Terms and Conditions

Welcome to BrightStat.com. Each day, users of BrightStat.com use our research and data visualization tools to discover, research, and share their discoveries with other users worldwide.

Below are our detailed terms and conditions that you must read and accept before using BrightStat.com, (hereafter, the 'Website'). If you decide to use the services provided by the Website (hereafter, the 'Services'), you are bound by these Terms and Conditions.

These Terms and Conditions apply to users visiting or registering on or after July 15, 2017.

1. Overview

By accessing the Website, you agree to the following terms and conditions (the 'Terms and Conditions' or 'Agreement'). You are legally bound by this Agreement, which is between you and BrightStat.com. The Agreement defines your rights and responsibilities as a user ("User") of the Website BrightStat.com, which is operated by Daniel Stricker (together, and with their parent corporations, other subsidiaries and affiliates, 'BrightStat.com', 'we,' or 'us'). The Website is operated in Switzerland. Access to the Website is governed by these Terms and Conditions under the laws of the Canton of Bern and Switzerland. Registration as a User on the Website results in your information being stored and processed in Switzerland, and you specifically consent to BrightStat.com's storage and processing of the personal data you submit. You may access your information at any time to confirm its correctness and to keep it current in connection with your registration or subscription.

The Website and Services provided herein are intended for adults. When a minor uses the Website, the parent or guardian of that minor will be held responsible for the minor's actions.

These Terms, including all terms, conditions and policies incorporated herein by reference, together with any legal notices published on the Website, shall constitute the entire agreement between you and BrightStat.com concerning the Website. If you don't agree with any of these Terms, or if you have any objections to our Privacy Statement you must not use the Services or the Website.

2. Your Use of the Website

The Website contains text, software, scripts, graphics, information, data, pictures, sounds, music, videos, interactive features, user generated information, editorial and other content accessible by Users (the 'Content'). All Content is owned, licensed to and/or copyrighted by BrightStat.com and may be used only in accordance with this Agreement. The Website is also protected by copyright as a collective work and/or compilation, pursuant to Swiss copyright laws, international conventions, and other copyright laws. The trademarks, service marks and logos contained in the Website are owned by or licensed to BrightStat.com. BrightStat.com and its licensors retain title, ownership and all other rights and interests in and to all information and Content on the Website. All Content on the Website, whether protected by copyright, contract rights, or both, is provided to you as is for your information and use only as permitted through the functionality of the Website. We attempt to ensure that all Content on the Website is complete and accurate. Despite our efforts, the Content may occasionally be inaccurate or incomplete and we make no representation that the Content on the Website is complete, accurate, reliable or error-free.

You may access the Website only personally with an individual browser and use the Content only for personal or professional purpose.

Where permitted, the Content may be downloaded onto your computer or device through the use of authorized BrightStat.com software. When downloaded, the Content remains subject to the limited use license contained in this Agreement. If you download or print a copy of the Content for personal use, you must retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained therein. You may use the software provided on the Website only while online and may not download, copy, reuse or distribute that software, except where it is clearly stated that such software is made available for offline use. Bots, crawlers, spiders, data miners, scraping and other automatic access tools are expressly prohibited. You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security related features of the Website or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on use of the Website or Services or the Content therein. The licenses granted by BrightStat.com terminate if you do not comply with this Agreement. Violation of this limited use license may result in immediate termination of your membership and may result in legal action against you.

BrightStat.com does not claim an exclusive right to images already in the public domain that it has converted into a digital format. However, the Website contains images or documents that are protected by copyrights or that, even if in the public domain, are subject to restrictions on reuse. By agreeing to these Terms and Conditions, you agree to not reuse these images or documents except that you may reuse public domain images so long as you only use small portions of the images or documents for personal use. If you republish public domain images, you agree to credit the relevant BrightStat.com Website as the source of the digital image, unless additional specific restrictions apply. If you wish to republish more than a small portion of the images or documents from the Website, you agree to obtain prior written permission from us.

By using the Website, you agree to comply with all applicable laws and refrain from infringing any third-party rights or interests (for example, privacy and intellectual property rights). You must also agree that you will not knowingly or willfully submit inaccurate, defamatory or offensive Content to the Website. In addition, the following policies are part of this Agreement and must be followed anytime you access the Website:

   A. Rules of Conduct

BrightStat.com reserves the right to change these policies, and the changes take effect when we post them on the Website.

3. User Provided Content

Portions of the Service and Content on the Website are submitted by you and other users ("User Provided Content"), to which you may contribute appropriate material. User Provided Content includes, but is not limited to, any information you upload to the Website, any posts you make on our message boards or community forums, and any comments or suggestions you send to us. For User Provided Content, we are merely hosting and providing access as well as providing tools to post and share content, and we cannot accept any liability with regard to such material (including with respect to its accuracy). While we cannot preview or monitor the User Provided Content, we may apply, at our discretion, automated filtering tools monitor and/or delete any content that BrightStat.com believes to be in violation of this Agreement (for example, we could use automated tools to suppress obscene content). We reserve the right, but do not have the obligation, to act expeditiously to remove or disable access to any User Provided Content that we believe violates this Agreement. We are also sensitive to the copyright and other intellectual property rights of others.

The decision to upload or share User Provided Content on the Website is your responsibility and you should only submit or share User Provided Content that belongs to you (or where you have obtained all necessary permissions or consents) and that will not violate the rights of others. Be aware that copyright and other intellectual property rights will normally belong to the creator of the material in question and you should not reproduce or submit anything without permission of the owner. By submitting User Provided Content to the Website, you represent and warrant that you have the right to do so or that you have obtained any necessary third party consents (e.g., under privacy or intellectual property laws). If you submit material to the Website on behalf of a group, organization or business entity, you represent and warrant that you have the right to do so and that you have obtained any consents from the group, organization or business. You agree that you will be liable to us and indemnify us for any loss or damage we suffer as a result of your breach of the foregoing warranties. Upon our request you agree to furnish BrightStat.com with any documentation, substantiation and releases necessary and reasonably required to verify and substantiate your compliance with this provision.

By submitting User Provided Content on the Website, you grant BrightStat.com and its Group Companies a perpetual, transferable, sublicenseable, worldwide, royalty-free, license to host, store, copy, publish, distribute, provide access to create derivative works of, and otherwise use User Provided Content submitted by you to the Website, to the extent and in the form or context we deem appropriate on or through any media or medium and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed or discovered. You hereby release BrightStat.com and its Group Companies from any and all claims, liens, demands, actions or suits in connection with the User Provided Content you submit, including, without limitation, any and all liability for any use or nonuse of your User Provided Content, claims for defamation, invasion of privacy, right of publicity, emotional distress or economic loss. This license continues even if you stop using the Website or the Services. BrightStat.com may scan, image and/or create an index from the User Provided Content you submit. In this situation, you grant BrightStat.com a license to the User Provided Content as described above and BrightStat.com will own the digital version of documents created by BrightStat.com as well as any indexed information that BrightStat.com creates. Except for the rights granted in this Agreement, BrightStat.com acquires no title or ownership rights in or to any User Provided Content you submit and nothing in this Agreement conveys any ownership rights in such User Provided Content on the Website. The licenses granted continue for the maximum time permitted by applicable law, even if you stop using the Website or the Services.

You acknowledge and agree that BrightStat.com may preserve any User Provided Content and may disclose any User Provided Content (including its origin) if BrightStat.com believes that it is required to do so by law or that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process or governmental requests; (b) enforce the Agreement; (c) respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or safety of the Website, the Users, or the public.

4. Subscription Terms, Fees and Payments

Users of the Website may be unregistered visitors and registered customers. Registration on BrightStat is free.

Terms for Subscriptions. You must be 18 years or older to use or subscribe to BrightStat.com. You must provide BrightStat.com with accurate, complete, and up-to-date registration information. Failure to do so will constitute a breach of this Agreement. As part of the registration process, you will be assigned a username and you will select a password. You understand that you may not (i) select or use a name of another person with the intent to impersonate that person; (ii) use the rights of any person without authorization; or (iii) use a name that we, in our sole discretion, deem inappropriate. You are responsible for all usage or activity on BrightStat.com via your account, and you must keep your account password secure. Distribution of your password to others for access to BrightStat.com is expressly prohibited. You will never be required to reveal your password to any representative or agent of BrightStat.com, its owners or agents. You must immediately notify us by the contact information below of any known or suspected unauthorized use(s) of your account, or any known or suspected breach of security, including loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of your password or billing information

Cancellations and Refunds. You may cancel your account at any time.

Termination or Suspension of Your Account. If we believe, at our sole discretion, that you are in breach of this Agreement or are acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of this Agreement, we may limit, suspend or terminate your access to the Website. In this case, no portion of your subscription payment will be refunded. We also reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Website for any reason, and should we decide to suspend your access for any reason other than a breach by you, we will refund any unused portion of your subscription payment, which will be your sole and exclusive remedy upon such suspension or termination.

Prices Subject to Change. Prices may be changed by BrightStat.com at any time, and each renewal of your subscription will be at the price that you were originally charged for that subscription when you subscribed unless otherwise stated. BrightStat.com shall provide you with reasonable notice of any change in prices prior to the effective date of the new pricing, by email or other reasonable means such as a notice on the pertinent Website  or in usual subscriber communications. If you do not wish to continue with your subscription due to the new prices, you may opt out of renewal or cancel as set forth above.

5. Communications Between BrightStat.com and You

We may contact you (via the Website, electronic mail, physical mail or otherwise) for the purpose of informing you of changes or additions to the Website or Services, or of any related products and services. You agree that any notice, agreement, disclosure or other communications that we send to you electronically will satisfy any legal communication requirements, including that such communications be in writing. You may opt out of commercial advertising and marketing communications at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions included in each communication or by going to your Account page on the relevant Website  and changing your preferences. Please see our Privacy Statement for further information on how we manage and process your personal information.

6. Modifications to this Agreement

BrightStat.com has the right, at its sole discretion, to modify this Agreement, as well as the Website, Content, and the Services, at any time. Changes will be posted on the pertinent Website  and/or sent via email, and by changing the date of last revision on this Agreement. If any portion of this Agreement or any change to the Website, Content, or the Services is unacceptable to you or will cause you to no longer be in compliance with the Agreement, you may cancel your subscription by following the instructions in this Agreement. Continued use of the Website or the Services now or following posted notices of changes to this Agreement means that you have accepted and agree to be bound by the changes.

7. Liability Disclaimer

We make no express warranties or representations as to the quality and/or accuracy of the Content, the Website or the Services, and we expressly disclaim any implied warranties, conditions and/or representations, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement, to the full extent permissible under applicable law. We offer the Content, the Website and the Services on an "as is' basis and do not accept responsibility for any use of or reliance on the Website, Content or Services, or for any disruptions to or delay in the Services. In addition, we do not make any representations as to the accuracy, comprehensiveness, completeness, quality, currency, error-free nature, compatibility, security or fitness for purpose of the Website, Content or Services. BrightStat.com does not guarantee the adequacy of the Services or Website or compatibility thereof to your computer equipment, mobile devices, or environment and does not warrant that the Website, the Services, their servers, or any emails which may be sent from BrightStat.com are free of viruses or any other harmful components.

To the fullest extent permissible under applicable law, we limit our liability. In particular, we shall not be liable for any damages that we cause unintentionally and we shall not be liable to you for any actual, incidental, indirect or consequential loss or damage howsoever caused, provided that nothing in this Agreement will be interpreted so as to limit or exclude any liability which may not be excluded or limited by law. For example, we shall not be liable to you for any of the following types of damages, whether in contract, tort (including negligence and strict liability) or otherwise (whether such loss or damage was foreseeable, known or otherwise): (i) loss of revenue; (ii) loss of actual or anticipated profits; (iii) loss of the use of money; (iv) loss of anticipated savings; or (v) loss or corruption of, or damage to, data, systems or programs. Because some states/jurisdictions do not allow exclusions as broad as those stated above or limitations of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitations may, in whole or in part, not apply to you. If you are dissatisfied with any portion of the Website or the Services, or with any clause of these terms, you may discontinue using the Website and the Services. Although we will not be liable for your losses caused by any unauthorized use of your account, you may be liable to others as well as to us if your account is used in violation of the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless BrightStat.com, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees and agents from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees) arising from: (i) your use of and access to the Website and Services; (ii) your violation of any term of this Agreement; (iii) your violation of any third-party right, including without limitation any copyright, property, or privacy right; or (iv) any claim that your User Provided Content caused damage to a third party. This defense and indemnification obligation will survive this Agreement and your use of the Website and Services.

BrightStat.com may, from time to time, provide opportunities to Users of the Website to purchase services from third parties. Website of those third parties are subject to terms and conditions different from those applicable to the Website and it is your responsibility to ensure that you have read and understood them. BrightStat.com makes no warranty concerning, is not responsible for and does not endorse any third party provided goods or services, and you agree that any recourse for dissatisfaction or problems with those goods or services will be sought from the third party provider and not from BrightStat.com.

8. Governing Law; Disputes

By using the Services or the Website, you agree that these Terms and Conditions are exclusively governed, without regard to its principles on conflicts of laws, your use of the Website and the Services, and any dispute of any sort that might arise between you and BrightStat.com, by the law of the Canton of Bern, Switzerland.

If a dispute arises between you and BrightStat.com, our goal is to provide you a neutral and cost effective means of resolving the dispute quickly. To that end, you agree to first contact BrightStat.com Customer Support by email via the contact information below to describe the problem and seek a resolution. If that does not resolve the issue, then you and BrightStat.com agree that any dispute or claim relating to your use of the Services or the Website will be resolved through binding arbitration, rather than in court.

You and BrightStat.com agree that each may bring claims against the other only in your or its individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, consolidated, or representative action. Further, unless both you and BrightStat.com agree otherwise, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this arbitration agreement does not preclude you from bringing issues to the attention of federal, cantonal, or local agencies of the canton of Bern, Switzerland. Such agencies can, if the law allows, seek relief against us on your behalf. This entire arbitration provision shall survive termination of this Agreement and the termination of your BrightStat.com membership(s).

To begin an arbitration proceeding, you must send a certified letter requesting arbitration and describing your claim to BrightStat.com Legal Department, BrightStat.com.com, Effingerstrasse 14, CH-3011 Bern, Switzerland. The arbitration will be conducted by the Schlichtungsbehörde Bern Mittelland, Effingerstrasse 34, CH-3011 Bern, Switzerland. 

9. Miscellaneous

Promotions. Any sweepstakes, contests, raffles or other promotions (collectively, 'Promotions') made available by BrightStat.com may be governed by rules that are separate from this Agreement. If you participate in any Promotions, please review the applicable rules as well as our Privacy Statement. If the rules for a Promotion conflict with this Agreement, the Promotion rules will apply.

Assignment. We reserve the right to assign or transfer our rights and obligations under this Agreement. These terms are personal to you and, as a result, you may not, without the written consent of BrightStat.com, assign or transfer any of your rights and obligations under this Agreement. There shall be no third-party beneficiaries to this Agreement.

Severability. In the event that any term of this Agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of these terms shall remain valid and enforceable. We can replace any term which is not valid and enforceable with a term of similar meaning which is valid and enforceable.

Waiver. Any failure by us to enforce any term of the terms of this Agreement shall not affect our right to require performance at any subsequent time, nor shall the waiver by us of any breach by you of any provisions of these terms be taken to be a waiver of the provision or provisions itself.

Complete Agreement. This Agreement, including any terms, conditions and policies expressly referenced herein, together with any legal notices published on the Website, shall constitute the complete understanding and agreement between you and us, and shall supersede and cancel any prior or contemporaneous understandings and agreements, except as expressly provided otherwise by BrightStat.com.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions or comments, or would like to discuss your subscription with our Customer Support staff, please contact us via the following information:

For BrightStat.com.com, send an email to support@brightstat.com. If you would like to access your BrightStat.com account details, please click here. 

For all of the Website, official correspondence must be sent e-mail to:

info@brightstat.com