Get BitTorrent

Site Terms of Use

  1. Acceptance and Modification

    By using or accessing this website, or any website hosted at the bittorrent.com domain name (the “Sites”), or by accessing or using any Content (defined below), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and by the Privacy Policy of BitTorrent, Inc. (“BitTorrent”), which are collectively referred to as the “Agreement.” This is a legal agreement between you and BitTorrent. Please read the Agreement carefully. If you do not agree to these terms then you may not use the Sites or access any Content. Although you may be asked to indicate your assent to the terms of this Agreement only once (for example, when you register for a BitTorrent account), the terms of this Agreement, as modified by BitTorrent from time to time in accordance with the next paragraph, will govern all Content (as defined below) that you submit to the Sites now or in the future and all your future use of the Sites.

    BitTorrent may revise these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy from time to time. Each revision will be marked with a revision date and will be posted on the Sites, and BitTorrent recommends that you review them from time to time to note any changes. By continuing to access or use the Sites, you agree to be bound by any Terms of Use and Privacy Policy in effect at the time of such access or use. If you do not agree to the modified terms then you must cease to use the Sites or access any Content.

    BitTorrent may modify, suspend, or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Sites and may remove, modify, or delete any Content at any time, in its sole discretion.

    The BitTorrent™ client software (the “Client Software”) available on the Sites is licensed under a different set of terms and conditions. Refer to the BitTorrent Open Source License for more information.

  2. Accounts and Passwords

    In order to access certain features of the Sites, and to post torrent files and Content, you must register and create a BitTorrent account. You may create a BitTorrent account in the Sign Up page. Once you have created an account, you will be a “Registered User.” In creating an account, you agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information.

    You are responsible for safeguarding the password that you use to access the Sites. You agree not to disclose your password to any third party. You agree to take sole responsibility for any activities or actions under your password, whether or not you have authorized such activities or actions. You will immediately notify BitTorrent of any unauthorized use of your password. You are responsible for keeping your account information current and accurate; BitTorrent will have no liability for failure to deliver notices that result from inaccurate account information or otherwise.

  3. Content and Torrents

    “Content” means any text, graphics, pictures, audio, videos, or other materials available from the Sites. “Permitted Content” means Content—whether created by you, assigned to you, or licensed to you from a third party—that you have the right to copy, modify, display, perform (whether by means of a digital audio transmission or otherwise), and distribute, as well as the right to sublicense all of the foregoing rights to third parties without restriction. There are three types of Content:

    1. 3.1. Commercial Content. BitTorrent has partnered with certain content providers to offer commercial movies, professional videos, and other content (“Commercial Content”) on the Sites. Your purchase or use of any Commercial Content obtained from BitTorrent is subject to the Commercial Content Terms of Service. If you purchase any Commercial Content from BitTorrent, you also agree to the Store Terms of Service.
    2. 3.2. BT-Hosted User Content. From time to time, certain portions of the Sites may enable Registered Users to upload copies of any Permitted Content to be stored on the Sites for access, viewing, and/or downloading by other users of the Sites (“BT-Hosted User Content”).
    3. 3.3. User-Hosted User Content From time to time, certain portions of the Sites may enable Registered Users to upload Torrent Files (defined below) to the Sites for Permitted Content that will not be stored on the Sites (“User-Hosted User Content”). BT-Hosted User Content and User-Hosted User Content are collectively referred to as “User Content”; if provided by or through you or under your direction then such content is “Your User Content.”

    A “Torrent File” is a file that the Client Software uses to find and download parts of a related Content file using the BitTorrent™ protocol. A Torrent File can be stored separately from its Content file. If a Content file is replicated at multiple locations, the Client Software works with the Torrent File to efficiently download different parts of the file from different locations.

  4. BitTorrent’s Limited License to You

    Subject to your compliance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement, BitTorrent grants you a non-transferable, non-sublicensable right to access, view, or stream and, if permitted, download, User Content only for your personal, non-commercial use. You may not further distribute any User Content (other than Your User Content) to third parties or post User Content (other than Your User Content) to other web sites or make any other uses, except as may be permitted by the terms of a Creative Commons license that the owner or authorized agent of the User Content may have attached to the User Content when posting it on the Sites (for more information about Creative Commons licenses, go to http://creativecommons.org/). You may access, view or stream and, if permitted, download, Commercial Content only for your personal, non-commercial use and only in compliance with the BitTorrent Store Terms of Service and any use restrictions (whether technological or otherwise) contained in any portions of the Sites that make Commercial Content available or in the Commercial Content itself. You agree not to use any Content commercially (except as may be permitted by a Creative Commons license attached to a particular piece of User Content) and not to copy, modify, distribute, publicly display, or perform any Content (except as such acts are necessarily initiated by the Client Software to distribute such Content to authorized recipients or as may be permitted by a Creative Commons license attached to such Content).

    No license or right is granted, by implication or otherwise, to you, under any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights now or hereafter owned or controlled by BitTorrent or its licensors, except for licenses and rights expressly granted in this Agreement, and BitTorrent reserves all other rights. If you want to make commercial use of the Sites, you must enter into a written agreement with BitTorrent to do so, in advance of any such use.

  5. Your License to BitTorrent

    BitTorrent does not claim any ownership rights in any of Your User Content that you may choose to post to or make available through the Sites. After posting or making Your User Content available through the Sites, you continue to retain all ownership or license rights in Your User Content and you continue to have the right to use Your User Content as you choose. However, by posting or making available Your User Content through the Sites, you hereby grant to BitTorrent a nonexclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide license to use, copy, modify, distribute, publicly display, and perform (whether by means of a digital audio transmission or otherwise) and process Your User Content or any part of it solely on and through the Sites, including but not limited to (a) adapting the format of Your User Content (for example by encoding or transcoding) for suitable display on the Sites; (b) generating Torrent Files and posting them to publicly-viewable items pages associated with your BitTorrent user account; and (c) displaying, in BitTorrent’s sole discretion, Torrent Files in search results generated by the BitTorrent™ search engine.

  6. Term

    The license in Section 5 will run for a minimum of ninety (90) days after you first post or make available each piece of Your User Content through the Sites, whether by posting a Torrent File for Your User Content, or Your User Content itself, on the Sites. After that, you may terminate the license with respect to a particular piece of Your User Content by giving BitTorrent at least ten (10) business days advance written notice by sending a notice of termination to [email protected] or to BitTorrent, Inc., 201 Mission St., Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94105, Attention: Ron Gross. If you choose to terminate, BitTorrent will remove all copies of the particular piece of Your User Content, and any related Torrent Files, from the Sites. However, BitTorrent will not have any obligation to return any of Your User Content to you.

  7. Use in BitTorrent’s Sole Discretion

    BitTorrent reserves the right, in its sole discretion, at any time, to remove Content that it believes to be in violation of this Agreement. Your User Content (or the related Torrent Files) will be eligible for inclusion in search results generated by the BitTorrent™ search engine only after you have completed a questionnaire identifying whether Your User Content contains certain types of content, such as adult content. You agree to answer any such questionnaires with accurate, complete, and current information. BitTorrent retains the right to decide in its sole discretion whether to include Torrent Files for Your User Content in such search results and may choose not to do so based on such questionnaire or for any other reason (or no reason).

  8. Assurances

    By submitting Content (or Torrent Files for Content) to BitTorrent, you represent and warrant to BitTorrent the following with respect to each submitted file: (a) that you either own all necessary intellectual property rights in the Content or have secured all necessary licenses or other rights to grant the rights in Section 5 above; (b) that you have the consent, release, and/or permission of each identifiable individual person in the Content to use the name or likeness of each such identifiable individual person to enable inclusion and use of the Content on the Sites; and (c) that no portion of the Content infringes another’s copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or other intellectual property right, moral right, right of publicity, or privacy, and that no portion of the Content is pornographic (including but not limited to containing any child pornography or any lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person), deceptive, threatening, abusive, inciting of unlawful action, defamatory, libelous, vulgar or violent, or constitutes hate speech.

  9. Restrictions

    Notwithstanding the license grant to you in Section 4, you (and those using your account) will not do any of the following while using the Sites or its facilities or Content:

    • Use the Sites to sell a product or service, or to increase traffic to your website for commercial reasons, such as advertising sales;
    • Use, display, mirror, frame, or utilize framing techniques to enclose the Sites, or any individual element or materials within the Sites, including but not limited to search results, the BitTorrent™ name, any BitTorrent trademark, logo, or other proprietary information, the content of any text or the layout and design of any page or form contained on a page, without BitTorrent’s express written consent;
    • Take the results from the BitTorrent™ search engine and reformat and display them except as incidental or necessary to the use of RSS feeds from BitTorrent;
    • Access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the Sites, BitTorrent’s computer systems, or the technical delivery systems of BitTorrent’s providers;
    • Attempt to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any BitTorrent system or network or breach any security or authentication measures;
    • Avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, impair, descramble, or otherwise circumvent any technological measure protecting the Sites or any Content posted on or available through the Sites;
    • Attempt to access, search, or meta-search the Sites with any engine, software, tool, agent, device, or mechanism other than the software and/or search agents provided by BitTorrent or other generally available third party web browsers (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox), including but not limited to any software that sends queries to the Sites to determine how a website or webpage ranks for various queries;
    • Use any URL, meta tags, or other hidden text or metadata utilizing a BitTorrent name, trademark, URL, or product name without BitTorrent’s express written consent;
    • Send unsolicited email, junk mail, spam, chain letters, or promotions or advertisements for products or services;
    • Forge any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any email or newsgroup posting, or in any way use the Sites or Content to send altered, deceptive, or false source-identifying information;
    • Attempt to decipher, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer any of the software used to provide the Sites or the Content;
    • Interfere with, or attempt to interfere with, the access of any user, host or network, including but not limited to, sending a virus, overloading, flooding, spamming, or mail-bombing the Sites;
    • Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, or otherwise commit fraud;
    • Violate any applicable law, regulation, or ordinance;
    • Harm or threaten to harm users in any way;
    • Stalk or otherwise harass any person or entity;
    • Collect or store personal data about other users; or
    • Use the Sites for any commercial purpose or the benefit of any third party or in any manner not permitted by this Agreement.

    BitTorrent will have the right to investigate and prosecute violations of any of the above restrictions, including but not limited to intellectual property rights infringement and Sites security issues, to the fullest extent of the law. BitTorrent may involve and cooperate with law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users who violate this Agreement. You acknowledge that BitTorrent has no obligation to monitor your access to or use of the Sites or Content, but has the right to do so for the purpose of operating the Sites, to ensure your compliance with this Agreement or to comply with applicable law or the order or requirement of a court, administrative agency or other governmental body.

  10. Notification of Copyright Infringement

    Digital Millennium Copyright Act

    BitTorrent respects copyright law and expects its users to do the same. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), the text of which may be found on the U.S. Copyright Office web site at http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf , BitTorrent will respond expeditiously to notices of alleged copyright infringement that are reported to BitTorrent’s Designated Copyright Agent, identified in the sample Notice below.

    Notices of Alleged Infringement for Content Made Available Through the BitTorrent™ Search Engine and on the BitTorrent Site.

    If you are a copyright owner, authorized to act on behalf of one, or authorized to act under any exclusive right under copyright, please report alleged copyright infringements taking place on or through the Sites by completing the following notice (“Notice”) and delivering it to the Designated Copyright Agent.

    DMCA Notice of Alleged Infringement (“Notice”)

    1. Identify the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed, or—if multiple copyrighted works are covered by this Notice—you may provide a representative list of the copyrighted works that you claim have been infringed.

    2. Identify the material or link you claim is infringing and provide a description of where the infringing work is located on the applicable Site. For allegedly infringing content posted directly on the BitTorrent Sites, you must include, at a minimum, the URL or other location where that material may be found, or where a Torrent File pointing to that material may be found. For allegedly infringing results found via a BitTorrent™ search engine, you must provide (a) the search query that you used and (b) the URL for each search result that points to allegedly infringing material. For example, if you searched on the term, “BitTorrent” and found that one or more of the results directly linked to a web page or file that you believed to be infringing, then you would provide the following information:

      • Search Query: BitTorrent
      • Infringing Web Pages: www.directory.bittorrent.com/filename.torrent

    3. Provide your mailing address, telephone number, and, if available, email address.

    4. Include both of the following statements in the body of the Notice:

      • “I hereby state that I have a good faith belief that the disputed use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law (e.g., fair use).”
      • “I hereby state that the information in this Notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that I am the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of the copyright or of an exclusive right under the copyright that is allegedly infringed.”

    5. If the material originates from another web site and you believe that BitTorrent has cached that material, then confirm and check all that apply:

      • The material has been removed from the originating site.
      • Access to the material on the originating site has been disabled.
      • A court has ordered that the material be removed from the originating site.
      • A court has ordered that access to the material on the originating site be disabled.

    6. Provide your full legal name and your electronic or physical signature.

    Deliver this Notice, with all items completed, to BitTorrent’s Designated Copyright Agent:

    Ron Gross, Copyright Agent
    BitTorrent, Inc.
    201 Mission St. Suite 900
    San Francisco, California 94105
    [email protected]

    While BitTorrent considers all such notices seriously, you may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) if you materially misrepresent that material or activity is infringing. For example, a recent case ordered a company that sent infringement notification seeking removal of online materials that were protected by copyright’s fair use doctrine to pay such costs and attorneys’ fees. The company agreed to pay over $100,000. For more information, please see http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/. Accordingly, if you are uncertain whether material infringes your copyright, you may want to seek the advice of an attorney.

    BitTorrent does not permit copyright infringing activities on the Sites and will, if properly notified that Content infringes, remove or disable access to such Content. If the allegedly infringing material is referenced by a link or Torrent File displayed through the search engine, BitTorrent may block its search engine from returning that link or Torrent File. Because the BitTorrent search technology is automated, however, such links could possibly reappear after BitTorrent has removed them. BitTorrent, therefore, recommends that if you are sending a Notice with regard to BitTorrent™ search engine results, you should also send a notice, if possible, to the web site displaying the allegedly infringing material. You can learn more about the BitTorrent™ process and technology at the following link: http://www.bittorrent.com/bittorrentecon.pdf.

    BitTorrent reserves the right to remove or disable access to Content without prior notice.

    Repeat Infringers

    Not all BitTorrent services limit their usage to Registered Users or other account holders. For services that do, BitTorrent will terminate Registered Users or other account holders whom it determines to be repeat infringers. If you believe that a Registered User or other account holder is an infringer, please follow the instructions above to contact BitTorrent’s Designated Copyright Agent and provide information sufficient for BitTorrent to verify that the Registered User or other account holder is an infringer.

    Subpoenas

    BitTorrent may be required to disclose information to individuals asserting rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. You hereby authorize BitTorrent to release information about you if required by law or subpoena without notice to you.

  11. Indemnification

    You will indemnify BitTorrent and its agents, affiliates, and employees from any liability, loss, or expense (including but not limited to reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs) resulting from any third-party claim or proceeding in which it is alleged that any of Your User Content or the use thereof infringes or violates the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, publicity rights, or moral rights of another or is unlawful.

  12. Warranty Disclaimer

    BITTORRENT MAKES NO WARRANTIES TO YOU, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THE SITES OR OTHERWISE, AND DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE SITE’S CONTENT OR THE CONTENT OF ANY SITES LINKED TO THE SITE AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGMENT. Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties, so the foregoing disclaimers may not apply to you.

  13. Limitation of Liability

    YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT BITTORRENT SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR USER CONTENT OR THE DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE, OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY AND THAT THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SITES AND THE SERVICES AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITES REMAINS WITH YOU TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. To the full extent permitted by law, and subject to the limitation of the next two sentences, BitTorrent’s liability to you for any damages, including but not limited to damages that result from BitTorrent’s or any third party’s use of the User Content or from any authorized or unauthorized use of the Sites or from the failure to include any User Content or Torrent Files in any search results generated by the BitTorrent™ search engine, will be limited to amounts paid by you to BitTorrent hereunder (if greater than zero). IN NO EVENT SHALL BITTORRENT BE LIABLE TO YOU, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, WARRANTY, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE (WHETHER ACTIVE, PASSIVE, OR IMPUTED), PRODUCT LIABILITY, OR STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHER THEORY) FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA, SERVICE INTERRUPTION, COMPUTER FAILURE, OR PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITES OR ANY SERVICES AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITES, EVEN IF BITTORRENT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BITTORRENT’S CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU UNDER THESE TERMS WILL BE LIMITED TO $500.00 (USD) REGARDLESS WHETHER ANY REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. You acknowledge that BitTorrent has set its prices and entered into this Agreement in reliance upon the limitations of liability specified herein, which allocate the risk between the parties and form a basis of the bargain between the parties. Some jurisdictions do not allow the limitation of liability so the foregoing limitation may not apply to you.

  14. Links to Third Party Sites

    The Sites may contain links to third-party websites or resources. You acknowledge and agree that BitTorrent is not responsible or liable for: (i) the availability or accuracy of such websites or resources; or (ii) the content, products, or services on or available from such websites or resources. Links to such websites or resources do not imply any endorsement by BitTorrent of such websites or resources or the content, products, or services available from such websites or resources. You acknowledge sole responsibility for and assume all risk arising from your use of any such websites or resources.

  15. Sponsored Links

    Results appearing under the heading "Sponsored Links" are provided by a third party provider of pay-for-performance search listings. The third party provider generates highly relevant sponsored results by allowing advertisers to bid for placement in this area based on relevant keywords. These results, which are powered by the third party's (or its licensors') advanced algorithms, are then distributed across the Internet to some of the world's most popular and well-known websites, including but not limited to the Sites. Because the third party provider is responsible for the "Sponsored Links" results, please contact the third party provider if you have any concerns about any of these results. BitTorrent is not responsible for, and has no liability for, the "Sponsored Link" results.

  16. Proprietary Rights Notices

    All trademarks, service marks, logos, trade names, and any other proprietary designations of BitTorrent used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of BitTorrent. Any other trademarks, service marks, and trade names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective parties. You will not delete or in any manner alter the copyright, trademark, or other proprietary rights notices appearing on any Content except Your User Content.

  17. General

    You may not assign any rights granted to you or delegate any of your duties hereunder and any attempt to do so is void and of no effect. BitTorrent may assign its rights and delegate its duties under this Agreement in their entirety in connection with a merger, reorganization, or sale of all, or substantially all, of its assets relating to this Agreement. Nothing in this Agreement shall constitute a partnership or joint venture between you and BitTorrent. The failure of BitTorrent at any time or times to require performance of any provision hereof shall in no manner affect its right at a later time to enforce the same unless the same is waived in writing. This Agreement will be governed by California law without regard to or application of choice-of-law rules or principles and will be adjudicated in the federal or state courts located in San Francisco County, California. You hereby consent to personal jurisdiction and venue therein. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is expressly disclaimed. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of this Agreement invalid or unenforceable, that provision of the Agreement will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the other provisions of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect. The headings and captions are for convenience only and are not to be used in the interpretation of this Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the complete and exclusive understanding and agreement between you and BitTorrent regarding your use of the Sites and any non-Commercial Content available therein, and supersedes all prior and contemporaneous agreements or understandings relating to such subject matter.

    If you have any questions or concerns about this Agreement or any issues raised in this Agreement or on the Sites, please contacts BitTorrent at: [email protected].