Better Health Channel terms of use

Please read these Terms and conditions of use (‘Terms’) carefully before using the Better Health Channel website at www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au (‘Better Health Channel’).

In these Terms, "you" and "your(s)" refer to the person or organisation accessing and using the Better Health Channel website. "We", "us" and "our" refer to the State of Victoria, Australia, including the Victorian Department of Healths and the Better Health Channel.

Introduction

• The State of Victoria, Australia (‘State of Victoria’) owns the Better Health Channel. The Better Health Channel is primarily created and maintained for people who live in Australia.
• You may only access and use the Better Health Channel if you agree to be legally bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to be legally bound by these Terms, please do not access and/or use the Better Health Channel. You will be deemed to have accepted these Terms if you commence or continue to access and use the Better Health Channel, and you will continue to be bound by these Terms for so long as you access or use the Better Health Channel.

Changes to these Terms

• The State of Victoria may make changes to the Better Health Channel, including these Terms, at any time. You agree that you will be legally bound by the updated or amended Terms from the first time you use the Better Health Channel after the updated version is published on www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au.

Copyright

• Copyright in the Better Health Channel (including content, applications and design) is owned by the State of Victoria or is used by the State of Victoria under licence. All copyrighted material is protected by Australian and international copyright and other intellectual property laws.
• Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), and apart from uses specifically authorised by these Terms, you may not in any form or by any means adapt, reproduce, store, create derivative works, distribute, print, display, perform, publish or commercialise any information, products or services obtained from any part of the Better Health Channel without written permission from the State of Victoria, obtained through the Department of Health. The State of Victoria reserves the right to grant or refuse permission or to impose any conditions on any permission that is granted. To obtain permission you must request permission in writing.

Trade marks

• The ‘Better Health Channel’ mark (name) and device (logo) are trademarks owned by the State of Victoria. Any trade marks or registered trade marks (including other logos) that appear on the Better Health Channel are the property of the State of Victoria and/or third parties. They cannot be copied, modified, reproduced, published, uploaded, distributed or posted in whole or in part in any way without the prior written consent of the State of Victoria, obtained through the Department of Health, and/or the relevant third party, except where specifically allowed for elsewhere in these Terms.

Medical disclaimer

• Content on this website is provided for information purposes only.
• Information about a therapy, service, product or treatment does not in any way endorse or support such therapy, service, product or treatment and is not intended to replace advice from your doctor or other registered health professional.
• The information and materials contained on this website are not intended to constitute a comprehensive guide concerning all aspects of the therapy, product or treatment described on the website.
• All users are urged to always seek advice from a registered health care professional for diagnosis and answers to their medical questions and to ascertain whether the particular therapy, service, product or treatment described on the website is suitable in their circumstances.
• The State of Victoria and the Department of Health shall not bear any liability for reliance by any user on the materials contained on this website.
• For more information all users of the Better Health Channel are directed to the Department of Health disclaimer notice.

Liability and loss - disclaimer

• The State of Victoria does not accept responsibility for any loss or damage, however caused (including through negligence), which you may directly or indirectly suffer in connection with your use of the Better Health Channel or any linked website, nor does it accept any responsibility for any such loss arising out of your use of or reliance on information contained on or accessed through the Better Health Channel or any third party website that you access through a link contained on the Better Health Channel.
• To the extent permitted by law, the State of Victoria excludes any liability to you for any of the following types of loss or damage (which you may suffer as a result of your use of the Better Health Channel) whether the losses were foreseen, foreseeable, unforeseen, unforeseeable, known, unknown or otherwise:
  a. any loss which arose when you first accessed the Better Health Channel (even if that loss results from failure to comply with these Terms or negligence on the part of the State of Victoria);
  b. any loss due to the Better Health Channel not being available at any particular time;
  c. any business loss you may suffer, including loss of revenue, loss of profits or loss of anticipated savings (whether those losses are the direct or indirect result of default on the part of the State of Victoria);
  d. any loss which you suffer other than as a result of the State of Victoria’s failure to comply with these Terms or its negligence or breach of statutory duty;
  e. any loss suffered due to the default of any party other than the State of Victoria;
  f. any loss due to the non-availability or failure of any telecommunications or computer services, systems, equipment or software operated or provided by you or any third party;
  g. any loss or damage caused by any other event not reasonably within the control of the Department of Health.

Printing from the Better Health Channel

• You may download and print information from the Better Health Channel providing you retain all branding, design and logos that appear on the relevant page and any copyright statements, credits, references to Better Health Channel and any other notices that appear on the relevant page. You can do this by using the ‘print’ button on each Better Health Channel web page.
• Even if you print material from the Better Health Channel as allowed under theses Terms, you must not use or distribute any material from the Better Health Channel for any public or commercial purpose without express written permission from the State of Victoria, obtained through the Department of Health. The State of Victoria reserves the right to grant or refuse permission, and to impose conditions on any permission that is granted.

Amending or editing Better Health Channel information

• Due to the Better Health Channel’s strict clinical review processes and copyright arrangements, you may not modify, adapt, amend, edit, and then reuse information available on the Better Health Channel without express written permission from the State of Victoria, obtained through the Department of Health. The State of Victoria reserves the right to grant or refuse permission and to impose conditions on any permission that is granted.

Reproducing information from the Better Health Channel on the Internet

• You may not reproduce on the Internet any information or material available on the Better Health Channel unless the reproduction is authorised:
  a. under a Standard Licence Agreement or other legal arrangement issued by the Better Health Channel or Department of Health; or
  b. in accordance with these Terms.
• The Internet includes websites, portals, feeds, email, blogs, social media, mobile devices and any other Internet platforms (that exist now or in the future).
• Without limiting the statement above, you may do any of the following without seeking permission, providing you comply with these Terms:
  a. Include a link on your website to the relevant page on the Better Health Channel, providing you comply with these Terms.
  b. Reproduce one or two direct quotes from a fact sheet (with quotation marks) and cite the Better Health Channel as your reference. These can only be short, direct quotes and should follow normal referencing conventions.
  c. Write your own original content and use information on the Better Health Channel as a reference with the following acknowledgement, “Reference: www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au”, which must operate as a hyperlink to the Better Health Channel.

Reproducing Better Health Channel information in other publications and formats

• You may reproduce information available on the Better Health Channel in publications and formats other than the Internet only with express written permission from the State of Victoria, obtained through the Department of Health. To obtain permission, you must request permission in writing and provide specific details about how and where you will reproduce the material, and the purpose of the proposed reproduction. The State of Victoria reserves the right to grant, withdraw or refuse permission, and to impose conditions on any permission that is granted.
• If you are granted permission to reproduce information or material from the Better Health Channel in a publication or format other than the Internet, you will be required to sign a Standard Licence Agreement outlining the specific terms and conditions of the reproduction.

Links to other websites

• Links to other websites are provided on the Better Health Channel for the convenience of users. The inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement of the content of the external site by the Better Health Channel, the Department of Health or the State of Victoria. The State of Victoria takes no responsibility for the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of any information contained on third party websites, or whether the information contained on those websites is suitable for your needs. The State of Victoria takes no responsibility and accepts no liability for the services provided by any third parties and/or their websites whose hyperlink or trade name may appear on the Better Health Channel.
• The State of Victoria publishes links to other websites on the Better Health Channel at its own discretion and reserves the right to revise or amend links to other websites or withdraw links at any time without notice.

Links to the Better Health Channel

• You may insert a link to the Better Health Channel on your website, provided that you comply with these Terms and with the following conditions:
  a. The link cannot be used in any manner that may indicate endorsement, approval or sponsorship of your website, your organisation or its services by the Better Health Channel, its content partners, the Department of Health or the State of Victoria.
  b. If there are fees involved in the use of any part of your website, your website should contain a written notice that the Better Health Channel is a free service provided by the Victorian Government.
  c. No charge of any sort can be attached to the availability of the Better Health Channel. For example, if you have a subscription section on your site, the Better Health Channel link must not be placed inside this subscription area.
  d. The link to the Better Health Channel website cannot be attached to any revenue generating mechanism.
  e. The State of Victoria reserves the right to request the removal of a link on your website to the Better Health Channel at any time. Any link to the Better Health Channel must be immediately removed from your website upon request from the Department of Health.
  f. The words ‘Better Health Channel’ or the url www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au must be part of the link text.
• You must not reproduce the entire Better Health Channel environment and/or its contents or services within another website, for example by using I-frame or screen scraping techniques.

Endorsements

• Under no circumstances can you use any Better Health Channel content or material including any trade name, logo, URL or other device that appears on the Better Health Channel, in any manner that may suggest any endorsement of your company, your website or your products and services by the Better Health Channel, its content partners, the Department of Health or the State of Victoria.

Personal information and privacy

• The Better Health Channel is committed to ensuring that your personal information is protected. If you provide information to the Better Health Channel by which your identity can reasonably be ascertained, it will only be used in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2001 (Vic) and the Department of Health privacy statement.
• The State of Victoria will use the information you provide to the Better Health Channel to provide and operate the Better Health Channel, to fulfil administrative functions associated with the Better Health Channel, and for internal research and reporting purposes. Where you provide personal information to the Better Health Channel, you will be informed why the information is being collected and how it will be used, or those things will be obvious at that time.

Data and system integrity

• The State of Victoria does not represent or warrant that: a. the Better Health Channel or any content of the Better Health Channel will be available uninterrupted or error free; or
  b. any defects in the Better Health Channel or any content of the Better Health Channel will be corrected; or
  c. the Better Health Channel or its supporting systems are free of viruses, malware or other malicious content.
• You acknowledge and agree that the State of Victoria will not be liable for any corruption or failed transmission of any information that is attributable to your computer system or to the system of or any act or omission of your Internet Service Provider (ISP).
• You acknowledge and agree that you must take your own precautions to ensure that the process which you employ for accessing the Better Health Channel does not expose you to the risk of viruses or other form of interference that may damage your own computer system.
• For the removal of doubt, the State of Victoria does not accept liability for any interference or damage to your computer system which arises in connection with your accessing of the Better Health Channel or any linked website.
• You will ensure that the information you provide to the Better Health Channel does not contain any viruses, trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots or other computer programming routines that may damage, adversely interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system or data.
• You agree that you will not use any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Better Health Channel.

Governing law

• These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Victoria, Australia. Any dispute arising under these Terms shall be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria, Australia.

Comments and complaints

• Better Health Channel welcomes feedback from users and takes complaints seriously. To provide any comments to the Better Health Channel, please visit the Department of Health's feedback and complaints page.
• If you have a complaint about any aspect of your use of the Better Health Channel, it is a requirement of these Terms that you notify the Department of Health in writing of the complaint, and await a response from the Department of Health, before taking any other action or raising the complaint with any external body. The Department of Health will act in good faith in investigating and responding to your complaint.

General

• If any of these Terms are determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable, (“Ineffective”), it will be read down to the extent necessary to ensure that it is not Ineffective. If the offending provision cannot be so read down, it will be severed. In any event, the remainder of these Terms shall be interpreted to ensure that all other provisions remain in full force and effect to the greatest extent possible.
  

Better Health Channel
Department of Health
50 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne Vic 3000
Australia