Indemnify

英  [ɪn'demnɪfaɪ]  美  [ɪn'dɛmnɪfaɪ]

vt. 赔偿；保护；使免于受罚

和Compensate略有区别，Indemnify指为了保护他人的损失和伤害而进行的赔偿，它和damage这个词有关。所以保险业也常用这个词来说明赔付过程，例如indemnify the insured goods.  赔偿金也可以用indemnity来表达。著名的老电影《双重赔偿》的英文片名就是Double Indemnity，它是一部情节紧凑，意味深长的黑色喜剧片。

它还有保护某人或者机构免于法律责任的意思，例如：

The new laws will indemnify those innovative people against being sued by large firms.
这些新法律将保护那些创新人群免于被大公司起诉。

indemnify someone against something 是一个常见的用法。在政治经济领域经常说的“补偿机制”就是indemnification mechanism.

在各种各样的服务条款中，包括你注册的每个网站和应用，其中必然有一个章节就叫Indemnity。我随机选择了Yelp.com的相关条款：

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold Yelp, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, any related companies, suppliers, licensors and partners, and the officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives of each of them (collectively, the “Yelp Entities”) harmless, including costs, liabilities and legal fees, from any claim or demand made by any third party arising out of or relating to (i) your access to or use of the Site, (ii) your violation of the Terms, (iii) any products or services purchased or obtained by you in connection with the Site, or (iv) the infringement by you, or any third party using your account, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity. Yelp reserves the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify us and you agree to cooperate with our defense of these claims. You agree not to settle any such matter without the prior written consent of Yelp. Yelp will use reasonable efforts to notify you of any such claim, action or proceeding upon becoming aware of it.

这个不是Yelp独有的霸王条款，几乎每个网站都是大同小异的。这些条款无论怎么撰写都突出强调消费者在被证明违约后针对所有可能连带的损失进行Indemnifying的义务，也包括拒绝承担连带法律责任。举个简单的例子，如果用户在Yelp网站点评饭店时造谣污蔑，如果饭店起诉Yelp，Yelp一定会拉来这个用户承担责任，而且承担所有相关的法律费用，尽管法官未必会这样判。

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