General terms and conditions (GTC) for participants of Vogel IT - Medien GmbH events

Updated: 08.12.2022

1. GTC scope of application

1. These general terms and conditions (GTC) shall apply to all declarations of intent, contracts, and legal or legal-like transactions of Vogel IT-Medien GmbH, Max-Josef-Metzger-Straße 21, 86157 Augsburg (hereinafter “Vogel IT-Medien”) with participants (hereinafter “participants”)who attend events hosted by Vogel IT-Medien.

2. Contrasting or deviating conditions to these GTC are not accepted unless an express written agreement with Vogel IT-Medien is made. These GTC shall also apply if Vogel IT-Medien unconditionally provides services – in knowledge of contrasting conditions or participant conditions deviating from these conditions.

3. These GTC are valid in their most recent updated form at the respective point in time of the legal transaction being concluded or the contractual-like relationship being entered. Unless agreed otherwise, and with the participant being an entrepreneur (§ 14 German Civil Code), they shall also apply to any future legal transactions or contractual-like relationships, even if not expressly agreed upon again. The respectively applicable version of these GTC can be found at General terms and conditions (GTC) for participants of Vogel IT.

2. Conclusion of contract and registration

2.1. For all Vogel IT-Medien events (i.e. digital, in-person, or hybrid events) a prior online registration is required via the booking portal or any other contact channels provided by Vogel IT-Medien (e.g. contact form, e-mail) including consenting to these here GTC. The participant must submit their registration for an event to Vogel IT-Medien in the form provided for this purpose, and this registration is a binding offer to conclude a contract regarding the respective event chosen by the participant. When prompted to provide information during the registration process, participants are to do so truthfully

2.2. The contract is concluded for the event chosen by the participant by Vogel IT-Medien sending the participant the booking confirmation. Vogel IT-Medien reserves the right to deny the participant admission to the booked event if, for example, there are personal reasons for denying admission of the participant. No claim to admission exists in case of admission being denied. The affected participant shall be informed of the denied admission and the reasons for it in writing.

2.3. If a legal entity registers for an event, a colleague of the legal entity may participate in the event.

2.4. Offers from Vogel IT-Medien constitute a request to the participant to themselves make an offer for the conclusion of a contract.

3. Contractual relationships and contents

3.1. The participant can book – services or contents of the respective event at Vogel IT-Medien. The scope and content of the services owed by Vogel IT-Medien shall be detailed in the registration confirmation.

3.2. The services owed by Vogel IT-Medien according to section 3.1 are hereinafter also uniformly referred to as the “subject of performance“. Vogel IT-Medien does not guarantee any commercial success.

3.3. Vogel IT-Medien is entitled, at its own discretion, to perform the services itself, to use competent third parties as proxies for the performance of services under the contract, and/or to substitute such services.

3.4. The contractual agreements between the parties correlate as follows:

  • Registration confirmation including potential attachments,
  • these GTC, respective up to date version,
  • legal provisions.

In the event of any contradictions, the contractual bases shall apply in the order listed.

4. Participation

4.1. The participant’s booking confirmation for an event provided by Vogel IT-Medien only applies to the registered participant. When personally unavailable, the participant may designate a replacement participant who, given Vogel IT-Medien’s consent, may replace the original participant at the event.

4.2. The approval may be revoked by Vogel IT-Medien if it was granted on the basis of false or incomplete information, or if the requirements for approval subsequently cease to apply.

4.3. The contractual basis for the participation in events is comprised of the house rules of the event venue’s operator in addition to these GTC.

5. Online services for hybrid and digital events

5.1. Access to the online event platform, system requirements

5.1.1. Generally, the provision of access to the event platform, and the use of the functionalities of the event platform, and, if applicable, the provision of storage space for the data made accessible by the participant on the event platform to the agreed extent is the subject of booking services in connection with digital events or the digitally conducted part of hybrid events.

5.1.2. Vogel IT-Medien does not provide the participant with an access software. Generally, access is granted via a browser supported by the event platform and meeting the system requirements of Vogel IT-Medien, or via download-able software. Unless noted otherwise in the specification of services of the respective event service package, Vogel IT-Medien’s system requirements apply: Details regarding system requirements can be found at https://privacy.vogel.de/systemanforderungen.html.

5.1.3. The system requirements are part of the contract provisions. The participant must check in due time before their participation in the digital or hybrid event whether the connection to the event platform can be established, and, if applicable, quickly solve any technical malfunctions for which they are responsible. If a technical connection to the event platform cannot be established, Vogel IT-Medien shall be informed in due time.

5.1.4. Vogel IT-Medien does not owe the participant the provision and/or functionality of the browser.

5.1.5. The participant shall take the necessary precautions to prevent access to the event platform by unauthorized parties.

5.2. Availability of the event platform, additional service levels

5.2.1. Vogel IT-Medien guarantees the participant availability of the event platform including accessibility and reachability necessary for a successful participation in the respective event.

5.2.2. Vogel IT-Medien shall not be liable for any malfunctions, interruptions, or failures on the event platform that Vogel IT-Medien is not responsible for, in particular impairments resulting from failures and/or malfunctions of technical systems and/or network components outside the area of responsibility of Vogel IT-Medien; this includes

  • failures caused by incoming cyber-attacks. This does not apply if Vogel IT-Medien is obligated to use virus protection programs, and these were not up-to-date at the time of the cyber-attack;
  • Failures caused by incorrect use of software or hardware on the part of the participant;

5.3. Duties of the participant, liability for illegal content, compliance with legal frameworks

5.3.1. The participant shall be liable for ensuring that, within the scope of the functions and digital presentation options available to them on the event platform, no racist, discriminatory, pornographic, youth-protection-endangering, politically extreme, or any other unlawful incident, or incidents violating official provisions or requirements occur, or that corresponding data are created by them and/or stored on the server of the operator of the event platform. In particular, the following actions on the event platform are forbidden for the participant:

  • Posting, distribution, offering, and advertising of pornographic content, services and/or products that violate the Youth Protection Act, data protection laws, and/or other laws and/or are fraudulent;
  • Use of content that may insult or defame Vogel IT-Medien or third parties or may damage Vogel IT-Medien’s reputation;
  • Use, provision and distribution of content, services and/or products that are protected by law or protected by third-party rights (e.g. copyrights) without being expressly authorized to do so.

5.3.2. Furthermore, the following activities are prohibited for the participant irrespective of any possible violation of the law, when posting their own content via the features of the event platform, and when communicating with other participants and/or moderators (e.g. by sending personal messages, by participating in forum discussion, or by writing guestbook entries):

  • Distribution of viruses, Trojans, and other malicious data;
  • Sending junk or spam e-mails and chain letters;
  • Spreading lewd, offensive, sexually oriented, obscene, or defamatory content or communication, and content or communication that is/are likely to promote or support racism, bigotry, hatred, physical violence, or illegal acts (both explicitly or implicitly);
  • Harassing other participants, and/or moderators, e.g. by repeatedly contacting them personally without permission or contrary to the reaction of the person contacted, and encouraging or supporting such harassment;
  • Soliciting other customers, participants, and/or moderators to disclose passwords or personal data for commercial or unlawful purposes;
  • Distribution and/or public reproduction of content available on the event platform, unless the participant is expressly permitted to do so by the respective author.

5.3.3. The participant assures to own all rights, in particular all copyrights, rights of use, and neighboring rights to the contents posted by them. If the participant is not the author of the content posted by them, they assure the ownership of the unrestricted right of use to said content. The participant assures the ownership of unrestricted exploitation rights, the non-existence of third-party rights for the submitted content, and that no personal rights have been violated in the representation of people.

5.3.4. The participant adheres to applicable data protection provisions. In accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the participant is the controller of any personal data processed by them, e.g. additional event participants added by them (if agreed). It is brought to the participant’s attention that for online participation in an event and in individual cases, they may have to separately consent to usage and privacy policies depending on the event platform.

6. Payment maturity

6.1. The agreed participation fee is due in advance upon receipt of the invoice.

6.2. If the client fails to meet the payment deadline, Vogel IT-Medien may exclude them from participation in the event. The obligation to pay the agreed fees remains unaffected by this.

6.3. The CP shall bear the costs for travel to and from the event, overnight stays, and comparable costs. The aforementioned costs cannot be claimed as damages against Vogel IT-Medien in the event of an event being canceled.

7. Cancellation, changes

7.1. Cancellation of in-person events of Vogel IT-Akademie

Unless otherwise stated in the booking confirmation or otherwise agreed, the participant has the right to cancel their participation in the event in writing. A lump-sum compensation shall be paid by the participant to Vogel IT-Medien in case of cancellation according to the following gradients:

  • Cancellation up to 21 days prior to the event 25 % of participation fee.
  • Cancellation up to 14 days prior to the event 50 % of participation fee.
  • Cancellation less than 14 days prior to the event 100% of the participation fee.
  • Cancellation of free ticket 49€ entertainment allowance

For bookings including a hotel room, additional potential cancellation fees of the hotel are to be paid.

7.2. Furthermore, Vogel IT-Medien has the right to change the event for important reasons (e.g. changes to the program, the format (in-person, hybrid, or digital), timing, schedule, location, venue, or lecturer). Vogel IT-Medien will notify the participant separately in text form of any substantial changes. Any changes shall also be published on the website of the respective event. Thus, the participant must inform themselves in good time about such changes.

8. Special right of cancellation of Vogel IT-Medien

In the event of significant violations of the contractual provisions, Vogel IT-Medien may terminate the contractual relationship without notice after issuing a warning in writing. Termination without notice may also be affected verbally during an event given significant disruption of public safety and order. In this case, the participant is obligated to immediately clear or leave the event, and, in case of virtual participation of a hybrid or digital event, to leave the event platform. If the participant fails to comply with this request, Vogel IT-Medien is entitled to carry out the removal at the expense and the risk of the participant.

9. RIGHT OF REVOCATION for CONSUMERS

The following right of revocation applies to consumer participants:

A consumer is any natural person who enters into a legal transaction for purposes that can predominantly be attributed neither to their commercial nor to their self-employed professional activity. We are required by law to provide consumers with the following note:

Revocation policy

Right of revocation

You have the right to revoke this contract within fourteen days without giving reasons. The revocation period is fourteen days from the day of entering into the agreement.

To exercise your right of revocation, you need to inform us (Vogel IT-Medien GmbH, Josef-Metzger-Straße 21, 86157 Augsburg, via phone at 0821- 2177-0, via mail at eventservice@vogel.de), or using the following contact eventservice@vogel.de) of your decision to revoke this contract using an unambiguous statement (e.g. a letter sent by mail or an e-mail). You can use the attached sample revocation form for this, however, using said form is not mandatory.

In order to comply with the revocation period, it is sufficient to send the notification of the exercise of the right of revocation before the end of the revocation period.

Consequences of revocation

If you revoke this agreement, we shall, refund all payments we have received from you immediately and at the latest within fourteen days of the day on which we receive notification of your revocation of this agreement. For this refund, we will use the same means of payment that you used for the original transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise with you; in no event will you be charged any fees for this refund.

End of revocation policy

Sample revocation form
If you want to revoke the contract, please fill out this form and send it back.
-To (Vogel IT-Medien GmbH, Josef-Metzger-Straße 21, 86157 Augsburg, E-Mail: eventservice@vogel.de): -I hereby revoke the contract entered by myself regarding the participation in the booked event… [please specify] -ordered on (date of registration/received on (date of receipt of booking confirmation)) -Consumer name -Consumer address -Consumer signature (only for messages on paper) -Date

10. Liability limitation

Vogel IT-Medien is fully liable for damages in the event of intent and gross negligence. Liability for ordinary negligence only exists for damage to life, body, or health and in case of a breach of an essential contractual obligation, the fulfillment of which constituting the prerequisite for the proper execution of the contract or the breach of which jeopardizes the contract purpose and on the adherence to which the participant regularly relies (cardinal obligation). In the event of negligent breach of cardinal obligations, liability shall be limited to damages foreseeable at the time of conclusion of the contract and typical for the contract. Liability resulting from the potential assumption of a warranty or from statutory fault-based liability (e.g. according to product liability act).

11. Confidentiality and data protection

11.1. Vogel IT-Medien will treat the transmitted subjects of performance as confidentially as state-of-the-art technology allows; however, for electronic data transmission, Vogel IT-Medien cannot guarantee 100% confidentiality.

11.2. The parties shall treat as confidential all documents, information, and data they receive for the realization of the contractual relationship, and which are designated to them as confidential and shall use them only for the realization of the respective commission. In particular, commissions concluded between the parties shall also be deemed confidential. The parties shall impose a corresponding obligation on their employees and third parties involved in the commission, in particular subcontractors. Independent of the reason for a potential termination, these obligations shall remain in effect even after the termination of the respective commission for two years from the end of the contract.

11.3. The participant authorizes Vogel IT-Medien to process the data received in connection with the business relationship in accordance with applicable data protection laws. Vogel IT-Medien declares that its employees and proxies are bound by strict confidentiality and compliance with data protection, and that Vogel IT-Medien has taken all necessary technical and organizational measures to ensure the execution of the provisions of applicable data protection laws.

11.4. With their registration to an Vogel IT-Medien event, the participant consents to their address information (role, first name, last name, company name, company address) be included in a list of participants that may be given out during the event. The list of participants shall solely be provided to event participants for the purpose of networking. The participant can revoke their consent at will.

11.5. Our business model includes Vogel IT-Medien events being financed through sponsors and cooperation partners. In turn, said partners and sponsors receive participants’ data that is usually publicly accessible. In detail:

  • First and last name,
  • Role,
  • Company name and company address
  • Career level
  • Company division
  • Industry.

A constantly updated list of all partners and sponsors receiving participants’ data can be found on the website of the respective event. Additionally, the partners and sponsors receive the contact data of the participant (e-mail address and phone number), given the participant actively consenting to this during the event registration progress and/or via scanning the QR code of their participant’s badge. It is brought to the participant’s attention that for responsible recipients with company headquarters outside of the EU, a lower level of data protection might exist.

The participant has the right to inform Vogel IT-Medien GmbH, Josef-Metzger-Straße 21, 86157 Augsburg, E-Mail: eventservice@vogel.de of their objection to the use of their data for information purposes or change their address information at any time in writing, stating their full address and the event/training offer in question.

12. Film and photography rights

At Vogel IT-Medien events, film and photography content is shot which is published to various media. This content includes the pictorial representation of randomly selected persons in attendance. The pictures are depicted on our homepage and on the websites of our media partners, print media, and social media channels. You automatically consent to the gratuitous publication in the manner described above when you register to an event.  You can revoke your consent at any time if you object to the publication. For this, we ask you to inform us immediately via e-mail including the exact description of the depiction in question. In this case, the depiction will be removed in due time and no longer published.

13. Cession

The participant may only transfer the rights and obligations arising from this contract given express written consent of Vogel IT-Medien.

14. Force majeure

Force majeure or other unforeseeable events for which Vogel IT-Medien is not responsible and which make it substantially more difficult or temporarily impossible to provide the contractual services, including pandemic, strike, lockout, and regulatory actions, shall allow Vogel IT-Medien to postpone the performance of its services for the duration of the hindrance plus a reasonable start-up period. Vogel IT-Medien will immediately inform the participant of the occurrence of such hindrances to performance. If the delays resulting from an event in accordance with sentence 1 above exceed the period of six weeks, and if an adjustment of the contract is not possible and not reasonable for either party, both parties are released from their performance obligations agreed upon in the commission. Services delivered by Vogel IT-Medien are to be remunerated by the participant according to their share. Damage claims are excluded in such a case.

15. Consumer arbitration process

Vogel IT-Medien are neither willing nor obliged to partake in arbitration proceedings of a dispute resolution authority.

16. Place of execution, place of jurisdiction, and severability clause

16.1. Place of execution is Augsburg.

16.2. Place of jurisdiction for any potential legal disputes between Vogel IT-Medien and the participant shall be Augsburg, given the participant be merchant, legal entity / special fund under public law.

16.3. Solely the law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. In the event that the participant is a consumer, this shall only apply to the extent that the protection granted is not withdrawn by mandatory provisions of the law of the state in which the consumer has their habitual residence.

16.4. Changes and additions to the agreement with Vogel IT-Medien must be in writing to be effective. This also applies to any alteration of this written form provision.

16.5. Should one or more provisions of these GTC be or become invalid or void, the validity of the remaining provisions of these GTC shall remain unaffected. This accordingly applies to gaps in the contract.

16.6. The invalidity of individual provisions of these GTC shall not affect the validity of the remainder of the commission.

The Vogel IT-Medien GmbH expressly reserves the right to use its content for commercial text and data mining in accordance with § 44b UrhG. For the acquisition of a corresponding usage right, please contact datenschutz@vogel.de.