1 INTRODUCTION

RuberPhoenix.com is a virtual space that allows users to create, submit, post, display, transmit, publish, distribute, or broadcast digital content. The Platform Owner and Service Provider acts solely as a technical interface by providing users with state-of-the-art tools to simplify direct user interaction. Registration on the Platform is intended for users who are at least 14 years of age. In this Agreement, any term used in the singular shall include the plural and vice versa, and any term used in the masculine shall also include the feminine.

 

This preamble constitutes an integral part of these Service Terms and Conditions of Use. By accessing and using the Platform and its Services, Users accept and agree to be bound by these Service Terms and Conditions of Use. These Service Terms and Conditions of Use, use of the Platform its digital Services are governed by and construed in accordance with Italian Decree-law 70/2003, Italian Decree-law 206/2005 and subsequent amendments and supplements (Consumer Protection Act) and the Italian Civil Code.

2 DEFINITIONS

In the performance of this Agreement, the terms listed hereunder shall have the meaning specified below:

‘Subscription’, purchase and use of fee-based or paid services on a yearly basis.

‘Community’, all the Platform's Subscribed users.

‘Fee’ means the amount of money Users are charged by the Platform Owner and Service Provider for access and use of its paid Services.

‘Service Terms’, ‘Conditions of Use’, ‘Conditions’, ‘Terms of Service’, ‘Terms’, ‘Contract’, ‘Agreement’, all policies regulating User subscription to the Platform and the code of conduct within the Community.

‘Digital Content’, ‘Content’, data, text, information, files, comments, images, and videos posted by Users on the Platform's noticeboard, or exchanged via through private messaging.

‘Messenger’, ‘messaging (system)’, all tools available to Users to exchange and display direct messages.

‘Platform’, ‘Website’, ‘Site’, the website RuberPhoenix.com, owned and operated by the Service Provider.

‘Featured highlights’, or ‘noticeboard’, public conversation forum form aimed at digital content sharing and exchange on the Platform.

‘Profile’ basic User information (e.g. ID or nickname, Platform sign-up date) generated during subscription to the Site.

‘Services’, ‘Service’, both free of charge and fee-based access to the Platform and its functionalities.

‘Fee-based services’, ‘paid services’, additional features of the Platform exclusively available to subscribed Users.

‘User’, any natural or legal person registering a valid account on the Platform.

‘Platform Owner’, ‘Service Provider’ the company RUBER PHOENIX SRLS, VAT: IT13125170962, technical interface providing users with state-of-the-art tools to use the Platform in compliance with this Agreement.

 

3 OBJECT AND SCOPE OF APPLICATION

3.1 This Agreement regulates the use of the Platform and its Services. This is a binding agreement between the User and the Platform Owner and Service Provider. Users hereby agree to read its contents thoroughly, and to comply with its terms in its entirety and without any exceptions. By using the Platform, Users acknowledge their full acceptance of all the conditions of this Agreement.

3.2 The minimum age requirement for registering to the Platform is 14 (fourteen). The minimum age requirement for paid subscription and access to fee-based digital services is 18 (eighteen). By registering to the Platform, Users confirm they are the minimum age to access the services.

4 CONTENT SUBMISSION AND UPLOAD

4.1 The Platform allows Users to create, submit, post, display, transmit, publish, distribute, broadcast, and/or share digital content such as text, writings, photographs, videos, links, other file types on the noticeboard or through an integrated messaging service, in compliance with article 9 of these Terms and Conditions.

4.2 All Content displayed on the noticeboard is publicly visible to all registered Users on the Platform.

5 USER PROFILE REGISTRATION

5.1 Anyone wishing to become a User shall successfully complete the registration process on the Site. Registration to the Platform is subject to confirmation and approval by the Platform Owner and Service Provider, who reserves the right to assess each application on the basis of its own eligibility criteria, including the completeness of the information provided. A valid e-mail address shall be provided upon profile registration Users will then be prompted to choose a valid username and password; Users are solely responsible for username/password confidentiality and safekeeping.

5.2 When setting up their Profile, Users are required to submit items of personal information. All items of personal information submitted upon registration shall be true, accurate, current, and complete. This disclosure is mandatory to the purpose of the Agreement. Any further purposes of personal data processing shall be specified in the privacy policy statement available on our website.

5.3 Users represent and warrant that all submitted profile information is current and accurate, and that the accuracy of such information shall be maintained and promptly updated throughout the validity of the Agreement.

 

6 SUBSCRIPTION AND AGREEMENT VALIDITY

6.1 User account registration and basic Platform usage are free of charge. The free version of the Service grants access to basic Platform usage and functionalities; additional, fee-based features and functionalities offered are available through a paid Subscription.

6.2 In order to access and use additional, fee-based features not included in the free version, Users need to purchase a Subscription. The specifications, additional features and subscription duration are outlined on the dedicated fee-based or paid services webpage.

6.3 Upon placing a subscription purchase order, platform membership shall be effective as of the date on which the Platform Owner and Service Provider receives full payment of the charged amount, and shall expire on the end date as specified at the time of purchase. Automatic renewal of the Subscription is not possible, and any renewal request shall be submitted to the owner no later than the day before the Subscription termination date. A few days before the subscription termination date, Users will receive a message notifying them of the upcoming expiration. Non-renewal of the Subscription shall result in termination of the fee-based or paid services.

6.4 The Platform Owner and Service Provider reserves the right to suspend all or part of the services at any time, notifying Users by e-mail or by publishing a banner on the website's homepage with at least 30 days' notice. In the event of fee-based or paid service interruption or termination, the Platform Owner and Service Provider shall issue a refund of the Subscription Fee calculated pro rata to the period of non-consumption of the Service, provided that service disruption and/or downtime is not the result of events beyond the owner's control or over which the Platform Owner and Service Provider has no supervision. Any other compensatory settlement towards Users, beyond the prorated refund of the subscription fee shall hereby be excluded.

7 PURCHASES AND BILLING

7.1 Users purchasing a Subscription agree to pay the Platform Owner and Service Provider a subscription Fee as specified on the configuration page. The amount shall be paid up-front by bank transfer to the owner's bank account prior to the effective date of the Subscription period. The Subscription and all fee-based or paid services activation will be confirmed by the Platform Owner and Service Provider via e-mail upon completion of the transaction.

7.2 The Platform Owner and Service Provider reserves the right to offer a trial period during which the Subscription features can be used free of charge for a limited time. A reminder will be sent to Users before their trial period expiration, informing them of the impending expiration date. In order to continue using the Platform, Users shall purchase a paid Platform Subscription in accordance with the Platform Owner and Service Provider's Service Terms and Conditions of Use. Should Users refuse to purchase a paid Platform Subscription by the end of the trial period, they will not be able to continue accessing and using the paid features and services, and will be automatically redirected to the free version of the Platform.

8 CANCELLATION AND WITHDRAWAL POLICY

8.1 Users may at any time request account deletion from the Platform by sending an e-mail to the following address [email protected] or from their reserved profile dashboard.

8.2 In case of purchase of Paid Services, Users may exercise their right of withdrawal and as consumers shall be entitled to reimbursement of the amounts paid, in compliance with Article 52 of the Consumer Protection Act. The right of withdrawal does not apply to 'traders' and in general to legal persons.

8.3 Should Users, as 'consumers', issue an explicit request to the Platform Owner and Service Provider to begin the performance of the agreement for the provision of digital Services during the withdrawal period, the Platform Owner and Service Provider shall be paid an amount pro rata to the services provided up to the time at which the Platform Owner and Service Provider has been informed of the exercise of the right of withdrawal, on the basis of all the obligations under this Agreement.

8.4 In order to exercise their right of withdrawal, Users (as 'consumers') shall notify the Platform Owner and Service Provider of their will to terminate the contract no later than 14 days from the time of its conclusion, by sending an e-mail to the following address: [email protected]. Users may use the withdrawal form available at the https://www.ruberphoenix.com/withdrawal. The Platform Owner and Service Provider shall reimburse all payments received from the consumer using the same means of payment as the consumer used for the initial transaction without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which the Platform Owner and Service Provider is informed of the consumer’s decision to withdraw from the contract or agreement.

9 RULES OF CONDUCT

Users agree to abide by the following rules of conduct during their interactions on the Platform. In particular, they shall:

- Use polite and considerate language towards other users.

- Avoid posting any data, information, profanity, or foul language, hate speech, discriminatory content on the basis of religious or political beliefs or on grounds of nationality, ethnicity, heritage.

- Avoid engaging in bullying, using verbal assault, slurs, and threats towards other users or third parties.

- Not submit onto the Platform any material that infringes copyrights or other intellectual property rights, including third party copyrights of, or any material(s) that may contain pornographic, obscene, blasphemous, defamatory elements.

- Not use, or allow others to use the site for deeds against public order or aiming at harassing the peace of others, or at damaging, violating or in any case attempting to violate the privacy and secrecy and confidentiality of correspondence, and not in any way use the Website to commit or encourage unlawful deeds of any kind.

- Not upload any defamatory, libellous, misleading, or deceptive information about other Platform Users or third parties.

- Not disclose any items of personal information without prior consent or approval by data subjects or in any case where there is an infringement of privacy regulations, in particular Regulation (EU) 679/2016 and Italian Decree-law 196/2003 (Consumer Protection; Privacy and Personal Data Protection Act).

- Not engage in spamming, spreading viruses, and more broadly in any other activities that could result in damage to either the Platform or third parties.

10 COMPLIANCE WITH THE RULES OF CONDUCT AND TERMINATION

10.1 Users undertake to comply with and to ensure that their executive officers, associates, employees, sub-contractors, representatives, and anyone else involved in activities connected with this Agreement, whether as in a consultant capacity or otherwise, comply with the rules of conduct set out in Article 9 and all obligations arising therefrom on the part of Users.

10.2 The Platform Owner and Service Provider reserves the right to verify Users' compliance with the regulatory provisions of Article 9. Users authorise the Platform Owner and Service Provider, without any reservations or restrictions, to access their shared Content both on the featured noticeboard and through the integrated messaging service, and to take all necessary action, as well as under any jurisdiction or by seeking all legal remedies available or before all courts, should any illegal contents and/or contents that infringe the Platform Owner and Service Provider's rights and/or interests and those of all Users be detected.

10.3 In the event of the breach of even one of the regulations set out in Article 9 of these Rules of Conduct, the Platform Owner and Service Provider reserves the right to immediately deny access to the Platform until the breach ceases, without prejudice to the right to permanently suspend any User accounts by blocking access to the Services, without prior notice or compensation of any kind (or acknowledgement of any refund or reimbursement). The Platform Owner and Service Provider shall inform all Users of the underlying grounds for such a decision when the restriction or suspension is due to come into effect.

11 CONTRACT MODIFICATIONS AND SERVICE FEE CHANGES

11.1 The Platform Owner and Service Provider reserves the right to modify these Service Terms and Conditions of Use at any time for either technical reasons (e.g., Platform and Service updates/upgrades) or to conform to any regulatory changes by giving Users at least 15 days' notice by e-mail. Should Users not accept the proposed modifications, they may delete their Profiles and thereby stop using the Services. Profile deletion and Service termination are the only possible actions available to Users. If no cancellation is submitted within the specified notice deadline, the changes shall be deemed automatically accepted through the continued use of the Platform.

11.2 Users acknowledge and accept that the sole valid version of the Service Terms and Conditions of Use is the one made available on the Website. Users are therefore required to refer to the version of the Service Terms and Conditions of Use available online as of the date of access or use of the Services.

11.3 Any changes to the Fees shall not take effect during the ongoing Subscription period but shall only become effective starting from the date of renewal of an existing Subscription or purchase of a new Subscription.

11.4 The Platform Owner and Service Provider may reserve the right to change, modify, or remove the contents of this Agreement without prior notice should this be necessary on grounds of an unforeseen and impending hazard that may compromise the provision of the Services, or in order to protect Users from fraud, malware, spam, data breaches or online security threats.

11.5 All rights and obligations as specified in these Service Terms and Conditions of Use may be unrestrictedly transferred by the Platform Owner and Service Provider in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale, in full or in part, of company shares and/or assets, by law or otherwise.

12 MODIFICATIONS TO SERVICE FEATURES

12.1 The Platform Owner and Service Provider reserves the right to modify the contents and features of the Services at any time in order in order to maintain, adapt or develop Service functionalities, including security updates, regardless of whether or not such changes are necessary to retain Service compatibility. The Users shall be notified in advance of any changes, downtime, or discontinuance of the Services.

12.2 Should any changes negatively affect the Service usage to a non-negligible extent, it is understood that Users falling under the definition of 'consumers' may exercise the right to withdraw from the Contract free of charge, unless such negative impact is negligible. The right of withdrawal shall not apply to those instances in which the parties enter into a new Service provision contract, e.g., following the release of a Service update/upgrade, and Users are granted access to and use of previous Service versions at no additional cost.

13 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND CONTENT LICENSE

13.1 The Platform, as well as all brands, trademarks, service marks, and logos contained therein are the exclusive property of the Platform Owner and Service Provider. Users do not acquire any rights whatsoever over software, databases, information, news, and other data, as well as images, logos, trademarks and any other service marks or brands and/or industrial or intellectual property rights used by the Platform Owner and Service Provider within the Platform.

13.2 Except as set out in the previous section or elsewhere in our Service Terms and Conditions of Use, no part of proprietary service content, as well as brands, trademarks, service marks, and logos may be copied, reproduced, aggregated, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted, distributed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise.

13.3 Users are the owners of content and materials they create, submit, post, display, transmit, publish, distribute, or broadcast through the Platform. By submitting any contributions, Users grant the Platform Owner and Service Provider unrestricted, unlimited, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, fully-paid, worldwide right, and licence to use, copy, reproduce, distribute, sell, resell, publish, broadcast, retitle, store, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt, and exploit all Users' Contributions for any purpose, commercial or otherwise.

13.4 Users indemnify the Platform Owner and Service Provider from and against any loss, damage, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses, made by other users or any third party due to or arising out of any unauthorised use of images, company brands, logos, trademarks and any other service marks and/or industrial or intellectual property rights of the interested parties.

14 LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

14.1 The Platform Owner and Service Provider may not - and shall not - exercise any preliminary supervision over digital content created, submitted, posted, displayed, transmitted, published, distributed, broadcast, and/or shared by the Platform's subscribed Users.

14.2 The Platform Owner and Service Provider cannot be held liable for any Platform downtime or Service discontinuance and cannot guarantee any resolution for failure or malfunction occurring during its usage. Nevertheless, albeit not being able to guarantee the lack of failure or malfunction of either proprietary or third-party software that could cause any website downtime and/or operational disruption, the Platform Owner and Service Provider shall undertake all reasonable efforts to take action in order to restore its full functionality.

14.3 Access to the website and use of its Services may also be temporarily suspended for the need to perform technical maintenance of the Platform. The Platform Owner and Service Provider shall notify registered Users of scheduled maintenance either by e-mail or by displaying a reminder directly on the website.

15 NOTICES AND CONTACT

15.1 Except where expressly stated in the Contract - or otherwise established by any legal obligations - all communication between the Platform Owner and Service Provider and the User shall preferably and primarily take place by means of electronic mail messages or the Website's contact forms.

15.2 Any communication from the Platform Owner and Service Provider to Users shall be sent to the e-mail address provided by the Users during their registration process.

16 WARRANTIES

16.1 The Platform Owner and Service Provider hereby remarks that if Users fall within the statutory definition of 'consumer', the legal guarantee of conformity applies in the context of paid Services. The legal guarantee of conformity applies in the event that paid Services do not meet the specifications or any other requirements not related to conformity as set out in the Contract, and is valid for the entire period of the Service provision. The legal guarantee of conformity does not apply to complimentary ('free'; 'free of charge') Services and other Platform functionalities.

16.2 Users who do not fall under the definition of 'consumers' agree to use the service as is. The Platform Owner and Service Provider shall solely be liable if the paid Services feature flaws or faults rendering them unsuitable for their intended use, or for any flaws or faults not disclosed with malicious intent, any other flaws or faults being hereby ruled out. Should any of the paid Services feature flaws or faults rendering them unsuitable for their intended use, the Platform Owner and Service Provider shall take appropriate action towards their removal.

17 LIMITATION OF LIABILITY AND WARRANTY WAIVER

17.1 The Platform Owner and Service Provider is not liable in any way - other than for what expressly stated in these Service Terms and Conditions of Use - in relation to the execution of obligations by Users operating on the Platform. The Platform Owner and Service Provider shall under no circumstances be held liable for the behaviour or misconduct of Platform Users.

17.2 Except for instances of wilful misconduct and gross negligence, the Platform Owner and Service Provider shall not be liable for any direct or indirect damages, including loss of earnings, loss of business opportunities, and for any other damage that may arise from Platform usage. The Platform Owner and Service Provider shall in no circumstances be held liable for website downtime, Platform operational disruption and/or anomalies, including those caused by technical problems, except where these are not directly and immediately attributable to malicious or grossly negligent conduct upon the Platform Owner and Service Provider.

17.3 The Platform Owner and Service Provider shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the Website is online, operational, and fully functional; nonetheless, 24/7 availability of the Website and the Services may not be guaranteed. The Platform Owner and Service Provider does not undertake or accept any liability in case of service disruption, downtime, unavailability due to external factors including, but not limited to, equipment malfunction, ISP (internet service provider) problems, hosting appliance failure, network system failure, natural events, or legal impediments.

17.4 The Website may contain hyperlinks, or may redirect Users, to 'Third-Party Websites'. The Platform Owner and Service Provider is not responsible for any Third-Party Websites accessed through the Platform: Users deciding to access Third-Party Websites through hyperlinks contained on the Platform, acknowledge do so at their own risk. The Platform Owner and Service Provider denies any responsibility for the content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions, reliability, privacy practices, or other policies of or contained in Third-Party Websites.

17.5 The Platform Owner and Service Provider merely makes the Platform available for content uploading and sharing, and shall under no circumstances be held liable for the behaviour or misconduct of its Users. Users may be held liable for any direct or indirect damage caused by their use of the Platform and the Content generated.

18 PERSONAL DATA PROCESSING

18.1 The Platform Owner and Service Provider, in the capacity as 'data controller' under the terms of Italian Decree-law 196/2003, and Regulation (EU) 679/2016, hereby declares that personal data shall be processed solely for the performance of this Contract and the fulfilment of all legal, statutory, and contractual obligations arising therefrom. The Platform Owner and Service Provider is in no position to prevent any personal data made public by specific users from being copied by other users, circulated, or disclosed in other contexts outside the Website.

18.2 For further details on the collection, processing, storage of personal data, including, but not limited to, the purposes of personal data processing, the legal basis and the rights that can be exercised, please refer to the Privacy Policy Statement published on the Website.

19 MISCELLANEOUS

19.1 The Platform Owner and Service Provider reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to display advertisements on the Website, as well as hyperlinks to other websites provided they comply with their obligations under this Agreement.

19.2 The Platform Owner and Service Provider is not responsible for, or bears no control over any Third-Party Websites accessed through the Platform: Users deciding to access, or being redirected to Third-Party Websites through hyperlinks contained on the Platform, acknowledge do so at their own risk. The Platform Owner and Service Provider denies any responsibility for the content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions, reliability, privacy practices, or other policies of or contained in Third-Party Websites.

19.3 Users shall not in any way or under any form, in whole or in part, transfer the Contract to third parties, without prior written consent of the Platform Owner and Service Provider.

20 GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION

20.1 Users understand that Platform operation and use are governed by Italian laws. Therefore, by accessing the Platform and using its Services, Users acknowledge that the relevant statutory regulations of Italian law shall apply. Users falling under the definition of 'consumers' with habitual residence in the EU additionally benefit from the protection provided by obligatory provisions of the law in their country of residence.

20.2 Prior to any litigation, claim or legal action, the Platform Owner and Service Provider, and Users agree to informally negotiate and settle any dispute related to these Service Terms and Conditions of Use, on whatever grounds and on whatever basis. The Platform Owner and Service Provider, and Users shall negotiate in order to seek a mutually agreed settlement.

20.3 When the User falls within the definition of 'consumer', all disputes and claims pertaining to the contract's legal validity, performance or interpretation shall, in the absence of an out-of-court arbitration settlement, be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the court of the User's country of residence. When, on the other hand, the User does not fall within the regulatory definition of 'consumer', both parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Milan.

20.4 In compliance with Regulation (EU) 2013/524 of the European Parliament and of the Council, online retailers and traders in the EU are obliged to provide a link to the European Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform, available at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/