TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE

1. PURPOSE

The current Terms and Conditions of Use (TOU) were last updated on 1 September 2017.

Their purpose of these TOU is to define the terms and conditions under which the company International Service – The Big Challenge (henceforth known as “The Big Challenge”) puts its Site at the disposition of Users, as well as the terms and conditions under which the Site must be used by Users.

Access to the Site is conditional on the agreement to and compliance with these TOU. Users wishing to access the site must have first of all read and accepted the TOU and agreed to comply with them fully.

In the event that a User does not wish to accept all or part of these TOU, they are asked to refrain from using the Site.

Users are asked to read these TOU carefully.

2. DEFINITIONS

• Site: the site “The Big Challenge”, including the Austrian (/at), Scandinavian (/scandinavia), Dutch (/nl), Belgian (/be), German (/de), Spanish (/es), Polish (/pl), Italian (/it) and vocational college (/lyceespro) versions, with all the services which are offered such as those defined in article 3 below, in addition to the corresponding mobile applications;
• User: all people, including Members, navigating the Site;
• Member: any User authenticated on the site via a username, an email address and a password;
• Content: all information (videos, text, photographs, comments, …) published by a User on the Site.

3. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE

The company, The Big Challenge, proposes, once a year, an English-language contest called “The Big Challenge” with prizes awarded to:

• all students in the 6^ème, 5^ème, 4^èmeand 3^ème years in the middle schools (“collèges”) located in France;
• all the students in located in Austria, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Poland and Italy;
• all students in vocational colleges (“lycées professionnels”) located in France.

The Site consists of a public and a private space.

The public space provides access to different types of services, namely:

1. a service allowing teachers and students of the abovementioned establishments to register for the latest English contest “The Big Challenge”;
2. games and applications (Yes no game, Verb Ace, Quiz, Big Quiz) allowing any User to train for the contest and improve their English;
3. a publications service (“News”) which allows Users the possibility to publish, in English only, different articles and images dedicated to certain themes, each publication can be commented upon by other Users;
4. three areas of personal contribution (“Comments”, “Photos”, “Testimonials”) where any User can publish comments, photographs and testimonies relating to the contest;
5. other areas with general information on the contest rules, prizes, reports of previous contests, Frequently Asked Questions, etc.

The private space is a part of the Site accessible after authentication and requires the prior creation of a personal account, via a username, an email address and a password. It gives access to the following services:

1. a service which allows students of the previously mentioned establishments having taken part in the contest to view their results online;
2. a service allowing teachers to view their students’ results online;
3. a service allowing students of the previously mentioned establishments having taken part in the contest to download the Certificate attesting to their participation in the contest and stating their score and ranking;
4. access to their previous scores, established when the User played Yes No, Verb Ace, Quiz and Big Quiz while connected to their personal account.

4          ACCESS TO THE SITE

4.1 Site access

The Site as well as the services it offers are accessible free of charge to any User with Internet access. All costs incurred in accessing the Site and its services, whether they be hardware, software or Internet access costs are exclusively at the charge of the User. They have sole responsibility for the proper functioning of their computer equipment and internet access.

To create an account to access the private space, each Member must complete the mandatory information fields requiring the input of a username, an email address and a password. To activate their account, the Member must next click on the link sent to them by The Big Challenge once they have provided the required information.

The Big Challenge recommends to Members to regularly change their passwords.

In the event that a password is lost or forgotten, the Member concerned must regenerate a new one which will be sent to their email address via the “Password reset” section.

In the case of theft of username and/or email address and/or password, or in case of use proven or suspected by a non-authorised third-party of the username and/or the email address and/or the password, the Member concerned must immediately contact The Big Challenge. However in no case can The Big Challenge be held responsible for such acts.

4.2 Site Availability

Before accessing the Site, it is the responsibility of Users to verify that the computer configuration they use is compatible with the navigation and use of the Site.

It is also the responsibility of Users to verify that the computer system that they use does not contain any viruses and is in perfect working order.

The Big Challenge agrees to do its best to assure that the Site is available to Users 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Nevertheless, The Big Challenge reserves the right, without giving notice nor liability, to close temporarily or permanently access to all or part of the Site (notably for the purpose of maintenance, updates or upgrades to the Site, or as the result of technical problems) and will not be held responsible for any direct or indirect damages that may result.

More generally, The Big Challenge cannot be held responsible in case of the unavailability of the Site for any reason whatsoever. The Big Challenge does not control the risks related to the functioning of the Internet and draws the User’s attention to the possibility of telecommunication outages, denial of service, viruses, computer bugs, and all other forces outside the control of The Big Challenge and preventing accessibility of the Site.

Finally, The Big Challenge reserves the right to modify, suspend or even bring to an end access to all or part of the Site at any moment including, in general, to refuse access to the Site, unilaterally and without prior notice, to any User who does not abide by the current TOU, with the interruption providing no grounds for any obligation or compensation.

4.3 Minor Users

Minors are permitted to use the Site and become Members, under the condition of them having beforehand obtained consent from their parent(s) (or legal guardian(s)) to do so and that the parent(s) or guardian(s) accept to be guarantor(s) for the minor with respect to these TOU. All use of the Site by a minor User is done under the responsibility of the parents or legal guardians of that minor.

5. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

5.1 Intellectual property rights of The Big Challenge

The Site and each of its component elements contained within it, but not limited to, the domain name and the sub domain, all brands, logos, software, hierarchy, database, graphic chart, design and models, illustrations, animations, images, text, with the exception of content put online by Users, are the exclusive property of The Big Challenge.

As a consequence, any copying, reproduction, representation, adaptation, alteration, modification, unauthorised diffusion, total or partial, extraction or reuse, repeated or systematic of all or part of the Site or its elements, by whatever means and on whatever medium, constitutes an infringement.

5.2 Intellectual property rights of Users and their Contents

The Users agrees that the Content they publish conforms with existing laws and regulations in France regarding intellectual property and, where applicable, in the country in which the Content was published, if this country is a state which respects the freedom of expression.

The Content must not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party.

The User guarantees The Big Challenge that they are the owner of the intellectual property of all Content that they publish (whether an original title or a transfer, a licensing or any other authorisation from a third party). As such, the User concedes to The Big Challenge, for the entirety of the intellectual property rights for the entire world, a free user licence, of reproductions, representation, public communication and diffusion of their Content, in all formats, all forms, on all media, and by any means, including via the Internet.

The User guarantees The Big Challenge the undisturbed use of the intellectual property conceded on the Content. For this reason, the Users releases The Big Challenge from any appeals or actions, based on or having as origin photographs, data, information or items appearing in the Content, which could lead to action being taken in any way, for any cause from a third-party source.  The User agrees to compensate The Big Challenge for all costs, expenses and indemnities of any kind (including legal costs and consultation fees) which could be incurred or charged to The Big Challenge along with any judgement against The Big Challenge since the reason for these would be basically or originally the Content put online by the User.

6. USER OBLIGATIONS

In addition to the individual intellectual property rights outlined in article 5 above, User agrees that the Content published conforms with the current TOU in addition to the laws and regulations existing in France and, where applicable, in the country in which the Content was published, if this country is a state which respects the freedom of expression.

The Content published must not (list not exhaustive):

• be vulgar or derogatory;
• infringe on a third-party’s rights (notably the right to privacy and the rights of image)
• incite hatred, violence, anorexia, suicide, racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, homophobia, glorify war crimes or crimes against humanity;
• be of a paedophilic nature;
• incite others to commit crimes or acts of terrorism;
• incite the discrimination of a person or group of people for reason of their ethnicity, religion, race, or because of their sexual orientation or disability;
• be of a pornographic nature;
• be, in the strict sense of the law, injurious, derogatory or defamatory in such a way that a court would condemn the author of the Content. The User is not forbidden to criticise, as long as the criticism is objective and measured;
• compose a message that could be classed as an advertisement, and which profits the User or a third party.

In the case where The Big Challenge becomes aware of Content of an illicit nature put online by a User or the facts and circumstances make this illicit nature obvious, The Big Challenge will have the right to remove the Content immediately or make access to it impossible, without prior notice or compensation. The same will apply for any Content which breaches the provisions in the TOU.

The User guarantees The Big Challenge the undisturbed use of Content as part of this authorisation. The Users guarantees also The Big Challenge against any action based or having for its origin photographs, images, information or items appearing in the Content, which could lead to action being taken in any way, for any cause from a third-party source. The User agrees to compensate The Big Challenge for all costs, expenses and indemnities of any kind (including legal costs and consultation fees) which could be incurred or charged to The Big Challenge along with any judgement against The Big Challenge since the reason for these would be basically or originally the Content put online by the User.

In general, the User remains owner of their Content and can modify or delete them at any time by a simple email request to admin@thebigchallenge.com.

The User is informed that their Content is not protected against the risks of hijacking and/or piracy, and The Big Challenge shall not be held responsible. Where appropriate, it will take all the measures necessary to protect its Content. For this reason, The Big Challenge cannot be held responsible for damages of whatever nature, caused or suffered by the User or a third party.

Furthermore, it is forbidden for any User to copy, reproduce, and/or use Content belonging to other Users except for the strict need of use of the Site or personal and private purposes.

7. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE BIG CHALLENGE

7.1 Responsibility regarding Content published by Users

For all Content published by a User, The Big Challenge is simply a hosting provider.

The Big Challenge cannot view Content before their publication. The Big Challenge does not a priori carry out any checks on the Content it hosts and neither does it verify that the Content conforms with the existing laws in France. The Big Challenge is also likely to carry out checks a posteriori, but only to verify that the Content put online by Users is not illegal.

For this reason, only the User is responsible for the Content which they have published on the Site, and in no case will The Big Challenge be held responsible for the Content which it hosts.

Concerning removal requests or the deletion of Content, such as comments, photographs or any other kind of Content, the law of 21 June 2014 for the Confidence in the Digital Economy Act (LCEN) states that hosts are not responsible for the litigious Content that they host, if the litigious nature of the content was not regularly brought to their attention.

A User or a third party who wishes to remove something which they consider harmful must imperatively contact The Big Challenge by using the link “Report inappropriate content” or emailing info@thebigchallenge.com in accordance with the current laws in France.

In any case, The Big Challenge reserves the right to refuse to act upon abusive messages or those pertaining to non-illegal Content.

7.2 Responsibility regarding information published on the Site by The Big Challenge

The Big Challenge does not guarantee the completeness, the up-to-date, the comprehensiveness, the reliability, the exactitude, the veracity, the relevance or the accuracy of the information published on the Site. Where necessary, and subject to notification of The Big Challenge of errors or emissions at the address info@thebigchallenge.com. The Big Challenge will act on necessary rectifications in a timely manner, whilst taking into consideration technical and physical limitations.

In any case, the information published on the Site does not exempt the Users, whomever they may be, from acting by themselves and checking the Content and the information provided.

The Users alone are responsible for the proper and judicious use of the information made available to them on the Site.

As a result, The Big Challenge cannot be held liable for the information on the Site and any damages, direct or indirect or of whatsoever nature.

8. HYPERLINKS

8.1 In the event that hyperlinks direct towards third-party sites, including towards social networks, these sites will be available to Users of the Site. The Big Challenge informs Users that it does not have any editorial control over third-party sites.

Consequently, The Big Challenge can in no circumstances be held liable directly or indirectly in relation to the User resulting from the access, the content, the use or the malfunctioning of external sites.

8.2 The Big Challenge authorises the creation of hyperlinks towards pages or documents on its Site, under the condition that links are not being used for commercial or promotional purposes. This placement of link can only be done if the link authors have previously informed the Site webmaster. Excluded from this authorisation are sites publishing information of an illegal nature, violent, polemic, pornographic, xenophobic or liable to be offensive to the great majority of people. The Big Challenge reserves the right to have deleted at any time a hyperlink pointing towards its Site, if it considers that it is not compatible with its editorial policy.

9. DURATION AND CANCELLATION

The current contract is made for an indefinite period starting when the User begins using the Site.

A Member can, at any time, freely and without justification, put an end to their registration to the Site.

For its part, The Big Challenge may terminate a Member’s account, without prior formal notice, in case of a neglect of contractual obligations relating to the present TOU and/or the breach of  laws and regulations in force.

The Member will be informed by email of the cancellation of their account, and the reason for this action. This cancellation will be effected without prejudice any damages and interest which could be reclaimed from the account owner, or to those authorised persons or legal representatives, by The Big Challenge to repair the harm done as a result of such failures or violations.

10. MODIFICATIONS TO THE TOU

The current TOU may be modified by The Big Challenge at any time, notably in case of technical, legal or jurisprudential developments or when new services are put in place.

All modifications to the TOU come into force as soon as they are put online. The User must therefore consult the latest version of the TOU, available permanently on the Site, as soon as they access the site and, in any case, before any new navigation and/or use of the Site, in order to become aware of the changes.

The User is obliged to accept the current TOU unreservedly, and agrees to no longer access, navigate and use the Site, and to delete their account from the Site as soon as possible, in case of disagreement with the TOU.

11. APPLICABLE LAW AND COURT OF JUSTICE

The current TOU are subject to French law.

In case of litigation or claims from the User, The Big Challenge or a third-party relating to the use of the Site, only the French version of the current TOU will have binding force between the parties.

If an amicable solution cannot be found, any dispute concerning the acceptance, validity, interpretation, application or execution of any of the provisions of the current TOU will be subject to the exclusive competence of the courts located within the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal of Paris, including in the event of summary judgments, introduction of third parties or multiple defendants.

The mandatory provisions in effect in the countries in which The Big Challenge offers its services can nevertheless apply to the present TOU.