Terms of Use for the Executive Department IT Infrastructure and Biodiversity Informatics at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart

These terms of use govern the provisions of the services and the use of these services offered through the SMNS Executive Department IT Infrastructure and Biodiversity Informatics (Stabsstelle IT-Infrastruktur und Biodiversitätsinformatik) to their users.

The Executive Department gives access to a wide range of digitized data from species-related biodiversity research. This material is provided to the SMNS by a large number of contributing researchers and institutions. The Executive Department strives to make all published resources available for re-use. As part of this, all metadata (textual information on digitized research data) is published without any restrictions on re-use. Most other material, such as the data, is clearly labelled with rights statements that indicate if and under which conditions it can be re-used. All accessible information made available through the Executive Department’s publication tools may be used free of charge for private, educational, research, or other non-commercial purposes, provided that the source and copyright holder are named. Any commercial use requires the consent of the copyright holder.

All metadata available on the Executive Department are published free of restrictions, under the terms of the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

The data that are available from the Executive Department can only be used in accordance with the rights information displayed alongside them (i.e. the license(s) on the data). If there is no rights information displayed alongside a preview, these data may only be used in accordance with the applicable copyright laws. However, in the latter event, please refer to the website of the data provider to find out whether other types of use are also allowed.

The data providers have ensured the Executive Department that the owners of the rights on the data deposited have agreed to the publication of their works under the applicable conditions as referred to above. However, the Executive Department cannot guarantee that this is always correct. If you think that anything published infringes your rights, you may report this to the Executive Department by emailing it@smns-bw.de.

The Executive Department does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the published content.

Except to the extent required by applicable law, in no event will the Executive Department be liable on any legal theory for any special, incidental, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages arising out of the use of the published content. In particular, it will not be liable for the following: Accuracy, completeness, etc. of the published content; Any infringement of privacy, publicity or other rights, including infringement of copyrights to metadata, data or other content made available by the Executive Department under conditions that were not approved by the right holder; Any use by third parties that goes beyond the rights expressed in these terms of use.

The Executive Department and the user may terminate the user relationship at any time, without the need for a reason. The user may terminate the user relationship by discontinuing the use of the services of the Executive Department.

The termination of usage does not include the deletion of research contents of the user already published via the Executive Department except for the case that the user revokes the rights on the basis of § 42 UrhG (the work no longer corresponds to the conviction of the author); in this case the Executive Department is entitled to charge the costs incurred.

The Executive Department is entitled to amend or supplement the provision of these terms of use at any time with effect for the future, if this is required due to legal or functional adaptations of the Executive Department services, for example in the case of technical changes. An amendment or supplement shall be notified to the user by e-mail at the latest six weeks before its entry into force, without the need to send the details of the amended or supplemented conditions or the overall revision of the conditions; it shall suffice to inform the user of the amendments and supplements made. In the announcement, the Executive Department will provide a link under which the new version of the terms of use can be viewed in its entirety.