LotusElan.net Terms and Conditions

Last Modified: June 26, 2026

Overview

This document contains the following sections:

Terms and Conditions

LotusElan.net welcomes you. This User Agreement (“User Agreement”) applies to the website and interactive services owned and operated by Jeff Cocking, including LotusElan.net (the “Service”). The User Agreement applies to every visitor and user of the Service, whether registered or unregistered (“User”). By visiting or using the Service, you agree to be bound by this User Agreement.

LotusElan.net may update this User Agreement at any time. Changes become effective seven (7) days after the revised agreement is posted. The current version is always available at https://www.lotuselan.net/terms-and-conditions. Your continued use of the Service after any change becomes effective constitutes your acceptance of the revised agreement.

Service Changes and Discontinuation

LotusElan.net provides access to a community of online resources including forums, technical documentation, historical archives, and communication tools. Some services are provided free of charge. LotusElan.net reserves the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service at any time without notice. You agree that LotusElan.net will not be liable to you or any third party for any modification or discontinuance of the Service.

Service Limitations

The Service is provided “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE.” LotusElan.net does not assume responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, mis-delivery, or failure to store any data, communications, or settings. Please refer to the Disclaimer of Warranties section below for full details.

Privacy Policy

LotusElan.net respects your privacy. Our Privacy Policy is incorporated into this User Agreement and governs how we collect, use, and protect your personal information. Please review our Privacy Policy at https://www.lotuselan.net/privacy-policy.

User Content

You are solely responsible for all content you upload, post, transmit, or otherwise make available on or through the Service (“User Content”). You may only post User Content that you own, have created, or have clear permission to post. You acknowledge that LotusElan.net does not endorse User Content and is not responsible for any User Content posted by users.

LotusElan.net does not pre-screen User Content but reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to refuse, edit, move, or remove any User Content at any time.

Third-Party Services

The Service may contain links to or integrate with third-party services, including advertising and analytics providers such as Google AdSense and Google Analytics. Your use of any third-party service is subject to that service’s own terms and privacy policy. LotusElan.net does not control third-party services and is not responsible for their content or practices.

General Rules

To maintain a respectful and lawful community, all users agree to the following:

Provide true, accurate, and current information during registration and keep it up to date.
Maintain the confidentiality of your account credentials and notify LotusElan.net immediately of any unauthorized account use.
Use the Service only for lawful purposes. Do not transmit material that is unlawful, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, obscene, or that infringes the intellectual property rights of others.
Do not use automated means, including bots, scrapers, or spiders, to access, monitor, or copy any part of the Service.
Do not probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service or attempt to breach its security measures.
Do not impersonate any individual or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.
Do not take any action that imposes an unreasonable load on the Service infrastructure.

Community Conduct

By using the community forums and other interactive tools, you agree not to:

Defame, harass, stalk, threaten, or otherwise violate the legal rights of others.
Post profane, defamatory, obscene, indecent, or unlawful content.
Post content that infringes the intellectual property or privacy rights of others.
Post files containing viruses or other harmful software.
Advertise or offer to sell goods or services for commercial purposes.
Post surveys, contests, pyramid schemes, or chain letters.
Impersonate any person or entity or falsely represent your affiliation with any person or entity.

Downloads

Any material downloaded through the Service is done at your own discretion and risk. LotusElan.net is not responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data resulting from any download.

Rights You Grant to LotusElan.net

By submitting User Content to the Service, you grant LotusElan.net a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, distribute, and create derivative works from your User Content, in whole or in part, in any format or medium now known or later developed, for the purposes of operating and promoting the Service.

This license for photos, graphics, audio, and video exists only for as long as you elect to keep such content on the Service. For other content (text, technical data, guides), this license is perpetual and irrevocable. You agree that this license is granted without entitlement to any payment or consideration.

Children

The Service is not directed to children under the age of 13. LotusElan.net will not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you are under 13, please do not use this Service or provide any personal information.

Future Access and Membership Tiers

LotusElan.net currently provides public access to most content without registration. The Service may in the future introduce membership tiers, premium content areas, or paid access for certain features. Any such changes will be communicated with reasonable advance notice and will be governed by updated terms posted at that time.

Copyright and Historical Preservation Policy

Our Preservation Mission

LotusElan.net operates as a non-commercial community resource and historical preservation archive dedicated to the Lotus Elan and related Lotus vehicles. A significant part of this mission involves preserving historical technical documents, magazine articles, workshop guides, and other printed materials related to these vehicles.

Many of these materials were published 20 to 60 years ago in magazines and publications that have since ceased publication. The physical copies of these materials are finite and deteriorating. Without digital preservation, this information — which is of significant historical and technical value to the Lotus community worldwide — risks being permanently lost.

We take our responsibilities regarding copyright seriously. We do not claim ownership of any archived third-party materials. We acknowledge that copyright in many of these works remains valid and may continue for up to 70 years from the date of publication or the death of the author.

Our Good-Faith Basis for Preservation

We archive historical materials on the following good-faith basis:

Non-commercial purpose. LotusElan.net is a non-commercial hobby and preservation site. We do not sell access to archived materials and derive no revenue from their individual use.
Educational and technical nature. The materials are predominantly factual and technical in nature — road tests, workshop guides, technical specifications — which weighs in favor of fair use consideration under U.S. copyright law (17 U.S.C. § 107).
No available market substitute. In most cases, the original publication is no longer in print and the archived content is not commercially available elsewhere, meaning our archive does not substitute for or harm any existing market for the work.
Active permission-seeking. We are in the process of seeking formal permissions from rights holders wherever they can be identified, and we maintain records of these efforts.
Planned nonprofit formation. We intend to formalize LotusElan.net as a nonprofit organization, which will strengthen our standing under U.S. library and archive preservation provisions (17 U.S.C. § 108).

Rights Holder Contact and Takedown Process

We respect the rights of copyright holders. If you are the rights holder for any material archived on LotusElan.net and have concerns about its inclusion, we want to hear from you. We commit to the following process:

Contact us using the contact form at https://www.lotuselan.net/contact/. Please identify the specific material and your rights in it.
We will acknowledge your contact within 24 business hours.
We will review your claim promptly and, where the claim is valid, will remove or restrict access to the material within 7 days of confirmation.
We welcome dialogue. We are open to discussing formal licensing arrangements, attribution agreements, or other cooperative arrangements that serve the preservation mission while respecting your rights.

We prefer dialogue over disputes. Our community exists to preserve history, not to profit from others’ work. We welcome the opportunity to work with rights holders rather than against them.

Magazine Archive Notice

Each archived magazine article on LotusElan.net displays the following notice at the bottom of the page:

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: This article is reproduced for non-commercial historical preservation purposes only. Copyright remains with the original publisher. If you are the rights holder and have questions or concerns about this content, please visit our Copyright and Historical Preservation Policy and contact us. We will respond within 24 business hours and will remove or restrict the content promptly upon a valid request.

LotusElan.net Site Disclaimer

THE SITE ADMINISTRATOR MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, ACCURACY, OR COMPLETENESS OF INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THIS WEBSITE FOR ANY PURPOSE. INFORMATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Much of the content on this site is compiled from community contributions and historical sources and has not been independently verified. Information may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors and may be changed or updated without notice.

This website is not affiliated in any way with Lotus Cars, Ltd. The content expressed within this website represents a compilation of the experiences and opinions of community members and does not necessarily reflect the views of the site administrator or Lotus Cars, Ltd.

IN NO EVENT WILL THE SITE ADMINISTRATOR BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM USE OF THIS WEBSITE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, INJURY, OR LOSS OF LIFE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

In plain terms: if you damage your vehicle or endanger yourself or others as a result of something you read on this site, that is your responsibility. Please use common sense, consult qualified professionals, and verify all technical information independently before acting on it.

Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability

YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. LOTUSELAN.NET, ITS ADMINISTRATORS, MODERATORS, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSORS (COLLECTIVELY, THE “LOTUSELAN.NET PARTIES”) EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

YOU AGREE THAT THE LOTUSELAN.NET PARTIES WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitation of liability for incidental or consequential damages. In such jurisdictions, liability will be limited to the greatest extent permitted by applicable law.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the LotusElan.net Parties from and against any and all third-party claims, liability, damages, expenses, and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the Service or your violation of this User Agreement.

User-Submitted Content

LotusElan.net does not claim ownership of content you submit or make available on the Service. However, by submitting content you grant LotusElan.net the licenses described in the Rights You Grant to LotusElan.net section above.

LotusElan.net Services include the community forums (powered by Discourse), the main website (powered by WordPress), newsletters, and any associated community tools.

Copyright Infringement (DMCA)

If you believe that content you own has been used on the Service in a way that infringes your copyright or other intellectual property rights, please submit a notice containing the following information:

An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright or intellectual property owner.
A description of the copyrighted work or intellectual property you claim has been infringed.
A description of where the infringing material is located on the site (including a URL where possible).
Your contact information including email address.
A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on their behalf.

Please submit all copyright notices using the contact form at: https://www.lotuselan.net/contact

For historical archive materials specifically, we also invite you to review our Copyright and Historical Preservation Policy before submitting a formal notice, as we may be able to resolve concerns informally and quickly.

Copyright Information

Original content created by LotusElan.net is copyright LotusElan.net. Any person is authorized to view, copy, print, and distribute original LotusElan.net content subject to the following conditions:

The content may be used for informational purposes only.
The content may not be used for commercial purposes.
Any copy must include this copyright notice.

Note that products, processes, or technologies described on the site may be subject to intellectual property rights held by third parties and are not licensed under this permission.

Trademarks

“Lotus,” “Elan,” and the Lotus logo are registered trademarks of Lotus Cars, Ltd. All other product names, trademarks, and registered trademarks mentioned on this site are the property of their respective owners. The owner of LotusElan.net grants no right to copy or otherwise use these marks or materials.

Miscellaneous

This User Agreement is governed by U.S. Federal law and the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of and venue in the federal and state courts located in Harris County, Texas for all disputes arising out of or relating to the Service.

If any part of this User Agreement is found to be invalid or unenforceable under applicable law, that provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original, and the remainder of the agreement will continue in full effect.

This User Agreement, together with our Privacy Policy and any additional terms incorporated by reference, constitutes the entire agreement between you and LotusElan.net regarding the Service.

Feedback

This site depends on community feedback to improve and grow. If you have suggestions, corrections, or ideas for new content or features, please reach out using the contact form at: https://www.lotuselan.net/contact