General Terms of Use for Registered Users

Status: 2022.01.05

1. Scope, amendments to the terms of use

1.1. Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH (‘Mesago’), Rotebühlstr. 83-85, 70178 Stuttgart, Germany, provides certain services on its website that require users to register or sign on. 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 change these GTU given an objective reason while considering the justifiable interests of and the appropriateness for the user. Mesago will inform the user of any change to the GTU and provide them the opportunity to object to the changed GTU within a certain term. Given a user’s objection to the changed GTU, the GTU last accepted by the user remain effective. If a user fails to object, the changed GTU will be included in the user agreement from the day of the changes taking effect. If any essential parts of the user agreement change (i.e. its subject of agreement), Mesago will inform the user of the changes. In this case, the user has the right to expressly consent to the changes, to keep the user agreement in its unchanged form, or to terminate the user agreement effective immediately. Regardless of above provisions, Mesago has the right to extraordinary termination of the user agreement with an appropriate expiration period if the change of the GTU is based on mandatory legal provisions or on rulings of the highest court which lead to the continuation of the contractual relationship with the former GTU accepted by the user being unreasonable for Mesago.

2. Conclusion of contract and user account, provision of the user account

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 their e-mail address and a password of their own choosing during the registration process. Additionally, the user needs to consent to these GTU that the user agreement is based on, and to also provide a declaration of consent. Upon doing so, the user will receive an e-mail from Mesago at the address provided during the registration process prompting him to confirm the e-mail address using an activation link (double opt-in/DOI). The registration is completed and the user agreement between Mesago and the respective user is entered upon confirmation of the e-mail address. Set-up and provision of a user account ensues only after the user has completed this DOI process and has verified their e-mail address. Prerequisite for the registration, the execution of the DOI process, and the set-up of a user account is the user having a valid e-mail address, and an e-mail account linked to their e-mail address suitable for sending and receiving e-mails, and the user accessing e-mails sent by Mesago and providing the consent required for the processes mentioned above.

2.3. Upon entering the user agreement, Mesago creates a so-called user account for the user. The user can log into their user account with their e-mail address and the password of their choosing (so-called log-in). If necessary, the user can access the data used for the registration and provide further personal data in the user account. Furthermore, the user can access information regarding the services they signed up for in the user account. The text of the contract (these GTU and declaration of consent) cannot be accessed in the user account and is no longer accessible after registration or enrolment for specific services. However, the user may save or print the text of the contract using their browser.

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 registers for certain services during the activation process of the user account, these services will then be made accessible for the user as well. Provision of the respective services commences immediately, unless the user is expressly informed of a delayed provision, e.g. at a fixed date, in the offer or in the product description.

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.

2.8. Some of the services require the user to consent to the promotional usage of his data. The user is not obliged to give this consent; however, the user cannot use services that are dependent on such consent. Once the user has provided consent, they can then revoke it at any point for the future without the need to provide specific reasons. In this case, the user is no longer entitled to use the respective services.

2.9. Unless otherwise stated in the offer or in the product description of the respective service, Mesago does not provide the user with software applications for the use of their user account and the services offered. Accessing or using services usually happens via a supported browser that meets the system requirements by Mesago, or via a software the user needs to install for the access of e-mails, or an up-to-date PDF-reader software. Unless otherwise stated in the product description of the services, details regarding system requirements can be found at  https://privacy.vogel.de/systemanforderungen.html.

3. Services of Mesago

3.1. Mesago provides services to its users, e.g. in the form of editorial content from numerous specialist fields which may come with a comment feature. As a service, the user automatically receives an editorial newsletter regarding a specific topic in a special field of his interest when registering for the newsletter or registering. The user can cancel this newsletter service by using the “unsubscribe” link provided in each newsletter or as described in the section on editorial newsletters in the data protection declaration.

These services may be provided in different digitals formats:

• via accessing a website (e.g. for editorial content in the form of specialist articles);

• via browser access (software-as-a-service or platform-as-a-service), in particular via platforms connected online (e.g. for web-based seminars);

• via download which may be triggered by a download link or button (e.g. whitepaper, eBooks and others in PDF-format);

• via e-mail (e.g. editorial newsletter)

3.2. Furthermore, Mesago users may actively publish for Mesago. Users are given the opportunity to publish their own editorial technical papers to be published within mesago and other media under mesago´s responsibility. Providing these services requires a separate registration or verification of the user by Mesago. After successful activation of their account, the user can send their own specialist articles to Mesago e.g. via e-mail or upload using content author portals.

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 does not guarantee permanent and uninterrupted access of websites and offered services. Mesago guarantees a minimum access rate of websites and thus services provided on these of 95% based on a given month. Not included in this period reasonable downtime necessary for system maintenance or downtime caused by force majeure or unavoidable causes. Availability in this sense is understood as the ratio of actual time (IZ) to desired time (SZ). The availability (in %) is calculated as follows: IZ/SZ * 100.

4. 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.

4.4. The user is required to provide reasonable cooperation required for using and claiming the services of Mesago which concern the user’s own devices and technical infrastructure.

This includes in particular:

• Setting up and ensuring continued access to a valid e-mail address and to an e-mail account suitable for sending and receiving e-mails (see nr. 2.2 above).

• Providing the consent required for claiming the respective service (e.g. DOI, provision of mandatory consent).

• Meeting system requirements for the use of the respective service (see nr. 2.9 above).

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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. Furthermore, statutory provisions apply, in particular §§ 327d et seqq., German Civil Code, on the contractual provision of digital products.

8. 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. Both parties’ right to extraordinary termination without notice for good reason remains unaffected.

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.

9. Competitions and prize draws

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

9.1. 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.

9.2. 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.

9.3. 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.

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

10. 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.

11. 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 can terminate the user agreement at any time without notice. An exception is possible if you write articles for Mesago yourself and are bound by a separate contractual agreement, e.g. via a license agreement. If, exceptionally, services are provided over a certain term (usually for a fee), you will be informed at the appropriate place in the Mesago offer of important information in this respect, such as the term, the amount of the fee in cash, and termination options.
6. Mesago will not participate in an alternative dispute resolution process and is not legally obliged to do so.