Terms of Service

§ 1 Scope

These General Terms of Service (hereinafter "Terms") apply to all services provided by the Provider through the ManualHQ platform. They govern the relationship between the Provider and the users of the platform (manufacturers and their customers).

Deviating terms and conditions of the users are not recognised unless the Provider expressly agrees to their validity in writing.

§ 2 Service Description

ManualHQ is a SaaS platform that enables manufacturers to provide product documentation (manuals, guides, technical documents) online in a protected manner and to granularly control access for registered customers.

The platform includes in particular:

• Upload and management of PDF documents
• Access control at document and chapter level
• Online viewer for protected document viewing
• Optional download with personalised watermark
• Invitation system for customer access
• GDPR-compliant audit logging

The specific scope of services depends on the selected plan (Starter, Pro, Business).

The Provider is entitled to further develop the platform technically and to expand its functionality. Significant restrictions will be announced at least 4 weeks before they take effect.

§ 3 Registration and User Account

Use of the platform requires registration. There is no anonymous access.

Truthful and complete information must be provided during registration. The user is obliged to keep their access credentials confidential and to inform the Provider immediately of any misuse.

The Provider is entitled to reject registration without stating reasons or to suspend a user account in case of violation of these Terms.

§ 4 Prices and Payment Terms

The following subscription plans apply to manufacturers:

All prices are exclusive of statutory VAT. A 20% discount is granted for annual payment.

Payment processing is handled via Stripe. Invoices are automatically generated and delivered by email.

In the event of default in payment, the Provider is entitled to restrict access to the platform after unsuccessful reminder.

For end customers (document recipients), use of the platform is free of charge.

§ 5 Contract Duration and Cancellation

Subscriptions are automatically renewed for the respective billing period (month or year) unless cancelled before expiry.

Cancellation is possible at any time effective at the end of the current billing period via the Stripe customer portal or by email to [email protected].

Upon cancellation, uploaded documents and access data are retained for 30 days (transition period). After that, they are irrevocably deleted.

The right to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected.

The Provider is entitled to extraordinary termination if the user materially violates these Terms, in particular by sharing access credentials with third parties or systematic downloading of content.

§ 6 Usage Rights and Intellectual Property

Manufacturers grant their customers via ManualHQ a simple, non-transferable right of use, limited in time to the access grant, for the released documents. Redistribution to third parties is not permitted.

The Provider does not acquire any rights to the uploaded documents. Manufacturers warrant that they hold the necessary rights to the uploaded content and shall indemnify the Provider against any claims by third parties.

Removing or altering watermarks in downloaded documents is prohibited and entitles the Provider to immediately suspend the account.

§ 7 Watermarks

Downloaded documents are automatically watermarked with the recipient's name and email address. This watermark serves to protect copyright and to enable traceability in case of unauthorized distribution.

By downloading, the user agrees to the embedding of the watermark.

§ 8 Availability

The Provider targets an annual availability of 99.5%. Planned maintenance will be announced at least 48 hours in advance and, where possible, carried out outside business hours.

Excluded from the availability calculation are outages due to force majeure, disruptions at the hosting provider or the user's internet access.

§ 9 Data Protection and Audit Log

ManualHQ processes personal data in accordance with the Privacy Policy.

ManualHQ logs document accesses (time, IP address, user agent, accessed document) on behalf of manufacturers. Manufacturers are responsible for the data protection compliance of this logging with respect to their customers.

§ 10 Liability

The Provider is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence as well as for damages resulting from injury to life, body or health.

In the case of slight negligence, the Provider is only liable for breach of essential contractual obligations (cardinal obligations), limited to the foreseeable, contract-typical damage.

The manufacturers are solely responsible for the content of uploaded documents. The Provider does not review any uploaded content.

§ 11 User Obligations

Users undertake to:

• Not upload or distribute any unlawful content.
• Keep access credentials confidential and not share them with third parties.
• Not misuse the platform (e.g. systematic downloading, automated access).
• Not redistribute downloaded documents to third parties without the manufacturer's consent.

§ 12 Amendments to the Terms

The Provider reserves the right to amend these Terms. Amendments will be notified to users by email at least 4 weeks before they take effect.

If a user objects to the amended Terms within 4 weeks of receiving notification, they are entitled to a special right of cancellation. If no objection is made, the amended Terms are deemed accepted. This legal consequence will be specifically pointed out in the amendment notification.

§ 13 Severability Clause

Should individual provisions of these Terms be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions shall remain unaffected. The invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision that comes closest to the economic purpose of the invalid provision.

§ 14 Applicable Law and Jurisdiction

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with these Terms is — to the extent legally permissible — Aachen.