Terms of Use

Handshake Europe GmbH

1. General

1.1. Handshake Europe GmbH, registered with the German Commercial Register of the district court AG Charlottenburg (registration number HRB 191671), c/o Spielfeld Digital Hub, Skalitzer Str. 85/86, 10997 Berlin (“Talentspace”) operates a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform (the “Platform” or “Service(s)”), which enables the User (the “User”) to create and organize events (the “Event”) as further specified on www.talentspace.io (the “Website”).

1.2. The Service of Talentspace is available to both Consumers and Business Customers (as defined below). For the purpose of these Terms of Use, (i) a „Consumer“ is any User entering into the contract for a purpose not related to his or her business, trade or self-employed professional activity (Sec. 13 of the German Civil Code), and (ii) a „Business Customer“ is a User (whether an individual, company or partnership vested with legal capacity) who enters into the relevant contract in the conduct of its business or its self-employed professional activity (Sec. 14 (1) of the German Civil Code). All contractual relationships between Talentspace and any User using the Services offered by Talentspace shall be governed by these terms of use (the „Terms of Use“).

1.3. Standard business conditions and/or general terms and conditions of the User do not apply, regardless of whether or not Talentspace has expressly objected to them in a particular case.

1.4. Talentspace reserves the right to extend or alter the Services and make improvements if they (i) serve technical progress; or (ii) appear necessary to prevent misuse. Further, Talentspace shall be entitled to change the Services if (i) applicable law, court rulings or administrative decisions require such amendments; (ii) the changes are only beneficial to the User; or (iii) the changes are of a purely technical or procedural nature with no material effect on the User. All other changes to the Services shall be subject to Section 12 hereof.

2. Registration and Events

2.1. The use of the Service requires the registration as well as the set-up of a user account (the “User Account”) by filling in the name, address and a valid email address as well as a password. By pressing “Create Account” the User submits an offer on the conclusion of the agreement to use the Service according to the Terms of Use (the “Agreement”). In order to proceed with the registration, the User has to accept the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy displayed on the Website. Only after creating an account on Talentspace can the User create/register/apply to/join an Event.

2.2. The User shall take all necessary steps to ensure that the password is at all times kept confidential. The User shall notify Talentspace by contacting support@talentspace.io without undue delay if there are signs of unauthorized use of its User Account or any breach of security by a third party. The User is not authorized to grant the use of the User Account to any third party. The User is responsible for all activity that occurs on his User Account. Talentspace shall not be liable for loss or damages caused by any unauthorized use of the User Account or loss or unauthorized use of the date to access the User Account.

2.3. Users who intend to use the Service to create and organize Events (the “Organizer”) have to conclude a separate Organizer-Agreement with Talentspace. These Organizers set-up, create and run events, either for their own organization, or for other organizations. In the latter case, the Organizer invites other organizations to participate in their event (the event "Exhibitors") and manages the Organizer-Exhibitor relationship exclusively.

2.4. An Event can be subject to specific, Event-related Terms and Conditions of the Organizer of the Event and the User must accept those Terms and Conditions in order to register or apply for the Event.

2.5 Some Events require the User to submit an application to participate in it (instead of an open registration). In these instances, the User will only be able to participate in the event after the User’s application to the event has been confirmed, and a specific invitation from the Organizer to the User has been extended.

2.6 An Event can be subject to specific registration requirements, as defined by the Event Organizer. In these instances, only certain Users who meet these registration requirements will be able to register or apply.

3. Availability

3.1. Talentspace provides no guarantee that the Services and functions operate properly and are available without interruption and errors at all times. The User must ensure an adequate Internet connection. The User is responsible for the fulfillment of the system requirements necessary for the use of the Service, particularly with respect to the operating system used by it. However, Talentspace shall make every effort, within the limits of what is commercially reasonable, to enable the operation of the Service without interruptions or errors at all times.

3.2. Talentspace may restrict the availability of and access to the Services and functions for the security of the network operation and the maintenance of the network integrity, especially to avoid serious disruptions of the network. Talentspace tries to keep these disruptions on a low level.

4. Termination of Agreement

4.1. The User may terminate the Agreement, and thereby the User Account, at any time for any or no reason by clicking the button “Delete Account”.

4.2. The right of termination for cause and without notice remains unaffected for both parties. A good cause for termination shall include, but shall not be limited to, any of the following events:

4.2.1. the User fails to comply with any applicable legal provisions; and/or

4.2.2. the User fails to comply with any terms of these Terms of Use, in particular Section 7, and, where reasonable, Talentspace has given the User the opportunity to stop any misconduct but the User failed to do so.

5. IP-Rights

Subject to the Terms of Use, and for the duration of the respective Agreement, Talentspace grants the User a non-exclusive, non-assignable, non-transferable, with no right to sub-license, worldwide limited right to use the Services.

6. Legal Compliance and Prohibited Use

6.1. The User shall have sole responsibility and liability for any photos, comments, statements, profile information, written information or other content uploaded by him to the Platform (the „Content“).

6.2. The User must ensure that the Content does not infringe any third party rights and, in particular, that the User has obtained permission of a person who has rights to such Content to use the Content within the Service.

6.3. The User shall use the Services in accordance with the intended purpose, these Terms of Use and in accordance with any applicable statues, laws and/or regulations. The User may not use the Platform to distribute illegal Content and/or Content that infringes the rights of third parties, in particular but not limited to

6.3.1. insulting, offensive, racist, threatening, youth protection law infringing, or other illegal Content or to advertise, or sell such Content;

6.3.2. malware;

6.3.3. threats to other Users;

6.3.4. defamatory criticism, slander, offensive statements, lies or incorrect information;

6.3.5. Content that affect or infringe the rights of third parties or that are covered by copyrights, unless the User own the respective copyright or has the permission of the copyright owner;

6.3.6. the use of temporary email addresses; and/or

6.3.7. unauthorized advertising.

6.4. Further, the User may not

6.4.1. make the Services available in any manner to any third party for use in the third party’s business operations;

6.4.2. use, copy and/or reproduce the Content of other Users and/or Organizers for purposes beyond the purpose of the Services;

6.4.3. modify, make derivative works of, disassemble, reverse compile, or reverse engineer any part of the Services;

6.4.4. access or use Services in order to build or support, and/or assist a third party in building or supporting, products or services competitive to the Services;

6.4.5. license, sell, rent, lease, transfer, assign, distribute, display, host, outsource, disclose, or otherwise commercially exploit or make the Services or Content of other Users or Organizers available, to any third party.

6.6 In case the User creates and/or manages an account for a company/legal entity or otherwise makes information about companies/legal entities available through the Services the User warrants that he is authorized to act on behalf of that company/legal entity or is otherwise entitled to submit the information.

7. Indemnification

7.1. A User will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Talentspace and its officers, directors, employees for any and all claims, suits, litigation, causes of action, losses, damages, expenses, costs (including court costs and attorneys’ fees) and liabilities (“Losses”) that arise out of, or in connection with (i) the Users use of the Website and/or Services; (ii) any breach by a User of any its obligations pursuant to Section 7 hereof; (iii) any claim that the User’s Content caused damage to a third party. If the User is Consumer, such obligations shall not apply if the User is not responsible for the infringement resulting in any Losses.

7.2. In cases of an aforementioned enforcement of claims by third parties, the User will provide Talentspace with all his information that is needed for the examination of the claim and for the defence against it. The User provides the information immediately, truthfully, and completely.

8. Warranty, Liability

8.1. In the case of Services provided free of charge, Talentspace shall be liable in accordance with the statutory provisions, in particular §§ 599 and 600 BGB. In all other cases the following liability regulations apply:

8.1.1. Talentspace shall be unrestrictedly liable for all contractual, quasi-contractual and statutory, including tortious claims for damages and reimbursement of expenses for any legal reason that have been caused by deliberate intention or by gross negligence.

8.1.2. In cases of slight negligence, Talentspace shall only be liable if Talentspace has infringed a fundamental duty and if the purpose of the contract is threatened thereby or if Talentspace has infringed duties that have to be fulfilled for the duly contract implementation and if the User generally relies on the fulfilment of these duties. In the aforementioned cases, Talentspace is only liable for foreseeable damages to the Business Customer at the time the respective service was performed.

8.1.3. In all other cases Talentspace’s liability, and towards Business Customers including Talentspace’s liability for consequential damage and lost profit, is excluded;

8.1.4. The aforementioned restrictions of liability do not apply to cases of damages to life, body, or health, to cases of warranting for the condition of a product, and to cases of fraudulent concealment of defects by Talentspace, its legal representatives or assistants in performance or under the German Product Liability Act.

8.2. Talentspace will not be liable hereunder by reason of any failure to timely perform its duties hereunder due to an event beyond Talentspace’s reasonable control, including acts of God; acts of terrorism; civil unrest; war; fires; power cuts; epidemics.

8.3. If Talentspace’s liability is excluded or restricted, this also applies to the personal liability of its employees, representatives, and agents.

8.4. The application of § 536a para. 2 BGB (right of the lessee to remedy defects himself) is excluded. Also excluded is the application of § 536a para. 1 BGB (Lessor's liability for damages) insofar as it provides for liability regardless of fault.

9. Alternative Settlements of disputes

9.1. The European Commission provides a platform for an online settlement of disputes which can be accessed under http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. Talentspace is neither obliged to take part in alternative dispute resolutions before a consumer dispute settlement commission or will do so voluntarily.

9.2. Talentspace is not obliged and not willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings pursuant to the German Consumer Dispute Resolution Act (VSBG).

10.  Privacy

10.1. The User may find all information as to how Talentspace processes personal data in the Privacy Policy on the Website.

10.2. In order to register or apply for a certain Event, the User has to give his/her consents during the Event registration that the Organizer, as well as the Companies which attend the Event, will have access to the personal data of the User provided on the User Account (including CV).

10.3. When using the Services, the User shall comply with the applicable data protection laws, insofar as the User collects, submits, processes or uses personal data in connection with the Services and no statutory basis for permission intervenes. In case the User processes personal data of other Users (e.g. CVs of data subjects who attend an Event) the User must use this data only for recruiting purposes or in order to contact the User with a related request. The User must not use other User’s personal data for marketing purposes or transfer the data to third parties. The User is obliged to delete the personal data, if the purpose of the processing has been fulfilled, at the latest one year after the personal data have been obtained.

11.  Changes to Terms of Use

11.1.   Changes to these Terms of Use will be communicated to the User at least by e-mail. If the User does not object to such changes within four (4) weeks of receipt of the notification, the changes shall be deemed agreed. The User will be informed of the right of objection and the legal consequences of silence in the event of a change to the Terms of Uses.

11.2.   In the event of an objection to the changes in time, the original provisions shall remain unaffected and apply instead of the amended Terms of Use; in this case, both the User and Talentspace shall be entitled to terminate the Agreement extraordinarily within two weeks after Talentspace’s receipt of the User’s objection within the scope of a special right of termination.

12. Applicable Law and Competent Courts

12.1.   Any contracts entered into between Talentspace and the User shall be governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. If the User is a Consumer and has his or her habitual residence in another country, the User shall, however, continue to have the protection afforded to him by provisions that cannot be derogated from by agreement by virtue of the law applicable in the state of the User’s habitual residence.

12.2.   If the User is a corporation, limited liability company or commercial partnership or otherwise operates a commercial business (Kaufmann within the meaning of Sec. 1 (1) BGB (German Commercial Code)) or is a legal entity or special fund organized under public law, the courts in Berlin, Germany, shall have exclusive jurisdiction in respect of all disputes arising out of or in connection with the relevant contract.

12.3.   Should any provision of these Terms of Use be or become invalid, ineffective or unenforceable as a whole or in part, the validity, effectiveness and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall not be affected thereby.

Last update: July 2020