General Terms and Conditions


1. General Remarks; Scope of Application

These General Terms and Conditions shall apply to any and all legal relationships between

Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde (SV) e.V.
Steinerne Furt 71
86167 Augsburg
Germany

(hereinafter referred to as the “SV”) and the users of the SV website at www.schaeferhunde.de, including any and all web pages, and the SV-DOxS database at www.sv-doxs.net, including any and all web pages (hereinafter referred to as the “SV-DOxS Database”). “User” shall describe any individual who registers on the SV home page or the SV-DOxS Database or who concludes an agreement with the SV concerning the use of the websites.

Applicability of the User’s general terms and conditions shall hereby be expressly excluded.

Following contract conclusion, the SV will not store the agreement wording which is why this can no longer be accessed. The contractual language shall be German. The User shall have the possibility of accessing, storing and printing these General Terms and Conditions.

The SV reserves the right to amend these General Terms and Conditions to the extent to which such amendments are acceptable for the User under consideration of the SV’s interests; this shall particularly apply in the case where such amendments result in no considerable legal and economic disadvantages for the User.

German law shall exclusively apply.

2. SV Home Page and SV-DOxS Database Contents

The SV-DOxS Database provides the User with information concerning the German shepherd dog, whereby the information provided corresponds to the editing status of the SV breeding register office. The Association does not guarantee that this information is complete.

The SV reserves the right to change the web pages and/or their contents at any time due to technical or legal requirements or to discontinue operation of the websites for these reasons.

In addition, the SV shall have the right, at any time, to indicate to the Users of the SV home page and the SV-DOxS Database any foreign contents and third-party applications (hereinafter referred to as “Third-Party Contents”), whereby these Third-Party Contents are clearly labelled as such based on the relevant sign. If and to the extent to which this includes an offer to conclude a contract in relation to these Third-Party Contents, the Users exclusively conclude such contracts with the relevant providers.

The SV shall have the right to limit access to their own services to the extent to which this is required for network operation safety, network integrity maintenance and, in particular, avoiding considerable disruptions affecting the network, any software programs or stored data.

3. Use of the SV Home Page and the SV-DOxS Database

The SV provides the Users with areas which are freely accessible and with areas subject to charges which require registration and log-on.

Members of the SV shall have free-of-charge access to both the data and the functions from the SV-DOxS Stammdaten package. Once membership of User terminates, the user is no longer authorised to make use of this package.

For the purpose of using the areas requiring the payment of a fee, registration and log-on, the Users must provide the relevant data to be able to register. Each User may register only once to be provided with access to these areas.

Data which the SV requests to be provided for registration, such as given and family names, physical addresses (no post boxes) and valid e-mail addresses, must be provided in a complete and correct manner. Should the data provided change at a later time, the User shall be obliged to correct such data without undue delay.

The User hereby undertakes not to use any mechanisms, software programs or other scripts which may cause interference with or the blocking of the SV home page and the SV-DOxS Database, in particular those which make it possible to generate automated website accesses. In addition to the above, the User shall be prohibited from implementing measures which might lead to unacceptable or excessive pressure on the infrastructure used to the relevant websites.

The User may in no case block, overwrite or modify contents generated by the SV or in any other way interfere with the SV websites.

Also, each User shall be obliged to immediately notify the SV in the case where he/she has reason to believe that his/her access to the website was misused. Each user shall generally be liable for all of his/her activities performed through his/her access to the website and each User indemnifies and holds the SV harmless from and against any third-party claims for compensation, unless the relevant User is not responsible for the misuse.

Should the User fail to fulfil his/her obligation under this paragraph, he/she shall be obliged to pay compensation to the SV for the relevant damage resulting from this. Apart from the above, the SV shall also be entitled to block the User from accessing the website.

4. SV-DOxS Usage Fee

Packages on offer can be purchased against the payment of a fee. Both the contents and the usage fees applicable to the different packages will be published on the SV-DOxS website.

5. SV-DOxS Usage Agreement

When placing a purchase order for packages, the User and the SV conclude a contract.

The contractual term of each package which was concluded before March 01st, 2022, shall be twelve (12) months and the term shall be automatically extended by the same term, unless the User cancels the relevant contract not later than one (1) month prior to contract termination. Contracts for packages that were ordered from March 01st, 2022 on, can be cancelled within a period of one month after the first prolongation of the package has become effective. In the case of agreement cancellation, the User shall continue to have a claim for the services contractually agreed upon during the entire remaining contractual term, but he/she shall also be obliged to make the relevant payments.

Cancellation must be made in text form (by letter, fax or e-mail) and non-usage of the services shall not be considered cancellation.
Once the term for purchased packages officially ended, the SV will prepare an invoice as at the termination date at the final gross price in Euro applicable upon the termination date (net price plus applicable statutory value-added tax). The payment methods accepted by the SV include bank collection, credit cards and PayPal. The package will be activated only after receiving the payment from the User.

The SV requests default interest to the amount of five (5) percentage points above the base lending rate applicable at the relevant time. This interest rate must be increased or decreased in the case where the User produces evidence showing charges subject to higher interest rates or the purchaser charges subject to lower interest rates.
The User shall have a right to offsetting only against claims which are undisputed or which were legally determined. In contrast, the User shall not be entitled to withhold payments, unless he/she has a statutory claim for retention which is based on the same contractual relationship.

Should the services be discontinued in terms of sec. 2 para. 2 of these General Terms and Conditions, the User shall receive a pro rata usage fee reimbursement for the contractual term in which he/she did not use the services.

6. Copyrights/Usage and Image Rights

Being a database collection (sec. 4 para. 2 UrhG [Urheberrechtsgesetz – German Copyrights Act]) and a database (sec. 87a et seq. UrhG), both the SV home page and the SV-DOxS Database are protected by copyrights. Apart from that, the single documents must be considered works subject to copyright protection (sec. 2 UrhG). By calling off single datasets, the relevant purchaser shall be entitled to use the information, database and on-line products to an extent which is customary with regard to their business and which is required for fulfilling their requirements; the exclusive rights in terms of sec. 87b UrhG shall remain with the SV. To the extent the actual use interferes with the SV’s interests in an unacceptable manner, the SV shall be entitled to limit or totally block access to the SV home page and the SV-DOxS Database. This shall particularly apply to the reproduction, distribution or public presentation of significant database collection and/or database parts and to repeatedly and systematically reproducing, distributing and making available to the public any insignificant database collection and/or database parts. All copyrights, usage and other protection rights in the SV home page and the SV-DOxS Database which are not expressly referred to in the following shall remain with the SV as the owner of all these usage and protection rights.

The User acquires a right to access the SV home page and the SV-DOxS Database from any computer whatsoever which can be used for these purposes. The term of this usage right shall depend on the agreement on which the contractual relationship between the Parties is based.

The User hereby undertakes to exclusively use both the SV home page and the SV-DOxS Database for his/her private purposes and to grant third parties separate access to the information, database and on-line products neither against payment nor on a free-of-charge basis. In addition, the User shall be prohibited from transferring to third parties his/her log-on information and/or passwords for the product, for the SV home page or for the SV-DOxS Database.

Users have the possibility of posting pictures of their dogs on the SV-DOxS Database upload area which the SV must subsequently release for publication. For more information on this matter, please refer to the Additional Terms and Conditions of Uploading Pictures and Written Contents on the SV-DOxS Database.

7. Blocking

The SV shall have the right to take the following steps in the case where they have reason to believe that Users violate any statutory provisions, third-party rights or the provisions under these General Terms and Conditions or where the SV has any other legitimate interests, in particular that of protecting other users:

  • issuance of cautions for Users
  • temporary, partial or final blocking

The SV shall have the right to block Users in particular in cases where he/she is in arrears with the payment of the package which he/she had ordered on the condition that the Association issued a written caution for the User at least two (2) weeks prior to the blocking. Despite being blocked, the User shall continue to be obliged to pay the fees resulting from website/database use.

The SV may also exclude the User from actively using the SV home page and the SV-DOxS database (final blocking) in the case where he/she provided false contact data during registration, in particular false or invalid e-mail addresses, if he/she causes considerable damage to other users or the provider or if any other important reason for this exists.

Once the User was temporarily or finally blocked, he/she may no longer use the SV home page and the SV-DOxS Database by entering another user’s log-on data and he/she shall be prohibited from re-registering.

8. Right to Withdrawal with Distance Selling Contracts

The User shall have the right to withdraw from a usage agreement within fourteen (14) days from contract conclusion without the need to indicate any reasons for this;

the withdrawal term amounts to fourteen (14) days from the day of contract conclusion.

To exercise your right to withdrawal, you are obliged to inform us, that is,

Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde (SV) e.V.
Steinerne Furt 71
86167 Augsburg
Germany
Telephone: +49 74002-0
Fax: +49 74002-901
E-mail:info@schaeferhunde.de

about your decision to withdraw from the relevant contract based on a clear declaration (e.g. by letter, fax or e-mail). In addition, you have the right, but no obligation, to use form template enclosed.

For complying with the withdrawal term, it shall be sufficient for you to post your notification of exercising your right to withdrawal prior to the end of the withdrawal period.

Consequences of Withdrawals

In the case where you decide to withdraw from the contract, we must reimburse to you any payments we received from you, including delivery costs (except for additional costs due to you having selected a type of delivery other than the cheapest standard type of delivery which we offer), immediately and not later than fourteen (14) days from the day on which we received your notification of you withdrawing from the contract. For these reimbursements, we will use the same means of payment which you had used for the original transaction, unless we expressly agreed otherwise with you; in no case will we charge any extra fees to you as a consequence of such reimbursement.

If you requested service provision to begin during the withdrawal term, you must pay to us a reasonable amount of money which corresponds to the share of the services which we rendered until the time when you inform us about your decision to exercise your right to withdrawal compared to the full extent of the services to be provided under the relevant contract.

Form template

9. Place of Jurisdiction; Applicable Law

Should the User be an entrepreneur, the courts of Augsburg (Germany) shall be agreed upon as the place of jurisdiction.

Any and all legal disputes resulting from this contractual relationship shall be subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, whereby any provisions under the laws of conflict which refer to any other jurisdictions shall be excluded; application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) shall also be excluded.

10. Severability clause

Should any provisions of the above be or become invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.

As at March 1, 2019

Additional Terms and Conditions for uploading images and written contents and registration for Conformation Shows on the SV DOxS Database

In their position as the owner and/or the co-owner authorised to representation, the User (the person uploading contents) has the right to post pictures of his/her dog in the upload area and to add text to this. Ownership and/or the authorisation to representation shall depend on the data provided to the SV. The User may also use the registration portal to register dogs for participation in conformation shows organised by the SV regional and local groups. Any data provided will be transferred to the relevant conformation show organisers and exported to the SV Pusch program which is used for preparing the relevant conformation show catalogues; finally, the data will be transferred to the registration office for review.

The SV shall have the right to reject and/or delete both pictures and texts at any time at the Association’s discretion without the need to indicate reasons for this.

This shall particularly apply in the case where there is a violation of the legal provisions, if any third-party rights are violated or if any violations of these General Terms and Conditions come to the SV’s attention. For pictures being accepted, they must not document any contents contrary to animal protection or interfere with the reputation of the Association among the public.

The User shall have no claim for his/her pictures and/or texts to be published, independent of the above provisions. In addition to this, the SV shall have the right to discontinue this free-of-charge service at any time.

The person uploading any contents guarantees the he/she disposes of any and all rights required with regard to the contents which he/she uploads to the SV-DOxS Database and/or registration portal, that the use and/or exploitation of these rights do(es) not violate any third-party rights (e.g. the right in one’s own pictures, name rights, copyrights, personal rights or third-party labelling rights), that he/she is authorised to register for breeding shows and that the uploaded contents are not contrary to the provisions under these General Terms and Conditions or the law. In addition, the User guarantees that the data provided is correct.

The person uploading any contents hereby undertakes to indemnify and hold Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde (SV) e.V. harmless from and against any claims which third parties assert due to their rights being violated by the contents provided or due to the person uploading any contents illegally using the services provided by Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde (SV) e.V. Upon first request, the person uploading any contents shall bear the costs required for legal defence of the SV, including any court and legal fees.

The person uploading any contents is aware and he/she consents to each visitor of the SV-DOxS Database being able to download, link, store or distribute in the public in any other way both the pictures and the texts after the relevant contents were released for publication on the SV-DOxS Database. The person uploading any contents shall indemnify and hold the SV harmless from and against any liability and they shall assert no financial claims against the SV, either.

Based on picture and/or text publication, the person uploading any contents grants the SV a simple free-of-charge usage right not limited as to the space and the time of reproducing, using, publicly presenting and making available the relevant pictures and texts on the SV-DOxS Database.

The owners and/or the co-owners authorised to representation shall be entitled, at any time, to delete pictures and texts which they had published. Modifications of the texts shall require a re-release by the SV.

It is of utmost importance to the SV to prevent illegal contents from being uploaded to the SV-DOxS Database and to remove them. Should a User have the feeling that contents violate his/her rights (e.g. the right in one’s own pictures, copyrights, name rights, trademark rights), the SV requests this user to accordingly notify the SV by sending an e-mail to the following address: info@sv-doxs.net. The SV shall prosecute any and all serious notifications of legal violations without undue delay and take adequate steps.

Independent of the legal reasons, any and all claims for compensation against the SV shall be excluded, unless the SV, their legal representatives or their vicarious agents acted in a wilfully intentional or grossly negligent manner. The SV’s liability for injuries to life, limb or health and that in terms of the German Product Liability Act [Produkthaftungsgesetz] shall not be affected by this.

Should individual provisions of the above be invalid or non-executable, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The invalid or non-executable provisions shall be replaced by the regulations provided for under the law.

Additional Terms and Conditions Concerning the Upgrade to the “Kombipaket L” package with the SV-DOxS Database

In the case where a User has already purchased single or several individual packages against payment which are still valid (Stammdaten, Zuchtschau, Zucht and Genetics), he/she has the unique opportunity to upgrade to the “Kombipaket L” package. By upgrading to the “Kombipaket L” package, the contractual terms applicable to individual packages will be combined to one contractual term and the User will be provided with an overall invoice once a year on the due date.
For this upgrade, the User must take notice of and accept the following process:

  • Placing an order for and activating the “Kombipaket L” package represents the conclusion of a new agreement
  • and the “Kombipaket L” package is booked for a contractual term of twelve (12) months from the time of ordering.
  • In the case where Users have already booked a “Stammdaten” package against payment (only for non-members), this shall be invoiced at the time when they order the upgrade and a new “Stammdaten” package contract will be concluded with a contractual term corresponding to that of the “Kombipaket L” package .
  • Credits from the remaining terms of packages which had been booked against payment will be determined parallel to the new order from the time of upgrade ordering and offset against the fees paid for the upgrade.
  • The contractual term of the packages shall be twelve (12) months and the term shall be automatically extended by the same term, unless the User cancels the relevant agreement not later than one (1) month prior to agreement termination in writing.
  • Following payments receipt, offset packages shall be terminated with immediate effect and the “Kombipaket L” package will be available to the User.
  • Until the time of receiving the payment for the upgrade, the packages which Users had purchased before shall continue to be valid.

Users have the opportunity to purchase this upgrade once; after they decided to withdraw from the upgrade, they no longer have the possibility of purchasing it again.