General Terms and Conditions (GTC) for using defpro.com

§1 Preamble

"defpro.com” and “defence.profesionals” refers to the service provided subject to these General Terms and Conditions and/or defence.profesionals GmbH.

By registering and logging on to defpro.com, users accept the following General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter the “GTC”) for using defpro.com.

defence.profesionals GmbH operates defpro.com services under various domains (defpro.com, defpro.org, etc.), as well as various sub-domains and aliases of these domains. All Websites on which defence.profesionals provides defpro.com services are hereinafter referred to as “defpro.com Websites.”

These GTC shall govern the contract relationship between the User and defence.profesionals GmbH, irrespective of which defpro.com website the User is registered with or logged on to.

The User enters into this agreement on the use of defpro.com services with defence.profesionals GmbH, Clemens-August-Str. 69, 53115 Bonn GERMANY. Additional contact information, commercial registry data, as well as the name of the authorized representative of defence.profesionals GmbH can be found under “About Us”

The services provided by defence.profesionals are intended exclusively for persons of legal age.

The User can call up, print out, download and or save these General Terms and Conditions at any time, even after the agreement has been closed, under the “GTC” link that appears on all defpro.com Websites.

The defpro.com website consists of the following elements: defpro.community, defpro.index, defpro.confairs, defpro.daily, defpro.news, and defpro.groups.

§2 Subject Matter

2.1 defpro.com provides the User with a platform on which to establish contact with other users, companies and conferences/fairs. As regards content, defence.profesionals does not take part in any direct communication between users. If users enter into agreements with one another over defpro.com Websites, defence.profesionals GmbH shall not be a contracting party to these agreements. The users alone are responsible for the execution and/or fulfillment of agreements in which they enter with one another. defence.profesionals shall not be held liable if users are unable to contact one another over defpro.com Websites regarding such agreements. Furthermore, defence.profesionals shall not be liable for breaches of duty in relation to agreements entered into between users.

2.2 defence.profesionals shall only make data and/or information provided by the User available for other uses provided that this data and/or information does not violate any laws or these GTC. defence.profesionals is entitled to remove any illegal or prohibited data and/or information from defpro.com Websites without prior notice to the User.

2.3 The User acknowledges and agrees that it is technically impossible to achieve 100% availability of the defpro.com Websites. defence.profesionals shall nonetheless endeavor to keep defpro.com Websites available without interruption. Events related to maintenance, security or capacity requirements, and/or events beyond defence.profesionals' control (e.g. disruptions in public communication networks, power failures etc.), may result in brief malfunctions or temporary interruptions of the services provided on defpro.com Websites.

2.4 Any use of the services and contents offered on the defpro.com Websites beyond the scope of options provided by defence.profesionals requires the prior written consent of defence.profesionals GmbH.

§3 Membership

The defpro.com Websites offer registered users different kinds of membership: Users can open a single user membership (defpro.comminity), a company membership, and a membership as conference or fair (defrpo.confairs).

3.1 Membership options
defpro.com offers two options of community membership: a) a free so called “Community Basic Membership”, and b) a paid so called “Community Premium Membership”; defpro.com offers three options for a company entry/membership: a) a free so called “Index Basic Entry”, b) a paid so called “Index Advanced Membership”, and c) a paid so called “Index Premium Mebership” defpro.com offers two options for a conference or fair entry/membership: a) a free so called “Confairs Basic Entry”, b) a paid so called “Confairs Premium Mebership” The “Index Basic Entry” and the “Confairs Basic Entry” doesn’t include a membership.

3.2 Membership Fees
All “Basic memberships” are for free. Details about the applicable fees for the Community Premium Membership are set forth on the defpro.com Websites under "Accounts" The fees listed under "Accounts" are binding. Payments for the Premium Membership shall be due immediately upon invoicing. Community payments have to be made using different debiting procedures available by PayPal. If defpro.com is unable to collect any fees from an account designated by the User due to lack of funds, the User shall bear all costs arising there from, including bank charges related to any debit entries or similar charges, insofar as the User is responsible for the event that triggers these costs. Defence.professionals GmbH/ PayPal may deliver invoices to the User for Premium Membership by email. Details about the applicable fees for the Index or Confairs Advanced/Premium Membership are to be requested to defence.professionals GmbH. The upgrade link with a contact form on each “Basic Index and Confairs Entry” can be used.

§4 Registration

4.1 Users must register prior to using any of the services on the defpro.com Websites.

4.2 The User warrants and represents that all of the data provided by the User for registration is accurate and complete. The User shall report any changes in the registration data to defpro.com without undue delay.

4.3 The User shall not use pseudonyms or pen names.

4.4 The User warrants and represents that he or she is of legal age at the time of registration.

4.5 The User shall choose a password upon registration. The User is obliged to keep this password secret. defence.profesionals shall not disclose the password to any third party and defence.profesionals shall not ask for the User's password at any time.

4.6 By completing the registration process, the User consents to enter the agreement to use the services of the defpro.com Websites. defence.profesionals accepts this offer by activating the membership for the use of services on defpro.com Websites. The agreement takes effect with the aforementioned acceptance by defence.profesionals GmbH.

4.7 Each User may only establish one (1) user profile. Beyond that he or she can establish index or confairs profiles.

4.8 It is technically impossible for defence.profesionals GmbH to determine with certainty whether any user registered with defpro.com is in fact the person he or she represents to be. Therefore, defence.profesionals assumes no liability for the actual identity of a user. Each user is solely responsible for checking the actual identity of another user.

§5 Registration Data

In order for the defpro.com Services to function, defpro.com needs to collect and process certain elements of your Personal Data in the course of the registration process. First of all, this consists of the User name and Password.

Your password and/or your user name are never visible to any defpro.com Member at any time. defence.professionals shall never disclose or pass your password and/or your user name on to any third party.

5.1 Mandatory data
Furthermore, you will need to fill out the following Personal Data in the course of the registration process: E-mail account, Business telephone number, First name, surname, form of address, Birth date, Professional status, Company name, Position (Title), Country, state and city of your company

5.2 Voluntary Data
If you wish, you may provide additional information about yourself apart from the mandatory data on a voluntary basis (hereinafter referred to as "Voluntary Data"), to allow other defpro.com Members to get to know you better and possibly encourage them to choose you as an appropriate business contact. You may also upload a photograph of yourself, if you wish. The Voluntary Data you choose to provide to defpro.com is accessible to all other defpro.com Members.

§6 Right of cancellation

6.1 The User may cancel registration for the Basic and Premium Membership under his personal Profile under “Accounts” anytime without stating a reason.

6.2 Furthermore, the User may cancel registration for the Premium Membership in writing (e.g. by post, fax or email) within two (2) weeks without stating a reason, after changing from Basic Membership to Premium Membership. The two-week period begins when Premium Membership is activated by defpro.com, but not before the receipt of these instructions.

6.3 In accordance with §312d Par. 3 BGB (German Civil Code), the User’s right of cancellation lapses before the end of the right of cancellation period cited in section 5.1, in the following cases:

• If defence.professionals has begun performing the defpro.com services for which the User is registered with the express consent of the User, or
• If the User has initiated the defpro.com services for which the User is registered (e.g. in which the User has accessed the defpro.com services that defpro.com has made available to the User in accordance with the type of Membership chosen by the User at registration).

§7 Consequences of cancellation

In the event of a valid cancellation, both parties shall be obliged to restore any benefits already received in accordance with legal provisions, and issue any gains (e.g. interest). If the User is unable or partially unable to restore the benefits, or only able to restore them in poor condition, to defence.profesionals GmbH, then the User must reimburse defence.profesionals for the corresponding value. The User must fulfill obligations for reimbursement within 30 days after dispatch of the cancellation notice.

§8 Termination of Membership, Reimbursement of Advance Payments

8.1 The User may terminate the Basic at any time without cause. The User may deliver notice of termination using the contact form available on all defpro.com Websites at any time.

8.2 The User may terminate without cause the Premium Membership to the end of the minimum runtime chosen by the User in the course of the registration process.

8.3 If the User has terminated the Premium Membership, the User is entitled to retain a Free Membership until such termination takes effect.

8.4 A good cause is defined as an event which makes it unacceptable for defence.profesionals to continue the agreement to the end of the termination period, taking into account all circumstances of the individual case and weighing the interests of defence.profesionals against the User's. A good cause includes any the following events:

• If the User fails to comply with any applicable legal provisions
• If the User breaches a contractual obligation, in particular an obligation set forth in sections 9 GTC
• If the reputation of the services offered on the defpro.com Websites is substantially impaired by the online-presence of the User (if, for example, it is discovered after registration that the User has been convicted of a criminal offence, and if said conviction is known to other users);
• If the User promotes any communities or associations (or any of their methods or activities) which are under surveillance by authorities responsible for public safety or the protection of minors,
• If the User causes harm to any other users or companies involved.

8.5 In the event of a good cause in accordance with section 7.4 and notwithstanding defence.profesionals’ right to terminate the contract in accordance with section 7.4, defence.profesionals is entitled to:

• Delete the contents posted by the User
• Issue a warning,
• Delete the User’s profile, or
• Block the User's access to the services on the defpro.com Websites.

8.6 In the following cases, the User shall not be entitled to claim reimbursement of any advance payments:

• If defence.profesionals has terminated the contract for good cause pursuant to section 8.4,
• If defence.profesionals has blocked the User’s access in accordance with section 8.5, or
• If the User has terminated the agreement.

§9 Obligations of the User

9.1 The User is obliged,

• 9.1.1 To provide only true and non-misleading statements in the User profile and in communications with other users, and to refrain from using any pseudonyms or pen names.

  9.1.2 To provide only true and non-misleading statements in the User profile and in index or confairs entries and profiles.

  9.1.3 To post on the defpro.com Websites only photographs of the User which are not more than five (5) years old and in which the User can be clearly and plainly recognized. The User warrants and represents that the public display of the photographs delivered by the User to the defpro.com Websites is not prohibited. The User shall not upload any photographs or images of any other person than of the User, or of non-existent persons or other beings (such as animals, imaginary creatures, etc.).

  9.1.4 To comply with all applicable legislation, and respect all third-party rights. In Particular, the User shall not
  

  • Use any insulting or defamatory contents, regardless of whether said contents are directed at another user or defence.profesionals personnel or other companies
  • Use any pornographic materials or any contents that violate any applicable legislation for the protection of minors; or advertise or promote, offer or distribute any pornographic product or products which do not comply with any applicable legislation for the protection of minors
  • Unreasonably annoy (particularly with spam) any other user (cf. §7 of the German Unfair Competition Act)
  • Use without authorization any contents protected by law (e.g. by copyright, trademark, patent, utility patent, or design patent laws), or advertise, promote, offer or distribute any goods or services protected by law.
  • Use or promote any commercial practices considered unfair competition, including progressive customer acquisition practices (such as chain distribution systems, multilevel selling or pyramid sales).
  • Disclose the contact information of other users gained via the Network to third parties without consent and/or from using such information and/or arranging to have such information used for the purposes of telemarketing (e.g. unsolicited calls to mobile phones or via VoIP) or for the purpose of advertising by electronic means (e.g. unsolicited emails or SMS advertisements and messages sent via the defpro.com’s messaging service or an Instant Messenger.

  9.1.5 To refrain from engaging in any of the following annoying actions, even if they do not constitute a breach of any applicable laws:
  

  • Sending chain letters
  • Sending identical private messages to more than one (1) user at the same time except Groups newsletter
  • Performing, advertising and promoting any form of structural distribution measures (such as multi-level marketing or multi-level network marketing) or
  • Communicating in any insinuating or sexual way (suggestive or explicit).

9.2 The User is prohibited from the following:

• 9.2.1 Employing any mechanisms, software or scripts when using defpro.com Websites. However, the User may use the interfaces or software provided by defence.profesionals within the scope of the services available on the defpro.com Websites.

  9.2.2 Blocking, overwriting, modifying and copying of any contents of the defpro.com Websites, unless said actions are necessary for the proper use of the services on the defpro.com Websites. For example, the use of the "Robot/Crawler" search engine technology is not required for proper use of the services, and is therefore prohibited.

  9.2.3 Distributing or publicly disclosing the contents of any of the Websites of defpro.com or any other user.

  9.2.4 Performing any actions which may impair the operability of defpro.com's infrastructure, particularly actions which may overload said infrastructure.

§10 Changes to the Services on defpro.com Websites

defpro.com reserves the right to modify the services offered on the defpro.com Websites and/or to offer services different from those offered at the time of the User's registration at any time, unless this is unreasonable for the User.

§11 Privacy Policy

11.1 The protection of your personal data is of utmost concern to defence.professionals.
In these terms and conditions on data protection defence.professionals would like to inform you about how defpro.com treats your personal data and how you can exchange this data with other users of defpro.com.

11.2 Basic Principles of defpro.com for handling your Personal Data
defpro.com strictly adheres to the following basic principles in the protection of your Personal Data:

• defpro.com shall collect, process and use your Personal Data in accordance with the laws and statutes on data protection of the Federal Republic of Germany and those of the European Union.
• defpro.com shall use your Personal Data solely to provide you the defpro.com Services on the Internet for which you have registered. defpro.com will never pass your Personal Data on to any third party, neither for advertising, nor for marketing for any other purposes.
• Persons not registered with defpro.com may only view your Name and Photo. Personal Data will only be seen from registered community members.

§12 Data Protection

defence.profesionals GmbH recognizes that any data provided by the User to defpro.com is extremely important to the User, and defence.profesionals shall therefore be particularly sensitive in handling such data. defence.profesionals shall comply with all applicable legal provisions regarding data protection (German Data Protection Laws, European Data Protection Directives and any other applicable data protection legislation).

In particular, defence.profesionals shall not provide or otherwise disclose any personal data of the User to any third party without authorization.

§13 Responsibility for the User’s Content, Data or other Information

13.1 defence.profesionals GmbH does not make any warranties or representations regarding any data and/or information provided or made available by any user or company on any of the defpro.com Websites or on any external websites linked to them. In particular, defpro.com does not warrant or represent that said data and/or information is true or accurate, or that it fulfils or serves any particular purpose.

13.2 The User may report any activities of any other user or any entry which violate applicable laws and/or any of the terms and conditions of these GTC (including the use of untrue and misleading statements, pseudonyms or false identities) using the “Reprot abuse” contact form available at all defpro.com Websites.

§14 Groups

On the defpro.com Websites, defpro.groups offers certain groups, forums and similar services.

Each group has one (1) moderator. The moderator decides for each group whether the group is public or whether it is only accessible to a specific group of people, as well as who has read and/or write access for each relevant group. This information will be displayed on the defpro.com Websites for the relevant group. It is visible to registered defpro.com Members only.

Please note: where a group is specified as "public" on the defpro.com Website and in the event that the moderator has not restricted the access rights to the group, all contributions of defpro.com Members to such a group can be read by all other defpro.com Members, and these contributions are then also accessible to non-members of defpro.com on the Internet without any restrictions.

§15 Newsletter

defence.professionals regularly sends out daily newsletters. In these newsletters defence.professionals may inform you, among other things, about industrial news of your interest, features on defpro.com, about your upcoming events in the upcoming week, and defpro.com may also provide you with specific personal statistics.

Furthermore, defpro.com may present the latest visitors of your profile. Of course, this may also apply to yourself vice versa, i.e. you may be one of those defpro.com Members with regard to another defpro.com-Member whose Profile you have visited in the past week.

§16 Liability of defence.profesionals GmbH

Whatever the legal grounds, liability for damage claims based only on ordinary negligence against defence.profesionals (including its vicarious agents) shall exist only if defence.profesionals breaches a basic/cardinal obligation under this agreement. In this event, the amount of claims are limited to typical and foreseeable damages.

§17 Indemnity

17.1 The User shall indemnify and exempt defence.profesionals GmbH from all actions, including damage claims, asserted by other users or third parties against defence.profesionals resulting from an infringement of their rights by the contents posted by the User on defpro.com Websites. Furthermore, the User shall indemnify and exempt defence.profesionals GmbH from all actions, including damage claims, asserted by other users or third parties against defence.profesionals resulting from an infringement of their rights regarding the use of the services on defpro.com Websites by the User. The User assumes all reasonable costs defence.profesionals incurs due to an infringement of third party rights, including all reasonable legal-defense costs. All other rights, including damage claims by defence.profesionals GmbH, are hereby unaffected. The aforementioned obligations shall not apply to the extent the User is not responsible for the infringement.

17.2 In the event the contents posted by the User infringes any rights of any third party, the User shall, at its own expense and at defence.profesionals’ discretion, either obtain the right to use said contents or render said contents free of any infringement. In the event the User infringes third-party rights when using the services of defpro.com Websites, the User shall discontinue such use that violates these General Terms and Conditions and the law, if so requested by defence.profesionals. Applying to these partner offers are the General Terms and Conditions and the privacy policies of the respective partner companies that carry out the complete transaction themselves and are a party to an agreement with and serve as the contact for the User.

§18 Right to Contents

When the User posts his or her contribution e.g. to a forum or as a news, the User grants defence.profesionals GmbH an unlimited, irrevocable and assignable right of use for the respective contribution, which defence.profesionals is entitled to utilize for any purpose. In particular, defence.profesionals is entitled to keep said contribution on the forum, in news and on its Websites and the Websites of its partners, or use it for marketing the Website in any other way.

Consequently, defence.profesionals GmbH has a right of use over all contributions to defpro.com Website. Duplication or the use of these contributions or their contents in other electronic or printed publications is prohibited without the express written consent of defpro.com. Copying, downloading, dissemination, distribution and storing of the contents of defpro.com and/or third parties, with the exception of the cache memory when searching for forum pages, is prohibited without its express consent.

§19 Cookies

After you have logged in to the defpro.com Services with your user name and password, defpro.com uses cookies in order to identify you during the course of your session. A cookie will be stored on your computer. Upon the termination of your session the cookie will be automatically deleted.

§20 Log Files

Each time you access a website from the defpro.com Websites, defpro.com will save the following data in a log file (the so called "server log"):

• Your IP address (by which your computer can be clearly identified),
• The name and IP address of the computer requesting the respective page from the defpro.com Websites (the so called "remote host computer"),
• The time, status, and amount of the transferred data, as well as the Internet website from which you have reached the requested page of the defpro.com Websites (the so called "referrer")
• The product and release information from your Internet browser (the so called "user agent").

This log file will be stored by defpro.com in the standardized "combined" log file format for the Apache Web server. defpro.com uses the data from this log file in anonymous form without reference to your person for statistical purposes. In doing so, defpro.com may analyze on which days and at which time the defpro.com Services are particularly frequented and how much data volume is created on the defpro.com Websites. Furthermore, by using the log file, defpro.com can identify defects on the defpro.com Websites, such as defective hyperlinks or program defects, and thus continually improve the quality of the defpro.com Websites. defpro.com does not attribute the website demands stored in the log file to specific individual users. However, defpro.com reserves the right to review the log files from the last known IP address of a defpro.com-Member where defpro.com has reasonable cause to believe that the member is using defpro.com Services in breach of contractual agreements or the applicable legislation. In doing this, defpro.com is protecting other defpro.com Members, the safety of defpro.com Members’ data, as well as defpro.com Websites and the defpro.com Services.

§21 Final Provisions

21.1 These GTC and any amendments thereto must be in writing to be valid. No secondary agreements exist.

21.2 defpro.com reserves the right to amend these GTC at any time, without giving reasons, unless an amendment is unreasonable to the User. defpro.com shall give due notice of any amendments of these GTC to the User. If the User does not object to the applicability of the revised GTC within two (2) weeks after receipt of said notice, the amended GTC shall be deemed to be accepted by the User. defpro.com shall inform the User about the User's right to object and of the relevance of the objection deadline in said notice.

21.3 Unless otherwise stated in these GTC, the User may submit all notices to defpro.com using the contact form provided on each of the defpro.com Websites, or by letter or fax. defpro.com may send notices to the User by email, fax or post to the addresses given in the User’s current contact data in his or her user account.

21.4 If any provision of these GTC is, for any reason, invalid and/or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue to be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law. The parties agree to replace an invalid and/or unenforceable provision with a valid and/or enforceable provision which most closely approximates the intent and economic effect of the invalid and/or unenforceable provision. This also applies to contractual loopholes.

21.5 The place of performance under these GTC shall be defence.professionals GmbH's main place of business.

21.6 Place of jurisdiction, insofar as legally admissible, shall be the main place of business of defence.professionals GmbH.

21.7 These GTC and the contractual relationship shall be governed by German Law, excluding international private law and the provisions of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods that have been adopted by German Law.

§22 Definitions

The following terms used in these Terms and Conditions on Data Protection shall have the following meanings:

• "Personal Data" shall mean all data and/or information about your profession or your person.
• "defpro.com Websites" shall mean all websites on which defpro.com provides the defpro.com Services.
• "defpro.com Members" and “User” shall mean all registered users (as single members, company or conference/fair) as of defence.professionals on the defpro.com Websites.
• "defpro.com Services" shall mean all registration based services provided by defence.professionals on the defpro.com Websites.
• "Registration Data" shall mean the Personal Data you are obliged to make available to defence.professionals in the registration process for the defpro.com Services.
• "Profile" shall mean the defpro.com Website page where the Personal Data you have made available to defence.professionals is displayed in accordance with your specifications and your consent.

§23 Customer Service/Support

Queries regarding agreement with defpro.com or regarding defence.profesionals services can be sent by the customer to defence.profesionals using the contact form available at all times on all defpro.com Websites, or by sending a fax or letter.