TERMS-OF-USE

Terms of Use – 26/06/2020

Preamble

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft ("BMW AG"), Petuelring 130, 80788 Munich, registry court Munich, registry number HRB 42243, value-added tax identification number: DE129273398 (hereafter “the operator”) operates the Aftersales Online System AOS (hereafter “the portal”) under the domain "aos.bmwgroup.com" and under various other domains, subdomains and aliases. All websites on which the portal is operated, are hereinafter referred to collectively as "portal websites".

The following Terms of Use are legally binding exclusively in their German and English versions for the use of all services offered within the scope of the portal. Other language versions of these Terms of Use are an orientation aid only and serve purely for ease of comprehension purposes. In the event of a contradiction between the German and English version, the English version shall take precedence.

Contradictory or differing terms and conditions of contracting parties are not applicable and will not be accepted by the operator.

§ 1 Content of the portal, user group

The operator provides the users specified in § 3.1 below with technical information, in particular information and applications (hereinafter referred to as "content") for the professional maintenance and repair of vehicles and motorcycles manufactured by the operator and/or distributed under the trademarks of the operator.

§ 2 Conclusion of the contract

  1. With the licensing of a user by the operator to use the portal, a contractual relationship between the operator and the user regarding access and use of the content provided via the portal in accordance with these Terms of Use is concluded.
  2. The information is requested, depending on the nature and scope of the information, either free of charge or for a fee, according to the price list provided via the portal.
  3. The latest version these Terms of Use can be viewed, saved, and printed out at https://aos.bmwgroup.com/web/oss/terms-of-use at any time. The operator expressly reserves the right to make unilateral changes to the Terms of Use. Changes to these Terms of Use will be published six weeks before the proposed date of their entry into force and communicated to the user, insofar as the operator can contact them. If the user has agreed an electronic communication channel with the operator, the changes can also be communicated in this way. These become part of the contract if the user does not object to the changes before the proposed date of entry into force of the changes.
  4. All payments are made in euros according to the tariffs and terms of payment contained in the price list provided via the portal.
  5. Every user and every individual who logs in to the portal confirms compliance with the agreement(s) governing the relationship between the operator and the user ("governing agreement"). It is the responsibility of every individual who logs in to the portal to familiarise themselves with such a contract between the operator and the user with whose access account this person uses the portal. If a governing agreement exists between the operator and the user, the contractual relationship between the operator and the user is governed by the governing agreement and these Terms of Use.

§ 3 Licence

  1. Users are entitled to a licence if they belong to the category of "independent operators" as defined by the Block Exemption Regulation (EC) 461/2010 and/or the Regulation (EC) 715/2007 or successor regulations on type approval of motor vehicles with respect to emissions from light passenger and commercial vehicles (Euro 5 and Euro 6) and on access to repair and maintenance information for motor vehicles and/or motorcycles and if they are domiciled within the European Economic Area (EEA) / Switzerland or if they belong to a category of persons entitled according to comparable regulations. Notwithstanding clause 1 a licence may be granted by the operator on an exceptional basis in individual cases. The following example is provided to clarify the terms used:
    • User: Smith Ltd, as the party to the contract with the operator
    • Legal representative: Mr Bloggs, director of Smith Ltd
    • Access 1: Mr Bloggs, as the legal representative of Smith Ltd, has access with expanded administrator rights, created automatically as the first access account upon registration
    • Access 2: Mr. Miller, a mechanic from Smith GmbH receives his own access account, which is assigned to Smith GmbH.
  2. In order to obtain a licence to the portal, the user or an authorised representative must complete the licence application fully and send it to the operator. The person submitting the licence application for the user will be registered as the legal representative of the user and is liable for any infringement of these Terms of Use and for any abuse of the user’s access by access accounts assigned to the user.
  3. On receipt of the licence confirmation and activation by the operator, the user can log in to the portal.
  4. Only one licence per user is possible. Dissemination of the licence details to third parties is not permitted. The user can apply for several access accounts within the scope of the licence.
  5. The user is obliged to keep the data provided within the scope of the licence up to date and to update it immediately if necessary, including the immediate closure or removal of access accounts of persons who are no longer authorised to act for the user’s organisation and to regularly change the passwords of these access accounts to prevent misuse.
  6. On receipt of the licence for the portal, the user accepts that the content and accompanying materials in the portal are and remain at all times the property of the operator and that the operator owns all rights to the content and all accompanying materials, including in particular the intellectual property rights, all patents, rights to inventions, utility models, copyright and related rights, trademark rights, company names, domain names and trade names, trade dress rights, goodwill, unfair competition rights, rights to designs, rights to computer software, rights to databases, rights to topographies, rights to confidential information (including know-how and trade secrets) and other property rights, whether registered or unregistered (hereafter "intellectual property rights").
  7. The licence gives the user a non-exclusive, personal and non-transferable enduser licence to access the content for the duration of the licence. The licence for access does not grant the user property rights or other rights to the content.
  8. The user is not permitted to remove, change or cover copyright identifications, trade names or other property rights identifications, which are contained wholly or partly in or are connected to the content or other information provided in the portal.

§ 4 User Fee

  1. The use of the portal in the "non-registered status" as well as the licensing and upkeep of an access account are free of charge.
  2. In the registered status, besides free content, there is also paid content that must be purchased for a fee. An overview of paid content and its prices can be found in the valid price list provided via the portal.
  3. Depending on the nature of the specific paid content, it can be used either by booking a time ticket or by using a "transaction":
    • Time tickets are a time-based right to use certain content over a particular calendar period from the time when the time ticket was booked, for the duration of the booked period until its expiration. A booked time ticket shall run even if not used and shall expire accordingly. The remaining calendar time of a booked time ticket can be viewed at any time.
    • Transactions are a one-time, time-independent use authorisation for certain content according to the description of the content, e.g. for a vehicle-related support request to the operator or service provider and vicarious agents engaged by the latter.
    • The compensation is regardless of performance. Even if the use of paid content does not result in success for the user, this shall not give rise to a claim for a refund.

§ 5 Use of content provided

  1. Unless prior written agreement from the operator is obtained, the user shall only use the content provided for professional performance of maintenance and repair of vehicles and motorcycles manufactured by the operator or their affiliated company and/or distributed under the operator’s brand and within the context of the user's organisation and shall not disseminate it to third parties (including outlets and workshops within the user's own network of organisations or workshops) or use, save, publish or reproduce it in any other way without the prior written consent of the operator. All other activities of the user in the user's capacity as an “independent operator” as defined by § 3 and the regulations listed therein shall be treated as equivalent to maintenance and repair work. Manipulation of vehicle software is not considered as maintenance and repair work if manipulation results in technical problems or in termination of type approval.
  2. The governing agreement can contain additional content usage restrictions depending on the field of activity of the user.
  3. Automatic reading out e.g. using bots, crawlers or other machine reading out is strictly prohibited.
  4. The user is not authorised to recreate, decompile or break down information, in particular the content, available on the portal.
  5. The user is not authorised to sell or offer for sale, to license or to transfer information, in particular the content available on the portal.
  6. The operator is authorised to block the access temporarily for legitimate interest reasons, e.g. if:
    1. it must be assumed that the user's data is incorrect
    2. it must be assumed that there is unauthorised use by the user's access
  7. In case of locking, the operator will inform the user by email. The user commits themselves - to the exclusion of the plea of connection with any previous contravention - to pay for each case of unauthorised use of content a penalty in the amount of an annual fee according to the price list provided through the portal to the operator.
  8. The user is liable, with possible contractual penalty, for all damages incurred by the operator as a result of unauthorised use of the content or, if applicable, one of the operator’s affiliated companies in accordance with § 15 AktG. This also includes damage caused by third parties.

§ 6 Safety information

  1. The purpose of the content provided is in particular the professional execution of maintenance and repair work. To be able to carry out the aforementioned work, it is essential that the worker in question has completed his/her vocational training as a motor mechanic/fitter and has undergone regular further training as well as system-specific training. If the information provided refers to the use of special tools, these are absolutely necessary for professional execution of work.
  2. Repair work on vehicles fuelled by hydrogen must only be carried out after consultation with the vehicle-specific customer advisor in the local BMW Group company. If not handled correctly, there is a risk of subsequent damage and the associated safety risks.

§ 7 Liability

  1. Use of the content provided is at user’s own risk. Liability of the operator based on improper performance or inadequate qualifications or product knowledge is excluded. The operator updates the content provided at regular intervals.
  2. The operator cannot guarantee that the portal can be accessed at any time and for an unlimited period of time. Scheduled maintenance windows exist, which shall usually be at weekends. The operator shall not be liable for any system failure and consequential loss of any kind (including, but not limited to, loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business or other loss of property), unless the operator is guilty of wilful misconduct or gross negligence.
  3. In the case of a breach of essential and central contractual obligations, the liability of the operator is limited to the typical damage foreseeable at the time of conclusion of the contract.
  4. Excluded from the limitations of liability in this section are damages resulting from injury to body, life or health.

§ 8 Term of contract, termination

  1. Unless otherwise specified in the governing agreement, the contractual relationship is concluded for an indefinite period.
  2. However the contractual relationship expires automatically if one of the following conditions is met:
    • The last login via a user-assigned access account is more than 1 year ago and no valid time ticket is booked (see also § 4 User fee).
    • The user no longer belongs to the group of persons entitled to a licence and use according to § 3.
    • The operator provides another solution of equivalent (or higher) value on similar terms for the authorised group of persons.
  3. The contract between the user and the operator for the use of the portal may be terminated extraordinarily without notice by either party for good cause at any time. A good cause justifying extraordinary termination without notice by the operator exists especially but not exclusively if:
    • the user within the scope of the authorisation, for example when completing the application for authorisation, makes untruthful statements
    • the user uses the provided content in an unauthorised manner (see also § 5)
    • the user is affected by the manner of use of the operation of the portal (e.g. machine read out)
    • the user does not react in the event of contact by the operator as a result of locking the access.
    • the user has objected in due time to a change of the Terms of Use according to § 2, No. 3 of these Terms of Use.
  4. The contractual relationship can be terminated by the user without giving reasons at any time. For this purpose, the user can delete their access themselves.
  5. Unused, virtual credit and partially used time tickets are refunded after termination
  6. Following termination of the contractual relationship, the user is obliged to delete or physically destroy all copies of content and other information which was accessed via the portal. The operator can request a written confirmation of this from the user. Following termination of the contractual relationship, the user is also prohibited from further using all information they received via the portal.

§ 9 Applicable law, jurisdiction, severability clause

  1. All legal disputes arising out of or in connection with this contract shall be subject to the law of the Federal Republic of Germany.
  2. The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms of Use shall be the Munich Regional Court I. Notwithstanding the forgoing, the operator is authorised to choose another court, which has jurisdiction under local law to hear and rule on disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms of Use.
  3. However the operator and/or its affiliated companies reserve the right to exercise their intellectual property rights against the user for any use of intellectual property rights by the user, which is unlawful or allegedly unlawful and/or not permitted according to these Terms of Use and/or which occurs following termination or expiry of these Terms of Use. Such property rights, even if they could also be based on a contractual breach of these Terms of Use, can be asserted separately by the Operator, in other words irrespective of and regardless of these Terms of Use. If the operator asserts such property rights separately, in other words irrespective of and regardless of these Terms of Use, they are subject to the laws of the applicable legal system for the rights to intellectual property which the operator wishes to enforce.
  4. Furthermore, if a provision of these Terms of Use is wholly or partially invalid, this does not affect the validity of these Terms of Use.

§ 10 Data protection

  1. The user handles the personal data provided to them on the portal as a responsible person in terms of the relevant data protection law and is solely responsible for adhering to the respective valid data protection regulations.
  2. The user is only permitted to handle the information provided to them on the portal, which contains personal data, for the purposes named under § 5 (1) and must obligate accordingly their employees and other persons who have access to the licence./li>

§11 Trademarks

Unless otherwise stated, all trademarks on this website are registered trademarks of the operator. This applies particularly to brands, type designations, logos and emblems.