Terms and Conditions

Waiver and Release Form (“Terms and Conditions”)

In consideration of being allowed to participate in and attend the Burning Man 2013 event (the “Event” or the “Burning Man Event”), I agree to comply with any and all rules, regulations, terms and conditions of the Burning Man Event, including but not limited to the following:

1. I certify that I am physically able to participate in the Burning Man Event and in any activity or performance associated with it, and have not been advised otherwise by a qualified medical professional.

2. I acknowledge and fully understand that as a participant, I will be engaging in activities that involve risk of serious injury, including permanent disability and death, property loss and severe social and economic losses. These risks include, but are not limited to, those caused by: (a) the actions, inactions or negligence of the organizers of the Burning Man Event, i.e., Black Rock City LLC and its officers, directors, employees, agents, representatives and volunteers (collectively, “Burning Man”), and participants, volunteers and spectators; (b) conditions of the premises or equipment used; (c) rules and regulations regarding the activities; (d) temperature; (e) weather; (f) condition of participants; and, (g) vehicular traffic. I further acknowledge and fully understand that there may also be other risks that are not known or foreseeable at this time. I KNOWINGLY AND VOLUNTARILY ASSUME ALL RISK OF PROPERTY LOSS, PERSONAL INJURY, SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH, WHICH MAY OCCUR BY ATTENDING THE 2013 BURNING MAN EVENT AND HEREBY FOREVER RELEASE, DISCHARGE AND HOLD BURNING MAN HARMLESS FROM ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM SUCH RISK, EVEN IF ARISING FROM THE NEGLIGENCE OF BURNING MAN, OR BY THIRD PARTIES, AND I ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY AND LIABILITY FOR MY PARTICIPATION.

3. I understand that during the Burning Man Event, art installations, theme camps, vehicles (including but not limited to 'mutant vehicles' and 'art cars'), events and performances will be held and/or on display and I understand that most of these activities are not owned or operated by Burning Man, and I assume all risks of injury or death arising from their operation and from my participation in any of these activities.

4. I, on behalf of myself, my heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, hereby waive, release, discharge, and agree not to sue Burning Man, its officers, directors, members, employees, volunteers, representatives, agents, contractors and subcontractors, and other participants, sponsors, affiliates, and if applicable, owners and lessors of equipment, art installations and premises used to conduct the Burning Man Event or related activities (collectively the "Releasees"), from any and all claims for damages, injuries, losses, liabilities and expenses which I may have or which may subsequently accrue to me, relating to, resulting from or arising out of my use and/or participation in the Burning Man Event, including any programs, events, art installations or activities at the Event, and including any injury or damage to my person or property, or to that of any other person or property. However, if Burning Man files a claim against me, I may file a counterclaim related to the same facts and circumstances. I agree to indemnify, defend and hold the Releasees harmless from and against any and all claims by third parties for damages, injuries, losses, liabilities and expenses relating to, resulting from or arising out of my participation in the Burning Man Event, including in any program, event or activity at the Event. I intend that the waiver and release of liability contained in these Terms and Conditions shall be construed broadly to provide a release and waiver to the maximum extent permissible under applicable law.

5. Use of Images

Cameras are welcomed at Burning Man, where they have long been an important part of Black Rock City’s storytelling history. Burning Man has worked to encourage the sharing of our community’s identity and cultural information through photography, videography, and film. Burning Man also seeks to protect that culture from unchecked commercialization or commodification, and to moderate an environment where participants’ rights to privacy, free expression, and creative immediacy are given additional consideration by our community. Your entrance to the event is your acceptance of the terms, conditions and guidelines in these Terms and Conditions for the use of photographic imagery obtained at the Event, whether still or video. If you intend to use image recording equipment at the Event, you are required to sign either a Personal Use Agreement or a Commercial Use Agreement at Media Mecca, and to adhere to the Event’s guidelines for such uses. These guidelines and agreements are aimed at protecting Black Rock City’s inhabitants and its cultural values; they may seem unusual at first glance, but Burning Man’s goal is to preserve the principle of Decommodification within the Burning Man event, and to encourage and observe respect for personal privacy and freedom of expression. Burning Man monitors dissemination of photographs primarily to ensure that photographs from the Burning Man Event are not used for advertising or commercial purposes, and that they do not infringe on participants’ rights to privacy.

I UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THAT NO USE OF IMAGES, FILM, OR VIDEO OBTAINED AT THE EVENT MAY BE MADE WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM BURNING MAN, OTHER THAN PERSONAL USE. I understand that I have no rights to make any non-Personal Use of any image, film, or video footage obtained at the event, and that I cannot sell, transfer, license, sublicense or give my images, footage, film or video obtained at the event to any other party, except for Personal Use, and I agree to inform anyone to whom I give any footage, film, or video that it can only be used for Personal Use. Use in any advertisement or in the title or cover of any publication designed for dissemination to the public (other than blog posts) of images from the Burning Man Event, of drawings or representations of the Burning Man sculpture, logos, trademarks and other intellectual property owned or licensed by Burning Man, or of the phrase "Burning Man," is prohibited without prior written consent of Burning Man.

“Personal Use” of images, film or video means to share with friends and family, to display on personal websites (as long as your website does not sell any other product or service, and as long as your website does not purport or appear to be an official website of Burning Man or Black Rock City LLC), to display on photosharing websites, and to display at art exhibits or similar exhibits. Social networking sites such as Flickr and Facebook are deemed “Personal Use” only if the display of the images, film or video on these sites are not used for the promotion or distribution of images with the intent to publicly display them beyond one’s immediate network, and if one’s immediate network is not inordinately large, to be determined in Burning Man’s sole discretion.

I further assign to Burning Man a joint ownership in the copyright for images obtained at the event so that in the event any third party displays or disseminates any of my images in a manner not authorized by this agreement, Burning Man can enforce against the third party any restrictions concerning use of the images, and I appoint Burning Man as my attorney-in-fact to execute any documents necessary to effectuate such assignment. Burning Man agrees that it will not utilize this joint ownership to enter into any licensing agreements for the images. Since I understand that, in the absence of written permission from Burning Man, I have no right under this agreement to sell, transfer, license, sublicense or give any of my images, footage, film or video obtained at the event to any other party, except for Personal Use, in the event that a third party obtains and uses any of my images, footage, film or video for use other than Personal Use without such written permission from Burning Man, I agree that any permission, license or rights I may have granted this third party is completely void and invalid and that Burning Man has the absolute right, as joint copyright owner, to require the third party to cease all use of the images, footage, film or video.

I agree, in the event I post, or allow to be posted, any images (still or video) on a personal website or a website controlled by a third party, that: (1) I will place, or cause to be placed, on any website in which such images are displayed, a notice that the images can be used only for the poster's personal use and not for any other purpose and that downloading or copying of the images is prohibited, except in accordance with the Creative Commons’s BY-NC-SA license where the licensee agrees to use the image for non-commercial purposes and only for his or her Personal Use (as defined herein) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/); (2) I will not authorize the use of any images under the Creative Commons’ license if the image contains any nudity, partial nudity, or sexually suggestive poses (nudity and partial nudity include any images in which bare breasts, bare buttocks or genitals or genital areas are visible), and Burning Man, as joint copyright owner, may revoke any Creative Commons license if such license was erroneously placed on the image in violation of these Terms and Conditions; (3) in the event Burning Man notifies me that any such images must be removed, for any reason whatsoever in Burning Man's sole discretion, I will promptly remove or cause to be removed those images, and in the event after notification by Burning Man any such images are not removed, Burning Man may, as joint copyright owner, cause the removal of any such images.  

The only Creative Commons license Burning Man approves for personal use licensing is the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license, Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/.  For full legal code see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. However, as described above, images that contain human nudity, partial nudity or sexually suggestive poses may NOT be licensed in this fashion. Be aware that the use of this license does not supersede these Terms and Conditions nor the responsibility of the photographer/videographer to obtain all necessary permissions from subjects and artists as appropriate.

Burning Man forbids the making of private profit from the documentation of nudity at the event when images are presented in a sexual context, and/or without the express written permission of subjects. If you have seen a violation or suspect a problem of this nature, please contact the Rangers and/or Media Mecca (on playa) or email ip@burningman.com (year-round).

Burning Man requires any party interested in making a commercial enterprise out of their documentation of the event or distributing footage beyond Personal Use on personal friend/family networks to enter into a written contract with Burning Man. Visit http://www.burningman.com/press for more information on how to register for this permission. Such projects require Burning Man’s review and approval prior to commercial distribution.

Burning Man's community grows primarily by word of mouth. The organization does little to solicit attention from television or media companies about the Burning Man Event, and does not seek to artificially grow the Event itself by exposure through the mass media. Burning Man does continue to support the presence of the press, and to encourage the free expression of news reporters, storytellers, small groups documenting special projects, cultural or fine art photographers, and creative authors/researchers or academics looking at Burning Man from an anthropological perspective, but all such uses require a written agreement with Burning Man in order to use images from the Event. Contact press@burningman.com.

6. I acknowledge that the name “Burning Man” is a trademark owned by the Burning Man organization, and that all of Burning Man’s logos, trademarks or other intellectual property are owned by Burning Man, and I understand that the Burning Man organization controls all rights regarding the licensing and reproduction of any imagery recorded at the Event. I agree that I will not use the mark “Burning Man,” the logos of Burning Man, or the likeness, drawings or representations of the Man or of the Black Rock City map, or any other trademark of Burning Man, on any website (except for Personal Use, as described in Paragraph 5) or in any other manner, commercial or otherwise, except for nominative or classic fair use. (For information about trademarks, copyright and fair use, please see: http://ilt.eff.org/index.php/Trademark:_General and http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/copyrightforlibrarians/Main_Page). Burning Man generally does permit the use of the mark “Burning Man,” the logo of the Man, or the design of Black Rock City, without payment of any license fee, on materials that are given away or provided to supporters at any Burning Man event (“Gift Materials”), with the following conditions: (1) Burning Man may, for any reason whatsoever in its discretion, determine that such use is not in keeping with Burning Man’s quality control, and if so all such materials shall no longer be utilized; (2) no ungifted Gift Materials may be sold or transferred in exchange for something of value or distributed in any form such that the Gift Materials are likely to be sold or transferred in exchange for something of value.

7. I acknowledge that people are using film, video and photographic cameras at the Event, and that my image may be captured on film, video or photographs which may subsequently be displayed or disseminated without my consent or payment of compensation to me, and I release Burning Man from any liability due to such filming, photographing or dissemination.

8. I hereby appoint Burning Man as my representative to protect my intellectual property or privacy rights, recognizing that Burning Man has no obligation to take any such action. I understand that, in the event Burning Man files a lawsuit to takes action to protect my intellectual property or privacy rights pursuant to the appointment in this paragraph, and Burning Man has information that my specific intellectual property or privacy rights have been violated and also has information as to my identity and my contact information, Burning Man will make reasonable efforts to notify me of any such action by sending a communication to the contact information in Burning Man’s possession.

9.  I understand that some participants at the Event may engage in expressive activity and dress, which may include partial nudity or nudity and other types of expressive activity.  I agree that such expressive activity and dress is not indecent nor offensive to me, and that I have decided to attend the Event with full knowledge that such expressive activity and dress may occur.  If I am accompanied by minors at the Event, I acknowledge that I have made a choice that the minors may be exposed to the expressive activities and dress that take place at the Event, and that I have exercised parental responsibility and control in bringing the minors to the Event. Should I find that any activity at the Event is offensive to me, or to any minors accompanying me, I acknowledge that I can avoid such activity by, among other things, leaving the vicinity of the activity or leaving the event.

10. I acknowledge that all vehicles including trucks, trailers and RVs entering Burning Man are subject to search by Gate staff, for stowaways, dogs, guns, live plants and fireworks, or other prohibited items.

11. I agree to read and abide by the terms on the back of the ticket and the following guidelines listed in the Survival Guide: The Ten Fundamentals, Safety guidelines, Commerce and Concessions guidelines, and Community guidelines.

12. I consent to have medical treatment that may be deemed advisable in the event of injury, accident and/or illness during any program, event or activity. I release Burning Man and all persons participating in any such medical treatment from all responsibility for any such actions.

13. I understand that children under 18 years of age can attend the event only accompanied by a parent or guardian, and that if I bring a minor to the event I agree to the contractual terms contained in these Terms and Conditions on behalf of the minor.  

14. In the event I am obtaining tickets for, or I provide any tickets to, any other person or persons, I recognize that I am acting as that person’s agent in obtaining the tickets, and due to this agency relationship I agree to these terms on behalf of any person to whom I deliver any of the tickets I purchase, and I shall notify any such person of these terms when I deliver a ticket to them.

15. I agree that Burning Man is not liable for acts of God, the weather, strikes, protests, or actions taken by government agencies and similar causes. I understand that tickets are nonrefundable even if the Event is terminated early or canceled, or entry conditions are modified, due to harsh weather, acts of nature, governmental regulation or conditions beyond Burning Man’s control.

16. I understand that: I must bring enough food, water, shelter and first aid to survive one week in a harsh desert environment; that commercial vending is prohibited, as are firearms, fireworks, rockets and other explosives; that this is a LEAVE NO TRACE, pack it IN, pack it OUT event; and that I am asked to contribute 2 hours of playa clean up in addition to cleaning up my own camp.

17. This ticket is a revocable license that may be revoked by Burning Man for any reason, including without limitation assisting people with unauthorized or un-ticketed entry to the Event.

18. Refund and Cancellation Policy All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges will be issued for any reason. Fees are non-refundable.

19.  Ticket Sales and Registration for Ticket Sales If you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions as part of the registration procedure for a ticket sale process, this paragraph is binding upon you, but the other paragraphs in these Terms and Conditions become binding only if you successfully purchase tickets for the Burning Man Event through the ticket purchase process, and your ticket purchase is not rescinded or revoked prior to the Event.  

Under a registration for ticket sale process, a limited number of tickets will be made available for sale, and individuals are provided an opportunity to register for the sale, and at the end of such registration or later via email will be provided an access code or access information to access the sale, in order to create equal opportunity for participants to purchase tickets for the Event.  You will be informed of the procedures for the ticket sale process during your registration for the process, and by your registration you agree to be bound by those procedures and to waive any right to challenge the procedures in the process.  During the registration period for a ticket sale process, you will register for an opportunity to purchase tickets, but your registration does not guarantee you the right to purchase any tickets. At some time after the end of the registration period, you will be able to access the site for ticket purchases on a first-come first-served basis, and will be able to purchase tickets only if tickets are available at the time of your access of the ticket purchase site.

As part of the ticket purchase process, you must provide current contact information and a valid credit card.  Invalid credit card numbers will be disqualified from participation in the ticket sale process, and you will NOT have an opportunity to provide a secondary form of payment.  Only one registration per person and per credit card will be allowed, and if a person registers more than once all registrations by that person may be canceled.  

If during the ticket sale process, you successfully purchase tickets, your registered credit card will be charged automatically for the price of the ticket(s), a per ticket service fee, a per order service fee and any applicable delivery fees.  Once you successfully purchase tickets and your credit card is charged, you cannot cancel or withdraw your ticket order, and, as with all ticket sales, the sale is final.  In the event your credit card is declined by the credit card company for any reason, the sale to you will not be processed and you will not receive any tickets.  

Once you have purchased tickets through any sale, you will be ineligible to purchase any other tickets or to apply for Low Income tickets.

For any ticket purchasers or ticket process registrations, in the event that, for any reason whatsoever, including computer or software malfunction, mistake or inadvertence, network congestion or crashes, you are not able to purchase any tickets through the ticket sale process, or your registration for a ticket sale ) or the purchase of tickets is not processed, or you receive a notice that your ticket purchase or ticket registration is rescinded, revoked, canceled, or made in error and your credit card payment is credited to your credit card account, you waive any claim against Burning Man and release Burning Man from any and all liability.

Burning Man retains the right to cancel, rescind or revoke any ticket purchases at any time prior to delivery of the actual tickets to the purchaser, for any reason whatsoever in Burning Man’s sole discretion. If anyone attempts to sell or sells a Burning Man ticket for above face value, or purchases a Burning Man ticket with the intention of reselling it for above face value, Burning Man has the absolute right, in its sole discretion, to cancel any such ticket without advance notice, and once cancelled, the ticket will be null and void and will not grant the holder any right to enter the Event.

Burning Man probably will provide a Secure Ticket Exchange Program (STEP) to facilitate purchasers attempting to resell tickets, and details of that program will be announced subsequently. If your ticket is resold through the STEP process, you will receive a refund of your ticket purchase price and your delivery fee, but not of your per-ticket or per-order service fee. Putting your ticket up for resale through the STEP process does not guarantee that your ticket will be resold and does not guarantee that you will receive a refund of the ticket purchase price, if there are no individuals who actually purchase your ticket.

20. Will Call and Entry Policy To reduce lost tickets and inhibit scalping of tickets, if during the ticket purchase process you select to have physical tickets mailed to you, the tickets will be mailed at some time after June 1, 2013 to the delivery address you specified.  In the event the ticket website contains a procedure to allow any change of the delivery address, you must make any requests to change the delivery address prior to May 24, 2013, but you understand that any such address change may not be processed and that the tickets may ultimately be mailed to the original address, and you release Burning Man from any liability concerning the tickets.   All tickets purchased after July 31st, Low Income tickets, and all tickets for which no delivery address is specified during the ticket registration or ticket purchase process, are Will Call.  Please pick up your Will Call tickets at the box office at the gate of Black Rock City. The person whose name the tickets were purchased under must have valid picture identification when showing up at the event to be able to obtain the tickets.  No refunds will be processed for patrons who do not have valid identification and therefore are unable to pick up Will Call tickets. You are responsible for checking the age minimum for the event, and no refunds will be processed for participants who are denied entry due to not having valid identification that demonstrate they are 18 years or older, or if under 18 years old and not accompanied by a parent or guardian.

21. Security and Privacy If you have any questions about the security or privacy of this site, please visit our privacy policy page at: http://www.burningman.com/index/privacy_policy.html

22. These Terms and Conditions may be changed by Burning Man prior to the Event, and if so the revised Terms and Conditions will apply to you. The most current Terms can be found at http://tickets2.burningman.com/termsofuse.php Your use of the ticket for entry to the Event signifies your binding agreement to the Terms and Conditions in effect at the time of your entry to the Event.

BY CHECKING THIS BOX, I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I HAVE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, WAIVER AND RELEASE OF LIABILITY AND I FULLY UNDERSTAND ITS TERMS, AND I UNDERSTAND THAT I HAVE GIVEN UP SUBSTANTIAL RIGHTS, AND I CHECK IT KNOWINGLY AND VOLUNTARILY WITHOUT ANY INDUCEMENT OR DURESS.