Terms of Use TCA

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) were last updated on April 1, 2024.

Please review these Terms carefully as they serve as an enforceable contract between us and contain important information about your legal rights, remedies, and obligations.

IF YOU LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES OR CANADA, BY AGREEING TO THESE TERMS, YOU AGREE TO RESOLVE ALL DISPUTES WITH CIGAR ACADEMY IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT OR THROUGH BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION ONLY, AND YOU WAIVE THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY CLASS ACTIONS AND TO HAVE CLAIMS DECIDED BY A JURY, AS EXPLAINED IN THE DISPUTE RESOLUTION SECTION.

Cigar Academy’s mission is to create and share educational content with our users. In order to be able to be able  to offer educational content to our users, we need rules to keep our platform and services safe and secure for you, us, and our student and instructor community. These Terms apply to all your activities on the Cigar Academy website, the Cigar Academy mobile applications, our TV applications, our APIs, and other related services (“Services”).

We provide details regarding our processing of personal data of our users in our Privacy Policy.

Our website and apps cause communications about your browsing and app activities and app usage to be sent from you to third parties who provide services to Cigar Academy. By using our Services, you consent to these communications.

Table of Contents

1. Accounts
2. Content Enrollment and Lifetime Access
3. Payments, Credits, and Refunds
4. Content and Behavior Rules
5. Cigar Academy’s Rights to Content You Post
6. Using Cigar Academy at Your Own Risk
7. Cigar Academy’s Rights
8. Subscription Terms
9. Miscellaneous Legal Terms
10. Dispute Resolution
11. Updating These Terms
12. How to Contact Us

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1. Accounts

You will need an account for most activities conducted on our platform. We recommend that you keep your password somewhere safe as you will be responsible for all activity associated with your account. If you suspect someone else is using your account, please contact our Support Team. You must have reached the age of consent for online services in your country to use Cigar Academy.

You need an account for most activities on our platform, including to purchase and access content. When setting up and maintaining your account, you must provide and continue to provide accurate and complete information, including a valid email address. You are fully responsible for your account and everything that takes place on your account, including any injury or damage to anyone caused by someone using your account without your permission. You may not transfer your account to someone else or use someone else’s account. If you contact us to request access to an account, we will not grant you such access unless you can provide us with the information that we need to prove you are the owner of that account. In the event of the death of a user, the account of that user will be closed.

You may not share your account login credentials with anyone else. You are responsible for what happens with your account and Cigar Academy will not intervene in disputes between users who have shared account login credentials. You must notify us immediately upon learning that someone else may be using your account without your permission or if you suspect any other breach of security by contacting our Support Team. We may request information from you to confirm that you are indeed the owner of your account.

Users must be at least 18 years of age to create an account on Cigar Academy and use the Services. If you are younger than 18 but above the required age for consent to use online services where you live, you may not set up an account. If you are below this age of consent to use online services, you may not create a Cigar Academy account. If we discover that you have created an account that violates these rules, we will terminate your account.

You can terminate your account at any time by following the steps set forth herein. Check our Privacy Policy to see what happens when you terminate your account.

2. Content Enrollment and Lifetime Access

When you enroll in a course or other content, you get a license from us to view it via the Cigar Academy Services and no other use. Please do not attempt to transfer or resell content in any way.

Cigar Academy grants you as a user a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and view the content for which you have paid all required fees, solely for your personal, non-commercial, educational purposes through the Services, in accordance with these Terms and any conditions or restrictions associated with the particular content or feature of our Services. All other uses are expressly prohibited. You may not reproduce, redistribute, transmit, assign, sell, broadcast, rent, share, lend, modify, adapt, edit, create derivative works of, sublicense, or otherwise transfer or use any content unless we give you explicit permission to do so in a written agreement signed by a Cigar Academy authorized representative. This also applies to content you can access via any of our APIs.

We generally give a lifetime access license to our users when they enroll in a course or other content. However, we reserve the right to revoke any license to access and use any content at any point in time in the event where we decide or are obligated to disable access to the content due to legal or policy reasons. This lifetime access license does not apply to enrollments via Subscription Plans or to add-on features and services associated with the course or other content you enroll in.

3. Payments, Credits, and Refunds

When you make a payment, you agree to use a valid payment method. If you are not satisfied with your content, Cigar Academy offers a 30-day refund or credit for most content purchases.

3.1 Pricing

The prices of content on Cigar Academy are determined based on the terms of our Promotions Policy. In some instances, the price of content offered on the Cigar Academy website may not be exactly the same as the price offered on our mobile or TV applications, due to mobile platform providers’ pricing systems and their policies around implementing sales and promotions.

We occasionally run promotions and sales for our content, during which certain content is available at discounted prices for a set period of time. The price applicable to the content will be the price at the time you complete your purchase of the content, which will be at checkout. Any price offered for particular content may also be different when you are logged into your account from the price available to users who are not registered or logged in because some of our promotions are available only to new users.

If you are logged into your account, the listed currency you see is based on your location when you created your account. If you are not logged into your account, the price currency is based on the country where you are located. We do not enable users to see pricing in other currencies.

If you are a user located in a country where use and sales tax, goods and services tax, or value added tax is applicable to consumer sales, we are responsible for collecting and remitting that tax to the proper tax authorities. Depending on your location, the price you see may include such taxes, or tax may be added at checkout.

3.2 Payments

You agree to pay the fees for content that you purchase, and you authorize us to charge your debit or credit card or process other means of payment for those fees. Cigar Academy works with payment service providers to offer you the most convenient payment methods in your country and to keep your payment information secure. We may update your payment methods using information provided by our payment service providers. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for more details.

When you make a purchase, you agree not to use an invalid or unauthorized payment method. If your payment method fails and you still get access to the content you are enrolling in, you agree to pay us the corresponding fees within 30 days of notification from us. We reserve the right to disable access to any content for which we have not received adequate payment.

3.3 Refunds and Refund Credits

If you are not satisfied with the content you purchased, you can request, within 30 days of your purchase of the content, that Cigar Academy apply a refund to your account. This refund option does not apply to Subscription Plan purchases, which are covered in Section 8.4 (Payments and Billing) below. We reserve the right to apply your refund as a refund credit or a refund to your original payment method, at our discretion, depending on capabilities of our payment service providers, the platform from which you purchased your content (website, mobile or TV app), and other factors. No refund is due to you if you request it after the 30-day guarantee time limit has passed. However, if the content you previously purchased is disabled for legal or policy reasons, you are entitled to a refund beyond this 30-day limit. Cigar Academy also reserves the right to refund users beyond the 30-day limit in cases of suspected or confirmed account fraud.

To request a refund, please contact us by email: enquiries@thecigaracademy.com

If we decide to issue refund credits to your account, they will be automatically applied towards your next content purchase on our website but cannot be used for purchases in our mobile or TV applications. Refund credits may expire if not used within the specified period and have no cash value, in each case unless otherwise required by applicable law.

At our discretion, if we believe you are abusing our refund policy, such as if you have consumed a significant portion of the content that you want to refund or if you have previously refunded the content, we reserve the right to deny your refund, restrict you from other future refunds, ban your account, and/or restrict all future use of the Services. If we ban your account or disable your access to the content due to your violation of these Terms or our Trust & Safety Guidelines, you will not be eligible to receive a refund. Additional information on our refund policy is available in this document.

3.4 Gift and Promotional Codes

Cigar Academy or our partners may offer gift and promotional codes to users. Certain codes may be redeemed for gift or promotional credits applied to your Cigar Academy account, which then may be used to purchase eligible content on our platform, subject to the terms included with your codes. Other codes may be directly redeemable for specific content. Gift and promotional credits cannot be used for purchases on our mobile or TV applications.

These codes and credits, as well as any promotional value linked to them, may expire if not used within the period specified in your Cigar Academy account. Gift and promotional codes offered by Cigar Academy may not be refunded for cash, unless otherwise specified in the terms included with your codes or as required by applicable law. Gift and promotional codes offered by a partner are subject to that partner’s refund policies. If you have multiple saved credit amounts, Cigar Academy may determine which of your credits to apply to your purchase. Check out our Support Page and any terms included with your codes for more details.

4. Content and Behavior Rules

You can only use Cigar Academy for lawful purposes. You are responsible for all the content that you post on our platform. You should keep the reviews, questions, posts, courses and other content you upload in line with our Trust & Safety Guidelines and the law and respect the intellectual property rights of others. We can ban your account for repeated or major offenses. If you think someone is infringing your copyright on our platform, let us know.

You may not access or use the Services or create an account for unlawful purposes. Your use of the Services and behavior on our platform must comply with applicable local or national laws or regulations of your country. You are solely responsible for the knowledge of and compliance with such laws and regulations that are applicable to you.

If we are put on notice that any content that you post violates the law or the rights of others, if we discover that your content or behavior violates our Trust & Safety Guidelines, or if we believe your content or behavior is unlawful, inappropriate, or objectionable, we may remove your content from our platform. Cigar Academy complies with copyright laws. Check out our Intellectual Property Policy for more details

Cigar Academy has discretion in enforcing these Terms and our Trust & Safety Guidelines. We may restrict or terminate your permission to use our platform and Services or ban your account at any time, with or without notice, for any or no reason, including for any violation of these Terms, if you fail to pay any fees when due, for fraudulent chargeback requests, upon the request of law enforcement or government agencies, for extended periods of inactivity, for unexpected technical issues or problems, if we suspect that you engage in fraudulent or illegal activities, or for any other reason in our sole discretion. Upon any such termination we may delete your account and content, and we may prevent you from further access to the platforms and use of our Services. Your content may still be available on the platforms even if your account is terminated or suspended. You agree that we will have no liability to you or any third party for termination of your account, removal of your content, or blocking of your access to our platforms and services.

If a user has published content that infringes your copyright or trademark rights, please let us know.

5. Cigar Academy’s Rights to Content You Post

You retain ownership of content you post to our platform, including your courses. We are allowed to share your content to anyone through any media, including promoting it via advertising on other websites.

The content you post as a student or instructor remains yours. By posting courses and other content, you allow Cigar Academy to reuse and share it but you do not lose any ownership rights you may have over your content. If you are an instructor, be sure to understand the content licensing terms that are detailed in the Instructor Terms.

When you post content, comments, questions, reviews, and when you submit to us ideas and suggestions for new features or improvements, you authorize Cigar Academy to use and share this content with anyone, distribute it and promote it on any platform and in any media, and to make modifications or edits to it as we see fit.

By submitting or posting content on or through the platforms, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display, and distribute your content (including your name and image) in any and all media or distribution methods (existing now or later developed). This includes making your content available to other companies, organizations, or individuals who partner with Cigar Academy for the syndication, broadcast, distribution, or publication of content on other media, as well as using your content for marketing purposes. You also waive any rights of privacy, publicity, or other rights of a similar nature applicable to all these uses, to the extent permissible under applicable law. You represent and warrant that you have all the rights, power, and authority necessary to authorize us to use any content that you submit. You also agree to all such uses of your content with no compensation paid to you.

6. Using Cigar Academy at Your Own Risk

Anyone can use Cigar Academy to create and publish content and we enable students to interact for teaching and learning. Like other platforms where people can post content and interact, some things can go wrong, and you use Cigar Academy at your own risk.

Our platform model means we do not review or edit the content for legal issues, and we are not in a position to determine the legality of content. We do not exercise any editorial control over the content that is available on the platform and, as such, do not guarantee in any manner the reliability, validity, accuracy, or truthfulness of the content. If you access content, you rely on any information provided by an instructor at your own risk.

By using the Services, you may be exposed to content that you consider offensive, indecent, or objectionable. Cigar Academy has no responsibility to keep such content from you and no liability for your access or enrollment in any course or other content, to the extent permissible under applicable law. This also applies to any content relating to health, wellness, and physical exercise. You acknowledge the inherent risks and dangers in the strenuous nature of these types of content, and by accessing such content you choose to assume those risks voluntarily, including risk of illness, bodily injury, disability, or death. You assume full responsibility for the choices you make before, during, and after your access to the content.

When you interact directly with a student, you must be careful about the types of personal information that you share. We do not control what students do with the information they obtain from other users on the platform. You should not share your email or other personal information about you for your safety.

When you use our Services, you will find links to other websites that we don’t own or control. We are not responsible for the content or any other aspect of these third-party sites, including their collection of information about you. You should also read their terms and conditions and privacy policies.

7. Cigar Academy’s Rights

We own the Cigar Academy platform and Services, including the website, present or future apps and services, and things like our logos, API, code, and content created by our employees. You cannot tamper with those or use them without authorization.

All right, title, and interest in and to the Cigar Academy platform and Services, including our website, our existing or future applications, our APIs, databases, and the content our employees or partners submit or provide through our Services (but excluding content provided by students) are and will remain the exclusive property of Cigar Academy and its licensors. Our platforms and services are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws of both the United States and foreign countries. Nothing gives you a right to use the Cigar Academy name or any of the Cigar Academy trademarks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features. Any feedback, comments, or suggestions you may provide regarding Cigar Academy or the Services is entirely voluntary and we will be free to use such feedback, comments, or suggestions as we see fit and without any obligation to you.

You may not do any of the following while accessing or using the Cigar Academy platform and Services:

-access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the platform (including content storage), Cigar Academy’s computer systems, or the technical delivery systems of Cigar Academy’s service providers.

-disable, interfere with, or try to circumvent any of the features of the platforms related to security or probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any of our systems.

-copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, reverse assemble, or otherwise attempt to discover any source code of or content on the Cigar Academy platform or Services.

-access or search or attempt to access or search our platform by any means (automated or otherwise) other than through our currently available search functionalities that are provided via our website, mobile apps, or API (and only pursuant to those API terms and conditions). You may not scrape, spider, use a robot, or use other automated means of any kind to access the Services.

-in any way use the Services to send altered, deceptive, or false source-identifying information (such as sending email communications falsely appearing as Cigar Academy); or interfere with, or disrupt, (or attempt to do so), the access of any user, host, or network, including, without limitation, sending a virus, overloading, flooding, spamming, or mail-bombing the platforms or services, or in any other manner interfering with or creating an undue burden on the Services.

8. Subscription Terms

This section covers additional terms that apply to your use of our subscription-based collections as a student (“Subscription Plans”). By using a Subscription Plan, you agree to the additional terms in this section. Note that use of Cigar Academy Business is not subject to these Terms but is instead governed by the agreement between Cigar Academy and the subscribing organization.

8.1 Subscription Plans

During your subscription to a Subscription Plan, you get a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license from us to access and view the content included in that Subscription Plan via the Services. With the exception of the lifetime access license grant, the terms included in the “Content Enrollment and Lifetime Access” section above apply to enrollments via Subscription Plans.

The subscription that you purchase or renew determines the scope, features, and price of your access to a Subscription Plan. You may not transfer, assign, or share your subscription with anyone else.

We reserve the right to revoke any license to use the content in our Subscription Plans for legal or policy reasons at any time and at our sole discretion, such as if we no longer have the right to offer the content through a Subscription Plan.

8.2 Account Management

You may cancel your subscription by following the steps outlined on our Support Page. If you cancel your subscription to a Subscription Plan, your access to that Subscription Plan will automatically end on the last day of your billing period. On cancellation, you will not be entitled to receive a refund or credit of any fees already paid for your subscription, unless otherwise required by applicable law. For clarity, cancellation of a subscription does not terminate your Cigar Academy account.

8.3 Free Trials & Renewals

Your subscription may start with a free trial. The duration of the free trial period of your subscription will be specified during sign-up. Cigar Academy determines free trial eligibility at our sole discretion and may limit access, eligibility, or duration. We reserve the right to terminate the free trial and suspend your subscription if we determine that you are not eligible.

We will charge the subscription fee for your next billing cycle at the end of the free trial period. Your subscription will automatically renew according to your subscription settings (e.g., monthly or annually) unless you cancel your subscription prior to the end of the free trial period. For more information on how to view applicable fees and dates of your free trial period, visit our Support Page.

8.4 Payments and Billing

The subscription fee will be listed at the time of your purchase. You can visit our Support Page to learn more about where to find the fees and dates applicable to your subscription. We may also be required to add taxes to your subscription fee as described in the “Payments, Credits, and Refunds” section above. Payments are non-refundable and there are no refunds or credits for partially used periods, unless otherwise required by applicable law. Depending on where you are located, you may qualify for a refund. See our Refund Policy for Subscription Plans for additional information.

To subscribe to a Subscription Plan, you must provide a payment method. By subscribing to a Subscription Plan and providing your billing information during checkout, you grant us and our payment service providers the right to process payment for the then-applicable fees via the payment method we have on record for you. At the end of each subscription term, we will automatically renew your subscription for the same length of term and process your payment method for payment of the then-applicable fees.

In the event that we update your payment method using information provided by our payment service providers (as described in the “Payments, Credits, and Refunds” section above), you authorize us to continue to charge the then-applicable fees to your updated payment method.

If we are unable to process payment through the payment method we have on file for you, or if you file a chargeback disputing charges made to your payment method and the chargeback is granted, we may suspend or terminate your subscription.

We reserve the right to change our Subscription Plans or adjust pricing for our Services at our sole discretion. Any price changes or changes to your subscription will take effect following notice to you, except as otherwise required by applicable law.

8.5 Interactive Session Restrictions

You may not do any of the following while accessing or using the Interactive Sessions:

-use the Interactive Sessions for any purpose other than to perform the activities as instructed by Cigar Academy;

-provide web, database, or forum access, or engage in cryptocurrency mining, on or through the Interactive Sessions;

-exceed the usage limitations outlined on our Support Page;

-access or use the Interactive Sessions in any commercial production environment;

-take any action in the Interactive Sessions that results in a disruption or interference of our Services or the stability of our infrastructure; or

-use any data or information other than simulated, anonymous, non-personal, non-live data or information when accessing or using the Interactive Sessions.

These restrictions are in addition to those listed elsewhere in these Terms, including in the “Content and Behavior Rules” and “Cigar Academy’s Rights” sections above.

8.6 Subscription Disclaimers

We make no guarantees as to the availability of any specific content in any Subscription Plan or as to any minimum amount of content in any Subscription Plan. At any point in the future, we reserve the right to offer or cease to offer additional features to any Subscription Plan, or to otherwise modify or terminate a Subscription Plan at our sole discretion. We have no responsibility to preserve or store the content inputted by you in connection with your use of any Subscription Plan. These disclaimers are in addition to those listed in the “Disclaimers” section below.

9. Miscellaneous Legal Terms

These Terms are like any other contract, and they contain important legal terms that protect us from the events that could occur and that clarify the legal relationship between us and you.

9.1 Binding Agreement

You agree that by registering, accessing, or using our Services, you are agreeing to enter into a legally binding contract with Cigar Academy. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not register, access, or otherwise use any of our Services.

Any version of these Terms in a language other than English is provided for convenience and you understand and agree that the English language will control if there is any conflict.

These Terms, including any agreements and policies linked from these Terms, constitute the entire agreement between you and us.

If any part of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable by applicable law, then that provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision and the remainder of these Terms will continue in effect.

Any delay in exercising our rights or failure to exercise a right in one case, does not mean that we waive our rights under these Terms, and we may decide to enforce them in the future. If we decide to waive any of our rights in a particular instance, it does not mean we waive our rights generally or in the future.

The following sections shall survive the expiration or termination of these Terms: Sections 2 (Content Enrollment and Lifetime Access), 5 (Cigar Academy’s Rights to Content You Post), 6 (Using Cigar Academy at Your Own Risk), 7 (Cigar Academy’s Rights), 8.5 (Subscription Disclaimers), 9 (Miscellaneous Legal Terms), and 10 (Dispute Resolution).

9.2 Disclaimers

In the event that our platform is down, either for planned maintenance or for any other reason, you accept that you will not have any recourse against us. The Services and their content are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. We (and our affiliates, suppliers, partners, and agents) make no representations or warranties about the suitability, reliability, availability, timeliness, security, lack of errors, or accuracy of the Services or their content, and expressly disclaim any warranties or conditions, either express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. We (and our affiliates, suppliers, partners, and agents) make no warranty that you will obtain specific results from use of the Services. Your use of the Services, including any content, is entirely at your own risk. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, thus some of the above exclusions may not apply to you.

We may decide to cease making available certain features of the Services at any time and for any reason. Under no circumstances will Cigar Academy or its affiliates, suppliers, partners or agents be held liable for any damages due to such interruptions or lack of availability of such features.

We are not responsible for delay or failure of our performance of any of the Services caused by events beyond our reasonable control, such as an act of war, hostility, or sabotage; natural disaster; electrical, internet, or telecommunication outage; or government restrictions.

9.3 Limitation of Liability

There are risks inherent to using our Services. You fully accept these risks and you agree that you will have no recourse to seek damages against even if you suffer loss or damage from using our platform and Services. To the extent permitted by law, we (and our group companies, suppliers, partners, and agents) will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, punitive, or consequential damages (including loss of data, revenue, profits, or business opportunities, or personal injury or death), whether arising in contract, warranty, tort, product liability, or otherwise, and even if we have been advised of the possibility of damages in advance. Our liability (and the liability of each of our group companies, suppliers, partners, and agents) to you or any third parties under any circumstance is limited to the greater of $100 USD or the amount you have paid us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to your claims. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so some of the above may not apply to you.

9.4 Indemnification

If the event that we are damaged by your actions, we may exercise legal recourse against you. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Cigar Academy, our group companies, and their officers, directors, suppliers, partners, and agents from an against any third-party claims, demands, losses, damages, or expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) arising from: (a) the content you post or submit; (b) your use of the Services; (c) your violation of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any rights of a third party. Your indemnification obligation will survive the termination of these Terms and your use of the Services.

9.5 Governing Law and Jurisdiction

When these Terms mention “Cigar Academy,” they are referring to the Cigar Academy entity that you are contracting with.

If you are accessing our Services through one of our mobile applications and payment is processed through a mobile platform provider’s payment system, you are contracting with Cigar Academy, Inc. and these Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, USA without reference to its choice or conflicts of law principles. In cases where the “Dispute Resolution” section below does not apply to you, you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of federal and state courts Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA.

9.6 Legal Actions and Notices

No action, regardless of form, arising out of or relating to this Agreement may be brought by either party more than one year after the cause of action has accrued, except where this limitation cannot be imposed by law.

Any notice or other communication to be given hereunder will be in writing and given by registered or certified mail return receipt requested, or email (by us to the email associated with your account or by you to notices@thecigaracademy.com).

9.7 Relationship Between Us

You and we agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment, contractor, or agency relationship exists between us.

9.8 No Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms (or the rights and licenses granted under them). We may assign these Terms (or the rights and licenses granted under them) to another company or person without restriction. Nothing in these Terms confers any right, benefit, or remedy on any third-party person or entity. You agree that your account is non-transferable and that all rights to your account and other rights under these Terms terminate upon your death.

9.9 Sanctions and Export Laws

You warrant that you. as an individual or as a representative of any entity on whose behalf you use the Services, are not located in, or a resident of, any country that is subject to applicable U.S. trade sanctions or embargoes. You also warrant that you are not a person or entity who is named on any U.S. government specially designated national or denied-party list.

If you become subject to such a restriction during the term of any agreement with Cigar Academy, you will notify us within 24 hours, and we will have the right to terminate any further obligations to you, effective immediately and with no further liability to you, but without prejudice to your outstanding obligations to Cigar Academy.

You may not access, use, export, re-export, divert, transfer or disclose any portion of the Services or any related technical information or materials, directly or indirectly, in violation of any United States and other applicable country export control and trade sanctions laws, rules and regulations. You agree not to upload any content or technology, including information on encryption, whose export is specifically controlled under such laws.

10. Dispute Resolution

If the event of a dispute, our Support Team is happy to help resolve the issue. If that is not successful and you live in the United States or Canada, your options are to go to small claims court or bring a claim in binding individual arbitration. You may not bring that claim in another court or participate in a non-individual class action claim against us.

This Dispute Resolution section (“Dispute Resolution Agreement”) applies only if you live in the United States or Canada.

10.1 Dispute Resolution Overview

Cigar Academy is committed to using its best efforts to resolve disputes with its users, without the need for a formal legal claim to be filed. If an issue arises between us, you and Cigar Academy agree to first work diligently and in good faith to reach a resolution that is fair and equitable to both sides using the mandatory informal dispute resolution process described below. On occasion, a third party may be necessary to help resolve our dispute. This Dispute Resolution Agreement limits how these disputes can be resolved.

YOU AND CIGAR ACADEMY AGREE THAT ANY AND ALL DISPUTES, CLAIMS, OR CONTROVERSIES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE APPLICABILITY, BREACH, TERMINATION, VALIDITY, ENFORCEMENT, OR INTERPRETATION OF THEM, OR TO THE USE OF THE SERVICES OR COMMUNICATIONS WITH CIGAR ACADEMY (COLLECTIVELY, “DISPUTES”) THAT ARE NOT RESOLVED INFORMALLY MUST BE ADDRESSED SOLELY IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT OR BY BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION AND AGREE TO WAIVE THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL AND TO FILE A CASE IN ANY OTHER COURT.

YOU AND CIGAR ACADEMY FURTHER AGREE TO BRING CLAIMS AGAINST EACH OTHER IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY ONLY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING WHETHER IN COURT OR IN ARBITRATION.

You and Cigar Academy agree that this Dispute Resolution Agreement applies to each of us as well as all of our respective agents, attorneys, contractors, subcontractors, service providers, employees, and all others acting for, or on behalf of, you and Cigar Academy. This Dispute Resolution Agreement is binding on your and Cigar Academy’s respective heirs, successors, and assigns, and is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act.

10.2 Mandatory Informal Dispute Resolution Process

Before filing a claim against each other, you and Cigar Academy must first participate in the informal dispute resolution process described in this section.

The claiming party shall send to the other a short, written statement (“Claim Statement”) with their full name, mailing address, and email address explaining: (a) the nature and details of the Dispute; and (b) a proposal for resolving it (including any money being claimed and how that amount was calculated). Sending a Claim Statement tolls the running of any applicable statute of limitations for a 60-day period beginning on the date the Claim Statement is received. You should send your Claim Statement to Cigar Academy by email to enquiriess@thecigaracademy.com. Cigar Academy will send Claim Statements and respond to you at the email address associated with your Cigar Academy account, unless you request otherwise.

When either of us receives a Claim Statement, the parties will attempt in good faith to resolve it informally. If we are unable to resolve it within 60 days from receipt, then we each have the right to initiate a formal claim against the other in small claims court or individual arbitration, subject to the terms of this Dispute Resolution Agreement.

Failure to complete this process is a material breach of the Terms, and no court or arbitrator shall have jurisdiction to hear or resolve any Disputes between you and Cigar Academy.

10.3 Small Claims

Disputes raised but not resolved through the mandatory informal dispute resolution process can be brought in small claims court in: (a) Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida; (b) the county where you live; or (c) another place we both agree on. We each waive the right to bring any Disputes between us, in courts other than small claims court, including courts of general or special jurisdiction.

10.4 Arbitration

As the sole alternative to small claims court, you and Cigar Academy have the right to resolve Disputes through individual arbitration. While there is no judge or jury in an arbitration, the arbitrator has the power to award the same individual relief and must follow our agreement in the same way as a court. If one of us brings a Dispute to a court other than a small claims court, the other party can ask a court to require us both to go to arbitration. Either of us can also ask a court to halt a court proceeding while an arbitration proceeding is ongoing. To the extent that any cause of action or claim for relief cannot be addressed in arbitration, you and Cigar Academy agree that all court proceedings shall be paused pending the resolution in arbitration of all arbitrable causes of action and claims for relief. Nothing in this Dispute Resolution Agreement is intended to limit the individual relief available to either of us in arbitration or small claims court.

If you and Cigar Academy disagree on whether a Dispute must be arbitrated, the scope of the arbitrator’s powers, or the enforceability of any aspect of this Dispute Resolution Agreement, the arbitrator alone shall have, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the sole authority to address all such disagreements, including but not limited to those concerning or related to the formation, legality, interpretation, and enforceability of this Dispute Resolution Agreement. This provision does not limit the procedure for challenging an improperly commenced arbitration.

Any court of competent jurisdiction will have the authority to enforce the requirements of this Dispute Resolution Agreement and, if necessary, enjoin the filing or prosecution of any arbitrations and the assessment of fees for any arbitration or mediation not conducted under this Dispute Resolution Agreement.

If the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) or any other arbitration organization or arbitrator is, for any reason, unable to administer any arbitration required under this Dispute Resolution Agreement, you and Cigar Academy shall negotiate in good faith on the substitution of another organization or individual to handle the arbitration. If we cannot agree on an alternative, you or Cigar Academy may petition a court of competent jurisdiction to appoint an organization or individual to conduct the arbitration in a manner consistent with this Dispute Resolution Agreement for a cost comparable to that of the designated arbitration organization.

10.5 General Arbitration Rules

The arbitration process will differ depending on whether your claim is pursued individually or as part of a Mass Arbitration (defined below). The general arbitration rules outlined in this section (“General Arbitration Rules”) shall control.

All arbitrations shall be before a single arbitrator. Except as otherwise provided in this Dispute Resolution Agreement, a party electing arbitration must initiate proceedings by filing an arbitration demand with the AAA. Arbitrations involving consumers will be governed by these Terms and the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules and the AAA Consumer Due Process Protocol. Arbitrations involving all others, will be governed by these Terms and the AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules and the AAA Optional Appellate Rules. If there is a conflict between these Terms and any applicable AAA rules and protocols, these Terms will control.

Disputes that involve a claim of less than $15,000 USD in actual or statutory damages (but not including attorneys’ fees and incidental, consequential, punitive, and exemplary damages and any damage multipliers) must be resolved exclusively through binding, non-appearance-based individual arbitration based solely on the written submissions of the parties. All other arbitrations shall be conducted by phone, video conference, or based only on written submissions. Judgment on an arbitrator’s award may be entered in any court that has jurisdiction to do so.

To begin an arbitration proceeding with the AAA, the claiming party must send a letter describing the Dispute and requesting arbitration to the American Arbitration Association Case Filing Services, 1101 Laurel Oak Road, Suite 100, Voorhees, NJ 08043 or by filing a request online through the AAA website.

10.6 Mass Arbitration Rules

If 25 or more claimants (each a “Mass Arbitration claimant”) or their lawyers file or disclose an intention to file demands for arbitration against Cigar Academy raising substantially identical Disputes, and counsel for the claimants are the same or coordinated across the Disputes (a “Mass Arbitration”), these special rules shall apply.

Each Mass Arbitration claimant must complete the informal dispute resolution process described in this Dispute Resolution Agreement. Counsel for claimants shall file a single Claim Statement for all Mass Arbitration claimants that identifies all Mass Arbitration claimants by full name, mailing address, and email address. The Mass Arbitration claimants must then follow a “bellwether procedure” described below in which a group of up to 10 claimants proceed to arbitration (each a “bellwether arbitration”), followed by a mandatory mediation process through which the Disputes of Mass Arbitration claimants may be resolved. Any statutes of limitation applicable to Disputes of Mass Arbitration claimants shall be tolled from the submission of their Claim Statement until the mandatory mediation process has been completed.

Counsel for the Mass Arbitration claimants and Cigar Academy’s counsel shall each select up to five claimants for bellwether arbitrations (not more than 10 in total) to be each promptly decided individually as a bellwether arbitration conducted under the General Arbitration Rules, with each case assigned to a separate arbitrator. If any other Mass Arbitration claimants have filed claims in arbitration, they shall promptly be dismissed without prejudice before the bellwether arbitrations may proceed. Each bellwether arbitration shall be completed within 120 days. No other demands for arbitration by Mass Arbitration claimants may be initiated during the pendency of the bellwether arbitrations and the mandatory mediation process which follows.

On the resolution of the 10 bellwether cases, Cigar Academy’s counsel and counsel for the Mass Arbitration claimants shall participate promptly and in good faith in non-binding confidential mediation for a period of at least 60 days in a good faith effort to resolve all Disputes of the Mass Arbitration claimants. This mediation shall be conducted by the AAA under its then-current Mediation Procedures of the AAA, unless Cigar Academy and the Mass Arbitration claimants mutually agree to another mediator and/or mediation procedure.

If the bellwether arbitrations and subsequent mediation are unsuccessful in resolving the Disputes of all Mass Arbitration claimants, then those Mass Arbitration claimants whose Disputes have not been resolved may only pursue those Disputes on an individual basis in small claims court or with FairClaims, Inc. (“FairClaims”), and not the AAA or any other arbitral organization or arbitrator, under FairClaims’ Small Claims Rules & Procedures. To the extent that any cause of action or claim for relief cannot be addressed by FairClaims under its Small Claims Rules & Procedures, you and Cigar Academy agree that any court proceedings involving Mass Arbitration claimants and Cigar Academy shall be paused pending the final resolution in arbitration with FairClaims of all arbitrable causes of action and claims for relief.

If the Mass Arbitration Rules are determined to be unenforceable for any reason in a decision of any arbitrator or court as to which further review is foreclosed and all motions, appeals, and petitions for review have been resolved fully (a “Final Determination”), then you and Cigar Academy agree that all unresolved Disputes between Mass Arbitration claimants and Cigar Academy must be filed in and resolved by a court of competent jurisdiction only (including on a class action basis if the Dispute qualifies), and shall not be filed in, pursued further, or resolved through arbitration or otherwise be subject to any contractual obligation to arbitrate. To the extent that any arbitrations filed by or on behalf of Mass Arbitration claimants are still pending after a Final Determination, those claimants shall immediately dismiss such arbitrations without prejudice. A finding that these Mass Arbitration Rules are unenforceable for any reason, including any Final Determination, shall have no effect on the validity or enforceability of any other provisions of these Terms, including those set forth in this Dispute Resolution Agreement.

10.7 Fees and Costs

You and Cigar Academy agree that each party will bear its own costs and attorneys’ fees in the event of a dispute, provided, however, that either party may recover fees and costs to the extent permitted by applicable law. If a court or an arbitrator determines that an arbitration has been brought or threatened in bad faith, or that the demand was frivolous or asserted for an improper purpose, the court or arbitrator may, to the fullest extent permitted by law, award attorneys’ fees to the party defending against the claim just as a court could.

10.8 No Class Actions

Except as expressly provided for in connection with the Mass Arbitration Rules, we both agree that we can each only bring claims against the other on an individual basis. This means: (a) neither of us can bring a claim as a plaintiff or class member in a class action, consolidated action, or representative action; (b) an arbitrator cannot combine multiple people’s claims into a single case (or preside over any consolidated, class, or representative action); and (c) an arbitrator’s decision or award in one claimant’s case can only decide the disputes of that user, not other users. Nothing in this Dispute Resolution Agreement limits the parties’ rights to resolve a Dispute by mutual agreement through a class-wide settlement of claims.

10.9 Changes

Notwithstanding the “Updating these Terms” section below, if Cigar Academy changes this “Dispute Resolution” section after the date you last indicated acceptance to these Terms, you may reject any such change by providing Cigar Academy written notice of such rejection by mail or hand delivery to Cigar Academy Attn: Legal, 600 Harrison Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107, or by email from the email address associated with your Cigar Academy account to notices@thecigaracademy.com, within 30 days of the date such change became effective, as indicated by the “last updated on” language above. To be effective, the notice must include your full name and clearly indicate your intent to reject changes to this “Dispute Resolution” section. By rejecting changes, you are agreeing that you will arbitrate any dispute between you and Cigar Academy in accordance with the provisions of this “Dispute Resolution” section as of the date you last indicated acceptance to these Terms.

10.10 Improperly Commenced Arbitration

If either party believes that the other has initiated an arbitration in violation of this Dispute Resolution Agreement, if such an arbitration is threatened, or if either party has reason to believe an improperly commenced arbitration is imminent, the party against whom the arbitration has been or will be initiated may seek an order from a court of competent jurisdiction enjoining the arbitration from being filed or continued, and awarding its fees and costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, incurred in connection with seeking the order.

11. Updating These Terms

From time to time, we may update these Terms to clarify our practices or to reflect new or different practices (such as when we add new features), and Cigar Academy reserves the right in its sole discretion to modify and/or make changes to these Terms at any time. If we make any material change, we will notify you using prominent means, such as by email notice sent to the email address specified in your account or by posting a notice through our Services. Modifications will become effective on the day they are posted unless stated otherwise.

Your continued use of our Services after changes become effective shall mean that you accept those changes. Any revised Terms shall supersede all previous Terms.

12. How to Contact Us

The best way to get in touch with us is to contact our Support Team by email: enquiries@thecigaracademy.com

 

Privacy Policy TCA

This Privacy Policy was last updated on April 1, 2024.

Thank you for joining The Cigar Academy. We at The Cigar Academy (“TCA”, “we”, “us”) respect your privacy and want you to understand how we collect, use, and share data about you. This Privacy Policy covers our data collection practices and describes your rights regarding your personal data.

Unless we link to a different policy or state otherwise, this Privacy Policy applies when you visit or use TCA websites, mobile applications, APIs, or related services (the “Services”). It also applies to prospective customers of our business and enterprise products.

By using the Services, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. You should not use the Services if you do not agree with this Privacy Policy or any other agreement that governs your use of the Services.

Table of Contents

• 1. What Data We Obtain
• 2. How We Obtain Data About You
• 3. What We Use Your Data For
• 4. Who We Share Your Data With
• 5. Security
• 6. Your Rights
• 7. Jurisdiction-Specific Rules
• 8. Updates & Contact Info

1. What Data We Obtain

 

 

1.1 Data You Provide to Us

We may collect different data from or about you depending on how you use the Services. Below are some examples to help you better understand the data we collect.

When you create an account and use the Services, including through a third-party platform, we collect any data you provide directly, including:

Category of Personal Data	Description	Legal Basis for Processing
Account Data	In order to use certain features (like accessing content), you need to create a user account, which requires us to collect and store your email address, password, and account settings. As you use certain features on the site, you may be prompted to submit additional information. Upon account creation, we assign you a unique identifying number.	Performance of contract Legitimate interests (service provisioning, identity verification, fraud prevention and security, communication)
Profile Data	We may also ask you to provide profile information like a photo, headline, biography, language, website link, social media profiles, country, or other data. Your Profile Data will be publicly viewable by others.	Performance of contract Legitimate interests (enhanced platform functionality, convey content source information)
Shared Content	Parts of the Services let you interact with other users or share content publicly, including posting reviews about content, asking or answering questions, sending messages to students or instructors, or posting photos or other work you upload. Such shared content may be publicly viewable by others depending on where it is posted.	Performance of contract Legitimate interests (service provisioning, enhanced platform functionality)
Learning Data	When you access content, we collect certain data including which courses, assignments, labs, workspaces, and quizzes you have started and completed; content and subscription purchases and credits; subscriptions; completion certificates; your exchanges with instructors, teaching assistants, and other students; and essays, answers to questions, and other items submitted to satisfy course and related content requirements.	Performance of contract Legitimate interests (service provisioning, enhanced platform functionality)
Student Payment Data	If you make purchases, we collect certain data about your purchase (such as your name, billing address, and ZIP code) as necessary to process your order and which may optionally be saved to process future orders. You must provide certain payment and billing data directly to our payment service providers, including your name, credit card information, billing address, and ZIP code. We may also receive limited information, like the fact that you have a new card and the last four digits of that card, from payment service providers to facilitate payments. For security, TCA does not collect or store sensitive cardholder data, such as full credit card numbers or card authentication data.	Performance of contract Legal obligation Legitimate interests (payment facilitation, fraud prevention and security, compliance
Data About Your Accounts on Other Services	We may obtain certain information through your social media or other online accounts if they are connected to your TCA account. If you log in to TCA via Facebook or another third-party platform or service, we ask for your permission to access certain information about that other account. For example, depending on the platform or service we may collect your name, profile picture, account ID number, login email address, location, physical location of your access devices, gender, birthday, and list of friends or contacts. Those platforms and services make information available to us through their APIs. The information we receive depends on what information you, via your privacy settings, or the platform or service decide to provide to us. If you access or use our Services through a third-party platform or service, or click on any third-party links, the collection, use, and sharing of your data will also be subject to the privacy policies and other agreements of that third party.	Legitimate interests (identity verification, user experience improvement)
Sweepstakes, Promotions, and Surveys	We may invite you to complete a survey or participate in a promotion such as a contest or a sweepstakes, either through the Services or a third-party platform. If you participate, we will collect and store the data you provide to us as part of participating, such as your name, email address, postal address, date of birth, or phone number. That data is subject to this Privacy Policy unless otherwise stated in the official rules of the promotion or in another privacy policy. The data collected will be used to administer the promotion or survey, including the notification of winners and the distribution of rewards. To receive a reward, you may be required to allow us to post some of your information publicly. Where we use a third-party platform to administer a survey or promotion, the third party’s privacy policy will apply.	Performance of contract Legitimate interests (promotions administration, prize delivery, compliance)
Communications and Support	If you contact us for support or to report a problem or concern, regardless of whether you have created an account, we collect and store your contact information, messages, and other data about such as your name, email address, messages, location, TCA user ID, refund transaction IDs, and any other data you provide or that we collect through automated means, which is addressed below. We use this data to respond to you and research your question or concern, in accordance with this Privacy Policy.	Legitimate interests (customer and technical support)

The data listed above is stored by us and associated with your account.

1.2 Data We Collect through Automated Means

When you access the Services, including browsing content, we collect certain data by automated means, including:

 

Category of Personal Data	Description	Legal Basis for Processing
System Data	Technical data about your computer or device, like your IP address, device type, operating system type and version, unique device identifiers, browser, browser language, domain and other systems data, and platform types.	Performance of contract Legitimate interests (service provisioning, customer and technical support, fraud prevention and security, communication, product improvement)
Usage Data	Usage statistics about your interactions with the Services, including content accessed, time spent on pages or the Service, pages visited, features used, your search queries, click data, date and time, referrer, and other data regarding your use of the Services.	Legitimate interests (service provisioning, user experience improvement, product improvement)
Approximate Geographic Data	An approximate geographic location, including information like country, city, and geographic coordinates, calculated based on your IP address.	Legitimate interests (user experience improvement, fraud prevention and security, compliance)

The data listed above is collected through the use of server log files and tracking technologies, as detailed in the “Cookies and Data Collection Tools” section below. It is stored by us and associated with your account.

 

1.3 Data From Third Parties

If you are a TCA Business enterprise or corporate prospect, in addition to information you submit to us, we may collect certain business contact information from third-party commercial sources.

2. How We Get Data About You

2.1 Cookies and Data Collection Tools

We use cookies, which are small text files stored by your browser, to collect, store, and share data about your activities across websites, including on TCA. They allow us to remember things about your visits to TCA, like your preferred language, and to make the site easier to use. To learn more about cookies, visit https://cookiepedia.co.uk/all-about-cookies. We may also use clear pixels in emails to track deliverability and open rates.

TCA and service providers acting on our behalf (like Google Analytics and third-party advertisers) use server log files and automated data collection tools like cookies, tags, scripts, customized links, device or browser fingerprints, and web beacons (collectively referred to as, “Data Collection Tools“) when you access and use the Services. These Data Collection Tools automatically track and collect certain System Data and Usage Data when you use the Services. Occasionally, we tie data gathered through those Data Collection Tools to other data that we collect as described in this Privacy Policy.

2.2 Why We Use Data Collection Tools

TCA uses the following types of Data Collection Tools for the purposes described:

• Strictly Necessary: These Data Collection Tools enable you to access the site, provide basic functionality, secure the site, protect against fraudulent logins and detect and prevent abuse or unauthorized use of your account. These are required for the Services to work properly, so if you disable them, parts of the site will break or be unavailable.
• Functional: These Data Collection Tools remember data about your browser and your preferences, provide additional site functionality, customize content to be more relevant to you, and remember settings affecting the appearance and behavior of the Services.
• Performance: These Data Collection Tools help measure and improve the Services by providing usage and performance data, visit counts, traffic sources, or where an application was downloaded from. These tools can help us test different versions of TCA to determine which features or content users prefer and determine which email messages are opened.
• Advertising: These Data Collection Tools are used to deliver relevant ads based on things we know about you such as your Usage and System Data and things that the ad service providers know about you based on their tracking data. The ads can be based on your recent activity or activity over time and across other sites and services. To help deliver tailored advertising, we may provide these service providers with a hashed, anonymized version of your email address, in a non-human-readable form, and content that you share publicly on the Services.
• Social Media: These Data Collection Tools enable social media functionality, like sharing content with friends and networks. These cookies may track a user or device across other sites and build a profile of user interests for targeted advertising purposes.

You can set your web browser to alert you about attempts to place cookies on your computer, limit the types of cookies you allow, or refuse cookies altogether. If you do, you may not be able to use some or all features of the Services, and your experience may be different or less functional. To learn more about managing Data Collection Tools, refer to Section 6.1 (Your Choices About the Use of Your Data) below.

3. What We Use Your Data For

We use the data we collect through your use of the Services to:

 

• Provide and administer the Services, including to facilitate participation in educational content, issue completion certificates, display customized content, and facilitate communication with other users;
• Process payments to third parties;
• Process your requests and orders for educational content, products, specific services, information, or features;
• Communicate with you about your account by:
  • Responding to your questions and concerns;
  • Sending you administrative messages and information, including messages from instructors, students, and teaching assistants; notifications about changes to our Service; and updates to our agreements;
  • Sending you information, such as by email or text messages, about your progress in courses and related content, rewards programs, new services, new features, promotions, newsletters, and other available instructor-created content, which you can opt out of at any time;
  • Sending push notifications to your wireless device to provide updates and other relevant messages, which you can manage from the “options” or “settings” page of the mobile app;
• Manage your account and account preferences and personalize your experience;
• Facilitate the Services’ technical functioning, including troubleshooting and resolving issues, securing the Services, and preventing fraud and abuse;
• Verify the identity of instructors;
• Solicit feedback from users;
• Market products, services, surveys, and promotions;
• Market Subscription Plans to prospective customers;
• Learn more about you by linking your data with additional data through third-party data providers and/or analyzing the data with the help of analytics service providers;
• Identify unique users across devices;
• Tailor advertisements across devices;
• Improve our Services and develop new products, services, and features;
• Analyze trends and traffic, track purchases, and track usage data;
• Advertise the Services on third-party websites and applications;
• As required or permitted by law; or
• As we, in our sole discretion, otherwise determine to be necessary to ensure the safety or integrity of our users, employees, third parties, the public, or our Services.

4. Who We Share Your Data With

We may share your data with third parties under the following circumstances or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy:

• With Your Instructors: We share data that we have about you with instructors or teaching assistants for educational content you access or request information about, so they can improve their content for you and other students. This data may include things like your country, browser language, operating system, device settings, the site that brought you to TCA, and certain activities on TCA, such as enrolled courses and course review.
• With Other Students and Instructors: Depending on your settings, your shared content and profile data may be publicly viewable, including to other students and instructors. If you ask a question to an instructor or teaching assistant, your information, including your name, may also be publicly viewable.
• With Service Providers, Contractors, and Agents: We share your data with third-party companies who perform services on our behalf, like payment processing, fraud and abuse prevention, data analysis, marketing and advertising services, including retargeted advertising, email and hosting services, and customer services and support. These service providers may access your personal data and are required to use it solely as we direct, to provide our requested service.
• With TCA Affiliates: We may share your data within our corporate family of companies that are related by common ownership or control to enable or support us in providing the Services.
• With Business Partners: We have agreements with other websites and platforms to distribute our Services and drive traffic to TCA. Depending on your location, we may share your data with these trusted partners.
• With Credit-Granting Organizations for Continuing Education: If you take a course to fulfill a continuing professional education requirement, we may share that information upon request of the organization granting the continuing education credit.
• With Analytics and Data Enrichment Services: As part of our use of third-party analytics tools like Google Analytics and data enrichment services like ZoomInfo, we share certain contact information or de-identified data. De-identified data means data where we have removed things like your name and email address and replaced it with a token ID. This allows these providers to provide analytics services or match your data with publicly-available database information. including contact and social information from other sources. We do this to communicate with you in a more effective and customized manner.
• To Power Social Media Features: The social media features in the Services may allow the third-party social media provider to collect things such as your IP address and which page of the Services you are visiting, and to set a cookie to enable the feature. Your interactions with these features are governed by the third-party company’s privacy policy.
• To Administer Promotions and Surveys: We may share your data as necessary to administer, market, or sponsor promotions and surveys you choose to participate in, as required by applicable law or in accordance with the rules of the promotion or survey.
• For Advertising: If we decide to use an advertising-supported revenue model in the future, we may use and share certain System Data and Usage Data with third-party advertisers and networks to show general demographic and preference information among our users. We may also allow advertisers to collect System Data through Data Collection Tools, to use this data to offer you targeted ad delivery to personalize your user experience and to undertake web analytics. Advertisers may also share with us the data they collect about you. To learn more or opt out from participating ad networks’ behavioral advertising, see Section 6.1, Your Choices About the Use of Your Data, below. If you opt out, you will continue to be served generic ads.
• For Security and Legal Compliance: We may disclose your data (all data categories) to third parties if we (in our sole discretion) have a good faith belief that the disclosure is:
  • Requested as part of a judicial, governmental, or legal inquiry, order, or proceeding;
  • Reasonably necessary as part of a valid subpoena, warrant, or other legally-valid request;
  • Reasonably necessary to enforce our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and other legal agreements;
  • Required to detect, prevent, or address fraud, abuse, misuse, potential violations of law or security or technical issues;
  • Reasonably necessary in our discretion to protect against imminent harm to the rights, property, or safety of TCA, our users, employees, members of the public, or our Services;
  • We may also disclose data about you to our auditors and legal advisors in order to assess our disclosure obligations and rights under this Privacy Policy; or
  • Required or permitted by law.
• During a Change in Control: If TCA undergoes a business transaction like a merger, acquisition, corporate divestiture, or dissolution, or a sale of all or some of its assets, we may share, disclose, or transfer all of your data to the successor organization during such transition or in contemplation of a transition.
• After Aggregation/De-identification: We may disclose or use aggregated or de-identified data for any purpose.
• With Your Permission: With your consent, we may share data with third parties outside the scope of this Privacy Policy.

5. Security

 

TCA takes appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction of your personal data that we collect and store. These measures vary based on the type and sensitivity of the data. Unfortunately, no system can be 100% secured, so we cannot guarantee that communications between you and TCA, the Services, or any information provided to us in connection with the data we collect through the Services will be free from unauthorized access by third parties. Your password is an important part of our security system, and it is your responsibility to protect it. You should not share your password with any third party, and if you believe your password or account has been compromised, you should change it immediately and contact our Support Team with any concerns.

6. Your Rights

 

6.1 Your Choices About the Use of Your Data

You can choose not to provide certain data to us, but you may not be able to use certain features of the Services.

 

• To stop receiving promotional communications from us, you can opt out by using the unsubscribe mechanism in the promotional communication you receive or by changing the email preferences in your account. Regardless of your email preference settings, we will send you transactional and relationship messages regarding the Services, including administrative confirmations, order confirmations, important updates about the Services, and notices about our policies.
• If you are located in the European Economic Area, you may opt out of certain Data Collection Tools by clicking the “Cookie settings“ link at the bottom of any page.
• The browser or device you use may allow you to control cookies and other types of local data storage. To learn more about managing cookies, visit https://cookiepedia.co.uk/how-to-manage-cookies. Your wireless device may also allow you to control whether location or other data is collected and shared.
• To get information and control cookies used for tailored advertising from participating companies, see the consumer opt-out pages for the Network Advertising Initiative and Digital Advertising Alliance, or if you are located in the European Economic Area, visit the Your Online Choices site. If you are located in Japan, visit the Digital Advertising Consortium. To opt out of Google’s display advertising or customize Google Display Network ads, visit the Google Ads Settings page. To opt out of Taboola’s targeted ads, see the Opt-out Link in their Cookie Policy.
• To opt out of allowing Google Analytics, Mixpanel, ZoomInfo, or Clearbit to use your data for analytics or enrichment, see the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, Mixpanel Opt-Out Cookie, ZoomInfo’s policy, and Clearbit data claiming mechanism.
• Apple iOS, Android OS, and Microsoft Windows each provide their own instructions on how to control in-app tailored advertising. For other devices and operating systems, you should review your privacy settings on that platform.

If you have any questions about your data, our use of it, or your rights, contact us at enquiries@thecigaracademy.com.

 

6.2 Accessing, Updating, and Deleting Your Personal Data

You can access and update your personal data that TCA collects and maintains as follows:

• To update data you provide directly, log into your account and update your account at any time.
• To terminate your account:
  • If you are a student or an instructor, please contact our Support Team at enquiries@thecigaracademy.com.
  • If you have any issues terminating your account, please contact our Support Team at enquiries@thecigaracademy.com.
  • Please note that even after your account is terminated, some or all of your data may still be visible to others, including without limitation any data that has been (a) copied, stored, or disseminated by other users (including comments on content); (b) shared or disseminated by you or others (including in your shared content); or (c) posted to a third-party platform. Even after your account is terminated, we retain your data for as long as we have a legitimate purpose to do so and in accordance with applicable law, including to assist with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We may retain and disclose such data pursuant to this Privacy Policy after your account has been terminated.
• To request to access, correct, or delete your personal data, please submit these requests by emailing enquiries@thecigaracademy.com. Please allow up to 30 days for a response. For your protection, we may require that the request be sent through the email address associated with your account, and we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request. Please note that we retain certain data where we have a lawful basis to do so, including for mandatory record-keeping and to complete transactions.

6.3 Our Policy Concerning Children

We recognize the privacy interests of children and encourage parents and guardians to take an active role in their children’s online activities and interests. Individuals younger than 18 years of age, but of the required age for consent to use online services where they live, for example, 13 in the US or 16 in Ireland, may not set up an account, but may have a parent or guardian open an account and help them access appropriate content. Individuals younger than the required age for consent to use online services may not use the Services. If we learn that we have collected personal data from a child under those ages, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

Parents who believe that TCA may have collected personal data from a child under those ages can submit a request that it be removed to enquiries@thecigaracademy.com.

7. Jurisdiction-Specific Rules

 

7.1 Users in California

Users who are California residents have certain rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, (“CCPA”). If you are an eligible California user, included in these rights are:

• “Right to Know” — You have the right to request to know more about the categories and specific pieces of personal information that we have collected about you and access a copy of your personal information.
• “Right to Correction” — You have the right to have inaccurate personal information about you corrected.
• “Right to Deletion” — You have the right to request deletion of personal information that we have collected about you.
• “Right to Non-Discrimination” — If you choose to exercise any of your rights under CCPA, TCA will treat you like all other users. In other words, there is no penalty for exercising your rights under CCPA.
• “Right to Opt-Out” – You have the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information.

CCPA has a specific definition of a “sale” and “sharing” and while TCA does not, in the traditional sense, sell your personal information or the personal information of any of our users, we do use cookies that make non-personally identifiable information available to select third-parties, including for cross-context advertising. To opt out of such a “sale” and “sharing,” click please contact our Support Team at enquiries@thecigaracademy.com.

To exercise any of these rights under CCPA, please email enquiries@thecigaracademy.com.  CCPA allows you to designate an authorized agent to make these requests on your behalf. For your protection, we may require that the request be sent through the email address associated with your account, and we may need to verify you and/or your agent’s identity before fulfilling your request.

Additionally, for more information about the personal information we collect and how we collect it, please see the sections above entitled “What Data We Get” and “How We Get Data About You.”

To learn about the business and commercial purposes for which your personal information is collected and the categories of service providers who have access to your personal information, please see the sections above entitled “What We Use Your Data For” and “Who We Share Your Data With.”

As a California resident, you also have the right to request certain details about what personal information we share with third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes. To submit your request, send an email to enquiries@thecigaracademy.com with the phrase “California Shine the Light” and include your mailing address, state of residence, and email address.

Since there is no widely accepted standard for the browser-initiated Do Not Track signal, we do not currently recognize or respond to Do Not Track signals.

7.2 Users in Nevada

TCA does not sell its users’ personal information or personal data. Nonetheless, Nevada residents have the right to submit a request that we do not sell your covered personal information, which you can do by emailing privacy@thecigaracademy.com.

 

 

7.3 Users in Australia

 

If you are an Australia resident and you have a complaint, you may refer it to the office of the Australian Information Commissioner (“OAIC”). You can contact OAIC by visiting www.oaic.gov.au; forwarding an email to enquiries@oaic.gov.au; telephoning 1300 363 992; or writing to OAIC at GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001. You may contact our privacy team at enquiries@theciagracademy.com to make a complaint about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles which will be responded to within 30 days.

 

7.4 Users in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and United Kingdom (“UK”)

 

If you are located in the EEA or UK, you have the right to request access to your data in a portable format and to request the rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, or objection to processing of your personal data. You may use the information in Section 6.2 to submit your request. Additionally, if you are located in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your supervisory authority.

Personal data is also processed outside of the UK, Switzerland, and the EEA by our TCA group companies, or our service providers, including to process transactions, facilitate payments, and provide support services as described in Section 4. We use the Controller-to-Processor Standard Contractual Clauses adopted by the European Commission to facilitate transfers of personal data from the EEA to third countries and have entered into data processing agreements with our service providers and TCA group companies to restrict and regulate their processing of your data. By submitting your data or using our Services, you consent to this transfer, storage, and processing by TCA and its processors.

7.5 Data Privacy Framework (for EU/EEA, UK, and Swiss data subjects)

The Cigar Academy complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF), the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Swiss-U.S. DPF) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Cigar Academy will be certifying to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar) in reliance on the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. The Cigar Academy will be certifying to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from Switzerland in reliance on the Swiss-U.S. DPF. If there is any conflict between the terms in this Privacy Policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles and/or the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.

The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over The Cigar Academy’s compliance with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Swiss-U.S. DPF).

We are committed to subject to the DPF Principles all personal data received from the European Union, UK and Gibraltar, and Switzerland. The types of personal data collected are described in Section 1 of this Privacy Policy. The purposes for which we collect and use personal data are described in Section 3 of this Privacy Policy. The type of third parties to whom we disclose personal data are described in Section 4 of this Privacy Policy. We remain responsible for any of your personal data that is shared under the Onward Transfer Principle with third parties for external processing on our behalf. Additionally, we may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. The Cigar Academy shall remain liable under the DPF Principles if its agent processes personal information in a manner inconsistent with the DPF Principles, unless The Cigar Academy proves that it is not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.

Individuals have the right to access their personal data, and instructions on doing so are provided in Section 6.2 of this Privacy Policy. Individuals may also limit the use and disclosure of their personal data as described in Section 6.1.

In compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF, the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, The Cigar Academy commits to resolve DPF Principles-related complaints about our collection and use of your personal information. EU, UK and Swiss individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our handling of personal data received in reliance on EU-U.S. DPF, the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, should first contact TCA at enquiries@thecigaracademy.com.

In compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF, the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, The Cigar Academy commits to refer unresolved complaints concerning our handling of personal data received in reliance on EU-U.S. DPF, the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, to the International Centre for Dispute Resolution/American Arbitration Association (ICDR-AAA), an alternative dispute resolution provider based in the United States. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your DPF Principles-related complaint from us, or if we have not addressed your DPF Principles-related complaint to your satisfaction, please visit https://go.adr.org/dpfeufiling.html for more information or to file a complaint. The services of ICDR-AAA are provided at no cost to you. Under certain conditions, you may invoke binding arbitration for complaints regarding DPF compliance not resolved by any of the other DPF mechanisms as more particularly detailed here: https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/article/ANNEX-I-introduction-dpf?tabset-35584=2

7.6 Users Outside of the U.S.

In order to provide the Services to you, we must transfer your data to the United States and process it there. If you are using the Services from outside the United States, you consent to the transfer, storage, and processing of your data in and to the United States or other countries.

 

8. Updates & Contact Info

 

8.1 Modifications to This Privacy Policy

 

From time to time, we may update this Privacy Policy. If we make any material change to it, we will notify you via email, through a notification posted on the Services, or as required by applicable law. We will also include a summary of the key changes. Unless stated otherwise, modifications will become effective on the day they are posted.

As permitted by applicable law, if you continue to use the Services after the effective date of any change, then your access and/or use will be deemed an acceptance of (and agreement to follow and be bound by) the revised Privacy Policy. The revised Privacy Policy supersedes all previous Privacy Policies.

8.2 Interpretation

Any capitalized terms not defined in this policy are defined as specified in TCA’s Terms of Use. Any version of this Privacy Policy in a language other than English is provided for convenience. If there is any conflict with a non-English version, you agree that the English language version will control.

 

8.3 Questions

If you have any questions, concerns, or disputes regarding our Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact our privacy team at enquiries@thecigaracademy.com.

 

Intellectual Property Policy TCA

Last Updated: April 1, 2024

At The Cigar Academy, we deeply respect intellectual property rights and are committed to fostering an environment where creativity and innovation are protected and valued. This Intellectual Property Policy outlines our stance on intellectual property (IP) rights and provides guidance on how we handle IP issues on our platform. This policy complements our Terms of Use and Trust & Safety Guidelines.

Intellectual Property Rights

• User Content Ownership: The Cigar Academy does not claim ownership of any user content you may submit or make available for inclusion on The Cigar Academy website and  users retain ownership of the content they post on The Cigar Academy, including courses, articles, comments, and any other material. By posting content on our platform, you grant The Cigar Academy a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, distribute, and display the content in connection with the Services provided by The Cigar Academy.
• To the extent that you provide any user content, you represent and warrant that (a) you have all necessary rights, licenses and/or clearances to provide such user content and permit The Cigar Academy to use such user content as provided above, (b) such user content is accurate and reasonably complete, (c) as between you and The Cigar Academy, you shall be responsible for the payment of any third party fees related to the provision and use of such user content, and (d) such user content does not and will not infringe or misappropriate any third party rights or constitute a fraudulent statement or misrepresentation or unfair business practices.
• With respect to any submissions of User Content, you agree to comply with all applicable local rules including but not limited to rules regarding online conduct and acceptable content. Specifically, you agree to comply with all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the Canadian or the country in which you reside.
• The Cigar Academy reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify, discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the content, or any part of portion thereof, with or without notice to you. You agree that The Cigar Academy shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modifications, suspensions or discontinuance of the content, or any portion thereof.
• Prohibited Actions: Users must not:
  • Post or distribute content that infringes on the intellectual property rights of others.
  • Use any trademark, logo, or brand of The Cigar Academy or any third party without explicit permission.
  • Copy, modify, or distribute content from the The Cigar Academy platform or any third party’s content without proper authorization.

Reporting Infringement

If you believe that your intellectual property has been used in a way that constitutes infringement on our platform, or if you notice such use of someone else’s intellectual property, please notify us by providing the following information:

1. A description of the copyrighted work or intellectual property that you claim has been infringed.
2. A description of where the material you claim is infringing is located on the platform (URL or course title).
3. Your contact information, including address, telephone number, and email address.
4. A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law.
5. A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.

Process Following an Infringement Notice

Upon receiving a proper infringement notification, The Cigar Academy will take the following steps:

1. Promptly remove or disable access to the content claimed to be infringing.
2. Notify the content provider, member, or user that the content has been removed or disabled.
3. Take reasonable steps to promptly notify the accused party of the claim and provide them an opportunity to respond.

Counter-Notice

If you believe your content was wrongly removed due to a mistake or misidentification of the material, you may submit a counter-notice including your proof of ownership or right to use the intellectual property.

Repeat Infringers

In accordance with our Terms of Use, The Cigar Academy will terminate user accounts that are determined to be repeat infringers. The number and nature of infringements are considered in making this determination.

Contact Us

To report intellectual property infringement or to submit a counter-notice, please contact our Support Team by email: enquiries@thecigaracademy.com

Modifications to the Policy

The Cigar Academy reserves the right to modify this Intellectual Property Policy at any time. Changes will be posted on our platform, and we encourage users to review our policies regularly to stay informed.

Conclusion

The Cigar Academy is committed to respecting the intellectual property rights of all parties and expects users to do the same. By using our Services, you agree to adhere to this Intellectual Property Policy and to respect the intellectual property rights of others.

 

Trust & Safety Guidelines TCA

Last Updated: April 1, 2024

At The Cigar Academy, our mission is to offer a safe, inclusive, and respectful platform for learners and instructors worldwide. To achieve this, we require all users to adhere to our Trust & Safety Guidelines, which are designed to maintain a positive and constructive learning environment. These guidelines complement our Terms of Use and provide a framework for the behaviors and content that we promote or prohibit on our platform.

1. Community Respect

• Inclusivity and Diversity: Embrace diversity and respect the differences of others in the community, including their opinions, backgrounds, and beliefs.
• Harassment-Free Environment: Harassment in any form is strictly prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, bullying, intimidation, and the dissemination of derogatory content.
• Privacy Protection: Do not share personal information about others without their explicit consent. This includes personal contact details, financial information, and sensitive personal data.

2. Content Integrity

• Accuracy of Information: Ensure that any content posted, including course materials and discussions, is accurate, up-to-date, and free from misleading information.
• Intellectual Property Rights: Only post content that you have the right to share. Do not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights of others.
• Prohibited Content: Content that promotes illegal activities, violence, hate speech, or discrimination on any basis is not allowed.

3. Account Security

• Account Responsibility: You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account, including using strong passwords and not sharing your account details with others.
• Reporting Suspicious Activity: If you suspect that your account has been compromised or notice suspicious activity, report it to our Support Team immediately.

4. Engagement Rules

• Constructive Communication: Engage with other users in a constructive manner. Criticism should be provided in a helpful, not harmful, way.
• Spam and Solicitations: Avoid spamming or unsolicited promotions of products, services, or websites. This includes posting repetitive content or off-topic messages.

5. Compliance with Laws

• Lawful Use: Use the platform in a manner that complies with all applicable local, national, and international laws and regulations.
• Reporting Violations: If you encounter content or behavior that violates our guidelines, report it through the designated channels on our platform.

Enforcement and Reporting

The Cigar Academy takes these guidelines seriously and expects all users to do the same. Violation of these guidelines may result in content removal, account suspension, or termination, depending on the severity and nature of the violation. Our team reviews reports on a case-by-case basis to ensure fair and appropriate action is taken.

To report a violation, please contact our Support Team by email: enquiries@thecigaracademy.com and with details of the issue. Your report will be handled confidentially.

Commitment to Safety

Our commitment to trust and safety is ongoing. We continually evaluate our guidelines and policies to adapt to new challenges and ensure our platform remains a secure and positive space for learning and sharing knowledge.

Thank you for being a part of the The Cigar Academy community and for helping us maintain a safe and respectful learning environment.