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We accept the terms of service and privacy policy of chocoBRAIN GmbH & Co. KG.

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Terms of Service for the
Online Services of chocoBRAIN GmbH & Co. KG
(Free Basic Version)

1 Provider, Subject Matter of Contract, Scope of Applicability

(1) The website www.chocobrain.com is a service provided by chocoBRAIN GmbH & Co. KG (hereinafter “cB”), Uferstraße 20, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany, represented by its general partner, chocoBRAIN Verwaltungs GmbH, which in turn is represented by its managing director (Geschäftsführer) Jens Kramer. Additional contact details and the commercial register information can be obtained from the legal notice of this website.
(2) The following terms of service regulate all issues concerning the use of the online services provided by cB on www.chocobrain.com. These terms of service apply exclusively, adverse or divergent terms of service will not be accepted unless cB has explicitly agreed to them in writing. The user accepts these terms of service by using the online services offered.
(3) These terms of service can either be printed by the user, using the buttons below, or be downloaded as a PDF document.

2 Use of Service, Conclusion of Contract, Registration

(1) Prior to using the online services of cB, the user must successfully complete the registration process. The user does not have to pay any fees to cB to use the basic version unless explicitly otherwise agreed.
(2) The user makes a binding offer for using the online services (in this case: for the free basic version) provided by cB by sending the registration form. The offer is accepted by cB when cB sends a confirmation email to the email address of the user given at registration. The user must reconfirm his registration by clicking on the link in the confirmation email.
(3) If the user does not receive a message for registration/ activation, he can contact the following cB service point: webadmin(at)chocobrain(dot)com.
(4) During the registration process, the user must decide on a username and password (hereinafter, “access data”) and must provide the mandatory information. The user is obligated to provide truthful and complete information and to update the information in the event of changes. Usernames that encroach upon third-party rights or that violate accepted principles of morality are not permissible. In such case, cB is authorized, but not obligated to immediately exclude the user from further use, to delete the user account without advance notice and to refuse a renewed registration. The user himself is responsible for keeping his access data secret and for protecting them from being accessed by unauthorized persons.
(5) By registering, the user, provided that he is an individual, affirms that he is at least 18 years old. Second accounts are not permissible.
(6) The user irrevocably agrees that correspondence from or with cB can take place via the email address given by the user during the registration process. The user will ensure that he can be reached via the email address he provides.
(7) The user undertakes to keep the information provided at registration up to date, in particular, to inform cB in writing without being asked about changes to his name or email address to the extent this is necessary for the proper performance of the obligations under the contract.

3 cB’s Services

(1) At www.chocobrain.com, cB provides an interactive online portal as a communication platform. Users can describe themselves by way of profiles and contents, can communicate through messages and can give evaluations. cB’s own contents, data, information and messages will be separately labeled as such.
(2) The main features of the portal are listed and explained in the content “What is chocoBRAIN?” and in its additional contents. By accepting these terms of service, the user obtains the right to use the free basic version. As a voluntary service, cB makes the user an offer of the use of all the features of the power version in the first month after his registration to give the user an opportunity to become acquainted with these features.
(3) cB’s services are limited to the provision of the interactive portal as a communication platform for its users. cB explicitly does not appropriate the contents, data, messages or information uploaded by users. If users make use of services offered by other users (e.g., companies), the privity of contract is only between the respective users.
(4) cB will endeavor, but is not obligated, to guarantee the accessibility of its online services at all times. The user accepts, in particular, that a 100 percent availability of cB’s website cannot be guaranteed. The user himself is responsible for arranging access to the Internet.
(5) cB offers its services with state-of-the-art technology. This can lead to capacity limits in storing and uploading the user’s contents, data, messages and information.

4 CB’s responsibility

(1) cB does not assume responsibility for contents, data, messages or information uploaded by the user or for contents, data, messages or information on linked external websites. This particularly applies to whether they are up to date, correct, complete and free of viruses. cB states explicitly that they will not be appropriated.
(2) Any contents, data, messages or information provided by cB serve the sole purpose of providing information and are always subject to changes. The composition of such contents, data, messages or information is provided to the best of cB’s knowledge and belief; cB is unable to examine these in detail. For this reason, cB cannot guarantee that such contents, data, messages or information are up to date, correct, complete and free of viruses.
(3) An identification of persons or companies in the Internet is possible only to a limited extent. cB cannot guarantee that the registered users are actually the persons or companies they pretend to be. cB therefore cannot assume any liability for the actual identity of the users.

5 Obligations of the Users, Consequences of Offenses, Indemnity, Report of Offenses

(1) In addition to the obligations listed in Article 2(4) to (6), the user is obligated to refrain from any kind of improper use of the services offered by cB, to comply with the applicable laws and not to violate the rights of third parties. In particular:
a) It is exclusively the user’s responsibility to resolve in advance questions concerning competition law, trademark law, copyright or naming rights relating to the contents, data, messages or information uploaded by him.
b) It is not permitted to publish or disseminate illegal, defamatory, pornographic or other offensive contents, data, messages or information or to violate the law for the protection of children and youth (Jugendschutzgesetz).
c) It is not permitted to use programs, program features or comparable technical devices to enable the use of the personal profile circumventing the user surface (i.e., using scripts, robots, posting automatisms), to make electronic attacks (i.e., hacking attempts, bruteforce attacks) of any kind on the chocoBRAIN network or on individual users or to load defective data/programs (i.e., virus programs, Trojans or spyware) or use the services in ways negatively affecting the availability of the portal.
(2) If the user violates these terms of service, especially the obligations in Article 2(4) to (6) and Article 5(1), cB is authorized, but not obligated to exclude the user from further use, to delete the user account without advance notice and to refuse a renewed registration. Furthermore, in line with the applicable laws, cB is authorized in such cases to pass on the information about the user, including the IP address, if stored, to the law enforcement agency.
(3) Furthermore, cB is authorized, but not obligated to delete or to alter to a legally permissible extent the users’ contents, data, messages or information that violate these terms of service and, in particular, violate the rights of third parties or applicable law. It is sufficient for this purpose that third parties present the corresponding offenses convincingly; cB is not required to do a comprehensive legal check. In such cases, cB is also entitled to pass on the information about the user to a third party within the framework of the applicable laws to enable such third party to assert his claim.
(4) Claims of the user against cB based on the measures listed in (2) and (3) are ruled out unless there has been a breach of duty towards the user for which cB is responsible.
(5) In the event of claims by third parties due to violations of these terms of service by the user, particularly of the obligations listed in Article 2 (4) to (6) and Article 5 (1), the user is solely liable and indemnifies cB from all claims asserted by third parties in this regard and from any losses and costs incurred. This indemnity obligation does not apply if the user is not responsible for the violation. This has no affect on further compensation claims raised by cB against the user.
(6) Users may report violations of these terms of service by other users by sending an email message to webadmin(at)chocobrain(dot)com.

6 Liability Towards Users

(1) cB is liable without limitation for all referable damages caused by an intentional act or gross negligence or if a guaranteed feature is absent,
(2) cB is liable without limitation in the event of injury of life, body or health caused by simple negligence. If cB fails to provide its service because of simple negligence, if its service has become impossible or if cB has breached an essential obligation, its liability for material damage and financial loss attributed to such negligence is limited to the damage that is foreseeable in such contracts. An essential obligation is one that makes the proper implementation of the contract possible and that if breached imperils the purpose of the contract and that the user can as rule rely on to be complied with.
(3) Liability for all other types of damage is ruled out, with the exception of liability under the German Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz).
(4) cB reserves the right to raise the defense of contributory negligence.
(5) All legal liability privileges, for example, under the German Teleservices Act, remain unaffected by the aforementioned provisions.

7 Changes to Terms of Service and Services

(1) These terms of service may be changed as long as such changes do not affect any essential provisions of the contract and such changes are necessary to adapt to developments that were not predictable at the time the contract was concluded and the non-consideration of which would noticeably disrupt the balance in the contractual relationship. Furthermore, amendments and additions to the terms of service may be made provided that this is essential to rectify difficulties in performing the contract due to loopholes that developed after the conclusion of the contract. This can be the case, in particular, if there is a change in prevailing case law and this affects one or more clauses from these terms of service.
(2) Changes to the terms of service will be communicated to the user via email at least four weeks prior to their coming into force. Until they come into force, the user will be entitled to a special right to termination. Should the user not terminate in writing within four weeks after receiving the notification of change, the changes will become components of the contract upon coming into force. The user’s attention will specifically be called to this consequence in the notification of change.
(3) cB also reserves the right to change or deactivate the features provided for the user on its website and to change, add to or delete the contents, data, messages or information provided. The user is not entitled to a retention or continuation of the online services provided by cB.
(4) cB also reserves the right to provide parts of the services, in particular, individual features, in return for payment in the future. This can result in a restriction of the hitherto free services. No participation of the user in the services that are no longer free of charge will take place until the user has explicitly given his consent.

8 Contract Duration, Possibility of Termination at Any Time, Consequences of Termination

(1) The present agreement is concluded for an indefinite period.
(2) The user may unsubscribe from further use by issuing a statement in text form (i.e., via email, letter or fax) at any time – without compliance with any notice period and without giving reasons.
(3) This possibility of termination applies to cB analogously.
In particular, cB reserves the right to delete accounts that have been inactive over a long period (no login within one year and no response to notification of deletion to the email address given at registration).
(4) After termination, the user may no longer use cB’s services. We explicitly point out to the user that in such case the contents, data or information uploaded by the user will be deleted, so that he can no longer access them unless explicitly otherwise agreed. The messages made publicly available by the user (i.e., public conversations) remain accessible after the user has been deleted – but without the user’s name and with the information that this message was written by a user who has been deleted.

9 Right of Revocation

Besides their option of termination at any time under Article 7 of these terms of service, users in terms of §13 of the German Civil Code (BGB) – meaning individual persons who conclude transactions with a purpose that cannot be attributed to their commercial or self-employed occupational activity – have a one-month right of revocation.

10 Data Privacy

(1) cB is aware of the fact that data privacy is a very important and sensitive topic. cB will comply with the data protection regulations, particularly those set out in the German Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz) and the German Teleservices Act (Telemediengesetz).
(2) For more detailed information, see the privacy policy at http://www.chocobrain.com/about/privacy.

11 Consents

(1) The user consents that at least the following information will be shown on his public profile.
For persons, this is: first name, last name, profile picture.
For companies, this is: company name, corporate logo, address, telephone number, company details, confirmed contacts.
(2) The user consents that cB may show advertisements and particularly that advertising is temporarily superimposed on the contents, data, information or messages uploaded by the user or that the reproduction is interrupted by popups.
(3) The user consents that other users – after having viewed the contents, data, information or messages uploaded by him – can send him contact requests. He can confirm or ignore these requests, or the corresponding users can be blocked from further interaction.

12 Transfer of Rights, Written Form Requirement, Applicable Law, Place of Jurisdiction

(1) Only with cB’s prior written consent, which may not be unreasonably withheld, may the user transfer the rights and obligations from this contractual relationship to a third party.
(2) All amendments and additions to this contract and declarations and messages relating to this contract must be in written form to be valid. For the user and cB, it is sufficient that documents are sent in text form, particularly via fax or email, unless otherwise specified for certain declarations.
(3) The law of the Federal Republic of Germany is applicable. This does not affect the legal provision in §3 of the Teleservices Act.
(4) The place of jurisdiction for any disputes arising from and relating to this contract is Karlsruhe, as long as the user is a merchant, legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law. This also applies if the user does not have a general place of jurisdiction or if his place of residence is unknown or is abroad. This does not apply if in individual cases opposing coercive consumer protection or European laws exist.
Effective 04/2010

chocoBRAIN Privacy Policy

We are aware of the fact that data privacy is a very important and sensitive topic for you.
An important prerequisite for chocoBRAIN’s success is that you can trust us to process and use your data properly. For this reason, we would like describe our privacy policy.

I. Our Basic Principles

1. We comply with the data protection regulations, particularly those set out in the German Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz) and the German Teleservices Act (Telemediengesetz). Strict compliance with these rules guarantees a high level of data privacy.
2 Transparency is of highest priority for us, and we will be glad to answer any questions you may have about how we use your data or about our privacy policy.
3. Except for a few mandatory fields (see below), you can decide yourself what kind of information other users see about you, particularly through the settings in the category “My Profile”. Your information will not be shared with third parties for advertising or marketing purposes without your explicit consent.

II. Collection and Processing of Anonymous Data, Web Analytics Software

1. Log file data are collected automatically on our server and stored internally in a log file that is transmitted to us via your browser. This refers to the following data:
The IP address, type and version of your browser and operating system, type of page view, server status, number of transmitted bytes, URL of the site via which you found us and the search terms you used to find us, date and time of retrieval from our website and the name of the retrieved subpages.
We collect and store such information in anonymous form, which means we cannot match it to a certain person. We collect and process this information only to evaluate it for system-related and statistical purposes. It is deleted after four weeks.
2. We use Piwik, open source web analytics software, to design our website so as to serve your needs. Piwik also uses cookies (see “Use of Cookies”). The pseudonymized data (including your IP address) we receive are then processed and evaluated by us in Germany. There is no evaluation of personal information. Additional information on Piwik is available in English at www.piwik.org.

III. Collection and Processing of Pseudonymous Data

Even if you have registered as a user and have logged in, we still collect and store the data mentioned above in a pseudonymous form. This means that the information is connected only to an internal label and not to your name or other identifying features. We do not link the data to you personally or to your company. The purpose of this data collection and data processing in pseudonymous form is merely to enable us to design and improve our site and our advertising.

IV. Collection and Processing of Personal Data

1. If you register with us as a user, we collect and process the following data as mandatory data for the purpose of fulfilling the obligations described in the terms of use:
a) Free basic membership of private individuals:
first name, last name, sex, date of birth, email address, password
b) Free basic membership of companies:
company name, company address, telephone number, email address, password
c) Fee-based power or premium membership of private individuals:
first name, last name, sex, date of birth, email address, password, address, billing data
d) Fee-based power or premium membership of companies:
company name, company address, telephone number, email address, password, billing data
2. All other information is voluntary.

V. Sharing Personal Information

1. We will not share your data with third parties for advertising or marketing purposes without your explicit consent.
2. If you choose the strictest settings in the category “My Profile”, users can see only the following information:
a) Private individuals:
first name, last name, chocoFACTS, visited profiles, visited mediaBOOKS
b) Companies:
company name, company description, goods and services, location, telephone number, confirmed contacts, chocoFACTS, visited profiles, visited mediaBOOKS
3. You can determine whether more than the minimum information listed above is shown. You can choose the settings in the category “My Profile” and decide whether or not to agree to a deeper connection, such as “Friendship”, to enable another user – as described above – to see more information.
4. We explicitly reserve the right to share personal data with authorities – in particular, the police or the department of public prosecution – if there is a suspicion that a crime has been committed and with third parties to enforce claims under civil law in cases provided for by statute or specified in the terms of use.

VI. Use of Cookies

1. We use cookies on different pages in order to make your visit to our website attractive and to enable you to use certain functions. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer. Most of the cookies we use are deleted from the hard drive after the browser session (so-called session cookies). Other cookies remain on your computer and allow us to recognize your computer the next time you visit (so-called permanent cookies).
2. You can prevent your browser from accepting cookies by changing the settings. However, not all the functions of the website will be available to you if you do that.

VII. Use of Your Email Address

1. We use your email address to send you a confirmation email after your registration and for correspondence directly related to contract fulfillment.
2. We use your email address for sending you our newsletters or other interesting offers and news only if you have given us permission to do so. You can revoke your consent at any time. You can change the appropriate settings yourself – under “Settings”.

VIII. Right to Information, Correction, Blocking, Deletion

1. We will give you information on the data stored about you or your company, the origin of the data, recipients and the purpose of such storage free of charge at your request at any time. You can obtain this information by sending a request to the contact address (“contact for data privacy”) mentioned below.
2. If the legal prerequisites are met, you also have a right to correction, blocking or deletion of such data. In that case, please also get in touch with the contact for data privacy mentioned below.

IX. Changes to this Privacy Policy

1. We reserve the right to amend this privacy policy at our reasonable discretion – particularly to adapt to new technical and legal developments.
2. Registered users will be informed by us in due time. In the event of an amendment that would lower our high standard of data privacy, the users will have a special right to termination, which has to be exercised within four weeks after having been informed by us of the amendment of the data privacy policy.

X. Data Privacy Contact

If you have any questions concerning the collection, processing or use of personal data or if you want information on your stored data or want to have data corrected, blocked or deleted or if you want to revoke your consent, please do not hesitate to contact:
Jens Kramer, Uferstraße 20, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany, info(at)chocobrain(dot)com

Effective: 04/2010