General Terms and Conditions of Familyship UG (haftungsbeschränkt)

As at 28.03.2024

Table of ContentsPart 1 General provisions

• § 1.1 Liability
• § 1.2 Exemption
• § 1.3 Consumer Dispute Resolution
• § 1.4 Final Provisions / Miscellaneous

Part 2: Special conditions for the use of the Communites

• 2.1 Overarching conditions for the communities
  • § 2.1.1 General
  • § 2.1.2 Conclusion of contract / registration
  • § 2.1.3 Subject of the contract
  • § 2.1.4 Cancellation / deletion of the account
  • § 2.1.5 Responsibility for content
  • § 2.1.6 Responsibility and obligations of the customer
  • § 2.1.7 Liability
  • § 2.1.8 Cancellation policy
• 2.2 Special conditions for the Kinderwunsch Community
  • § 2.2.1 Duration and scope of benefits
• 2.3 Special conditions for the families Community
  • § 2.3.1 Duration and scope of benefits for the Family Community

Part 3: Special conditions for participation in online consultations

• § 3.1 Scope of application
• § 3.2 Registration
• § 3.3 Participation fee
• § 3.4 Implementation of the online consultation, withdrawal by Familyship
• § 3.5 Withdrawal by the participant

The following General Terms and Conditions (GTC) regulate the contractual relationship between Familyship (contractual partner is Familyship UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Krachtstraße 3, 10245 Berlin) and its customers.

Part 1 General Provisions

§ 1.1 General

Familyship is an Internet offer operated by Familyship UG (haftungsbeschränkt) (hereinafter Familyship). Familyship offers an online platform with the following services:

• A community for people who want to start a family and are looking for a suitable partner.
• A family community for people who have already started a family and want to exchange ideas with others. Unless paragraphs specifically describe their applicability to either community, they apply to both communities.
• Online consultations that advise interested parties on relevant topics related to starting a family. The online sessions are conducted in a group setting with several participants.

The GTC can be viewed at any time on Familyship.org even after the conclusion of the contract.

§ 1.2 Liability

(1) Familyship is liable without limitation only for intent and gross negligence.

(2) In case of slight negligence Familyship is liable, if an obligation is violated, whose compliance is essential for the achievement of the purpose of the contract (“cardinal obligation”). Cardinal obligations are those whose fulfillment is necessary for the proper execution of the contract and on whose compliance the contractual partner regularly relies and may rely. In this case, liability shall be limited to the foreseeable damage typical for the contract. Otherwise, liability for slight negligence is excluded.

(3) The above regulations also apply in favor of the employees and vicarious agents of Familyship.

(4) Familyship wants to offer its customers the highest possible availability. However, due to software errors, maintenance, software updates, and other reasons, outages may occur. These failures do not entitle the customer / customers to a reduction or refund of costs

(5) Furthermore Familyship is not liable for the unauthorized knowledge of third parties of personal data of customers (e.g. by an unauthorized hacker attack). Nevertheless, Familyship strives to avoid such an attack by taking appropriate protective measures

(6) There is also no liability for the possible illegal actions of customers / clients.

(7) Familyship is only liable for damages that have not arisen from the aforementioned causes in the case of intent or gross negligence of its organs, employees and vicarious agents in relation to other causes that have contributed to the occurrence of the damage. In case of injury of life, body, health as well as an essential contractual obligation by Familyship, also a liability for simple negligence comes into consideration.

§ 1.3 Exemption

The customer / the customer exempts Familyship from all claims (including claims for damages) that third parties against Familyship for violation of rights by the content posted by the customer / the customer. The customer / the customer takes over all reasonable costs resulting from an injury of rights of third parties, including the reasonable arising costs for the legal defense of Familyship. This shall not apply if and to the extent that the customer is not responsible for the infringement. All further rights as well as claims for damages of Familyship remain unaffected.

§ 1.4 Consumer Dispute Resolution

The European Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution (OS). You can find the platform at: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/

§ 1.5 Final Provisions / Miscellaneous

The General Terms and Conditions may be amended at any time without stating reasons within the bounds of reasonableness for the customers / clients. Familyship will notify the customers / clients in due time in this case. If no objection to changes to the Terms of Use is made within six (6) weeks of notification, the amended Terms of Use shall be deemed accepted by the Customer. Familyship’s notification will include a notice of the right to object and the importance of the objection period.

If significant parts of the terms of use are changed, this will be done by way of a notice of change. Membership under the old terms and conditions will be terminated and continued membership will be possible only by expressly agreeing to the new amended Terms of Use.

Declarations of customers and clients can be made by e-mail.

Familyship is entitled to assign third service providers and vicarious agents with the provision of parts or the entire range of services, provided that no disadvantages arise for the customer. If individual provisions of these Terms of Use are or become invalid, they shall be replaced by the corresponding statutory provision. The effective regulations remain unaffected by this.

Place of performance and jurisdiction is Berlin.

German law shall apply to the exclusion of international private law and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods incorporated into German law.

Part 2: Special conditions for the use of the Communites

2.1 General conditions for the communities

§ 2.1.1 Conclusion of contract / registration

• (1) Use of the full range of Familyship functions requires free registration.
  • In the Kinderwunsch Community, a paid package (see § 2.2) must also be booked in order to use the full range of functions.
  • In the Family Community, a free package (see § 2.3) must be booked in order to use the full range of functions.
• (2) With the registration a contractual relationship between Familyship and the registered customer arises. The contractual relationship arises with the e-mail confirmation that a customer receives from Familyship after completion of the ordering process.

The following requirements are necessary for registration:

• (1) Registration takes place by providing a valid e-mail address and choosing a personal password.
• (2) The personal password must be kept secret and may not be disclosed to third parties.
• (3) The Customer warrants that all information required for registration is true and complete.
• (4) The Customer warrants that he/she is of legal age at the time of registration.
• (5) The Customer warrants that he/she is a natural person and that the registration serves exclusively private purposes. Registration is only permitted for private individuals for private purposes. Registration of companies or for the purpose of entrepreneurial activity or promotion of entrepreneurial or promotional activities of third parties is excluded.
• (6) Each customer may register only once with Familyship. Simultaneous registration of multiple user accounts is not allowed. A user account is not transferable.

§ 2.1.2 Subject of the contract

Familyship is an online platform where it is possible to get in touch with people. The central basis for this are profiles, which are filled in independently by the registered persons. Familyship provides its customers with the services described in § 2.2.1 and § 2.3.1 mentioned services are available. Mediation or consulting is explicitly not the subject of the contract.

• Create your own profile
• Viewing the list of all registered members
• Send private messages

§ 2.1.3 Cancellation / deletion of the account

Basically, all fee-based packages are one-time payments. This means that a time-limited package expires automatically and is not extended without the customer’s intervention. Only if the customer / the customer wants his / her account to be deleted, a cancellation / deletion is necessary. Hereby applies: the membership at Familyship can be canceled at any time and without giving reasons.

The cancellation / deletion can be done in two ways:

1. Either the customer deletes the account independently (instructions can be found in the Q&A section). As soon as the account has been deleted, the contractual relationship has also expired.
2. Alternatively, the customer can also cancel informally by e-mail. In this case Familyship will delete the account. For a clear assignment of the account to be deleted, the following information is necessary: With Familyship deposited e-mail address as well as denomination of the user name

Familyship reserves the right to terminate the contractual relationship unilaterally with immediate effect under the following circumstances:

• Violation of legal regulations by the customer / the customer,
• Violation of contractual obligations by the customer / the customer,
• Violation of registration requirements,
• Damage to other registered persons due to the behavior of a customer.
• Familyship is also entitled to delete a user account if it has not been used for more than 12 months.

In addition, Familyship is entitled to terminate a use without giving reasons. A forced termination of the contractual relationship about the use of Familyship has the consequence that all contents posted by the user can be deleted and the further access to Familyship can be blocked permanently.

§ 2.1.4 Responsibility for content

The customer is solely responsible for the content of the profiles. Familyship has no active duty to check the data provided by the customers. There is no warranty by Familyship as to the truth or purpose of this data. Familyship excludes any warranty and liability for the fact that data of clients and customers meet the legal requirements.

Familyship cannot verify that a registered user is actually the person they claim to be. Every user has to convince himself of the identity of another user. There is no guarantee of the actual identity of a user by Familyship.

A violation of the applicable laws as well as these T&Cs can be reported by any client / customer who notices such behavior by sending an email to info (at) familyship.org.

§ 2.1.5 Responsibility and obligations of the customer

• The customer is obliged to observe all applicable laws and possible rights of third parties when using Familyship.
• The customer is solely responsible for the content of his/her registration and thus for the information he/she provides about him/herself.
• The customer assures that the data provided are true, describe him/her personally and are not misleading. False statements made intentionally and/or fraudulently may result in civil action.
• The customer assures that he / she uses the platform of Familyship exclusively for private purposes, has no business intentions and does not use the data of third parties entrusted to him / her for commercial or advertising purposes.
• It is not allowed to systematically read content of other registered persons (e.g. by a program or by mere copying) in order to use it outside the platform.
• The customer is obliged to treat e-mails and other messages confidentially and not to make them accessible to third parties without the consent of the originator. The same applies to any kind of personal data of other registered persons.
• Furthermore, each customer undertakes not to misuse the online platform. In particular, the customer is obliged to
  • not to use content protected by law (e.g. by copyright, trademark, patent, design patent or utility patent law) without being entitled to do so, or not to advertise, offer or distribute goods or services protected by law,
  • not to post immoral photos,
  • not to distribute any illegal material or information,
  • not to use any pornographic, violence glorifying, defamatory, racist, inciting or against youth protection laws violating content or to advertise or distribute such products,
  • refrain from communicating in a lewd and sexual manner,
  • not to publish untrue statements of fact or insults, regardless of whom they concern,
  • not to unreasonably harass other registered persons, in particular by means of e-mail spam
  • not to threaten or harass other registered persons or violate the rights of third parties, to refrain from anti-competitive actions, including progressive customer advertising such as chain, snowball or pyramid schemes,
  • not to upload data that contains malware (infected software),
  • not to mention in the profile, which is visible to others, any clear name, addresses, telephone or fax numbers, e-mail addresses, etc., unless this information is expressly requested.
  • to refrain from any action that could impair or overload the functioning, in particular the infrastructure, of Familyship.

Failure to comply with any of the obligations set forth in § 2.1.5 may have the following consequences:

• Blocking of the person until the clarification of facts
• Warning of the person
• (Partial) deletion of contents of the person
• Deletion of the user account as well as the associated unilateral termination of the contractual relationship. Blocking / deletion of an account does not change the obligation to pay for services used or ordered.
• civil and criminal consequences for the client / customer

The customer / the customer undertakes to hold Familyship harmless from any kind of lawsuits, damages, losses or claims that may arise from his registration on the online platform, provided that the customer has acted culpably. This applies in particular to damages due to defamation, insult, violation of personal rights, a violation of these GTC or other rights. The claim for reimbursement of expenses is limited in amount to the necessary expenses or those required for a specific purpose.

§ 2.1.6 Liability

• Familyship is not responsible for false information in the profiles of the registered persons.
• Familyship only owes the provision of the online platform, not the success of a placement of a family partner. Accordingly, Familyship is also not liable in the event that no contact is made during a paid membership.
• Familyship assumes no liability for any misuse of information. It is possible that customers use the platform in an inadmissible or illegal manner despite the ban. For such use any liability of Familyship is excluded. Familyship is also not liable for the fact that data and information, which the customers themselves have made accessible to third parties, are misused by them.

§ 2.1.7 Cancellation policy

Right of withdrawal You have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period is fourteen days from the date of conclusion of the contract. To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform us (Familyship UG (haftungsbeschränkt) Krachtstr. 3, 10245 Berlin, e-mail: info@familyship.org) by means of a clear declaration (e.g. a letter sent by post or an e-mail) of your decision to revoke this contract. You can use the attached sample withdrawal form but this is not mandatory.

In order to comply with the withdrawal period, it is sufficient that you send the notification of the exercise of the right of withdrawal before the expiry of the withdrawal period.

Consequences of withdrawal If you withdraw from this contract, we shall reimburse to you all payments received from you without undue delay and in any event not later than fourteen days from the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract. For this repayment, we will use the same means of payment that you used for the original transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise with you; in no case will you be charged for this repayment.

2.2 Special conditions for the Kinderwunsch Community

§ 2.2.1 Duration and scope of benefits for the Kinderwunsch Community

• Familyship offers an online platform for people who want to start a family.
• Familyship only provides a technical platform for bringing people together and already provides technical applications that enable general contact.
• Familyship assumes no liability for successful contact with other people registered with Familyship.
• Familyship does not act as an intermediary, nor as a party to any possible agreements or contracts concluded between the registered persons.
• The regular and orderly operation of the Services and the uninterrupted usability of Familyship are not guaranteed.
• The online consultations with experts organized by Familyship are not an owed part of the paid membership. The online consultation hours are offered as a voluntary additional offer, which can be discontinued at any time without giving reasons. In addition, there is no entitlement to participate in online consultations. Failure to cancel a confirmed registration 48 hours prior to the start of the consultation will count as attendance. Whether and to what extent online consultations can be attended depends on the package booked.

The following packages can be purchased in Familyship’s fertility community:

• Mouse package (49.00 € incl. VAT)
  • Upon payment, a customer may use the services specified in § 2.2.1 for a period of one month from the date of conclusion of the contract. Membership expires automatically and can be optionally renewed.
  • A maximum of one online consultation can be attended. The restrictions made under 2.2.1 regarding online consultations apply.
  • The mouse package includes the option of profile verification.
• Hedgehog package (79.00 € incl. VAT)
  • Upon payment, a customer may use the services specified in § 2.2.1 for a period of six months from the date of conclusion of the contract. Membership expires automatically and can be optionally renewed.
  • A maximum of two online consultations can be attended. The restrictions made under 2.2.1 regarding online consultations apply.
  • The Hedgehog package includes the possibility of profile verification.
• Fox package (99.00 € incl. VAT)
  • The one-time payment allows a customer to use the services specified in § 2.2.1 for a period of eighteen months from the date of conclusion of the contract. Membership expires automatically and can be optionally renewed.
  • A maximum of three online consultations can be attended. The restrictions made under 2.2.1 regarding online consultations apply.
  • The Fox package includes the possibility of profile verification.

The operators of Familyship are free to change the scope of services at any time. In principle, the focus here is on the interest of the users.

2.3 Special conditions for the families Community

§ 2.3.1 Duration and scope of benefits for the Family Community

• Familyship offers an online platform for people who have started a family and would like to exchange ideas with other people or share their experiences.
• Familyship only provides a technical platform for bringing people together and already provides technical applications that enable general contact.
• Familyship assumes no liability for successful contact with other people registered with Familyship.
• Familyship does not act as an intermediary, nor as a party to any possible agreements or contracts concluded between the registered persons.
• The regular and orderly operation of the Services and the uninterrupted usability of Familyship are not guaranteed.
• The online consultations with experts organized by Familyship are not an owed part of the paid membership. The online consultation hours are offered as a voluntary additional offer, which can be discontinued at any time without giving reasons. In addition, there is no entitlement to participate in online consultations.

The following packages can be booked in the Family Community:

• Unlimited package (0.00 € incl. VAT) Membership in the Family Community is free of charge and unlimited in time.

The operators of Familyship are free to change the scope of services at any time. In principle, the focus here is on the interest of the users.

Part 3: Special conditions for participation in online consultations

§ 3.1 Scope of application

These terms and conditions apply to the booking of online consultations of Familyship UG (haftungsbeschränkt, Krachtstr. 3, 10245 Berlin (hereinafter: Familyship).

§ 3.2 Registration

(1) Registration for participation in an online consultation is possible via familyship.org possible.

(2) Applications are processed in the order in which they are received. As far as the registration for the desired online consultation can be considered, you will receive the payment information by e-mail. After receipt of payment, the dial-up data will be sent by e-mail.

(3) If the required minimum number of participants is not reached for the online consultation, Familyship has the right to cancel the online consultation according to § 3. § 3.4 the right to withdraw from the contract.

(4) If the required minimum number of participants is reached, we will send you the dial-in data by e-mail in advance of the online consultation.

§ 3.3 Participation fee

(1) The participation fee is 14,90€ incl. VAT per participant in the online consultation.

(2) The participation fee must be paid in advance.

§ 3.4 Implementation of the online consultation, withdrawal by Familyship

(1) The online consultation is conducted by qualified speakers. However, the participant has no right to expect that the online consultation will be conducted by the speaker(s) announced on the Familyship website.

(2) Familyship is not liable for the topicality, correctness and completeness of the online consultation, provided that there is no intentional or grossly negligent fault of Familyship or its vicarious agents. Familyship does not guarantee the participant the occurrence of a certain success due to his participation.

(3) Familyship is entitled to reschedule the online consultation due to the speaker’s inability to attend. The rights of the Participant in the event of such a change are set forth in § 3.5 para. 3 regulated.

(4) If an online consultation cannot take place for reasons that Familyship is not responsible for (e.g. prevention of the speaker, failure to reach the minimum number of participants), Familyship is entitled to withdraw from the contract.

(5) In the event of a withdrawal by Familyship, the participant will receive a refund of the participation fee already paid. Further claims of the participant are excluded, provided Familyship has not caused the cancellation intentionally or through gross negligence.

§ 3.5 Withdrawal by the participant

(1) The participant is entitled to withdraw from this contract no later than two weeks before the start of an online consultation. The declaration must be sent by e-mail to info@familyship.org by e-mail. If the withdrawal is made in due time, the participant will be refunded any participation fee already paid.

(2) If Familyship receives a notice of withdrawal later than two weeks before the start of the online consultation or if the participant does not take part in the event, Familyship is entitled to payment of the full remuneration.

(3) In the event of a significant change in the time or content of the event, the participant is entitled to withdraw from the contract within one week of receiving notification to this effect. A substantial change is deemed to have occurred in particular if the event is not to take place on the announced day. In the event of withdrawal, the participant will be refunded any participation fee already paid. Further claims of the participant are excluded, provided Familyship has not caused the cancellation intentionally or through gross negligence.

(4) Any statutory rights of revocation of the participant remain unaffected.