AUTOWIKI FOUNDATION TERMS OF USE
Version: 01 January 2022

Our Terms of Use
AutoWiki (‘we’ or ‘us’), is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to establish a world car database with digital archives with information of individual cars to keep their history alive for (future) owners and other interested people, in order to enjoy these cars even more.

To support this mission, we provide the internet platform ‘AutoWiki’ (website ‘AutoWiki.org’, smartphone app ‘AutoWiki’ and database) and an organizational framework to manage and facilitate the collection, storage and presentation of data. We strive to make and keep all informational content provided by our contributors available on the internet for free of charge, in perpetuity.

We welcome you (‘you’ or the ‘user’) as a reader or contributor of the AutoWiki platform, and we encourage you to join the AutoWiki community and help us to build the ‘AutoWiki world car database’.

Before you participate, however, we ask that you please read and agree to the following Terms of Use (‘Terms of Use’). If you do not agree with our Terms of Use, you cannot make use of the AutoWiki platform and our services.

Overview
These Terms of Use tell you about our services at the AutoWiki Foundation, our relationship to you as a user, and the rights and responsibilities that guide us both. We want you to know that we (will) host an incredible quantity of informational content, all of which is, and will be, contributed and made possible by users like yourself.

Generally we do not monitor, edit or delete content. This means that editorial control is in the hands of you and your fellow users who create and manage the content. We merely host this content. There are some exceptions in order to make our services easier for you, such as providing general information about car manufacturers and car models and we facilitate importing datafiles from our contributors to the database.

The community – the network of users who are constantly building and using the AutoWiki platform – are the principal means through which the goals of the mission are achieved. The community contributes to and helps govern the AutoWiki platform. The community undertakes the critical function of monitoring the information and enforcing policies for the AutoWiki platform.

You are welcome to join as a contributor (editing/ correcting/ contributing etc.), but you should follow the policies that govern the AutoWiki platform.

Because we are dedicated to making content freely accessible to the public, we generally require that all textual content you contribute is available under a free license or in the public domain, or if it is your information this is freely available for others. Non-text media such as pictures, documents and videos can be freely available or can be protected by copyright.

Please be aware that you are legally responsible for all of your contributions, edits, and re-use of AutoWiki content under the laws of The Netherlands and other applicable laws (which may include the laws where you live or where you view or edit content). This means it is important that you use caution when posting content. In light of this responsibility, we have some rules about what you cannot post, most of which is either for your own protection or for the protection of other users like yourself.

Please keep in mind that the content we host is for general informational purposes only and we can not guaranty a 100% correctness of all the information on the AutoWiki platform.

In case of a car purchase or a car appraisal, you should always seek the help of a licensed or qualified professional. We also include other important notices and disclaimers, so please read these Terms of Use in their entirety.

Content

1          Our Services 

2          Privacy Policy

3          Content We Host

4          Refraining from Certain Activities

5          Password Security

6          Trademarks

7          Licensing of Content

8          Infringement to copyright

9          Third-party Websites and Resources

10        Management of the AutoWiki Platform

11        Resolutions

12        Termination

13        Disputes and Jurisdiction

14        Disclaimers

15        Limitation on Liability

16        Modifications to these Terms of Use

17        Other Terms

1          Our Services
AutoWiki is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to establish a world car database with digital archives of individual cars to keep their history alive for (future) owners and other interested people in order to enjoy these cars even more.

However, we act only as a hosting service, maintaining the infrastructure and organizational framework that allows our users to build the AutoWiki platform by contributing and editing content themselves. Because of our unique role, there are a couple of things you should be aware of when considering our relationship to you, the AutoWiki platform, and the other users:

•          We do not take an active editorial role:
Because the AutoWiki database is collaboratively edited, all of the content that we host is provided by users like yourself, and we do not take an editorial role. This means that we generally do not monitor, edit or delete the content of the AutoWiki platform, and we do not take any responsibility for this content. Similarly, we do not endorse any opinions expressed via our services, and we do not represent or guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of any submitted community content. Instead, we simply provide access to the content that your fellow users have contributed and edited. There are some exceptions in order to make our services easier for you, such as providing general information about car manufacturers and car models and we facilitate importing datafiles from our contributors to the database.

•          You are responsible for your own actions:
You are legally responsible for your edits and contributions on the AutoWiki platform, so for your own protection you should exercise caution and avoid contributing any content that may result in criminal or civil liability under any applicable laws. For clarity, applicable law includes at least the laws of The Netherlands. Although we may not agree with such actions, we warn editors and contributors that authorities may seek to apply other country laws to you, including local laws where you live or where you view or edit content. The AutoWiki Foundation generally cannot offer any protection, guarantee, immunity or indemnification.

2          Privacy Policy
We ask that you review the terms of our Privacy Policy, so that you are aware of how we collect and use your information. Because our services are used by people all over the world, personal information that we collect may be stored and processed in The Netherlands or any other country in which we or our agents maintain facilities. By using our services, you consent to any such transfer of information outside your country.

3          Content We Host
Our information is intended to inform you, and other people now and in the future about a certain car make, car model or individual car and is offered on a ‘fair use base’.

Please keep in mind that we can not guaranty a 100% correctness of all the information on the AutoWiki platform. In case of a car purchase or a car appraisal, you should always seek the help of a licensed or qualified professional.

4          Refraining from Certain Activities
The AutoWiki platform only exist because of the vibrant community of users like you who collaborate to write, edit, and curate the content. We happily welcome your participation in this community. We encourage you to be civil and polite in your interactions with others in the community, to act in good faith, and to make edits and contributions aimed at furthering the mission of AutoWiki.

Certain activities, whether legal or illegal, may be harmful to other users and violate our rules, and some activities may also subject you to liability. Therefore, for your own protection and for that of other users, you may not engage in such activities on our sites. These activities include:

Harassing and Abusing Others
•          Engaging in harassment, threats, stalking, spamming, or vandalism; and
•          Transmitting chain mail, junk mail, or spam to other users.

Violating the Privacy of Others
•          Infringing the privacy rights of others under the laws of The Netherlands or other applicable laws (which may include the laws where you live or where you view or edit content);
•          Soliciting personally identifiable information for purposes of harassment, exploitation, violation of privacy, or any promotional or commercial purpose not explicitly approved by the AutoWiki Foundation; and
•          Soliciting personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18 for an illegal purpose or violating any applicable law regarding the health or well-being of minors.

Engaging in False Statements, Impersonation, or Fraud
•          Intentionally or knowingly posting content that constitutes libel or defamation;
•          With the intent to deceive, posting content that is false or inaccurate;
•          Attempting to impersonate another user or individual, misrepresenting your affiliation with any individual or entity, or using the username of another user with the intent to deceive; and
•          Engaging in fraud.

Committing Infringement
•          Infringing copyrights, trademarks, patents, or other proprietary rights under applicable law.
Misusing Our Services for Other Illegal Purposes
•          Posting pornography or any other content that violates applicable law concerning pornography;
•          Posting or trafficking in obscene material that is unlawful under applicable law; and
•          Using the services in a manner that is inconsistent with applicable law.

Engaging in Disruptive and Illegal Misuse of Facilities
•          Posting or distributing content that contains any viruses, malware, worms, Trojan horses, malicious code, or other device that could harm our technical infrastructure or system or that of our users;
•          Engaging in automated uses of the site that are abusive or disruptive of the services and have not been approved by the AutoWiki Foundation;
•          Disrupting the services by placing an undue burden on the AutoWiki platform or the networks or servers connected with the AutoWiki platform;
•          Disrupting the services by inundating any of the AutoWiki platform with communications or other traffic that suggests no serious intent to use the AutoWiki platform for its stated purpose;
•          Knowingly accessing, tampering with, or using any of our non-public areas in our computer systems without authorization; and
•          Probing, scanning, or testing the vulnerability of any of our technical systems or networks.

Datamining
We welcome everyone to use and re-use the information on the AutoWiki platform on a ‘fair use’ base. Data mining is not allowed and it is forbidden to scrape data from the AutoWiki platform and/ or to use large quantities of information from the AutoWiki platform for competitive or non-competitive activities and/ or for commercial or non-commercial activities.

Paid contributions without disclosure
These Terms of Use prohibit engaging in deceptive activities, including misrepresentation of affiliation, impersonation, and fraud. As part of these obligations, when you edit a ‘Make Story’ or a ‘Model Story’ or a ‘Car Story’ you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation. You must make that disclosure when asked by the AutoWiki system and this will be published

Applicable law, or AutoWiki Foundation policies and guidelines, such as those addressing conflicts of interest, may further limit paid contributions or require more detailed disclosure.

The AutoWiki Foundation may adopt an alternative paid contribution disclosure policy. If we adopt an alternative disclosure policy, you may comply with that policy instead of the requirements in this section when contributing to the AutoWiki platform. An alternative paid contribution policy will only supersede these requirements if it is approved by the AutoWiki Foundation and listed in the alternative disclosure policy page.

5          Password Security
You are responsible for safeguarding your own password and should never disclose it to any third party.

6          Trademarks
Although you have considerable freedoms for re-use of the content on the AutoWiki platform, it is important that, at the AutoWiki Foundation, we protect our trademark rights so that we can protect our users from fraudulent impersonators. Because of this, we ask that you please respect our trademarks. All AutoWiki Foundation trademarks belong to the AutoWiki Foundation, and any use of our trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, or domain names must be in compliance with these Terms of Use and in compliance with our Trademark Policy.

7          Licensing of Content

Textual content
All users contributing to the AutoWiki platform are required to grant broad permissions to the general public to re-distribute and re-use their textual contributions freely, so long as that use is properly attributed and the same freedom to re-use and re-distribute is granted to any derivative works.

In keeping with our goal of providing free information to the widest possible audience, we require that when necessary all submitted content be licensed so that it is freely reusable by anyone who cares to access it.

You agree to the licensing requirements mentioned below.
a)         Text to which you hold the copyright:
When you submit text to which you hold the copyright, you agree to license it under:
•          Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (“CC BY-SA”), and
•          GNU Free Documentation License (“GFDL”) (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).
Re-users may comply with either license or both. Please note that these licenses do allow commercial uses of your contributions, as long as such uses are compliant with the terms.

b)        Attribution:
Attribution is an important part of these licenses. We consider it giving credit where credit is due – to authors like yourself. When you contribute text, you agree to be attributed with your AutoWiki username in any of the following fashions:
•          Through a list of all authors (but please note that any list of authors may be filtered to exclude very small or irrelevant contributions); or
•          Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to the article to which you contributed (since each article has a history page that lists all authors and editors); or
•          Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to an alternative, stable online copy that is freely accessible, which conforms with the license, and which provides credit to the authors in a manner equivalent to the credit given on the AutoWiki platform.

c)         Importing text:
You may import text that you have found elsewhere or that you have co-authored with others, but in such case you warrant that the text is available under terms that are compatible with the CC BY-SA 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA").

You agree that, if you import text under a CC BY-SA license that requires attribution, you must credit the author(s) in a reasonable fashion. Where such credit is commonly given through page histories (such as AutoWiki-internal copying), it is sufficient to give attribution in the edit summary, which is recorded in the page history, when importing the text. The attribution requirements are sometimes too intrusive for particular circumstances (regardless of the license), and there may be instances where the AutoWiki community decides that imported text cannot be used for that reason.

d)        Non-textual content:
Non-text media on the AutoWiki platform are available under a variety of different licenses that support the general goal of allowing unrestricted re-use and re-distribution. and are available for Non-text media can also be contributed without And for non-text media of which you own the copyright it is possible to contribute it on the AutoWiki platform with protection of   select When you contribute non-text media, you agree to comply with the requirements for such licenses as described in our Licensing Policy, and also comply with the requirements of the specific Project edition or feature to which you are contributing. Also see the Wikimedia Commons Licensing Policy for more information on contributing non-text media to that Project.

e)        No revocation of license:
Except as consistent with your license, you agree that you will not unilaterally revoke or seek invalidation of any license that you have granted under these Terms of Use for text content or non-text media contributed to the AutoWiki platform, even if you terminate use of our services.

f)         Public domain content:
Content that is in the public domain is welcome. It is important however that you confirm the public domain status of the content under the law of the Netherlands as well as the laws of any other countries as required. When you contribute content that is in the public domain, you warrant that the material is actually in the public domain, and you agree to label it appropriately.

g)         Re-use:
Re-use of content that we host is welcome, though exceptions exist for content contributed under ‘fair use’ or similar exemptions under copyright law. Any re-use must comply with the underlying license(s).

When you re-use or re-distribute a text page developed by the AutoWiki community, you agree to attribute the authors in any of the following fashions:
•          Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to the AutoWiki website page or pages that you are re-using (since each page has a history page that lists all authors and editors);
•          Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to an alternative, stable online copy that is freely accessible, which conforms with the license, and which provides credit to the authors in a manner equivalent to the credit given on the AutoWiki website; or
•          Through a list of all authors (but please note that any list of authors may be filtered to exclude very small or irrelevant contributions).

If the text content was imported from another source, it is possible that the content is licensed under a CC BY-SA license or GFDL license (as described in ‘Importing text,’ above). In that case, you agree to comply with the CC BY-SA license or GFDL license. To determine the license that applies to the content that you seek to re-use or re-distribute, you should review the page footer and page history.

In addition, please be aware that text that originated from external sources and was imported into the AutoWiki platform may be under a license that attaches additional attribution requirements.

Users agree to indicate these additional attribution requirements clearly. Such requirements may appear for example in a banner or other notations pointing out that some or all of the content was originally published elsewhere. Where there are such visible notations, re-users should preserve them.

For any non-text media, you agree to comply with whatever license under which the work has been made available (which can be discovered by clicking on the work and looking at the licensing section on its description page or reviewing an applicable source page for that work).

When re-using any content that we host, you agree to comply with the relevant attribution requirements as they pertain to the underlying license or licenses.

h)        Modifications or additions to material that you re-use:
When modifying or making additions to text that you have obtained from the AutoWiki platform, you agree to license the modified or added content under the AutoWiki License Policy.

When modifying or making additions to any non-text media that you have obtained from the AutoWiki platform, you agree to license the modified or added content in accordance with whatever license under which the work has been made available.

With both text content and non-text media, you agree to clearly indicate that the original work has been modified. If you are re-using text content in another AutoWiki page, it is sufficient to indicate in the page history that you made a change to the imported text. For each copy or modified version that you distribute, you agree to include a licensing notice stating which license the work is released under, along with either a hyperlink or URL to the text of the license or a copy of the license itself.

8          Infringement to copyright

The AutoWiki Foundation wants to ensure that the content that we host can be re-used by other users without fear of liability and that it is not infringing the proprietary rights of others. In fairness to our users, as well as to other creators and copyright holders, we will respond to notices of alleged infringement. Pursuant to the AutoWiki Terms of Use Policy, we will terminate, in appropriate circumstances, users and account holders of our system and network who are repeat infringers.

However, we also recognize that not every takedown notice is valid or in good faith. In such cases, we strongly encourage users to file counter-notifications when they appropriately believe a AutoWiki Terms of Use takedown demand is invalid or improper. In such a case, please email us at legal@autowiki.org.

If you are the owner of content that is being improperly used on the AutoWiki platform without your permission, you may request that the content be removed under the AutoWiki Terms of Use. To make such a request, please email us at legal@autowiki.org.

9          Third-party Websites and Resources

You are solely responsible for your use of any third-party websites or resources. Although the AutoWiki website contains links to third-party websites and resources, we do not endorse and are not responsible or liable for their availability, accuracy, or the related content, products, or services (including, without limitation, any viruses or other disabling features), nor do we have any obligation to monitor such third-party content.

10        Management of the AutoWiki Platform

The community has the primary role in monitoring the content and enforcing the policies applying to the AutoWiki platform. At the AutoWiki Foundation, we rarely intervene in community discussions about content. Regarding suspected violation of the policies applying to the AutoWiki platform we can take action and we reserve the right, but do not have the obligation to:

•          Investigate your use of the service:
(a) to determine whether a violation of these Terms of Use or other applicable law or policy has occurred, or
(b) to comply with any applicable law, legal process, or appropriate governmental request;
•          Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues or respond to user support requests;
•          Refuse, disable, or restrict access to the contribution of any user who violates these Terms of Use;
•          Ban a user from editing or contributing or block a user's account or access for actions violating these Terms of Use, including repeat copyright infringement;
•          Take legal action against users who violate these Terms of Use (including reports to law enforcement authorities); and
•          Manage otherwise the AutoWiki platform in a manner designed to facilitate their proper functioning and protect the rights, property, and safety of ourselves and our users, licensors, partners, and the public.

In the interests of our users and the AutoWiki platform, in the extreme circumstance that any individual has had his or her account or access blocked under this provision, he or she is prohibited from creating or using another account on or seeking access to the AutoWiki platform, unless we provide explicit permission. The blocking of an account or access or the banning of a user under this provision shall be in accordance with Section 12 of these Terms of Use.

11        Resolutions

The AutoWiki Foundation Board releases official policies from time to time. Some of these policies may be mandatory for (a particular part of) the AutoWiki platform, and, when they are, you agree to abide by them as applicable.

12        Termination

Though we hope you will stay and continue to contribute to the AutoWiki platform, you can stop using our services any time.

In certain (hopefully unlikely) circumstances it may be necessary for either ourselves (as described in Section 10) to terminate part or all of our services, terminate these Terms of Use, block your account or access, or ban you as a user. If your account or access is blocked or otherwise terminated for any reason, your public contributions will remain publicly available (subject to applicable policies), and, unless we notify you otherwise, you may still access our public pages for the sole purpose of reading publicly available content on the AutoWiki platform.

In such circumstances, however, you may not be able to access your account or settings. We reserve the right to suspend or end the services at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice. Even after your use and participation are banned, blocked or otherwise suspended, these Terms of Use will remain in effect with respect to relevant provisions, including Sections 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9-15, and 17.

13        Disputes and Jurisdiction

We hope that no serious disagreements arise involving you, but, in the event there is a dispute, we encourage you to seek resolution through the dispute resolution procedures or mechanisms provided by the AutoWiki Foundation. If you seek to file a legal claim against us, you agree to file and resolve it exclusively in a court located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

You also agree that the laws of The Netherlands will govern these Terms of Use, as well as any legal claim that might arise between you and us (without reference to conflict of laws principles).

You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of, and agree that venue is proper in, the courts located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in any legal action or proceeding relating to us or these Terms of Use.

To ensure that disputes are dealt with soon after they arise, you agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action you might have arising out of or related to use of our services or these Terms of Use must be filed within the applicable statute of limitations or, if earlier, one (1) year after the pertinent facts underlying such claim or cause of action could have been discovered with reasonable diligence (or be forever barred).

14        Disclaimers

•          At the AutoWiki Foundation, we do our best to provide informational content to a very wide audience, but your use of our services is at your sole risk. We provide these services on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis, and we expressly disclaim all express or implied warranties of all kinds, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We make no warranty that our services will meet your requirements, be safe, secure, uninterrupted, timely, accurate, or error-free, or that your information will be secure.

•          We are not responsible for the content, data, or actions of our contributors, our moderators, our volunteers and other third parties, and you release us, our directors, officers, employees, volonteers, moderators, contributors and agents from any claims and damages, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with any claim you have against any such third parties. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from us or through or from our services creates any warranty not expressly stated in these Terms of Use.

•          Any material downloaded or otherwise obtained through your use of our services is done at your own discretion and risk, and you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download of any such material. You agree that we have no responsibility or liability for the deletion of, or the failure to store or to transmit, any content or communication maintained by the service. We retain the right to create limits on use and storage at our sole discretion at any time with or without notice.

15        Limitation on Liability

The AutoWiki Foundation will not be liable to you or to any other party for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data, or other intangible losses, regardless of whether we were advised of the possibility of such damage. In no event shall our liability exceed one thousand EURO (€ 1.000,00) in aggregate. In the case that applicable law may not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability or incidental or consequential damages, the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you, although our liability will be limited to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

16        Modifications to these Terms of Use

Because it may be necessary to modify these Terms of Use from time to time, we will provide notice of such modifications at least thirty 30 days in advance to all registered users by email and on the AutoWiki platform. Besides that, we ask that you please periodically review the most up-to-date version of these Terms of Use to always be aware of the (new) terms.

Your continued use of our services after the new Terms of Use become official following the notice constitutes an acceptance of these Terms of Use on your part. For the protection of the AutoWiki Foundation and other users like yourself, if you do not agree with our Terms of Use, you cannot use our services.

17        Other Terms

•          These Terms of Use do not create an employment, agency, partnership, or joint venture relationship between you and us, the AutoWiki Foundation. If you have not signed a separate agreement with us, these Terms of Use are the entire agreement between you and us. If there is any conflict between these Terms of Use and a signed written agreement between you and us, the signed agreement will control.

•          You agree that we may provide you with notices, including those regarding changes to the Terms of Use, by email, regular mail, or postings on the AutoWiki platform.

•          If in any circumstance, we do not apply or enforce any provision of these Terms of Use, it is not a waiver of that provision.

•          You understand that, unless otherwise agreed to in writing by us, you have no expectation of compensation for any activity, contribution, or idea that you provide to us, the community, or the AutoWiki platform.

•          Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in these Terms of Use, we (the AutoWiki Foundation) and you agree not to modify the applicable terms and requirements of any free license that is employed on the AutoWiki platform when such free license is authorized by these Terms of Use.

•          These Terms of Use were written in English (U.S.). While we hope that translations of these Terms of Use are accurate, in the event of any differences in meaning between the original English version and a translation, the original English version takes precedence.

•          If any provision or part of a provision of these Terms of Use is found unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that provision or part of the provision is deemed severable from these Terms of Use and will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and all other provisions of these Terms of Use will remain in full force and effect.

Thank You!

We appreciate your taking the time to read these Terms of Use, and we are very happy to have you contributing to the AutoWiki platform and using our services.

Through your contributions, you contribute to building a unique treasure of information about the automobile world for the current and future car enthusiast community.

AutoWiki Foundation Terms of Use

Version: 01 January 2022