Terms of Use (User-generated content)

In Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek you can compile your own lists based on search-results and create your own theme pages. You can comment on content found in Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and share your comments with other users. Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek aims to provide access to culture and knowledge in a form that is free and as unrestricted as possible. We are especially keen that the content and metadata we make accessible are available for further use as freely and widely as possible. For this reason, all content posted by users is subject to a Creative Commons license with the Attribution BY. This means that if you, the user, share content on the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek portal in the way described above, you grant third parties irrevocable, extensive rights to use your posts freely. The only condition stated in the BY Creative Commons license is that your name as author must be stated in each subsequent use. Should you not be in agreement with this, then we kindly ask you not to post any content on the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek portal and not to publish personal theme pages.

As a user posting content, please respect the following Special Terms of Use:

Conditions for posting content:

  1. You must register. Multiple registration is prohibited.
  2. Only natural persons may register to participate. Companies or other legal persons may not create an account.
  3. To create an account you must be at least 16 years of age, or have the consent of your legal guardian to do so, which you automatically guarantee us by accepting these Terms of Use.
  4. To register, you must state a valid email address. By doing so, you demonstrate that you accept responsibility for the content of your posts and the information you share.
  5. It is possible for you to share content under your name or under a pseudonym. The pseudonym you choose may not be used to provoke or serve advertising purposes.
  6. Once you have chosen a pseudonym, it can only be changed in exceptional cases, not by yourself, but by our administrators.
  7. Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek reserves the right to act against the distribution of certain posts and delete them.
  8. Check your own posts carefully for information not intended for public use before posting them online. Once published, you cannot demand that such comments be deleted or corrected.

Appropriate conduct:

  1. Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek neither claims ownership of the content you, the user, post, neither does it check or edit it. You remain fully responsible and thus liable for the infringement of third-party rights affected by the content you post. We therefore ask that you ensure that descriptions and the theme lists are not in any way offensive, insulting, disparaging, pornographic, or promotional in character, and are free of any discriminatory, racist, or hateful comments that deliberately target people. Your posts may not call on others to commit criminal acts, nor may they condone such acts, and they may not contain links to content that would contradict these Terms of Use.

Granting of rights for published content:

  1. In all your posts, we ask that you respect the prevailing laws, in particular copyright laws. In as much as you are the creator of shared content, you agree to make it available for use by third parties under the current international Creative Commons BY license. When you are not the rights holder of intellectual property contained within the content you share, you hereby ensure Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek that you are either entitled to add this content to the DDB database and thus make it available to third parties or that such shared content is copyright-free (in the public domain).
  2. In addition to the above-mentioned granting of rights, you also grant Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek the unencumbered and complete right to use all published content wherever and whenever it chooses, especially as regards the copying, distribution, and open publication of such content – even in edited form – in as far as these kinds of use are necessary to enable Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek’s services today and in future.

Consequences of failing to comply with these Terms of Use and mutual liability:

  1. Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek can neither check nor enforce that third parties subsequently use your shared content in accordance with the license terms of the Creative Commons BY license. The responsibility for doing so rests with you, the licensor.
  2. Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek can make no guarantee of the quality, security, availability, lawfulness, completeness, and accuracy of the services it offers, and can especially not guarantee that the website and/or services will always be accessible without interruption or periods of downtime. At the most, Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek accepts liability for personal damages caused with intent or by gross negligence.
  3. In the event that you, the user, post content that infringes the rights of third parties and Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek is held liable for it, you agree to compensate Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek for the damages. This also includes both expenses incurred in removing copyright-infringing content and in identifying you as the user responsible for its posting, as well as any lawyer fees resulting from legal action.
  4. If any of these Terms of Use are breached, the Deutsche Digitale Bibilothek will block your account and, in the case of serious infringements, also delete it. Such action would also result in the deletion of content published by you and your published theme lists.
  5. Should any parts of these Terms of Use become invalid, all remaining parts remain unaffected.

Version of 09.12.2013