Starmind Terms of Use

Version of: 1. May 2009

This agreement (terms of use, subsequently called „TOU“) between Starmind LLC (subsequently called „Starmind“) and the users (subsequently called “user”) of the electronic Starmind online portals (subsequently called “websites”) regulates the utilization of Starmind’s websites and the associated services.

Aim of the Starmind services is to broker high-level knowledge between interested parties in an uncomplicated and fast manner, meaning to find competent question solver for problems posed by question posers. Hence, Starmind acts as a broker between question posers and question solvers.

Future changes and an extension of the service are also subject to the present agreement. Any utilization of the services and contents offered on the Starmind website needs the agreement of Starmind in advance. Starmind reserves the right to change the services offered on the Starmind websites or to offer different services.

Starmind only provides data and/or information entered by one user to other users as long as this data and/or information does not violate the law or these TOU. Starmind has the right to delete illegal, indecent or offending contents from the Starmind websites without notice.

The user accepts, that a 100% availability of the Starmind websites is technically not realizable. However, Starmind strives to keep a constant availability of the Starmind websites. Especially maintenance, security or capacity issues as well as events, which are outside of Starminds sphere of control (i.e. troubles with public communication networks, blackouts, etc.) can cause temporary troubles or can cause a momentary cessation of the services.

Starmind offers the question posers a platform to bring them together with question solvers, anonymous or not, verified or not. Starmind does not take an active part in the contents of the users’ communication. The users are solely responsible for the carrying out and the fulfillment of the contract between them. Starmind is not liable if no contact between a question solver and a question poser arises over the Starmind website. Moreover, Starmind is not liable for the users’ breach of duty.

Starmind only enters a legal relation with the users through this TOU. In particular, there is no possibility for the user to recourse to Starmind in case of default of knowledge transfer. Starmind only acts as a broker. The agreement concerning knowledge transfer exists only between question posers and question solvers.

Users have to register before accessing Starmind’s services. By entering their e-mail address in the registration form or by posing or solving a Starmind question, users declare to accept the present agreement. With the submission of the application and registration form or with the indication or an own e-mail address, they become potential “question posers” and “question solvers” while Starmind grants the utilization of the offered services in its sole discretion.

Users covenant that all data entered during registration is true and complete. Users are obligated to inform Starmind about changes in their user data immediately. Pseudonyms or stage names are only allowed to be entered in the explicitly marked areas. Moreover, a valid e-mail address needs to be entered. Every user is only allowed to register once. To enable the identification of users in case of legal breaches, Starmind offers a verification service via mobile phones so as to differentiate between “non-verified” and “verified” or trusted users. In the event you change or deactivate your mobile telephone number, you will update your account information on Starmind within 48 hours to ensure that your messages are not sent to the person who acquires your old number.

During registration, users choose a password. They are obliged to keep the password secret. Starmind does not pass the password on to third parties and will not ask the user for his password at any time, especially not via e- mail.

Starmind reserves the right to decline application and registration forms discretionary. Starmind can refuse or exclude users from further utilization of Starmind without declaration of reasons. There is no general right to sign up on or utilize Starmind’s websites.

Users have to follow the applying laws as well as the rights of third parties to the utilization of the contents and services on the Starmind websites. They are not allowed to use offending, illegal or defaming contents, legally protected contents (such as protected by criminal law, copyright, trademark act, patent law, design protection law or similar) without authorization as well as conducting or assist anticompetitive acts.

In particular, following actions are prohibited:

• Utilization of automated mechanisms like special software or scripts in connection with the utilization of the Starmind websites
• Blocking, overwriting, modification, copying of the Starmind software or of its contents as far as this is not necessary for the according utilization of Starmind’s services. Copying in the way of “robot/crawler” search engine technologies for example is not necessary for the according utilization of Starmind’s services and hence explicitly prohibited
• Circulation and public reproduction of contents of the Starmind websites or of entered contents (such as other users’ questions, answers, forum postings)
• Any act which is capable to affect the functionality of or to overload Starmind’s infrastructure

In case the user represents a company, he or she has to be authorized to make an agreement in the name of this company.

If Starmind is used exclusively as a Starmind question solver, users can register on Starmind already at age 15y. However, questions must not be posted before considered a politically mature person, a definition which depends on your country of residence. In most countries this is age 18.

A restriction of the admission as a user or the deletion as registered user can be carried out at any moment, especially for reasons of quality control.

For a doubtless registration of the user, he or she has to disclose a personalized e-mail address which can be verified and based on which Starmind can verify the user for example as an academic. The identification of the user by virtue of his mobile number is another means for user identification. In particular, Starmind may demand an effective university or alumni e-mail address for this purpose.

The users are executing the following declaration and guarantee:

The question solvers are not liable to any contractual obligation, no contract of employment, no employment relationship or any other relationship or obligation, which states that the rights to results related to the registered question or the submitted answer devolve to an employer, a university or an academic institution, a public agency or any other third party.

Hence the answer does not offend against nor does it represent a violation of patents, copyrights, company secrets, trademarks or any other rights to third parties’ intellectual property as well as general rights (such as criminal law).

The question solver’s procured legal claim to the solution within the scope of this agreement including any intellectual property rights concerning this matter is exempt from claims of withholding and garnishment and charges of any kind, respectively.

Starmind appreciates your feedback or other suggestions about Starmind, but you understand that we may use them without any obligation to compensate you for them (just as you have no obligation to offer them).

For the processing of a question to a new scientific problem, question solvers, too are asked for their affirmation of special terms and conditions, which are set up by a specific question poser. These special terms need to be noted in the description of the question. With the submission of a solution proposition, the question solver accepts these special terms and conditions.

The question poser can freely choose the reward for the solution of the question. The question solver writes a concise abstract for his solution based on which the question poser decides whether he wants to view the complete solution. If he decides to do so, the promised reward is due. Excepted from this are solutions, which are so useless that they represent spam or have explicitly been rated as useless by the question poser.

After the ordering of the full solution by the question poser, the question poser receives a notice about the debit of the reward and Starmind handling fees at the expense of the Starmind question poser’s account. The sum of reward and express fee due is blocked automatically, while the effective reward which will transferred depends on the rating the question poser attributes to the viewed full solution. If the account is not covered sufficiently, the user is asked to upload the amount due. The transaction to the question solver and to Starmind and a possible refund back to the question poser’s account is conducted automatically and depends on the question poser’s rating and the time the solution is received. Open rating processes need to be finished before further solutions can be viewed.

In order to reload the Starmind account, widely accepted payment systems are recommended. Starmind refers directly to PayPal: www.paypal.com
Depending on the chosen way and direction of transaction, additional transaction costs can be charged by Starmind (see cost and fees section).

Starmind acts as a broker between question posers and question solvers. Starmind fees are listed on the Starmind fee sheet which is part of the Starmind user guide (see FAQ).

In no case is Starmind liable for the solvency of the question poser. The risk that the question poser does not or not completely pay lies with the question solver alone. Starmind has the right to approach defaulting question posers or solvers and can exclude them from further utilization of the Starmind service if necessary. To reduce the risk for question solvers, Starmind has installed publicly accessible Starmind user profiles depicting and detailing both the rating, payout and activity pattern of a question poser. We strongly advise any user to check the user profile of the other party before further actions are taken.

Starmind and its suppliers continually upgrade and revise its products and services to provide you with new products and services. Starmind may revise, discontinue or modify products or services at any time without prior notice to customers, and products or services may become unavailable without notice.

We attempt to be as accurate as possible and eliminate errors on Starmind, however we do not warrant that any product, service or description, photograph, pricing or other information is accurate, complete, reliable, current, or error-free. In the event of an error, whether on the Starmind Site, in an order confirmation, in processing an order, delivering a product or service or otherwise, we reserve the right to correct such error and revise your order accordingly if necessary (including charging the correct price) or to cancel the order and refund any amount charged. In addition, we may, in lieu of a refund as provided in this paragraph, opt to provide you with a merchandise or service credit, with a value at least equal to the amount charged to your credit card. Starmind reserves the right to determine and modify from time to time the exact nature of any such merchandise or service credit, including conversion into one or more different types of merchandise or service credits.

User will be responsible for any applicable sales or use tax, duties, or other governmental taxes or fees payable in connection with your purchase or money hold on your account. If you do not pay such sales or other tax or fee on a transaction, you will be responsible for such taxes or fees in the event that they are later determined to be payable on such sale, and Starmind reserves the right to collect such taxes or other fees from you at any time.

Using Starmind is principally free of charge. Fees are charged only for compensating additional efforts the Starmind team is faced with resulting from extraordinary requests or services granted to Starmind users. These services are:

• Withdrawing money and transferring it to a private account (paypal, bank, other).
• Receiving solutions at lower than maximal rewards (express fees)*
• Other customized special services, mostly available in beta-versions of Starmind

* The express fees: A mechanism to assure quality of solutions
A Starmind question poser sets a maximal reward for posted questions at his own discretion. Solvers are informed about new challenges posted online based on a dedicated routing system. Rewards are offered at 30% of the maximum reward the question poser chose. The question is published and the reward is then increased automatically over time from 30% to 100% (max reward) so that a question is not solved at the maximal price the question poser is willing to pay but at a price a question solver is willing to accept for handing in a solution. Each question is then optimally priced either below or above the maximal reward, while too low rewards result in no solutions received. Also, early handed in solutions at hence lower rewards, have an advantage of being accepted as competitive pressure as well as cost for question posers are increasing over time.
Upon transferring then the effective reward to the successful question solver, 50% of the difference between the maximal offered reward by the question poser and the reward finally transferred to the question solver are charged as express fee to Starmind in order to compensate Starmind for maintaining and actively expanding Starmind’s global network of question solvers.
The dedicated mechanism singles out users requiring a minimal effort to hand in solutions, hence filtering out truly innovative and outstanding approaches. Since a question seems difficult only to someone who does not know the solution, the same question may seem easy for someone already having solved the same question several times or having a specific set of expertise. Ideally, a solution is copy pasted from an existing related problem.

Starmind does not take any responsibility for contents, data and/or information given by the users on the Starmind websites as well as for contents on linked external websites. In particular, Starmind does not guarantee, that these contents are true, fulfill a certain purpose or may serve such a purpose. In this sense, Starmind does not guarantee for the correctness of problem solutions as regards content (see below).

Starmind has no control over, nor does it take any liability for acts or omissions of question posers or question solvers or regarding the constitution and rightfulness of problem solutions, which are aimed for based on the publication. Starmind is not liable in any way and cannot guarantee the correctness or completeness of the solutions, nor does it represent question solvers. Starmind does not guarantee any quality of the solutions.

Starmind is not liable and does not issue any guarantee or warranty for a failure free and faultless utilization of the service or that it is consistent with the users’ requirements nor that the question poser pays or is capable of paying the promised amount to the question solver.

Furthermore, no guarantee is issued neither for the results obtained by the utilization of the service nor for their correctness, reliability or the content of any products, services or information which is obtained through or in association with the Starmind service.

The user hereby accepts explicitly, that the utilization of the service is at his’ own risk. THIS SERVICE IS OFFERED WITHOUT ANY GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY. IN PARTICULAR, STARMIND WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY LIABILITY.

Users are liable for damages to Starmind and will compensate Starmind towards any pretensions, costs, damages, loss, expenditures and commitments (including adequate attorney fees and court costs which accrue for Starmind), based on or in connection with: (i) breaking of the present engagement or offences against this agreement by the user or any third party, which uses user names or passwords, (ii) pecuniary claim to a reward or a fraction of the reward or any other pecuniary claims.

Starmind respects relevant legal stipulations concerning data protection (in particular the Swiss data protection act). Starmind will not pass on personal user data in particular to third parties without authority or make third parties in any way aware of it. However, Starmind cannot guarantee the confidentiality, in particular not because of possible (especially illegal hacker) attacks against the websites.

During and at the end of the present agreement’s term the passing on of confidential user information to third parties and the utilization for other purposes than those which are mentioned in the contract is prohibited without the agreement of the specific user, whose data has been collected.

If individual clauses in this contract turn out to be invalid or void, the effectiveness or validity of the other clauses remains unaffected. The void clauses are to be interpreted or replaced in a legally admissible way as it complies with the aspired economical purpose of the contract at most.

Starmind reserves the right to transfer the present agreement and to transfer parts or all of its rights according to the present agreement by awarding licenses. Moreover, Starmind reserves the right to make modifications to this TOU. There modifications come into effect ten (10) days after announcement on the webpage.

Starmind can cease the service or prevent users from partially or completely accessing the website without prior notice and in its sole discretion. Starmind is not obligated to notify third parties of the cessation of the service or of the access refusal to the service. Moreover, Starmind is not responsible for the consequences, which result from the missing notification or the missing access.

Users can withdraw from the contract at any time for any reason by notifying Starmind in written form (correspondence via e-mail is excluded) of the withdrawal. The withdrawal of the contract takes effect on receipt of the message or at any in the message mentioned later date. In case the user withdraws from the contract and as soon as the withdrawal takes effect, any claim for payment by Starmind expires.

With the withdrawal from this agreement, any right to the utilization of the website expires automatically.

The contract and its modifications require written form. Side-agreements do not apply. The present agreement and its amendments are solely legal on this score and replace any other agreement and stipulation made between the parties concerning this matter.

The official and applicable language in this agreement, in the service and the terms and regulations of Starmind is German. Any translation of this agreement, of the service or the terms and regulations of Starmind only serves as information.

As far as nothing else is agreed upon and article 13 does not apply, the user may deliver all declarations to Starmind via e-mail as well as using the contact form on the website or may transmit the declarations via fax or letter to Starmind. Starmind may deliver declarations towards users via e-mail or fax or letter to the addresses, which the user has entered as current contact data in his user account.

If certain clauses in this agreement are or become void, the validity of the other clauses is not affected. The contracting parties commit to replace a void clause by a valid clause, which in its regulatory content comes as close as possible to the void clause. Accordingly, this is valid for deficiencies, too.

Regardless of contrary terms and laws, the users agree on the following: Claim for damage or causes of action, which result from or in connection with the utilization of this service, have to be handed in by one or the other party within half a year after verifiable detection of the mentioned damages or causes of action, otherwise they prescribe.

Meilen, May 1, 2009

IN ALL CASES THE UTILIZATION OF THE STARMIND WEBSITES IS CARRIED OUT AT OWN RISK. WE POINT OUT THAT THE USERS HAVE TO BE AUTHORIZED IN ORDER TO ACCEPT THE PRESENT AGREEMENT AS WELL AS TO UTILIZE THE STARMIND SERVICES. QUESTION SOLVERS ARE LIABLE FOR THE COMPLIANCE OF ALL AGREEMENTS REGARDING THE SOLUTION ABSTRACT.

BY CLICKING THE “ACCEPT” BUTTON, “LOGIN” OR BY INDICATING AN E-MAIL ADRESS OR BY SUBMITTING A QUESTION OR ANSWER, THE USERS DECLARE THAT THEY HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD ALL THE CLAUSES IN THE PRESENT AGREEMENT AND REPLACE WITH IT THEIR SIGNATURE ON AN ENGROSSMENT ON PAPER.