Glossary
Conference
For the purposes of this agreement, conferences refer to events taking place over one or more consecutive days. This term is used for all events meeting this definition, regardless of whether they refer to themselves as a "conference." Therefore, seminars, symposiums, meetings, congresses, and other events are also referred to as "conference" in this agreement.
Registration
For the purposes of this agreement, a registration refers to the binding commitment of one (1) person to attend a conference. The registration is recorded by the software. A registration can be completed either via the registration module in the Converia® frontend until the "confirmation" page is reached, where an invoice and/or booking confirmation is issued, or in the backend by creating a complete entry with the status "booked" in the "Bookings" module.
Backend
The restricted area of the software used by the conference organizer and their authorized personnel to manage conference data.
Frontend
The public-facing area of the software that is freely accessible to the general public, attendees, content submitters, or reviewers.
Submission
Content intended for presentation at a conference that has been fully submitted via the submission module in the Converia® frontend up to the confirmation page, or created within the backend. All related abstracts, manuscripts (full papers), and presentation files or recordings are considered one (1) submission and do not count as multiple submissions.
Attendee
In the context of this agreement, participants are defined as persons who have registered (as defined in this contract).
Converia® Express License
Software-as-a-Service license, which grants the right to use Converia® for a single conference on a shared instance.
Subject Matter of the Contract
This agreement governs all rights and obligations that the end user (customer) receives with the purchase of a license for the Converia® software.
The provisions of this contract apply in full and without time restrictions to the software product Converia® (hereinafter referred to as "Software").
This agreement grants a license to use the software for a single conference within a specified period determined at the time of concluding this agreement, without territorial restrictions. The software is licensed for this single conference, is provided exclusively on the manufacturer's web servers, and can be used immediately by the customer.
The license automatically loses its legally binding status if it is terminated in accordance with its provisions.
This agreement is governed by German law.
Licensor Obligations
The licensor guarantees that the system will be available 99% of each year. Force majeure events such as war, riots, natural disasters, etc., which make it significantly difficult for the licensor to fulfill the service provision obligations set forth in this contract, entitle the licensor to fulfill these obligations at a later date. Strikes, lockouts, and similar events are also considered force majeure, provided they are severe and unforeseeable. The provision of the software on the web server ends upon the expiration of the agreed period. The customer has no claim to additional web space or other common web hosting services (access to the web hosting administration area, separate data upload via FTP, setup of email addresses, databases, etc.).
The licensor warrants that the Converia® backend can be accessed using current versions of the Firefox web browser, and that the frontend can be accessed using current versions of the Internet Explorer, Opera, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Firefox, and Google Chrome web browsers.
Warranty Provisions
The licensor points out that it is currently not possible to create software that functions error-free in all applications and in all combinations, particularly when using various hardware and software components.
The licensor warrants for the duration of the conference period that the provided software is free from manufacturing defects and functions substantially as described in the software manual. The warranty is limited to these provisions.
The customer must inspect the licensed software for defects and functional impairments immediately upon receipt or upon first use. Any delivery that is wholly or partially defective must be reported in writing immediately after the defect is discovered. Defects must be documented in writing, including the corresponding error messages.
Defects must be reported immediately upon discovery.
If the customer is a merchant and fails to provide proper and timely notification of a defect, the software shall be deemed approved with regard to that defect.
Under this warranty, the customer must accept updates of their instance to a new software version, provided this is deemed appropriate.
The customer shall assist the licensor in rectifying any potential defects. Rescission of the contract due to a minor defect is excluded. If the customer asserts warranty claims against the licensor and it turns out that either no defect exists or the asserted defect does not obligate the licensor to provide a warranty, the customer must reimburse all costs if they asserted the warranty claims with gross negligence or intent.
The customer has the right to withdraw from the contract or reduce the price only if a software defect has significant and substantial effects on the software and the defect cannot be resolved through other functions of the software. Any additional warranty, in particular that the software is suitable for the customer's purposes, as well as any warranty for damages caused directly or indirectly (e.g., loss of profit, business interruption) associated with the restoration of lost data, is fundamentally excluded unless gross negligence or intent can be proven against the licensor or their employees.
Liability
Unless otherwise stipulated in this agreement and in accordance with the paragraphs mentioned below, any recognition of claims for damages and reimbursement of expenses against the licensor is excluded, regardless of the legal basis. This also applies to claims for damages arising from tort (e.g., Section 823 of the German Civil Code). Where liability is excluded or limited, this also applies to the personal liability of the licensor's employees, representatives, and vicarious agents.
The limitation of liability described above does not apply:
- if the damages were caused by intent or gross negligence on the part of the licensor, their representatives, or vicarious agents;
- if essential contractual obligations have been breached; in this case, compensation for damages is limited to the foreseeable, contract-typical damage. Essential contractual obligations are those that protect the contractual legal positions of the contracting party which must be granted to them according to the content and purpose of the contract; other essential contractual obligations are those whose fulfillment is a prerequisite for the proper execution of the contract and on whose compliance the customer could and should regularly rely;
- if the damages involve injury to life, limb, or health;
- if the licensor provides a guarantee;
- if a defect is fraudulently concealed;
- in cases of mandatory statutory liability, particularly under the Product Liability Act (ProdHaftG).
The licensor is not liable for data loss unless it was caused by gross negligence or intent and the damage could not have been avoided even with appropriate data backups. Furthermore, there is no liability for the suitability of the software for the customer's purposes or for its compatibility with existing hardware and/or software.
The licensor is not responsible for content provided by the customer. In particular, the licensor is under no obligation to check such content for potential legal violations. Should third parties assert claims for damages against the licensor based on potential legal violations resulting from content in the conference management system provided by the customer, the customer agrees to indemnify the licensor against such third-party claims and to compensate the licensor for all costs incurred as a result of the potential legal violation.
Data Ownership and Protection
The provisions of the provider's Supplementary Terms for Data Processing in their current version shall apply.
Lawful Use
Converia® may not be used to organize conferences that violate or could violate German legal regulations and/or German case law, or to provide unlawful content.
Furthermore, organizers are not permitted to distribute content that, according to general standards, could be considered extremist, pornographic, discriminatory, or dehumanizing.
Copyright
The software, including all its components (product manuals, technical documentation, descriptions, designs, graphics, and text contained within the software), is material protected by copyright and international treaties and is the property of the software manufacturer, Converia GmbH ("the Manufacturer"). The customer expressly acknowledges the aforementioned copyright. The copyright includes, in particular, the program code, documentation, the look and feel of the software, the design of the user interface, the associated input and output forms, the structure and arrangement of the program files, as well as program and module names, logos, and other forms of representation within the software and/or its components. Any reproduction, use, distribution, modification, or duplication of the software's content that is not expressly authorized is prohibited. Any use of the software, even in part, that exceeds the scope of this license agreement and the intended purpose of the software is expressly forbidden. The software is to be treated like any other copyrighted material. Mandatory statutory provisions remain unaffected by this.
Other components of the software, such as supplied designs, templates, and patterns, may only be used in conjunction with the software and are likewise subject to the provisions stated above.
For every violation of these rules, the customer agrees to pay the manufacturer liquidated damages in the amount of 5,000.00 euros per violation, up to a total of 25,000.00 euros per conference. The manufacturer reserves the right to prove higher damages, and the licensor is permitted to demand that the customer remedy any damage resulting from such a violation.
Translating the software's program code (source code) into other code forms (decompilation), as well as other types of reverse engineering and/or modifications to the program code, are prohibited in accordance with statutory provisions.
Copyright notices or other features serving to identify the software may not be removed or altered, unless the "white labeling" option has been ordered for the conference in question.
Revocation of license
If the customer violates any of these provisions, the licensor is entitled to terminate the license by notifying the customer. In accordance with statutory provisions, the license cannot be terminated otherwise before the end of the agreed term.