1. General Regulations

(1) breakyourpattern.net is a unique platform that gives its users access to a large network of experts, coaches and trainers (hereafter the “Platform”). Users can find useful links, news and interesting reads. Further, the Platform connects users with experts, coaches and trainers who can offer training courses, coaching, supervision or in-depth analysis online or in virtual class rooms via the platform (hereafter “Services”). The Users and Providers can meet many likeminded people via the platform and chat, discuss and learn with and from each other.

(2) The Platform is operated by the Human Resources GmbH (or the “Operator”).

(3) “Providers” are all experts, coaches and trainers who offer and sell Services via the platform.

(4) “Users” are all natural persons that are registered on the platform and that may purchase Services of Providers.

(5) A contractual relationship exists both between the Users and the Operator and between the Providers and the Operator, the basis of which are these Terms of Use. By registering with the Platform, Users and Providers accept these Terms of Use as authoritative.

(6) Contracts between the Users and the Providers regarding Services offered on the Platform exist exclusively between the respective User and the respective Provider. The Operator cannot be obligated or liable from these contracts. In particular, there is no obligation of the Operator to check the Providers and the Services before they are offered on the Platform.

(7) With respect to the Users, the Operator reserves the right to update and amend these Terms of Use as well as the services of the Platform at any time and without giving reasons. Changes will be announced in due time with a notice period of at least 15 days prior to the effective date of the changed provisions, so that the Users can decide in due time on the further use of the Platform.

(8) With respect to Providers, the Operator reserves the right to change these Terms of Use as well as the Platform’s scope of services if the change

• becomes necessary due to legal or regulatory requirements,

• ensures the interoperability or functionality of the platform, or

• pursues the purpose of a uniform adaptation to technical progress, as far as this does not result in any restrictions for the services used by the Provider or an alternative is available that includes a comparable service.

The Operator shall notify the Provider of such changes in text form with a notice period of six weeks. If changes are made to the disadvantage of the Provider, the Provider may terminate the contractual relationship within four weeks of receipt of the change notification for the time at which the change takes effect. In the notification of change, the Operator shall inform the Provider of its right of termination.

2. Services of the Operator

(1) The services of the Operator are in particular:

• providing the possibility to use the Platform after registration for Providers and Users;

• supporting the conclusion of contracts between Providers and Users on the Platform;

• creation of information and communication possibilities between the contracting parties.

(2) The Operator reserves the right to change or expand the content and structure of the Platform as well as the user interfaces.

(3) The contents of the Platform were created with the greatest care. However, the Operator cannot take responsibility for the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of the content.

(4) The Operator is not responsible for the content of websites to which hyperlinks are provided, unless the Operator has full knowledge of illegal contents and would be able to prevent the Users and Providers from viewing those pages. The Operator accepts no liability or guarantee for the content of external links. Should Users or Providers be of the opinion that certain linked external sites violate applicable law or otherwise contain inappropriate content, the Operator would appreciate being notified.

3. Costs of Platform Use

(1) Registration and use of the Platform is free of charge for Users.

(2) If Providers decide to offer Services via the Platform, costs will be incurred, which will be described in more detail in the membership packages, as offered by the Operator on the Platform under “Membership Plans” and agreed between the Provider and the Operator (hereinafter referred to as “membership contract”). As a rule, these costs consist of the payment of a certain commission for each contract for the use of the Service between Provider and User that is concluded and paid for via the Platform.

4. Admission and Access to the Platform

(1) In order to use the Platform as a User, the User must register with the Platform. When registering, the user must, among other things, create a username. The Operator reserves the right to refuse user names that are illegal, offensive, glorify violence, are discriminatory, pornographic or in any other way inconsistent with the following Terms of Use, in violation of applicable laws and are likely to damage the public image of the Operator or its cooperation partners.

(2) It is not permitted to register for more than one user account, to register for a user account in the name of another person or to impersonate another person, as well as to spread false information about oneself and other persons.

(3) To offer Services as a Provider on the Platform, the Provider must also first register. As far as the Provider has registered for a membership package under Platform under “Membership Plans” and the Operator has accepted the registration, the Provider shall be given the possibility to independently post and offer its Services on the Platform. The Operator reserves the right to remove Services from the Platform if they are not within the contractually agreed scope, violate these Terms of Use or otherwise breach applicable legal provisions or the rights of third parties.

(4) The Provider and the Users guarantee that the information provided by it to the Operator, in particular in the context of the application for admission by a Provider, are true and complete. Providers undertake to notify the Operator immediately of any future changes to the information provided or to update such information.

(5) There is no entitlement to admission or use of the Platform for Users or Providers, unless costs will be incurred as agreed under a membership contract. The Operator is entitled to withdraw a registration to the Platform by a User or a Provider as well as the right to offer Services on the Platform by a Provider if there is sufficient suspicion that the respective User or Provider has violated these Terms of Use or has violated applicable law or otherwise harmed the reputation of the Operator through his or her behavior on the platform. Providers and Users can avert these measures if they eliminate the suspicion by submitting suitable evidence at their own expense.

(6) All logins are individualized and may only be used by the authorized User or Provider. The Users and Providers are obliged to keep the login and password secret and to protect them from unauthorized access by third parties. The Users and Providers also responsible for the secrecy of the logins by their employees (if applicable) and will instruct their employees accordingly. In case of suspicion of misuse by a third party, the User or Provider shall immediately inform the Operator thereof. As soon as the Operator becomes aware of the unauthorized use, the Operator will block the access. The Operator reserves the right to change the login and password of a User or Provider; in such a case the Operator will inform the User or Provider immediately.

(7) Users can have their account deleted at any time without giving reasons. After deactivation of the account, the User’s data can no longer be accessed. Due to the data stored in the cache, the User’s data may still be available for a short time after the account has been deactivated for technical reasons. The Operator reserves the right to continue to store the data for the time being if necessary (e.g. to enforce claims for damages in the event of a violation). After the deletion of the account, entries in discussion forums, personal messages and other contributions will be anonymized. These are then no longer attributable to the User, but are not deleted, for example, to leave the course of a discussion traceable.

5. Conclusion of Contracts via the Platform

(1) Providers have the opportunity to offer their Services for sale or free of charge to Users on the Platform. This does not constitute a legally binding offer within the meaning of Sec. 145 German Civil Code, but only an invitation to submit offers (“invitatio ad offerendum”) by the Users.

(2) Users have the opportunity to submit binding offers for the purchase of Services offered by Providers on the Platform.

(3) Providers are free to choose whether and which of the offers received they accept. Unless User and Provider agree otherwise, a contract is concluded when a Provider accepts a User’s offer by sending an order confirmation via email or via the messaging system of the Platform.

(4) Actions using the respective account of a User or a Provider are attributable to the respective User or Provider. Users and Providers are responsible for all declarations made by themselves on the Platform. For declarations made by third parties under the User’s or Provider’s account, they shall be liable to a foreseeable extent in accordance with the principles of a contract with protective effect for third parties.

6. Obligations of Providers

(1) Providers are not allowed to offer Services on the Platform, if

a) the information regarding the offered Service is not complete, so that the object and price cannot be determined by the Users;

b) the offer or execution of the sale would violate applicable legal regulations, official orders or morality. In particular, no Services may be offered which offer or sale would violate the rights of third parties; the same applies to any Services related to pornography, weapons, drugs, propaganda material of anti-constitutional organizations and parties, etc. The Operator is entitled to remove such Services from the Platform immediately; or

c) the Provider requires any licenses or examinations under applicable law for the provision of the offered Service, which the Provider does not possess.

(2) The Provider is responsible for compliance with all legal requirements relating to the offer and sale of its Services via the Platform. This applies in particular, for example, to the provider identification in accordance with the German Telemedia Act (Telemediengesetz), information obligations under the German Distance Selling Act (Fernabsatzrechtliliche Informationspflichten), the fulfillment of information obligations under data protection law or the granting of a right of revocation, if required, and instruction and information in this regard.

(3) Services that may only be offered on the basis of legally required proof may only be offered on the Platform if the proof is included in the description of the Services and the Services are only offered on the basis of legally required proof.

7. Communication between Users

As far as Users communicate publicly or privately with other Users on the platform (e.g. in discussions, via private messages or in comments), they must always comply with all applicable laws. In particular, they may not insult other Users or other natural persons and may not publish racist, sexist or hateful content or any other content that is likely to damage the reputation of the Operator.

8. Settlement of Contracts Concluded on the Platform and payment

(1) The Operator allows Providers to offer their Services on the Platform and to sell them to Users. The Operator thus offers the Providers and Users the opportunity to conclude transactions via the Platform. The contract for the Services traded on the Platform is concluded exclusively between the Provider and the User; the Operator is not a contractual partner and therefore assumes no responsibility for this contract. The Operator is also not the representative of the Provider or the User.

(2) The payment processing of contracts concluded via the Platform is handled exclusively by the payment service provider PayPal. PayPal is the holder of an EU banking license issued in Luxembourg.

(3) If agreed individually between the Operator and the Provider and made clear to the User in the description of the Service, payment for some Services is made through the Operator. In this case, the User pays the price to the PayPal account of the Operator. The operator then forwards the payments received to the PayPal account of the Provider at regular intervals, minus its commission. In this respect, the Operator merely assumes the merchant’s payment collection vis-à-vis the Users and assumes no responsibility for any payment defaults. The Provider will assert any payment defaults against the Users at its own expense.

(4) With the exception of the payment processing of some contracts described above, the processing of contracts concluded on the Platform is the sole responsibility of the respective Providers and Users. The Operator assumes neither a guarantee for the fulfillment of the contracts concluded on the Platform between the Providers and Users nor any liability for material or legal defects of the traded Services. The Operator is under no obligation to ensure the fulfillment of the contracts concluded. The Provider itself is responsible for the sale of its Services, any complaints of the Users and all other matters arising from the contract between the Provider and the User.

(5) The Operator cannot guarantee the true identity and the power of disposal of the Providers as well as the Users. In case of doubt, both contracting parties are required to inform themselves in an appropriate manner about the true identity and the power of disposal of the other contracting party.

9. Liability of the Operator

(1) The Operator is liable according to the legal regulations for intent and gross negligence of the Operator, its legal representatives, executive employees or other vicarious agents. With respect to Users, the Operator is not liable in the event of ordinary negligence. With respect to Providers, the Operator is also liable on the merits for simple negligent breaches of essential contractual obligations caused by the Operator, its representatives, executives and ordinary vicarious agents, i.e. such obligations on the fulfillment of which the Provider or User regularly relies and may rely for the proper performance of the contract, in this case, however, limited to the amount of the typically arising, foreseeable damage. The limitations of liability pursuant to this paragraph (1) shall not apply to the assumption of guarantees or other strict liability as well as to claims under the Product Liability Act or in case of culpable injury to life, body or health.

(2) The Operator shall not be liable for disruptions within the line network for which it is not responsible. The Operator shall only be liable for the loss of data if such loss could not have been avoided by reasonable data backup measures on the part of the Provider or User.

(3) Insofar as the liability of the Operator is excluded or limited, this shall also apply to the personal liability of the employees, representatives and vicarious agents of the Operator.

(4) Insofar as the Platform offers the possibility of forwarding to databases, websites, services, etc. of third parties, e.g. by setting links or hyperlinks, the Operator shall not be liable for the accessibility, existence or security of these databases or services or their content. In particular, the Operator is not liable for their legality, accuracy of content, completeness or timeliness.

10. Commercial Property Rights and Copyrights

(1) The commercial property rights for the Operator’s own content (e.g. graphics, sounds, texts, databases, product images) as well as the rights to the brands and designs of the Operator are the exclusive property of the Operator. Any duplication or distribution of these contents in other (also electronic or printed) publications or any use of trademarks or designs is not permitted without the express written consent of the Operator.

(2) The publications on the Platform are subject to German copyright law. The reproduction, editing, distribution and any kind of exploitation outside the limits of copyright require the consent of the respective author.

11. Content Posted by Users or Providers

(1) By placing its content on the Platform (e.g. in the description of Services, the comment sections, the discussions or chats), the Users and Providers grant the Operator a non-exclusive, unrestricted, transferable and sublicensable right of use to make the content accessible via the Internet and, in particular, to reproduce and transmit it for the purpose of operating the Platform and to store it in a back-up system or separate back-up data center for the purpose of data backup. In order to eliminate disruptions, the Operator is also entitled to make changes to the structure of the data or the data format.

(2) The Users and Providers are prohibited from posting content (e.g. also through links or frames) on the Platform that violates legal regulations, official orders or common decency. In particular, they are not allowed to publish posts or messages with insulting, violence-glorifying, discriminatory or pornographic content or with other content that offends common decency. This also includes content that can be accessed via links set by the Users or Providers. Furthermore, the use of offensive content, ambiguous terms and other representations whose illegality is suspected but cannot be conclusively determined is prohibited. In addition, they are prohibited from posting content that violates any rights, in particular copyrights or trademark rights, of third parties.

(3) Providers and Users are obliged to ensure that any content they publish on the Platform or share with other Users or Providers does not violate applicable data protection rights of third parties.

(4) The Operator does not claim third-party content as its own under any circumstances. The Provider and User guarantees the Operator and the other Providers and Users that the content and Services published or offered by itself do not violate any copyrights, trademarks, patents, other property rights or trade secrets.

(5) The Operator reserves the right to block content and Services if they are punishable under the applicable laws or are recognizably used to prepare punishable acts.

(6) The Users and Providers shall indemnify the Operator against all claims asserted by third parties against the Operator due to the infringement of their rights or due to infringements of rights based on the content and
Services published or offered by the User or Provider, provided that the User or Provider is responsible for these. In this respect, the respective Users or Providers shall also bear the reasonable costs of the legal defense of the Operators.

12. Other Obligations of Users and Providers

(1) The Users and Providers shall,

• set up and maintain the necessary data security precautions during the entire term of the contract. This refers in particular to the careful and conscientious handling of logins and passwords,

• inform the Operator immediately of any technical changes occurring in its area if they are likely to impair the provision of services or the security of the Operator’s Platform,

• cooperate in the investigation of attacks by third parties on the Platform, insofar as this cooperation is necessary, and

• conduct business on the Platform exclusively within the scope of commercial business operations for legally permissible commercial purposes.

(2) The Users and Providers undertake to refrain from all measures that endanger or disrupt the functioning of the Platform and not to access data to which they are not entitled. In particular, the Users and Providers are prohibited from spying on and reading other Users’ or Providers’ data on the Platform in order to send spam e-mails, as well as from using the Platform for phishing purposes or for other data misuse. In addition, measures that may influence the physical and logical structure of the platform are prohibited. Furthermore, the User and Provider must ensure that the information and data transmitted via the Platform are not infected with viruses, worms or similar damaging programs/scripts. The User or Provider undertakes to compensate the Operator for all damages resulting from the User’s or Provider’s failure to comply with these obligations and, in addition, to indemnify the Operator against all claims of third parties which they assert against the Operator for this reason. In this respect, the User or Provider shall also bear the reasonable costs of the Operator’s legal defense.

13. Data Protection and Pecurity

(1) Each User and Provider shall comply with the legal provisions on data security and data protection applicable to it. With regard to the processing of personal data by the Operator, the privacy policy available on the website applies.

(2) The servers of the Operator are secured according to the state of the art, in particular by firewalls; however, the Users and Providers are aware that there is a risk for all participants that transmitted data can be read in the transmission path. This applies not only to the exchange of information via e-mails leaving the system, but also to the integrated messaging system and all other transmissions of data.

(3) The Operator is entitled to process information and data on the course of the communication and transactions carried out via the Platform as well as the behavior of users or merchants during the execution of these transactions in anonymous form in compliance with the provisions of data protection law and to use it for marketing purposes, e.g. for the preparation of statistics and presentations.

(4) The Users and Providers are obliged to keep permanently secret, not to pass on to third parties, to record or to use in any other way all information about the other Users, Providers and the Operator which has become known to them or which becomes known to them in connection with the use of the Platform and which is marked as confidential or is recognizable as business secrets on the basis of other circumstances (hereinafter referred to as “confidential information”), unless the respective party has expressly consented in writing to the disclosure or use or the information must be disclosed by law, court decision or administrative decision. The information is not confidential information within the meaning of this provision if it

• was previously known to the other party without information being subject to a confidentiality obligation,

• is generally known or becomes known without breach of the confidentiality obligations assumed,

• is disclosed to the other party by a third party without breach of the confidentiality obligation.

The obligations under this provision shall survive the end of the contract.

(5) Users and Providers shall indemnify the Operator against all claims under data protection law against the Operator, insofar as these are based on the fact that a User or Provider has published personal data on the platform in violation of data protection law.

14. Assignment, Right of Retention and Set-Off

(1) The Provider may not – except for the assignment of monetary claims pursuant to Section 354 a of the German Commercial Code – assign individual rights under this Agreement or the Agreement as a whole to third parties unless the Operator expressly gives its written consent thereto.

(2) The Provider shall only be entitled to offset or withhold payment from the Operator if its counterclaims are undisputed or have been finally adjudicated. The Provider shall only have a right of retention in respect of claims arising directly from the same contractual relationship.

15. Term of Contract

(1) The contract underlying these Terms of Use is concluded for an indefinite period. It shall commence with the registration of the User or the admission of the Provider by the Operator.

(2) The contract between the User and the Operator can be terminated by either party at any time with immediate effect.

(3) The contract between the Provider and the Operator may be terminated by either party with four weeks’ notice to the end of the month. Both Provider and Operator have the right to terminate the contract for good cause without notice. A good cause for the Operator is in particular:

• the violation of a Provider against the provisions of these Terms of Use, which is not remedied even after setting a deadline,

• the tortious act of a Provider or the attempt to commit such an act, e.g. fraud,

• permanent interruptions of operation due to force majeure beyond the control of the Operator, such as natural disasters, pandemics, fire, breakdown of power supply networks through no fault of the Operator.

16. Information for providers regarding P2B regulation

(1) Services of the Providers are presented on the Platform sorted by type of the Service (Online Training or In-depth Analysis) to the Users in two orders freely selectable by the Users: alphabetically or by date of creation. Providers additionally have no influence on the order in which the Services are displayed.

(2) If Providers have complaints about the presentation of their Services, they can contact the Operator via the contact form.

17. Final Provisions

(1) The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply to the exclusion of the provisions of inter-national private law. The provisions of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) shall not apply.

(2) The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising directly or indirectly from the contractual relationship is the registered office of the Operator. In addition, the Operator is also entitled to file suit at the Provider’s general place of jurisdiction.

(3) These Terms of Use together with the membership contract if applicable contain the complete contractual agreements between the Operator and the Provider or User. Subsidiary agreements have not been made. Subsidiary agreements and amendments to the contract must be made in writing to the exclusion of text form in order to be effective. This also applies to the cancellation of the written form requirement.

(4) The possible invalidity of one or more provisions of these Terms of Use shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.

October 2023