Power-Quality Online - General Terms and Conditions (GTC)
§ 1 Scope of Application(1) For the business relationship between Sachverständigenbüro Dr.-Ing. Bodo Appel GmbH, Kölnische Straße 105, 34119 Kassel, - hereinafter referred to as the "Provider" - and the customer with regard to the use of the Internet portal - hereinafter referred to as the "Provider": Provider - and the Customer with regard to the use of the website www.power-quality-online.de - hereinafter referred to as the website - these general terms and conditions shall apply in addition to the contract of use concluded with the customer in the current version at the time of the customer's order.
(2) Conflicting, deviating or supplementary general terms and conditions of the customer shall not become part of the contract unless the provider expressly agrees to their validity.
(3) The provider concludes contracts exclusively with customers who are entrepreneurs within the meaning of § 14 BGB (German Civil Code).
§ 2 Contractual Object
(1) The Provider shall maintain a website at www.power-quality-online.de at the transfer point to the Internet to provide expert knowledge on the subject and measurement technology and measurement methods in the field of electrical energy supply. The website contains the sections "Expert System" and "Measurement Trainer" for this purpose. These are subdivided into individual modules.
(2) The expert system provides possible solutions to problems in the field of electrical energy supply in text form, whereby the solutions are symptom-oriented, application-oriented and problem-oriented.
(3) The measurement trainer contains videos for training for the use of electrical measuring devices.
(4) The expert system and measurement trainer are being revised and expanded.
(5) The full use of the website by the customer is based on a subscription.
§ 3 Amendment of the General Terms and Conditions
(1) If the provider wishes to amend these general terms and conditions or the service description, it shall inform the customer accordingly and submit an offer to amend the contract. If the customer does not object to this offer in text form within a period of two weeks after the receipt of the offer, the offer shall be considered accepted. In this case, the contract amendment shall enter into force six weeks after receipt of the offer. If, on the other hand, the customer objects in accordance with sentence 2 above, the contract shall continue to apply under the previous conditions without amendment. The provider shall inform the customer separately with the offer to amend the contract about the special legal consequences of a failure to object at least in text form.
(2) If the customer has objected to the offer to amend the contract and the provider then informs the customer that continuation of the contract without the amendment to the contract is unreasonable for the provider for technical or economic reasons, the customer may terminate the contract in text form within one month of receipt of this notification. The amended contractual conditions shall be deemed to have been approved if the customer does not exercise this right of termination. The provider shall inform the customer of the legal consequences of failing to terminate the contract in text form together with the notification of the unreasonableness of the continuation of the contractual relationship.
§ 4 Access to the Website
(1) The customer's access to the services he has subscribed to on the website is password-protected using the access data provided to the customer. The customer shall receive a user name and password for each authorized user. The access data shall be sent to the email addresses of the authorized users, who shall be named by the customer.
(2) The provider does not provide the customer with any access software. The customer shall provide one of the following free Internet browsers in the current version at his own responsibility for accessing the provider's website:
Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Access to the provider's website with mobile devices, in particular cell phones, smartphones and tablets, is not owed by the provider.
(3) The customer shall operate the access software on state-of-the-art personal computers.
(4) The provider is not responsible for the quality of the required hardware and software on the customer's side or for the telecommunications connection between the customer and the provider's website.
§ 5 Scope and Limitation of the Service
(1) The scope of the service provided by the provider is set out in detail in the contract of use with the user and the service description. The current price list shall apply.
(2) The usual care shall be taken when selecting and maintaining the contents of the expert system and the measurement trainer.
(3) The provider strives for an average availability of the website of 98% per calendar year at the transfer point of the website to the Internet. Availability is calculated according to the formula
Availability = (total time - total downtime) / total time * 100%
(4) The following periods are not taken into account when calculating the total downtime:
(a) periods of unavailability based on Internet disruptions beyond the provider's control or other circumstances for which the provider is not responsible, in particular force majeure, and
b) periods of unavailability due to maintenance work between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. or to rectify faults during the remaining time, whereby such fault rectification work is indicated on the website by a notice.
(5) The provider shall continue to develop the website. It reserves the right to make changes to adapt to the state of the art, changes to optimize the system and changes to the content, in particular if the latter are necessary to correct errors, to update and complete the content, for technical optimization or for reasons of intellectual property rights. If such a change leads to a not merely insignificant impairment of the service to which the customer is entitled, the customer may reduce the remuneration or terminate the contract of use without notice within eight weeks of the change taking effect.
(6) The expert system makes general reference to possible solutions for tried and tested constellations in electrical engineering practice in ignorance of the customer's specific conditions. The possible solutions shown cannot replace on-site diagnoses and measurements in the customer's specific constellation. With this in mind, the possible solutions shown with techniques for which a state of the art can be established (in particular 5-wire conversion and filter technology) can only be understood as general and not individually optimal solutions. Insofar as the possible solutions shown include techniques for which no state of the art can yet be determined (in particular grid resonances and exposure to high frequency), the possible solutions shown can only be understood as suggestions. The possible solutions shown are valid provided that correct measurement results from correctly performed measurements are used by the customer and the recommended follow-up work is carried out professionally. Insofar as the solutions shown do not contain specific but only general recommendations, the solution shown is limited to this. Boundary conditions are not taken into account in the case of general recommendations.
The services of power-quality online do not replace a calculation of the system in accordance with DIN VDE 0100, 0540, 0298, IEC 60364-3 or other IEC, DIN VDE and other regulations.
§ 6 Remuneration
(1) The remuneration to be paid by the customer is set out in the contract of use.
(2) For the use of individual modules or packages of different modules, the remuneration shall be paid in advance for a period of one year (subscription period).
(3) All prices are subject to the applicable statutory value added tax, if applicable.
VAT is charged and shown according to the applicable legal provisions depending on the country in which the custimer's company is registered. For countries in the European Union, this is typically the reverse charge procedure. For countries outside the EU, the relevant statutory regulations apply. For Germany, the statutory value added tax is currently 19%.
(4) The remuneration is due for the first time immediately after conclusion of the contract and is paid by bank transfer.
(5) Insofar as the scope of use is extended by the customer after conclusion of the contract by booking additional service packages or upgrading to a service package with more extensive content, the increased remuneration incurred for this can be demanded for the subscription period following the time of the extension.
(6) The provider is entitled to increase the remuneration for the upcoming subscription period in the event of an extension of the contract of use in accordance with § 7 (3) with an announcement in text form within three months before the extension.
§ 7 Commencement, Term and Termination
(1) The contract begins when the user name and password are sent.
(2) A user contract can be terminated by either party with a notice period of 3 months to the end of the subscription period.
(3) If the contract is not terminated, it shall be extended by a further year.
(4) In the event of a fee increase in accordance with § 6 (6), the customer has the right to terminate the usage contract in text form within one month with retroactive effect from the date of the fee increase. In the absence of a timely termination, the contract shall be continued under the increased remuneration.
(5) The right of the parties to extraordinary termination remains unaffected.
(6) After termination of the contract, the provider is entitled to block the customer's access with immediate effect.
§ 8 Property Rights
(1) The customer acknowledges that the website is a database work produced by the provider or a database within the meaning of §§ 4 Para. 2 and 87a Para. 1 UrhG (copyright law). Associated computer programs are subject to the protection of §§ 69a ff. UrhG (copyright law), manuals and documentation as well as provided works are subject to the protection of § 2 UrhG (copyright law). The rights of third parties to the protected works remain unaffected.
(2) The customer acknowledges that the instructional videos created by the provider are moving images within the meaning of § 95 ff. UrhG (copyright law).
§ 9 Rights of Use
(1) In accordance with the user agreement and the following provisions, the customer shall receive the simple, non-exclusive, non-transferable right, limited to the duration of the user agreement, to use the website modules resulting from the user agreement for the contractually defined authorized users for their own purposes, subject to payment of the remuneration owed and due. The use for the provision of the customer's own expert services to third parties is expressly not permitted.
(2) The right of use entitles the user to research and read access or to view the videos provided. Any further reproduction or other exploitation of texts or videos in the database is only permitted with the prior consent of the provider in text form, unless it is a one-off and non-systematic reproduction or other exploitation of an element of the database that is insignificant in terms of type and scope and does not run counter to a normal evaluation of the database or unreasonably impair the legitimate interests of the provider.
The systematic automated retrieval of texts and videos, the creation of systematic collections from retrieved texts or videos, the creation of systematic functions from the website (reverse engineering), the systematic forwarding of documents or making them systematically accessible to third parties and the use of the database for the purpose of commercial information brokering (research and document retrieval on behalf of a third party) are not permitted.
(3) The use of the database is limited to the number of authorized users specified in the user agreement. The users must be named by the customer. The access authorization of the authorized users concerned shall be confirmed by the provider in text form.
(4) An authorized user can only be logged into the database once at a time with his/her user name and password. The previous session is automatically terminated if the user logs in again using a different browser or device.
(5) The provider is entitled to take technical measures to prevent use beyond the permitted scope, in particular to install appropriate access blocks. The customer may not use any devices, products or other means to circumvent or overcome the provider's technical measures. In the event of misuse, the provider is entitled to block access to the website immediately. Further rights and claims of the provider, in particular the right to extraordinary termination for good cause and claims for damages remain unaffected.
(6) Rights of use that may be exercised on the basis of statutory licenses are not granted in the contract of use or in these general terms and conditions and are not affected by this.
§ 10 Duties and Obligations of the Customer
(1) The customer shall fulfill all duties and obligations necessary for the performance of the contract. In particular, he shall
(1) keep the usage and access authorizations assigned to him or the users secret, protect them from access by third parties and not pass them on to unauthorized users (so-called "account sharing"). These data must be protected by suitable and customary measures. The authorized users shall be informed of the above obligation and shall be obliged to comply with it. The customer shall inform the provider immediately if there is any suspicion that the access data and/or passwords may have become known to unauthorized persons,
(2) create the agreed access conditions,
(3) comply with the restrictions/obligations with regard to the rights of use pursuant to § 9, in particular
(a) not retrieve any information or data without authorization or allow such to be retrieved or interfere or allow such to interfere with programs operated by the provider or penetrate the provider's data networks without authorization or promote such penetration; comply with the requirements of § 9 para. 2,
(b) indemnify the provider against third-party claims based on unlawful use of the website by the provider or arising from data protection, copyright or other legal disputes caused by the customer that are associated with the use of the website,
(c) oblige the authorized users to comply with the provisions of this contract that apply to them,
(4) ensure that he (e.g. when transmitting texts/data of third parties to the provider's server) observes all rights of third parties to material used by him,
(5) check data and information for viruses before sending them to the provider and use state-of-the-art virus protection programs,
(6) provide the provider with information in text form about the type and scope of use of the database at the provider's request if there are objectively comprehensible indications of use contrary to the contract, in particular overuse.
§ 11 Defects
(1) The provider shall remedy any defects reported to him or the failure or partial failure of the website within a reasonable period of time in accordance with the following provisions.
Any defects occurring shall be classified by mutual agreement between the parties as defects preventing or hindering operation or other defects. If the parties do not reach an agreement, the provider shall decide on the classification, taking due account of the interests of the customer.
(2) Depending on the classification of a defect, the following response and recovery times shall apply:
(a) A response time of 36 hours and a recovery time of 3 days shall be agreed for a defect preventing operation. A defect preventing operation shall be deemed to exist if the use of the website is impossible or severely restricted, for example due to malfunctions, incorrect work results or response times, and this defect cannot be circumvented with reasonable organizational aids.
(b) A response time of 48 hours and a recovery time of 5 days are agreed for a defect that impedes operation. A defect hindering operation shall be deemed to exist if the use of the website is not impossible or severely restricted, for example due to malfunctions, incorrect work results or response times, but the restriction(s) of use is (are) not only insignificant and cannot be circumvented by reasonable organizational or other economically reasonable means.
(c) A response time of 3 working days and a recovery time of 14 working days are agreed for any other defect. Another defect is deemed to exist if the use of the website is not directly and/or significantly impaired, such as in the case of unfavorably defined basic settings or failing functions that are incidental to the fulfillment of the purpose of the software and/or merely facilitate the operation of the software (so-called "nice-to-have functions").
(d) A defect of the website exists if
(1) the functionalities specified in the product and/or service description are not provided when used in accordance with the contract or
(2) if it is not suitable for the use assumed under the contract or
(3) if it is not suitable for normal use and does not have the quality that is customary for websites of the same type and the customer can expect this according to the type of website. A defect within the meaning of this provision does not exist in particular if the existence of one of the aforementioned conditions (a)-(c) only has an insignificant effect on the use of the website or if the fault was caused by improper use of the website.
(3) The customer shall report defects to the provider in text form.
(4) The manner in which defects are remedied shall be at the provider's reasonable discretion. If the provider offers the customer patches, bug fixes, a new version, software parts or similar to avoid or eliminate defects, the customer must accept these if and as soon as it is reasonable for him to do so. The elimination of a defect may also take the form of instructions to the customer. The customer must follow such instructions unless they are unreasonable for him. The provider's obligation to remedy the defect is fulfilled if there is no longer a defect within the meaning of paragraph 1.
§ 12 Citing References
(1) The provider is entitled to name the customer as a reference, including by means of a link, even after the end of the contractual relationship, stating the customer's name, address and contact details and logo with reference to the customer's website.
(2) Insofar as the customer provides content that is intended for reference, in particular texts, images and graphics, he assures that he is authorized to make this content available to the provider for use for the purpose of naming him as a reference.
(3) The customer shall indemnify the provider against claims by third parties due to unauthorized use, including the costs of legal defense incurred as a result.
§ 13 Liability, Limits of Liability and Contractual Penalty
(1) The contracting parties shall be liable to each other without limitation for all damage caused by them and their legal representatives or vicarious agents in the event of intent or gross negligence.
(2) In the event of slight negligence, the contracting parties shall be liable without limitation in the event of injury to life, limb or health.
(3) Otherwise, a contracting party shall only be liable if it has breached a essential contractual obligation. Essential contractual obligations are those obligations which are of particular importance for the achievement of the contractual objective, as well as all those obligations which, in the event of a culpable breach, could lead to the achievement of the purpose of the contract being jeopardized. In these cases, liability is limited to compensation for foreseeable, typically occurring damage. The provider's strict liability for damages (§ 536a BGB) for defects existing at the time of conclusion of the contract is excluded; paragraphs 1 and 2 remain unaffected.
(4) Liability under the Product Liability Act remains unaffected.
§ 14 Final Provisions
(1) The contractual relationship shall be governed by German substantive law to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
(2) Annexes are part of this contract in their respective valid version.
(3) There are no ancillary provisions outside these contractual terms and conditions.
(4) The exclusive place of jurisdiction shall be Kassel, unless another place of jurisdiction is prescribed by mandatory law.