Terms of Use
These Terms of Use describe the conditions for the use of the online services (services, platforms) of the Catholic University Of North Rhine Westphalia (hereinafter referred to as katho). Terms referring to persons are used in a gender neutral manner, with the exception of legal terms, and the term User (of IT services and platforms) as well as statements addressing individuals and wording that has been adopted from the Fundamental Provisions. The terms always refer to natural persons acting with legal competency.
1 Scope of the Terms of Use
(1) These Terms of Use shall apply to the IT services and platforms of katho, which are made available by the University to its members as well as guests and third parties with regard to the performance of employment contracts and contractual relationships for studying, cooperative or other purposes. An up-to-date list of the services and platforms you are authorized to use can be found in your account / user account at ilias.katho-nrw.de
(2) You may access and print out the currently effective Terms of Use at ilias.katho-nrw.de.
2 Execution of the Contract and User Account
(1) When Users complete the registration process and release their profiles, a non-transferable Licensing Agreement with katho as the operator shall be executed.
(2) The subject matter of this Licensing Agreement is the use of the services and platforms made available for studying, teaching, employment, cooperative or contractual purposes.
(3) A User Account will have to be created to compile a profile. It consists of the username and an initial password (ogin Data. The creation of a User Account is possible only subject to the provision of a current email address by the User. This email address shall simultaneously be used for communications with the operator, if such interactions are not implemented through the email account generated through the services of katho.
(4) The User shall undertake to handle the login data with care. In particular, Users are not allowed to share their login data with third parties or to grant third parties access to their profiles by bypassing the login data.
(5) In the event that a user fails to meet the obligations pursuant to the above Section 4 and this User account is used by a third party, the User shall be liable for any and all activities that occur by using this User Account. The User shall not be liable if the User is not responsible for the misuse of the User Account.
(6) The User shall ensure that when compiling the User profile the data used (rofile Data is correct and complete. If any of the User information has been knowingly entered incorrectly or, in the event of change of the User Data, is intentionally not corrected or if it violates these provisions in any other way, katho shall have the right to temporarily suspend the User Rights or to terminate the former.
(7) German shall be the exclusive contract language.
3 Fees
(1) Principally, the use of the services and their content shall be complimentary.
4 Use of the Profile
(1) When using the profile, a User may utilize various services and platforms. An up-to-date list of the available / approved services and platforms may be reviewed at ilias.katho-nrw.de.
(2) Katho shall at all times have the right to block or delete certain content, for instance if suspicions have arisen that such content violates applicable laws or the rights of any third parties. The User shall not be entitled to the maintenance of certain functions available in the form of services and platforms.
(3) The Operator shall strive to keep the services and platforms free of problems. This shall naturally be limited to services the operator can control. The operator shall have the right to wholly or partially, temporarily or permanently limit access to the platforms and services at the operator discretion due to maintenance work, capacity issues and because of any other events that are not within the operator control.
5 Usage of Provided Content
(1) Users shall have the right to use, display, download, save and print out the university-related materials provided to them by katho in the delivered services and platforms in conjunction with their studies or employment relationship. This right shall pertain exclusively to personal and non-commercial use. The User shall undertake not to reproduce, use, sell, transfer, publish or make otherwise available the materials for other purposes. The publication of university-related materials on social networks, such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Discord and the like shall be specifically prohibited. In the event of failure to comply, the User shall be liable for any resulting damages.
(2) On an occasional and irregular basis, Users shall be permitted to use irrelevant portions of the materials made available in scientific work, presentations and articles, provided that the copyright provisions are complied with. This consent shall be contingent upon each use of materials being identified by a proper source tag.
(3) The above described permission shall not include the consent to post content from the online presentation of katho on social networks, such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Discord, external news groups, mailing lists and the like or to make them electronically available to third parties outside of the services and platforms of the University.
6 Participation Obligations of the User: Uploading of Content
(1) The User shall undertake to katho to refrain from uploading any content to the services and platforms of katho that because of their content or format or design or in any other manner violate applicable laws and ethics. In particular, the User shall undertake to observe the applicable laws whenever uploading content (e.g. criminal, competition and youth protection legislation) and not to infringe upon any third party rights (e.g. trademark, brand, copyright, image and data privacy rights).
(2) The distribution of content that depicts, refers to or contains
- Racist or discriminating remarks
- Remarks glorifying violence and extremism of any kind
- Calls for and incites criminal acts and breaches of the law, threatens physical harm, death or property damages
- Incites action against individuals or companies
- Makes personality rights violating statements, slanders, attacks the honor and incites malicious gossip targeting Users and third parties
- Violates integrity laws
- Infringes upon copyrights or content that violates other intangible rights
- Sexual harassment of Users and third parties
- Pornographic content
- Offensive, sexist, obscene, vulgar, disgusting or aversive materials and expression.
This shall also apply if the respective content violates applicable laws, the rights of third parties or proper conduct.
(3) Moreover, it shall be considered a personality violation and is therefore impermissible to eliminate the anonymity of other Users or to publish information of other Users from private messages, emails or chats that are not intended for the public domain. Users shall not integrate any information into their contributions or otherwise announce matters that may make it possible to draw conclusions as to the identity of a different User or that the User has received from other Users exclusively in personal messages, emails or chats.
(4) Copyright protected content shall not be uploaded without the consent of the respective rights holder and only within the scope of applicable copyrights.
(5) The User shall refrain from taking any action that could potentially impair the university services, platforms or any technical infrastructure backing the former. This shall in particular include:
- The use of software, scripts or databases in connection with the use of the services and platforms;
- The automated readout, blocking, overwriting, modification, copying of data and / or other content, unless this is required for the proper use of the services and platforms;
(6) If while using the services and platforms and their functions, problems should arise, the User shall promptly notify katho of the problem. The same shall apply if the User receives information about content published by third parties that obviously violates applicable laws or the rights of third parties.
7 Copyright
By entering into this Agreement you expressly acknowledge that the services and platforms, the copywritten material, software, images, videos, graphics and sounds as well as other materials include material that could be protected by copyright, trademark law or patent legislation and that the copyrights and licensing rights inherent in the respective works are the exclusive property of the respective licensors.
8 Liability
(1) Katho shall assume liability in accordance with the statutory fundamentals for acts of intent and gross neglect, as well as based on the provisions of the Product Liability Act. For minor neglect the operator shall assume liability in the event of damages from injury to the life, body and health of individuals.
(2) Incidentally, the following limited liability shall apply: In the event of minor neglect, katho shall assume liability only in the event of breach of a cardinal contractual duty, the fulfillment of which the proper performance of the contract is actually contingent and upon compliance with which the User can regularly rely (cardinal obligation). The liability for minor neglect shall be restricted to the amount of damages foreseeable at the time of executing the Agreement, the materialization of which has to be typically anticipated. This limitation of liability shall also apply in favor of the operator agents.
(3) The respective platforms and services as well as the content shall be offered by katho on an s isand s availablebasis. No service levels shall be guaranteed.
(4) You are expressly consenting to the use of the services and platforms at your own risk. Katho shall not assume any warranties that the program functions meet the needs of the User or that they are cooperating with each other in the selection made by the User. Neither the manufacturer nor the developer shall assume liability for any damages that arise from the use of the program.
(5) In the event of data losses, katho shall assume liability only for those damages that would also have arisen on the User devices in the event that a proper data backup was carried out.
9 Right to Indemnification
The User shall indemnify katho and its members and participants against any and all claims of third parties in the event that the former should become the target of an alleged or actual rights infringement and/or violation of third party rights, which arise from acts of the User in conjunction with the use of the services and platforms for which the User is responsible. Moreover, the User shall undertake to reimburse katho for all costs that katho incurs as a result of any third party claims. The reimbursable costs shall also include costs for a reasonable legal defense.
10 Data Privacy
(1) The storage of personal data shall occur only to grant Users access to the content of the services and platforms. All details can be found in the respective Data Privacy Policy.
11 Usage Privileges for Services and Platforms
(1) The services and platforms shall be made available to University members and participants for the duration of their studies, employment or contractual relationship. In the event of cooperative arrangements, the term of use shall be individually agreed upon.
(2) In the event of termination of the usage privileges, the User shall no longer have access to the User Account and to the content, regardless of whether own or third party content, that is stored on the platform.
(3) Katho shall have the option to partially or wholly deny access to the services and platforms as well as the content stored on the former if the materials are used in a manner that results in a violation of these Terms of Use or causes damages to katho (by the User or any other party that using the definitive user identification and the affiliated password to gain access to the services and platforms).
12 Changes to the Terms of Use
(1) Katho shall have the right to change the provisions of these Terms of Use at any time with future effect or to supplement them, if this is necessary due to statutory or functional adaptations of the website, for instance in the event of technical modifications.
(2) Any changes or additions shall be communicated to the User no later than four weeks prior to their effective data via email, without a requirement to send the specific modified or supplemented terms or a new version of the terms overall. The notification about the changes or additions made shall suffice. In the announcement, katho shall communicate a link under which the new version of the Terms of Use overall may be reviewed.
(3) If the User does not object to the change or addition within 30 days after the announcement of the change or addition and continues to use the services and platforms, this shall be considered the User consent to the change or addition. The announcement by katho shall include a separate annotation with regard to the former.
13 Final Provisions
(1) If this Agreement should contain ineffective provisions, this shall not affect the effectiveness of the remaining Agreement. The ineffective provisions shall be superseded by effective provisions that meet the purpose intended with the ineffective provision as closely as possible.
(2) The services shall be provided exclusively on the basis of these Terms of Use.
Status: June 22, 2022 |
