These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern your access to and use of https://thekoreancarblog.com (the "Site") operated by Korean Car Blog, LLC, a LLC organized under the laws of the State of Texas, United States of America (the "Company," "we," "us," or "our"). By using the Site you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Site.
IMPORTANT — ARBITRATION NOTICE: Section 11 contains a binding arbitration clause and a class action waiver. By using the Site you agree to resolve disputes individually through arbitration, waiving your right to a jury trial or class action. You may opt out within 30 days of first use (see Section 11.5).
1. Editorial content & intellectual property
All articles, images, video embeds, and other editorial content published on the Site are © 2026 Korean Car Blog, LLC unless explicitly attributed to a third party. Reproduction, redistribution, commercial use, scraping for AI-training datasets, or creation of derivative works without prior written permission is prohibited. Brief quotation with attribution and a link back to the original article is permitted under the U.S. fair use doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107) and equivalent doctrines under other applicable laws.
2. Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- Scrape, crawl, or otherwise extract content at a scale that affects Site availability or impersonate a search engine.
- Republish entire articles on third-party sites without permission.
- Submit content containing spam, illegal content, hate speech, harassment, defamation, or material infringing third-party rights.
- Attempt to interfere with the Site's security, infrastructure, or normal operation; bypass rate limits; or probe for vulnerabilities other than via responsible disclosure to info@thekoreancarblog.com.
- Use automated systems (bots, AI agents, headless browsers) to interact with comments, voting, or the newsletter without our prior written consent.
- Use the Site or any content from it to train machine learning models.
3. User-generated content (comments)
When you post a comment, vote, bookmark, or submit any content ("UGC"), you grant Korean Car Blog, LLC a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicensable license to display, distribute, store, adapt, and create derivative works of that UGC on the Site and in related promotional materials. You retain copyright ownership.
You represent and warrant that your UGC is your own, does not infringe third-party rights, and complies with these Terms. We may moderate, edit, or remove UGC at our sole discretion. Repeated violations may result in account suspension or permanent ban.
4. Right of publicity / use of likeness
Editorial content may include photographs, names, or likenesses of individuals (drivers, executives, designers, etc.) for newsworthy or commentary purposes consistent with the U.S. First Amendment and the right of publicity laws of applicable states. If you believe your likeness has been used inappropriately, contact us at info@thekoreancarblog.com.
5. Newsletter
Newsletter subscription is opt-in. We comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. § 7701), Canadian CASL, EU GDPR, Brazilian LGPD and Korean PIPA. Every email contains our valid postal address ([TBD: postal address]) and a one-click unsubscribe link. You may also email info@thekoreancarblog.com to be removed.
6. Third-party services
The Site embeds or links to third-party services (Google Analytics, Google AdSense, YouTube, X/Twitter, etc.). Your use of those services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for the content, practices, or availability of third-party services.
7. AI-generated translations
We use AI services to translate editorial content into Korean, German, Spanish, and French. Machine translations may contain inaccuracies; the English version is the authoritative source. We do not send your personal data to these services — only editorial content of articles.
8. DMCA notice and takedown procedure
We respect the intellectual property rights of others and comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512, the "DMCA"). If you believe content on the Site infringes your copyright, please send a notice to our designated DMCA agent at dmca@thekoreancarblog.com containing all of the following (DMCA § 512(c)(3)):
- Your physical or electronic signature.
- Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
- Identification of the material on the Site claimed to be infringing, with sufficient detail (URL) for us to locate it.
- Your contact information (address, telephone, email).
- A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized.
- A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
We will respond to valid notices by removing or disabling access to the material. We may forward the notice to the user who posted the content. Repeat infringers will have their accounts terminated as required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(i).
Counter-notification: If you believe content was removed in error, you may submit a counter-notification per § 512(g) to the same address.
Note: Our DMCA agent registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is pending. Full Safe Harbor protection under § 512 applies upon completion of the registration.
9. Disclaimer of warranties
THE SITE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR ACCURACY OF CONTENT. We do our best to ensure accuracy of automotive news, specifications, and reviews, but we do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of any information. Vehicle specifications, prices, and availability are subject to change by manufacturers without notice.
10. Limitation of liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL Korean Car Blog, LLC, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUE, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
OUR MAXIMUM AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SITE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (a) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100.00) OR (b) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US, IF ANY, IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO LIABILITY. Some jurisdictions do not allow exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages — these limitations may not apply to you.
11. Binding arbitration & class action waiver
11.1 Agreement to arbitrate. Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Site (a "Dispute") shall be resolved exclusively through final and binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its applicable Consumer Arbitration Rules. The Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.) governs the interpretation and enforcement of this Section.
11.2 Class action waiver. YOU AGREE THAT DISPUTES WILL BE BROUGHT ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS ONLY. CLASS ACTIONS, CLASS ARBITRATIONS, AND REPRESENTATIVE ACTIONS ARE NOT PERMITTED. THE ARBITRATOR MAY NOT CONSOLIDATE MORE THAN ONE PERSON'S CLAIMS.
11.3 Exceptions. Notwithstanding 11.1, either party may bring an individual action in small-claims court for disputes within its jurisdiction, or seek injunctive relief in court for intellectual property infringement.
11.4 Location. Arbitration shall take place in the state of Texas, United States, or remotely as the arbitrator directs. Each party bears its own fees and costs except as required by the arbitration rules.
11.5 30-day opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by sending written notice to info@thekoreancarblog.com within 30 days of first using the Site. The notice must include your full legal name and a clear statement that you wish to opt out. Opting out only affects this Section; all other Terms continue to apply.
12. Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Korean Car Blog, LLC, its directors, officers, employees, contractors, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or in any way connected with: (a) your access to or use of the Site; (b) your UGC; (c) your violation of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any third-party right, including without limitation any intellectual property, publicity, privacy, or other proprietary right.
13. Termination
We may terminate or suspend your access to the Site at any time, without prior notice, for any reason, including breach of these Terms. Upon termination your right to use the Site ceases immediately; Sections 1, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 15 survive termination.
14. Governing law & jurisdiction
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas (excluding its conflict of laws rules) and applicable U.S. federal law. Subject to the arbitration agreement in Section 11, any dispute not subject to arbitration shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Texas, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. Mandatory consumer-protection laws of your country of residence may grant you additional rights to bring action in your local courts.
15. Miscellaneous
Severability: If any provision of these Terms is held
invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full
force and effect.
No waiver: Our failure to enforce any provision is not
a waiver of our right to do so later.
Assignment: You may not assign these Terms without our
prior written consent. We may assign them freely, including in
connection with a merger or sale.
Entire agreement: These Terms, together with our
Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, constitute the entire agreement
between you and Korean Car Blog, LLC regarding the Site and supersede any
prior agreements.
Notices: We may provide notices via the Site or by
email to your account address. You may send notices to
info@thekoreancarblog.com.
16. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms when our practices or applicable laws change. Material changes will be notified via the homepage banner for at least 30 days before taking effect. Continued use of the Site after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
17. Contact
General inquiries: info@thekoreancarblog.com
DMCA notices: dmca@thekoreancarblog.com
Postal address: [TBD: postal address]