Pokerstars Partners Predatory Terms Changes

Guard Dog

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Pokerstars Partners Predatory Terms Changes
TERMS SPIDERED ON OCTOBER 7TH, 2011 01:18 AM
SUMMARY: There are quite a few terms changes here and 2 of them are quite alarming. They can steal your players if they become part of 'Team Pokerstars'. They will not pay you if you have less than 1 player in a given month.


Frequent Player Points
''FPPs'' shall mean the reward points which are also known as ''Frequent Player Points'' and which shall be awarded by PokerStars to Qualified Poker Players playing real money tournaments and ring games only (thereby excluding, without limitation, FPPs earned as tournament awards, for surveys, Customer Service Representative (CSR) credits) under such terms as shall be published on the Site and as such shall exist from time to time.

Definition - Site
(q) ''Site'' shall mean the Internet sites which the Affiliate is permitted to market and promote pursuant to the terms of this Agreement as specified in Annex A to this Agreement as may be updated from time to time.ANNEX A SITE www.pokerstars.be www.pokerstars.com www.pokerstars.ee www.pokerstars.fr - to be marketed and promoted by the Affiliate to residents of France only www.pokerstars.it

Definition - Qualified Poker Player
''Qualified Poker Player'' shall mean an Internet user without a prior account with PokerStars User Accountwho (i) accesses the Site directly through a Link or enters a Marketing Code and downloads and installs the software; (ii) opens a new user accountUser Account on the Site; and (with respect to CPA Commission only)(iii) earns, by way of cash deposit into their User Account, the minimum number of FPPs VPPs required, as notified by PokerStars Rational to the Affiliate.

Definition - Threshold Commission
(q) ''Threshold Commission'' shall mean: (i) US$75 (seventy five US dollars); or, (ii)US$150 (one hundred and fifty US Dollars) in the case of Affiliates receiving Commission via wire transfer pursuant to Clause 4.4; or (iii)the Euro equivalent of the amounts in (i) or (ii) as of the date of payment of the Commission.

Definition - Trade Marks
(t) ''Trade Marks'' means any trade mark used, registered, or applied for by PokerStars, including, but without limitation, those listed in Annex B hereto as may be amended from time to time ''POKERSTARS'', ''POKERSTARS.COM'', ''EPT'', ''LAPT'' 'LA-PT'' and ''APPT''. ANNEX B TRADE MARKS PokerStars PokerStars.com, PokerStars.net, European Poker Tour, EPT, Latin American Poker Tour, LAPT, Asia Pacific Poker Tour, APPT, ANZPT, North American Poker Tour, NAPT, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, PCA, UKIPT, Estrellas Poker Tour, ESPT, Portugal Poker Series, PPS, France Poker Series, FPS, Italian Poker Tour, IPT, World Championship of Online Poker, WCOOP, World Cup of Poker, WCP, Sunday Million and Home Games

[Definition - User Account
(v) ''User Account'' shall mean a personal player account on the Site opened in accordance with the applicable terms and conditions governing access to and use of the Site.

Definition - VPP - VIP Player Points
(w) ''VPPs'' shall mean the reward points which are also known as ''VIP Player Points'' and which shall be awarded by PokerStars to Qualified Poker Players playing real money tournaments and ring games only (thereby excluding, without limitation, VPPs earned as tournament awards, for surveys, Customer Service Representative (CSR) credits) under such terms as shall be published on the Site and as such shall exist from time to time.

Marketing - Links
3. Appointment 3.1. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, PokerStars Rational grants to the Affiliate, for the term set in forth in Section 8.1, the non-exclusive and non-transferable right to market and promote the Site solely by means of the placing of the Link(s) or Marketing Codes on its Website(s). 3.2. The Affiliate shall fully comply with PokerStars' Rational's most recent guidelines in relation to its use of the Link(s)Link(s) or Marketing Codes, such guidelines being which shall be posted on the Programme Site and which are incorporated into and form part of this Agreementand which shall . The affiliate guidelines may be posted on amended from time to time at Rational's sole discretion and it is the Programme SiteAffiliate's obligation to review the affiliate guidelines on a regular basis. 3.3. The Affiliate may not assign its rights and/or obligations under this Agreement, in full or in part, to any third party. 3.4. The Affiliate hereby acknowledges that nothing herein shall be deemed to grant it exclusivity in relation to providing services to PokerStars Rational and it shall not claim or hold itself out to any third party as having any type of exclusivity in its relationship with PokerStars Rational at any time or the manner in which the Affiliate markets and promotes the Site (including the offering of bonuses or promotions to players) on the Website(s). 3.5 The Affiliate acknowledges and agrees that: (a) the following individuals may not and will not qualify as Qualified Poker Players, as the case may be: (i) close family members of the Affiliate and other members in the same household as the Affiliate; and/or (ii)employees of and consultants contracted on a permanent basis to the Affiliate, (iii)the Euro equivalent of the amounts in (i) or (ii) as of the date of payment of the Commission. (b) it may not and will not sign up for a User Account using its own Links or Marketing Codes and may not in its personal capacity qualify as a Qualified Poker Player. 3.6. The Link and the Marketing Code are provided to the Affiliate for use by the Affiliate exclusively pursuant to the terms of this Agreement and the Affiliate is prohibited from providing the Link and/or the Marketing Code to any third party for use by such third party.

Commission Payment Date
4.4. Payments of Commission pursuant to this Section Clause 4 shall be effected by PokerStars Rational to the Affiliate within 30 31 days of the end of the previous calendar month to which such Commission relates . 4.5. In into the event that Affiliate's User Account except for Affiliates resident in any of Italy, France or the United States in which case payment of Commission due to will be paid by way of wire transfer.

Commissions - Account
4.5. The Affiliate shall only be entitled to designate a single User Account for the Affiliate in respect purposesof any calendar month is less than US$75 (seventy five US dollars) (receiving Commission pursuant to this Agreement unless otherwise approved by the ''Threshold Commission''), PokerStars Company.

Fraud
For the purpose of this Agreement and by way of example only the term ''fraud'' shall include, but shall not be limited to, actual or attempted (i) chargeback by a Qualified Poker Player in relation to their initial deposit, (ii) collusion on the part of the Qualified Poker Player with any other player on the Site; or (iii) the offering or providing by the Affiliate or any third party of any unauthorised incentive (financial or otherwise) to potential Qualified Poker Players (including, without limitation, the sharing by the Affiliate of any Commission earned by the Affiliate through its promotion of Home Games); or (iv) the creation by Qualified Poker Players of multiple user accounts in order to abuse promotions or bonuses on offer to players.

Commissions - More than 1 Account
4.8. The Affiliate shall not be entitled to receive any Commission from Rational for a new User Account opened through a personal computer or mobile device (including, without limitation, a desktop computer, portable computer, cellular phone, PDA, tablet, or any other type of cellular device now exist or hereafter devised) (each, a ''Device''), if a User Account has previously been opened through use of such Device, regardless of whether the Affiliate was entitled to receive from Rational a Commission for such User Account.

Player Stealing
4.9. In the event that Rational notifies the Affiliate that a Qualified Poker Player has been selected by Rational to become a member of the ''Team PokerStars: Pro'' or ''Team PokerStars: Online'', the Affiliate hereby acknowledges and agrees that, as of and with respect to the calendar month falling immediately after the date of such notification, the Qualified Poker Player shall be unlinked from the Affiliate and the Affiliate will no longer be entitled to receive any Commission whatsoever in respect of such Qualified Poker Player.

Minimum Player Rule
5.4. The Affiliate undertakes, if the form of Commission that it receives from Rational is based on Revenue Share pursuant to Clause 4.1 above, to generate a minimum of 1 Qualified Poker Players per calendar month.


5.6. The Without derogating from the general nature of Clause 5.5 above, the Affiliate representsacknowledges and warrants agrees that it has evaluated the laws relating to in performing its activities andobligations hereunder and it has independently concluded that it can enter under this Agreement it is strictly prohibited from marketing and fulfil its obligations hereunder without violating any applicable rule promoting the Site to residents of lawthe United States and United States Territories and no resident of the United States or the United States Territories shall be permitted to become a Qualified Poker Player.

Marketing - Cloning website
The Affiliate shall ensure that no material appears at any time on the Website(s) which results or could result in the Website(s) being confused with the Site or which consists of the intellectual property of others for which the Affiliate is not properly licensed to use, information that is scandalous, fraudulent or offensive or any other information that may be the cause of action in law or in equity.

Fraud
5.13. The Affiliate may not hold itself out to be or to represent any of Rational, PokerStars or its agents, employees or professional poker players in any forum including any social networking site.

Money Laundering Rules
5.14. The Affiliate shall, upon Rational's request, submit to Rational copies of such personal documentation (for example a copy of the Affiliate's passport or other government issued identification) or, if the Affiliate is a company such company documents, as Rational may specify in order to permit Rational to complete its customer and business due diligence obligations in accordance with applicable money laundering laws and regulations from time to time in force.

Intellectual Property Rights
7. Intellectual Property Rights 7.1. For the sole purpose of the Affiliate performing its duties and obligations hereunder and for the term of the Agreement PokerStars Rational grants the Affiliate a non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable license to use the Trade Marks solely in connection with the placing of the Link(s) and Marketing Codes on the Website(s). This license cannot be sub-licensed, assigned or otherwise transferred by youthe Affiliate. 7.2. The Affiliate undertakes not to make use of the Trade Marks and Trade Secrets of PokerStars Rational in a manner not considered herein without the prior written consent of PokerStarsRational. In particular, the Affiliate is not permitted to: (i) register a domain namethat ; or (ii) bid on any internet search engine for a search term; or (iii) use any sub-domain name which includes, incorporates or consists of the Trade Marks or any domain name that is confusingly similar to the Trade Marks. 7.3. On execution of this Agreement and as a continuing obligation, the Affiliate will inform PokerStars Rational of any domain names they own which breach clause 7.2. Once we become aware that you have registered a domain name in breach of clause 7.2 you will be informed and required to transfer the domain name to us forthwith and free of charge to any company we nominate. YOUR OBLIGATION TO TRANSFER DOMAIN NAMES REGISTERED IN BREACH OF CLAUSE 7.2 EXTENDS TO DOMAIN NAMES REGISTERED PRIOR TO THE DATE OF EXECUTION OF THIS AGREEMENT. Until the domain name has been transferred to the nominated company you will not allow the domain name registration to lapse. We may, in our sole discretion, withhold all Commission payments that may be due to you until the domain name is transferred. 7.4. Nothing herein shall be considered or understood to be a transfer by PokerStars or Rational to the Affiliate of any rights whatsoever in the Trade Marks or Trade Secrets or any other intellectual property rights whatsoever and, in particular, the Affiliate agrees not to submit a trade mark application in any jurisdiction that is confusingly similar to the Trade Marks. 7.5. Affiliate hereby acknowledges that all information relating to all of the Qualified Poker Players is the exclusive and sole property of PokerStars and that the Affiliate has and shall have no rights therein whatsoever. 7.6. Rational and PokerStars reserves all of its intellectual property rights in the Trade Marks and Trade Secrets and may revoke the license granted to the Affiliate at any time in its sole discretion by informing the Affiliate of such revocation in writing. The Affiliate shall not assert the invalidity, unenforceability or contest the ownership of the Trade Marks in any action or proceeding whatsoever and shall not take any action that may prejudice PokerStars' rights in the Trade Marks.

Term and Termination
8. Term and Termination 8.1. This Agreement shall come into effect from the Effective Date and shall continue in full force until it is terminated in accordance with the provisions set out herein. 8.2. You may terminate this Agreement at any time, with or without cause upon written notice to us. 8.3. We may terminate this Agreement immediately if you breach In the event of the occurrence of any of the followingclauses: 3.2, 3.4, 4.6, 5.2, 5.4, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, and 6 (i) a breach by the Affiliate of any clause of this Agreement; or if, (ii) in our sole the reasonable opinion of Rational, you have acted in a manner that undermines the nature of this Agreement; or there (iii) the Affiliate's User Account is closed by PokerStars for any reason whatsoever, Rational retains full authority (without prejudice to its other rights or remedies under this Agreement, any other agreement, at law or otherwise) to (i) terminate this Agreement immediately and/or (ii) indefinitely withhold from the Affiliate any Commission accrued to the Affiliate's benefit directly as a breakdown result of trust between you and usthe breach. 8.4. We may terminate this Agreement at any time on 30 7 days' written notice. 8.5. In the event that the Affiliate suspends, or threatens to suspend, payment of its debts or is unable to pay its debts as they fall due or admits inability to pay its debts or (being a company) is deemed unable to pay its debts within the meaning of section 123 of the Insolvency Act 1986 OR (being a natural person) is deemed either unable to pay its debts or as having no reasonable prospect of so doing, in either case, within the meaning of section 268 of the Insolvency Act 1986 or (being a partnership) has any partner to whom any of the foregoing apply we may terminate this Agreement immediately. 8.6. Termination of this Agreement shall not extinguish either of the parties' obligations under this Agreement which by their terms or context are intended to survive the termination of the Agreement. 8.7. Without limiting any other rights and remedies of Rational under this Agreement, Rational may terminate this Agreement immediately if it determines in its sole discretion that the Affiliate has become a competitor of Rational and/or any other entity within the same corporate group as PokerStars. 8.8. Notwithstanding Section Clauses 8.5 and 8.6 above and for the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby clarified that PokerStars Rational shall not be liable to pay any Commissions for Qualified Poker Players where such Qualified Poker Players are generated by the Link(s) and/or Marketing Codes following the termination of this Agreement. 8.8 8.9. Following the termination of this Agreement and the payment to the Affiliate of monies due to it as at the time of termination, PokerStarsRational shall have no obligation to make any further Commission payments to the Affiliate. 8.9 8.10. Upon termination the Affiliate shall immediately remove from the Website(s) and cease to use all Link(s), Marketing Codes Trade Marks and any other materials of any form provided by or on behalf of PokerStars Rational to the Affiliate pursuant to this Agreement and all licenses and rights granted hereunder to the Affiliate shall immediately terminate. The foregoing shall not prevent you linking to PokerStars' the homepage of the Site to the extent that you do so for your own personal, non-commercial use in connection with Home Games. Upon termination of the Agreement, the Affiliate will promptly return to PokerStars Rational any confidential information in its control or possession.

Confidentiality
11. Confidentiality All information concerning PokerStars' and/or Rational's operations, structure, personnel, principals, or any other data that can reasonably be considered internal-only information shall be kept in strict confidence by the Affiliate. This includes (but is not limited to) any correspondence between Rational and the Affiliate and any information regarding the number of players on the Site, Rake amounts and any other financial, statistical or other information that is provided by PokerStars Rational to the Affiliate, whether or not such information includes a mark affirming its confidentiality. All this information shall remain confidential after the expiry of the Termterm of this Agreement until such times as the information ceases to be confidential, other than by breach of this Agreement or any additional confidentiality agreement that Rational has required the Affiliate to sign. PokerStars Rational may require the Affiliate to sign a confidentiality agreement if, in its sole discretion, it determines that the information to be conveyed to the Affiliate warrants such additional covenants of confidentiality.


SUMMARY: Horrible Terms - DO NOT PROMOTE THESE JOKERS!!!
 

bonusgeek

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Geez you would think after losing usa market they would be making changes that would entice affiliates to push them, not push us away.
 

DoggyStyle

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Pokerstars is the biggest poker room world-wide. They don't give a sh** about affiliates.
 

contentqueen

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Right, so who thinks US online casinos when legalized are going to be showering affiliates with money?
 

GFPC

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As i said last year when that whole bwin fiasco happened, and many just laughed it off when i said that it was the start of these min player rules, and reductions of revenue after certain time frames. I had indicated if we allowed them to get away with it you would see a mass following. Full Tilt did the same type of thing and they deserve what they got.

In reality now being an affiliate takes on a whole new meaning. The ones that survive are the ones that can pick up and go and change everything as quickly as possible. If you must spend days removing links and editing programs your in for a big surprise.

When i said what i said last year in my forecast that many programs would start implementing these rules i was serious. These programs are trying to get rid of the affiliate model. I know some are in agreement and some are not.

I know from my end we have built sites with all this in mind - and now when we have to remove a program its done in MINUTES!

We produce all content and links in such a way there is risk of program becoming rogue or predatory, and as such can edit them and remove them as quickly as we added them.

I have several back up reviews ready held in files - so that if i need to move fast all i need to do is get the back up file place it on site and do redirects.

I have mastered it to 15 minutes!

I think the affiliate industry is shaping up to be something you must learn to adapt to. We really should be called "Adaptive Affiliate Marketers".

Unless you can adapt - your dead in this industry. You cannot trust hardly anyone - and you really should not. We have seen it all over the years - and in reality you really do not know what programs or people are capable of.

When it comes to Poker Stars, I really could care less - when the whole USA thing happened i decided to divert all US traffic - it no longer interests me. Its to much work to maintain - and for the little crumbs that seep through the cracks you have 100s of affiliates trying to get a little chunk.

This to me is no way to feel good about being an affiliate.
 

ddm

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4.2 (a) if the form of Commission that you receive from us is Revenue Share Commission, you will generate a minimum of one (1) Qualified Player for each of Our Sites which you market pursuant to these Terms for each consecutive period of ninety (90) days commencing on the date upon which we confirmed our acceptance of your Application Form to join the Stars Affiliate Club Program;

4.3.2 will (in the case of Revenue Share Commission) cease to be payable in respect of each Qualified PS Player on that date which is twenty-four (24) months after the date on which that internet user first opened a User Account as part of the process of becoming a Qualified PS Player

10.5 Without limiting any other of our rights and remedies, we may terminate these Terms immediately if we determine in our sole discretion that you have become a competitor of ours and/or any other entity within our Group.

still nasty.
quotas,
automatic player untagging after 24 months.
.. and fuck you if we think you are a "competitor" (be more vague, right?)
 
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