Terms of Use

bettercodes.org (or the "website") is a hosted service operated by »bettercodes.org Internetdienste Unternehmergesellschaft haftungsbeschränkt« (or »bettercodes.org«) under German law. bettercodes.org offers online resources for open source software development and content creation, including communications tools, source code version control, source code analysis tools, project management tools, a social network for developers, personalized content, a donation system, branded programming, and a basic version of a marketplace. Any use of the website is subject to the following Terms and Conditions of Use ("Terms and Conditions"), as well as to bettercodes.org’s Privacy Policy, all of which are incorporated by reference into these Terms and Conditions. Your use of the website constitutes your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.

1. bettercodes.org Account and Website.

If you create and operate a project on the website, then you are the owner of that account and all content stored therein. bettercodes.org will not disclose any of your content unless required to do so by court order or other legal action. However, you are solely responsible for maintaining the security of your account and the project. You are also fully responsible for all activities that occur under the account and any other actions taken in connection with the project. You must immediately notify bettercodes.org of any unauthorized uses of your project, your account or any other breaches of security. Users are allowed to create and maintain any type of project on bettercodes.org. Projects can be non-commercial and commercial. The code can be shared as open source or stay as closed source. If users operate an open source project they can select any licence type they want. The licene type of bettercodes.org itself is not affected from the selected licence of the developed project.

2. Responsibility of Participants.

If you participate in a project on the website, you are responsible for the content of that project and any harm resulting from that content, regardless of whether the content in question constitutes text, graphics, audio/visual files or computer software. By making content available, you represent and warrant that:

• the downloading, copying and use of the content will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret rights, of any third party;
• if your employer has rights to intellectual property you create, you have either (i) received permission from your employer to post or make available the content, including but not limited to any software, or (ii) secured from your employer a waiver as to all rights in or to the content;
• you have fully complied with any third-party licenses relating to the content, and have done all things necessary to successfully pass through to end users any required terms;
• the content does not contain or install any viruses, trojan horses, worms, malware or other harmful or destructive content;
• the content is not spam, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing); and
• the content is not obscene or libelous, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party.

For purposes of these Terms of Service (including this Section 2), to "participate in a project" means to create a project, to access a project, to read or display any portion of a project, to comment on a project, to post any material (including links) to a project or, to use in any other way the website in connection with a project. For purposes of these Terms of Service (including this Section 2), "content" is defined as any material posted to, downloaded from or otherwise made available by means of or any link to and from the website.

3. Responsibility of Website Visitors.

Each visitor to the website is solely responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect him(her)self and his (her) computer systems from viruses, worms, trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. bettercodes.org has not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, posted to the website, and therefore cannot be responsible for that material’s content, use or effects. By operating the website, bettercodes.org does not represent or imply that it endorses the material there posted, or that it believes such material to be accurate, useful or non-harmful.

4. Termination of Account.

You may terminate your bettercodes.org account at any time, provided however, that notice of such termination shall be made in writing to bettercodes.org and all notices of termination are effective only at the end of the month during which termination is given. No refunds of any kind will be made - regardless of the timing of the termination. All account terminations are immediate. You are solely responsible to download, copy or otherwise preserve your information stored on the website before terminating your bettercodes.org account.

5. Trademarks.

bettercodes.org, the bettercodes.org logo, and all other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with bettercodes.org, or the website are trademarks or registered trademarks of bettercodes.org or licensors. Other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with the website may be the trademarks of other third parties. Your use of the website grants you no right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any bettercodes.org or third-party trademarks.

6. Removal of Content.

At its sole discretion, bettercodes.org may (but is not required to) remove content from the website that it deems a violation of any bettercodes.org policy, including these Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy

• harmful or objectionable
• threatening
• libelous, defamatory or false
• subject to copyright and/or trademark laws or protection
• pornographic or obscene
• not relevant anymore as all project owners have terminated their bettercodes.org accounts

7. Copyright Infringement.

As bettercodes.org asks others to respect its intellectual property rights, it respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that material located on or linked to by bettercodes.org violates your copyright, you are encouraged to notify bettercodes.org. We will respond to all such notices, including as required or appropriate by removing the infringing material or disabling all links to the infringing material. In the case of a participant who may infringe or repeatedly infringes the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of bettercodes.org or others, bettercodes.org may, in its discretion, terminate or deny access to and use of the website. In the case of such termination, bettercodes.org will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid to bettercodes.org.

8. Content Posted on Other Websites.

bettercodes.org has not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, made available through the websites and webpages to which bettercodes.org links, and that link to bettercodes.org. bettercodes.org does not have any control over those non-bettercodes.org websites and webpages, and is not responsible for their contents or their use. By linking to a non-bettercodes.org website or webpage, bettercodes.org does not represent or imply that it endorses such website or webpage. Each person is responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect self and computer systems from viruses, worms, trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content. bettercodes.org disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from use of non-Bettercodes.org websites and webpages.

9. No unlawful or prohibited use.

In connection with your use of bettercodes.org, you shall comply with all prohibited activity includes, but is not limited to:

• (a) criminal or tortious activity, including child pornography, fraud, trafficking in obscene material, drug dealing, gambling, harassment, stalking, spamming, copyright infringement, patent infringement, or theft of trade secrets;
• (b) transmitting chain letters or junk mail to other users;
• (c) using any information obtained from the website in order to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to any user without such user's prior explicit consent;
• (d) engaging in automated use of the system, such as using scripts to send comments or messages;
• (e) interfering with, disrupting, or creating an undue burden on the web site or the networks or services connected to the website, including, without limitation, hacking into the website;
• (f) attempting to impersonate another user or person;
• (g) using the username of another person;
• (h) selling or otherwise transferring your profile; and
• (i) using any information obtained from the website to harass, abuse or harm another person.

10. Limitation of Warranties.

Except as otherwise expressly stated, all content posted to or available from the website is provided "as is", and bettercodes.org and its owners, suppliers and licensors make no representations or warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title or non-infringement of proprietary rights. You understand and agree that you download from, or otherwise obtain content or services through, the website at your own discretion and at your own risk, and that bettercodes.org and its owners, suppliers and licensors will have no liability or responsibility for any damage to your computer system or data that results from the download or use of such content or services.

11. Limitation of Liability.

Except as otherwise expressly stated, in no event will bettercodes.org and its owners, suppliers and licensors be liable to you or any other party for any direct, indirect, special, consequential or exemplary damages, regardless of the basis or nature of the claim, resulting from any use of the website, or the contents thereof or of any hyperlinked website including without limitation any lost profits, business interruption, loss of data or otherwise, even if bettercodes.org, its suppliers or its licensors were expressly advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event will the aggregate liability for any and all of your claims against bettercodes.org and its owners, suppliers and licensors arising out of or related to use of the website, or the contents thereof or of any hyperlinked website exceed the amounts actually paid by you to bettercodes.org during the 12-month period prior to the date a claim is made. You specifically agree that this Section 11 represents a reasonable allocation of risk between you and bettercodes.org and its owners, suppliers and licensors.

12. Miscellaneous Provisions.

• Changes. The website, including without limitation all content and features therein available and these Terms and Conditions, may be changed at the sole discretion of bettercodes.org and without notice. You are bound by any such updates or changes, including but not limited to those affecting these Terms and Conditions. You agree to periodically review these Terms and Conditions.
• Entire Agreement. These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between bettercodes.org and you concerning the subject matter hereof, and can only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized executive of bettercodes.org, or by the posting by bettercodes.org of a revised version on the website.
• Indemnification. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless bettercodes.org and its owners, suppliers and licensors from and against any and all claims and expenses, including attorneys' fees, arising out of your use of the Website, including but not limited to out of your violation of any representation or warranty contained in these Terms and Conditions.
• Applicable Law and Jurisdiction. Any dispute arising out of or related to, directly or indirectly, the website and its use shall be governed by German laws. The proper venue for any such dispute shall be in Düsseldorf, Germany, where the registered office of bettercodes.org is located.
• Waiver or Failure to Enforce. A waiver or failure to enforce by either party of any term or condition of these Terms and Conditions or any breach thereof will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof.