Home > General terms and conditions of use
Terms and conditions of use
- Publisher
This App and the web application (app.soscience.org) are owned and operated by SoScience SAS, AS with a capital of 2000€ whose head office is located at 9 rue Galande 75005 PARIS, registered with the Paris Trade and Companies Register under number 800 062 440, intra-community VAT number FR29800062440, represented by Mélanie Marcel, manager. (“SoScience,” “we” or “us”).
- Subject
Soscience provides an innovation platform service accessible at app.socience.org (“App”; “Platform”), which allows businesses and organizations having environmental or social issues to find experts and build Research or Innovation collaborative projects to solve them.
These T&Cs govern your access to and use of the App and its Services.
By opening an account on the App, you must tick a box, and confirm that you have read and accepted these T&Cs, which form a legally binding contract between you and SoScience.
If you wish to participate in a specific Program, you may be asked to review and accept the rules applicable to the specific Program.
Please read the following carefully. If you do not accept these T&Cs, do not use the App. We may amend these T&Cs at any time by posting an updated version to this web page and notifying you before the amended T&Cs take effect.
To improve your user experience, we may also modify, without prior notice, the structure and design of our App, as well as some Services or content.
- Definitions
In this document,
“Account” means the account that must be created to become a User of the App and access the Services offered by the App;
“Brief” means the concise statement of the instructions and guidelines for a Program prepared by a Sponsor;
“Program” means an invitation for applications to solve a specific problem or Program issued by a Sponsor;
“Program Rules” refers to the rules applicable to a Program and which are binding between the Sponsor and each Program applicant. In the event of discrepancies or contradictions with the T&Cs, the Program Rules shall apply;
“Community” refers to all Users of the App;
“Deliverables” all submissions, original ideas, documents or other materials (such as presentations, videos, etc.) uploaded to the App by Users in response and as a solution to a specific Program;
“User” means any individual having an Account on the App;
“Services” means all products, services, content, features, technologies or functions delivered by us via the App;
“Sponsor” means the company or organization that sponsors a Program and submits a Brief and Program to Users via the App.
- Opening an Account
- Conditions
You must be 18 years or older. You must be 18 years or older to use our Services, and by opening an Account you declare that you meet this condition.
You must have authority to bind your business. You confirm that you have authority to bind any business or entity on whose behalf you use our Services, and that business or entity accepts these terms.
- Creating an Account
The App allows Users to view and enroll in Program and to interact with other Users, Sponsors or SoScience through message boards, email and messaging. You can view the Briefs and Programs if you are not registered, but you cannot enroll in or participate in a Program without first opening an Account and becoming a User.
To create your Account, you can either:
- complete the mandatory fields in the registration form (e.g., name, email and password). An Account activation link will be emailed to you; your Account is activated once you click on the link; or
- open an Account using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Google+. By using this feature, we will access, publish and retain personal data obtained from these platforms. You can delete the link between your Account and these platforms at any time. If you want to learn more, read our Privacy Notice and those of such third-party platforms.
To open an Account, you must have read and accepted these T&Cs and our Privacy Notice.
- Accuracy of Account
Information You agree that your profile Account contains accurate and true information, and that you will update it, as needed.
- Password
You are responsible for keeping your Account password confidential. You agree to inform us if there is an unauthorized use of your Account or a security breach, such as loss or theft of your login information.
- Services
The App is an online innovation platform on which Sponsors can create and post Briefs and Programs in which Users can participate, subject to the specific conditions of each Program as set out in the Program Rules.
As a User:
- you may access a personalized space on the App that contains your profile, allows you to view the Programs in which you have enrolled, and to communicate and exchange messages, including by email, with Users, Sponsors, and SoScience;
- you may register for Programs, provided you meet the conditions of the Program Rules;
- you may participate in a Program, individually, as a representative of a business entity, or by creating or joining a team, as specified in the Program Rules;
- you may upload Deliverables in response to a Program, as specified in the Program Rules;
- you may retrieve the data and Deliverables that you submitted during your participation in a specific Program, as specified in the Program Rules.
Sponsors may offer awards for the winning Deliverables submitted by Users registered to participate in a Program, in accordance with the Program Rules.
Sponsors are solely responsible for assessing all Deliverables and independently decide, in accordance with their own criteria, on the selected(s) Users and team(s) of Users of a Program for the next phase (Project setup). Decisions made by Sponsors are considered final.
- Content posted by you on the App
You may communicate with other Users, SoScience or Sponsors via the App. Any information you provide on the App, both during registration and use of the Services (such as, public profile, message board postings, emails, Deliverables, etc.) is subject to the following:
- You agree that content posted by you will be accurate and will not: (i) infringe any third party’s copyright, trademark, patent or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy, or (ii) violate any law (including export control, unfair competition, anti-discrimination or false advertising).
- Regarding Deliverables, you guarantee that (i) you are the owner or authorized user of the intellectual property contained in your Deliverable and that (ii) you are not required to transfer your rights over the Deliverable to a third party pursuant to an employment relationship or other contract; or that (iii) you have obtained any necessary authorizations from your employer or co-contracting party before submitting the Deliverables. At any time, you may be asked to make legally binding warranties and representations to the Sponsor in relation to a Deliverable or any specific information that you submit.
- You are solely responsible for the content that you publish or upload to the App, and for the transfer of technologies or information with which you are involved. SoScience expressly disclaims any liability or responsibility thereto.
- User Rules of Conduct on the App
There are certain rules that apply to Users. When using our App, you agree:
- to not submit to us or other Users, the Program Committee, or Sponsors false, misleading, malicious or fraudulent information;
- to not post content of a defamatory, injurious, obscene, pornographic, vulgar, offensive, aggressive, uncalled-for, violent, threatening, harassing, racist or xenophobic nature, or with sexual connotations, inciting violence, discrimination or hatred, encouraging illegal activities, or more generally content that is contrary to good morals or the purposes of the App;
- to not infringe the rights and image of SoScience, such as its intellectual property rights;
- to not open more than one Account on the App or open an Account in the name of a third party;
- to not use the Account of another User;
- to not try to bypass the App, such as by trying to contact or send a Sponsor your Deliverables outside of the App;
- to not transfer data that contains viruses, worms, Trojan horses or any computer file or program that could interrupt, destroy or limit the functioning of any computer or network linked directly or indirectly to the App;
- to not use any device, software or routine that could interfere with the proper working of the App or which is intended to damage, interfere with, intercept or expropriate any system, data or personal information;
- to not to take any action (such as, spamming) that imposes an unreasonable load on our App;
- to not violate the principle of confidentiality, which may exist within the framework of a Program; and
- to, more generally, not to act in a way that violates the law or breaches these T&Cs.
- Confidentiality
Within the framework of a Program, you may be required to maintain certain information confidential.
You agree to defend, indemnify and hold SoScience harmless, from and against all claims, actions or demands, liabilities, and settlements, including, without limitation, reasonable legal fees, arising from your unauthorized and prohibited disclosure of confidential information.
- Intellectual Property Rights
- User grant of license to SoScience
For the purposes of our App and to enable the Services, you grant SoScience a non-exclusive license, free of charge, for the entire world and for the duration of your contractual relationship with us, to use the content and data that you submit on the App. Specifically, you authorize us to display, distribute, publish, reproduce, represent, adapt, use and translate any content you provide, and to broadcast it via the App and any other communication protocol and to share it with the public, Community and Sponsors.
- SoScience’s IP Rights / Limited License
This App is controlled and operated by SoScience. Our proprietary software, and our materials on the App, including logos, trademarks, trade names, images, text, illustrations, audio, video files and the selection, coordination and arrangement of such materials, are protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, or other proprietary rights which are either owned by us or owned by other parties who have licensed their intellectual property to us, and all other trademarks, service marks, and trade names used on the App are the property of their respective owners.
Subject to being a User, SoScience grants you a non-exclusive, revocable, personal and non-transferable license, to use the App, for your personal and private use, on a non-commercial basis and in compliance with the purposes of the App.
You are prohibited from any other use or exploitation of the App and Services, and their content, without the prior written permission of SoScience. Notably, you are prohibited from:
- reproducing, adapting, distributing, publicly representing and disseminating the App, the Services, Briefs, Programs and the content of the App;
- extracting or attempting to extract (notably using data mining robots or any other similar data collection tool) a substantial part of the data of the App;
- copying, modifying, creating a derivative work of, reverse engineering, reverse assembling or otherwise attempting to discover any source code;
- modifying or attempting to modify the App in any manner or form, except that you have the right to modify your self-generated content on the App;
- framing or utilizing framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information (including Program descriptions, images, text, page layout, or form);
- using any meta tags or any other “hidden text” with SoScience’s name or trademarks.
Any unauthorized use by you which contravenes the above terminates the license granted by us.
All new versions, updates or changes to our App, Services or related content shall be subject to these T&Cs. SoScience reserves all rights not expressly granted by the present T&Cs.
- Remedies
If you believe that your legitimate intellectual property rights have been violated by the introduction of certain content on the App, you must notify SoScience and provide us with the following:
- Your contact information. If the claim is on behalf of a third party, please include proof of your right to represent the third party;
- Identification of the specific App content that you consider is protected by intellectual property rights as well as its location on the App (indicating the URL link);
- Accreditation of the aforementioned intellectual property rights; and reasons for the supposed violation.
- Role of SoScience/ Limitation of liability
SoScience has no control over the behavior of Users, Sponsors or other users of its App. We do not control the information provided by others that is made available through the App; other user’s information may be inaccurate.
By accepting these T&Cs, you acknowledge that SoScience does not control in any manner the nature, quality, legality or timing of Programs. You agree that SoScience, in its capacity as an intermediary, does not provide any Programs and is not a party to any agreement entered into by you and the Sponsor with respect to a Program.
SoScience has no control over, and is not responsible for the acts or omissions of Sponsors, or the quality, accuracy or legality of the Briefs or Programs. We do not endorse any Sponsor.
Users act under their sole and full responsibility.
In its capacity as an intermediary, SoScience cannot be held liable if a Program fails to occur as intended, such as because of:
- erroneous information communicated by the Sponsor in its Brief or Program, or by any other means, with regard to the Program and its terms;
- cancellation or modification of a Program by a Sponsor;
- non-payment of the prize or award by a Sponsor;
- the behavior of its Users during, before or after a Program or at any other time.
We are not responsible for the content or use of any Deliverables, for the User’s lack of success in a Program, for any damage caused to a User by Sponsors, for any indirect damage such as financial loss, loss of business or moral damage that a User may suffer through its use of the App or by participating in a Program.
You agree to look solely to the Sponsor for any claims you may have regarding information provided by the Sponsor. If you have a dispute with another User, you hereby release SoScience from all claims of any kind arising out of such dispute.
SoScience shall not be liable to you for any damages, claims, expenses or other costs you incur as a result of third party claims related to your use of the Services. Under no circumstances, shall SoScience be liable for any indirect damages, or for any damages totaling more than one hundred (100) Euros, assuming that such damages have been duly proven. You agree that you will be responsible for, and at SoScience’s request, defend SoScience from third party claims arising out of information you provide to SoScience for publication or any breach by you of these T&Cs.
You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action related to your use of the Services must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arises, or be forever barred.
- Account suspension, restrictions of access and termination
You can terminate your contractual relations with SoScience and close your Account at any time by clicking on the “Delete your profile” tab on your profile page or by contacting SoScience. The termination takes effect immediately.
If you breach your undertakings as set out in these T&Cs or if we have genuine reason to believe that the security and integrity of SoScience, its Users, Sponsors, or third parties are at risk, we reserve the right to:
- immediately terminate these T&Cs binding you and SoScience; and
- temporarily or permanently suspend your Account.
When this is necessary, you will be notified of such measure to enable you to respond. SoScience will decide, at its sole discretion, whether to lift the measures put in place.
- Personal Data We collect and process some of your personal data.
In using the App and registering as a User, you acknowledge and accept the processing of your personal data by us as set out in our Privacy Notice.
- Operation, availability and functionalities of the Platform
We shall try as far as possible to maintain the App continually accessible. But access to the App or the use of certain features may be suspended or disrupted without notice, due to technical maintenance, migration, or updates, or owing to outages or constraints linked to the network or for other technical reasons.
We reserve the right to modify or suspend all or part of your access to the App or its features, at our sole discretion, temporarily or permanently.
- Hyperlinks
Our App contains links to other Web sites. We do not control those web sites and are not responsible for their content. By including these links, we are not endorsing the material on those Apps or implying any association with their operators.
- Modification of the T&Cs
These T&Cs and the documents integrated by reference express the entire agreement between you and SoScience relative to your use of the App and the Services.
SoScience may modify these T&Cs to adapt to its technological and commercial environment, and to comply with the law. Any modification to these T&Cs will be published on the App with mention of the effective date, and you will be notified by SoScience before the changes take effect.
- Applicable law and dispute resolution
These T&Cs are governed and construed in accordance with French law, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law.
We invite you to submit to us any complaints that you might have using the contact information provided above. If a contractual dispute between you and SoScience cannot be amicably resolved, you may use mediation free of charge, and may consult https://www.economie.gouv.fr/mediation-conso to appoint a mediator.
If the dispute cannot be settled by mediation, you irrevocably agree to submit all disputes to the jurisdiction of the competent court of Paris, France.
For the exclusive benefit of SoScience, SoScience shall also retain the right to bring proceedings as to the substance of the matter in the courts of the country of your residence or, where these T&Cs are entered into in the course of your trade or profession, in the country of your principal place of business.
- Webhosting OVH SAS
Headquarters:
OVH SAS, AS whose head office is located at 2, rue Kellermann, 59100 Roubaix s, registered with the Lille Trade and Companies Register under number 537 407 926.
Region of operations:
France
- Credit for App design and Publisher Contact
SOSCIENCE
9 rue Galande
75005 PARIS
contact@SoScience.org
- Effective Date
11 January 2024