Terms of Service
These terms of service ("Terms of Service") apply to the Research
Software Directory (the "RSD"), developed by the Netherlands
eScience Center with contributions from Imperial College of Science
Technology and Medicine ("Imperial", "us", "we" and the
like) and others.
The RSD is hosted and maintained by Imperial in England.
1. What is the RSD
1.1 The RSD is an online content management system for research software
("Research Software"), through which organisations
("Organisations") and individual users ("Users") can make
their Research Software findable and accessible, and present it in its
academic context. The RSD contains entries with respect to Research
Software, which includes relevant information about the Research
Software, its developers and project team members involved (each a
"Contributor") as well as metadata and hyperlinks to related
publications, e.g. as blogs, in books, papers, journals, videos, etc.
(each a "Mention").
1.2 Users can get access to the RSD by logging in via a supported
identity provider ("Identity Provider"). When a User logs in for
the first time, an RSD account ("Account") will be created
automatically for that User. Through this Account, a User can contribute
information about Research Software and Projects to the RSD. A User can
only contribute to Research Software and Projects for which the User is
registered as a maintainer ("Maintainer"). A User becomes a
Maintainer automatically when the User adds new Research Software or
Projects to the RSD, or by invitation of a Maintainer of existing
Research Software and projects.
1.3 For an Organisation to become a member ("Member") of the RSD
the Organisation must contact the RSD Team ("RSD Team") to discuss
the terms of membership. After an agreement is reached, the Organisation
will be registered an official Member. The Organisation may then appoint
a User as Maintainer of the Organisation information in the RSD.
2. What do we expect of you when using the RSD?
2.1 By using the RSD, you confirm that you accept the following terms of
use and agree to and, where applicable, declare the following:
2.1.1 You are 18 years or older and you are legally authorised to
conclude agreements under applicable laws;
2.1.2 You are authorised by your Organisation to have and use an Account
and to use the RSD. "Use" of the RSD for the purpose of these Terms of
Service also includes accessing it and adding content ("Content") to
it;
2.1.3 You shall use the RSD only for your own and/or your Organisation's
purposes;
2.1.4 You shall provide at your own expense all hardware, internet
service and other devices and times necessary for the use of the RSD;
2.1.5 You shall use the RSD in accordance with applicable laws and
regulations and not in violation of any third-party rights;
2.1.5 You shall not knowingly place incorrect or otherwise misleading or
unlawful Content in the RSD;
2.1.6 When you add your details in your profile under your Account, you
shall add your real details and keep them up to date (you can update
your information at any time through your Account);
2.1.7 You shall keep your log-in details secure and will not share them
with any other person, whether inside or outside your Organisation;
2.1.8 You are responsible for all activity occurring under your Account.
If you believe your Account has been, or can be, accessed by an
unauthorised person, you should immediately change your password and
should notify us immediately by email at
research-software-directory@imperial.ac.uk.
2.1.9 You shall make sure the device on which you use your Account, and
the internet connection used, are properly secured, so that unauthorised
others cannot access your Account;
2.1.10 Neither you, nor your Organisation are restricted from using the
RSD, for example due to export controls in any jurisdiction and/or
because you and/or your Organisation are listed on a restricted parties
list in any jurisdiction and/or if we have previously blocked your
Account;
2.1.11 Neither you, nor anyone on your behalf shall use the RSD in a
manner that would require us and/or you to obtain an export control
license in any country. Such use includes without limitation training or
use for weapons, whether biological, chemical, nuclear or otherwise and
for any other military or nuclear devices;
2.1.12 You may delete your Account at any time, in which case the data
in your Account will also be deleted. Content you have added to the RSD
will not be deleted.
2.1.13 If you become aware of any material that is illegal or could
comprise or be connected to child sexual abuse or exploitation or could
comprise terrorist content or be connected to terrorism, please contact
us immediately on research-software-directory@imperial.ac.uk.
2.1.14 If you wish to complain about any other content, please contact
us on research-software-directory@imperial.ac.uk.
3. What can you expect of us?
3.1. We will try to answer your questions about the RSD as soon as
possible but we currently do not provide ongoing support for the RSD for
the issues of individual Users. We may decide at our discretion which
functionality is offered in the RSD and we can update the RSD from time
to time. You may send us improvement suggestions with respect to the
RSD, but we shall not be obliged to implement suggestions.
3.2.We do not guarantee that the RSD has full functionality, that it is
free from errors, that it or any content on it will always be available
or be uninterrupted. We may suspend or withdraw or restrict the
availability of all or any part of our site for business and operational
reasons. We will however use reasonable endeavours to keep the RSD
available to you as continuously as we can.
3.3 We do not guarantee that the RSD will be secure or free from bugs or
viruses.
3.4 You are responsible for configuring your information technology,
computer programmes and platform to access the RSD. You should use your
own virus protection software.
3.5 You must not misuse the RSD by knowingly introducing viruses,
trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or
technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised
access to the RSD, the server on which the RSD is stored or any server,
computer or database connected to the RSD. You must not attack our site
via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service
attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence
under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to
the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with
those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of
such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.
4. Personal data
4.1. In order for us to offer you the RSD and make your Account
available to you, we must process your personal data. We will only use
your personal information as set out in our Privacy
Policy.
4.2. We are the controller of the personal data of Contributors and
Users processed in the RSD, as meant in Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the
protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal
data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection
Regulation) OJ L 119/1, 4.5.2016 ("GDPR").
4.3. You will view and use the personal data of Contributors for your
own or your Organisation's purposes through your Account -- in the
context of contributing to Research Software entries. You or your
Organisation are responsible as a controller for the processing of such
data and you and your Organisation warrant that you will comply with
applicable laws, such as the GDPR, with respect to such data processing.
This means, amongst others, that if you cause a data breach, for example
because your log-in details are used by an unauthorised person to access
your Account, you are responsible for notifying this to the competent
authorities and the relevant Contributors and Users involved, if so
required by law. It also means that you and/or your Organisation are
responsible for informing Contributors and (where applicable) the Users
about the data processing and its purposes, and that you and your
Organisation may only process the personal data for the purposes as made
known in the Privacy Policy of the RSD and/or for purposes that are
compatible with those purposes, or with the relevant data subject's
valid consent.
4.4. Should you access personal data in the RSD from outside the United
Kingdom ("UK") or the European Economic Area ("EEA"), and such
access can be regarded as a transfer of personal data to a third country
under the GDPR, you agree to be bound by the European Commission's then
current Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers to outside the EEA
applicable to controller to controller transfers.
4.5. If you add information with respect to a Contributor you must
inform the Contributor that you have done so. If the information of the
Contributor turns out the be incorrect on incomplete (e.g. you have
added the wrong Contributor to a certain Research Software entry), you
shall correct the information yourself as soon as you find the error, or
at our, or the Contributor's request. You may ask us, respectively the
Contributor to evidence why the information is incorrect. You and your
Organisation shall also handle other requests from Contributors or, if
you are an Administrator, from the relevant Users, with respect to their
personal data for which you or your Organisation are the controller.
4.6. If you and/or your Organisation has violated the GDPR, other
applicable data protection and/or privacy legislation and/or this
Section 4, you and your Organisation indemnify and hold us harmless from
the costs, damages and other losses we suffer as a result of such
violation.
5. Intellectual property rights
5.1. All intellectual property rights, including 'sui generis' database
rights and the like related to the RSD ("our intellectual property
rights") remain ours or our licensors'. For the avoidance of doubt,
the foregoing does not include third-party content included in the RSD.
5.2. You are granted a revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicensable,
limited right to use the RSD for the purposes set out in these Terms of
Service, we reserve all other rights.
5.3. You grant us an irrevocable, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide
and perpetual right to use the Content in and in the context of the RSD.
You and your Organisation indemnify and hold us harmless from any costs,
damages and other losses we suffer as a result of third-party claims
stating that the Content infringes such third-party rights or is
otherwise unlawful.
5.4. You are not allowed to grant or transfer the right granted to you
to any others, or make copies -- or parts of it -- of the RSD, or to
sell, exploit, transfer, lease, distribute, rent it or otherwise dispose
of the RSD, or grant other any other any rights thereto without our
prior consent. You may not make changes to the RSD, except when you are
adding Content during your use of the RSD.
6. Notice and take down
6.1. We do not moderate contributions that Users make to the RSD.
However, we may pursuant to applicable laws, be obliged to remove
evidently unlawful Content.
6.2. If someone finds any Content to be unlawful they may contact us
(see below under "How can you contact us?") and request us to remove
such Content. In the request, the requestor must identify themselves,
indicate what Content they wish to be removed, explain why it is
unlawful and provide the information required to support this and give
us a reasonable term to remove the Content.
6.3. If we determine the Content is unequivocally unlawful, we shall
remove it. If we determine the Content is not unequivocally unlawful, we
shall inform the requestor thereof and indicate why.
7. When can we block your account?
7.1. We reserve the right to temporarily block or permanently remove
your Account if:
-
We find that you are in violation of one or more provisions of these
Terms of Service; -
We are asked to do so by competent authorities, including competent
courts; -
We have received a request as indicated above in Section 6 and we
find the Content is unequivocally unlawful; -
You have passed away;
-
You are a Maintainer of an organisation and no longer work for that
Organisation.
We may, but do not have to, warn you before we block your account.
7.2. We will block a User's account who has passed away upon the request
of the User's family or heirs or the User's Organisation. We reserve the
right to ask proof of the User's demise.
7.3. After your Account has been blocked (and deleted), you can no
longer use the RSD or your Account.
7.4. We reserve the right to stop offering the RSD and to stop updating
the RSD for our own reasons without being liable for any costs, damages
or other losses. If we then close all Accounts, this means you can no
longer use your Account.
8. Liability
8.1. We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it
would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or
personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our
employees, agents or subcontractors and for fraud or fraudulent
misrepresentation.
8.2. To the extent permitted under applicable law, we, as well as the
parties and persons we work with in relation to the RSD, limit our
liability as set out below.
8.3. Our liability is limited to compensation of direct damages, and to
the amount paid by our insurer. Direct damages are solely understood to
mean the reasonable and evidenced costs for determining the damage and
our liability. We cannot be held liable for any other types of damages,
including without limitation any indirect damages, consequential
damages, special damages, punitive damages, loss of business revenue,
loss of profit, loss of business operations, loss of data, loss of
business information, reputational damage, damage caused by, or to other
Users and/or to Contributors, damage caused by us blocking your Account
as set out in these Terms of Service, damage caused by incorrect links
in the RSD, other types of damages other than direct damages, even if
you or we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
8.4. To the extent permitted under applicable law:
8.4.1 we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including without
limitation, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a
particular purpose, results or performance of a service, or
non-infringement, or that the servers that make the RSD available are
free of viruses or other harmful components.
8.4.2 we will not be liable to you for any loss or damage, whether in
contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or
otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with use
of, or inability to use, the RSD or use of or reliance on any content
displayed on our site.
8.5. You agree that, because we are a non-profit organisation and use of
the RSD is free or for a non-commercial fee, the above limitations of
liability are justified.
8.6. We are not liable for damage as a result of force majeure events.
This includes amongst others errors in telecommunications infrastructure
or the internet, problems with operating system manufacturer of your
device, problems with our suppliers, service providers or other hired
third parties, government measures, agents or suppliers which we depend
on to make the RSD available.
8.7. In any event we can only be liable for damage after we have been
served a written notice of default, setting out the default in detail
and allowing us a reasonable remedy term of at least four weeks to
remedy the default during which we have not remedied the default.
8.8. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, you are responsible for
any claims from others that we receive as a result of you not complying
with these Terms of Service, or any other of your acts or omissions.
8.9 The content on the RSD is provided for general information only. It
is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must
obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining
from, any action on the basis of the content on the RSD.
8.10 Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on
the RSD, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether
express or implied, that the content on the RSD is accurate, complete or
up to date.
8.11 No warranty or guarantee is given regarding the quality or
suitability for use of any software listed on the RSD and any use of
software obtained via the RSD is at our risk and in line with the terms
of licence of that software provider.
9. Can we change these Terms of Service?
We amend these Terms of Service from time to time. Every time you wish
to use our site, please check these terms to ensure you understand
the terms that apply at that time.
10. What else?
10.1. The legal relationship with you, including these Terms of Service
and any ensuing conflicts are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
10.2. The court in the area of our main establishment in England and
Wales has jurisdiction with regard to any conflicts between Users and
us.
10.3. In case a provision of these Terms of Service is invalid in any
way, this does not influence the other provisions of the Terms of
Service. The invalid provision will be deemed replaced by a provision
that is valid, in view of its original intent and purpose. We will
update our Terms of Service as soon as possible.
10.4. If we do not enforce a certain provision of these Terms of
Service, this does not mean we waive our rights to enforce such, or any
other provision.
10.5. The agreement with you is archived in the sense that we log your
acceptance of these Terms of Service and the registration of your
Account.
10.6. The agreement with you is concluded in English. If these Terms of
Service are translated, the English version always prevails.
10.7 If there is an inconsistency between any provision of these Terms
of Service and a provision of any Imperial policy, regulation or code of
practice, the provisions of such Imperial policy, regulation or code of
practice shall prevail.
11. How can you contact us?
If you have any questions or complaints or another reason to contact us,
please do so at research-software-directory@imperial.ac.uk .