad Space name with the intent to impersonate another person, company or entity, nor use a name subject to the rights, including intellectual property rights, of any person other than Publisher without written authorization, nor use a user name that COMET, in its sole discretion, deems offensive.
1.7 Publisher will not send unsolicited e-mail (“spam”) to attract Viewers or Advertisers to any Ad Space or to any Advertisements.
1.8 In accordance with the Publisher Guidelines, Publisher will have the right to approve or reject each submitted Advertisement, or to set one or more default “permissions” for the acceptance or rejection of Advertisements. COMET reserves the right to approve on Publisher’s behalf any pending Advertisement after 24 hours of the Advertisement’s submission by Advertiser. Advertiser may cancel pending Advertisements. No payment is due to Publisher on canceled or rejected ads, regardless of the time and method of rejection or cancellation.
1.9 Publisher acknowledges that COMET may establish general practices and limits concerning use of the Service, including without limitation the maximum number and type(s) of Advertisements that can be placed into an Ad Space or into a web page, the maximum disk space that will be allocated on COMET’s servers on Publisher’s behalf, the maximum number of times (and the maximum duration for which) Publisher may access the Service in a given period of time, and the minimum traffic and response rates generated with respect to Publisher’s Site(s) and Ad Spaces. Publisher further acknowledge that COMET reserves the right to change these general practices and limits at any time, in its sole discretion, with or without notice.
1.10 For the mutual protection of Publishers and COMET, Publisher’s relationship with Advertisers is governed this Agreement. This Agreement constitutes Publisher’s entire agreement with Advertisers and third-party service providers. COMET reserves the right to change this Agreement, in its sole and absolute discretion, with or without any notice to Publisher. Publisher’s continued use of the Service following COMET’s posting of any changes to those agreements will constitute Publisher’s acceptance of such changes or modifications.
1.11 Publisher is responsible for setting the advertising rates for placing Advertisements into Ad Spaces. COMET reserves the right to grant any Advertiser discounts at any percentage of the buy spend. Discounts are shared between the Publisher and the COMET according to their commission structure.
1.12 COMET charges a Transaction Fee for providing the Service. COMET reserves the right to change the Transaction Fee it charges based upon Publisher revenue or other measures COMET may devise.
1.13 As described in the Publisher Guidelines, COMET handles payment for Advertisements submitted and provides Publishers an online summary of the activity on their Ad Spaces. Charges shall be calculated solely based on records maintained by COMET. No other measurements or statistics of any kind shall be accepted by COMET or have any effect under this Agreement.
1.14 Publisher agrees to pay any applicable charges under this Agreement, including any applicable taxes or charges imposed by any government entity, including but not limited to personal income tax, social security and/or welfare obligations, sales tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), and use tax if applicable. Publisher also agrees that COMET is not obligated to determine whether sales or use taxes apply on any Advertising sales and is not responsible to collect, report, or remit any sales or use taxes arising from any such transaction.
1.15 COMET will pay you by ACH (Direct Deposit) Payments from COMET shall be remitted to Publisher within sixty (60) days after the end of the month in which such payments are earned (except that any monthly payment which would be less than $10 as so calculated will be deemed de minimis and will not be paid or tracked by COMET). Notwithstanding the forgoing, if Publisher is terminated pursuant to section 1.17, COMET shall be entitled to withhold all or any portion of payment due to Publisher.
1.16 COMET will send payment to your postal address via United States mail. If you do not cash or deposit your check within its expiry period, you forfeit the entire amount and the payment is canceled.
1.17 In the event COMET makes a good faith determination that Publisher has engaged in click fraud, impression fraud, running advertising on inappropriate content or any other similar activity, COMET shall have the right to (a) immediately terminate Publisher’s account, (b) withhold any amounts due and owing to Publisher, and (c) take any other appropriate actions to remedy the situation.
1.18 You must comply with the Mandatory Terms and Conditions set forth in Section 8 below, and such may be modified from time to time. COMET reserves the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Service as a result of your non-compliance the Code of Conduct or the Terms and Conditions.
2. General Terms – Advertiser
2.1 The Service is available to any Advertiser who registers with the Service, provides all the required information, and pays for the advertising submitted (“Advertisement”) in the manner required by the Advertiser Guidelines.
2.2 Advertiser shall be liable for all charges that accrue based on the Advertisements and other services actually purchased. All prices and charges listed by Publisher/COMET or entered by Advertiser (including, but not limited to, Maximum Bid, Daily Budget, etc.) are exclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT) unless stated otherwise. Advertiser agrees to pay all applicable charges under this Agreement, including VAT and any other applicable taxes or charges imposed by any government entity. COMET provides tracking tools, and in the event of any dispute in the running of an ad, the number of impressions, click-throughs or transaction on any Advertisement, Advertiser hereby agrees that the tracking metrics provided by COMET shall be the official tracking metrics for resolving the dispute.
2.3 Publisher, COMET and their designees reserve the right to, and in their sole discretion may, at any time review, reject, or remove any Advertisement. The sole liability of Publisher and COMET to Advertiser for removal of any Advertisement is limited to a refund of any fees paid for Advertisements that have not yet run, if any. No liability of Publisher, COMET or their designees shall result from any such decision. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Publisher cannot remove an Advertisement that was purchased on a sponsorship basis and still has time to run.
2.4 Payments are to be made via ACH (preferred method) to account designated by COMET or by check as specified on the invoice. In the case of an over-payment, COMET will return the funds via either 1) ACH to account provided by Advertiser or 2) by check to the postal address registered with COMET via the appropriate COMET form. Other than as specifically described above, all fees paid for Advertisements are nonrefundable.
2.5 Advertiser may not use the Service in order to transmit, distribute, store or destroy material, including without limitation Web Site Content, (a) in violation of any applicable law or regulation, (b) in a manner that will infringe the copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property rights of others or violate the privacy, publicity or other personal rights of others, including any information that personally identifies any consumer, or (c) that is defamatory, obscene, threatening, libelous, abusive, hateful or otherwise illegal, or (d) any data that is personally identifiable information, including but not limited to an individual’s name, mailing address, phone number, or e-mail address. COMET reserves the right to restrict, suspend, or terminate Advertiser’s access to all or any part of the Service at any time, for any or no reason, with or without prior notice, and without liability.
2.6 Advertiser agrees not to use any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Service or any activities conducted on COMET’s servers. Advertiser agrees not to take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the Service’s hardware, bandwidth or software. Advertiser agrees not to impede or interfere with others’ use of the Service. Advertiser further agrees not to alter or tamper with any information or materials on or associated with the Service.
2.7 By submitting an Advertisement to the Service, the Advertiser grants COMET the right to reproduce, publish, display and distribute, without additional charge, the Advertisement on any of the COMET sites or in any COMET collateral materials, including but not limited to www.mt.com In addition, Advertiser hereby agrees that Publisher and Application Provider may display Advertiser’s Advertisements, free of charge, on other sites maintained by Publisher or by COMET. If you wish to opt out from providing COMET such additional rights, please contact COMET by sending an email to help@mt.com
2.8 By submitting an Advertisement to the Service, Advertiser represents and warrants that it is the owner of all patent, copyright, mask work, trademark, service mark, and any and all other proprietary rights and interests therein. Advertiser hereby grants Publisher, Application Provider and their designees the right to communicate such works to the public, perform and display the content (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed, for the full term of this Agreement for the purpose of providing the Service and posting the Advertisement as described in this Agreement. Advertiser also permits any Viewer to access, display, view, store and reproduce such content. Subject to the foregoing, the Advertiser retains any and all rights that may exist in its Advertisements.
2.9 Advertiser acknowledges and agrees that Publisher or its designees may preserve Advertiser Content and may also disclose Advertisements if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process; (b) enforce these Terms and Conditions; (c) respond to claims that any Advertisement violates the rights of third-parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of COMET, Publisher, Viewers and the public.
2.10 Advertiser hereby represents and warrants that Advertiser is authorized to publish Advertisements and further represents, that the contents are not unlawful, do not infringe the rights of any person or entity and that the Advertiser has obtained all necessary permission or releases to display the Advertisement.
2.11 Advertiser further represents and warrants that any Web Site linked to Advertiser’s Advertisement(s) complies with all laws and regulations in any state or country where the Advertisement is displayed, does not breach and has not breached any duty toward or rights of any person or entity and is not false, misleading, defamatory, obscene, libelous, slanderous, threatening, abusive, hateful or otherwise illegal.
2.12 Advertiser acknowledges and agrees that Publisher, COMET their affiliates, partners and third-party service providers make no guarantee regarding the levels of impressions or clicks for any Advertisement(s) or for any Ad Space(s). Advertiser further acknowledges that Publisher and COMET, their affiliates and third-party service providers act as a passive conduit for the online distribution and publication of Advertiser-submitted information and have no obligation to screen communications or information in advance and are not responsible for screening or monitoring material posted by Viewers. Publisher, COMET, their affiliates and third-party service providers do not warrant or make any representations regarding the use or the results of the use of the materials posted in terms of their correctness, accuracy, timeliness, reliability or otherwise.
3. Intellectual Property
3.1 All Advertisements uploaded to the Service by Advertiser including, without limitation, all intellectual property rights in the same, shall remain Advertiser’s sole and exclusive property.
3.2 All Publisher content uploaded to the Service (“Publisher Content”) including, without limitation, all intellectual property rights in the same, shall remain Publisher’s sole and exclusive property. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Publisher hereby grants COMET (and, including without limitation, COMET’s content and syndication partners) a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use Publisher Content for the purpose of promoting the sale of Advertisements on Publisher’s Web Site(s), and for other legitimate COMET purposes. In addition, COMET may retain and use for its own purposes any Publisher Content that COMET aggregates (i.e., renders in a form such that no Publisher Content is attributable to a specific Publisher), and share such information about Publishers with advertisers and business partners, including syndication partners, sponsors, and other third parties.
3.3 All software, equipment, data, information and materials, developed or provided by COMET or its suppliers under this Agreement or used by COMET to provide the Service, including all intellectual property rights in the same, shall remain the sole and exclusive property of COMET or its suppliers, as the case may be.
3.4 You acknowledge and agree that COMET may preserve Publisher Content or Advertisements for a period of up to five (5) years, and may also disclose the same if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process; (b) enforce these Terms and Conditions; (c) respond to claims that any such Content violates the rights of third-parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of COMET, its Advertisers, Viewers and the public. Nothing in this Agreement requires COMET to preserve Publisher Content or Advertisements.
4. Liability/Warranties/Indemnification
4.1 You shall indemnify COMET with respect to all liability, losses, damages, costs or expenses howsoever caused, arising out of, or in connection with a breach of your obligations under this Agreement.
4.2 You acknowledge that you are using the service at your own risk. The Service is provided “as is”, and COMET and its affiliates hereby expressly disclaim any and all warranties, express and implied, including but not limited to any warranties of accuracy, reliability, title, merchantability, non-infringement, fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, condition, guarantee or representation, whether oral, in writing or in electronic form, including but not limited to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained therein or provided by the service. COMET, its affiliates and its third party service providers do not represent or warrant that access to the Service will be uninterrupted or that there will be no failures, errors or omissions or loss of transmitted information, or that no viruses will be transmitted on the Service.
4.3 No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from COMET through or from the Service shall create any warranty not expressly stated in this Agreement.
4.4 COMET and its affiliates and third party service providers shall not be liable to Publisher or to any third parties for any direct, indirect, special, consequential or punitive damages allegedly sustained arising out of this Agreement, the providing of services hereunder, the sale or purchase of any goods or merchandise, Publisher’s access to or inability to access the Service, including for viruses alleged to have been obtained from the Service, your use of or reliance on the Service or any of the merchandise, information or materials available on the Service, regardless of the type of claim or the nature of the cause of action, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. Each party acknowledges that the other party has entered into this Agreement relying on the limitations of liability stated herein and that those limitations are an essential basis of the bargain between the parties.
4.5 You hereby agree to release COMET, its affiliates and third-party service providers, and each of their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed (“claims”), arising out of or in any way connected with your use of the service.
4.6 Advertiser hereby agrees to release Publisher, COMET, their affiliates, partners, and third-party service providers, and each of their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed (“claims”), arising out of or in any way connected with Advertiser’s use of the Service. If Advertiser is a California resident, Advertiser waives California civil code section 1542, which states, in part: “a general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor”.
4.7 The aggregate liability for COMET to Publisher for all claims arising from the use of the Service is limited to the net proceeds to COMET from the Advertising sales Publisher’s Ad Spaces generated during the previous calendar month.
4.8 COMET is not responsible for the content of the Advertisements managed under the Service. COMET does not review Advertisements before they are displayed, and does not verify, endorse, or otherwise take responsibility for the contents of any Advertisements. COMET ;reserves the right to remove from its servers any Advertisement or Publisher Content which it determines to be in violation of its rules and guidelines. COMET is not responsible for any malware or other unauthorized code included as part of the marketing collateral associated with advertising campaigns. COMET reserves the right to immediately suspend any advertising campaign that contains such malware or unauthorized code.
4.9 You are responsible for all usage or activity on your account management tools, including use of the account by any third party authorized by you to use your user name and password. You are advised to maintain the confidentiality of your account management password. You are responsible for ensuring that you exit from your account at the end of each session. If you are a Publisher, you are solely responsible for the usage and placement of Ad Spaces on your Web Site(s).
5. Termination
5.1 COMET reserves the right to terminate you and remove your Ad Space or your Advertisement from the Service without notice for any reason, or for no reason.
5.2 If COMET terminates the Agreement, it will send an email to you if you have supplied a valid address on the relevant registration form. If you have not supplied a currently valid email, COMET may terminate this Agreement without any notice.
5.3 You may terminate this Agreement for any reason, or for no reason, by removing your Ad Space from your Site(s) or by stopping all current and pending advertising purchases, and sending an e-mail to terminate@mt.com. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you cannot terminate this Agreement if you have any outstanding Sponsorship Advertisements running in your Ad Spaces, or if you purchased a Sponsorship that is active. See Guidelines. If you discontinue or suspend an Ad Space into which Sponsorship Advertisements have been displayed, you agree to reimburse all such Advertisers the total amount of their Sponsorship purchase.
6. Miscellaneous
6.1 This Agreement shall be governed in all respects by the laws of California without regard to conflict of laws principles, and the parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the California courts. All disputes under this Agreement shall be heard in San Mateo County, California, USA. If any provision of these Terms & Conditions are held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be illegal or unenforceable under applicable law, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary under such law so that these Terms & Conditions shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable.
6.2 This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and COMET with respect to the subject matter hereof and there are no representations, understandings, or agreements that are not fully expressed in this Agreement.
6.3 While COMET, its affiliates, partners and third-party service providers do value feedback on the Service, we ask that you be specific in their comments and not to submit creative ideas, inventions, suggestions, or materials. If, despite our request, you send us creative suggestions, ideas, drawings, concepts, inventions, or other information (collectively the “Submission”), the Submission shall be the property of COMET, its affiliates, partners and third-party service providers. None of the Submission shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on COMET, its affiliates, partners and third-party service providers, and the same shall not be liable for any use or disclosure of any Submission. COMET, its affiliates, partners and third-party service providers shall own exclusively all now known or later discovered rights to the Submission and shall be entitled to unrestricted use of the Submission for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to you or any other person who submitted the Submission.
6.4 In the event that the bulk of the assets of COMET, its affiliates, partners and third-party service providers are acquired, customer data submitted via the Service may be among the transferred assets.
6.5 You must be at least 16 years of age to use the Service.
7. Children’s Privacy Statement
This children’s privacy statement explains COMET’s practices with respect to the online collection and use of personal information from children under the age of thirteen, and provides important information on your rights under federal law with respect to such information.
7.1 COMET does NOT knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of thirteen. If COMET becomes aware that it has inadvertently received personally-identifiable information from a user under the age of thirteen, it will delete such information from its records. If COMET changes its practices in the future, we will obtain prior, verifiable parental consent before collecting any personally identifiable information from children under the age of thirteen.
7.2 Because COMET does not collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of thirteen, COMET also does NOT knowingly distribute such information to third parties.
7.3 COMET does NOT knowingly allow children under the age of thirteen to publicly post or otherwise distribute personally identifiable contact information.
7.4 Because COMET does not collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of thirteen, it does NOT condition the use of the service by a child under thirteen.
8. Mandatory Terms and Conditions – Site Accreditation Requirements.
ALL of the following conditions, as expressed below, MUST apply to any inventory that is being sold.
8.1. The Publisher of the Site either owns or reasonably believes that it is entitled to use the content displayed on the Site;
8.2. The Site does not to the Publisher’s knowledge include any “virus” or other destructive programming or device that could impair or injure any data, computer system or software;
8.3. The Site and its content does not to the Publisher’s knowledge violate any applicable laws or regulations, including without limitation those relating to advertising, gambling, competitions and consumer protection;
8.4. The Site and its content does not to the Publisher’s knowledge violate the rights of any person or entity, including without limitation any intellectual property or other proprietary right, any right of privacy, or by being defamatory;
8.5. The Site does not to the Publisher’s knowledge promote or facilitate any activities that are illegal under applicable law or that infringe the rights of any person or entity, including without limitation the pirating of copyright works, or hacking or other unauthorised access to or modification of devices.
8.6. The Publisher shall operate a “notice and takedown” policy that complies with applicable law (currently, for Publishers situated in the UK, the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002) in respect of unlawful activity or information on the Site of which the Publisher gains knowledge or awareness.
8.7. The Publisher shall use all reasonable endeavors to ensure that Inventory booked on the Site is not re-sold or re-brokered.
Guidelines to Publishers
The following bullet points comprise COMET’s Guidelines to Publishers about inserting ad tags into the publisher’s site:
Any ad space should appear immediately adjacent to content or editorial functionality.
The top of at least one of your ad spaces must begin less than 400 pixels from the top of the page.
No ad space may be posted more than once on the same page.
You may display advertising material from sources other than COMET on your site, provided that all other advertising material in the same column as the ad space appears below the ad space. When advertisements appear in multiple columns of a site, COMET’s ads must appear in the left-most column.
Excluding first party ad sales, you must provide COMET equal access on equal terms to sell advertising into any advertising format or location created on the site in each case that the size and formatting of the advertising area matches the size and formatting of an ad space provided by COMET.
You are responsible for notifying COMET at help@mt.com if an ad space is temporarily unavailable because it has already been pre-booked through another ad sale.
If you identify your ad space as being present on a topic-specific page, through the name or description of the ad space, you must deliver audiences focused on the topic(s) specified. You are solely responsible for renaming and reclassifying the ad space if the focus of the site on which the ad space is displayed changes.
If an ad space is set up to run on more than one site, you must identify the sites contributing to the ad space’s traffic tally in the description of the ad space.
You are responsible for declaring and updating the Page URL where you place each Ad Tag. If the Page URL entered into COMET’s application does not match the referrer URL for the Ad Tag, COMET will deactivate the ad tag without any further notice.
To view the COMET Document of Methodology (DOM) click here.
If you have questions about these guidelines, please contact us at help@mt.com.