BioSeek Terms of Service

Table of contents:

  1. General information
  2. Agreement Actualization
  3. Service Scope
  4. User Obligations
  5. Exported data control
  6. External Links
  7. Intellectual property
  8. Unsolicited ideas
  9. Service updates and modifications
  10. Updates of these Terms
  11. Termination
  12. Liability
  13. Indemnity
  14. Applicable law
  15. International jurisdiction / Venue for legal disputes
  16. Miscellaneous

1. General information

BioSeek JSC, Ilarion Dragostinov 42, Sofia 1505, Bulgaria (“BioSeek”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) provides the services made available at www.BioSeek.eu and all other websites operated by BioSeek and all associated applications, including mobile applications (“Service”), as an information society service in the meaning of Article 1(b) of Directive (EU) 2015/1535. Full BioSeek contact information:

BioSeek JSC

42 Ilarion Dragostinov Str, apt. 37

1505 Sofia, Bulgaria

ue.keesoib@ofni

+359 988 847 228

BioSeek’s mission is to increase the efficiency of the scientific research process by improving search for specialized information and providing multiple integrated tools to help manage knowledge. A User (“User”, “you”) is any legal or natural person who, as a recipient of the Service, accesses or uses the Service, regardless of the purpose of these actions. Our registered Users (“Members”) reveal their professional identities and credentials, list their scientific publications, engage and collaborate with their peers and networks, exchange professional insights and knowledge, share and view relevant content, and discover business and career opportunities. Content is also visible to unregistered or logged-out Users (“Visitors”) to some extent. This Privacy Policy describes our procedures dedicated to actualize our commitment to protecting your privacy online with transparency, integrity, and security.

2. Agreement Actualization

These Terms of Service constitute a legally binding agreement between BioSeek and any of its Members. The Terms become binding once once you have proceeded with the registration process and we have sent confirmation that you have successfully registered for the Service and an account activation link. In some jurisdictions, you may be bound to these Terms if you repeatedly access the Service against our instructions.

3. Service Scope

The Service enables you to create, upload, submit, add, distribute, or post (“submit”, “submitting”, or “submission”) content, articles, data, text, photographs, images, illustrations, or other information on or to the Service (collectively, the “Member Submissions”). Member Submissions can be, but are not limited to, cases in which you request the Service to (i) import and display content stored on your or a third party’s computer system, (ii) save and store your comments, edits, or other interferences with content accessible through the Service, or (iii) share with another person or any third party any content stored on your or a third party’s computer system.

The Service contains and delivers information uploaded by and/or stored upon the request of Members, this being one of its main functional characteristics. We do not preview or filter such information, neither manually, nor automatically. Therefore, we do not and cannot hold knowledge of possible violations of law or inappropriate content related to or contained in information that is uploaded by and/or stored upon the request of Members of the Service. We are not liable for such information. In case we become aware of such infringements, we will promptly remove or cut access to such information. See our [Intellectual Property Policy] for more information on how to report content.

Any agreements entered into by Users with other Users or with any third party via the Service will not include BioSeek as a contracting party. Users are individually and solely responsible for the execution and/or fulfilment of agreements they enter into. BioSeek is not liable for breaches of duty in relation to such agreements.

4. User Obligations

BioSeek strives to connect the world of science and elevate the efficiency of the scientific work and processes related to it. Credibility of information and integrity of users are of paramount importance for the reputation of the Service and of its users community, so you must not use pen names or pseudonyms, you should only use your real name and state your affiliation. You may not accept, associate, or post content that is false or misleading, such as incorrect identity, inaccurate biographical facts, or misleading information about your achievements, qualifications, work experience, etc.

You guarantee that all Personal Information you provide is accurate and complete and you are liable for that. You are obliged to opportunely update such data. If you opt for using a profile picture, you must use a clear image which allows for your indubitable identification. Images of other people, animals, text, and logos are forbidden to use as a profile image. This as well is crucial for the credibility of the users of the Service and aims to defend their best interest.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you use or otherwise exploit the Submissions of another member of the community in full accordance with and without infringements of these Terms and that you do not violate the rights of any third party including, but not limited to any privacy rights, publicity rights, patent, copyrights, contract rights, or any other intellectual property or proprietary rights. You must be able to, upon request from our part, prove until our full satisfaction that i) the content submitted in your Member account on the Service is owned or otherwise controlled by you and you have all rights and licences required in order for you to submit or share it in your Member account and that you give your consent for these Submissions to be used as described in these Terms, and ii) you are granted full authority to act on behalf of any and all owners of any right or fraction of content in your Member Submissions to use the content in question as is defined by these Terms.This is all valid except for the cases when the Submissions contain content found exclusively in the public domain.

You understand that all information transmitted privately or publicly posted through the Service is the sole responsibility of the person by whom it was submitted. We will not be liable for any errors or lack of integrity in any content. We may delete or modify any content or information submitted by you upon receiving report from another user which we find reasonable. We do not endorse or have control over content submitted to the Service. We cannot guarantee the authenticity of any user-generated content.

If you have chosen to make your information publicly available, you understand that your content and information may be shared with third parties in connection with your use of the Service, and that we cannot and do not control any such third parties. For further information, please refer to our [Privacy Policy].

You may change the visibility of some content by going to your [Privacy Settings] when you are logged in.

You may only use the service if you are 18 years old or older. If you are under 18, you may not use or register for the Service.

It is your responsibility to keep your password to access the Service secret. Your password will not be disclosed by BioSeek to any third party. BioSeek shall only use your password during the login process, and shall not ask for your password at any time other than during the login process. We recommend that you regularly change your password for security reasons and to prevent misuse.

Any other User's Personal Information is not to be stored, processed, or used for any other purpose than the purpose of such data being published within the Service by the respective User.

While using or or accessing of the Service you must NOT:

  • Post inaccurate, dishonest, false, misleading, deceptive, defamatory, or slanderous content, regardless of the person it refers to;
  • Use the Service to harass, abuse, insult or send other unwelcome communications to others (including to BioSeek). The following actions are examples of such communications, but the list is not complete: junk mail, offers to buy or sell, spam, chain letters, phishing schemes, and excessive messages;
  • Post Personal Information pertaining to another person (e.g. an email address or phone number), confidential or proprietary information, or any information you do not have a right to publish;
  • Any hate speech, including but not limited to attacking people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, age, disabilities or diseases or religious views;
  • Post or promote any pornographic, abusive, sexually inappropriate, or violence-glorifying materials or any content that violates any applicable legislation for the protection of minors or communicates in any sexually explicit or suggestive way;
  • Allow any third party to use your BioSeek account without our consent, create or use an account under a false name or identity;
  • Post or promote advertising or commercial promotional content;
  • Use BioSeek in any way which involves commercialization of the Service, except with the prior express permission of BioSeek in writing;
  • Request unauthorized copyrighted material (e.g. software, books, publications) or “cracked” versions of software;
  • Post content that primarily aims to drive Users outside of BioSeek;
  • Act unprofessionally or with lack of integrity, including by posting vague or non-scientific content;
  • Intentionally infect others with viruses, worms, or other malicious software that can destroy, interrupt, or collect their data;
  • Post excessively within a short timeframe, interfere with the functioning of our Service, or impose disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
  • Foist an unreasonable administrative burden on BioSeek;
  • Use any robot, spider, scraper, data mining tools, data gathering and extraction tools, or other automated means to access our Service for any purpose, except with the prior express permission of BioSeek in writing;
  • Employ any software or scripts on the Service;
  • Encourage or enable any other third party to do any of the foregoing.

5. Exported data control

We are not responsible of the usage of the materials contained within the Service outside of the Service. Those who choose to access or use the Service do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with all applicable local laws, including, if you are in the United States, any applicable export control or foreign assets control regulations.

Links to Third party websites are available throughout the Service. Those websites have their own Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policies, ets., independent from BioSeek’s Terms and Conditions, including the Privacy Policy. BioSeeks does not review and control any third party websites (including those of Members) for accuracy, completeness or non-infringement. BioSeek does not warrant and is not liable for any content or conduct of such third-party websites.

7. Copyright and other intellectual property rights

All content on the service, such as texts, articles, graphics, any design, as well as the database and the software running the Service, are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws in multiple jurisdictions. For information about protecting Intellectual Property on the Service, please see our [Intellectual Property Policy].

8. Unsolicited Ideas Policy

Your comments and feedback regarding possible improvements of the Service we provide are truly valuable to us. However, please note that BioSeek’s company policy forbids us from taking actions which aim to fully or partially complete the suggestions provided by you. In case the improvements, newly added features or products of our Service result to be similar or identical to the essence of the suggestions you have submitted to us, you may NOT claim authorship or ownership of given suggestions or ideas.

If you still decide to submit ideas or suggestions, then you agree that:

  1. The Idea submissions will be non-confidential and non-proprietary;

  2. BioSeek will have no obligations whatsoever concerning the Idea Submissions;

  3. The Idea Submissions are available to be freely used or disclosed in any way, including commercially, without any compensation being due to you or any third party.

Feedback

Although we cannot accept unsolicited ideas, we are always pleased to receive feedback. Please, if you decide to share your feedback with us be as specific as you can, make it about existing features, and do not submit ideas which our policy will forbid us from accepting. Any feedback provided by you is to be deemed non-proprietary and non-confidential. BioSeek will have full rights to use it in any way without any due compensation to you or any third party. You can deliver you feedback to ue.keesoib@troppus

9. Service Updates and other modifications

We reserve the right to modify the Service - to introduce new services, different from those offered at the time of the User’s registration, or to remove services, which have been available at the the time of the User’s registration, at any time, in particular under, but not limited to, the following circumstances:

  1. We introduce new features that enhance the Service;

  2. We alter the Service in order to comply with applicable law in the event of a change in such laws;

  3. In case of a legal order or decision by a government authority;

  4. To the extent the respective modifications are necessary in order to offset any potential security vulnerabilities;

  5. In case the modification is only beneficial to the User; or

  6. If the modification is of a purely technical or process-related nature without any tangible impact on the Member.

Modifications that have a minor impact on the functionality of the Service are not considered changes to the Service as defined in this chapter. This applies in particular to changes of a purely visual nature and to a change of layout and/or placement of features.

10. Changes to these Terms

We reserve the right to edit these Terms at any time. We will provide notice regarding any modifications by sending an email and/or posting an online notice on the Service, and we will explicitly ask Members to accept the new terms. Unless stated otherwise, new terms shall be effective in no less than thirty days from the date of such notice being sent out. Members who have not yet accepted the new terms before the date those become effective will be explicitly notified that if they continue to use the Service thereafter they will be deemed to have accepted the new terms. In our notices, we will inform you about the more relevant changes to these Terms, your right to object and the deadline to do so. It is your obligation to check your account regularly for a notice about changes to these Terms. If you do not wish to agree with the new terms, you may terminate your agreement with BioSeek at any time by disabling / deleting your account (see below section 11).

The following circumstances may in particular initiate a modification of these Terms:

  1. If the modification is only beneficial to the Member;

  2. If the modification is of a purely technical or process-related nature without any tangible impact on the Member;

  3. To the extent we are obliged to do so to ensure that the Terms comply with applicable law, particularly in the event of a change to said laws;

  4. In case we resolve to do so because of a judgment or decision by the authorities; or

  5. When we introduce supplementary, completely new services, or service components requiring a service description in the Terms.

11. Termination

You can terminate the contractual relationship at any time without cause by simply disabling or deleting your account.

BioSeek may actualize extraordinary termination of a Member account for good cause at any time. Extraordinary termination for good cause is to take place in cases when the terminating party to continue the agreement until the end of the termination period, taking into account all circumstances of the individual case and the interests of both parties. A good cause for BioSeek includes, but is not limited to, any of the following events:

  1. The Member fails to comply with any applicable law;

  2. The Member commits infringement to any contractual obligation of these Terms;

  3. The reputation of the Service is potentially considerably impaired by the online presence of the Member;

  4. The Member exposes information about or propagates in any way any communities or organizations, or any of their activities, ideologies, or proceedings, which are under surveillance or are eligible to be under surveillance by authorities responsible for public safety or the protection of minors;

  5. The Member is causing harm or poses a risk of any harm to any other User(s); or

  6. The Member’s actions lead to potential risk or legal liability for BioSeek.

In the event of a good cause we are entitled to:

  1. Delete or modify user generated content;

  2. Issue a warning to the Member;

  3. Suspend, disable, restrict, or block the Member’s access to the Service;

  4. Take technical and/or legal steps to prevent the Member from using our Service and to face consequences of his actions as provisioned by applicable law.

If the Member decides to leave or loses the right to use the Service, the following shall survive termination:

  1. The ability of other Members and Visitors to view and share any content and information shared by the Member through the Service in accordance with the Terms and applicable laws, when appropriate;

  2. The Member’s ability to access the Service as a Visitor.

12. Liability

BioSeek shall also be liable without limitation for damages derived from any non fulfillment of the contractual duties and obligations stated in these Terms of Use by the part BioSeek. BioSeek shall be also liable without limitation for damages due to intent or gross negligence by BioSeek or one of its legal representatives or vicarious agents.

In addition to the cases laid out above, BioSeek’s liability is limited to foreseeable contractual damages in the event of an infringement of any of its cardinal contractual obligations due to slight negligence. Cardinal contractual obligations are those obligations the fulfilment of which is mandatory for the proper execution of an agreement. Any other liability on the part of BioSeek is not to be claimed.

13. Indemnity

In case of a claim or any reasonable demand, including reasonable legal fees, coming from any third party, due to an infringement of BioSeek’s Terms from your part, or your improper use of the Service, or your violation of the rights of a third party, you will indemnify and hold BioSeek (including our affiliates and subsidiaries, as well as our and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents) harmless.

14. Applicable law

These Terms shall be governed by the laws of the Republic of Bulgaria, and The European Union Law - European Union law is a body of treaties, law and court judgments which operates alongside the legal systems of the European Union's member states. Whenever there is a conflict between EU law and national law, EU law takes precedence over national law and is binding on all national authorities.

The Courts of the Republic of Bulgaria and the European Courts shall have jurisdiction over any disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms.

If the User (i) is a merchant, a legal person under public law, or special funds under public law, and is either a resident of Bulgaria or resides outside of the European Union (EU), or (ii) is resident of another Member State of the EU and is not a consumer in the sense of Article 17 of EU Regulation No. 1215/2012, or (iii) has its residence outside of the EU, the courts of the Republic of Bulgaria and the European Courts shall have jurisdiction over any disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms.

Statutory provisions regarding exclusive jurisdiction shall remain unaffected.

The EU Commission provides an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform for the out-of-court resolution of disputes concerning contractual obligations with consumers (as defined in Article 4 of EU Directive No 11/2013). This is the link to this platform:

http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/

We do not use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures to resolve disputes with consumers.

16. Miscellaneous

We reserve our rights to transfer rights and duties to third parties, in whole or in part. Section 10 applies.

If BioSeek does not act upon enforcing of these Terms in case of a breach, that does not mean BioSeek has waived its rights to enforce these Terms.

In case of any element or portion of these Terms has become or is set to becomes invalid, illegal, unenforceable, or in conflict with any applicable jurisdiction, this shall not in any way interfere with the validity, legality, and enforceability of the remaining provisions.

The text of these Terms is to be available and binding in its English-language version only.