Imprint
General Terms and Conditions (Germany)
for users on connect.noventive.io
Introduction
Thank you for taking the time to read our General Terms and Conditions ("GTC"). You - hereinafter also referred to as the "user" - will find below your rights and obligations for the use of our "fluid connect platform" (hereinafter also referred to as the "platform" or "software platform"). The masculine form has been chosen for ease of reading. The terms "user", "lawyer", "patent attorney" and "service provider" also always refer to female users, lawyers, patent attorneys and service providers.
You will also find valuable and important information on existing data protection and our current data protection conditions: Privacy Policy.
fluid GmbH, Nördliche Münchner Str. 9 c, 82031 Grünwald (hereinafter also referred to as "fluid" or "we") is always the contractual partner for you. fluid GmbH took over the software platform from noventive Managementgesellschaft mbH (Riesstr. 16, 80992 Munich) in Q1/2025 as part of a partial transfer of operations in accordance with Section 613a BGB. Further information about our company can be found in our imprint, which you can find here: Imprint.
1. registration with fluid connect
1.1 In order to log in and register with fluid connect, we generally require that you are a natural person over the age of 18 with unlimited legal capacity if you are a consumer, and that you are also authorized to represent a company, regardless of its legal form. Furthermore, it is mandatory that you provide your contact and address data for registration with fluid connect. You must also provide the personal data and addresses requested by fluid connect completely and correctly (no P.O. Box or similar) and assure their accuracy.
1.2 Registration with fluid connect is free of charge for you. Registration only takes place if you first accept the binding inclusion of these General Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy. There is no entitlement to registration. Registration creates a contractual user relationship between you and fluid connect. Your user account will be valid until you terminate it or until your death as evidenced by a third party.
1.3 For registration please choose your e-mail address and a password. The access password can be changed by you at any time and must be kept secret in any case. After successful registration you will receive a member account, which contains all relevant data for the use of the platform.
1.4 The registration of a member is only permitted once. Multiple registration under different names is expressly not permitted. Member accounts are not transferable to other persons. They may also not be used by other persons, e.g. by passing on the password.
1.5 Violations of the above provisions shall entitle fluid GmbH to terminate the contractual relationship without notice and to immediately delete the user account from the platform.
2. use of fluid connect
2.1 In order to use our fluid connect platform, we always require that you have successfully registered with us as a user.
2.2 As a user, you are given the opportunity at any time to submit your possible legal concerns to us via various forms and input fields on both our and our partner sites by entering all data or by describing the respective individual case. You must enter this data completely and correctly, otherwise processing by us is not possible.
2.3 You can also log into your user account with your access data at any time in order to view your submitted legal concerns and supplement them with data as well as to communicate with us, the lawyer or one of our service partners.
3. services
3.1 Services of admitted attorneys/patent attorneys/service providers
3.1.1 Via our fluid connect platform, you as a user have the option of having a free initial assessment performed by licensed attorneys/patent attorneys or other service providers regarding your submitted matter. There is no legal claim to a referral to a lawyer/patent attorney or service provider or to the performance of a free initial assessment. It is always possible that no suitable attorney/patent attorney or service provider can be found and therefore the initial assessment cannot be carried out.
3.1.2 Via our platform, we offer the possibility that an independent attorney/patent attorney or corresponding service provider can offer you a consulting and service offer suitable for your legal concern at a fixed price or according to effort via our platform. Such an offer is binding for the lawyer/patent attorney or service provider and can be accepted by you with legal effect.
3.1.3 The services of registered lawyers in the area of legal services are provided on the basis of their own invoices. We provide support in the area of billing.
3.1.4 There is no obligation on your part to choose an offer or to engage a lawyer/patent attorney or service provider.
3.1.5 After you have decided on an offer from an attorney/patent attorney or service provider, you will receive the contact details of the attorney/patent attorney on our platform in your legal question for inspection as well as an e-mail confirmation that the order has been placed. The lawyer/patent attorney or service provider will also receive your contact details and an e-mail notification that the order has been placed. A contractual relationship is established exclusively between you and the lawyer/patent attorney or service provider. We are not responsible in any way for the conclusion of the contract between you and the attorney/patent attorney or service provider, nor for its content and execution. In particular, fluid connect is not liable for the services of the attorneys/patent attorneys or service providers and is not obliged to provide a warranty or pay compensation.
3.1.6 If contact is made outside the portal before an offer is accepted and a contract is concluded between you and the lawyer/patent attorney or service provider with regard to the facts transmitted, you are obliged to inform us of this immediately. If such information is not provided, we are entitled to block you permanently and to terminate the user relationship without notice.
3.2 Own services
3.2.1 fluid GmbH itself does not provide legal advice.
3.2.2 We help you to find the appropriate solution to your submitted legal matter. This also implies that we may always use our technology to pre-select possible legal and non-legal service providers for you.
4. term / termination
4.1 The contractual usage relationship between fluid connect and you is concluded for an indefinite period of time and may be terminated by either party with due notice. The termination must be received by the other party in writing or text form (e.g. e-mail, fax or letter) in order to be effective.
4.2 Upon termination of the User Agreement, fluid connect is entitled and obligated to irrevocably delete your Member Account. Personal data and other information transmitted to the lawyer/patent attorney or service provider in the course of a free initial assessment, an existing or concluded client relationship between you and the lawyer/patent attorney or service provider will then be the responsibility of the respective lawyer/patent attorney or service provider.
4.3 fluid connect reserves the right to terminate the user relationship with immediate effect and to block the User Account in the event of good cause, in particular in the event of violations of these GTC and other contractual obligations, or in the event of disruptions, misuse or damage to the reputation of this platform.
5. data protection
5.1 We collect your personal data and, if applicable, personal data of the other party for the purpose of executing the contract and fulfilling our contractual and pre-contractual obligations. The collection and processing of data is necessary for the performance of the contract and is based on Article 6(1)(b) GDPR.
5.2 The data will then be forwarded to a lawyer/patent attorney or service provider through the mediation of your request. From this point on, the lawyer/patent attorney or service provider is just as responsible in terms of data protection as we are. This is joint processing in accordance with Art. 26 GDPR. We have concluded a corresponding agreement on joint responsibility with each lawyer/patent attorney and service provider.
5.3 No further data is transferred to third parties - unless there is a legal obligation to do so or it is necessary for the performance of the contract. This may be the case, for example, if you instruct us to submit a request for cover to your legal expenses insurance company or if payment of an accepted offer is made via a payment provider. We then transmit the data to your respective contractual partner as instructed. Please note that these service providers are responsible for their own data processing and have their own contractual relationship with you.
5.4 The data will be deleted as soon as it is no longer required for the purpose of its processing and insofar as there is no legal obligation to retain it. As long as a contractual user relationship exists between you and us, we will also retain the data you have stored on our platform. However, it may also be necessary to retain data after termination of our user relationship. Statutory retention periods arise, for example, from Section 50 of the Federal Lawyers' Act. According to this, case-specific data must be retained for 6 years. Invoice data (billing documents) must be retained for 10 years in accordance with Section 147 of the German Fiscal Code. As long as the lawyer/patent attorney or service provider also has a contract of use with us, we are accordingly obliged to retain the data in accordance with these retention periods. If both parties, i.e. you and the lawyer/patent attorney, terminate the user relationship, your data will be deleted after 6 months at the latest.
5.5 You can obtain information about all your personal data free of charge. You also have the right to data portability, erasure, rectification, restriction or blocking of personal data.
5.6 You can address relevant questions and requests directly to fluid GmbH, e-mail fluid@noventive.com.
5.7 You also have the right, without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe that the Company's data processing operations violate data protection regulations.
6. payment processing and payment services
6.1 We provide billing services and, in future, the use of various payment service providers and options for the simple and uncomplicated payment of services ordered via the fluid connect platform for a fee. You can start using these by clicking on the corresponding button of the payment service provider as part of the binding ordering process for services. This will then take you to the corresponding page of the respective payment service provider.
6.2 We only provide access to the site of the respective payment service provider, but do not become a contracting party within the framework of the payment transaction.
6.3 All payment claims arising from any fee agreements and services shall be due after the conclusion of the purchase process and before the respective consulting service - unless the lawyer/patent attorney or service provider has stated otherwise in his offer.
6.4 Among the payment options, the user will probably be able to choose between prepayment (invoice), PayPal® and secupay in the future - if several are available. We reserve the right to exclude certain payment options individually or to add them at a later date.
6.5 In order to use payment services, it may be necessary for you to enter into a contractual relationship with the relevant payment service provider. You will receive the relevant information at the start of the payment process.
7. right of withdrawal
7.1 This revocation policy relates exclusively to the contractual relationship between you and us. For contractual relationships with lawyers or third parties via our platform, please use the corresponding revocation instructions provided elsewhere.
7.2 Right of withdrawal: Consumers have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period begins on the day the contract is concluded. In order to exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us of your decision to withdraw from this contract by means of a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post or e-mail). You can use the attached sample withdrawal form, but this is not mandatory. To comply with the withdrawal period, it is sufficient that you send the notification of the exercise of the right of withdrawal before the expiry of the withdrawal period.
7.3 Consequences of revocation: As no payments are made in the contractual relationship between you and us, you are not entitled to any repayment. The only consequence of revocation is the deletion of your account.
You will receive separate revocation instructions for the offers of lawyers/patent attorneys and service providers.
7.4 Sample withdrawal form
If you wish to withdraw from the contract as a consumer, please fill out this form and send it back to:
To:
fluid GmbH
Nördliche Münchner Str. 9 c
82031 Grünwald
E-mail: fluid@noventive.com
I/we (*) hereby revoke the contract concluded by me/us (*) for
the provision of the following service:
This service was ordered on:
This service was received on:
Name of the consumer(s):
Address of the consumer(s):
Signature of the consumer(s) (only for notification on paper)
Date
(*) Delete as appropriate.
8. special rights of fluid
8.1 We reserve the right to change the title and/or the query in whole or in part - provided that the basic meaning of the query is retained - e.g. to enable a better quality of advertisement when presenting it to the lawyer or service provider or to correct obvious spelling, grammatical, argumentation and expression errors etc.
8.2 We are entitled to exclude and/or delete requests for processing, in particular if one of the following reasons applies:
- incorrect and/or missing address information,
- lack of e-mail confirmation within 48 h,
- incomplete or incomprehensible requests,
- you use language and expressions that violate applicable law, are offensive, untrue, glorify violence, are harmful to minors, are unobjective, racist, discriminatory, sexist and comparable language and expressions,
- you are not available,
- no attorney/patent attorney or service provider is available for the relevant field of expertise.
8.3 You grant us the right to reproduce the data that you upload to the platform for the purposes of performing the contract, insofar as this is necessary to provide the services owed under this contract, and we are also entitled to store the data in a failure system or separate failure data center. We are also entitled to make changes to the structure of the data or the data format in order to rectify faults.
8.4 We do not receive any further rights of use or exploitation and in particular will not publish the content uploaded by you to the platform and make it accessible to third parties unless this is necessary for the purpose of the contract.
8.5 We are entitled to temporarily or permanently block the use of or access to the software if there are concrete indications that you are in breach of the contractual terms or applicable law. When deciding whether to block access, the legitimate interests of the user will be given due consideration.
8.6 We are entitled to change, delete or add new functions of connect.noventive.io at any time without giving reasons or to enable the use of functions only under certain conditions.
9. user data and indemnification against third-party claims
9.1 You are responsible for the content that you upload to the platform; we do not take any notice of this content and do not check the content used with the software.
9.2 You undertake to us not to upload any content or data that is criminal or otherwise illegal in absolute terms or in relation to individual third parties and not to use any programs containing viruses or other malware in connection with the software. In particular, you undertake not to use the software to offer unlawful services or goods.
9.3 You are obliged to indemnify us against any liability and costs, including potential and actual costs of legal proceedings, in this context if claims are asserted against us by third parties as a result of your actions or omissions. We will inform you of the claim and, as far as legally possible, give you the opportunity to defend against the asserted claim. At the same time, you are obliged to inform us immediately and in full of all information available to you about the facts that are the subject of the claim.
9.4 Any further claims for damages by fluid shall remain unaffected.
10. availability
10.1 The availability of the website depends on the user's technical equipment. In order to use the website to its full extent and to access connect.noventive.io, suitable technical equipment (PC, tablet, cell phone and, crucially, Internet access) is required.
10.2 For technical reasons, uninterrupted availability of the digital content cannot be guaranteed. Availability may be impaired, for example, by regularly required maintenance and security work, but also by unforeseen events beyond our control. Planned work that leads to an impairment of availability will, as far as possible, be carried out by us during low-traffic periods. The display quality of digital content may also vary from device to device and depend on the speed of the user's internet connection and other factors. In this respect, we cannot be held liable for deviations.
10.3 You are obliged to notify the provider immediately and as precisely as possible of any functional failures, malfunctions or impairments of the software. If you fail to do so, you cannot assert any warranty rights against us (§ 536c BGB).
10.4 If you cause damage as a result of the loss of data, we shall not be liable for this if the damage could have been avoided if you had regularly and completely backed up all relevant data. You are responsible for carrying out regular and complete data backups yourself or having them carried out by a third party.
11. ratings
11.1 In future, you will be able to rate lawyers/patent attorneys/law firms and service providers on a voluntary basis.
11.2 The rating system is intended to help assess the quality and reliability of the lawyers/patent attorneys and service providers placed on the platform. Each rating is exclusively a subjective assessment by the user. In principle, we do not check the truthfulness of the rating.
11.3 Reviews must be factual and truthful. You also undertake to handle the published reviews carefully and to refrain from posting reviews that are offensive, insulting or hurtful.
11.4 We reserve the right to delete reviews if they are untrue, offensive or defamatory.
11.5 We are basically free in our decision to publish reviews. You have no claim to the publication of your rating.
12. arbitration procedure
In the event of legal disputes with consumers (§ 13 BGB), we declare our willingness to participate in the consumer arbitration procedure in accordance with the Consumer Dispute Settlement Act.
The consumer arbitration board responsible for us is the universal arbitration board of the BundesZentrum für Schlichtung e.V., Straßburger Straße 8, 77694 Kehl am Rhein, Germany.
Phone 07851 / 795 79 40
Fax 07851 / 795 79 41
E-mail: mail@universalschlichtungsstelle.de
Website: www.verbraucher-schlichter.de
General information requirements for alternative dispute resolution in accordance with Art. 14 (1) ODR Regulation and § 36 VSBG(Consumer Dispute Resolution Act):
The European Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution (OS), which you can find at this address: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/
13. final provisions
13.1 We reserve the right to unilaterally amend these GTC - insofar as they have been introduced into the contractual relationship with you - at any time, insofar as serious reasons - which cannot be influenced by the user - make this necessary, which lead to an unforeseeable change in the contractual equivalence relationship and therefore require an amendment, taking into account the interests of the contractual partner. Changes are only possible insofar as they do not unreasonably disadvantage you or violate good faith. We will inform you of an amendment by e-mail 6 weeks in advance, stating the content of the amended provisions. This e-mail will contain the amended GTC as well as a reference to the right of objection, the objection period and the consequences of failure to object. The amendment shall become part of the contract if you do not object to its inclusion in the contractual relationship in writing or text form within 14 days of receipt of the notification of amendment. The GTC shall become valid for you upon expiry of this period at
. General Terms and Conditions of the previous version lose their validity after expiry of the approval period.
13.2 In the event of deviations and/or contradictions, the provisions of the electronic offer shall take precedence over those of the General Terms and Conditions. This shall be subject to any written provision expressly agreed to the contrary by the contracting parties, which, however, shall only be valid if it expressly refers to the provision to be amended.
13.3 We reserve the right to assign this contract to a company of our choice. The transfer will take effect 30 days after you have been notified of it. In the event of this transfer, you have a special right of termination, which must be exercised by you independently within one month of notification.
13.4 This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany with the exception of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) of April 11, 1980, as amended, and international law (in particular the German conflict of laws).
14.5 If you are not a consumer within the meaning of Section 13 BGB, the place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contract, including its annexes, is Munich.
Status: March 2025