General Terms and Conditions of Use

General Provisions

The operator of the jovoto.com online platform (hereinafter referred to as the”Platform”) is jovoto GmbH, Prinzessinnenstrasse 20, 10969 Berlin (hereinafter referred to as ”jovoto”). The following General Terms and Conditions of Use set forth the basic rules for using the Platform and for transactions between the User of the Platform and jovoto. They apply exclusively and irrespective of conflicting provisions that either bind Users in the operation of their business in any other context or that the User wishes to apply. jovoto objects to any deviating terms, the User wishes to apply to the contractual relationship with jovoto.

Definitions

“User” is a natural person who has registered for participation on the Platform.

“Idea” within the meaning of these General Terms and Conditions of Use is creative content that User submits on the Platform in connection with the User’s participation in a Contest (see below). An Idea may include, but is not limited to, graphics, photographs, videos, text, music, sketches and other images in digital form.

“Work Samples” within the meaning of these General Terms and Conditions of Use are creative content, which the User provides in digital form and attaches to his User profile for self-presentation purposes.

“Contests” are regularly organised competitions placed on the Platform by jovoto or by third-party companies including companies belonging to the jovoto group, in which participating Users can win cash and other prizes. Contests are advertised either by third parties or by jovoto. The specific terms established by, as the case may be, jovoto or the third party organizer of a given Contest shall apply to Users, submissions, the rights of use pertaining to the Ideas and contents submitted by the User, as well as govern the liability of the User for the contents incorporated, all in accordance with the Contest rules. By making a submission in a given Contest, the User accepts all Contest rules provided by jovoto or the third party, which are specified and provided for separately from these Terms and Conditions of Use.

“Karma” in the meaning of these General Conditions and Terms of Use is a unique indicator applied by jovoto that refers to the activity of a given User and the quality of that activity on the Platform. Karma points do not influence the Community Rating. jovoto determines certain characteristics, which serve to measure the quality of the activity on the Platform. An exemplary list of these characteristics is providing comments and evaluations, submitting Ideas, selling Ideas or placing Ideas on the Platform. For instance, a User receives for the activity “submit an Idea” a certain Karma value, which, in turn, depends on the quality of that activity. The higher the Community Rating for the submitted Idea is, the higher the Karma value the User receives for this activity. On the basis of their Karma value, users can take advantage of certain benefits. However, the right to benefit from Karma value does no arias automatically and jovoto reserves the right to change the compilation of Karma value at any time.

Registration / Use Agreement/Access Data

Registration on the Platform is limited to natural persons. Minors or persons who are not legally competent under the applicable laws of their legal residence may not register unless permission is granted in writing by their respective legal representatives.

jovoto provides an online form for registration. The User must submit truthful and accurate data as requested and agree to these Terms and Conditions of Use. By submitting the form the User creates a profile on the Platform. User will receive a confirmation email with a link to the email address he or she has specified. By clicking on the link, the User verifies his email address and these General Terms and Conditions of Use enter into effect.

During registration, the User provides a user name and a password (hereafter collectively referred to as “Access Data”). The User must keep the Access Data secret and keep it protected from access by unauthorized third parties. Sharing Access Data with third parties is not allowed. If the User loses Access Data, or suspects that Access Data is being used by an unauthorised third party, the User must immediately notify jovoto thereof.
Accepting registration remains in the sole and unconditional discretion of jovoto. jovoto reserves the right to refuse registration for any or no reason.

Entering third-party data or personal information in the course of registration by Users is strictly prohibited. Users are obligated to immediately update their Users’ accounts to reflect changes in the registration data they have submitted, inasmuch as such changes occur. Multiple registration by the same User under different User names is prohibited.

Placement of Work Samples in the User Profile

Users may present themselves and their talent to the public and the community in their User profile. For this purpose, Users may upload work samples in standard format images, video and audio files to their user profile in digital form.

The right to reject or delete Users’ Work Samples placed in User profiles remains in jovoto’s sole and absolute discretion.

Users who place a Work Sample in their User profile grant jovoto the transferable, simple (nonexclusive), spatially and temporally unrestricted rights to use the Work Sample to the extent required for the operation of the service. In particular, the User shall grant jovoto the right to maintain the Work Sample on the Platform and make it accessible to third parties (public accessibility) and to perform reproductions required for this purpose. The User further shall grant jovoto the right to process or modify Work Samples in order to optimize their presentation on the jovoto website.

The User may submit Work Samples for an internal selection process to qualify for participation in access-restricted Contests (partial public accessibility). jovoto reserves the right to store such Work Samples to serve as examples of the User’s talent and as the basis upon which User may be invited to take part in the access-restricted Contests.

The rules for governing “inadmissible content“ (defined below) apply to the User’s Work Samples.

Writing Messages/Networking

Users have the option of sending messages to other Users via a messaging system provided by jovoto and to include other Users in their User profiles as contacts. The messaging system and the networking functions may not be used on an automated basis by the User, e.g. for purposes of spamming or adding friends/contacts. Users must at all times respect the wishes of other Users, including the express request to not be contacted at any time.

Advertising / Rights of Use

jovoto reserves the right to place advertising for third parties in the User profiles and to reserve advertising space on the profile pages for this purpose.

Other than presenting Work Samples, which may include advertising images, Users may not advertise their own commercial offers (such as price lists, etc.) or third parties’ commercial offers.

Users who submit Ideas pursuant to a Contest grant jovoto the transferable, simple (nonexclusive), spatially and temporally unlimited rights of use to the Idea, including the creative elements therein, as well as related Users’ comments, to the extent necessary to operate the Platform. In particular, the User shall grant jovoto the right to maintain and duplicate submissions and comments on the Platform for retrieval by third parties. Users grant jovoto the right to modify their submissions to present them on the website.

In addition, the user grants jovoto the right to present comments and/or the Idea and the Work Samples assigned thereto outside the Contest domain, e.g. in sections such as ’latest ideas’, ’Best of’ or ’Best Rated’, to modify and present short versions or individual images of videos and texts, smaller versions of photographs (’thumbnails’) etc.

User grants jovoto the right to publicize, send and otherwise reproduce the Ideas, including the Work samples attendant thereto; in particular the right to distribute content to fixed or mobile end-devices of other Users by means of automated subscription services (push services) or call-off services (pull services) (e.g. by pod casting, RSS feed, atom feed, XML interface or other technologies). The right of reproduction granted hereby to jovoto shall include the right to reproduce the Idea and the attendant content on the jovoto website by means of audio and video data (streaming) to be received and simultaneously reproduced by the recipient. This right includes the right to design the stream so that the data sent for this purpose could be stored by the recipient.

In an effort to broaden the awareness of User’s Ideas, User grants jovoto the right to publish Ideas on websites of third-party providers and to carry out the reproductions required therefore, as well as to transmit individual content (i.e. the corresponding files) to the third-party provider and/or to grant these providers technical access to the Ideas for the aforementioned purpose, including the right to duplicate the Ideas for incorporation in provider’s own website. To achieve the purposes specified in this clause, jovoto may use standard technical procedures (e.g. embedded functions). Third-party providers may accept and publish the respective contents submitted by the User.

The User will not receive any remuneration in cash for granting the aforementioned rights of use to jovoto. As consideration for granting the foregoing rights, jovoto shall present User’s Ideas in accordance with these General Terms and Conditions of Use on the jovoto Platform and give User the opportunity to sell their Ideas to third parties and participate in Contests. The sufficiency of the consideration is hereby acknowledged and agreed. jovoto reserves the right to terminate Contests before their actual launch or before the expiration of the announced participation period without obligation to provide reason. jovoto further reserves the right to restrict participation in Contests to certain Users or Users’ categories. jovoto may define respective categories for this purpose.

jovoto shall make all reasonable efforts to allow Users to commercialize their Ideas vis-à-vis third parties. Within the context of contests, Users may subject their Ideas to open content/public licence conditions (for example, creative common licence terms). All such terms and any restrictions thereto shall be set forth in the respective contest rules.

Placement of Ideas to Contests

Basically, it is the community that determines which Idea shall be declared the winner in a given Contest. In case the Contest is announced by means of briefing or declaration on the Platform, a jury may be called in to submit its independent evaluation. Prizes for Ideas may be allocated separately on the basis of the jury’s evaluation.

Each User of the Platform using the jovoto evaluation system may submit his or her evaluation. The evaluations shall be processed by an algorithm jovoto provides in order to prevent distortions in weighting the results (for instance, in case of one positive evaluation and no negative evaluation, the raw result is 100% acceptance, whereas in the case of 98 positive evaluations and 2 negative evaluation, the raw result is 98% acceptance; the algorithm should correct such distortions.)

In certain circumstances, Users may evaluate and comment on the Ideas of other Users and their works within the framework of contests. To be permitted to evaluate the ideas of other Users, the User must achieve a minimum “Karma” rating (see definition above). A minimum Karma rating may be stipulated as a condition to the right to comment on and evaluate Ideas in designated private Contests. Setting Karma value and the process by which it is formulated is determined in the sole discretion of jovoto and may be amended at any time. Evaluations and comments could be made accessible to other Users.

The Idea that achieves the best evaluation shall win the Contest. jovoto reserves the right to adjust the algorithm according to the changing Platform circumstance in order to insure the results are as fair and as just as possible. The algorithm is a trade secret of jovoto and therefore it cannot be revealed to Users.

Evaluations can be submitted as soon as the first Idea for the Contest has been uploaded. By the end of the installations phase, it is possible to submit evaluations until the deadline as provided in the briefing [hereinafter “Evaluation Deadline”].

Awards and Payment of Money Prizes

By the end of the Contest period and after the Evaluation Deadline has expired, jovoto investigates any indications for violations. Should that not be the case, jovoto will announce on the Platform the winner. In case there are suspicions for violations connected to the evaluation process, jovoto reserves the right to annul the evaluation of the relevant User or the entire voting. In such case, jovoto will announce its decision and the reasons supporting it on the Platform. In case the entire voting is vacated, the Contest shall be cancelled and the prize will not be awarded.

The winner is awarded with the announced primary prize; the Runner-Ups are awarded with the remaining prizes, inasmuch as such have been announced. Prior to payment of the money prize, jovoto will contact the wining User/s. Inasmuch as not already available in the User profile, the winner is obligated to provide to jovoto his or her full official name, address and banking information. jovoto has the right to examine the correctness of this information, including the right demand sending copies of official document such as of personal ID cards.

Payment with PayPal

jovoto shall execute prize payments over PayPal. In case the winner prefers not to receive the money over PayPay, jovoto will execute the payment via bank transfer. In that case, the winner shall bear all the additional costs and bank fees that might arise.

Credit Note

As evidence of winning, the winner is given a credit note. With the production and delivery of the credit note, jovoto GmbH acknowledges the winning. jovoto may pay the money as responding to an ordinary invoice, in which jovoto is the recipient of an invoice issued by the winner. The invoice must include all relevant tax information per country of residence and applicable tax requirements. The winner alone bears the responsibility to pay all applicable taxes in connection with all the benefits of wining the Contest.

Inadmissible Content

As a condition of registration and use of the jovoto platform, User expressly agrees not to submit, advertise or provide access to illegal or inadmissible content.

Illegal or inadmissible content includes, but is not limited to, graphics, videos, photos, music and text that violate the provisions of the German Penal Code (Strafgesetzbuch – StGB) or other criminal provisions and/or constitute means of propaganda as defined by § 86 StGB,; content which is directed against the free, democratic constitutional order, or the idea of international understanding; symbols of unconstitutional organisations as defined by § 86a StGB; content that incites hatred against segments of the population or against a national, racial or religious group, or one characterized by its folk customs as calling for violent or arbitrary measures against them, or which assaults the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously maligning or defaming segments of the population or a previously indicated group; describes cruel or otherwise inhuman acts of violence against human beings in a manner which expresses a glorification or rendering harmless of such acts of violence, or which represents the cruel or inhuman aspects of the event in a manner which injures human dignity; this also applies to virtual depictions that glorify war and assault human dignity, especially by showing people who are dying or are or were being exposed to serious physical or mental suffering, whereby an actual event is reproduced without the existence of a legitimate interest in this form of representation or reporting.

Consent is to be disregarded for content that depicts children or adolescents in a sexual postures, are pornographic or deal with acts of violence and the sexual abuse of children or adolescents or sexual acts by human beings with animals; included in sections B and D of the list according to § 18 of the German Child and Young Persons Act (JuSchG) or are completely or essentially identical in terms of content to a work included in this list (absolute ban as defined by § 4 (1) of the Youth Media Protection State Treaty (JMStV)), are otherwise pornographic, are included in sections A and C of the list according to § 18 of the JuSchG or are completely or essentially identical in terms of content to a work included in this list and/or are obviously capable of severely jeopardising the development of children and adolescents or their upbringing as independent persons capable of living in a community, taking into account the special form of impact of the dissemination medium (relative ban as defined by § 4 (2) JMStV).

Users must report to jovoto content which is capable of adversely affecting the development of children or adolescents as independent persons capable of living in a community, especially content that is approved according to the JuSchG for children or adolescents of the respective age group or content that is essentially identical in terms of content to types that are not approved according to the JuSchG for children or adolescents of the respective age group (content adversely affecting development as defined by § 5 (1), (2) JMStV).
All the aforementioned provisions also apply to virtual depictions. Furthermore, content that is offensive, slanderous or otherwise insulting is inadmissible.

In addition, content that infringes on the right to privacy, protection of the private or intimate sphere, as well as the right to a person’s image are inadmissible. User must take particular care to be sure they have obtained the prior consent of persons who are depicted in photos, graphics and videos as part of their submission; consent to include the right to publication of the person’s likeness on jovoto.com; and consent to further use in advertising. Consent may not be required for works in which the depicted person is merely an accessory, i.e. largely takes a back seat next to the main motif of the graphic, photo or video when attracting the observer’s attention and does not have any influence on the subject of the work. If the person depicted is legally unable to consent (for example, minors), a written consent must be obtained from person’s legal representative.

Content that violates the copyright, neighbouring rights, patent rights, or trademark rights of third parties is inadmissible. Content that constitutes a sale of rights by GEMA (Society for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights) may not be used on jovoto.

Users may not place hyperlinks in their User profile that refer to offers of third parties if content provided on the corresponding internet pages falls under the aforementioned provisions.
Content that violates the aforementioned rules or other offensive content should be reported to jovoto via a reporting function provided in the platform.

Voting Function

Voting is an essential function of the jovoto community. Users should strive to be as objective as possible and follow the conditions and criteria that apply to voting. In order to ensure the integrity of the voting function, the following rules shall apply:

• Users may not submit rating for Ideas to which they have contributed to the development or execution.
• Users may not submit ratings using false, third-party or multiple User accounts.
• Users are obligated to submit objective evaluations and apply the full mode of the voting system.
• Users may not criticize or submit negative ratings to a third-party submission solely for the purpose of improving the ranking of their own submissions.
• Users are prohibited from collaborating with other Users to exploit the voting system and affect the results.
• It is prohibited to influence the voting of other Users through threats, offers of advantages, pacts of mutually-positive evaluations and in any other way.
• Users are obligated to respect the rights of other users while submitting evaluations. Specifically, insulting other Users or disparaging their Ideas is impermissible. Honest criticism is appropriate. Criticism for the purpose of insulting or that is driven by the intention to harm another User is not admissible.

If jovoto determines, in its sole discretion, that a User has violated the rules of voting, jovoto may temporarily or permanently disable the User, totally exclude the User from the Platform, and/or terminate any contractual and/or other relationship with that User. jovoto shall monitor and analyze all voting processes and shall intervene if necessary. jovoto reserves the right to cancel the votes of individual Users upon the suspicion of manipulation and modify the result of a Contest accordingly.

Viruses, etc.

The introduction of viruses, trojans and corresponding scripts and programmes and a similar malicious code in the Platform is prohibited. Also prohibited are denial-of-service attacks or similar attacks (e.g. hacking) on the Platform and/or individual User profiles.

User’s Liability

Users are solely responsible to secure all relevant rights of use pertaining to content they submit on the jovoto Platform.

Users expressly agree to hold jovoto harmless for any claims by third parties arising from User’s activity on the jovoto Platform. jovoto’s sole obligation hereunder shall be to promptly notify the User if jovoto becomes aware of a third party claim. User hereby agrees to indemnify jovoto, its officers, directors, shareholders and their assigns for any liability and costs associated with the violation of third parties’ rights, including attorney fees and costs of litigation.

The foregoing hold harmless and indemnity provisions shall apply to all third party claims, including claims arising from User’s submissions that violate trademark rights, personality/privacy rights, or that violate other statutory regulations (such as the prohibition provisions of the German Unfair Competition Act (UWG)).

Violations of the General Terms and Conditions of Use

In the event User violates these General Terms and Conditions of Use, jovoto reserves all rights and remedies including the right to issue a warning, the right to temporarily or permanently disable User’s account. jovoto shall issue Users written notice of its actions, which may include termination of the relationship.

Termination

The provisions stipulated in this General Terms and Conditions of Use shall be in effect for an indefinite period. It may be terminated at will by either party according to statutory provisions by giving two weeks’ written notice. jovoto will not terminate a User account solely for statutory provisions as long as the User is participating in a Contest.

However, jovoto and the User reserve the right to terminate their relationship immediately for good cause without notice. Extraordinary termination by jovoto may occur in the case of violations of these Terms and Conditions of Use, particularly the obligation to truthfully provide the necessary data, violations of the rules applicable to voting, and in the case of the loss or suspicion of the improper use of access data by a third party.

Once termination has taken effect, the identity of the User in the User profile, including submitted Ideas, comments and votes, will be removed from the Platform. Protection of the User’s personal data will continue to apply.
In the event jovoto disables or terminates a User account for good cause, the User in question is barred from registering on the Platform or opening a new user account without the prior written consent of jovoto.

Data Protection

Information on data protection and data security can be found in the data protection declaration.

Changes to the General Terms and Conditions of Use

jovoto reserves the right to amend these General Terms and Conditions of Use at any time. Notice of said changes or new General Terms and Conditions of Use will be sent to the User by email to the address currently on file in User’s account. Notice will contain proposed changes, time period within which to object, appropriate method to reject said changes, and the consequences of inaction once notice is sent.

Modifications to the General Terms and Conditions of Use shall presumed to be accepted by User unless User objects in writing within 14 days following the date the notice of the amended terms was sent. In the event User objects to the proposed amendment, either party may terminate the agreement by written notice as according to the terms of ordinary termination.

The General Terms and Conditions for Use shall not be amended if they would have a detrimental affect on the User while participating in an active Contest.

Right of Revocation

If the User is a “consumer” within the meaning of section 13 of the German Civil Code (BGB), a statutory right of revocation exists in his or her favour on which jovoto advises as follows:

Right of Revocation

The user may revoke his or her contract declaration in writing (e.g. letter, fax, email) within one month without cause. The time period starts running at the earliest on the day following the day on which the User has received this advice separately in text form. Timely dispatch of the revocation notice is sufficient to meet the revocation deadline. Please send your revocation to the following address:

Jovoto GmbH
Prinzessinnenstrasse 20
10969 Berlin
Fax: +49.30.8020.87.800
Email: contact@jovoto.com

Consequences of Revocation

In the event of a valid revocation, the performances received and emoluments taken (e.g. interest) are to be returned to effectively putting the parties in the position they have been prior to the entry of these Terms into effect. To the extent applicable, reimbursements shall take place within 30 days of sending revocation notice.

Notice

The User’s right of revocation shall expire earlier if the contract has been fulfilled in full by both parties at the express request of the User before the User has exercised his or her right of revocation.

Final Provisions

If a User is a merchant in the meaning of the German Commercial Code (HGB), the place of jurisdiction for all legal disputes arising directly or indirectly from the relationship between jovoto and the User is Berlin, Germany.

The validity, interpretation and performance of this Agreement including any amendments and modifications including any agreements resulting thereof shall be controlled by and construed in accordance with the substantive law of Germany without reference to the substantive law of any other country and under specific exclusion of the German international private law (conflicts of law). The Parties specifically disclaim the application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods of April 11, 1980.