With the registration as a user of KISSWIN.de you accept the following general terms and conditions for the use of KISSWIN (hereafter only “GTC”).

These GTC regulate the contractual relationship between the user and KISSWIN, no matter on which KISSWIN website the user logs on or registers.

The agreement on the use of the KISSWIN services is made between the user and the Center for Learning and Knowledge Management and Department of Information Management in Mechanical Engineering of the RWTH Aachen, Dennewartstr. 27, 52068 Aachen, phone: 0049 (0)241/80911-00, fax: 0049 (0)241/80911-22, e-mail: info@zlw-ima.rwth-aachen.de. Further contact details, the commercial register data as well as the name of the person authorised to represent KISSWIN.de can be found at the website credits.

The services offered by KISSWIN aim at persons of full age exclusively.

The GTC can be accessed from every KISSWIN website via the link “GTC”. The user can access, print, download and save these GTC anytime, even after the conclusion of the contract.

I. The Purpose of the General Terms and Conditions

I.a)

The use of the KISSWIN websites is free for registered users.

I.b)

The user acknowledges that it is technically impossible to guarantee 100% availability of the KISSWIN websites. However, KISSWIN puts forth an effort to keep the KISSWIN websites available as constantly as possible. In particular maintenance, security and capacity requirements as well as events beyond KISSWIN’s control (like for instance power blackouts a. s. o.) can lead to brief malfunctions or temporary interrupts of the services provided on the KISSWIN websites.

I.c)

KISSWIN places the data and/or information provided by the users to the other users’ disposal as long as the data/information does not violate any legal regulations or these GTC. KISSWIN is entitled to remove illegal contents without advance notice.

I.d)

The founders of the groups are entitled to make choices concerning their group members. They can freely decide whom they want to accept into their groups.

I.e)

KISSWIN merely provides a contact platform for its users, and therefore provides only those technical applications which help facilitate contact among the users of the KISSWIN webpages. KISSWIN does not participate in the communication taking place between the users. If KISSWIN users make agreements while using the KISSWIN webpages, KISSWIN is not involved in these matters and therefore does not become a contractual partner. The users alone are responsible for the execution and fulfilment of contracts they concluded with each other. KISSWIN is not liable if, in connection with such a contract, the contact between the users cannot be established. Moreover KISSWIN is not liable for a user’s violation of duty concerning the agreements made by users among each other.

II. Consumer’s Right of Withdrawal

Provided that you register with KISSWIN for a purpose which can be attributed neither to your commercial nor your self-employed professional activity the following conditions apply to you as a consumer as defined by law (§ 13 German Civil Code):

II.a) Right of Withdrawal

You can withdraw your contractual statement in writing (e.g. letter, fax, e-mail), without stating reasons within two weeks. The period commences at the earliest on receipt of this note in written form, however not before conclusion of the contract and not before we have met our information duties and other duties as defined by Civil Code (§ 312c sec 2 BGB in conjunction with § 1 sec. 1, 2 and 4 BGB-InfoV as well as § 312e sec 1 clause 1 BGB in conjunction with § 3 BGB-InfoV). In order to consider and keep the limitation period, it shall be sufficient to send the revocation advice in time. The revocation should be addressed to:

KISSWIN.de
Zentrum für Lern- und Wissensmanagement (ZLW) und Lehrstuhl Informationsmanagement im Maschinenbau (IMA) der RWTH Aachen
Dennewartstrasse 27
52062 Aachen
Fax: +49 241 8091122
Email: info(at)kisswin(dot)de

The revocation can also be submitted to KISSWIN via the contact form available on every KISSWIN website.

II.b) Premature lapse of the right of cancellation

Your right of revocation expires early according to § 312d sec 3 BGB if the contract is fulfilled by both parties by their express wish and before your right of cancellation has been executed.

III. Changes of Services provided on the KISSWIN Websites

KISSWIN reserves the right to alter the services provided on the KISSWIN websites or to provide variant services.

IV. Registration

IV.a)    

The user has to register prior to the utilisation of the KISSWIN website services.

The user assures to be of age at the time of the registration.

The user must not use any pseudonyms or artist’s names.

IV.b)

The user chooses a password at the time of registration. He or she is obliged to keep his or her password secret. KISSWIN will not disclose the password to any third party and will at no point in time ask for the user’s password.

IV.c)

The user warrants that his or her data specified at registration is accurate and complete. The user is obligated to notify KISSWIN in the case of changes in his or her user data.

IV.d)

It is technically impossible for KISSWIN to determine without fail whether a user registered with the KISSWIN websites is in fact the person he or she pretends to be. That is why KISSWIN assumes no liability for a user’s actual identity. Therefore every user is self-responsible to check the actual identity of another user.

IV.e)

By finishing registration the user consents to enter the agreement on the use of the KISSWIN website services. KISSWIN accepts this offer by activating the user’s profile for the KISSWIN website services. The contract between the user and KISSWIN takes effect with the aforementioned acceptance by KISSWIN.

IV.f)

Every user may register only once and create only one user account.

V. The User’s Responsibilities within the KISSWIN Community

V.a) The user within the KISSWIN Community is obliged,

to submit photos of himself or herself to the KISSWIN websites which show the user clearly and recognizably. The user makes sure that it is allowed to show openly the photos submitted to the KISSWIN websites. The submission of photos or images of other or not existent persons as well as other creatures (animals, fantasy characters a. s. o.) is prohibited.

to use true and non-misleading statements in his or her profile and in communication with other users. Furthermore he or she is obliged to refrain from using any artist’s names or pseudonyms, the only exception being the &quote;user name&quote; which can be chosen freely

to refrain from conducting the following pestering actions, even if they do not concretely violate the law:

distribution of chain letters,

sending of identical private messages to several users at the same time,

realisation, advertising and promotion of pyramid selling activities (such as multi level marketing or multi level network marketing) or

offensive or sexually characterised communication (explicit or implicit).

to consider all applicable rules and all third-party rights when using the contents and services on the KISSWIN websites. It is particularly prohibited to,

use any insulting or defamatory contents, regardless of whether these are directed at other users, KISSWIN staff or other persons or companies,

use pornographic content or content contravening the law for the protection of minors as well as use, offer or distribute pornographic products or products contravening the law for the protection of minors,

harassing other users unreasonably (especially through SPAM) (vgl. § 7 Fair trade law , UWG),

make use of content that is protected by law (e.g. through copyright, trademark, patent, design or usage rights) unless entitled to do so, or to advertise, offer for sale or otherwise promote legally protected goods or services,

engage in or promote anti-competitive activities, including progressive customer acquisition schemes (such as chain, snowball or pyramid systems).

The user is prohibited from undertaking the following actions:

The use of mechanisms, software or scripts in connection with the use of the KISSWIN websites.

Blocking, overwriting, modifying, copying, insofar as this is not necessary for the proper use of the KISSWIN websites services. Copying by means of "robot/crawler" search engine technologies for example is not necessary for the proper use of the KISSWIN website services and is therefore prohibited.

Distributing or publicly disclosing the contents of any of the KISSWIN websites or any other user.

Any activity which is likely to impair the functionality of the KISSWIN infrastructure, especially one that creates excessive loading.

VI. Termination of the Contract

VI.a)

The user may terminate his or her free membership at any time and he or she need not give any reason for doing so. Termination can be effected using the contact form that is accessible from any page on the KISSWIN websites. When terminating the service, the user name and one of the user's e-mail addresses that has been registered on the KISSWIN websites must be provided. The stipulations in clause VI.a) shall not affect the right of both parties to terminate the service where good cause to do so exists.

VI.b)

A significant reason for cancellation of KISSWIN exists in particular, if the user does not comply with the following legal regulations:

• Failure by the user to comply with his or her contractual commitments, especially those in paragraphs IV and V of these GTC;
• The reputation of the services offered on the KISSWIN websites is significantly impaired by the presence of the user (e.g. when it is discovered after the user has registered that he or she has been found guilty in a court of law of an offence and that this conviction is known to others);
• The user advertises on behalf of organisations or communities - or he promotes their methods or activities - when these are being monitored by security or child protection agencies;
• The user harms one or more other users
• The user is a member of a sect or a religious community which is controversial within Germany.

VI.c)

Where good cause exists in accordance with clause VI.b), and independent of a termination according to the provisions of clause V.b), KISSWIN is also entitled to implement the following sanctions against the user:

• Deletion of content that has been provided by the user,
• Issuing a warning or
• Blocking the user's access to the KISSWIN website services.

VII. Responsibility for the User’s Content, Data or other Information

VII.a)

Insofar as that the user discovers any illegal or contractually prohibited use of KISSWIN websites (including the use of pseudonyms or misleading identities), he or she can notify the KISSWIN team by using the contact form which can be found on any of the KISSWIN websites.

VII.b)

KISSWIN does not assume responsibility for the content, data and/or information which is provided by users of the KISSWIN websites, or for the contents of any externally linked websites. In particular, KISSWIN does not warrant that this content is true, or that it fulfils or serves any particular purpose.

VIII. Liability of KISSWIN

Claims for damages - on whatever legal basis - against KISSWIN (including its subcontractors), attributable to slight negligence, are only considered valid if there has been a violation of a major contractual duty or cardinal obligation. A cardinal obligation is an obligation on whose compliance the user could have counted on and which enables the realisation of the contract according to the set rules in the first place. In this event, claims for damages shall be limited to the normal amount paid for typical and foreseeable damages.

Any claims in respect of bodily injury or damage to property which come under the product liability laws shall remain intact. Furthermore the above-mentioned exclusions of liability and restrictions do not apply where KISSWIN has explicitly assumed liability or in case of claims due to absence of assured features.

IX. Exclusion of Liability

IX.a)

If by the content of a user the rights of a third party are harmed, the KISSWIN user will on request of KISSWIN enforce the authorisation to use the content or has to design the content without trademark rights at his/her own costs. If by using the services of the KISSWIN websites the rights of a third party are harmed by the user, the user will immediately cease using illegal services or services in a way contrary to the terms of the agreement, if requested by KISSWIN.

IX.b)

The user indemnifies KISSWIN against all claims including claims for damages that other users or third parties in general are able to uphold against KISSWIN in respect of infringements of their rights resulting from content posted by the user on the KISSWIN websites. The user further indemnifies KISSWIN from all claims including claims for damages that other users or third parties in general are able to uphold against KISSWIN in respect of infringements of their rights resulting from the user’s use of the KISSWIN website services. The user assumes all reasonable costs incurred by KISSWIN due to an infringement of third party rights, including all reasonable legal defence costs. All other rights, including damage claims by KISSWIN, are hereby unaffected. The user is at liberty to prove that KISSWIN has incurred lower costs in this instance. The aforementioned obligations shall not apply to the extent the user is not responsible for the infringement.

X. Answering of Queries

Queries regarding the agreements with KISSWIN or regarding KISSWIN services can be sent by the customer to KISSWIN using the contact form which can be found on every KISSWIN website, or by sending a fax or letter.

XI. Protection of Data

KISSWIN is distinctly aware that any data provided by the user to KISSWIN is extremely important to the user, and KISSWIN shall therefore be particularly sensitive in handling such data. KISSWIN complies with all applicable legal provisions concerning data protection (German Data Protection Laws, European Data Protection Directives and any other applicable data protection legislation). In particular, KISSWIN will not provide or otherwise disclose any personal data of the user to any third party without authorization. Details on KISSWIN’s treatment of the user's data are specified in the Privacy Policy accessible from any KISSWIN website.

XII. Final Provisions

XII.a)

Place of performance shall be KISSWIN’s main place of business.

XII.b)

The courts of KISSWIN’s main place of business shall have jurisdiction, where legally permissible.

XII.c)

The contractual relationship and any corresponding amendments must be in writing to be valid. No secondary agreements exist.

XII.d) 

KISSWIN reserves the right to amend these GTC at any time, without giving reasons, unless an amendment is unreasonable to the user. KISSWIN will give timely notice of any amendments of these GTC to the user. If the user does not object to the applicability of the revised GTC within six (6) weeks after receipt of the notice, the amended GTC will be assumed to be accepted by the user. KISSWIN will inform the user about the user's right to object and of the relevance of the objection deadline in the notice mentioned above.

XII.e)

Unless otherwise stated, the user may submit all notices to KISSWIN by email using the contact form provided on any KISSWIN website, or by letter or fax. KISSWIN may send notices to the user by email, fax or mail to the addresses given in the user’s current contact data in his or her user account.

XII.f)

If any provision of these GTC is or will become, for any reason, invalid and/or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue to be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.

XII.g)

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.