Terms and Conditions
Effective date: August 2016
1. General
Hogrefe Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen/Germany (“Hogrefe”) runs for and in the name of the Hogrefe Group a joint online portal (“Hogrefe eContent”) which combines various electronic offerings from various affiliated companies within the group.
At present (1 April 2015), Hogrefe eContent includes offerings from the following companies:
Hogrefe Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen/Germany
Hogrefe AG (Verlag Hans Huber), Bern/Schweiz
Hogrefe Publishing GmbH, Göttingen/Deutschland
Offerings that are available for purchase within Hogrefe eContent are exclusively for individuals. Offerings for commercial and other organizations are available upon request from Hogrefe and are subject to separate license conditions and terms of use.
2.Validity
These terms and conditions apply to all usages of Hogrefe eContent in their then current version. Only these terms and conditions apply. Any customer’s terms and conditions that differ from or contradict Hogrefe’s terms and conditions will not apply unless Hogrefe has explicitly agreed to those in writing.
By using the freely accessible parts of Hogrefe eContent, the customer explicitly agrees to be bound by these terms and conditions. Upon registration and when any further usage rights are granted, the customer must explicitly confirm his or her agreement with the terms and conditions.
The usage of further Hogrefe services that may be linked to Hogrefe eContent, and in particular any online shops, is subject to the terms and conditions of those services.
3. Copyright
Hogrefe eContent and the contents made accessible through Hogrefe eContent as well as other protectable elements are, unless stated otherwise, protected by copyright. Any usage beyond the strict boundaries of copyright law is prohibited and liable to prosecution. This applies in particular to reproduction, translation, microfilming, and storing and processing of material in electronic systems.
4. Free Content
Hogrefe can, at its own discretion, choose to make certain parts of Hogrefe eContent available free of charge for a limited time. This takes place voluntarily and the availability of content free of charge may not be used by customers to justify any claim to permanent access. Customers are not permitted to circumvent or to attempt to circumvent any systems that are designed to restrict access to content.
5. Cancellation Policy
Consumers have a statutory right to withdraw from the contract. A consumer is any natural person concluding a legal transaction for a purpose that can be attributed neither to this person’s commercial nor to his or her self-employed professional activities (§ 13 BGB, German Civil Code).
Notice about withdrawal
Right of Withdrawal
The withdrawal period is 14 days from the day of the conclusion of the contract.
To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us (Hogrefe Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Herbert-Quandt-Straße 4, 37081 Göttingen, Telefon: +49 551 999 50 950, Fax: +49 551 999 50 955, E-Mail: [email protected]) of your decision to withdraw from this contract by an unequivocal statement (e.g. a letter sent by post, fax, or e-mail). You may use the attached model withdrawal form, but it is not obligatory.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of Withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we shall reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (with the exception of the supplementary costs resulting from your choice of a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us), without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract. We will carry out such reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
- End of the statutory notice about withdrawal .-
The right of withdrawal does not apply for goods that were manufactured in accordance with the customer’s specifications or tailor-made to the customer’s individual needs or which are not suitable for returning due to their intrinsic nature.
Moreover, the right of withdrawal does not apply to distance selling contracts for the delivery of audio or video recordings or software, if the storage media have been unsealed by the customer.
Furthermore, the right of withdrawal does not apply to the conclusion of subscriptions, unless the value of the subscription exceeds EUR 200, or for the supply of individual journal issues and articles.
6. Registration
Registration for Hogrefe eContent is free of charge and can take place through an account specifically created for the purpose, through an account for other Hogrefe services (e.g. online shop) or a third party account such as Facebook or Google+.
In all cases an account will be created on Hogrefe eContent upon first registration that contains personal data necessary for the usage of Hogrefe eContent. The customer agrees to the storage and usage of said data in accordance with Hogrefe’s Privacy Policy (see also 11).
If registration takes place through other Hogrefe services or a third party account, the transfer of data occurs in accordance with the permissions issued by the customer. The customer bears sole responsibility for said permissions. The customer accepts that access to Hogrefe eContent may be limited or impossible should he/she revoke permissions with said third party.
7. Accessibility and Liability
Accessing content in Hogrefe eContent does not constitute a binding contractual offer. The contractual offer, in accordance with contract law, is only extended when the customer places an order. The contract is concluded upon notification of availability or receipt of the invoice. Access to Hogrefe eContent is only possible through the internet. Place of data transfer is the interface between Hogrefe’s server and the internet. Hogrefe’s responsibility for the data transfer ends at that point.
The content which is made available on Hogrefe eContent has been prepared with the care and diligence that is customary in the industry. Despite careful reviews and corrections, errors cannot be excluded. Any content errors will be corrected within the course of Hogrefe’s normal revision and update schedule after notification by the customer. Liability without fault is excluded.
The customer is solely responsible for ensuring that his or her equipment fulfils the technological requirements required to access Hogrefe eContent and the available content, in particular hardware, operating system, internet connection, and browser software. For full function of the Hogrefe eContent portal, the use of cookies is currently essential. The customer must ensure that his or her browser is configured to accept cookies transmitted by Hogrefe.
The customer is responsible for taking appropriate measures to ensure the security of his or her system, in particular appropriate browser security settings and up-to-date software to protect against computer viruses.
Claims for damages by customers, regardless of reason, are excluded. This does not apply in cases of intent or gross negligence, damage to life, physical injury, or damage to health, liability in accordance with the product liability law, for any warranties, for damage arising from a culpable breach of material contractual obligation, or other cases of mandatory liability. The claim for damages and reimbursement of expenses for the breach of essential contractual duties is, however, limited to typical, contractual and foreseeable damages insofar as there is no willful intent or gross negligence or that liability is assumed on account of damage to life, physical injury or damage to health. The above regulations are not linked with reversal of the burden of proof. Links to external offers are provided for customers’ convenience only. Hogrefe does not take responsibility for the content available there.
Hogrefe will take appropriate and reasonable security measures to protect the eContent portal and its content against computer viruses and hacker attacks. The customer is also obliged to secure his or her system appropriately. Hogrefe is not liable for damage caused by viruses that could have been avoided by technological means.
To ensure smooth operations over a long period, occasional maintenance and in individual cases server shutdowns or restarts may be necessary. This may lead to rare temporary service limitations. Service limitations may also occur because of security or capacity issues, system maintenance, and events outside of Hogrefe’s control (e.g. disruption of public communication networks, blackouts, Denial of Service attacks, strikes, etc.). Hogrefe will endeavor to keep the duration of these service limitations to a minimum. They may not be regarded as lack of fulfillment of contractual obligations.
In case of technological advances or changes to technical components of Hogrefe eContent and the content available there, the customer is responsible for adjusting his or her system to the new circumstances. The customer will be notified about necessary changes through the portal in a timely manner.
8. Contract Conclusion and Payment
Upon completion of the purchasing process or by entering a valid access token in Hogrefe eContent, a usage agreement pursuant to paragraph 9 is concluded for the selected content and time span. Payments can be made by PayPal or credit card.
9. Right of Usage
For content to which the customer is provided access by means of concluding the purchasing process, redeeming a token, or in the scope of paragraph 4, Hogrefe confers the following non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable right of usage:
- Access to the content by means of personal login data (username and password)
- Displaying of the content within Hogrefe eContent for personal use only
- Copying of the content to the extent permitted by law through the available print and recommendation functions
Editing, alteration, conversion, or processing of the Hogrefe eContent portal and its contents, in whole or in part, is prohibited. Reproduction for purposes other than personal usage is prohibited.
Hogrefe eContent and its contents may not be used in whole or in part for commercial purposes.
Reselling, lending, electronic interlibrary loans, and inclusion of the content in a document delivery service are prohibited.
The use of robots, spiders, crawlers and other automated download programs that continuously search, index, or retrieve Hogrefe eContent’s content are prohibited. The customer is not permitted to delete, edit, or suppress display of authors’ and editors’ names, copyright information, logos, trademarks and other identifying marks or legal reservations.
10. Security Measures and Misuse
The customer agrees to give provide true, up to date and complete information when placing an order. His or her personal information must be kept up to date at all times. Furthermore, the customer agrees to keep his or her login details and passwords confidential.
The customer will employ appropriate measures in order to protect Hogrefe eContent’s content from unauthorized access. If he or she detects misuse of the access data and/or any violation of the copyright of the content, Hogrefe must be informed immediately.
In the case of unauthorized use, misuse or reasonable suspicion of misuse by the customer, Hogrefe reserves the right to disable the access to the Hogrefe eContent portal and its content until this misuse has ceased. The customer may be held liable for consequences of any misuse for which he or she is responsible.
11. Data Protection
See Privacy Policy
12. Address
Hogrefe Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Merkelstrasse 3
37085 Göttingen
Tel. +49 551 999 50 0
E-Mail: [email protected]
13. Alternative Mandatory information according to the Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council:
Follow this link to the website of the European Commission’s entity for online dispute resolution for consumer disputes: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. Should you have any initial questions concerning a potential dispute resolution, please email us at [email protected].
14. Jurisdiction
Place of jurisdiction is Göttingen, Germany.
15. Applicable law
German legal provisions apply even if an order is placed outside of Germany or a service is rendered outside of Germany.
The terms and conditions in place at the time of placing an order are binding for the customer.
In the event of discrepancy between the German and English version, the German version prevails.