Terms of use for fotocommunity

 

Status of the General Terms and Conditions: 01/01/26

  1. General
  2. Registration and membership
  3. Free usage options
  4. Paid options / Conclusion of contract / Payment
  5. Right of withdrawal and consequences
  6. Responsibility / Rules of conduct
  7. Contribution review and moderation
  8. Granting of rights
  9. Indemnity agreement
  10. Protected content
  11. Competitions / Prize draws
  12. Offers in purchase and exchange forums
  13. Term / Termination Free offer
  14. Term / Termination of paid offer
  15. Advertising
  16. Limitation of liability
  17. Reservation of changes
  18. Final provisions
  1. General
    fotocommunity is a service provided by Five Monkeys Imaging GmbH, Brügelmannstraße 3, 50679 Cologne, email: office@fotocommunity.net, represented by the management team Myriam Karsch (spokesperson), Wolfgang Heinen, Andreas Laube, Florian Schuster, HRB 76557 Cologne, VAT ID No.: DE814891097 (hereinafter referred to as ‘fotocommunity’).

fotocommunity provides you as a user (hereinafter also referred to as «members») with a digital platform (hereinafter also referred to as «blog» and/or «forum») under the main domain www.fotocommunity.de/ for the purpose of, among other things, exchanging ideas with other interested users on the subject of photography, networking, and discussing and sharing photographs.

Membership in fotocommunity is generally free of charge. When you register with fotocommunity, you receive a free membership. However, you can decide at any time whether you would like to switch to a paid membership and give your creativity more space in fotocommunity.

These terms and conditions govern the possible uses of the platform, as well as all rights and obligations associated with its use. They also include, in particular, the terms and conditions for paid use of the platform and the intellectual property rights associated with use of the forum.

By registering as a member, you accept these terms and conditions governing the relationship between you and us as binding. We do not recognise any conflicting terms and conditions. These terms of use serve to protect and preserve your rights, our rights and the rights of third parties in the context of the operation of the fotocommunity. If commercial components are handled by partners, their terms of use apply.

  1. Registration and membership

In order to use the fotocommunity, you must register as a user. This requires an active internet connection and a valid email address. When registering, you must choose a password to protect your user account from unauthorised access and accept these terms of use. The password must be treated as confidential and may not be disclosed to unauthorised third parties.

You undertake not to provide any false or misleading information when registering, not to register under a false identity and to keep your details up to date. You shall treat the password you have chosen for registration as confidential. You are responsible for all activities carried out using your password. You undertake to notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of fotocommunity under your name. Failure to comply with this obligation entitles us to terminate your account without notice.

  1. Free usage options
    The free internet service offered by fotocommunity includes the option to use the forum and the communication options and (basic) functions it contains, in particular to upload your own photos, whereby the storage capacity available to each member for uploading photos is limited to 5 photos per week and a total of 100 photos. In addition, you can create your own photographer profile, contribute to discussions about photos, send photo emails, use the internal messaging system and participate in other forums or activities offered.
  2. Paid usage options / conclusion of contract / payment
    In addition, paid options for using the forum are also available to you. In particular, the so-called «premium features» include the option to upload more photos per week and in total, as well as ad-free use of the platform and access to special content and functionalities. You can find the exact items and prices of the paid offers in the service description at https://www.fotocommunity.de/premium.

In order to use the paid services, you must be registered with us. To register, you need an active internet connection and a valid e mail address. When registering, you must choose a password to protect your user account from unauthorised access and accept these terms of use.
In order to use the desired paid feature of our portal, you must a) log in to fotocommunity with your access data, b) select the desired «premium feature», c) select a payment method, and d) successfully complete the payment process with your chosen payment provider.

By clicking on the «Pay» button at the respective payment service provider, you make a binding declaration to us that you wish to book the «Premium Feature» for a fee. After completing the payment process, you will be redirected to a welcome page and receive an email confirming receipt of the booking and listing its details (confirmation of receipt). This confirmation of receipt does not initially constitute acceptance of your offer, but is only intended to inform you that we have received your order and the service provider’s payment confirmation. Your order is accepted by providing the digital services and access to your fotocommunity account immediately after completion of the order and payment process.

fotocommunity is not obliged to accept your order.

The contract text will be stored by us. The order content, your consent and confirmation of the terms and conditions will be sent to you in the confirmation of receipt by email. Please keep this email.

  1. Right of withdrawal and consequences

Withdrawal policy

Right of withdrawal

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period is fourteen days from the date of conclusion of the contract.

To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us (Five Monkeys Imaging GmbH, Brügelmannstraße 3, 50679 Cologne, email: office@fotocommunity.net) of your decision to withdraw from this contract by means of a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post or email). You can use the attached sample withdrawal form for this purpose, but this is not mandatory.

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your notification of exercising your right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period expires.

Consequences of withdrawal

If you withdraw from this contract, we shall reimburse you for all payments we have received from you, including delivery costs (with the exception of additional costs resulting from your choice of 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 receive notification of your withdrawal from this contract. We will use the same means of payment for this refund as you used for the original transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise with you; in no event will you be charged for this refund.

Please note:
The right of withdrawal expires in the case of a contract for the delivery of digital content that is not stored on a physical data carrier if we have begun to execute the contract after you have expressly agreed that we may begin executing the contract before the expiry of the withdrawal period and you have confirmed your knowledge that you will lose your right of withdrawal by agreeing to the commencement of the execution of the contract.

End of the withdrawal policy

Withdrawal form

Sample withdrawal form

       (If you wish to withdraw from the contract, please fill out this form and send it back.)

       To: Five Monkeys Imaging GmbH, Brügelmannstraße 3, 50679 Cologne, email: office@fotocommunity.net

       I/we (*) hereby withdraw from 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 consumer(s):

       Address of the consumer(s):

       Signature of consumer(s) (only for paper notifications):

       Date:

(*) Delete as appropriate.

 

  1. Responsibility / Rules of conduct
    You are solely responsible for the photos and contributions you submit and for your behaviour in the fotocommunity. You undertake not to violate any applicable laws when participating in the fotocommunity. We reserve the right to immediately exclude you from membership and remove your images and contributions from the fotocommunity at our own discretion in the event of violations of laws, morality, these terms of use or for other important reasons.

Such an important reason exists in particular if you

    • transfer content to the fotocommunity whose use constitutes an infringement of copyrights or other rights of third parties;
    • offer products or services, except for private purposes within the established sales forums
    • transfer content to the fotocommunity that contains software, applications, programmes or viruses, or other data that impairs or damages the function of the hardware and software of the fotocommunity or other participants;
    • provide false or misleading information when registering, in particular if you register using a false identity or do not keep your information up to date;
    • failing to inform us immediately of any unauthorised use of fotocommunity under your name;
    • insult, defame or in any way harass or harm other members;
    • use the data and email addresses of other members obtained through the use of fotocommunity for commercial advertising and/or send unsolicited advertising;
    • use fotocommunity for pornographic, child-endangering, National Socialist, anti-constitutional, violence-glorifying, racist or similar content.
    1. Post review and moderation
      We reserve the right, but assume no obligation, to review, edit, delete or block your images and contributions if they violate your membership obligations or the law. This also applies if there is suspicion of a violation. We may delegate this right, e.g. to other members. There is no entitlement to the publication of images or contributions in the fotocommunity.
  2. Granting of rights
    By transferring content to our server(s), you guarantee that you have the right to make this content available to us for use. At the same time, you transfer to us a right of use for this content. The right of use that you grant us includes the simple, temporally and spatially unrestricted, non-transferable, revocable right to reproduce, publicly reproduce, in particular to make publicly available, as well as other comparable rights of use necessary for the operation of the fotocommunity, exclusively for use within the framework of the fotocommunity internet offering, without any claim to remuneration by you or third parties. You can revoke the granting of rights of use at any time by deleting your photos.
  3. Indemnity Agreement
    You shall indemnify us against all justified claims by third parties asserted against us due to culpable infringement of their rights, in particular copyrights, licence rights, competition rights or other property rights, based on the content you have transmitted. You shall reimburse us for the necessary costs of legal action incurred or already incurred as a result of your infringing content. You undertake to support us to the best of your ability in dealing with all third-party claims based on your content and, in particular, to provide us with all documents or information necessary for our defence.
  4. Protected content
    The content of fotocommunity is protected by copyright and/or other property rights. Any use of the content, even in part, but especially for commercial purposes, requires the prior approval of the respective rights holder. The rights holders include the members of fotocommunity or us as the operator of fotocommunity. We label all photos with the name of the member who uploaded the photo to fotocommunity.
    It is permitted to make a private copy of content for storage or printing exclusively for personal, non-commercial use, provided that captions or other source references are not falsified or deleted.
  5. Competitions / prize draws
    There is no entitlement to participate in a competition or prize draw organised by us, nor is there any entitlement to the allocation of prizes. If the allocated prize is faulty, the winner is only entitled to delivery of a fault-free prize if we were unaware of the faultiness of the prize as a result of intent or gross negligence.
  6. Offers in purchase and exchange forums
    The member making the offer is responsible for the content and accuracy of offers in the buying and exchange forums. A contract is only concluded between the members involved, without the participation of fotocommunity. We do not act as brokers. The execution of the contract is your sole responsibility. Only you are responsible for the exchange of goods/services. We merely provide the electronic platform for you to conclude your contract. We do not provide any further assistance with the execution of the contract.
  7. Term/termination of free offer
    Membership with use of the free offer is valid for an indefinite period. Membership can be terminated at any time by you or by us without notice and without giving a reason. Termination must be made in writing or by email and becomes effective upon receipt. You agree to the deletion of the images posted after termination, and we undertake to delete all your photos within fourteen days of receiving your notice of termination.
  8. Term/termination of paid offer
    Membership for the paid offer is concluded for one month at a time after a one-time payment of the amount and expires automatically. We also offer subscriptions. There are quarterly and annual subscriptions. The subscription is extended indefinitely unless it is cancelled at least 14 days before the end of the payment period or the end of the booked term. After renewal, the subscription can be cancelled at any time in writing or via your personal profile with one month’s notice. The respective offer can then continue to be used until the end of the remaining term. The date of receipt of the notice of cancellation is decisive.
    We reserve the right to immediately terminate membership for the selected offer and restrict the functions of the user account to those of the free offer in the event of non-payment or chargeback of the payment made for the paid offer.
  9. Advertising
    By becoming a member, you agree to the display of advertising on our platform, unless you have booked a paid, ad-free use of the fotocommunity.
  10. Limitation of liability
    We and our vicarious agents shall only be liable for contractual and tortious breaches of duty, except in cases of injury to life, limb or health, in cases of intent and gross negligence, unless a cardinal obligation is affected and no mandatory statutory provision precludes this. To the extent permitted by law, we and our vicarious agents shall only be liable up to the amount of typically foreseeable damage.
    We do not guarantee that the fotocommunity service will be available without interruption. The elimination of malfunctions and the performance of maintenance work may make it necessary to interrupt the availability of the service. We reserve the right to change parts of the fotocommunity service. We accept no responsibility for content that you access via a link that clearly leads outside the fotocommunity service. We have no influence on the content of such external websites and do not endorse their content.
  11. Reservation of changes
    We reserve the right to change the terms of use without giving reasons. The amended terms will be sent to you at least one month before they come into effect. If you do not agree to the new terms within three weeks of receiving the notification, the amended terms will be deemed rejected. We will inform you separately of the consequences of failing to agree to the changes in the notification of change. In the event of rejection, we shall be entitled to a separate right of termination of the existing agreement.
  12. Final provisions
    Should any provision of these Terms of Use be invalid or unenforceable, it shall be replaced by a valid or enforceable provision that comes closest to the legal intent of the invalid or unenforceable provision. These Terms of Use and all legal relationships between you and us are governed by the law of the Federal Republic of Germany. In all other respects, the statutory provisions shall apply.