General Terms of Sale

(Pour la version française, cliquez ici)

CONTENTS

1. APPLICATION OF THE GTS TO THE SERVICE PROPOSED ON THE TIME SEALER SITE

1.1. These General Terms of Sale (referred to hereafter as the "GTS") apply to all contracts between Time Sealer (referred to hereafter as the « Company » - Click here for legal notice), which is subject to French law and registered on the French Companies Register in Paris under number 504 838 525, with headquarters in Paris, at 11 Rue de l’Arc de Triomphe (75017), and any natural person or legal entity, on a professional or consumer basis (referred to hereafter as the « User(s) ») relating to the provision of a service by the Company enabling definite dating of any document, newly created files or media selected by the User through the use, after the downloading from the web site at www.timesealer.com (hereafter the « Site »), of a software program specially designed for this purpose, carrying the Time Sealer® registered brand name (hereafter the « Service(s) »).

1.2. Any User accessing the Site undertakes to respect all of these GTS which consist of these terms and conditions and any conditions, information and procedures mentioned on the Site concerning the use of the Site and the Service, in particular those at FAQ – Questions / Answers. Placing an order for the Service necessarily implies users’ complete and unreserved adherence to these GTS which rule contracts relating to the Service, to the exclusion of any other documents, in particular any issued by Users, such as general terms of purchase. The use of the Site and the Service will be subject to the most recent version of the GTS as displayed on the Site at the time of the use. Furthermore, when using the Services on the Site, the User is subject to directives or rules that may be posted on the Site regarding these Services and which may contain terms and conditions that should be added to the GTS. The non-respect by any User of any of the terms of use will automatically entail the termination of the authorisation to use the Site and the User will be obliged to immediately destroy any material that has been downloaded, created or printed from the Site (software, certificates, copies of packs, etc.). The Company reserves the right to amend these GTS at any time, at its sole discretion and without notice.

1.3. Contracts between the Company and the User relating to the Service will not be archived.

1.4. The GTS are only available in French and English. The Service contract between the User and the Company will be valid even if the language chosen is not an official language in the country in which the User is located. It is the responsibility of Users to choose the language (French or English) that they grasp best.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE TIME SEALER SERVICE

2.1. General description of the Service :

The Services offered by the Site mainly enable any User to establish incontestable proof of the date of creation of any intellectual work covered by literary and artistic copyright law.

In countries that have signed the Berne Convention of 9 September 1886 on the protection of literary and artistic works (and in any other country with equivalent regulations), any literary or artistic work is in principal protected by intellectual property law from the moment of its creation insofar as it fulfils the basic conditions of eligibility for this protection. If such is the case, property law grants a monopoly of use to the author, subject to third party rights relating to previous works. It is therefore advisable for an author to be able to provide proof of anteriority of a work in order to be able to confront any forgers, plagiarists or imitators, should the need arise, and produce this proof in court if necessary.

By extension, this proof of anteriority may also be used for any contract, commercial proposition, simple document, photograph, video and/or other digital material that the User may need in order to assert their rights.

2.2. Description of the operation of the Service :

By connecting via the Internet to www.timesealer.com, Users may download the free Time Sealer® software. This software makes it possible to obtain irrefutable proof of anteriority for any document, contract, creation, etc., in digital format (hereafter the « Files »). When run, the software assembles all the Files for which the User wishes to obtain proof of anteriority in a single folder. All of the Files remain the exclusive property of User and exclusively under their care since no files are exported to the Site

Then by making a payment of the appropriate fee (in accordance with applicable basic rate as stipulated in article 4.1 of the GTS or discount rate as stipulated in article 4.3 of the GTS) for the Service by the means of an on line bank transaction (see article 4 of the GTS), the number of the transaction, its date stamp and unique and impossible to forge checksum (hereafter the « Proof of anteriority ») will be immediately sealed on the User’s computer, by default on the desktop, at the same time as the aforementioned folder containing the Files (hereafter the « Sealed Pack »). After this, the Company will immediately produce a date-stamped certificate (hereafter the « Certificate », see specimen) bearing all of the information supplied by the User (a chosen reference for the sealed Pack, contact details consisting of “surname”, “first name”, “postal address including country”, “email address” and “any desired description / remarks”) and any additional details left at the discretion of the User. The speed at which this Certificate is produced will depend on the speed of the Internet connection used by the User; it is then deposited in the sealed Pack and may be presented at any time by the User to any third party of their choice (competitor, customer, partner, lawyer, court, etc.) to provide incontestable proof of the Files in the folder and their anteriority in relation to those of a third party. The Certificate is in JPG format.

The Service is thus carried out at the same precise time that the User pays the fee for the on line Service and the Service is considered to have been fully and correctly carried out by the Company when it sends the User the Proof of anteriority and the Certificate, this being expressly acknowledged by the User.

2.3. Restrictions relating to the operation of the Service :

The Service does not entail any restrictions in terms of size and type of files, other than that of half of the computer’s total available capacity (NB: in the sealed folder there is a copy of the files to be protected, hence the requirement of half of the remaining capacity)*.

Since the Service may only be initiated by downloading the Time Sealer® software, the User must necessarily have access to the Internet, even if this only consists of a low speed connection, via a service provider. No files of any size are exported and only the references of the Certificate (checksum, date stamp, transaction number, and a name for the Pack), consisting of about 10 Kb, will circulate via the Internet. It is the responsibility of Users to equip themselves with everything necessary to connect to the Internet and to the Site www.timesealer.com.

*For example, you have a computer with a storage capacity of 360 GB. If 340 GB are already used, 20 GB remain available on your computer; the Files that you wish to protect, if they are already saved on your computer, must not exceed 20 GB, so that there is space to copy them into a sealed pack. In this extremely hypothetical case, you would not then have any space left on your computer.

2.4. Use and storage of the Files and Certificate :

The Files and Certificate may be viewed, printed and copied at any time by the User even though they are sealed in a Pack; however, they may no longer, under any circumstances, be modified. Any modification to a File in a sealed Pack requires the creation of another file on the User’s computer. To then benefit from a new Proof of anteriority for the modified File, the User has to use the Service again and request another sealed Pack: another Certificate and another Proof of anteriority, different from the first one, will then be issued.

If the User considers it necessary, the Proof of anteriority via the Certificate may be backed up with the definite proof of their own bank statement where the date of the transaction will also appear.

The Company will keep each Proof of anteriority on its servers (minimum two servers) for ten years starting from the day of its creation. Furthermore, the Company will regularly deposit with a French bailiff a DVD including a copy of all the checksums that have been produced since the last deposit. At any time over this ten year period, any person appointed for this purpose by the User (or appointed by a court) may synchronize and compare the two Proofs of anteriority in the sealed Pack and held by the Company and verify that they match, which guarantees their anteriority.

The checksum being stored for ten years on the Company’s servers, it may then be renewed at the User’s initiative and under their responsibility, at the then current fee. The Company’s only obligation will be to inform Users by email, before the end of their Proof of anteriority’s storage period, provided Users supplied their email addresses (and updated them if they change during the storage period). Under no circumstances will the Company be able to take the initiative of renewing the Certificate and therefore may not be held responsible for the continued existence of a Certificate beyond the ten year period. This renewal service will soon be available on the Site.

3. MODE OF ESTABLISHMENT OF ON LINE SERVICE CONTRACT

3.1 Contract formation process :

First, Users select – under their sole responsibility - the Files for which they want to obtain a Proof of anteriority, and then they download the software from the Site. The User then checks the details of their request (which include the identification of the File(s) and the method of payment) and the fee including tax, accepts the GTS that make up the contract for the carrying out of the Service in the language that the User has chosen, and is able to correct possible errors before confirming the request (with a double click).

3.2. User agreement for immediate implementation of the Service :

In compliance with the provisions of article L 121–20-2. 1° of the French Consumer Code, the User gives his express agreement for the immediate execution of the Service offered by the Company – before the passing of the seven day period that starts on the date of the request. Furthermore, this agreement is implied by the downloading of the Time Sealer® software followed by its use and the payment of the fee for the Service which automatically produces the Proof of anteriority. Consequently the (non professional) User is not entitled to the right of retraction stipulated in article L 121-20 of the aforementioned Consumer Code.

4. FEE FOR SERVICE / PAYMENT OF FEE

4.1. Fee for provision of the Service :

The fee for each Service (i.e. a Proof of anteriority) is three euros (hereafter “€”) excluding taxes (hereafter “ex. tax”), whatever the number of documents in the sealed Pack; the amount of additional tax that may be due is stipulated in article 4.2 of these GTS. This fee may be changed by the Company at any time without notice simply by changing the rates displayed on the Site. Users are entitled to a discount if they use the Service frequently, see article 4.3 of these GTS.

4.2. Application of value added tax :

Users are informed that the rules for the application of Value Added Tax (hereafter “VAT”) vary between countries. At the time of the preparation of these GTS, the VAT rate in France was 19.6% of the fee ex. tax. A corresponding amount of 0.59 € is therefore added to the fee ex. tax when VAT is due, resulting in a fee of 3.59 € including tax (hereafter “inc. tax). If the fee ex. tax is changed, the amount of VAT charged and the fee inc. tax will change accordingly. The same applies if there is a change in the VAT rate.

Depending on the country in which the User is based, there are three possibilities :

• Service invoiced to a User based in France (the country in which the Company is based): French VAT will automatically be added to the fee ex. tax (subject to special rules applicable to residents of French overseas territories); the fee invoiced will thus be 3.59 € inc. tax. Any User registered for VAT may recover the VAT by following the appropriate accounting procedures.


• Service invoiced to a User based in another European Union country :
  • If the User provided a valid EU VAT number at the time of requesting the Service: the fee will be invoiced ex. tax, i.e. 3 €.
  • If the User did not provide a valid EU VAT number: the fee will be invoiced inc. tax
    (i.e. on the basis of the French rate of 19.6%, a fee of 3.59 € inc. tax).


• Service invoiced to a User based in a country outside of the European Union : the fee will be invoiced ex. tax, i.e. 3 €.

• From 1 to 9 transactions, there is a 5% discount
• From 10 to 99 transactions, there is a 10% discount
• From 100 to 249 transactions, there is a 15% discoun
• Above 250 transactions, there is a 20% discount

5. USER RESPONSIBILITIES AND OBLIGATIONS

5.1. Obligations concerning the preparation of Files :

It is the User’s responsibility to check, if necessary with the help of a lawyer or consultant specializing in intellectual or industrial property, the legal framework governing the creation, protection and use of works or other documents that they plan to seal using the Service, in order, in particular, to establish the conditions for the validity and protection of this work or document in the country or countries concerned by this protection and this use.

The choice of File(s) deposited in the folder before sealing in a sealed Pack with its Certificate is exclusively the responsibility of the User. The User must check that all the files have been included, and may not hold the Company responsible if one or more are missing. If the User decides that another or different File requires protection, a new Service must then be requested, in accordance with the terms set out in article 2 of the GTS.

The User’s attention is drawn to the fact that the Service does not in any circumstances enable irrefutable proof to be provided of the identity of the holder of a work. The User of the Service should in principle be the holder of the moral and/or proprietary rights of elements in the Files in the sealed Pack when any such element is likely to be protected by intellectual property law. If this is not the case and if the User is acting in the name of third party author(s) or beneficiaries of a work protected by intellectual property law, the User should in principle expressly mention such persons when providing the information to create the Pack; it is advisable for Users acting in this capacity to be able to produce a mandate signed by the aforementioned third party or parties. Similarly, if the User is an employee acting in the name of and on behalf of the business for which they work, the User should provide information in the same way enabling this business to be identified and indicated on the Certificate. Notwithstanding the absence of the User’s status of author, proxy or of the mention by the User of the true author of one or other of the elements in the Files, the Service will be considered – in an incontestable manner – to have been duly carried out by the Company and the fee to be definitely due.

The User undertakes not to make false declarations or to commit intentional errors or omissions. The Company will not be held responsible for the communication of false declarations or inaccurate information, whether or not this has been provided intentionally, and this regarding both the User and any third party to the detriment of which these declarations or information were made or communicated. The User will hold the Company harmless and compensate it for any claims that may be brought against it by third parties as a result of any false declaration or information communicated by the User or as a result of any use whatsoever of the Proof of anteriority contrary to public order or resulting in damages being sustained by a third party.

5.2. Obligations lors de la réalisation du Service :

By using the Site’s Services, the User accepts the collection of personal data by the Company; this collection being necessary for the certification of the Proof of anteriority. The refusal by any User to provide such information will prevent the latter from proceeding to the preparation of the Certificate and consequently will result in the interruption of the certification procedure under their exclusive responsibility. Users have a right of access, objection and modification to their personal data. However, any modification or correction made to information by the User after the issuing of the Certificate may affect its scope or effectiveness, for which the Company may not in any circumstances be held responsible.

5.3. Obligations after the execution of the Service :

The User is solely responsible for the use of the Certificate and may not under any circumstances engage the Company’s responsibility with regard to a third party.

The Company recommends that for the Files in sealed Packs and for all other unsealed documents, Users make copies on another disk (external hard drive, CD, DVD, etc.), so that any lost data may then be replaced by the copy. Since sealed Packs may be copied with the same anteriority, any lost sealed Packs may be replaced without loss of integrity or validity if required. The Company cannot be held responsible in the event of Users losing the originals on their computers.

If Users change their personal details, in particular their email address, it is recommended that these are updated in order to remain in contact with the Company and keep it informed if necessary. If Users do not do this, then the Company cannot be held responsible for not providing information about changes to Services and the renewal of rights at the end of the ten year period stipulated in article 2.4. of the GTS.

6. RESPONSIBILITIES & OBLIGATIONS OF THE COMPANY

6.1. Scope of the Company’s obligations :

The Company’s Services enable Users to establish a Proof of anteriority, on the same basis as any other traditional means of presenting evidence. This Proof of anteriority is based on a checksum and a bank transaction via large international bank, BNP PARIBAS.

The Company is responsible for storing on its servers and copies of all the checksums created by its Software. In the event of an exceptional (and almost impossible) loss of these checksums on its servers and copies, the Company undertakes to reconstitute, as far as possible, its database of checksums from backup data. In the event that it is impossible to reconstitute the entire database, in the case of the irreversible loss of saved checksums, the depositor expressly acknowledges that the Company cannot be held responsible for all of the direct or indirect losses that may result from their loss.

The Company will endeavour to maintain the best service for its Users but can under no circumstances be held responsible for the failure of a transmission between Users’ computers and the Site’s server. Mechanical faults, disruptions and other network malfunctions can also not be attributed to or used to make claims on the Company.

After each use of the Services, and at the express request of the User, after having filled in the appropriate fields at the time of ordering, the Company will immediately issue a payslip that may be downloaded and printed from the Site. This invoice will contain all the references in the Certificate (checksum, date stamp and optionally its title). The Company cannot under any circumstances be held responsible for the consequences of any error made by the User during the entering of the information requested with a view to the preparation of the Certificate before sealing (typographical errors, invalid or erroneous characteristics, etc.).

The Company is not a substitute for official or private, national or international registration bodies, or bodies that collect and distribute royalties, or those enabling the registering of patents, trademarks, designs, creations or models in the countries in which such registration is possible and/or necessary, or any other legal act provided for by a legal text or local regulations.

The Company is not a substitute for a court either; only a court has the power to judge if a creation fulfils the conditions necessary for protection by local intellectual property laws and to assess the scope and validity of the Proof of anteriority represented by the Certificate.

In the event of the temporary or permanent ceasing of operation of the Company or this Site, the Company guarantees that it will be possible to carry out a search at a French bailiff, whose contact details it will supply, who will be able to check all the Proofs of anteriority produced up until the ceasing of operation. If such a non-automatic search becomes necessary, its cost will be borne by the Company, or the User if the Company has ceased to operate. In this case the copy of the Certificate will enable the Proof of anteriority to be date stamped for the bailiff to carry out a search.

No notice or oral or written information supplied by the Company or obtained on the Site constitutes a guarantee unless it is expressly defined as such in the GTS or any other terms or conditions of use of the Service or the Site.

6.2 Restrictions and exclusions in terms of responsibility :

The guarantee of the Services offered by the Company can only be offered outside of exceptional situations such as – but not limited to - wars, epidemics, cataclysms, natural catastrophes, strikes, riots, fires or other events likely to result in the ceasing of the operation of the Site or to seriously hinder its activities. The guarantee given by the Company can only be implemented if the User sends a complaint, by email (to the email address specially reserved for this purpose) or by registered mail within a period of seven (7) days following the observation of the defect or fault affecting the Proof of anteriority (or from the day that the User should reasonably have become aware of any such fault) which must stipulate all the data on the Certificate (in particular its registration number and unique checksum). No complaints will be accepted if they are not made within this period.

The Company cannot be held responsible (i) for any inaccuracy, lack of precision, or omission regarding the information published on the Site, (ii) for any virus affecting the Site or the downloadable software or the content of the Files, (iii) for any losses resulting from fraudulent interference by a third party resulting in changes to information displayed on the Site, (iv) for any other direct or indirect losses, whatever their cause, origin, nature or consequences, resulting from the use of the Site or the impossibility of accessing the Site or the use of other linked Sites

Unless expressly indicated to the contrary in a written agreement between the User and the Company, or by virtue of the law currently in force, all of the Site’s services are provided “as they are”, without any express or tacit guarantee, including, but not limited to, the tacit guarantees of commercial possibilities or suitability for whatever purpose, or the guarantee of non-infringement. Without limiting itself to the above, the Company offers no guarantee of any sort that (i) the Services will meet the Users’ requirements, (ii) that the Services will be available without interruption and will be appropriate, reliable and without errors, (iii) that the results obtained by the use of the Services will be effective, accurate and reliable, (iv) that the quality of all the products, Services or information purchased or obtained on the Site will meet the Users’ expectations. These exclusions and restrictions are agreed with the User subject to the possible application of contrary imperative measures in force in certain countries or applied by certain courts of law.

This Site may contain technical or other errors, inaccuracies or typographical errors. The Company may make changes to the Services available on the Site, including the fees and descriptions of the Services, at any time and without prior notice. The Site’s Services may not be up to date; the Company will endeavour to make sure that they are as up to date as possible, as quickly as possible, without any guarantee of performance. The Company cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions appearing in the Services mentioned on the Site or linked to the Site. References to other companies, their own Services and their own products are presented “as they are” with no guarantee of any sort, either express or tacit.

Under no circumstances will the Company and its suppliers be held responsible regarding the User or third parties for any direct, indirect, immaterial, consequential, incidental or special damages, including, but not limited to, those resulting from the loss of use of data or of profits, even if the Company has been informed of the possibility of such damages, and/or those resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any other Site mentioned by or linked to this Site. These exclusions and restrictions are agreed with the User subject to the possible application of contrary imperative measures in force in certain countries or applied by certain courts of law.

In any cases where the Company is responsible for direct damages, repairs by the Company are expressly limited to the reimbursement of the fee (inc. tax, if VAT was charged) for the Service for which the Company’s responsibility is engaged.

Subject to the application of imperative measures (or public order), the Company’s responsibility will automatically lapse at the end of a period of twelve months dating from the time that the service was provided (i.e. payment for the Service).

7. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS RELATING TO THE SITE AND THE SERVICE

The Services provided on this Site are protected by copyright and/or intellectual property laws, in particular in compliance with the Berne Convention of 9 September 1886, this applying to the term of the copyright all over the world.

Any unauthorized use or total or partial reproduction of the Services on this Site constitutes an infringement of these laws. Unless stipulated contrary to these GTS, the Company (and its suppliers) do not grant any express or tacit right to any of the intellectual and industrial property rights protecting the Site or the Service (such as brands, drawings and models, patents, commercial names, design, photos, texts, etc.) which are and remain the Company’s exclusive property.

The Company grants to all its Users the temporary, non-exclusive and non-transferable right to use the Time Sealer® software for the sole purpose of carrying out the Service and obtaining the Certificate. No User may therefore reproduce in any form and by any means any of the graphical or technical elements of the Site, access the Service by means other than the interface that is provided at no charge for this purpose by the Company, copy or modify the software, create a derivative product, copy or fraudulently use the source codes, sell or sub-license in any way any right relating to the aforementioned Time Sealer® software, without infringing the Company’s property rights. Screen shots are authorized on an exceptional basis if they are carried out by the User or by any third party (for example, journalist, teacher, student, jurist, etc.) for information purposes with a view to explaining the Service or providing a report of it on any media or during legal proceedings.

8. PERSONAL DATA / CONFIDENTIALITY

8.1. Protection of personal data :

The www.timesealer.com Site has been declared to the Commission Nationale Informatiques et Libertés (CNIL – French Data Protection Authority) in application of law n°78-17 of 6 January 1978 relating to data protection, amended by law n°2004-801 of 6 August 2004. All Users that have provided personal details on the Site have the right to object to (article 38 of the law), access (article 39, 41 and 42 of the law) and amend (article 40 of the law) such information. Users may demand that the information relating to them is amended, supplemented, updated or deleted. All Users may exercise these rights by using the form provided on the Site.

8.2. Confidentiality :

The Company and its employees undertake to keep all information provided by Users on the Site for use exclusively in the context of the Site’s activity and the execution of the Service. Users are invited – when placing an order – to give their express consent for the use of personal data and its distribution to third parties, in compliance with the provisions of law n° 78-17 of 6 January 1978.

9. IDENTIFICATION OF THE SITE AND COMPLAINTS

9.1. The web Site is operated by the Company whose legal notice appears below the GTS, under the heading Legal notice.

9.2. Any question or complaint of a legal, commercial or technical nature relating to the Site or Service may be sent to the Company by mail or by email (to one of the clickable addresses on the site, under Contact), in French or English, but not in any other languages.

10. APPLICABLE LAW AND JURISDICTION

10.1. Law applicable to contracts for the provision of Service :

Any contract between the Company and a User is governed exclusively by French law, subject to the application of imperative measures in force in the country where the User is based which may exclude or occasionally annul a provision of these GTS or restrict its application. In the event that one of the provisions of the GTS is declared null and void by a jurisdiction (or as a result of a change in legislation), the other provisions will not be affected and this Service contract will continue to apply.

10.2. Jurisdiction :

Any dispute relating to the conclusion, execution or non-execution of the Service contract which cannot be settled amicably between the Company and the User will be settled exclusively by the Commercial Court (Tribunal de commerce) of Paris (France) if the User is a natural person or legal entity operating in a trading capacity and in other cases, by the County Court (Tribunal de grande instance) of Paris (France), in particular if the User is a natural person or legal entity of a non-commercial nature. This clause also applies in the event of summary proceedings, an ancillary claim, or multiple respondents or third party appeals. This clause does not obstruct the application of imperative measures which, in compliance with international agreements, may authorize a User who has entered into a contract with the Company for non-professional purposes, to refer a case to a court having jurisdiction in the country in which the User is resident.

11. LEGAL NOTICE

www.timesealer.com

Publisher :

TIME SEALER
Headquarters : 11, rue de l'Arc de Triomphe 75017 Paris – France
Telephone : +33 (0) 961 031 324
SARL (limited company) with capital of 10,000 €
RCS Paris 504 838 525
NAF Code : 6201Z
EU VAT number : FR 73 504 838 525

Publishing Director :

Philippe Pernitchi



All rights reserved – Version 04/27/2009.

Les "Time Sealer Packs" préservent vos droits et sécurisent vos projets avant leurs enregistrements éventuels auprès d'organismes officiels nationaux et internationaux.