TastingBuddy Terms of Service

 

Welcome to TastingBuddy, a business and service mark owned by Systeme Ouvert Solutions Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with company registration number 2728164 and having its registered office at Forest Lodge, Forest Road Pyrford Surrey GU22 8NA.  All references to TastingBuddy shall mean Systeme Ouvert Solutions limited.  TastingBuddy provides its service to you subject to the following Terms of Service (“ToS”).  The ToS govern the use of TastingBuddy’s website service and handheld software as described hereunder.  By ticking the check box you acknowledge that you have read the ToS, understand them and agree to be bound by them.  If you do not agree to the ToS TastingBuddy will not make the Service available to you.

 

 

1. The Service

 

The Service is the provision by TastingBuddy  to  Registered Users of the means to capture, store, retrieve, manage, edit and share  wine tasting notes using  software which runs on a handheld device.  These tasting notes can subsequently be uploaded to the TastingBuddy website, whereupon users can browse their collection of notes from any Internet enabled PC.  The Service does not include the provision of any hardware by TastingBuddy. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any new features that augment or enhance the current Service, shall be subject to the ToS.  You acknowledge and agree that save as expressly stated in the ToS, the Service is provided "AS IS" and that TastingBuddy assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, mis-delivery or failure to store any user tasting notes.

 

TastingBuddy may offer additional services to you from time to time on the ToS.

 

In order to use the Service, users must obtain access to the World Wide Web, either directly or through devices that access web-based content, and pay any service and/or telephony fees associated with such access.  In addition, users must provide all equipment necessary to make such a connection to the World Wide Web, including computer, modem and/or other access devices.

 

 

2. Registration

 

You must be over 18 years of age to register and use the Service.  You agree to: provide and maintain accurate, up-to-date, and complete information to TastingBuddy using the Service registration form (“the Registration Data”). At the time of registering you must provide payment details for payment of the annual subscription.   Upon completion of the Service registration form you will be designated as a Registered User of TastingBuddy.  In the event or your failure to comply with the above TastingBuddy has the right to suspend or terminate your Registered User status and refuse any and all current or future use of the Service.  Registered User status is currently for individuals only and not for corporations or other legal entities.

 

3. Subscription

 

Upon designation as a Registered User, you will have 30 days free trial of the Service and unless you give notice that you wish to terminate your Registered User status prior to the end of such free trial the annual subscription charge will become due and payable and you will automatically be debited with the annual subscription charge at the end of the free trial. Upon payment of the annual subscription charge you will be entitled to continue to use and access the Service for a period of 12 months (“the Subscription Period”). The annual subscription charge will automatically become due and payable at the end of the Subscription Period and each anniversary thereof and you will automatically be debited with the annual subscription charge unless and until you give notice that you wish to terminate your Registered User status prior to the annual subscription charge falling due. The annual subscription charge is currently £40 inclusive of VAT and we reserve the right to increase this charge by giving at least one month’s notice prior to the next annual subscription charge falling due. Any failure to pay the annual subscription charge on the due date will automatically result in termination of Registered User Status and cancellation of the Service.

 

 

4. The Software

 

The software currently works on the Microsoft Windows Mobile Pocket PC platform, version 3.0.1 or higher, and BlackBerry devices running the BlackBerry Desktop software version 4.1 or higher.  Registered Users will be sent the TastingBuddy handheld software by e-mail in .cab file format for Windows Mobile users and .msi file format for BlackBerry users.  Upon receipt, the software can be loaded onto a handheld device.  Upgrades to the software may be made available from time to time and you will need to ensure that you are using the latest version in order to use the Service.

 

All software provided by TastingBuddy remains the property of TastingBuddy, and contains proprietary and confidential information that is protected by intellectual property and other legislation.

 

 

5. Privacy

 

All the information that you provide to us about yourself (as an individual) shall be used and held in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

 

You acknowledge that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms of our Privacy Policy

 

 

6. Registered User’s Password and Security

 

Upon completing the registration process you will receive a TastingBuddy ID and password.  You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and its TastingBuddy ID and password.

 

All activities undertaken on the site under your ID and password shall be deemed to be either performed by you or with your express permission, and you will be held liable for any losses suffered to TastingBuddy or any other TastingBuddy users or any third parties, as a result of such activities.

 

You agree to:

 

Not give your ID and password to any third party, or allow any third party to use the account; ensure that you properly exit and log out at the end of each session; and inform TastingBuddy immediately if you become aware that there has been unauthorised use of your ID and/or password.

 

 

7. Conduct

 

You acknowledge that you and not TastingBuddy are entirely responsible for all tasting notes that you upload and email via the Service.  TastingBuddy does not control the content posted via the Service and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such content.  You acknowledge that by using the Service, you may be exposed to content that is objectionable to you.  Under no circumstances will TastingBuddy be liable in any way for any content, including, but not limited to, for any errors or omissions in any content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any content posted, emailed or otherwise transmitted via the Service.

You agree to not use the Service to:

  1. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libellous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
  2. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any content that you do not have a right to transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);
  3. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;
  4. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation;
  5. upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, damage, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
  6. rent, loan, or sub-license any username or password to a third party; impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a TastingBuddy employee, forum leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
  7. interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers or networks connected to the Service, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Service;
  8. intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable law or regulation including, but not limited to, regulations promulgated by any securities exchange;
  9. collect or store personal data about other users.

You acknowledge that TastingBuddy does not pre-screen content, but that TastingBuddy shall have the right (but not the obligation) in its sole discretion to refuse or move any content that is available via the Service.  Without limiting the foregoing, TastingBuddy shall have the right to remove any content that violates the ToS or is otherwise objectionable.  You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such content.  In this regard, you acknowledge that you may not rely on any content created by TastingBuddy or submitted to TastingBuddy.

You agree that TastingBuddy may access, preserve, and disclose your Registration Data and content: (a) to its affiliated companies worldwide for the purpose of providing the content to you in an efficient manner; (b) for the purpose of proper administration in accordance with the standard operating procedures of TastingBuddy or its affiliated companies; and (c) if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that any such access, preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (i) comply with legal process; (ii) enforce the ToS; (iii) respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third-parties; (iv) respond to your requests for customer service; or (v) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of TastingBuddy, its users and the public.

You acknowledge that the technical processing and transmission of the Service, including your content, may involve transmissions over various networks and changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices.  TastingBuddy reserves the right to terminate your access to some or all parts of its Service if you withdraw your consent in this section at any time. 

 

 

8. Indemnity

 

You agree to indemnify and keep indemnified TastingBuddy ,its subsidiaries, parent and sister companies) against any liability, losses, damages and legal costs, whether direct, indirect or consequential, incurred due to any claim or demand of a third party caused or arising out of any activities undertaken by you on the site or as a result of any content, notes, posting or transmission made by you through the service, your general use of the Service, or your breach of the provisions of these ToS or your interference with the rights of one of the other Registered Users of TastingBuddy.

 

 

9. Resale of Service

 

You understand that any registration to our Service is personal to you, and you agree that you are not permitted to reproduce, copy, sell or resell any part of the Service or any access to the Service.

 

 

10. Practices of use and storage

 

You acknowledge that TastingBuddy may establish general practices and limits concerning use of the Service, including without limitation the maximum number of days that tasting notes or other uploaded Content will be retained by the Service, the maximum number of tasting notes that may be sent from or received by a Registered User, the maximum disk space that will be allotted on TastingBuddy's servers on your behalf, and the maximum number of times (and the maximum duration for which) you may access the Service in a given period of time.  You agree that TastingBuddy has no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to store any tasting notes or other Content maintained or transmitted by the Service.  You acknowledge that TastingBuddy reserves the right to log off sessions that are inactive for an extended period of time.  You further acknowledge that TastingBuddy reserves the right to change these general practices and limits at any time, in its sole discretion, with or without notice.

 

 

11. Modifications

 

TastingBuddy reserves the right to alter the Service, including modifications to existing features, addition of new features and temporary or permanent discontinuance of any features.

 

Such alterations may be made from time to time and although TastingBuddy endeavours to keep you informed of any updates or alterations to the Service, such alterations may take place without notice.

 

TastingBuddy shall not be liable for any loss or damage caused in connection with any modifications to the Service.

 

 

12. Termination

 

TastingBuddy has the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate, suspend or alter your access to the Service, user name or password temporarily or permanently if you commit a material breach of any of the terms or conditions of theToS and fail to remedy the same (if capable of remedy) within 30 days of being required in writing so to do. TastingBuddy also reserves the right to alter or remove any content placed on the TastingBuddy website by you if this could reasonably cause offence to other subscribers to the Service.

 

 

13. Links

 

The Service may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other web sites or resources.  Because TastingBuddy has no control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that TastingBuddy is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such sites or resources.  You further acknowledge and agree that TastingBuddy shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, or goods or services available on or through any such site or resource.

 

 

14. TastingBuddy’s Proprietary Rights

 

TastingBuddy owns all right, title and interest in and to the Service, including without limitation, copyright, patent, trademark and trade secret rights therein, and you understand and agree that you receive no ownership rights in and to the Service.  You agree to take all reasonable steps necessary to protect TastingBuddy’s proprietary rights in the Service related to your use and possession of the same, including but not limited to, maintaining the confidentiality of your username and password.  You acknowledge and agree that the Service and any necessary software used in connection with the Service ("Software ") contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws.  You further acknowledge and agree that information presented to you through the Service is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents or other proprietary rights and laws.  Except as expressly authorised by TastingBuddy, you agree not to modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based on the Service or the Software, in whole or in part.

Subject to your agreement with the ToS, TastingBuddy grants you:

  1. A personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive right and licence to use the Service for your personal use.  You acknowledge that the Service utilises usernames and passwords to enable access to the Service and you shall have the right to use a single username and password.
  2. A personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive right and licence to use the handheld software on a single device.  You are permitted to make a backup copy of the handheld software for reinstallation purposes only e.g. unintentional deletion or change of device.

TastingBuddy grants you this dual licence provided you do not (and do not allow any third party to) copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, reverse assemble or otherwise attempt to discover any source code, sell, assign, sub-licence, grant a security interest in or otherwise transfer any right in the Software.  The foregoing is subject to applicable statute and other express law.  You agree not to modify the Software in any manner or form, or to use modified versions of the Software, including (without limitation) for the purpose of obtaining unauthorised access to the Service. You agree not to access the Service by any means other than through the interface that is provided by TastingBuddy for use in accessing the Service.

You are permitted to download, copy, or print any material from this website provided it is not amended and it is for personal use only.  Any unauthorised reproduction, transmission, or redistribution for commercial reasons is prohibited.

 

 

15. Disclaimers

YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT:

  1. TastingBuddy’s sole liability to you in providing the Service is to use reasonable endeavours to maintain availability of the Service for an average of at least 95% of the time in any 12 month period and if it fails to do so the aggregate liability of TastingBuddy to you shall not exceed 125% of the last annual subscription charge paid. Save as expressly stated above YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.  THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS.  TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, TASTINGBUDDY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS AND OTHER TERMS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED TERM OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ANY TERM AS TO THE PROVISION OF SERVICES TO A STANDARD OF REASONABLE CARE AND SKILL OR AS TO NON-INFRINGEMENT OF ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT.
  2. TASTINGBUDDY MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION THAT (i) THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (ii) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, (iii) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, (iv) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND (V) ANY ERRORS IN THE SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED.
  3. ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICE IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL.
  4. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM TASTINGBUDDY OR THROUGH OR FROM THE SERVICE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY OR OTHER OBLIGATION NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THE ToS.

 

16. Limitation of Liability

YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT TASTINGBUDDY SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF TASTINGBUDDY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM: (i) THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE; (ii) THE COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS AND SERVICES RESULTING FROM ANY GOODS, DATA, INFORMATION OR SERVICES PURCHASED OR OBTAINED OR MESSAGES RECEIVED OR TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO THROUGH OR FROM THE SERVICE; (iii) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (iv) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THE SERVICE; OR (v) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO THE SERVICE.

17. Exclusions and Limitations

 

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. ACCORDINGLY, SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

IN PARTICULAR, NOTHING IN THESE ToS SHALL AFFECT THE STATUTORY RIGHTS OF ANY CONSUMER OR EXCLUDE OR RESTRICT ANY LIABIITY FOR DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY ARISING FROM THE NEGLIGENCE OR FRAUD OF TASTINGBUDDY.

 

 

18. Notice

 

Notices to you may be made via either email or regular mail.  TastingBuddymay also provide notices of changes to the ToS or other matters by displaying notices or links to notices to you generally on the TastingBuddy website. Notices to TastingBudy shall be:in writing;in the English language; and  sent by first class post or e-mail or by fax to the addresses advised on theTastingBuddy website or such other addresses as are advised by TastingBuddy to you from time to time.

 

 

19. Trademark Information

 

TastingBuddy and Tasting Buddy are registered trademarks of Systeme Ouvert Solutions Ltd.  Together with all other product and service names they are referred to as the "TastingBuddy Marks".  You agree not to display or use in any manner, the TastingBuddy Marks, without TastingBuddy’s prior permission.

 

 

20. General Information

 

These ToS (including the guides and rules referred to herein) constitute the entire agreement between you and TastingBuddy and govern your use of the Service, superseding any prior agreements between you and TastingBuddy.  You also may be subject to additional terms and conditions that may apply when you use affiliate services, third-party content or third-party software.  Where you are subject to terms under any other policy referred to in these terms, or supplementary to these terms and there is disagreement between those terms and these, the provisions of these terms shall prevail.

 

The ToS and the relationship between you and TastingBuddy shall be governed by the laws of England.  You and TastingBuddy agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.  Any failure by TastingBuddy to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the ToS shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the ToS is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavour to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the ToS remain in full force and effect.

 

 

21. Acknowledgment of Understanding

 

You acknowledge that you have read the ToS, understand them and agree to be bound by them.  You also agree that these ToS’s are the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between TastingBuddy and you and supersede all proposals, representations or prior agreements, oral or written, and any other communications between TastingBuddy and you relating to the subject matter of the ToS.  The ToS may not be amended, except by an agreement in writing which is signed by authorized representatives of TastingBuddy and you.  The section titles in the ToS are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.