Terms & Conditions

VAVisual Abstract GmBH Terms & Conditions

THE FOLLOWING TERMS OF USE ARE ENTERED INTO BY AND BETWEEN YOU AND VAVISUAL ABSTRACT GMBH. THESE ARE THE LEGAL TERMS GOVERNING YOUR USE OF OUR PLATFORM, CONSISTING OF OUR WEBSITE, OUR SERVICES AND OUR PRODUCTS.

Last updated date: 01st August 2024.

1. Definitions & Interpretations
2. Your Account
3. Use Provided Content
4. Licensing
5. Transition to cloud based services
4. Intellectual property Rights of others
5. Indemnification
6. Our Intellectual property Right
7. Disclaimer of Warrenties
8. Limitation of Liability
9. Links & Third Party Materials
10. Payments
11. Term, Cancellation & Refund
12. Customer Communications
13. Confidentiality
14. Cooperation
13. General
14. Right of Withdrawal
15. Comments & Concerns

1. Definitions and Interpretations

The terms defined below, unless otherwise specified by the context, shall have the following meanings for all purposes of these Terms of Use.
1. “Terms of Use” also refers to the Terms and Conditions, inclusive of any documents or references incorporated herein (collectively referred to as the “Terms”).
2. “Company”, “we”, and “us” refer to VAVisual Abstract GmbH.
3. “VAVisual Service”, “Visual Abstracts”, or the “Service(s)” refer to any content, functionality, and features offered on or through the VAVisual Abstract website, all its subdomains, and social media accounts and pages operated by the company (collectively referred to as the “Site”).
4. References to “You”, “Your”, or “Yours” refer to you in your individual capacity.
5. References to a “Corporate User” shall mean a user acting on behalf of a legal entity or organisation . References herein to “You”, “Your”, and “Yours” refer to your internal user who accesses or uses VAVisual Abstract services through your account and with whom you have an employment, contractor, or agency relationship (collectively referred to as “End Users”).

Please carefully read the following terms before you register, use, or access VAVisual Abstract service. By registering with, using, or accessing the services, you acknowledge and agree that:
(a) You have read and understood these Terms, as well as our Privacy Policy (the “Privacy Policy” – https://www.visual-abstract.com/data-protection/), which is incorporated herein by reference;

(b) You are at least 18 years old. If you are younger than 18, you are not permitted to use or attempt to register for the service;

(c) You accept these terms and agree that you are legally bound by them; and

d) If you do not agree to these Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy, you must not access or use the site or the service. The terms “use” or “access” herein include registering with, using, and/or accessing the site or the service, including using the content, features, functionality, and/or services of the site.

2. Your Account

The use of the Services may require that you register and/or create an account (“Account”) or furnish your data to establish a commercial relationship with VAVisual Abstract. To register and establish an Account, you may be required to choose an account user ID and/or password and provide certain personal data including, but not limited to, your name, age, telephone number(s), electronic mail address, and mailing address(es). You may also be required to provide payment information.


In exchange for the use of the Site and/or the Services provided by us, you consent to:
(a) provide truthful, accurate, current, and comprehensive information about yourself in the registration form, and
(b) maintain and promptly update the personal information you provide to keep it truthful, precise, current, and comprehensive.
If you provide any information that is untruthful, incorrect, incomplete or has not been updated accordingly, or if we have reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untruthful, incorrect, incomplete, or outdated, we reserve the right to immediately terminate your access to the Site (or any portion thereof) and/or the Services.


You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your Account and password, and you are fully accountable for all activities that occur under your password or Account, and for any other actions taken in connection with said Account or password. You agree to:
(a) immediately notify us of any recognized or suspected unauthorized usage(s) of your password or Account, or any recognized or suspected breach of security, including loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of your password or credit card information; and
(b) ensure that you exit (“log-out”) from your Account at the end of each session. We shall not bear any liability for any injury, loss or damage of any kind arising from or relating to your failure to comply with (a) and (b) or for any acts or omissions by you or another individual using your Account and/or password.

We reserve the right to utilize all the personal information (“Account registration information”) provided by you, per our Privacy Policy. By expressing your agreement to these Terms, you consent to have your personal data used by us as outlined in the Privacy Policy.


If you are a Corporate User, you confirm that:
(a) you possess the requisite authority to bind your entity or organization,
(b) your acceptance of these Terms legally binds such entity or organization;
(c) All information provided by you concerning the entity or organization and the account is true and accurate and;
(d) your entity or organization is duly incorporated and is in good standing under the laws of your entity’s or organization’s local jurisdiction as of the date of these Terms. You agree that you will not use the entity or organization account for any purposes other than the representation of the entity or organization to use the Services.


If you are a Corporate User, you further agree that we may use the name and logo of your legally recognized entity or organization solely for the purposes of associating said legal entity or organization with the Services provided through our platform. The usage does not imply any kind of endorsement of our Services by your entity or organization. You further agree that we may use the name and logo of your company at our website.

3. User-Provided Content

In certain instances, the Site or the Service may permit you and other users to, transmit, distribute, or otherwise submit material including, but not limited to articles, manuscripts, preprints, photos, publications and reviews of the Services offered by us or our partners (collectively, “Contributions”). You agree not to provide to us in connection with the Services, any Contribution that:
○ contains vulgar, profane, abusive, hateful, or sexually explicit language, epithets or slurs, text in poor taste, inflammatory attacks of a personal, sexual, racial or religious nature, or expressions of bigotry, racism, discrimination or hate;

○ is defamatory, threatening, disparaging, false, misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, inaccurate, or unfair, contains gross exaggeration or unsubstantiated claims, violates the privacy rights or right of publicity of any third party, is unreasonably harmful or offensive to any individual or community, contains any actionable statement, or tends to mislead or reflect unfairly on any other person, business or entity unfairly interferes with any third party’s uninterrupted use and enjoyment of the Site and/or the Services;

○ is intended primarily to promote a cause or movement, whether political, religious or other;
○ contains copyrighted content (copyrighted articles, illustrations, images, text, or other content) without the express permission of the owner of the copyrights in the content;
○ constitutes, promotes or encourages illegal acts, the violation of any right of any individual or entity, the violation of any local, state, national or international law, rule, guideline or regulation, or otherwise creates liability;
○ discloses any personal identifying information relating to or images of a minor;
○ infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other intellectual property right;
○ contains viruses or other harmful, disruptive or destructive files;
○ links to any commercial or other website; and/or
○ is not otherwise in compliance with these Terms of Use.

Whenever you submit, post or publish a Contribution to the Site or to the Service, you on behalf of any co-authors, affirm and warrant that you possess the necessary rights to provide such Contribution, represent and warrant, on behalf of yourself and your co-authors, that you have the right to provide such Contribution, which means:
● You are either the original author of the Contribution, or the Contribution is not protected by copyright law, or you have obtained explicit permission from the copyright owner to use the Contribution in association with the Site and/or Services.
● You possess the authority to grant us the rights and license as outlined in these Terms of Use.
● All factual information contained in the Contribution is accurate and consistent with the prevailing body of scientific knowledge.
● The Contribution does not breach any confidentiality obligations that you or any of the co-authors may owe to others, nor does it violate any express or implied contract of any of the authors. All institutions where the work documented in the Contribution was conducted have authorized and approved the research and its publication.
● You certify that you fulfill the necessary criteria to submit a Contribution.
● Your usage of the Site, the Service, and your Contributions do not contravene these Terms of Use.
● If your submitted Contribution has not undergone peer-review in a scientific journal, you consent to us displaying a disclaimer on Visual Abstracts indicating that we neither conduct peer-reviews nor evaluate the content’s appropriateness for informing clinical practice.

You acknowledge and agree that the Site contains proprietary information and content that is protected by intellectual property and other laws and may not be used except as provided in these Terms of Use without advance, written permission of us. All designs, text, graphics, interfaces, and images (and the selection and arrangements thereof), and software, hypertext markup language (“HTML”), scripts, active server pages, and other content and software used in the Site are reserved.

You agree that your use of the Site and/or the Services is subject to all applicable laws and regulations. You also agree:
○ not to access the Site using a third-party’s account/registration without the express consent of the account holder;
○ not to use the Site and/or the Services for illegal purposes;
○ not to copy any content, which is not identified under a creative commons license that allows republication and distribution from the Site, for republication or distribution in print or online;
○ not to attempt to gain unauthorized access to other computer systems from or through the Site and/or the Services;
○ not to interfere with another person’s use and enjoyment of the Site and/or the Services;
○ not to upload or transmit viruses or other harmful, disruptive or destructive files; and
○ not to disrupt, interfere with, or otherwise harm or violate the security of the Site and/or the Service, or any system resources, accounts, user IDs, passwords, servers or networks connected to or accessible through the Site or affiliated or linked sites (including those of our partners).

4. Licensing

You acknowledge and agree that the Contributions will be provided to us and our other users under the Creative Commons CC BY License Agreement 4.0 (the “CCLA”). This means that with respect to the Contribution, you will grant to us and our users, the applicable rights that are set forth in the CCLA. Please review the CCLA carefully as it includes, without limitation, the right for others to reproduce, distribute, remix, transform, or build upon the Contribution. The CCLA may be found here – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/. You agree to the terms of the CCLA for each Contribution that is submitted either on this Site or any other Site providing VAVisual Abstract services including but not limited to resellers of VAVisual Abstract. If the law requires that the Contribution be published in the public domain, you will notify us at the time of submission, and in such cases not only the data but also the article shall be released under the Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication waiver.
For the avoidance of doubt it is stated that the authorizations granted to VAVisual Abstract by the authors in this license agreement and the promise to remain responsible for all aspects of the accuracy and integrity of the Contribution shall apply and prevail regardless of whether the Contribution is published under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 or the Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication waiver. You agree that all authors have consented to submit the Contribution on the Site or the Service. Suppose the Contribution submitted by you is a preprint. In that case, we reserve the right to add a notice on the Visual Abstract indicating such nature of the Contribution and you further agree that we may display a disclaimer on Visual Abstracts stating that VAVisual Abstract neither peer-reviews nor assesses a content’s suitability to inform clinical practice.

If you have purchased the Services, you acknowledge and agree that the Visual Abstracts materials are provided to you under the Creative Commons CC BY-ND License Agreement 4.0 (the “CCNDLA”). Please review the CCNDLA carefully as it includes, without limitation, the right for others to copy and redistribute the Visual Abstracts. The CCNDLA may be found here – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/. Additionally, all images that are incorporated in a Visual Abstract (so called “Icons”) remain our or our licensors’ property. We reserve the right to re-use the “Icons” to produce and sell further Visual Abstracts materials, as indicated at the chapter “Our Intellectual Property Rights”.

Subject to the terms of the CCLA, we may reproduce, distribute, remix, transform, or build upon the Contribution and/or the Visual Abstracts in any form, media, software or technology of any kind now existing or developed in the future solely on our Site and associated social media to promote Visual Abstract materials and make them accessible to our users. Without limiting the generality of the previous sentence, you authorize us to include the Visual Abstracts materials in a searchable format that may be accessed by users of the Site or by search engines from the World Wide Web. You also grant us the right to use the name and any other identifiable information included with any Contribution solely in connection with the use, reproduction or distribution of such Contribution and our provision of Services to you. You grant all rights described in this paragraph in consideration of your use of the Site and/or the Services, without compensation of any sort to you. We do not claim ownership of Contributions.

You hereby acknowledge and agree that we may further enhance the Contributions with any learning capabilities which may include third-party open-source GenAI models using Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML) and Large Language Models (LLM). These models are exclusively hosted on our secure, closed servers to train the Services. Currently, these open-source intelligence models are hosted in a VAVisual Abstract servers-controlled environment. Please also note that these servers are hosted in GDPR-compliant regions in EU.

The model will be trained solely using published medical papers, user prompting and proprietary images. The output of these models may cater to a variety of use cases such as for Healthcare Professionals (HCPs), the general audience, sales force empowerment and similar use cases and target groups, Consequently, you are advised to assess the suitability of the license requirements in relation to the use case being implemented by you.

You retain the right, at your discretion, to withdraw consent for the utilization of your contributions as training data for our open-source intelligence models. This opt-out can be exercised at any time by notifying us, following which we shall discontinue the use of your Contributions for such purposes.

5. Transition to Cloud-Based Services

VAVisual Abstract reserves the right to, in its sole discretion, migrate the Services, or any portion thereof, to other cloud-based platforms (“Cloud Platforms”) such as AWS, Azure etc. to facilitate ongoing improvement and the provision of advanced functionalities. These Cloud Platforms may offer enhanced capabilities for training complex models utilized within the Services.
VAVisual Abstract represents and warrants that during any Cloud Platform migration or model training process, your data will remain securely stored within VAVisual Abstract’s designated and secure data storage infrastructure.

6. Using Third-Party Cloud Services

VAVisual Abstract reserves the right to utilize third-party cloud platforms (the “Cloud Platforms”) to deliver, host, or store certain aspects of the Services. These Cloud Platforms are independent service providers and operate entirely separate from VAVisual Abstract.
By accessing or using the Services, you acknowledge and agree that VAVisual Abstract may utilize such Cloud Platforms. You further acknowledge and agree that the Cloud Platforms are governed by their own separate terms and conditions of service (collectively, the “Cloud Platform Terms”).
You are solely responsible for reviewing and complying with the Cloud Platform Terms. Links to the Cloud Platform Terms are provided for your convenience; however, VAVisual Abstract does not represent or warrant the accuracy or completeness of such links.
Your continued use of the Services constitutes your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions and your understanding of VAVisual Abstract use of Cloud Platforms. If you do not agree with these Terms and Conditions, you are not authorized to use the Services and must discontinue all use immediately.

7. AI-powered Search

The Visual Abstract Platform (“Platform”) utilizes artificial intelligence (“AI”)-powered search functionalities. One such functionality leverages third-party AI tools to enhance the search experience for Users.

8. Data Management

VAVisual Abstract provides access to the “Platform” through individual customer accounts (“Customer Accounts”). These Customer Accounts are segmented to ensure data privacy and security. Each Customer Account operates within its own dedicated environment, separating corporate customer data from users of other organizations.
We affirm that we do not engage in the transfer of data to or from our systems, except as necessary for the provision of our Services to the users. Any data generated or collected while providing these Services are strictly confined to our systems and is not shared with any third party unless expressly authorized by the user or as required by law.
We further guarantee that we maintain dedicated storage for the secure storage of all our customer data. We employ industry-standard measures of security to protect these storage systems and the customer data it holds.

9. Translation of Content

It must be recognized that the Services provided by VAVisual Abstract are primarily in English language. To accommodate the diverse needs of our large user base, we offer translations of our Services into various languages. These translations are intended to bring better understanding and convenience for our users.
However, it is crucial to understand that these translations are derived from the original English content and are not independent versions. Therefore, in the event of any discrepancies or conflicts between the translated versions and the English version, the English version shall take precedence as the authoritative text.

10. Disclaimers

Contributions are not endorsed by us, and do not represent our views or views of our subsidiaries and affiliates, agents, officers or directors. You hereby acknowledge and agree that we do not exert any control over the Contributions and disclaim any liability pertaining to them. We specifically disclaim any duty, obligation, or responsibility, to review, screen, remove, or edit any Contribution.
We make no representation or warranty that any other content or information accessible via the Site is accurate, complete, reliable, current or devoid of errors. We assume no responsibility or liability for any inaccuracies or omissions in the content disseminated via the Site.

11. Termination of Access to the Site and/or Services

We reserve the right, in our sole and absolute discretion, to modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service or the availability of the Site (or any part thereof) at any time, with or without notice. We also reserve the right to refuse to provide one or more of the Services to you or a group of users, at any time and for any reason at our sole discretion. We may refuse to provide the Services to you if we are unable to data from your request. If we have accepted payment for any Services, and subsequently refuse, or are unable to provide the Services, we will promptly refund to you the applicable payment received for the Services not provided.

12. Your Intellectual Property Rights

We make no claims on any work submitted to us for review. Any documents, content, material, photos, images, Contributions, works or other intellectual property submitted by you for our use solely in connection with, as required as a condition to us, providing the Services to you (collectively, “Documents”), will remain your intellectual property.

13. User Representations and Warranties

By submitting any content to the Site or for a Service, you represent and warrant that:
(i) you have obtained all necessary third party rights, including, without limitation, copyrights, for any Documents or portions thereof that belong to third parties, which are necessary for us to provide Services in connection with the Documents;
(ii) the Documents do not include any infringing, misappropriated or plagiarized content that you do not have the rights to use; and
(iii) you are permitted to provide Documents under your publishing agreement or the publisher’s copyright policies or your institution’s license agreement or under a Creative Commons license. You will be responsible for making back-up and archival copies of your Documents. In no event will we be responsible to you or any other person for any loss, corruption or alteration of Documents. Note that if you have assigned any rights to your Document to a journal or other publication, it is your sole responsibility to ensure that you have either retained sufficient rights in the Document to engage us to provide the Services or you have obtained permission from the applicable journal or publication to allow us to provide the Services. If you are a Corporate User, it is your sole responsibility to ensure that you own the Document provided to us, and/or you have obtained all necessary rights from the Document author to allow us to provide the Services.
(iv) You also represent and warrant that you shall not make any submission anonymously, that you are who you say you are, that you have not submitted fictitious, false or inaccurate information about yourself, and that all information contained in the submitted content is true, original and your own work or work you are authorized to submit, and that the Documents do not contain any threatening, harassing, libellous, false, defamatory, offensive, obscene, or pornographic, material, or other material that would violate any other applicable law or regulation. You agree that you will not knowingly and with intent to defraud provide material and misleading information.

You further represent and warrant that:
• you are at least 18 years old;
• you are authorized by your co-authors to provide the Contribution;
• all authors of the Contribution have read and agreed to its content and are accountable for all aspects of its accuracy and integrity;
• you are the sole author(s) of the Contribution and have full authority to enter into these Terms and in granting the rights to the Company are not in breach of any other obligation;
• the Contribution contains nothing that is unlawful, or which would, if published, constitute a breach of contract or of confidence or of commitment given to secrecy;
• you have taken due care to ensure the integrity of the Contribution. To your, and currently accepted scientific knowledge all statements contained in it purporting to be facts are true and any formula or instruction contained in the article will not, if followed accurately, cause any injury, illness or damage, or other material that would violate any applicable law or regulation.
• The Documents you supply do not violate these Terms. You agree to comply with relevant laws and regulations that apply to your use of the Services.

14. Intellectual Property Rights of Others

We respect the intellectual property rights of others, and we request that our visitors do the same. If you believe your work has been duplicated or utilized in a way that infringes upon your copyright rights, we encourage you to kindly bring it to our notice. Please reach out to us through the contact information provided on our legal notice webpage which can be found at: www.visual-abstract.com/imprint-legal-notice.

Please include all the following in your notification:
○ a physical or electronic signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive copyright that is allegedly infringed;
○ a description of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed;
○ a description of where the material you claim is infringing is located on the Site; your address, telephone number, email address and all other information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you;
○ a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and
○ a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

In rare cases, for example where copyright infringement claims have been made, we may remove or withdraw Visual Abstracts materials on our platform and/or website, while the matter is under investigation.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold us and our directors, officers, agents, contractors, partners and employees, harmless from and against any loss, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to:
(i) your breach of any representations or warranties made by you hereunder or your breach of any term of this Agreement;
(ii) your use of the Site and/or the Services in violation of this Agreement;
or (iii) your Contributions and Documents provided by you for use in Visual Abstracts infringe the rights of a third party;
(iv) claims by an author, a journal or publication that we do not have the rights or license to create a Visual Abstract materials;
(v) any violation by you of these Terms of Use, including without limitation the terms in the Section “Our intellectual property rights” below as they relate to your use of Visual Abstract platform.

16. Our Intellectual Property Rights

You acknowledge that we own all right, title and interest in and to the Site and/or the Services and related documentation and materials, including, without limitation, all patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret rights, embodied in, or otherwise applicable to the Site and/or the Services, whether such rights are registered or unregistered, and wherever in the world those rights may exist. You shall not commit any act or omission or permit or induce any third party to commit any act or omission inconsistent with Company’s rights, title and interest in and to the Site and/or the Services and the intellectual property rights embodied therein or applicable thereto. All materials embodied in, or comprising the Site and/or the Services, including, but not limited to, graphics, user and visual interfaces, images, code, applications, and text, as well as the design, structure, selection, coordination, expression, “look and feel”, and arrangement of the Site and/or the Services and its content, and the trademarks, service marks, proprietary logos and other distinctive brand features found in the Site and/or the Services, are all owned by Company or its licensors. There are no implied rights or licenses in this Agreement. All rights are expressly reserved by the Company. You also agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automated device, or manual process to monitor or copy any content from the Site nor our Services provided. Your use of the Services is also subject in all respect to the following:
• You may not use the Visual Abstract platform in any manner that implies the endorsement of a product or service or would otherwise give rise to a claim of deceptive advertising or unfair competition.
• You may not falsely represent that any content that included in Visual Abstract materials (other than Documents or Contributions provided by you) was created by you.

All images that are incorporated in a Visual Abstract (so called “Icons”) remain our or our licensors’ property. We reserve the right to re-use the “Icons” to produce and sell further Visual Abstracts. We agree to indemnify, defend and hold you and your directors, officers, agents, contractors, partners and employees, harmless from and against any loss, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to any claim or alleged claim that the materials incorporated by us into a Visual Abstract violates the rights of a third party, provided that you are in compliance with these Terms of Use.

17. Disclaimer of Warranties

We are not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any user of the Site. The Site and/or the Services may be temporarily unavailable from time to time for various reasons. We assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, the Site. We are not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment or software, or the failure of email on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any web site, including injury or damage to any person’s computer related to or resulting from participating or downloading materials or Documents in connection with the Site and/or the Services. THE SITE, THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS-IS”, AND WE DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON- INFRINGEMENT. WE CANNOT GUARANTEE AND DO NOT PROMISE ANY SPECIFIC RESULTS FROM USE OF THE SITE AND/OR THE SERVICES.

Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you acknowledge and agree that we do not guarantee the quality, accuracy or results of the Services.

18. Limitation of liability

IN NO EVENT WILL WE BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST DATA ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND/OR THE SERVICES, EVEN IF WE ARE AWARE OR HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES FOR SERVICES RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED ON THE SITE. NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN, EXCEPT FOR BREACHES OF CONFIDENTIALITY AND EACH PARTY’S INDEMNIFICATION OBLIGATIONS, EACH PARTY’S LIABILITY TO THE OTHER FOR ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER, AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE ACTION, WILL AT ALL TIMES BE LIMITED TO THE LESSER OF (A) THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO US FOR THE SERVICES AND (B) EUR 100. THE PARTIES AGREE THAT THESE LIMITATIONS ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THIS AGREEMENT AND SHALL SURVIVE ANY REMEDY’S FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.

19. Links and Third-Party Materials

As a courtesy to you, the Site may offer links to other websites. We are not responsible for the contents of any website pages created and maintained by organizations independent of us. Visiting any such third-party website pages is at your own risk. We have no control of these third-party website pages, nor can we guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of information in third-party website pages. Your use of such information is voluntary, and your reliance on such information should be made only after independent review.
References to commercial products or services within any such third-party website pages do not constitute or imply an endorsement by us. If you receive any products or services from a third-party web site, your use of such services or receipt of such products will be subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable third party web site. By using the Site and/or the Services you acknowledge that we are responsible neither for the availability of, nor the content located on or through any third-party website pages.

20. Services

In case we produce materials for you, we aim to provide you with the Visual Abstract(s) materials during a 5 (five) business day period upon your submission of the Contribution. However, it is pertinent to note that this period may increase or decrease depending on the Use Case.
You have 14 (fourteen) days to accept the Services starting from the day of delivery. If you provide reasonable objections regarding the Visual Abstract Service or Materials and content provided to you, we will review them for one time free of charge and provide an updated version to you. In such a case, the Services shall be deemed accepted upon the provision of the revised Services. If you fail to accept or review the Services during the 14 days, the Services shall be deemed accepted.

Payments

To receive the Services, you must pay in advance the applicable fee being pay-per-use or license agreement, unless we agree that you may make payment pursuant to another payment plan. We may increase the fees for Services at any time without notifying you. The new prices will affect to your plan in the next renewal period. In certain cases, you must complete a sign-up form to use the Services.
The Services will be provided according to the plan level you select. You may opt to upgrade or downgrade to any other plan level that Company offers at any time during the period of your plan; provided that a downgrade will not be effective until the next renewal date.
Additional in-app purchases, when and if available, within VAVisual Abstract will be added to your subscription, and you will be charged a fee and any applicable tax. You agree to pay the Company or Company’s authorized reseller, as applicable, all fees. Fees will be billed by our authorized resellers or our third-party payment providers to the credit card or other payment account you provide in accordance with the billing terms in effect at the time a fee or charge is due and payable. You acknowledge and agree that Company or its third party payment providers will automatically charge your credit card or other payment account (including when you have authorized ACH payments) on record with Company in connection with your use of VAVisual Abstract: in advance of each subscription term and at the time of purchase for any additional in-app purchases, when and if available, you make during the subscription term. Subscriptions will automatically renew for the same term as the initial term, as set forth in the Term, Cancellation and Refund Section below. You represent and warrant to the Company that all your payment information is true and that you are authorized to use the payment instrument. You will promptly update your account information with any changes (for example, a change in your billing address or credit card expiration date) that may occur. If payment is not received by Company or Company’s authorized reseller or cannot be charged to your credit card or other payment account for any reason, Company reserves the right to either suspend or terminate your access to the Services and terminate this Agreement. All fees are non-refundable, except as expressly stated otherwise in this Agreement. If you have purchased the Services through an authorized reseller, you further agree that the terms governing such purchase (“Authorized Reseller Terms”) shall apply in addition to these Terms. In case of discrepancies between these Terms and Authorized Reseller Terms, these Terms shall prevail.

You will pay all applicable taxes, duties, withholdings, backup withholding and the like; when Company has the legal obligation to pay or collect such taxes, the appropriate amount shall be paid by you directly to Company or Company’s authorized reseller, as applicable. If all or any part of any payment owed to Company under these Terms is withheld, based upon a claim that such withholding is required pursuant to the tax laws of any country or its political subdivisions and/or any tax treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and any such country, such payment shall be increased by the amount necessary to result in a net payment to Company of the amounts otherwise payable under these Terms. Company may change its fees and payment terms at its discretion; provided however, that such changes will not take effect for you until the start of the next payment period. Company will provide written notice to you (or, if you have purchased through an authorized reseller, notice to the reseller) for any changes to the fees that affect the subscription purchased by you. Your continued use of the Services after the price change becomes effective constitutes your agreement to pay the changed amount.
Company may offer rewards to users, in the form of credits or other forms, based on their actions on the Services and in accordance with Company policies.

Term, Cancellation and Refund

The subscription service provided by our company is structured to renew automatically at the end of each subscription period for successive terms equal in duration to the initial subscription term, ensuring an uninterrupted experience for you. The payment term for the subscription is upfront for a duration of twelve (12) months. However, we acknowledge that your requirements may change over time, and you may wish to terminate your subscription.
In such an event, we require a written intimation at least six weeks prior to the termination of the current subscription period.

Please be advised that in the absence of a cancellation request within the aforementioned period, your subscription will be automatically renewed for the next term. You may also terminate your subscription by submitting a written cancellation letter via the contact information provided on our Legal Notice webpage. Please note that this method of cancellation is subject to the same six-week notice period.

Subject to earlier termination as provided below, Company may terminate your account and these Terms at any time by providing thirty (30) calendar days prior notice to the administrative email address associated with your account. In addition to any other remedies Company may have, Company may also terminate this Agreement upon ten (10) days’ notice (or two (2) days in case of non-payment to Company), if you breach any of the terms or conditions of these Terms.

All sections of these Terms, which by their nature should survive termination, will survive termination, including, without limitation, accrued rights to payment, confidentiality obligations, warranty disclaimers, and limitations of liability.

Upon the termination of these Terms for any reason: (i) the licenses granted under these Terms for the Services shall immediately terminate and you and your End Users shall cease use of the Services; (ii) Company will cease providing the Services to you; and (iii) you shall pay to Company the full amount of any outstanding fees due hereunder.

Customer Communications

By signing up for an Account with us or becoming our customer, and opting-in may have opted in to receive communications from us regarding our products and services, you agree to receive such communications, including notifications based on your usage of the Visual Abstract Platform, customer newsletters, special offers and exclusive discounts. You may opt out of these communications at any time by utilizing notification settings, following the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any email where applicable or sending us a communication to do so. For more details about how we collect and use customer information, please read our Privacy Policy.

Confidentiality

Except as otherwise provided herein, we will treat all Documents you provide to us in confidence and will disclose the Documents only to our employees and agents that are providing the Services. Except as provided herein, your Documents will not be provided to any other third party and will not be used for any purpose other than to provide Services to you. With respect to the Contributions that are provided by you in connection with these Terms, Visual Abstract materials created based on such Contributions may be used by us, disclosed to our users, and reproduced and distributed by our users pursuant to the terms of the CCLA.

Cooperation

You agree to cooperate fully with us in relation to any legal action that might arise from the publication of the Contribution and shall give us access at reasonable times to any relevant accounts, documents and records within your power or control. You agree that the distributing entity is intended to have the benefit of and shall have the right to enforce the terms of these Terms.
You authorize us to take such steps as we consider necessary at our own expense in your name and on your behalf if we believe that a third party is infringing or is likely to infringe copyright in the Contribution including but not limited to initiating legal proceedings, Governing Law and Jurisdiction.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without regard to the conflict of laws principle. The place of jurisdiction for any claims arising under these Terms, as far as permissible, shall be the competent courts of, Germany

General

a. Severability: If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.
b. Entire Agreement: These Terms and the Privacy Policy sets forth the entire agreement between you and us pertaining to your use of the Site and/or the Services and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to the Services and the Site. Your use of and access to the Company’s pages on social media platforms may also be subject to the respective terms of use and privacy policy of such platforms. Any purchase order, order form or other document issued by you and/or us is for administrative convenience only. Unless a written master services agreement is signed between you and us, in the event of any conflict between the provisions of these Terms and any purchase order, order form or other document signed by you and us prior to or after the date of your acceptance of these Terms, the provisions of these Terms shall prevail and govern.
c. Changes to these Terms: We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or delete portions of these Terms at any time without further notice. If we do so, we will indicate at the top of this page the new effective date (i.e., the LAST UPDATED date). Your continued use of the Services or the Site after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree to abide by these Terms or any future revised Terms, do not use or access the Services or the Site. It is your responsibility to regularly review these Terms.
d. No Waiver: The failure of us to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of said right or provision. Neither party hereto shall be deemed to be in default of any provision of this Agreement or for failure in performance resulting from acts or events beyond the reasonable control of such party and arising without its fault or negligence, including, but not be limited to, acts of God, civil or military authority, interruption of electric or telecommunication services, civil disturbances, acts of war or terrorists, strikes, fires, floods or other catastrophes.
e. Headings & Construction: The section titles in these Terms are for your convenience only and carry no contractual or legal effect whatsoever. The language in these Terms shall be interpreted in accordance with its fair meaning and shall not be strictly interpreted for or against either party.

Right of withdrawal

You may make use of your right of withdrawal were by law applicable. However, please note that after a free-of-charge review of your Visual Abstract materials (as stated at the chapter “Services” in this agreement), the services shall be deemed accepted.

Your Comments and Concerns

The Site and/or the Services are operated by VAVisual Abstract GmbH.

All other comments, feedback, requests for technical support and other communications relating to the services should be directed to the contact provided at our Privacy Policy.

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