ARTCONNECT BERLIN

GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

SCOPE OF APPLICATION

These general terms and conditions in the version as amended from time to time regulate the legal relationship between the internet platform ARTCONNECT BERLIN and its USERS as well as the relationship between the USERS among each other. They shall apply to all legal transactions and acts similar to legal transactions in this context. Deviant conditions from the USER shall not be acknowledged by ARTCONNECT BERLIN unless ARTCONNECT BERLIN explicitly accepted their validity in written form. By executing the registration at ARTCONNECT BERLIN the USER declares having read and understood and accepted these general terms and conditions. Otherwise the use of ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall be forbidden.

SUBJECT OF THE CONTRACT / PARTIES TO THE CONTRACT

2.1 The platform ARTCONNECT BERLIN is a complex network for the Creative Community in Berlin. This network offers the USERS platform where creatives and companies can introduce themselves, their projects, events, can offer jobs (opportunities), material, work spaces and ask general questions about Berlin, connecting with each other. The free use of ARTCONNECT BERLIN authorizes a diversified offer. This offer contains among other things the setup of a portfolio including upload and storage of data, a calendar with events, a job market (opportunities), a material, work spaces and questions billboard, the setup of an account and many more offers. For a list of all functions of ARTCONNECT BERLIN see number 14 of these general terms and conditions. 

2.2 ARTCONNECT BERLIN U.G. (haftungsbeschränkt) is available at the following address:  ARTCONNECT BERLIN UG; Liegnitzer Straße 28; 10999 Berlin, Germany, Founding Director: Júlia Marí Bernaus. Comercial Register Number: HRB 125272 B

2.3 A contract between ARTCONNECT BERLIN and the USER shall be concluded about the use of the website http://ARTCONNECT BERLIN.com (hereinafter called “website”). Every natural person or legal person shall be entitled to the use of the website. Natural persons have to be of legal age and legally competent. Minors require the consent of their parents or legal guardians.  

2.4 ARTCONNECT BERLIN reserves the right to develop further or change parts of the website or the website as a whole without separate notice or to sell or temporarily or definitely stop the website respectively parts of the website due to e.g. technical, economic or judicial reasons. The same shall also apply to information that were put on the website by USERS. Particularly in the event of the permanent stopping of the website due to economic reasons, ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall inform the USERS about the upcoming stopping.

2.5 The use of all functions of the website are free for all registered USERS. A description of the functions and services that ARTCONNECT BERLIN offers to the USERS can be found under number 14 of these general terms and conditions. 

2.6 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall be entitled to charge third parties, service providers and/or vicarious agents with the provision of the whole range of services or parts of it provided that no disadvantages shall result for the USER.

REGISTRATION / CONCLUSION OF THE CONTRACT

3.1 For the registration the provided registration form from ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall be fully and truly completed and forwarded.

3.2 Every USER shall be allowed to register only once at ARTCONNECT BERLIN and affirms with the registration that he or she is not yet a member of ARTCONNECT BERLIN respectively has not deleted a formerly existing account.

3.3 The membership is personal and non-transferable. The use of the contents deposited in the closed member area shall be exclusively reserved to the personal use of the member. USERS shall not be permitted to pass their personal login details on to third parties. As soon as it comes to the USER’s attention that his or her personal login details have become accessible for third parties respectively that his or her account is used by third parties the USER shall inform ARTCONNECT BERLIN immediately and change his or her personal login details respectively let them be changed by ARTCONNECT BERLIN.  

3.4 The USER shall choose his or her password him- or herself. The password shall consist of at least eight characters. The user name is the e-mail address.  

3.5 ARTCONNECT BERLIN reserves the right to refuse a membership in particular cases. If no reasons for refusal of a membership exist, ARTCONNECT BERLIN will send a confirmation e-mail containing the most important integral parts of the contract and a link for the activation of the account to the USER. For the conclusion of the contract with ARTCONNECT BERLIN the USER shall activate his or her account after receiving the confirmation e-mail. This happens, as a rule, by clicking the link for activation being sent with the confirmation e-mail. 

3.6 In ARTCONNECT BERLIN, “User” is a natural person who has registered for participation on the Platform.

 3.7 The USERS shall only register themselves in the user manner described under number 3.7 of these general terms and conditions. ARTCONNECT BERLIN reserves the right to delete a USER’s account in case of violation. DURATION OF THE CONTRACT / FEE

4.1 For all USERS the use of ARTCONNECT BERLIN is gratuitous.

 4.2 The placing of a advertising ad as well as the execution of a preselection of applicants by ARTCONNECT BERLIN are liable to pay costs. Prices for those services can be reviewed under the footer section Advertising/ Media Kit, when it is ready.

TRANSFER OF RIGHTS / COPYRIGHTS

5.1 The USER grants ARTCONNECT BERLIN and, as the case may be, contractual partners of ARTCONNECT BERLIN the necessary, not exclusive and worldwide, timely unlimited rights to use the contents put on the website by him or her exclusively for the provision of services offered on the website and solely to the necessary extent. Contained herein is e.g. the storage and copying of the contents and the right to make them available to the public. The right to make available to the public ends with the moment when the USER removes a content put online by him or her from the website. Number 3.9 of these general terms and conditions shall remain unaffected.

 5.2 The USER expressly declares that he or she can freely dispose of contents contributed by him or her and that an effective transfer of rights to ARTCONNECT BERLIN is not encumbered with copyright, ancillary copyright or trademark law or any other rights of third parties.  5.3 All copyrights and ancillary copyrights shall be reserved for the beneficiary. Provided that a use is not permitted explicitly and for the precise case, the USER shall not be allowed to download contents from the website, to publish them, to edit them, to broadcast them, to make them available to the public, to use them for advertisement purposes or ulterior, to use them commercially and / or have those actions performed by third parties. This shall particularly apply to all texts, software, source codes, photos, videos, charts and music, as well as their individual parts.

5.5 Contents which are obviously not longer current can be deleted by ARTCONNECT BERLIN without notification of the USER. 

5.6 In order to show the contents put online by the USER and to make them conveniently accessible for other USERS, ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall edit them where required in such a way that they are converted to another format or that previews (e.g. thumbnails) are generated.

 5.7 All contents, except for contents added by the USER as well as the conceptual design of the website, are intellectual property of ARTCONNECT BERLIN and are proprietary as such. 

5.8 Ancillary copyrights on the stored database on ARTCONNECT BERLIN are held as a whole by ARTCONNECT BERLIN. It is expressly prohibited for USERS to use the database for the setup of personal database. ARTCONNECT BERLIN prohibits herewith:

 the partial or total utilisation or copying of the database;
 the use and copying of the data put in the database as well as their contents by third parties for the purpose of personal procurement or advertisement; 
the copying, distribution, exhibition, performance, presentation or broadcasting as well as the communication by the means of image or sound carriers or radio broadcasting with contents of the website.

5.9 In case of violation of number 5 of these general terms and conditions, ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall be entitled to block the USER’s account immediately. A refund of membership fees is not possible in this case. The right to assert compensation is reserved. 

5.10 The USER shall relinquish all titles against ARTCONNECT BERLIN that result from an infringement of his or her copyrights or other property rights (e.g. ancillary copyright) by using the website; in particular by putting proprietary works on the website.

OBLIGATIONS OF THE USER

6.1 The USER shall only use ARTCONNECT BERLIN in a manner and for purposes that do not violate applicable German law, European Community Law and / or these general terms and conditions or rights of ARTCONNECT BERLIN or third parties. In particular, the following contents shall not be put on the website:

Contents that glorify respectively trivialise violence. Inciting, racist and anti-Semitic contents. 
Contents that violate rights of third parties, e.g. industrial property rights (trademark laws, copyrights, ancillary copyrights, competition law etc.) or the general personal right (including the right to informational self-determination). 
Contents that violate the law for the protection of the youth, particularly pornographic contents.
Contents that offend, harass, defame or threaten third parties. 
Contents that infringe ethical principles or violate human dignity. 
Contents that contain incorrect facts or hide the identity of the USER that puts something on the website. 
Contents that serve for the setup of a data pool or for finding new partners in the framework of pyramid schemes.
The upload of hyperlinks that refer to websites that contain contents that are subject to number 6.1 is strictly forbidden.

6.2 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall be entitled to assert claims for damages concerning labour costs and expenditure on material from USERS that have put forbidden contents on the website. 

6.3 The USER shall be responsible for every use – that was made possible by his or her culpable behaviour – of his or her access data respectively use of the closed member area and for the damage that results as a consequence of the unauthorised use or the transmission of contents. 

6.4 Using the offered services shall obligate the USER to give true and full particulars, particularly, about age, name and address. This shall particularly apply to a registration, if necessary, of the USER (see number 3 of these general terms and conditions) and to information that the USER provides for the general public. 

6.5 For the contents put on the website as well as for the interaction with other USERS the USER who put the contents on the website respectively on the authority of whom they were put on the website shall bear the sole responsibility. For minor USERS the responsibility lies with the parents or other legal guardians. The same applies to the USER’s interaction with other USERS. The USER shall exempt ARTCONNECT BERLIN from all claims of third parties that result from a violation of the rights of third parties. 

6.6 Contents that were uploaded on the website can be deleted at any time by the USER that put them on the website. 

6.7 ARTCONNECT BERLIN prohibits a use of the website for marketing purposes according to §§ 28, 29 BDSG (Federal Data Protection Law) and points out that unsolicited e-mail advertising is illegal and legitimates warnings liable to pay costs. Illegal marketing intentions are also given when USERS are contacted (e.g. via the mailbox function) in a qualitative and quantitative inappropriate manner. The posting of unsolicited mass letters (e.g. spam e-mails) and the setup and operating of a pyramid scheme via ARTCONNECT BERLIN is strictly forbidden.

DATA PROTECTION

7.1 ARTCONNECT BERLIN uses personal data of the USER exclusively for the provision, use, analysis and, if necessary, for the billing of the demanded services, unless the USER has expressly agreed to a further use of data or ARTCONNECT BERLIN is legally obligated to disclose the data. The USER can revoke the consent at any time in written form. Personal data shall only be stored for the period of time that is legally admissible. Data that are linked to payments made by USERS shall be treated as confidential. 

7.2 If necessary, ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall work together with a web analytics company that uses user data (e.g. the IP address of the USER) for analysis of the website. 

7.3 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall employ cookies, if necessary, to allow a comfortable use of the website for the USER. If the USER does not wish for that, the use of cookies can be excluded through corresponding configuring of the browser. In general, it can be made use of the offer of the website without activated cookies. It is possible, however, that the USER does not have access to functions of the website when the use of cookies is excluded.

WARRANTY / LIABILITY

8.1 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not be liable for content, topicality, completeness, accuracy, freedom of rights of third parties, legality and / or availability of contents provided by the USERS. 

8.2 The USERS can place hyperlinks to internet pages of third parties on the website. ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not be responsible for contents put on those internet pages and distances itself from those contents. ARTCONNECT BERLIN does not check the contents of those internet pages and does not adopt their contents as its one. Does a USER access those internet pages, he or she acts on his or her own risk. If ARTCONNECT BERLIN discovers violations of the applicable law, that will lead to the immediate deletion of the corresponding links. 

8.3 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not be responsible for content, topicality, completeness, accuracy, freedom of rights of third parties, legality and / or availability of the contents put on the website by ARTCONNECT BERLIN itself. ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not warrant a quorum or a minimum quality of contents. 

8.4 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not be liable for a program free from technical errors and for the availability of provided data and services. In particular, ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not be liable for the right, complete and / or prompt transmission of data. ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall also reserve the right to stop their services as a whole or partially without giving reasons. 

8.5 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not be liable for the event that personal user data has come to the attention of third parties (e.g. through a hacker attack). 

8.6 ARTCONNECT BERLIN reserves the right to change, disconnect and delete data, services and / or information. 

8.7 ARTCONNECT BERLIN reserves the right to change the technical requirements for the use of the website. It shall be incumbent on the USER to maintain those conditions. 

8.8 ARTCONNECT BERLIN does generally not check the offers put on the website by the USERS. 

8.9 ARTCONNECT BERLIN does not adopt contents put on the website by the USER as its own. 

8.10 USERS that downloaded or stored data and / or contents from ARTCONNECT BERLIN or recorded them ulterior shall be obligated to delete them according to the legal regulation. It shall be referred to §§ 7 and 8 BDSG (Federal Data Protection Law).

 8.11 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall only be liable if damage has been caused grossly negligent or deliberately. Compensation for damages is limited to what might typically be predicted. Deviating from this, ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall be liable for every culpable violation of contractual essential primary obligations according to the statutory provisions. The liability limitations shall also extent to imputable neglects of duty by vicarious agents that have been appointed by ARTCONNECT BERLIN. 

8.12 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not be liable for damage caused for the USERS of the website by computer viruses or other hurtful mechanisms.  

8.13 In the event of a warranty ARTCONNECT BERLIN initially warrants by resolving the error. 

8.14 Contributory negligence shall be imputed to the USER (e.g. for the insufficient provision of customer participations, deficient problem reports, faulty organization or insufficient data storage). ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall only be liable for the replacement of data if the USER has made the usual and adequate provisions for data storage and thereby ensured that the data and programs that are existent in a machine readable manner can be reconstructed with a justifiable effort. The USER shall particularly be obligated to conduct data storage of every content put on the website and to check the success of that data storage. 

8.15 Any claims that arise because of contents that were put on the website by a USER shall be exclusively borne by this USER. The USER shall relieve ARTCONNECT BERLIN of all claims from third parties that arise because of contents put on the website by the USER and because of violations of legal norms and / or these general terms and conditions which have to be represented by the USER. The release shall also include the adequate costs of the prosecution and / or fending off claims. The USER shall support ARTCONNECT BERLIN or its legal successor in the judicial or extrajudicial assertion of the acquired rights against third parties and particularly give the essential information, provide necessary documents and conduct the necessary relinquishments of rights to ARTCONNECT BERLIN respectively to work towards it.

8.16 The observation of these general terms and conditions is of substantial importance for the efficiency of ARTCONNECT BERLIN. Therefore ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall impose sanctions on a USER if and to the extent to which on the part of ARTCONNECT BERLIN concrete indications occur for violations of these general terms and conditions, statutory provisions, rights of third parties and / or morality by the USER. In addition, ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall be entitled to remove incriminating contents from the website without prior notice. 

8.17 The choice of the imposed sanctions shall consider the justified interests of the concerned USER and, amongst others, also take into consideration if there is misconduct through no fault of one’s own or if the violation was committed culpably and if the misconduct occurred one-time or repeatedly. The following measures and sanctions shall, amongst others, come into consideration for ARTCONNECT BERLIN: 

Partial or complete deletion of a USER’s contents,
Reprimand for a USER,
Reduction of the use of services on the website,
Temporary blocking of a USER,
Definite blocking of a USER.

8.18 If a USER was blocked, a further use of the website is forbidden. In addition, it is forbidden for a blocked USER to register again on ARTCONNECT BERLIN

CANCELLATION / WITHDRAWAL FROM CONTRACT

9.1 The membership shall be concluded for an indefinite period and is terminable at any time (see 9.3.). 

9.2 ARTCONNECT BERLIN reserves the right to extend a cancellation because of an important reason. An important reason for cancellation is particularly given if the USER violates the obligations described under numbers 5, 6 and 8, disobeys the general terms and conditions repeatedly or if ARTCONNECT BERLIN goes out of business.

 9.3 The cancellation of the contractual relationship can be carried out by post, facsimile, e-mail, contact form or the function “Cancellation – Delete Portfolio” in the private section of the website. A termination of the user relationship does not have an impact on already arisen claims of ARTCONNECT BERLIN.

DATES / EVENTS

10.1 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not accept responsibility for the events and dates put on the website by the USERS. ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not have a bearing on the planning, the process and the execution of the events and dates and shall not be made responsible for hurtful incidents that happen in connection with the events and dates put on the website. In particular, ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not guarantee that the events and dates put on the website actually take place.

HOME FEED

11.1 The Home Feed is available for all registered USERS.

11.2 JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES.

11.2.1 In the OPPORTUNITIES section, the user can post offers for an apprenticeship, an internship, a traineeship, a project collaboration or an independent personal job (in the following consistently referred to as “offers”) can be placed on the job market. ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not give the warranty for a successful conclusion of the procurement of jobs.

11.2.2 The opportunity / job description in an offer placed onto the OPORTUNITIES section shall correspond with regards to content to the title provided by the system. Offers shall only be placed once into the OPORTUNITIES section. The publication of offers with an identical content by several user accounts shall not be permitted.

11.2.3 USERS, particularly entrepreneurs, temporary employment agencies as well as private placement officers, that have downloaded data and offers and stored or recorded them ulterior shall be obligated to delete them accordingly to the legal regulations. It shall be referred to §§ 7 and 8 BDSG (Federal Data Protection Law).

11.2.4 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall prohibit the use of the offers placed into the database of the OPPORTUNITIES section for other purposes than immediate initiation, entering into an apprenticeship or employment relationship, project collaborations as well as an individual personal job.

11.2.5 In particular, it shall not be allowed to place the following offers onto the marketplace: 

Offers that violate statutory provisions (e.g. minimum work conditions, non-discrimination rule, regulations of the law against unfair competition, of the copyright law or the State Treaty on Gambling); 
Offers that violate the General Equal Treatment Act and / or the principle of a gender-neutral job advertisement;
Offers that undertake monetary or bonus payments to the interested party in the event of presenting a job placement voucher according to Book III of the SGB (Social Security Act).
 Offers that premise the conclusion of a placement agreement that violates § 296 of Book III SGB (Social Security Act). Violations of those regulations shall lead to claims for damages and cancellation.

11.3 MARKETPLACE: MATERIALS / SPACES

11.3.1 In the MARKETPLACE section, the user can post offers for artist materials, sutdios, desk spaces, film props, anything that involves creating.

11.3.2 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not give the warranty for a successful conclusion of the procurement of materials or spaces.

11.2.4 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall prohibit the use of the offers placed into the database of the MARKETPLACE section for other purposes than immediate initiation, entering into an apprenticeship or employment relationship, project collaborations as well as an individual personal job.

11.4 EVENTS

11.4.1 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not give warranty for the successful realization of the EVENTS posted on their website.

11.5 QUESTIONS

11.5.1 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall not give warranty for the successful answer of a QUESTION posted in the QUESTIONS section.

11.6 ARTCONNECT BERLIN shall have no bearing on the offers and shall not be made liable for claims that result from them. It shall be referred to numbers 6 and 8 of these general terms and conditions. 

11.7 ARTCONNECT BERLIN reserves the right to refuse offers. ARTCONNECT BERLIN reserves the right to delete offers that violate these general terms and conditions.

CHANGES TO THE GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

12.1 ARTCONNECT BERLIN reserves the right to change these general terms and conditions at any time. They shall be effective for the contractual relationships received from the time of the amendment on. 

12.2 ARTCONNECT BERLIN also reserves the right to make changes to the general terms and conditions that are effective for running contractual relationships. In this event, the contractual partner shall have the right to object to the changes within two weeks from the time of access of the changed terms of business. At the latest he or she can do so within four weeks after the publication of the changes on the website. 

12.3 In the event of objection the old general terms and conditions shall apply again.

APPLICABLE LAW / MISCELLANOUS

13.1 German law shall apply to the exclusion of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The contractual and communication language is English.

13.2 These general terms and conditions shall also apply if the services of ARTCONNECT BERLIN are used from the outside of the Federal Republic of Germany.

13.3 As written form according to these general terms and conditions shall apply the text form according to § 126b BGB (German Civil Code). 

13.4 The exclusive place of venue for all disputes arising from the contractual relationships between ARTCONNECT BERLIN and the USER shall be, to the extent allowed by law, Berlin.

SERVICE DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOUNT

14.1 ARTCONNECT BERLIN provides the following functions for the USER:  

Launching of a personal online portfolio on ARTCONNECT BERLIN with the elements:
Create one personal profile and several collective and company profiles.
View of the public "My Profile" section of all users, except users that have blocked this section partially or as a whole for the public.
Gratuitous publication of events. 
Get your events rated from other users.
Gratuitous placing of job ads or collaboration proposals.
Comment on portfolios of registered users. 
Answer received messages from other users. 
Bookmark every post (in profiles, projects, marketplace, opportunities, events, questions)
Advanced search in all the databases: profile database, projects database, opportunities database, marketplace database, events database and questions database.
Contact registered users and answer received messages from registered users. 
Membership in a group.
Add a Project as part of your curriculum (collaborations)