General Terms of Use for Registered Users

Scope, amendments to the terms of use

1.1. Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH (‘Mesago’), Rotebühlstr. 83-85, 70178 Stuttgart, Germany, provides various services on this website which require the user to register. The following General Terms of Use (‘GTU’) apply (exclusively) to the contractual use of these services and the licence agreement to be concluded between the user and Mesago. Additional terms and conditions apply to certain services; the user shall be made aware of these explicitly and accept them when registering for the service in question.

1.2. These GTU apply to entrepreneurs and consumers. An entrepreneur is any natural or legal person or a partnership with legal personality who or which, when entering into a legal transaction, acts in exercise of his, her or its trade, business or profession. If a user enters into the licence agreement with Mesago for purposes that predominantly are outside his or her trade, business or profession, that user is acting as a consumer. The special provisions in section 11 also apply to consumers.

1.3. Mesago reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions of Use if it has an objective reason to do so, taking into account the legitimate interests of users, and if reasonable for users. Mesago shall notify the users of any and all changes to these GTU and give them the opportunity to object to the amended GTU within a given deadline. If the user objects to the amended GTU, the GTU previously accepted by the user shall remain in effect. Likewise, Mesago shall notify the user if the key components of the licence agreement change (e.g. its subject matter). In this case, the customer may terminate the licence agreement with immediate effect. If the user does not terminate it, the amended GTU shall be incorporated into the licence agreement automatically.

 

Conclusion of contract and user accounts

2.1. The conclusion of the licence agreement is a prerequisite for the use of each service. The licence agreement shall come into effect when the user registers and the registration is confirmed by Mesago.

2.2. The user can register by entering his or her email address and choosing a password during the registration process. At the same time, the user must accept these GTU on which the licence agreement is based and submit the declaration of consent. Mesago will then send an email to the email address provided by the user during registration, prompting the user to confirm the email address by clicking on an activation link. Confirmation of the user’s email address completes the registration process and the licence agreement is formed between Mesago and the user.

2.3. Upon the conclusion of the licence agreement, Mesago shall create a user account for the user. The user can activate this user account and log in with his or her username and password. In the user account, the user can view his or her registration data and has the option to add more personal data. Additionally, the user account shows what services the user has registered for and users can view, print or download the GTU they have accepted and the consent they provided.

2.4. Users are obliged to update their user account as needed and keep the data provided up to date. Under the licence agreement, legal declarations may be sent to the email address provided by the user.

2.5. Activation of the user account does not entitle the user to use certain services. Activating the user account merely enables the user to register for the services available. Furthermore, Mesago may make reasonable changes to services for which the user has registered, provided that the changes are intended to enhance the service in question or are technically or legally necessary (e.g. in order to increase the availability of the service).

2.6. If the user registered for certain services during the user account activation process, the services selected by the user during registration will be activated at the same time as the user account.

2.7. Use of each service requires the transfer of the user’s data to Mesago as part of the registration process which takes place pursuant to section 2.2, as well as the submission of the declaration of consent during the registration process. The services can be used free of charge unless Mesago indicates in its offers that a fee must be paid for the services.

2.5. Some of the services require users to consent to the use of their data for advertising purposes. Users are not obliged to provide this consent. Users who have provided their consent may withdraw this consent at any time with future effect, without providing a reason. In this case, the user will no longer be entitled to use the service in question.

 

Services of Mesago

3.1. Mesago provides its users with services, e.g. in the form of editorial content from various sectors, which may include a comments feature. Additionally, users who subscribe to the newsletter or register will automatically receive an editorial newsletter which, for instance, provides information on a specific subject relating to the sector in which they are interested. The user can cancel this newsletter service at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in every newsletter or by taking the steps described under Editorial newsletters in the privacy policy.

3.2. Mesago also offers to act as a publisher for its users. Users can provide their own editorials for publication in the specialist media of Mesago and other media for which Mesago is responsible.

3.3. Another contractual component is the processing of information, including personal data provided by users when they register and use the services of Mesago or collected and processed using technical means such as those described under Cookie policy in the privacy policy, in order to provide an exceptional user experience tailored to the needs and interests of the user in the media landscape of Mesago and provide personalised offers. For example, this information may include the user’s behaviour on the Mesago website, how the user interacts with social media platforms (e.g. Facebook), the user’s IP address, information from registration forms and other technical characteristics. For more information, see Purposes and legal bases in the privacy policy.

3.4. Mesago makes no guarantee as to the permanent, uninterrupted availability of the website pages and the services offered. Mesago guarantees a minimum monthly availability rate of 95% for the website pages and therefore the services. This does not factor in reasonable interruptions that are necessary for system maintenance or interruptions caused by force majeure or unavoidable events. In this instance, the availability is considered to be the ratio between actual time (AT) and target time (TT). As such, the availability (in %) is calculated as follows: AT/TT * 100.

 

Duties of the user; rights of use

4.1. Users are obliged not to share their password and account with third parties and to protect them against access by third parties. Users may be held liable for any misuse of their account for which they are culpable.

4.2. Users may only use the services of Mesago for their own information. Additionally, users are permitted to print out the information provided and store it on their own data storage media, provided that Mesago provides the option of saving the information. The information may not be duplicated, distributed or used for any other purposes. In particular, users are forbidden from disclosing the content to third parties or using it for their own purposes other than for information, e.g. in their own products and services. Assistants of the user and IT service providers are not considered third parties for these purposes. Furthermore, the user may not edit the content in any way, e.g. by modifying or translating it or removing copyright notices. Mesago or the respective author reserve all rights.

4.3. The user undertakes to respect the rights of third parties, including the rights of Mesago. Therefore, in particular, the user is not permitted:

a) to use the information (e.g. contact details) or communicative services (contact with other users) received in connection with the services for the purposes of advertising;

b) to send or enter data that due to its nature, characteristics, size or quantity, could damage or block the entire IT infrastructure of Mesago or the computers of other third parties or spy on or damage data stored on said IT infrastructure (e.g. by means of viruses, trojans or spam emails);

c) to perform actions or disseminate content in connection with the use of the services that infringes third-party rights (e.g. copyright, trademarks, privacy rights and data protection rights) or violates statutory provisions, especially criminal laws, youth protection regulations, data protection regulations and the provisions of competition law.

Types of user and granting of rights

5.1. In connection with the use of services on the basis of the licence agreement, Mesago shall provide each user with various ways in which he or she can actively participate. In doing so, Mesago shall differentiate between simple users (‘Consumer Users’) and qualified users (‘Contributor Users’).

5.2. All registered users are Consumer Users. Beyond the mere use – i.e. viewing – of each service, registered Consumer Users can comment on the content published by Mesago or other users by registering. Upon the conclusion of the licence agreement, Mesago shall obtain the non-exclusive, non-remunerated right – with no restrictions in terms of time or territory – to publish the content of the comments of each Consumer User on the platform. Mesago may not transfer this right to third parties without the consent of the Consumer User.

5.3. Contributor Users are all registered users who are also entitled to compose technical articles, comments and opinion pieces (‘Articles’) for Mesago and publish them on the corresponding platform. The following special provisions apply to Contributor Users.

5.3.1. A registered user becomes a Contributor User by submitting a request over the platform to the effect that he or she wishes to write Articles on a specific subject area. That user shall be approved as a Contributor User by Mesago if the Article is suitable for publication on the platform in terms of both its technical content and its topic. Mesago shall make the Contributor User aware of the other requirements and processes associated with the position of a Contributor User (generation of an Article, submission to Mesago by email or submission of the Article in person etc.) separately.

5.3.2. The Contributor User has no legal entitlement to publication; Mesago can refuse acceptance without providing a reason. The Contributor User has no legal entitlement to financial compensation.

5.3.2. Mesago is entitled to have its editors revise the accepted Article and make technically necessary changes to the Article that do not affect its content without the consent of the Contributor User. The suitability of the Article for publication shall be indicated by its electronic approval.

5.3.3. Through the submission and acceptance of the Article, regardless of format, the Contributor User grants Mesago a non-exclusive, non-remunerated licence with no restrictions in terms of time or territory to that Article, including to translations, reprints and combinations with other works or parts thereof. Mesago is not permitted to transfer the licence to third parties unless otherwise agreed.

5.3.4. At the same time, through the submission and acceptance of each Article, the Contributor User directly and immediately also grants affiliates of Mesago within the meaning of Section 15 et seq. of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) (see the list here) [as well as the named partners of Mesago and their affiliates within the meaning of Section 15 et seq. AktG (see the list here)] a non-exclusive, non-remunerated licence to the Article in question, with no restrictions in terms of time or territory; this licence also covers translations, reprints, permission for reprints and combinations with other works or parts thereof. The aforementioned contractual partners of Mesago are not permitted to transfer the licence to third parties.

5.3.5. Furthermore, through the submission and acceptance of each Article, the Contributor User directly and immediately grants future, presently unknown contractual partners of Mesago a non-exclusive, non-remunerated licence to the Article in question, with no restrictions in terms of time or territory; this licence also covers translations, reprints, permission for reprints and combinations with other works or parts thereof. This transfer of rights takes place subject to the condition precedent that the contractual partner, type of use and duration of use are identified fully and sufficiently clearly by Mesago to the Contributor User, as well as subject to the condition precedent that the Contributor User does not object to the choice of contractual partner, type of use or duration of use. Mesago is obliged to provide the Contributor User with this information regarding the contractual partner, type and duration of use as soon as the contract has been concluded with each contractual partner and the Article has been published. If the Contributor User does not raise an objection within six weeks of receiving the information, the terms and conditions shall be deemed accepted and the effect that has been made contingent on the terms and conditions shall come into effect. Mesago will inform the Contributor User of the consequences of this behaviour (not raising an objection) at the beginning of the aforementioned time period. The contractual partners are not permitted to transfer the licence to third parties.

5.3.6. With regard to content, the licences granted in accordance with sections 5.3.3, 5.3.4 and 5.3.5 encompass the rights of reproduction and distribution in printed format, as well as the right to

• fully or partially record in electronic format;
• program or otherwise process for electronic use, including merging with other works to form an electronic product, as well as storage in a proprietary or third-party data processing facility, in electronic databases and on data storage media;
• reproduce, distribute (including publication on the platform) and otherwise use in photomechanical, electronic or other procedures, especially electronic offline and online databases and services, with physical and/or non-physical reproduction methods, with all data transfer procedures and on data storage media such as CD-ROM, DVD, USB sticks and similar technology.

5.3.7. Mesago shall only process content of the work of the Contributor User with the consent of and without infringing the moral rights of the Contributor User. This also applies to shortening, other types of restructuring and the creation of works derived from the Article (e.g. abstracts).

5.3.8. The Contributor User affirms that he or she alone can exercise the rights to his or her Article, including all images, and that this does not infringe third-party rights. Furthermore, the Contributor User shall ensure that he or she does not publish untruths or inaccurate representations that could harm Mesago or third parties. This also applies to official information where this has been edited or prepared by the Contributor User. Mesago reserves the right to separate out or refuse to publish works without prior notice if it has legitimate suspicions in this regard.

5.3.9. Unless agreed otherwise in a separate agreement, the Contributor User is not entitled to monetary remuneration. The compensation for use is the advertising effect generated for the Contributor User by the publication of the Article.

 

Blocking/erasure of content; indemnification by the user

6.1. Names are always given for Articles originating from one or more authors. Articles from companies are also identified as such and bear the company’s logo. Articles where the author or company has expressly waived their right to be named are an exception.

6.2. Mesago cannot be held liable for third-party content; it merely provides access to these Articles through the services it provides for use. The user is aware that Articles bearing a third-party company name or logo originate from that company and therefore not from Mesago. The same applies to personal Articles that clearly originate from another user, e.g. opinions expressed by a user in the form of comments or specialist Articles with a copyright notice.

6.3. Any user who believes that an Article has infringed his or her rights can use the contact form to notify Mesago of the alleged infringement, specifying the Article concerned and providing details of his or her specific reasons. Mesago shall ask the author of the Article to provide a response within a reasonable deadline depending on the circumstances. If no response is received within the deadline, the complaint shall be presumed to be justified and Mesago shall delete the entry in question. If the party responsible for the Article substantially rejects the legitimacy of the complaint and justified doubts arise as a result, Mesago shall notify the affected party and may request evidence of the alleged infringement. If the affected party fails to respond or fails to submit evidence if evidence has been requested, Mesago is not obliged to undertake any further investigation. If the response from the affected party or the evidence submitted indicates an unlawful violation of privacy rights, even taking account of any response from the party responsible for the Article, Mesago shall delete the Article in question. In such a case and with consideration for the affected interests, Mesago reserves the right to prevent the author responsible from writing further content on the basis of a careful investigation of the individual case, and to fully block the author from any and all continued use in case of recurrence and terminate the licence agreement with immediate effect.

6.4. If a claim is made against Mesago by a third party, a court or an authority due to culpable behaviour on the part of the user, especially a culpable breach of the obligations described in section 4 and section 5.3.8, the user undertakes to indemnify Mesago against any claims and cover the costs of its legal defence. Mesago shall notify the user of the filing of any such claims without undue delay. The user shall do his or her utmost to help Mesago defend against these claims. If the user fails to fulfil this obligation within a reasonable deadline to be set by Mesago, Mesago is entitled to settle the third-party lawsuit at its own discretion and with consideration for the factual and legal position of Mesago. The user shall bear the costs of this, even if the settlement subsequently proves disadvantageous on the basis of information that had not been provided by the user.

 

Liability of Mesago

7.1. Mesago can only be held liable for intent and gross negligence, as well as for the breach of a material contractual duty. Material contractual duties are those whose fulfilment is essential for the proper execution of the contract and on whose compliance the contractual partner regularly relies and may rely. In the event of an ordinarily negligent breach of a material contractual duty, the liability of Mesago shall be limited to the typical foreseeable damage as at the conclusion of the contract. Mesago cannot be held liable for ordinarily negligent breaches of ancillary duties that do not represent material contractual duties. In the event that performance is initially impossible, Mesago can only be held liable if the obstacle to performance was known or the lack of knowledge was due to gross negligence, provided that it was not a material contractual duty.

7.2. Where the liability of Mesago is excluded or limited, this also applies to actions attributable to Mesago as well as the personal liability of the employees, workers, representatives and vicarious agents of Mesago.

7.3. These exclusions of liability do not apply if defects have been concealed maliciously or if a guarantee of quality has been made, and do not apply to liability for claims under the German Product Liability Act (ProdHaftG) or physical injuries (to life, limb or health).

7.4. With the exception of the claims arising under section 7.3, claims of the user to compensation for which liability is limited under this section shall become time-barred one year after the start of the statutory limitation period.

 

Term

8.1. This licence agreement is entered into for an indefinite term. It can be terminated by the user at any time and without a notice period using the info@mesago.com, or by Mesago with a notice period of two weeks. Certain services utilised by the user can be terminated partially (e.g. by unsubscribing from individual newsletters if the option is available); in cases of doubt, only the service indicated in the notice of termination shall be terminated, not the overall licence agreement.

8.2. This does not affect the right of Mesago to terminate the licence agreement with immediate effect for major cause.

8.3. Furthermore, Mesago is entitled to block the user temporarily or permanently if it has good cause to do so (e.g. due to a breach of the obligations under section 4.3). Mesago shall notify the user of this without undue delay and present its reasons, and shall lift the ban when the reason no longer applies.

8.4. If the agreement is terminated, the user’s account and related personal data shall be deleted. This does not apply to data that is subject to a mandatory retention obligation.

 

Competitions and prize draws

Unless indicated otherwise, the following terms and conditions of participation apply to temporary competitions and prize draws:

10.1. Users can participate in competitions and prize draws free of charge. Anyone living in Germany, Switzerland or Austria who is at least 18 years of age is eligible to participate. Employees of Mesago, employees of the partners referenced in section 5.3.4 and other persons involved in the design and execution of the competition or in the prize draw are excluded from entering. The participant of the competition or prize draw is the person to whom the email address belongs that was provided during the registration process.

10.2. The winner shall be chosen at random from all orders and submissions. Each participant may only win once. The winners shall be notified in writing by Mesago. Should a winner fail to confirm the win to Mesago in writing (i.e. by letter, fax or email) within 13 weeks of being notified by Mesago, the winner will no longer be entitled to the prize and a new winner shall be chosen using the same method. The winner shall be expressly reminded of this requirement in the message notifying him or her of the win. The prizes cannot be redeemed for cash or swapped.

10.3. Mesago reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions of participation if it has an objective reason to do so, taking into account the legitimate interests of users. Furthermore, if it has good cause to do so, Mesago reserves the right to terminate or interrupt the competition or prize draw at any time and without prior notice. This applies in particular to reasons that would permanently impede or prevent the competition or prize draw from taking place according to plan.

10.4. Legal action is excluded with regard to temporary competitions and prize draws.

 

Applicable law, place of jurisdiction and severability clause

10.1. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies. If the user is a consumer, the law of the customer's place of residence may also be applicable if the consumer would be deprived of the application of mandatory consumer law provisions due to the choice of law.

10.2. If the user is a merchant, legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this agreement is Stuttgart, unless as the law mandatorily prescribes a different exclusive place of jurisdiction.

10.3. If any provision of these GTU is ineffective or does not form part of the contract, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.

 

Special provisions for consumers (section 1.2)

11.1. If the user is a consumer, he or she is entitled to withdraw from this agreement within 14 days without providing a reason. The cancellation period is 14 days from the date of the conclusion of the agreement. To exercise the right to cancel, the user must notify Mesago (Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH, Rotebühlstr. 83-85, 70178 Stuttgart, Germany, phone: +49 711 61946-0, fax: +49 711 61946-91, email: info@mesago.com) of his or her decision to withdraw from this agreement by means of an unequivocal declaration (e.g. a letter, fax or email). The user may use the withdrawal template in Annex 1 to these GTU (or linked here), but this is not mandatory. The cancellation deadline is deemed to have been met if the notification of exercise of the right to cancel is sent before the withdrawal period expires.

11.2. If the user withdraws from this agreement after having paid a monetary fee to use the services of Mesago, Mesago shall refund all payments that Mesago has received from the user without undue delay and within 14 days of the date on which Mesago receives the user’s notice of withdrawal from this agreement at the latest. Unless expressly agreed otherwise with the user, Mesago shall provide this refund using the payment method used for the original transaction; under no circumstances will the user be charged a fee for this refund. If the user has not paid any monetary fee to use the services of Mesago, but has merely provided his or her data for the purposes described in these GTU and the privacy policy, Mesago shall discontinue use of the data and delete the user’s account. This does not apply to data of the user that are subject to a statutory retention obligation.

11.3. Before entering into the licence agreement, the user shall be informed of all circumstances and criteria that are of relevance to the conclusion of the contract in accordance with Annex 2 to these GTU (or link here).

 

Annex 1 Right to Cancel

If you are a consumer, you have the following right to cancel:

Cancellation policy

Right to cancel

You have the right to withdraw from this agreement within 14 days without providing a reason.

The cancellation period is 14 days from the date of the conclusion of the agreement.

To exercise your right to cancel, you must notify us (Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH, Rotebühlstr. 83-85, 70178 Stuttgart, Germany, Phone +49 711 61946-0, Fax +49 711 61946-91, privacy@mesago.com) of your decision to withdraw from this agreement by means of an unequivocal declaration (e.g. a letter, fax or email). You can use the enclosed withdrawal template, but this is not mandatory.

The cancellation deadline is deemed to have been met if the notification of exercise of the right to cancel is sent before the withdrawal period expires.

Consequences of cancellation

If you withdraw from this agreement after having paid a monetary fee to use the services of Mesago, we shall refund all payments that we have received from you without undue delay and within 14 days of the date on which we receive your notice of withdrawal from this agreement at the latest. Unless expressly agreed otherwise, this refund will be given using the payment method that you used for the original transaction; you will never be charged a fee for this refund. We shall discontinue use of the data and delete your user account. This does not apply to data that is subject to a statutory retention obligation. If you have not paid any monetary fee to use the services of Mesago but have merely provided your data for the purposes described in the General Terms of Use for Registered Users and the privacy policy, we shall discontinue use of the data and delete your user account. This does not apply to data that is subject to a statutory retention obligation.

 

Withdrawal template

If you wish to withdraw from the agreement, please fill in this form and return it to us.

–To (Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH, Rotebühlstr. 83-85, 70178 Stuttgart, Germany, Fax +49 711 61946-91, info@mesago.com): –I hereby withdraw from the contract I entered into for the performance of the following service ‘Conclusion of the licence agreement for the services of Mesago/service XY’ [please add specific details] –Ordered on (date of registration/received on (date of receipt of the confirmation email)) –Name of consumer –Address of consumer –Signature of consumer (only for paper-based notifications) –Date

Annex 2 Consumer information

Mesago is obliged to provide you with the following information:

1. Mesago shall provide you with access to the comprehensive Mesago media landscape, including the categories of service and offers of Mesago described in section 3 of the General Terms of Use for Registered Users.
2. The full company name along with the full address and all contact information are available in the legal notice at https://corporate.mesago.com/events/en/imprint.html.
3. As a user, you are obliged to provide the specified amount of your personal data; you need not pay any separate remuneration or price. If, in exceptional cases, services do require the payment of a monetary fee, you shall be made aware of this at the relevant point on the Mesago website.
4. Mesago shall perform the services described in section 3 from the date of successful registration (the activation of the user account) onwards; should you have cause for complaint in this regard, you can contact info@mesago.com at any time.
5. You may terminate the licence agreement at any time with immediate effect. An exception may apply if you write Articles for Mesago and, for example, are bound contractually under a separate licence agreement.
6. Mesago will not participate in an alternative dispute resolution process and is not legally obliged to do so.