General Mills Product Or Service to Be Resolved Through Binding Arbitration

http://generalmills.com/Legal_Terms.aspx

We’ve updated our Privacy Policy. Please note we also have new Legal Terms which require all disputes related to the purchase or use of any General Mills product or service to be resolved through binding arbitration. For more information on these changes, please click here.

IMPORTANT: We’ve revised our Privacy Policy and Legal Terms. Learn More.

General Mills : Homepage search

Legal terms Legal terms

This page contains important legal terms affecting your relationship with General Mills, including all of its affiliated companies and brands. PLEASE NOTE THAT SECTION 3 BELOW CONTAINS A BINDING ARBITRATION CLAUSE AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER. IT AFFECTS THE RIGHTS YOU HAVE IN ANY DISPUTE WITH GENERAL MILLS (INCLUDING ITS AFFILIATED COMPANIES AND BRANDS), INCLUDING DISPUTES ARISING OUT OF YOUR PURCHASE OR USE OF ANY GENERAL MILLS PRODUCT OR SERVICE FOR PERSONAL OR HOUSEHOLD USE, INCLUDING GENERAL MILLS PRODUCTS PURCHASED AT ONLINE OR PHYSICAL STORES.

General Mills’ affiliated brands and products include, but are not limited to: Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Yoplait, Nature Valley, Old El Paso, Progresso, Hamburger Helper, Toaster Strudel, Gold Medal, Bisquick, Totino’s, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Kix, Trix, Cocoa Puffs, Total, Wheaties, Fiber One, Chex, other General Mills Big G cereals, Box Tops For Education, and all other brands listed here. All of these brands and business are referred to collectively below as “General Mills.”

1. Your agreement to these legal terms

These terms are a binding legal agreement (“Agreement”) between you and General Mills. In exchange for the benefits, discounts, content, features, services, or other offerings that you receive or have access to by using our websites, joining our sites as a member, joining our online community, subscribing to our email newsletters, downloading or printing a digital coupon, entering a sweepstakes or contest, redeeming a promotional offer, or otherwise participating in any other General Mills offering, you are agreeing to these terms.

Of course, your decision to do any of these things (i.e., to use or join our site or online community, to subscribe to our emails, to download or print a digital coupon, to enter a sweepstakes or contest, to take advantage of a promotional offer, or otherwise participate in any other General Mills offering) is entirely voluntary. But if you choose to do any of these things, then you agree to be bound by this Agreement.

2. Duration of this Agreement; your right to terminate

This Agreement will remain in effect until terminated, subject to the following:

You may terminate this Agreement by providing us with written notice of your desire to do so by emailing us at [email protected]. Please include your first and last name and the year in which you were born in the email. Any such termination will not be valid if you remain (at that time) a user or member or any of our sites or communities, a subscriber to any of our emails, or a participant in any sweepstakes, contest, or other General Mills offering where these terms have been presented. You can cease to be a member of our sites and online communities at any time by following the instructions in the terms of use provided at the website where the site or online community is located. You can cancel your subscription to any of our emails by clicking “unsubscribe” at the bottom of those emails and following the instructions provided.

We may also terminate or modify this Agreement at any time and for any reason; provided, however, that in the event of a modification, this Agreement (in its unmodified form) will remain in effect until you agree to the modified Agreement by

1 of 7 http://generalmills.com/Legal_Terms.aspx

continuing to participate as a user or member or any of our sites or communities, as a subscriber to any of our emails, or a participant in any sweepstakes, contest, or other General Mills offering where these modified terms are presented.

If either you or General Mills has validly terminated this Agreement, that termination will apply only on a going forward basis: you specifically agree that any dispute between us that relates in whole or in part to any activity, occurrence, transaction, damage, loss, or event arising or occurring prior to your termination of this Agreement will continue to be governed by this Agreement.

If you have validly terminated this Agreement, but then subsequently resume your relationship with us (for example, by subscribing again to emails or once more becoming a member of one of our sites), the then-current version of this Agreement will restart at that point.

3. Dispute resolution; binding arbitration

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. IT AFFECTS RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY OTHERWISE HAVE. IT PROVIDES FOR RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES THAT YOU OR GENERAL MILLS MAY HAVE WITH EACH OTHER THROUGH INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION INSTEAD OF THROUGH COURT TRIALS, JURY TRIALS, OR CLASS ACTIONS. ARBITRATION IS FINAL AND BINDING AND SUBJECT TO LIMITED REVIEW BY A COURT. THIS ARBITRATION CLAUSE SHALL SURVIVE TERMINATION OF THIS AGREEMENT.

This Section 3 is intended to be interpreted broadly to encompass all disputes or claims arising out of this Agreement or your purchase or use of any General Mills product or service for personal or household use. As noted above, “General Mills” includes any and all of General Mills’ affiliated companies or brands. These affiliated brands include, but are not limited to, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Yoplait, Nature Valley, Old El Paso, Progresso, Hamburger Helper, Toaster Strudel Gold Medal, Bisquick, Totino’s, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Kix, Trix, Cocoa Puffs, Total, Wheaties, Fiber One, Chex, other General Mills Big G cereals, Box Tops For Education, and all other brands listed here.

ANY DISPUTE OR CLAIM MADE BY YOU AGAINST GENERAL MILLS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR YOUR PURCHASE OR USE OF ANY GENERAL MILLS SERVICE OR PRODUCT (INCLUDING GENERAL MILLS PRODUCTS PURCHASED AT ONLINE OR PHYSICAL STORES FOR PERSONAL OR HOUSEHOLD USE) REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DISPUTE OR CLAIM IS BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STATUTE, FRAUD, MISREPRESENTATION, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY (TOGETHER, A “DISPUTE”) WILL BE RESOLVED BY INFORMAL NEGOTIATIONS OR THROUGH BINDING ARBITRATION, AS DESCRIBED BELOW.

Informal negotiations To expedite resolution and control the cost of a Dispute, you and General Mills agree to first attempt to resolve a Dispute informally for at least thirty (30) days before initiating any arbitration. Such informal negotiations will commence upon written notice from one party to the other. You must send your notice to [email protected]. Please include in the subject line of the email “Request to Negotiate.”

Arbitration procedures If you and General Mills are unable to resolve a Dispute through informal negotiations, either you or General Mills may elect to have a Dispute resolved by binding arbitration by notifying the other party of such election. Either party also may choose to seek relief in a small claims court for a Dispute within the scope of its jurisdiction, instead of arbitration. To make this election, the small claims court action must be commenced before either party notifies the other of an election to arbitrate the Dispute, but after the conclusion of the informal negotiation period described above. If neither party has validly commenced a small claims court action for a Dispute, any election to arbitrate the Dispute by one party will immediately become final and binding on the other.

You and General Mills agree to waive the right to litigate any Dispute in court (except in

2 of 7 http://generalmills.com/Legal_Terms.aspx

small claims court in the limited circumstances described above) and before a jury and agree that this arbitration provision will be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act to the maximum extent permitted by law. You and General Mills also agree that any arbitrator that arbitrates a Dispute under this provision is without jurisdiction to conduct a class arbitration or other representative proceeding, and may not consolidate one person’s claims with another.

You and General Mills agree that all issues of enforceability of this agreement to arbitrate – including issues relating to scope, validity, and unconscionability – will be decided by the arbitrator. If for any reason this arbitration provision is deemed inapplicable or invalid, you and General Mills both waive, to the fullest extent allowed by law, the right to a jury trial and any claims relating to a Dispute to recover punitive or exemplary damages and any right to pursue any claims on a class or consolidated basis or in a representative capacity. These waivers shall also apply to any proceeding in small claims court.

The arbitration will be commenced and conducted under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and the AAA’s Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes (“AAA Consumer Procedures”), both of which are available at the AAA website www.adr.org or may be acquired by calling the AAA at 1-800-778-7879.

Any arbitration will be confidential, and neither you nor General Mills may disclose the existence, content, or results of any arbitration, except as may be required by law or for purposes of enforcement of the arbitration award. Judgment on any arbitration award may be entered in any court having proper jurisdiction.

If any portion of this arbitration provision is determined by a court or the arbitrator to be inapplicable or invalid, then the remainder shall still be given full force and effect.

Costs of arbitration Payment of all arbitrator compensation, expenses, and administrative fees (which include filing and hearing fees) will be governed by the AAA Consumer Procedures. Under those Procedures, and except as provided below, you are not responsible for paying any arbitrator compensation or expenses, and the only administrative fee you would be responsible for is a $200 filing fee. Moreover, if the relief you seek is less than $5,000, General Mills will pay the $200 filing fee. Regardless of the amount of your claim, however, the arbitrator may re-allocate compensation, expenses, and administrative fees if he or she determines that a claim or counterclaim was filed for purposes of harassment or is patently frivolous.

In all arbitrations, each party will bear the expense of its own counsel, experts, witnesses, and preparation and presentation of evidence at the arbitration, except that General Mills will pay the costs relating to proof and witnesses produced at the direction of the arbitrator.

4. Website terms of use

This website is owned and provided by General Mills and is provided for your personal entertainment, information, and education. As used in this Agreement, “Website” (or “Site”) includes our pages and applications on third-party social networking services such as Facebook or Twitter and our applications on mobile devices.

United States only Unless otherwise specified, the materials in this Website are presented solely for the purpose of promoting products or programs available in the United States, its territories, possessions, and protectorates. We make no representation that materials in the Website are appropriate or available for use in other locations. If you access the Website from locations other than the United States, you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws.

Copyright and intellectual property policy All names, logos, service marks, and trademarks appearing in this Website, including the trademarks, service marks, brand identities, characters, trade names, graphics,

3 of 7 http://generalmills.com/Legal_Terms.aspx

designs, copyrights, trade dress, and all other intellectual property ("Content"), except as otherwise noted, are protected intellectual property of, or used with permission or under license by, General Mills. This includes the entire Content of the Website, which is copyrighted and protected as a collective work.

The use or misuse of the Content on this Website, except as provided in this Agreement or in the Content itself, is strictly prohibited. You may print copies of the Content for your personal use, store the files on your computer for personal use, or reference this server from your own documents. However, you may not distribute Content to others without our express written consent. Also, you may not, without our permission, copy and distribute Content on any other server, or modify or re-use Content on this system or another system. We reserve all other rights.

Your use of the Website is limited to personal and non-commercial use only unless other uses are granted expressly to you. You may not copy, distribute, modify, transmit, reuse, re-post, or otherwise display the Content for public or commercial purposes without our written permission.

General Mills has no responsibility for content on other websites that you may find or access when using General Mills’ products or services. Material available on or through other websites may be protected by copyright and the intellectual property laws of the United States and/or other countries. The terms of use of those websites, and not this Agreement, govern your use of that materials.

It is General Mills’ policy, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may infringe or repeatedly infringe the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of General Mills and/or others.

User submitted content This Website may allow users to post text, images, audio, video, links to other sites, or other content (together “User Submissions”) to the Website. As a consequence, you may see User Submissions that have been submitted to this Website by individuals not affiliated with General Mills. General Mills does not endorse these individuals nor are we in any way associated with any of the User Submission that they may post on this Website or link to from this Website. General Mills has no responsibility or liability of any nature whatsoever arising in connection with any User Submissions provided by these individuals or in connection with any conduct of these individuals.

General Mills does not claim ownership of User Submissions. However, by submitting User Submissions to the Site, you understand and agree that you are giving General Mills a royalty-free, irrevocable, non- exclusive and sublicenseable license to use, reproduce, publish, distribute, perform, display and creative derivative works from any such User Submissions, in whole or in part, in any form (including for promotional or marketing purposes).

You understand and agree that you are fully responsible for the content that you post. You may not post User Submissions that violate any law, or may otherwise be objectionable or inappropriate. In particular, you may not submit, add, transmit, post, or provide content to, on, or through the Website that:

infringes on the copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property right of any third party;

is false, misleading, libelous, defamatory, obscene, abusive, hateful, or sexually- explicit;

violates a third party’s right to privacy or publicity;

degrades others on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual preference, disability or other classification;

contains epithets or other language or material intended to intimidate or to incite violence;

violates any applicable local, state, national, or international law;

4 of 7 http://generalmills.com/Legal_Terms.aspx

General Mills believes in good faith is otherwise objectionable or inappropriate.

You understand and agree that you may only post User Submissions that you own, or that you otherwise have the right to post. In addition, you must obtain all necessary permission from any individuals identified in or implicated by your User Submission (including those shown in photographic content), and, in the case of minors, also from their parents or legal guardians, as appropriate.

You understand and agree that General Mills may, but is not obligated to, monitor, review, remove, reject, or revise at any time, without prior notice and in its sole discretion, User Submissions that violate this Agreement, are otherwise objectionable, or for any other reason.

Notice for claims of intellectual property violations and agent for notice General Mills respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide General Mills’ Copyright Agent with the following information. a. an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest; b. a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed; c. a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Website, with enough detail that we may find it; d. your address, telephone number, and email address; e. a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright or intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law; f. a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner's behalf.

General Mills’ Agent for notice of claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement can be reached as follows:

By mail Copyright Agent c/o General Mills, Inc. Number One General Mills Blvd Minneapolis, MN 55426

By phone (800) 248-7310

By fax (763) 764-2268

Other restrictions You also agree not to:

Harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including e-mail addresses, without their consent;

Take any action that imposes an unreasonably large load on the Website’s servers

Use any device, software, or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website or any activity conducted on the Website;

Use or attempt to use any automated process (including, without limitation, spiders

5 of 7 http://generalmills.com/Legal_Terms.aspx

and robots) to access or use the Website;

Engage in any other conduct that exposes us or any of our users to any liability or potential harm.

Disclaimer Without limiting the foregoing, everything on the Website is provided to you "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. ADDITIONALLY, WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE WEBSITE(S) OR THE SERVERS MAKING THE SITE(S) AVAILABLE ARE VIRUS FREE. We do not warrant that the functions contained in these materials will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that this Website or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or other harmful components. We do not warrant or make any representations regarding the use or the result of the use of the materials in this Website in terms of their correctness, accuracy, reliability, or otherwise.

Your use of the Website is at your risk. General Mills will not be liable for any damages including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, arising out of your access to or use of the Website and however caused, whether in contract or tort. If you become dissatisfied in any way with this Website, your sole and exclusive remedy is to stop using this Website and its services. (Some states do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages, so these provisions may not apply to you. If any portion of these limitations on liability is found to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, then the aggregate liability of General Mills shall not exceed one hundred dollars ($100).)

Links This Website may contain links allowing you to leave this Website for other sites that are not under our control. We are not endorsing any such linked sites. We are not responsible for the contents or transmission of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site or for ensuring that the linked sites are error and virus free. Nor are we responsible for the terms or privacy practices of such sites. We encourage you to carefully read the policies of each site you visit.

Submitted ideas All comments, suggestions, ideas, notes, drawings, concepts, recipes or other information disclosed or submitted to us by you through this Website or in response to solicitations in this Website (“Submitted Ideas”) shall be and shall remain our property. You understand and acknowledge that we have both internal and external resources which may have developed or may in the future develop ideas or other items identical to or similar to the Submitted Ideas and that we are only willing to consider the Submitted Ideas on these terms. In any event, no Submitted Idea is submitted in confidence and we assume no obligation, express or implied by considering the Submitted Idea. Without limitation, we shall exclusively own all now known or hereafter existing rights to the Submitted Ideas of every kind and nature throughout the universe and shall be entitled to unrestricted use of the Submitted Ideas for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise without compensation to the provider of the Submitted Ideas.

Contact information You may contact us with any comments.

5. Governing Law

This Agreement will be governed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the United States, without regard for conflict of laws considerations.

6. Survival of Terms

Sections 3, 4, and 5 of this Agreement will survive any termination of this Agreement.

7. No waiver

6 of 7 http://generalmills.com/Legal_Terms.aspx

Either party’s failure to enforce any provision of this Agreement or to require performance by the other party shall not be construed as a waiver of such provision nor affect the validity of this Agreement or any part thereof, or either party’s right to enforce any provision thereafter.

8. Other Agreements and Terms

In addition to the terms contained within this Agreement, you also are agreeing to the terms of our privacy policy and to any other terms and conditions that are presented to you in connection with your participation in, or use of, any General Mills offering. (For example, if you sign up for a sweepstakes, you will be required to agree to the Official Rules of that sweepstakes in addition to the Terms of this Agreement.) This Agreement is intended as a supplement to all such other terms.

7 of 7