§ 1: Scope of application
(1) invisiblebutessential.com (hereinafter referred to as the operator) is the owner and operator of the platform. The postal address is: Mary Ganger, Regional Director Asia, mary.granger@esade.edu
(2) invisiblebutessential.com (hereinafter referred to as the platform) is a community, networking and communication offer on the Internet. This includes all contents and services that can be reached at the address invisiblebutessential.com and its subdomains.
(3) The use of this platform is only permitted if the user (the masculine form is simply used in these terms of use for both female and male users) accepts the following terms of use.
(4) Operator reserves the right to amend these Terms of Use in whole or in part at any time without stating any reasons. Users will be informed of any changes with regard to existing contractual relationships in good time by e-mail.
(5) Users are granted the right to terminate the contract for a period of 6 weeks after notification of the changed Terms of Use. After expiry of this period, the contractual relationship shall continue to exist on the basis of the amended Terms of Use.
§ 2: Services of the operator
(1) The Operator permits the User to publish contributions on its website within the framework of these Terms of Use. To this end, Operator provides Users with a discussion forum with community functions free of charge within the framework of its technical and economic possibilities. The Operator makes every effort to keep its service available. The Operator does not assume any further obligations to perform. In particular, the User has no claim to constant availability of the service.
(2) The Operator accepts no responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, reliability, up-to-dateness and usability of the content provided.
§ 3: Disclaimer
(1) The operator assumes no responsibility or liability for the topicality, correctness, completeness or quality of the information provided, nor for the possible misuse of information.
(2) Any liability for any economic, physical or immaterial damage that results or could result from the use or non-use of the platform is expressly excluded.
(3) The Operator endeavours to ensure the proper operation of the Service at all times, but cannot guarantee the uninterrupted usability or accessibility of the platform. Liability for technically caused transmission delays or failures is excluded.
(4) The Operator expressly reserves the right to change, supplement or delete parts of the platform or the entire platform without separate notification or to cease publication temporarily or permanently.
(5) The Operator is not obliged to check content, information, image files, text content or similar from the User, but reserves the right to check, change or delete content – e.g. in the event of recognisably incorrect information.
(6) Neither the authors nor the Operator can be held responsible or liable for errors in the content of products submitted by Users. A consistently correct orthography and grammar of the works cannot be guaranteed. It is the responsibility of each individual user to cover the material relevant to the examination completely and completely. In the event of failure to pass the tests due to errors by the authors of the products, no recourse can be taken against them or the operator.
(7) The operator is not liable for direct or indirect references to external websites (“hyperlinks”) that lie outside the operator’s area of responsibility. Should the Operator become aware that a link to a website with illegal content exists, she will take all reasonable steps to remove the link in question. As a purely precautionary measure, the operator distances itself from the content of linked websites. This applies to all links and references set within the platform as well as to external entries, contents of discussion forums, blogs, mailing lists and similar.
(8) The Operator is not liable for unauthorised access to personal user data by third parties (e.g. through unauthorised access by “hackers” to the database). Nor can Operator be held liable for the misuse of data and information that Users themselves have made available to third parties.
§ 4: Prohibited contents
(1) On the platform are not allowed:
(a) Representations and contents glorifying violence, sexist, pornographic or propaganda content;
(b) expressions of contempt for origin, skin colour, language, membership of a religion, ethnicity, denomination or political grouping as well as;
(c) denigrating, harassing, misleading and clearly provocative behaviour;
(d) introducing data into the system that contains a computer virus;
(e) chain letters or the operation of pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing.
(2) The Operator has the right to delete contributions and content if they could contain an infringement of the law.
(3) User undertakes to indemnify Operator from all third-party claims asserted against Operator on account of a User’s attributable violation of paragraph 1.
(4) The operator reserves the right to pass on user data to the competent authority in the event of a criminal offence.
§ 5: Advertising Content
(1) Advertising content (especially job advertisements, event announcements, sale of products and services) on invisiblebutessential.com is only allowed with the explicit and prior consent of the operator and is always subject to a fee. Excluded is the trade between private students (especially in the marketplace).
(2) If a User activates advertising content (in particular job advertisements, event announcements, sale of products and services) without the express and prior consent of the Operator, the Operator shall be entitled to amend or delete the corresponding contributions and to block the User’s access.
(3) User is obliged to compensate Operator for any damage caused by violations of the above obligations. In particular, User will be charged for violations of the above-mentioned obligations immediately and in accordance with the current prices for these services.
§ 6: Observance of the rights of third parties
(1) The user undertakes to only post content or photos that are free of third-party rights. The user shall ensure that his use of the platform does not infringe any copyrights (e.g. on articles, photos, summaries or graphics). The user shall also safeguard the rights to mention the name or retain the author’s notes.
(2) The User shall ensure that his use of the platform does not infringe any industrial property rights, in particular by using well-known trademarks or names.
(3) User undertakes to indemnify Operator from all claims of third parties which are asserted against Operator for violation of the above paragraphs.
(4) Operator has a claim against User for indemnification against claims by third parties that are asserted against Operator due to the violation of a right by User. User undertakes to support Operator in the defence of such claims. User is also obliged to bear the costs of an appropriate legal defence of Operator.
§ 7: Copyright
(1) Texts, images and graphics, including their arrangement on the platform, are subject to copyright protection. The operator permits the transfer of texts to data stocks which are exclusively intended for the private use of a user. The transfer and use of the texts, images and graphics for other purposes requires the written consent of the operator, in particular publication in the media.
(2) If User saves, duplicates or distributes contents of the platform, the copyright of the platform or the respective copyright holder must be indicated.
(3) The logo of the platform and the domain name are protected by name and trademark law.
(4) Anyone who infringes the copyright/trademark or name right must expect the right holder to assert claims for injunctive relief and damages, and in the case of infringements of copyright and trademark law, criminal prosecution.
§ 8: Data use and data protection
(1) The Operator generally observes the statutory data protection provisions. In compliance with these legal provisions, the collection and use of data is carried out as follows:
(a) By registering on the platform, the User agrees to the regulations governing the use of his personal information.
(b) The Operator collects, uses and analyses User’s personal information in various ways at different points on its own websites as well as in other services provided by the Operator itself and by partners, in order to enable the Internet services to function properly and to offer Users better service.
(c) This information is generated by the user’s input, as well as by the use of the services offered. The user agrees that his personal data may be stored in electronic form.
(2) In particular, the Operator is entitled to pass on pseudonyms of users to other members with their consent, which enables a personal exchange of messages between users.
(3) However, the pseudonyms do not reveal the identity (name, address, telephone number, e-mail address) of the respective user.
§ 9: Google Analytics
(1) The platform uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on the user’s computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site.
(2) The information generated by the cookie about the user’s use of the platform (including the user’s IP address) is transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there.
(3) Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating the user’s use of the platform on an aggregated basis, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.
(4) Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf.
(5) Under no circumstances will Google link the IP address of the user with other Google data.
(6) The user can prevent the installation of cookies by making the appropriate setting in his browser software. However, the operators point out to the user that in this case he may not be able to use all functions of the platform to their full extent.
(7) By using the platform, the User agrees to the processing of the data collected about him/her by Google in the manner and for the purpose described above.
§ 10: Anonymity and voluntary information in the user profile
(1) By default, only the user name, university, field of study and semester of the respective user will be visible to other users.
(2) Under the profile settings, the user can make further personal data visible to other users of the platform.
(3) In addition to the registration details, the User may provide additional information on a voluntary basis. The User can also upload a photo of himself/herself if he/she so wishes.
(4) The voluntary information provided by the User will only become visible to all other Users if the User specifically identifies this information in his user profile.
(5) The user can revoke voluntary information at any time with effect for the future by deleting the relevant information in his profile.
§ 11: Consequences of infringements
(1) If the User violates these Terms of Use, the Operator is entitled to delete individual or all contributions or parts thereof attributable to the User.
(2) In the event of serious or repeated violations, Operator may temporarily or permanently block User’s profile and thus exclude User from using the platform temporarily or permanently.
(3) In addition, Operator reserves the right, in the event of suspicion of a criminal offence, to disclose the data of the respective User (e.g. profile and usage data such as the IP address) to the competent investigating authorities or to the person whose rights have been violated.
§ 12: Newsletter, mailings and news
(1) If the user registers for one or more newsletters, his e-mail address will be used to send the newsletter. The user can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time.
(2) If the User opens the newsletter or clicks on a link in it, this is logged by the Operator’s web server (date, time, e-mail address). This serves internal statistical purposes. These data are not merged into personal user profiles.
(3) The Operator regularly sends newsletters, e-mails or personal messages to all users. In these newsletters, the Operator informs the Users e.g. about current events or interesting events.
§ 13: Reference to the right to information
(1) The user has the right to request information free of charge about which data about him/her is stored and for what purpose it is stored. In addition, the user has the right to correct incorrect data as well as to block and delete data if the storage is inadmissible or no longer necessary.
(2) If the user has questions or requests concerning his data, he can send a message to the operator.
§ 14: Links to other websites
(1) The platform contains links to other websites. The operator of the platform has no influence on whether their operators comply with the data protection regulations.
(2) The operator assumes no responsibility for third-party content made available for use by the operator via links and does not adopt the content as its own. The provider of the website to which reference is made shall be solely liable for illegal, incorrect or incomplete content and for damages resulting from the use or non-use of the information.
§ 15: Protection of access/secrecy obligation
(1) The user is solely responsible for the choice, knowledge and confidentiality of the access data. Actions performed with his access data are attributed to the user.
(2) The User is obliged to report any misuse of his data to the Operator immediately.
§ 16: Granting of rights of use
By posting content or uploading a photo, User grants Operator the simple, temporally and spatially unlimited and transferable right, free of charge, to reproduce, distribute, present, broadcast or make publicly accessible such content or photos in their original or modified form.
§ 17: Amendment or discontinuation of the Offer
(1) The operator is entitled to make changes to its service.
(2) The operator is entitled to terminate her service with a notice period of 2 weeks. In the event of termination of its Service, Operator is entitled but not obliged to delete the content created by Users.
(3) Operator is entitled at any time, with or without stating reasons, to assign or discontinue the provision of the platform’s services to third parties, either in whole or in part.
§ 18: Termination
(1) The User may request the Operator to delete his profile on the platform at any time without giving reasons. Operator will delete User’s profile data immediately, but reserves the right to delete contributions and photos written by User or to continue to use them in accordance with the rights of use granted.
(2) The Operator may delete the User’s profile at any time without notice and without stating reasons. Legal obligations are not established on the occasion of the termination.
§ 19: Choice of law and place of jurisdiction
(1) The contractual relationship between the Operator and the User is governed by the law of the Spanish Confederation. The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) as well as any other international agreements shall not apply.
(2) The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from the contractual relationship between Operator and User is the registered office of Operator.
Invisible but Essential 