Terms of use of the VFF-Random Packing Software

The following terms of use apply to all services of the VEREINIGTE FÜLLKÖRPER-FABRIKEN GmbH & Co. KG (VFF), Rheinstraße 176, D-56235 Ransbach-Baumbach (hereinafter „operator“ or „we“) in the context of the VFF-Random Packing Software as provided to companies (§ 14 BGB) and consumers (§ 13 BGB) (hereinafter „you“, „customer“ or „user“).
Your own general terms and conditions will not become part of the contract, even if we do not object to them separately.

The VFF-Random Packing Software (hereinafter also „software“) is a web application accessed via the internet, with which calculations concerning the hydraulics of a packing bed as well as absorption and desorption applications can be carried out through an editor in the browser. The content can be accessed with a user account.

The software is provided to the user for a limited amount of time. The configuration of the software is subject to change at any time. We do not owe any particular configuration.

We reserve the right to extend, modify or delete services or functions within the software as well as to make improvements, particularly if this serves technical progress, appears necessary or prevents misuse. We will only apply these modifications if they are within reason or if we are required to do so by law.

The presentation and design of the administration domain (e.g. in the user account) falls to us exclusively. We reserve the right to also display product-related advertisements and other commercial or sponsored content in the user account.

The contract between you and us is concluded online. The software is available in German and English. Use of the software requires at least the registration with your first name, surname and e-mail address. Your registration is regarded as successful if you provide truthful, accurate, up-to-date and complete personal details as requested on the registration form. The user is obligated to notify the VFF immediately of any potential changes to this registration data via e-mail. The user may not disclose user data to third parties. If the user data is deemed incorrect, we have the right to block or delete the user account.
The presentation of the software on the internet does not constitute a legally binding offer on our part. Only after entering the required data and by clicking the “Register” button in the final step of the registration process do you submit a legally binding offer for the use the software.

You may correct your entries at any time before completing the registration process using the usual keyboard and mouse functions.

We save the registration and send you a confirmation of receipt. For more information on which personal data we process and how, please refer to our privacy notice. A contract on the use of the software is only concluded when the use is permitted.

The text of the contract, including the terms of use in effect at the time of conclusion of the contract, are not stored by us and are therefore no longer accessible to you in this version after conclusion of the contract. However, you have the option of retrieving the terms of use as part of the registration process and saving them in a reproducible form.

Creating a user account and using the VFF software is free of charge. We reserve the right to change the pricing model for our service from free to fee-based at the beginning of the next calendar year with an adequate announcement period of at least two (2) months. Should you not agree to this change, you will no longer be able to use the software from this point onwards. Otherwise, we assume that you agree to these changes by your continued use. 

In order to exclude access to your software account by unauthorised third parties you are obliged to keep your login details secret. If you have reason to believe that unauthorised third parties have gained or may gain access to your login details, you must inform us immediately. In such a case, you are also obliged to change your password immediately. 

Therefore, each user holds full responsibility for all actions taken using their login details – password and username/e-mail. The operator is not liable for any damage resulting from the violation of the stated obligations. Furthermore, the user is responsible for providing an adequate internet connection and the necessary system requirements for the use of the software.

The software and the enabled calculations only serve the visualisation of the data you enter. The software represents a model simulation. The customer is responsible for entering the correct values. 
You recognise that we do not owe a completely secure transfer of data. It is possible for unauthorised parties to influence the data transfer. You are therefore obliged to check the visualised data for accuracy, if applicable. 

The use of the software is at the users own risk. Responsibility for all information, messages, data, texts, pictures, graphics and other materials transmitted lies solely with the person transmitting the data. This means that you as the user hold full responsibility for any content you enter, upload, publish or otherwise transmit using the software. 
We are not obligated to check your calculations or other content for legal violations. 

You are also responsible for complying with the legal requirements of your calculations and your user account. This particularly (but not exclusively) applies to data protection law, competition law, copyright law, trademark law, distance selling law and digital services law.  

We regularly create security backups of our servers. Individual content such as calculations can, however, not be restored from these backups. Storing and securing the data lies within your responsibility. You may only use the designs provided in the software to create your calculations. It is expressly prohibited to save the editor on other IT systems and use it on another server. 
You may use the content of our design templates (e.g. pictures, texts, layout, fonts) exclusively for the calculations created with your user account. Publishing these calculations elsewhere (e.g. print media or other internet platforms) is not permitted without our express written consent.     

The following actions are strictly prohibited:
Publication of contact information of another person, including name, address, telephone number or e-mail address;
Publication of insulting, obscene, defamatory, violence-glorifying, racist or otherwise criminal content;
Publication of protected materials without the consent of the rights holder, e.g. texts, pictures, videos etc.;
Entering, publishing or transmitting content via e-mail or in other ways that infringes on the rights of third parties, in particular patents, trademarks, trade secrets or other ownership rights;
Actions disturbing or interrupting the software process;

Should third parties draw our attention to illegal content, or should we become aware of it ourselves, we have the right to delete it immediately without informing the users beforehand. 
Should we incur costs for warnings from third parties, the user must indemnify us against these costs. Our liability for official measures will be charged to the user responsible for the official intervention. 

Right of withdrawal in the case of consumer contracts

If you are a consumer (§ 13 BGB), you have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period is fourteen days from the day the contract is concluded.
In order to exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us (Vereinigte Füllkörper-Fabriken GmbH & Co. KG, Rheinstraße 176, 56235 Ransbach-Baumbach, e-mail: info@vff.com) by means of a clear declaration (e.g. via a letter sent by post, telefax or e-mail) of your decision to withdraw from this contract. You can use the attached sample withdrawal form, but this is not mandatory.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send the notification that you are exercising your right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period expires.

Consequences of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we are obliged to reimburse all payments we have received from you without undue delay, and within 14 days at the latest, counting from the day we received the information of your withdrawal. For this repayment, we will use the same means of payment you used for the original transaction, unless expressly otherwise agreed with you; in no case will you be charged any fees for this repayment.

Premature expiry
Your right of withdrawal expires prematurely if you have agreed for us to begin performing the service during the withdrawal period (fourteen days) and if you confirm that you are aware your right of withdrawal will be forfeit when we begin carrying out the service. 

Sample withdrawal form
If you want to withdraw from the contract, please fill out this form and send it to us at the following address:
VEREINIGTE FÜLLKÖRPER-FABRIKEN GmbH & Co. KG (VFF)
Rheinstraße 176
D-56235 Ransbach-Baumbach
E-Mail: info(at)vff.com

I/we (*) hereby withdraw from the contract concluded by me/us (*) concerning _________________________________
Ordered on (*)/received on (*) _________________________________
Name of the consumer(s) _________________________________
Address of the consumer(s) _________________________________
Signature of the consumer(s)
(only for printed communication) _________________________________
date _________________________________
(*) please cross out what is inapplicable.

We have the right to terminate the use of the software at any time within a period of three weeks after the announcement on our website or without prior warning in any other case where there is an important reason. An important reason exists if the user violates applicable law or the terms of use.

The user may request the cancellation of their account at any time. This can be done by sending an e-mail or by clicking on the button “delete account” which can be found in the user account.   

Responsibility of securing data, particularly calculation results produced by the software, lies with the user. As such, loss, liabilities, damages and costs incurred in this context fall within the responsibility of the user. 
We endeavour to ensure an uninterrupted availability of the software. You acknowledge, however, that uninterrupted availability is not feasible due to technical reasons and external influences (e.g. unavailable communication networks, interruption of the power supply, hardware and software errors). You are not entitled to high availability. Temporary access restrictions neither justify warranty claims nor the right to extraordinary cancellation.      

The results shown in the calculations represent model values. They can always show discrepancies from the model values in the actual process which are not quantifiable.
The calculation is, on the hand, based on the data you enter and, on the other, on purely theoretically defined circumstances and conditions which can always vary in multiple ways from reality and as such from actual processes. As such, a calculation via the software always represents a model simulation and makes no claim to be complete or correct.

We therefore accept no liability for the data to be correct, complete or up to date. 
You are obliged to describe errors and problems occurring during use of the software as precisely as possible. You must give us the opportunity to check errors and take corrective action even if it means the use of the software is temporarily restricted.

For material defects, we initially provide a warranty through cure. Indicating reasonable options for avoiding the effects of the defect is also considered to be a rectification of the defect. For defects of title, we initially provide a warranty through cure. For this purpose, we provide you with a legally flawless opportunity to use the software or replaced or equivalent software.

We make no express or implied warranty for the marketability, suitability for a particular purpose, professional execution, non-infringement of third-party rights or other warranties – to the extent permitted by law. In particular, we do not offer warranty for  the software (nor its parts, functions or contents), particularly the editor, to perform your calculations completely, correctly, of a particular quality, reliably, securely, in compatibility with your intended activities, devices, operations systems, browsers, programmes or tools (or those of your end users) (or that they will be so in the future). Neither do we offer warranty for them to conform to all legal regulations applicable to you or your customers (including the regulations of any country in which you operate), or for the software to be free of viruses, bugs or other harmful components or programme limitations. Furthermore, we do not accept any liability for users, products or services – including third party services – offered through the software. You should therefore always thoroughly check them before use. 

§ 536a para. 2 BGB is excluded (Claim for reimbursement of expenses if you remedy the defect yourself).

We are within our rights to make cure dependent on you having paid at least an adequate part of the remuneration. 
Should we provide services for troubleshooting or correction of defects to which we are not obliged, we may request remuneration for them. This particularly applies when a defect is not verifiable or cannot be attributed to us. 

Should third parties assert claims that prevent you from exercising your contractually accorded user rights, you must inform us without delay and comprehensively. You hereby authorise us to take legal action against third parties, in as well as out of court. If you are sued, consult with us and only take legal action with our prior consent, particularly in case of acknowledgements and settlements. 

If you are an entrepreneur, statutory limitation period for all warranty claims is one (1) year, as a consumer it is two (2) years starting from the provision of the software. 
Statutory limitation periods shall apply in the event of ill intent or gross negligence, fraudulent concealment of a defect, personal injury or defects of title, claims under the Product Liability Act as well as guarantees (§ 444 BGB).

Warranty applies to the country in which we have our registered office.

We aim to ensure proper functioning of the software at all times. We can, however, not guarantee it. The operator therefore does not guarantee availability of the software systems, nor the content, data or calculations stored in the software.

We therefore only owe the endeavour to have the calculation results created with the software available worldwide and at any time via the network we maintain and the internet connected to it. We do not accept responsibility for the success of each access, unless the network we operate, including the interfaces to third-party networks, is used exclusively.

The software is available to you 24 hours, seven (7) days a week. Average availability is at 99,00% annual mean, minus any time required for the installation of updates, upgrades, new releases and other modifications as well as maintenance work. 

Should the security of the network operation or the maintenance of network integrity be at risk, access to the software may be temporarily restricted. 

You agree to receiving exclusively electronic messages from us for contractual purposes (e.g. bills, important contractual information or significant technical changes). It is therefore important for your data to be up to date. 
You can withdraw your consent to exclusively electronic communication at any time by notifying us. In this case however, we reserve the right to close your user account. 

We grant you a simple and non-transferable right of usage of the “VFF Random Packing Software” limited to the duration of the user relationship. All intellectual property rights concerning the software, such as copyright and all knowhow, as well as, in particular, non-protected inventions in the software (including source and object code, user documentation, algorithms, user interface etc.) belong exclusively to VEREINIGTE FÜLLKÖRPER-FABRIKEN GmbH & Co. KG (VFF). The user is only given the authorisation to the use of the software as intended.

The user is not authorised to reproduce the software, whether in whole or in part, to distribute it or rent it out (particularly not in the form of software as a service), make it available to the public (e.g. via the internet), to sublicense, modify, translate, edit or otherwise change and develop it. The user is also not authorised to decompile the source code.

Should databases be created during use, particularly by compiling application data through activities that are permitted under these terms of use, we are entitled to all rights relating to them. 

We respect the intellectual property of third parties. Should third parties be of the opinion that their works have been used or reproduced without authorisation, we are to be informed of this immediately. We will block access to the material concerned by third parties as quickly as possible, should the allegation prove to be justified. We will reactivate the content only when the user can prove that the unlawful situation has been resolved. For such complaints, users may contact the operator at info(at)vff.com. All other users are also required to notify us of such violations immediately, even if it their own work is not concerned but the user is of the opinion that works of third parties have been used or reproduced without authorisation.

Our liability is limited to foreseeable damage typical to the contract, no matter the legal grounds. As such, we are not liable to you for direct, indirect, accidental, special, punitive or secondary damage, including damages based on (1) faulty or incorrect content; (2) personal injuries or property damage caused by the use of the software, in particular the calculation results; (3) unauthorised access to the servers or the personal data or other information stored there; (4) transmission interruptions to or from the software, also to calculation results as well as to the editor; (5) the use or display of content published, sent via e-mail, transferred or otherwise offered; (6) events beyond our control, in particular failing internet connections, system errors, power outages, strikes, labour disputes, riots, insurrections, uprisings, civil unrest, material and labour shortages, fires, floods, storms, earthquakes, explosions, force majeure, war, terrorism, intergalactic warfare, government acts, orders of court, authorities or tribunals or defaulting third parties and/or (7) loss of use, data, profits, goodwill or other immaterial loss resulting from the use or from the inability to use the software, in particular the calculation results.      

This does not apply to the violation of essential contract obligations, meaning contractual obligations, whose fulfilment is necessary in order to properly execute the contract and on whose fulfilment you regularly rely and may rely (cardinal obligations), for damages to body, life and health, for intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty, for liability under the Product Liability Act or for claims arising from guarantees.  

We are not liable for damages resulting from the use of third-party services. Before using any such services from third parties, you should always examine their general terms and conditions. Use of the services of third parties is at your own risk. 
You agree to indemnify us from any claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs, demands and expenses (including fees for legal support) resulting from the following: (1) a breach of the clauses of our terms of use or of other conditions by you; (2) a violation of third-party rights, including intellectual property rights, access rights, proprietary rights and privacy rights through your software access or your calculation results or your use of the software; or (3) any other kind of claims resulting from the violation of third-party rights through your content. Under no circumstances are we liable for any content, particularly errors, inaccuracies or incomplete information, relating to your content. Nor for any losses or damages resulting from the use of the content published, sent via e-mail or otherwise used in the context of the software.

We take the protection of your personal data as well as legal requirements seriously. Your data is exclusively processed for the use of the software. All customer data are stored, processed and deleted in compliance with the relevant regulations of the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

At any time, you have the right to free-of-charge access, rectification, restriction of processing, erasure and data portability of the stored data.

You can find further information on our website under the menu item “Privacy notice” or in the privacy notice available at https://vff.com/en/privacy-policy.html.

We reserve the right to amend or add to the terms of use in the future. Amendments of the terms of use become effective if the user does not object within a week of the publication of the amended terms of use, but at the latest with the continued use of the software without objection.

Place of fulfilment is our registered office.
If you act as a merchant, a legal entity under public law or separate estate under public law with its registered office in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, our registered office is the exclusive place of jurisdiction for any disputes resulting from this contract. Should your registered office be outside the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, our registered office is the exclusive place of jurisdiction for any disputes resulting from this contract if the contract or claims resulting from the contract can be attributed to your professional or commercial activity. However, in the stated cases, we are in any case entitled to appeal to the court at your registered office. 

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany in its current version applies to the entire contractual relationship, excluding the     United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Mandatory requirements of the state, in which you have your registered office, remain unaffected by these provisions. 

The contract language is German.

The German version of these terms of use is legally binding and takes precedence in the case of a dispute. The English version is for information purposes only and is not legally binding. 

We inform you that, regarding the Act of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Consumer Matters (VSBG), we do not participate in a voluntary resolution of consumer disputes.

Should a clause in these terms of use be or become invalid, contain an inadmissible deadline or a loophole, the legal validity of the other clauses remains unaffected. Insofar as the invalidity does not result from a violation of §§ 305 ff. BGB, a valid clause, coming as close as possible to the economic intentions of the contracting parties, is considered as agreed upon as a replacement of the invalid clause. This also applies in case of a loophole. In case of an invalid deadline, the legally admissible period shall apply. 

Current as of February 2025