Terms and Conditions

(Version 1.2, February 19, 2020)

General

1.1 Information about us and the Online Service: Cybly offers online legal information services (“Web Services”) and supports the exchange of legal information with others.

The Web Services are operated by Cybly GmbH Strubergasse 28, 5020 Salzburg, Austria (hereinafter also referred to as “Cybly”, “we” and “us”). These Terms and Conditions set forth the applicable rules for the web services that we make available to you and other users (hereinafter also referred to as “users,” “you,” and “your”). You should read these Terms of Service carefully because, among other things, they set forth the limitation of our liability to you and govern the agreement that exists between you and us. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, you may not use the web services.

1.2 Acceptance of Terms of Use: By using the web services, you signify your acceptance of these Terms of Use. In addition, certain other provisions, such as the Privacy Policy, apply to individual Web Services, whereby these provisions are published within the Web Services and form part of the Terms of Use (together with any other attachments or appendices incorporated by reference or link into these Terms of Use, hereinafter referred to as “Terms of Use”).

1.3 Modification of our Terms of Use: We reserve the right to revise and amend our Terms of Use from time to time. We will notify you of such changes in a timely manner. Changes will be deemed accepted by you if we do not receive a written objection within the statutory period or if you continue to use the Web Services after the publication of our revised Terms of Use. You should therefore visit our website regularly and read the current Terms of Use carefully, as they are binding on you.

1.4 Improving the web services: We welcome your feedback on the quality of the web services as they are continually being adjusted and improved. If you wish to complain or if you are aware that these Terms of Use are being violated by a user or a third party, you may contact us at any time.

1.5 Terms: Words and terms relevant to these Terms of Use shall each have the meaning given to them below:

“Content” means any information, including, in particular legislation, decisions, summaries, commentaries, essays, other text, graphics, photographs and images, created or posted by us or any user;

“Intellectual Property Rights” means intellectual property rights, including but not limited to copyrights, moral rights, registered designs, patents, trademarks and distinctive signs, design rights (whether registered or unregistered), database rights, and all other similar rights and all other extensions and renewals thereof in any part of the world;

“Creative Commons License” or “CC License” means a public license for Content that permits free distribution of copyrighted works, as defined at: https://creativecommons.org;

“Open Access Publication” stands for research results that are available free of access restrictions (e.g., fees) and free of many other restrictions (e.g., copyright restrictions).

2 User registration

2.1 Registration: In order to use some features of the web services, you must register as a user. You can only register as a user if you are at least 16 years old. To register, please fill out our registration form. You may only register if (a) you have agreed to our Terms of Use, (b) you have provided us with complete and accurate registration information, and (c) if you have used our registration form, you have received from us by email a registration confirmation with your username and password for the Web Services (hereinafter referred to as “User Account”). You may only register one user account.

2.2 Where applicable, we may, in our sole discretion, enable access to certain web services only for certain users or deny access to certain users, for example, by establishing different levels of access for different groups of users.

2.3 Username and Password: By registering with us, you represent that the information provided for your user account (and any other information you may provide to us from time to time, whether as part of the registration process or otherwise) is complete, truthful, accurate and not misleading in any respect. You are responsible for notifying us of any changes to ensure that such information is always current. You shall keep your username and password secure at all times. You are responsible for all operations that occur through your user account, even if you have not impliedly or expressly authorized them. You must notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your user account. You may be liable for damages incurred by us or another user of the web services as a result of your user account being used by a third party. You may not use another person’s user account. We will not be liable for any damages resulting from your failure to comply with these obligations.

2.4 We draw your attention to the fact that the network of users is a central element of the web services. In order to keep the quality of the web services high, your name may be displayed within the web services in relation to public features (e.g., your public comments or public folders). If you do not want your name to appear, please do not use any public feature.

3 Rights and Duties of the User

3.1 Right to “use for personal use”: We grant you and other users the right to access the Web Services and Content as provided by us. You may use content in accordance with the applicable licenses, e.g., CC License (hereinafter “personal use”). If you wish to provide commercial services to third parties using the Web Services, please consider our professional use services as set forth below or contact us.

3.2 Your obligations: You agree to comply with the following obligations in connection with the web services and the content:

(i) Except as otherwise expressly provided in these Terms of Use or as otherwise expressly authorized by us in writing, you may not copy, reproduce or decompile any part of the Web Services;

(ii) You may not use the content other than as expressly permitted in these Terms of Use in combination with the applicable license terms;

(iii) You may not interfere with, block, impair or attempt to interfere with the web services or any part thereof, and you may not duplicate or circumvent the navigational structure of the Web Services or attempt to do so in order to obtain or attempt to obtain content or web services in any manner other than as intended by the web services;

(iv) You must not use the Web Services or the Content for any unlawful purpose or to publish, link to, post or display any unlawful material (including, without limitation, any proprietary rights) which infringes our or any third party’s rights or which encourages or enables crime;

(v) You must comply with all applicable laws and regulations in your use of the web services and/or the content and you agree not to infringe the rights of us or our affiliates, or of other users or third parties;

(vi) You will observe and comply with any data volume limits that may apply to the web services;

(vii) You shall not use the web services or the content for solicitation purposes.

3.3 Assignment: These terms of use and any rights and licenses granted hereunder may not be transferred or assigned by you without our prior express written consent. If you transfer or assign any rights, obligations or duties, you agree and represent that (i) the assignment of any rights or duties granted hereunder will not conflict with or contradict the provisions of these terms of service and (ii) all obligations and duties to us will properly pass to and be fully performed by the assignee. Even after an assignment, you are not released from your obligations and duties to us under these terms and conditions. We may assign our rights or obligations at our sole discretion.

3.4 Modification of the Web Services: We reserve the right to improve, revise, correct, modify, or discontinue our web services or content from time to time without prior notice. Such content and technical revisions and any related maintenance may include, but are not necessarily limited to, expanding or modifying the subject areas accessible through the web services and modifying the technical formats of the web services or content. Accordingly, access to the web services or content may be temporarily or permanently suspended without prior notice in the event of system malfunctions or maintenance, inspection or repair work, or for reasons beyond our reasonable control.

4 Intellectual Property

4.1 Content: Much of the content we use is not subject to copyright restrictions (such as laws or rulings), depending on the jurisdiction and applicable law. However, the web services and other content, including user-supplied content (e.g., summaries, comments, open access publications), graphics, logo, trademarks, and software are subject to copyright, moral rights, patent rights, trademark rights, design rights, database rights, and other similar rights (hereinafter also referred to as “intellectual property rights”). We are either the owner or the licensee of all proprietary rights that exist in web services and the content. All rights remain with us. If any rights are provided by a third party, such rights are reserved to the third party (even if the content or services are not expressly identified as legally protected or registered, this does not constitute a waiver of the respective intellectual property rights with respect to the content or web services as a whole or in part).

4.2 Sharing: You may share laws, decisions or other content that is appropriately identified, provided that you comply with the applicable license terms (e.g., CC License, etc.).

4.3 Restrictions: You may not share, reproduce, copy, publish, or edit any content outside of the web services unless it is a law or decision or the content is appropriately marked for reuse, e.g., CC license.

4.4 References: In any case, any reuse of content or parts thereof must be marked by the user in accordance with standard citation rules.

4.5 Third party software: The web services have been partially created using open source software, mainly under the apache license. Please contact us for more information.

5 User content

5.1 We permit users to post, upload, transmit or otherwise make available (hereinafter referred to as “transmit”) text, abstracts, comments, keywords, underlines, open access publications, images, graphics, photographs, and/or other materials (hereinafter also referred to as “user content”) through our services. Subject to the rights and authority granted herein, you retain ownership and all rights to your user content. You are solely responsible for monitoring and protecting any intellectual property rights you may have with respect to the user content, and we disclaim any responsibility therefor.

5.2 You acknowledge and represent that you are solely responsible for the user content that you submit. You represent and warrant that you own all proprietary rights in the user content and that the user content (i) does not involve the sale of advertising or sponsorship or promotions, (ii) does not violate public policy, (iii) does not infringe the rights of third parties such as privacy, proprietary rights such as copyrights, trademarks, patents, or other legal rights, and also (iv) does not contain material that is unlawful or promotes illegal or unlawful activities.

5.3 You represent and warrant that all necessary rights, permissions, consents and waivers of moral rights have been duly and validly obtained from any co-authors, publishers or other persons who have contributed to the user content or provided rights, services or resources in connection therewith, and that you have the authority to dispose of such rights in your sole discretion and to the extent provided herein.

5.4. In order to operate the web services and related services in accordance with applicable copyright and other intellectual property laws, you grant Cybly GmbH and its affiliates a non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, perpetual, and perpetual license to, to use, reproduce, distribute, publish, prepare derivative works of, perform, display and otherwise exploit your content through any means in any media (whether now known or hereafter developed) for the purposes of Cybly GmbH’s business. You agree that you shall not be entitled to any fees or additional compensation for the use of the content under this provision.

5.5 You represent and warrant that you will not transmit any user content that.

(i) violates any applicable law;

(ii) is intentionally misleading;

(iii) does not originate with you or is unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, in violation of privacy or publicity rights, vulgar, obscene, indecent, pornographic, or otherwise inappropriate or otherwise violates any applicable law;

(iv) Promotes goods or services or solicits funds;

(v) Contain personally identifiable information, such as messages identifying telephone numbers, social security numbers, account numbers, addresses or places of employment;

(vi) Promote conduct that would be considered a violation of criminal law, could give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violates applicable law;

(vii) contain viruses, trojan horses or other malicious code or scripts.

5.7 We may, but have no obligation to, monitor user content. We may, in our sole discretion and for any reason, remove, refuse to post, or disable access to any posted user content that is unlawful or harmful to the web services or other users.

6 Professional Use

6.1 Your rights in the course of “professional use”: We may now or in the future offer enhanced features for professional use, for example for lawyers, public administrations, research institutions, universities, businesses, etc.

6.2 Prices and payment: The prices for professional use are published in the web services. Payments are due within 30 days of the invoice date. Invoices are issued on an annual basis. In the event that an invoice is not paid in full by the due date, we have the right to immediately deactivate your account and delete your account and User Content after a period of 90 days.

6.3 Term and Termination: Unless otherwise agreed, the term of the subscribed services is 12 months. Subscriptions will renew automatically unless cancelled within 90 days prior to the end of the next 12-month period. We reserve the right to terminate the subscription in case of a serious violation of the terms of use.

6.4 Offsetting and retention: Offsetting against our claims or retention of payments is not permitted, with the exception of transactions with consumers as defined by the Austrian consumer protection act.

7 Release from liability

You agree to fully indemnify and hold us, our affiliates, our corporate officers, directors, partners, employees and authorized representatives harmless from and against any and all liabilities, damages, claims, actions, expenses, demands or costs (including costs of legal advice and prosecution with respect to such claims and damages) incurred by us arising out of or relating to (i) your use of our web services, (ii) the user content provided by you or through the use of your membership, (iii) actual or alleged violations or breaches of these terms and conditions by you, (iv) actual or alleged breaches of any representations, warranties or agreements you have made to us, or (v) your acts or omissions. You agree to cooperate fully with us in the defense of any claim that is the subject of your obligations under these terms and conditions.

8 Consent to receive the newsletter

In order to keep you up to date, we will send you our newsletter (hereinafter referred to as “Newsletter”) by e-mail on a regular basis, provided that you have separately given us your consent to do so. The newsletters contain articles as well as notices about content, services, offers, promotions and events from us, our affiliated companies, our partner companies as well as other authors (hereinafter, affiliated companies, partner companies and other authors are collectively also referred to as “partners”) for the areas of law, legal tech, legal informatics and IT security. You can revoke your consent to receive the newsletter at any time. For more information, please refer to our privacy policy.

Cybly does not warrant the timeliness, accuracy or completeness of the information provided in the newsletters, nor is Cybly or any partner liable for any damages, losses or other harm that may result from reliance on the information published in the newsletters.

Cybly reserves the right to temporarily or permanently discontinue publication of the newsletter at any time.

9 Disclaimer and limitation of liability

9.1 We make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied (and all representations and warranties are expressly excluded to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law), as to the accuracy, quality, workmanship, timeliness (including in relation to deliveries), performance, suitability for use, availability or completeness of the web services, the content or as to the non-infringement of any third party intellectual or industrial property rights or the fitness of the content for any particular purpose. Any decisions you make based on or in reliance upon any information or content provided on the web services are made in your sole discretion and at your own risk.

9.2 You acknowledge and agree that access to and use of the web services and content is at your risk and without warranty or representation as to completeness and that we shall not be liable for any errors or omissions in any content, service, availability or delivery (including, without limitation, due to interruptions, deletions or delays in operation, transmission or communications or due to errors, omissions or computer viruses, Trojan horses or other harmful code or scripts).

9.3 We do not warrant that the web services or the content will be error-free or uninterrupted or that defects will be corrected. We reserve the right at any time and without notice to discontinue or suspend (in whole or in part) the web services or the content for any reason or to interrupt the operation of the web services or the content (in whole or in part) to the extent necessary to perform scheduled or unscheduled maintenance, troubleshooting or other changes.

9.4 Sometimes we or other users provide links to or advertisements for other websites that we do not own or control. We assume no responsibility or liability for any content or information provided by or contained on any external websites that are linked to our web services. We are also not responsible for external websites and you visit such websites solely at your own risk.

9.5 Subject to clause 9.7 and clause 9.8, you agree that we, our employees, officers, distributors, licensors and authorized representatives, and the employees, officers, distributors, licensors and authorized representatives of our affiliates, shall not be liable for (i) lost orders, opportunities, uses, profits, anticipated profits, contracts, revenues, goodwill or anticipated savings, or (ii) loss of data/content or use of data/content, whether such liability arises in contract, tort (including without limitation negligence) or otherwise, or whether such damages are direct, indirect or consequential, and whether such damages arise in connection with the use or attempted use of the web services or the content, the inability to use such items, or the interruption or termination of our provision of the web services or the content, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages occurring.

9.6 In any event, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we will not be liable for any direct or indirect damage or loss that you may suffer as a result of our failure to deliver the content or web services for any reason, including, but not limited to, delays or interruptions in access, non-delivery or mis-delivery of data, failure to deliver the content or web services due to server downtime or an event of force majeure (i.e., natural disasters, war or terrorism), security breaches or unauthorized use of personal data due to hacked networks or network outages or signal loss. i.e., natural disaster, war, or terrorism) security breaches, or unauthorized use of personal data as a result of hacked networks or due to network outages or signal loss. The exclusion contained in this clause shall also apply if we foresaw or should have foreseen the loss or damage incurred by you or if you informed us of the possibility of such loss or damage occurring.

9.7 There are no limitations of liability for personal injury resulting in bodily harm or death caused by us. Furthermore, we shall be liable without limitation for the statutory obligatory grounds for liability, as well as for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

9.8 The statutory consumer and consumer protection rights apply to you as a consumer unaffected.

10 Termination and suspension of the user account

10.1 We reserve the right to suspend, limit or terminate your user account or access to the web services at any time, without prior notice and in our sole discretion, if you violate or, based on our suspicion, may violate these terms and conditions, or if your use of the web services or content may damage systems or other technical equipment. In addition, violation of these terms and conditions may constitute a criminal offense of fraud and may result in civil actions and claims for damages and criminal prosecution.

10.2 All disclaimers, indemnities and other exclusions in these Terms and Conditions shall survive the termination thereof.

11 Privacy Policy

All information, data and materials you provide to us during the registration process or later, as well as any other information, data and materials you may provide to us, are subject to our privacy policy. The then-current version of our privacy policy forms an integral part of these terms and conditions.

12 Severability clause

Each provision of these Terms and Conditions shall be interpreted separately and independently. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the remainder of these terms and conditions shall not be affected thereby. In this case, the provision in question shall only be limited or deleted to the extent absolutely necessary and replaced by a valid provision that most closely corresponds to the purpose of these terms and conditions, so that the rest of the terms and conditions shall remain unaffected and fully effective.

12 Applicable law and place of jurisdiction

These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with Austrian law. All disputes arising out of or in connection with these terms and conditions, including any question of the existence, validity or termination of these terms and conditions, shall be decided exclusively by the court having jurisdiction over commercial matters in Salzburg in accordance with applicable Austrian law, excluding the conflict of law rules of private international law. The application of the UN Convention on contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG, Convention of the United Nations on contracts for the International Sale of Goods of 11 April 1980) is excluded.

13 language version

The original German version shall apply. Translated versions serve only for better comprehensibility. In the event of any dispute, the German text shall prevail.