Become an Expert

Thank you for your interest in becoming an Expert at BrainMass.com.
There are three steps in our online application process, which should take you 10-15 minutes. Please ensure all fields are filled out and if you have any questions, please contact [email protected].
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Education Information
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Academic Expert Service Agreement:
EXPERT SERVICES AGREEMENT

1.  Consent to EXPERT Agreement.  BrainMass Inc. of Newmarket, Ontario, Canada (referred to as "BM", "we," "us," or "our" herein) offers services to customers (the "Student" or "Students") via an Internet web site at http://BrainMass.com (the "Site").  In connection with the Custom Help service, the Essay Review service, and the Library services (individually or collectively the "Services") provided by BM, Academic Experts ("Expert" or "Experts") respond to problems submitted by the Students and provide comments on Student-prepared essays and other materials.  The product of the Services provided to the Students via BM by the EXPERTs is referred to herein as the "EXPERT Work".  By submitting your EXPERT registration form (the "Registration") to BM, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement ("the Agreement"), which includes the following terms and conditions as well as the BM Privacy Policy (http://brainmass.com/content/privacy-policy) and Copyright Notification Policy (http://brainmass.com/content/copyright-policy) , both of which you acknowledge that you have read and understood.  READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY PRIOR TO SUBMITTING YOUR REGISTRATION.

Following your initial agreement to these Terms, your continued use of the Site will constitute your consent to be bound by the Terms as they may be revised from time to time. See paragraph 4 for the circumstances and procedures under which this Agreement can or will be terminated.

2.  Qualifications.  In order to qualify as an EXPERT, you are, as of the date of Registration, working on a graduate degree at an accredited university or have at least one graduate degree from an accredited university.

3.  EXPERTs are Independent Contractors.  EXPERTs are not employees of BM.  EXPERTs are independent contractors, providing specific services to BM on an as-needed basis for a limited period of time.   In preparing and submitting the EXPERT Work, each EXPERT: (a) shall use his or her own computer equipment and Internet access services; (b) shall determine the time during which the EXPERT Work is prepared; and (c) is permitted to provide comparable services to others.  Each EXPERT is carrying on an independent business on his or her own behalf.  BM provides payments in exchange for the EXPERT Work and does not withhold any payments for income taxes, unemployment insurance or any other amount. Each EXPERT is solely responsible for the determination and payment of his or her own taxes as may be payable by them in any jurisdiction in the world.

4.  Term and Termination.  The term of this Agreement (the "Term") shall commence on the date the Registration is accepted by BM and shall expire on May 31 of each year, unless terminated sooner in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement. This Agreement will automatically renew for an additional Term of one (1) year as of each June 1 at 12:01 am (Eastern Standard Time), unless the EXPERT or BM declines renewal in writing. This Agreement will terminate immediately under the following circumstances:

a) upon notice from BM to the EXPERT if, in BM's sole determination, acting reasonably, the EXPERT has failed to comply with any provision of this Agreement including the Expert's representations and warranties in paragraph 6 below, or if BM reasonably believes that the EXPERT has violated any applicable law or has acted contrary to the interests of the Site, the Students, BM or any of its affiliates or associates;

b) upon notice from the EXPERT to BM that he or she wishes the account terminated for any reason;

c) upon determination by BM that the EXPERT has not, within any consecutive 60 day period, done at least one of the following:

•	submitted any responses within the Custom Help service or Essay Review service;
•	uploaded a stand-alone question and solution, or an ebook, or a video lecture that has been approved and published for sale through the Library services;

d)	Upon the death of the EXPERT.

Upon termination of this Agreement, for any reason whatsoever, the EXPERT's account shall be deleted, and, after payment by BM of any monies owing for Services rendered by the EXPERT up to such date of termination, no further monies or compensation shall accrue or be payable or paid to the EXPERT. Upon termination of this Agreement, the EXPERT shall continue to be bound by the following provisions of this Agreement that shall survive termination: 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19.

5.  Governing Law and Jurisdiction.  The Site is controlled and operated from BM's offices in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. EXPERTs may be located throughout Canada, the United States and in other jurisdictions world-wide.  This Agreement shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein.  In the event of any dispute relating to this Agreement, the EXPERT expressly consents to the exclusive forum, jurisdiction, and venue of courts in the province of Ontario.

6.  EXPERT's Representations and Warranties.

The EXPERT hereby represents and warrants to BM that:

(a) The EXPERT has attained the age of majority in the jurisdiction in which he she resides (e.g. 19 years of age in the province of Ontario) and has the full right and authority to enter into this Agreement;

(b)  The EXPERT meets the Qualifications set out in this Agreement and as specified in the Registration and paragraph 2 hereof;

(c)  The EXPERT Work shall respond to Student's questions in connection with the Solution Service and the Essay Review Service at an academic level appropriate to the Student;

(d)  The EXPERT Work with respect to each problem posted by a student shall be the original work of the EXPERT, and shall not be copied from any previous EXPERT Work created and submitted by the EXPERT or by another EXPERT. The EXPERT may incorporate outside materials into the EXPERT Work; however this material shall be properly attributed to the original source and shall not constitute more than a minority of any single EXPERT Work;

(e) By entering into this Agreement and providing the EXPERT Work to the Student via BM, the EXPERT does not violate any other obligation or agreement to which the EXPERT is a party.  Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the EXPERT represents and warrants that this Agreement does not violate any employment agreement with a college or university with which the EXPERT is employed or at which the EXPERT is a student;

(f)  The EXPERT recognizes and agrees that: (i) the Internet is not a secure medium, and neither the privacy of the EXPERT's use of the Site or communications via the Site can be guaranteed; (ii) the nature of Internet communications means that communications with BM may be susceptible to data corruption, unauthorized access, interception and delays; and (iii) BM may make changes to the EXPERT Work and the contents of the Site at any time without notice. The EXPERT recognizes and agrees that although the security efforts of BM and its partners are generally consistent with standard industry practice, BM cannot guarantee the EXPERT's complete privacy, confidentiality and security where communication and display takes place via the Internet, and that BM shall not be responsible or liable for any loss of privacy, disclosure of information, harm, damage or loss that may result from the  the EXPERT's use of the Site. The EXPERT also understands that any information entered in his or her public profile on the BrainMass site, will be completely and freely accessible to, and viewable by, the general public through any internet connection;  and

(g)	If the EXPERT is a resident of Canada, he or she is not registered, or required to be registered under Subdivision d of Division V of Part IX of the Excise Tax Act (ETA) pursuant to subsection 165(1) of the ETA.

7.  EXPERT Work Procedures.

(a) EXPERT Training. The EXPERT agrees that he or she is required to review all of EXPERT training videos and to pass the EXPERT Training Quiz before being activated within the system and further, the EXPERT agrees that he or she will adhere to all of the requirements as outlined in the videos and herein as long as they are providing Services to the Students.

(b)  Custom Help Service.  The EXPERT agrees to review and respond to problems on academic subjects that are posted by students, in connection with the Custom Help Service. The EXPERT Work shall reflect the EXPERT's best efforts to respond to the problem and shall be correct, to the best knowledge and ability of the EXPERT. The EXPERT Work shall provide a detailed step-by-step solution to the problem, showing all parts and calculations required as may be required for the Student's complete understanding, but shall not be in a final 'polished' form that would allow it to be turned in as a completed assignment or test response. Acceptable methods to accomplish this include providing the solution in point form and/or including instructional annotations throughout.

(c)  Essay Review Service.  The EXPERT shall review and provide comments on student essays and other assignments in connection with the Essay Review Service. The EXPERT Work shall include comments and / or notes as embedded or black-lined text within the assignment that is returned to the Student.  The EXPERT Work shall reflect the EXPERT's best efforts and shall be correct and helpful, to the best knowledge and ability of the EXPERT. The EXPERT shall NOT write original essays, papers or assignment responses in their entirety for any Student; rather the EXPERT shall only comment on and edit what the Student has already written and submitted to BM.

(d)  Return of Student Problems and Essays. In the event that the EXPERT determines that he or she is unable to provide the appropriate level of advice to Students in connection with the Services, he or she shall expeditiously return the relevant posting to BM immediately upon making such determination and in no case longer than 1 hour after signing out the posting.

(e)  Acceptance of EXPERT Work by Students. EXPERT Work is subject to Student acceptance, and shall be rated by Students. The Payment (as defined in paragraph 10 below) shall accrue to the EXPERT only when the EXPERT Work has been accepted and paid for by the Student. EXPERT Work that is deemed by BM to be unacceptable will be removed from the Site and, where deemed appropriate by BM, the student will be given a refund of BM credits for the EXPERT Work and the EXPERT will not be paid for the work.

(f)  No Ghost-Writing.  The EXPERT agrees that he or she shall be the only one to create and provide EXPERT Work through his or her account with BM.

8.  The EXPERT Work.

(a)  License Granted to BM. The EXPERT shall be deemed to grant BM an exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide license to use all of the EXPERT Work in any manner whatsoever, in consideration of the Payment referenced in paragraph 10 below.  Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, BM may reproduce the EXPERT Work, or any part thereof, in any media and incorporate it in other works, including but not limited to the BM Library Services, third party websites or other publications. The EXPERT acknowledges and agrees that he/she has no financial or other interest, by copyright or otherwise, in any works created by BM from the original EXPERT Work in connection with the Services. The EXPERT further agrees that he or she shall not post, use, assign, or sell the original EXPERT Work, or any substantially similar copy or derivative thereof, on or to any other web site, blog, internet location, person, corporation or party whatsoever. BM's rights herein may be sub-licensed to third parties in the sole discretion of BM, without any financial obligation or notification to the EXPERT. EXPERTs are deemed to have waived their moral rights, if any, in the EXPERT Work.

(b)  EXPERT Work Not to Infringe Copyright. EXPERTs shall ensure, and shall be deemed to have provided a representation to BM, that the EXPERT Work does not infringe the copyright (for example, by reproducing any part of a work, such as an assignment, case study, journal article or textbook), moral rights or any other right of any third party. This notwithstanding, BM reserves the right to edit the EXPERT Work as it deems necessary to ensure that copyright and moral rights are not infringed if it becomes aware that such may be the case.

(c)  Privacy. EXPERTs shall respect the privacy of all Students. At no time shall EXPERTs communicate with Students directly other than as facilitated, arranged, or approved by BM and as provided for through the BM Site and software. EXPERTs shall hold in confidence, and not communicate to any person other than BM, any personal information of any Student received in connection with the EXPERT's use of the Site including, but not limited to any Student's e-mail address, university or college, or area of study should any of that information become known to them. EXPERTs will not communicate by any means whatsoever any of their own personal information, including their their email address, mailing address or phone number, to any Student.

(d)  Prohibited Content.  The EXPERT acknowledges that BM reserves the right to revise or delete any EXPERT Work from the Site for any reason whatsoever. The EXPERT Work shall not include material that is false, defamatory, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, pornographic, profane, threatening, or invasive of any person's privacy or intellectual property rights, or that violates any law or is otherwise inappropriate for the Services. Advertisements, chain letters and any other form of solicitation shall not be included in the EXPERT Work. All material submitted to BM in connection with the Services, or otherwise posted on the Site, is subject to the BM Copyright Notification Policy (http://brainmass.com/content/copyright-policy ), which the EXPERT acknowledges having read and understood.

(e)  Restrictions on Use of Materials.  All of the Site contents, such as text, graphics, logos, images, audio and video clips, and software (the "Materials") is the property of BM, or of parties that have assigned or licensed materials to BM, and is protected by Canadian and international copyright laws. Unless otherwise stated, no material from the Site may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, communicated to the public by telecommunication, linked, framed, exploited or distributed by any means whatsoever, except that you may download or print a single copy of materials for the purpose of research or private study, provided that you maintain all copyright notices relating to such materials.  Modification of the Materials or use of the Materials for any other purpose is a violation of copyright and other proprietary rights.

(f) Limited License to Use Software.  Where EXPERTs are permitted to download software in connection with the their use of the Site and provision of the Services, such software, including any files or images incorporated in or generated by the software and any data accompanying the software (collectively, the "Software") is merely licensed to EXPERTs by BM or others.  This license is personal, non-transferable and non-assignable. Title to the Software is not being transferred to EXPERTs. Although you may own the medium on which the Software is recorded, BM, or others, retains copyright in and title to the Software and all other intellectual property rights therein. EXPERT's shall not reproduce, redistribute, sell, decompile, reverse-engineer or disassemble the Software.

9.  Trade Marks.  BrainMass TM is a trade mark of BrainMass Inc.  Other trade marks or trade names contained or referenced on the Site may be the trade marks or trade names of BM or other owners.

10.  Payment for EXPERT Work.

(a)  Payment Due Following Acceptance By Students.  BM shall remit payments for the EXPERT Work ("Payment" or "Payments") to each EXPERT on a monthly basis, on the 15th of the month following the end of the calendar month period for which payment is being made. If the 15th of the month falls on a weekend or holiday, the Payments will be sent on the business day immediately following the weekend or holiday. BM currently renders EXPERT Payments only through PayPal or by corporate cheque, as chosen by the EXPERT and as agreed to by BM. If EXPERT chooses to be paid by corporate cheque, a processing fee will be deducted from the amount otherwise owing. Additional or alternate payment mechanisms may be offered by BrainMass over time. If BM is charged a direct fee for making a payment to an EXPERT through PayPal, then BM reserves the right to deduct that fee from the payment. Payments shall be payable to the EXPERT only after the EXPERT Work is accepted by the Student, and after the Student's payment is actually received by BM.

(b)  Pay Scale. The pay scale in respect of all EXPERT Work shall be as set out by BM and may be revised from time to time. Currently, the pay scale is as follows:

Custom Help service: The EXPERT shall be paid sixty per cent (60%) of the amounts paid by all Students for first ten (10) EXPERT Works submitted by the EXPERT following their Registration with BM. For the eleventh (11th) and all subsequent EXPERT Works, the EXPERT shall be paid seventy per cent (70%) of the amounts paid by the Students for such EXPERT Works. The first ten (10) EXPERT Works shall be defined as any combination of Custom Help and Essay Review EXPERT Works.

Essay Review Service: The payment schedule shall be the same as that defined above for the Custom Help service.

Library Services: Students using the BM Library Services will be able to purchase EXPERT Works or groupings of EXPERT Works from the BM Library. Unless this Agreement is terminated, when and if an EXPERT Work, being one or any of a previously-completed Custom Help Solution, an eBook or a Video Lecture, is posted to the BM Library for ongoing purchase by BM Students, the EXPERT that produced such EXPERT Work may receive additional variable compensation at rates per product type (the "Library Pay Rates") that will be posted each month in the EXPERT account. If issued, any such variable payments will only be made with respect to revenue-generating sales of a specific EXPERT Work. BM may offer its Library Services at rates that change periodically and that may be different depending on the type of product sold. BM will also provide free access to the Library Services at times to promote the Site and the Services. If this Agreement is terminated, no further payments shall be accrued or paid to the EXPERT if and when BM makes such payments.

BM may require that EXPERTs modify the content and layout of EXPERT Works contained in the BM Library so as to maximize the potential for Students to find and download the EXPERT Works from the Site. Failure by the EXPERT to adhere to these requirements with respect to any particular EXPERT Work, as determined solely by BM acting reasonably and after notification to the EXPERT of these requirements, may result in the permanent loss by the EXPERT of any opportunity to receive the Library Pay Rates with respect to any and all future purchases of any of the EXPERT's EXPERT Works.

(c)  Currency.   All Payments to EXPERTs are calculated and payable in Canadian currency.

(d)  Minimum Payments.  During the Term of this Agreement, BM reserves the right to accrue the amounts owing to EXPERTs and to defer disbursement of the Payments until the EXPERT is owed a minimum of seventy five Canadian dollars (C$75.00).

(e)  Payment Details. It is the sole responsibility of the EXPERT to provide notice to BM of his/her current e-mail address and payment information in order to facilitate such payments.

(f) Not Responsible for EXPERT's Account Charges. BM bears no responsibility or liability for any costs incurred when the EXPERT's bank or PayPal levies a fee on the EXPERT to receive any payment from BM.

11.  Indemnification.  To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the EXPERT shall defend, indemnify and hold BM, its affiliates and related companies, and any of their respective directors, officers, employees, consultants and agents, harmless from and against all claims, liability, and expenses, including all legal fees and costs, arising out of your breach of any provision of this Agreement.  BM reserves the right, in its sole discretion and its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any action, claim or matter otherwise subject to indemnification by the EXPERT.  The EXPERT will co-operate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any claim.

12.  Assignment.  This Agreement may be transferred or assigned by BM in its sole discretion.  The rights and obligations of the EXPERT under this Agreement shall not be assigned without the prior written consent of BM

13.  Severability.  If any provision of this Agreement shall be found to be unlawful, void and unenforceable, then such provision shall be deemed to be severable from this Agreement and will not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions of this Agreement.

14.  Amendments to this Agreement.  BM reserves the right to make changes to the Services, the Site and this Agreement from time to time. BM shall provide notice of such material amendments to this Agreement via e-mail to the EXPERTs or by way of messages to your BM account. In any event the EXPERT hereby agrees to review the Agreement on a regular basis and that continued use of the site shall constitute acceptance of all of the Terms of this Agreement as they may be amended from time to time.

15.  Notices.  All notices, statements, authorizations or other communications (collectively "Notices"), required or permitted to be given in connection with this Agreement, may be by electronic mail to BM at Expert@BrainMass.com,  and to the EXPERT at the e-mail address set out in the EXPERT's Registration, or by other methods as agreed to by the parties via e-mail in advance of such Notices being sent.  Either party may provide notice of a change in its e-mail address, by e-mail, from time to time.

16.  English Language.  The parties have agreed and requested that this Agreement be drawn up in English. Les parties aux presentes ont exige que cette entente et tous autres documents envisages par les presentes soient rediges en anglais.

17.  Independent Parties.  BM and the EXPERT acknowledge and agree that, except as expressly provided for in this Agreement, each is an independent contractor, and that no party shall be considered to be an employee, agent, representative, master or servant of the other party for any purpose whatsoever, and that no party has any authority to enter into any contract, assume any obligations, or give any warranties or representations on behalf of the other party.  Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to create a relationship of partners, joint-venturers, fiduciaries, or any other similar relationship.

18.  Entire Agreement, Binding.  Subject to the assignment provision contained herein, this Agreement shall exist for the benefit of, and to be binding upon the parties hereto and their respective heirs, executors, administrators, successors, and assigns. This Agreement, incorporating the Registration referred to herein, constitutes the entire agreement between the parties and supersedes any previous agreements or understandings between BM and the EXPERT.

©  BrainMass Inc. 2012


Last updated April 1, 2012
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