XING: Your first steps on XING to get you up and running!

General Terms and Conditions for using XING

"XINGâ€ refers to the service provided subject to these General Terms and Conditions and/or XING AG.

Preamble

By logging on to XING, users accept the following General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter the â€œGTCâ€) for using XING.

XING operates XING services under various top-level domains (xing.com, xing.de etc.), as well as various sub-domains and aliases of these domains. All websites on which XING provides XING Services are hereinafter referred to as â€œXING Websites.â€

These GTC shall govern the contract relationship between the User and XING, irrespective of which XING Website the User is registered with or logged on to.

The User enters into this agreement on the use of XING Services with XING AG, DammtorstraÃŸe 29-32, 20354 Hamburg. Additional contact information, commercial registry data, as well as the name of the authorized representative of XING AG can be found under â€œAbout this siteâ€.

The services provided by XING are intended exclusively for persons of legal age.

The User can call up, print out, download and or save these General Terms and Conditions at any time, even after the agreement has been closed, under the â€œTerms & Conditionsâ€ link that appears on all XING Websites.

1. Subject Matter

1.1 The XING Websites offer registered users two options: a) a free private contact forum (membership in the free contact forum is hereinafter referred to as â€œFree Membershipâ€), and b) a private paid communication forum for arranging business contacts (membership in the paid communication forum is hereinafter referred to as â€œPremium Membershipâ€). Special paid memberships such as the Sales Membership and the Recruiter Membership are memberships of the paid communication forum and will therefore also be referred to as "Premium Membership".

1.2 The fees listed under "Benefits" are binding. Payments for the entire term of Premium Membership shall be due immediately upon invoicing. Payment can be made using the various debiting procedures available, in particular with the credit cards accepted, or the available online payment systems. If XING is unable to collect any fees from an account designated by the User due to lack of funds, the User shall bear all costs arising therefrom, including bank charges related to any debit entries or similar charges, insofar as the User is responsible for the event that triggers these costs. XING may deliver invoices and payment reminders to the User electronically. XING shall make said invoices available for download by the User in the Premium Membership area of the XING Websites for at least one (1) year from the date of invoicing.

1.3 Any use of the services and contents offered on the XING Websites beyond the scope of options provided by XING requires the prior written consent of XING.

1.4 XING shall only make data and/or information provided by the User available for other uses provided that this data and/or information does not violate any laws or these GTC. XING is entitled to remove any illegal or prohibited data and/or information from XING Websites without prior notice to the User.

1.5 The User acknowledges and agrees that it is technically impossible to achieve 100% availability of the XING Websites. XING shall nonetheless endeavour to keep XING Websites available without interruption. Events related to maintenance, security or capacity requirements, and/or events beyond XING's control (e.g. disruptions in public communication networks, power failures etc.), may result in brief malfunctions or temporary interruptions of the services provided on XING Websites.

1.6 XING merely provides the User with a platform on which to establish contact with other users, and only provides those technical applications that allow users to contact one another. As regards content, XING does not take part in any communication between users. If users enter into agreements with one another over XING Websites, XING shall not be a contracting party to these agreements. The users alone are responsible for the execution and/or fulfillment of agreements in which they enter with one another. XING shall not be held liable if users are unable to contact one another over XING Websites regarding such agreements. Furthermore, XING shall not be liable for breaches of duty in relation to agreements entered into between users.

1.7 Group moderators are entitled to choose their members. They may freely choose whether or not a user may join their group.

1.8 Unless otherwise expressly defined, partner offers via Top Deals are only available to Premium Members and/or for member groups freely defined by XING.

XING shall merely act as intermediary in the case of agreements entered into with partners.

These partner offers are subject to the General Terms and Conditions and the privacy policies of the respective partner companies, which carry out the complete transaction themselves and are a party to an agreement with and serve as the contact for the User.

1.9 If XING offers the User the option to book one or more third-party supplementary services (e.g. secure.me reputation protection), the User will enter into separate agreements with the respective third party that have no legal connection to the User's XING membership. The termination of such third-party supplementary service agreements or any default of performance thereof does not have any impact on the contractual relationship between XING and the User in terms of the User's XING membership. The terms and conditions and privacy policies of the respective third parties, who are also the contractual and contact partners of the User, apply to all third-party supplementary services.

2. Registration, and Representations and Warranties upon Registration

2.1 The User must register prior to using any of the services on the XING Websites.

2.2 The User warrants and represents that all of the data provided by the User for registration is accurate and complete. The User shall report any changes in the registration data to XING without undue delay.

The User shall not use pseudonyms or pen names.

2.3 The User warrants and represents that he or she is of legal age at the time of registration.

2.4 The User shall choose a password upon registration. The User is obliged to keep this password secret. XING shall not disclose the password to any third party and XING shall not ask for the User's password at any time.

2.5 By completing the registration process, the User consents to enter the agreement to use the services of the XING Websites. XING accepts this offer by activating the membership for the use of services on XING Websites. The agreement takes effect with the aforementioned acceptance by XING.

2.6 Each User is entitled to register with XING only once, and the User may only establish one (1) user profile.

2.7 It is technically impossible for XING to determine with certainty whether any user registered with XING is in fact the person he or she represents to be. Therefore, XING assumes no liability for the actual identity of a user. Each user is solely responsible for checking the actual identity of another user.

3. Right of cancellation for consumers

If you as a User are registered at XING for a purpose that is not related to either your commercial or professional freelance activity, the following provisions apply to you as a consumer in the sense of Par. 13 of the BGB (German Civil Code):

3.1 Right of cancellation

You may cancel your contractual agreement with XING in writing (e.g., by letter, fax or e-mail) within fourteen (14) days without stating a reason. The two-week period begins upon receipt of these instructions, but not before the contract has been executed, and also not prior to our fulfillment of our informational duties as per Par. 246 (2) in connection with Par. 1 (1 and 2) EGBGB, as well as our duties as per Par. 312e (1) line 1 BGB in connection with Par. 246 (3) EGBGB. The contract can be canceled by sending timely notification to:

XING AG
DammtorstraÃŸe 29-32
20354 Hamburg
Germany
Fax: +49 40 419 131 11
E-mail: en-invoice@xing.com

You may also deliver notice of termination using the contact form available at all XING Websites.

3.2 Consequences of cancellation

In the event of a valid contract termination, services and fees provided by both parties are to be returned, and any economic advantages gained (e.g., interest) are to be repaid. If you are not able to return the services and utilization (exercised benefits) rendered fully or in part, or only in a lesser form, you are obligated to reimburse us for the value lost. This can mean that you are required to fulfill the contractual payment obligations for the time period until cancellation. Obligations to reimburse costs must be fulfilled within 30 days. This period begins for you when you send your contract termination, for us when we receive it.

3.3 Additional information

The Userâ€™s right of cancellation lapses before the end of the right of cancellation period if the contract has been completely fulfilled to the satisfaction of both parties before the User exercises his or her right of cancellation.

End of right of cancellation.

4. Obligations of the User

4.1 The User is obliged,

4.1.1 To provide only true and non-misleading statements in the User profile and in communications with other users, and to refrain from using any pseudonyms or pen names.

4.1.2 To post on the XING Websites only photographs of the User in which the User can be clearly and plainly recognized. The User warrants and represents that the public display of the photographs delivered by the User to the XING Websites is not prohibited. The User shall not upload any photographs or images of any other person than of the User, or of non-existent persons or other beings (such as animals, imaginary creatures, etc.).

Group logos that contain company logos are not permitted. Enterprise Groups are exempt from this rule, however.

4.1.3 To comply with all applicable legislation, and respect all third-party rights. In Particular, the User shall not

Use any insulting or defamatory contents, regardless of whether said contents are directed at another user or XING personnel or other companies

Use any pornographic or violence-glorifying materials or any contents that violate any applicable legislation for the protection of minors; or advertise or promote, offer or distribute any pornographic or violence-glorifying product or products which do not comply with any applicable legislation for the protection of minors

Unreasonably annoy (particularly with spam) any other user (cf. section 7 of the German Unfair Competition Act)

Use without authorization any contents protected by law (e.g. by copyright, trademark, patent, utility patent, or design patent laws), or advertise, promote, offer or distribute any goods or services protected by law.

Use or promote any commercial practices considered unfair competition, including progressive customer acquisition practices (such as chain distribution systems, multilevel selling or pyramid sales).

4.1.4 To refrain from engaging in any of the following annoying actions, even if they do not constitute a breach of any applicable laws:

Sending chain letters

Performing, advertising and promoting any form of structural distribution measures (such as multi-level marketing or multi-level network marketing) or

Communicating in any insinuating or sexual way (suggestive or explicit).

4.2 The User is prohibited from the following:

Employing any mechanisms, software or scripts when using XING Websites. However, the User may use the interfaces or software provided by XING within the scope of the services available on the XING Websites.

Blocking, overwriting, modifying and copying of any contents of the XING Websites, unless said actions are necessary for the proper use of the services on the XING Websites. For example, the use of the "Robot/Crawler" search engine technology is not required for proper use of the services, and is therefore prohibited.

Distributing or publicly disclosing the contents of any of the Websites of XING or any other user

Performing any actions which may impair the operability of XING's infrastructure, particularly actions which may overload said infrastructure.

5. Changes to the Services on XING Websites

XING reserves the right to modify the services offered on the XING Websites and/or to offer services different from those offered at the time of the User's registration at any time, unless this is unreasonable for the User.

6. Term and Termination of Membership, Reimbursement of Advance Payments

6.1 The User may terminate the Free Membership at any time without cause. The User may deliver notice of termination using the contact form available on all XING Websites at any time. The termination notice shall include the Userâ€™s registered name and an e-mail address of the User registered on one of the XING Websites.

6.2 Premium Membership shall run for the period selected by the user when purchasing the membership. After this term, the membership will be extended by a term of the same length as the original term, unless terminated in due time by the User or XING. The User and XING may each terminate without cause Premium membership to the end of the initial term chosen by the User in the course of the registration process, or to the end of any renewal period after said minimum term expires, by giving notice of fourteen (14) business days. The User may deliver notice of termination using the contact form available on all XING Websites. Furthermore, the User may deliver termination by sending a fax or letter to XING. The termination notice shall include the username of the User and an e-mail address of the User registered on the XING Websites. If Premium Membership has been terminated, the User is entitled to retain a Free Membership until this membership is terminated. The provisions of this section 6.2 shall not affect the right of both parties to terminate the agreement for good cause.

6.3 A good cause is defined as an event which makes it unacceptable for XING to continue the agreement to the end of the termination period, taking into account all circumstances of the individual case and weighing the interests of XING against the User's. A good cause includes any the following events:

If the User fails to comply with any applicable legal provisions

If the User breaches a contractual obligation, in particular an obligation set forth in sections 2 and 4 of these GTC

If the reputation of the services offered on the XING Websites is substantially impaired by the online presence of the User (if, for example, it is discovered after registration that the User has been convicted of a criminal offence, and if said conviction is known to other users);

If the User promotes any communities or associations (or any of their methods or activities) which are under surveillance by authorities responsible for public safety or the protection of minors, or;

If the User causes harm to any other user(s)

If the User is a member of a religious sect or a denomination that is controversial in Germany.

6.4 In the event of a good cause in accordance with section 6.3 and notwithstanding XING's right to terminate the contract in accordance with section 6.3, XING is entitled to:

Delete the contents posted by the User

Issue a warning, or

Block the User's access to the services on the XING Websites.

6.5 In the following cases, the User shall not be entitled to claim reimbursement of any advance payments:

If XING has terminated the contract for good cause pursuant to section 6.3,

If XING has blocked the Userâ€™s access in accordance with section 6.4, or

If the User has terminated the agreement. However, the User's right to claim reimbursement of any advance payments shall not be excluded in this case if the User has terminated the agreement for a good cause attributable to XING.

7. Responsibility for the Userâ€™s Content, Data or other Information

7.1 XING does not make any warranties or representations regarding any data and/or information provided or made available by any user on any of the XING Websites or on any external websites linked to them. In particular, XING does not warrant or represent that said data and/or information is true or accurate, or that it fulfills or serves any particular purpose.

7.2 The User may report any activities of any other user which violate applicable laws and/or any of the terms and conditions of these GTC (including the use of pseudonyms or false identities) using the contact form available at all XING Websites.

8. Customer Service/Support

Queries regarding agreement with XING or regarding XING Services can be sent by the customer to XING using the contact form available at all times on all XING Websites, or by sending a fax or letter.

9. Liability of XING

Whatever the legal grounds, liability for damage claims based only on ordinary negligence against XING (including its vicarious agents) shall exist only if XING breaches a basic/cardinal obligation under this agreement. A cardinal obligation is an obligation the User can expect to be met, and which fulfillment is a prerequisite to the ordinary execution of the contract. In this event, the amount of claims are limited to typical and foreseeable damages.

Limits shall not apply to the extent damages are covered by XING's business liability insurance, provided the insurance company has effected payment to XING. XING undertakes to maintain the insurance coverage existing at the time this agreement is concluded.

This shall not affect personal injury and property damage claims based on the German Product Liability Act. Furthermore, the above liability exclusions and limitations shall not apply in the event of the assumption of express guarantees by XING or its vicarious agents, or given the lack of promised features.

10. Indemnity

10.1 The User shall indemnify and exempt XING from all actions, including damage claims, asserted by other users or third parties against XING resulting from an infringement of their rights by the contents posted by the User on XING Websites. Furthermore, the User shall indemnify and exempt XING from all actions, including damage claims, asserted by other users or third parties against XING resulting from an infringement of their rights regarding the use of the services on XING Websites by the User. The User assumes all reasonable costs XING incurs due to an infringement of third party rights, including all reasonable legal defense costs. All other rights, including damage claims by XING, are hereby unaffected. The User has the right to prove that XING incurred lesser charges than claims made.

The aforementioned obligations shall not apply to the extent the User is not responsible for the infringement.

10.2 In the event the contents posted by the User infringes any rights of any third party, the User shall, at its own expense and at XING's discretion, either obtain the right to use said contents or render said contents free of any infringement. In the event the User infringes third-party rights when using the services of XING Websites, the User shall discontinue such use that violates these General Terms and Conditions and the law, if so requested by XING.

11. Data Protection

XING recognizes that any data provided by the User to XING is extremely important to the User, and XING shall therefore be particularly sensitive in handling such data. XING shall comply with all applicable legal provisions regarding data protection (German Data Protection Laws, European Data Protection Directives and any other applicable data protection legislation). In particular, XING shall not provide or otherwise disclose any personal data of the User to any third party without authorization. Details on XING's treatment of the User's data are set forth in the Data Protection Policy of XING accessible from each of the XING Websites.

12. Contractual Amendments, Price Changes, Final Provisions

12.1 XING reserves the right to amend these GTC at any time, without giving reasons, unless an amendment is unreasonable to the User. XING shall give due notice of any amendments of these GTC to the User. If the User does not object to the applicability of the revised GTC within six (6) weeks after receipt of said notice, the amended GTC shall be deemed to be accepted by the User. XING shall inform the User about the User's right to object and of the relevance of the objection deadline in said notice.

12.2 XING reserves the right to adequately increase the price of Premium Membership at most once per calendar year with effect from the start of a new renewal period following either the minimum usage period or the respective current renewal period. In such cases, XING will notify users accordingly at least six (6) weeks before the end of the minimum usage period or the respective current renewal period. If the User does not consent to this price increase, he or she can revoke it via the contact form, letter, fax or e-mail within three (3) weeks. Revoking the price increase is equivalent to the User cancelling his or her Premium Membership as of the end of his or her current minimum usage period.

12.3 Unless otherwise stated in these GTC, the User may submit all notices to XING using the contact form provided on each of the XING Websites, or by letter or fax. XING may send notices to the User by e-mail, fax or post to the addresses given in the Userâ€™s current contact data in his or her user account.

12.4 If any provision of these GTC is, for any reason, invalid and/or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue to be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.

12.5 The place of performance under these GTC shall be XING's main place of business.

12.6 Place of jurisdiction for merchants within the scope of the German Commercial Code (HGB) shall be the main place of business of XING.

12.7 These GTC and the contractual relationship shall be governed by German Law, excluding international private law and the provisions of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods that have been adopted by German Law.


Get your network started now!

Hello John,

Welcome to the XING platform! Here are the first three steps on how to get the most out of XING:

1.) Your profile – make it easy for others to find you
Networking means finding people and letting others find you. So it's best to keep your profile as complete and up to date as possible, which you can edit by clicking on the small photo of yourself at the top of the left sidebar.

Complete your profile now

Need help filling in your profile? Here are some great profile tips for you.

2.) Start building your network.
Find former coworkers, new business partners, employees, or old college friends around the world and invite them to join your network. Just click the link below to get started:

Find and invite contacts

You can also go to "Home > Member search" to find members that may be of interest to you.

3.) Check out jobs, topics, groups, events and companies
Browse the many different features that XING has to offer and use keywords to search for topics you're really interested in.

Happy networking on XING!

This e-mail contains our Terms and Conditions as an attachment to provide you with information on the right of revocation for consumer contracts.

Your XING team
http://www.xing.com/go/help

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