Terms of use (Knowers)

The following terms of use apply to the use of the platform Knowunity, which is offered and operated by us, Knowunity GmbH, Julie-Wolfthorn-Straße 1, 10115 Berlin, for users who wish to post learning content on Knowunity as a so-called "Knower". They apply in addition to the General Terms of Use for Users.

Requirements for content uploads; Realisation of the contract 1.1 The posting of content requires that you have registered as a user of Knowunity (in the free or paid variant) and have agreed to the special terms of use for Knowers here in addition to the General Terms of Use. 1.2 If you are under the age of 18, your legal guardians must give their consent for you to become active as a knower and agree to the NBK. 1.3 You may only post content if you are not a trader. If your status changes, you must inform us immediately by e-mail: [email protected]. 1.4 The contract is concluded when you accept the current special terms of use for Knowers, which is when you upload a piece of content for the first time.
Right of withdrawal and expiry of the right of withdrawal The complete cancellation policy can be found here. Please note: The right of withdrawal expires prematurely after you - knowing that the right of withdrawal has expired and with the consent of your parents or legal guardians - have expressly agreed that we allow you to upload content. In our confirmation email, we will confirm that you - with the consent of your parents or legal guardians - have agreed to this and that you and your parents or legal guardians were aware that you have lost the right of withdrawal through this consent.
Content details and unacceptable Content 3.1 Content uploads are information and learning aids in the form of texts, graphics, pictures, videos, presentations, audio files or other media or combinations of contents that serve to convey school knowledge. 3.2 From time to time Knowunity invites you to create content on certain topics (so-called "Content requests"), which may be associated with a separate remuneration (clause 5). If you want to participate in this, you as a Knower can select up to three topics from the list and have seven days (one week) after your selection to post the Know on Knowunity. The content will be checked by us and released if it meets the requirements of the content request and is of a suitable quality. Please note that no payment will be made if the content does not meet the requirements specified in the content request, is of insufficient quality or if you have posted it after the deadline. 3.3 You may only post content on Knowunity if you have either created it entirely yourself (including all elements therein), or, in the case where you have created it with others or included third-party material in your content, if you can prove that you have the necessary rights to post it on Knowunity and grant Knowunity the rights specified in Section 4. If you cannot prove this, the inclusion of such third-party content is prohibited. 3.4 You may not post content that contains elements of which you cannot grant the rights as described in clause 4. Therefore, content in particular must not contain (either in whole or in part): - Excerpts from school or other books, magazines, newspapers or other publishing publications, - Extracts from third party learning/assignment/exercise books, - Assignment/exam texts, worksheets or solution sketches from teachers, if they have not demonstrably consented to this in writing, - Videos, photos, graphics, texts or other third-party content (e.g. from the Internet), unless you have been demonstrably authorised to do so. 3.5 Never mention the names or other personal details of others (e.g. classmates or teachers) in your content, and you should also not publish your own real name or other personal data of yourself or other persons. If, in exceptional cases, the purpose of learning requires showing people in the content or mentioning their personal data, the person concerned must have demonstrably agreed to this. 3.6 The following content - no matter in which Knowunity area and no matter in which form (texts, media, etc.) - may not be uploaded, posted or otherwise distributed on Knowunity: - Viruses or other forms of programming code; - Pornographic, sexist, xenophobic, insulting, defamatory, inciting to violence, glorifying violence or threatening violence, oppressing minorities or inciting people to hatred or any other content that is illegal or offends common decency; - Content that discriminates against others because of their origin, skin colour, gender, sexual orientation, any illnesses or other characteristics or attributes; - Content that is intentionally misleading or untruthful; - Copyrighted material or content containing such without being demonstrably entitled to do so (see clause 3.4); - Advertising material in any form, unless Knowunity has given its prior express consent in text form; - Other illegal content. You must also observe and follow our Community Guidelines at all times, which you can access here. 3.7 It is prohibited to manipulate the success of a piece of content which has an influence on the remuneration (clause 5), in particular by unnaturally inducing calls or "like" reactions, whether by technical solutions (such as bots) or by inappropriately influencing third parties to call content or to induce "like" reactions. Knowunity reserves the right to temporarily suspend or discontinue payments in the event of a duly justified suspicion of abuse and to temporarily or permanently block user accounts, depending on the circumstances of the individual case. 3.8 Violations of one or more of the rules in sections 3.3 to 3.7 above may result in the immediate removal of the content and/or in your Account being temporarily or permanently suspended or deleted. For more details, please refer to section 6. 3.9 There is no legal claim to the publication of content posted by you.
Granting of rights of use to the content 4.1 By uploading content, you grant Knowunity the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute and make publicly available the uploaded content, including the right to make the content available for download by third parties, as well as the right to edit (including translation and a change of style) and modify, the right to reproduce, distribute and make publicly available to third parties edited and modified content, free of charge or for a fee. Knowunity may, in particular, post the content on the Knowunity platform for retrieval by other Knowunity users, on the Internet and in the Knowunity apps, and give them the opportunity to download the content for personal use. Knowunity may transfer all rights granted to third parties. 4.2 The aforementioned rights are granted territorially without restriction, in particular worldwide. 4.3 The granting of the rights of use shall be for an indefinite period. 4.4 By uploading a piece of content, you warrant that you own all intellectual property rights associated with the content and that your content does not infringe the privacy rights of any other person.
Remuneration and disbursement 5.1 Content created for "Content requests" (clause 3.2) are subject to a separate remuneration which also takes into account the degree of difficulty. We indicate in the Content Requests the respective remuneration envisaged. Remuneration shall only be due if the content meets the requirements specified in the Content Request, is of sufficient quality and has been uploaded before the expiry of the deadline. 5.2 You can apply for the payment of the remuneration from a minimum balance of GBP 5.00 in your account. It is always done by bank transfer. This requires the truthful provision of your full name, address, bank details (IBAN) and tax number. Alternatively, you have the option of receiving an Amazon voucher in the amount paid out instead of the payout. 5.3 We assume that you are not liable for VAT; however, if you are, you must inform us immediately by e-mail. 5.4 Please note: Knowunity cannot give you legal or tax advice. You are responsible for checking which legal and especially fiscal requirements you have to fulfill and you are also responsible for the fiscal recording of your income. We recommend that you seek advice from professionals.
Consequences of breaches of our Community Guidelines and the law 6.1.If you violate 3.3 to 3.7, this can have the following consequences for you. - Removal of content created by you (consequence of lowest intensity) - Temporary suspension of your account (medium intensity consequence) - Permanent deactivation of your account and termination of the contract without notice (highest intensity consequence) 6.2. Knowunity shall decide on the basis of full consideration, in particular of the following circumstances, what the consequence of your breach of 3.3. to 3.7. will be: - Seriousness of the infringement, in particular taking into account the involvement of third parties and other consequences - Obviousness of the infringement - The intentions you are pursuing, insofar as these intentions can be determined. - Number of previous infringements, taking into account the total number and volume of your content. Let us give a few examples: Knower A posts content that reproduces, condones or incites sexual violence. Here we would assume a particularly serious case, which would lead to an immediate and final deactivation of the Knower account, as both our Community Guidelines and the law are being seriously violated. In addition, other persons are affected by such content, in particular the victims of sexualised violence and any persons identified or referred to in the post. The other circumstances (intentions, number of previous violations, obviousness of the violation) would no longer be relevant in view of the particular seriousness of the violation and the fact that other persons are affected. Knower B posts a photo in which two people can be seen in the foreground and another person in the background (only barely recognisable, but just recognisable to acquaintances of this person). The persons in the foreground have consented to the use of the photo. The person in the background was not asked. The content of the post is not of a nature that would cause reputational harm to the person in the background. There have been no previous breaches of our Community Guidelines by Knower B. No particularly reprehensible intent on the part of Knower B is discernible. There have been no previous breaches. We would not assume a serious case here and would merely remove the content, since the fact that the person depicted in the background will only just be recognised by acquaintances does not constitute a serious violation. Since many people do not know that it is generally prohibited to publish photos without consent in which (barely) recognisable people are depicted in the background, there is also no particularly obvious infringement. Knower B re-posts the photo mentioned in the previous example after removing it and receiving a reason for removal, because B is of the opinion that "that must be allowed". Here, the seriousness of the violation has not changed. However, B knows that the photo violates the Community Guidelines and the law. It is therefore an obvious and deliberate violation and it is also a new violation within a short period of time. In view of the overall circumstances, we would temporarily suspend B's account. Should B commit an identical or comparable violation again after the account suspension has been lifted, we would deactivate B's account permanently. 6.3. As soon as Knowunity becomes aware of a breach of 3.3 to 3.7, the following procedure shall be initiated: - Obviously illegal content will be removed immediately. - Subsequently, the person who posted the content will be informed about the removal and the reasons for it. - If the content is not obviously illegal, the person who posted the content will be given the opportunity to comment within three working days. Knowunity will then decide on the removal of the content. The person who posted the content will be informed of the decision and reasons will be given. - If circumstances justify the temporary suspension or permanent deactivation of the account, the person who posted the content will be warned about this beforehand and informed about the underlying reasons. The person will be given the opportunity to comment within three working days. Knowunity will then decide on the temporary suspension or permanent deactivation of the account. - The owner of the blocked/deactivated account may take legal action against Knowunity's decision before the competent civil courts.
Terms of contract, termination and consequences of termination 7.1 The contract is concluded for an indefinite period. 7.2 After termination, you can no longer upload content. If you still have a credit balance, it is your responsibility to request a distribution before termination. Otherwise, the credit balance will be forfeited.7.3 A termination has no influence on the granting of the rights of use and thus on the right of Knowunity to publish your content.
Liability 8.1 We are liable for intent and gross negligence. Furthermore, we are liable for the negligent breach of obligations, the fulfilment of which makes the proper execution of the contract possible in the first place, the breach of which endangers the achievement of the purpose of the contract and on the observance of which you as a customer may regularly rely. In this case, however, we shall only be liable for the foreseeable damage typical for the contract. The same applies to breaches of duty by our vicarious agents. 8.2 The above exclusions of liability shall not apply in the event of injury to life, limb or health and also not insofar as we have fraudulently concealed a defect or have assumed a guarantee for the quality of the item. Liability under the Product Liability Act remains unaffected.
Amendment of the terms of use Knowunity shall be entitled to amend these GTC, provided that this appears necessary and the users are not disadvantaged thereby contrary to good faith. They may also be amended in response to new technical developments, changes in case law, the legal situation or for equivalent reasons. Users shall be notified in advance in text form of any amendments to the GTC. Amendments that significantly disturb the contractual balance between the parties require the express consent of the users. Otherwise, they shall be deemed approved if the users do not object to them in text form within six weeks after receipt of the notification. Knowunity shall expressly point out this and the consequences set out below in the notification of the changes. In the event of an objection, Knowunity shall be entitled to terminate the contract with a notice period of two weeks. In the event of an objection to new GTC, Knowunity shall also be entitled to an extraordinary right of termination, provided that Knowunity cannot reasonably be expected to continue the contract, taking into account its interests and the interests of the users.
Contractual language, applicable law and further notes 10.1 The contract is concluded in the German language. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply. In the event that you have your habitual residence in a member state of the EU or Switzerland, mandatory provisions there shall remain unaffected. 10.2 The European Union has established a platform for the out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes ("ODR platform"), which can be accessed via the link http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. The platform serves as a contact point for the out-of-court settlement of disputes regarding contractual obligations arising from online contracts. Pursuant to Section 36 of the Consumer Dispute Resolution Act, Knowunity points out that it is neither obliged nor willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
Severability clause Should individual provisions of this contract be invalid or unenforceable or become invalid or unenforceable after conclusion of the contract, the validity of the rest of the contract shall remain unaffected. The invalid or unenforceable provision shall be replaced by a valid and enforceable provision whose effects come as close as possible to the economic objective pursued by the contracting parties with the invalid or unenforceable provision.

CANCELLATION POLICY KNOWER

Cancellation policy

RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL

You have the right to cancel this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason.

The withdrawal period is fourteen days from the day of the conclusion of the contract.
To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us (Knowunity GmbH, Julie-Wolfthorn-Straße 1, 10115 Berlin, Tel.: +49 30 52001583, E-Mail: [email protected]) by means of a clear declaration (e.g. a letter sent by post or an e-mail) of your decision to withdraw from this contract. You can use the attached model cancellation form, which is not mandatory.
To comply with the cancellation period, it is sufficient that you send the notification of the exercise of the cancellation right before the end of the cancellation period.

CONSEQUENCES OF REVOCATION

If you cancel this contract, we must refund all payments we have received from you, including the delivery costs (with the exception of the additional costs resulting from the fact that you have chosen a type of delivery other than the cheapest standard delivery offered by us), without delay and at the latest within fourteen days of the day on which we received the notification of your cancellation of this contract. For this repayment, we will use the same means of payment that you used for the original transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise with you; in no case will you be charged for this repayment.

EXPIRY OF THE RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL

The right of withdrawal shall expire in the case of contracts for the supply of digital content not on a tangible medium where the consumer is obliged to pay a price if

1) the trader has started the performance of the contract,

2) the consumer has expressly consented to the trader commencing performance of the contract before the end of the withdrawal period,

3) the consumer has confirmed that he is aware that his right of withdrawal expires upon commencement of the performance of the contract as a result of his consent under clause 2, and

4) the trader has provided the consumer with a confirmation in accordance with Section 312f of the German Civil Code.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE MODEL WITHDRAWAL FORM

Sample cancellation form

(If you wish to cancel the contract, please complete and return this form).

To Knowunity GmbH, Julie-Wolfthorn-Straße 1, 10115 Berlin, e-mail: [email protected]:

I/we (*) hereby revoke the contract concluded by me/us (*) for the purchase of the following goods (*)/the provision of the following service (*)

Ordered on (*)/received on (*)

Name of the consumer(s)

Address of consumer(s)

Signature of the consumer(s) (only in case of paper communication)

Date

(*) Delete where inapplicable.