Terms and Conditions

The Brand Power Company Website
Terms of Use – European Union, UK and Switzerland

About Us
The website on which these Terms of Use for the European Union, the UK and Switzerland resides (the "Site") is owned and controlled by The Brand Power Company GmbH ("Company", "we" or "us"). Key information about us, as well as our contact details, is listed below.
Address: Landsberger Strasse 284, 80687 Munich, Germany
Registration details: Commercial Register of District Court Munich, HRB 241895
Tax identification number: 143/122/31647
Contact details: [email protected]; +49 (0)89 5600 1850

About this Site and these Terms
Your use of this Site and the features at this Site is subject to these Terms of Use for the European Union, the UK and Switzerland (these "Terms"), which we may update from time to time.  Please read these Terms carefully before using this Site.  
These Terms are intended for and applicable only for residents of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal and the United Kingdom who are aged 18 or older.  If you are a resident of Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea or Taiwan, your use of the Site is governed by the separate global terms of use [here]. If you are a resident of another jurisdiction or under 18 years of age, you may not use this Site. 
By accepting these Terms during the account registration process (in the case of registered users) or by browsing this Site, using any information, and/or submitting information to Company (in the case of non-registered users), you agree to and are bound by these Terms.
From time to time we may, at our sole and absolute discretion, update this Site and these Terms.  Your use of this Site after we notify you of any changes to these Terms constitutes your agreement to those changes.  You agree to review these Terms periodically to ensure that you are familiar with the most recent version.  Company may, in its sole discretion, and at any time, discontinue this Site or any part thereof, with or without notice, or may prevent your use of this Site with or without notice to you.  To the maximum extent permitted under applicable laws, you agree that you do not have any rights in this Site and that Company will have no liability to you if this Site is discontinued or your ability to access the Site or any content you may have posted on the Site is terminated.

Your Use of this Site as a Consumer
Some parts of these Terms will apply differently if you use this Site as a consumer (i.e. for purposes other than your trade, business or profession). Where this is the case, we have called your attention to it in these Terms – such as by stating that a particular right will only apply to you if you are a consumer.
If you are a consumer, you are also protected by (and we are subject to) your local laws in addition to these Terms. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in these Terms is intended, or shall be deemed, to affect your rights under any such applicable laws to the extent that this is prohibited by these laws.

Company Content
Content on this Site that is provided by Company or its licensors, including certain graphics, photographs, images, screen shots, text, digitally downloadable files, trademarks, logos, product and program names, slogans, and the compilation of the foregoing ("Company Content") is the property of Company and its licensors, and is protected under trademark, copyright, and other intellectual property laws.
You agree not to download, display or use any Company Content located on the Site for use in any publications, in public performances, on websites other than this Site for any other commercial purpose, in connection with products or services that are not those of Company, or in any other manner that is likely to cause confusion among consumers, that disparages or discredits Company and/or its licensors, that dilutes the strength of Company's or its licensor's property, or that otherwise infringes Company’s or its licensors’ intellectual property rights. You further agree to in no other way misuse any Company Content or third party content that appears on this Site.
If you are a trademark or copyright owner and you believe that your trademark or copyright rights have been violated by any material appearing on this Site, please provide the following information to us at privacy@[email protected] with the subject line "Notice of Infringement":
(a) A description of the trademark or copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
(b) A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Site;
(c) Your contact information where we can contact you and, if different, an e-mail address where the alleged infringing party can contact you;
(d) A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
(e) A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf; and
(f) Your electronic or physical signature.

Use of the Site and Posting Policy
The following requirements apply to your use of the Site: (a) you will not use any electronic communication feature of the Site for any purpose that is unlawful, tortious, abusive, intrusive on another's privacy, harassing, libelous, defamatory, embarrassing, obscene, threatening, or hateful; (b) you will not upload, post, reproduce, or distribute any information, software, or other material protected by copyright or any other intellectual property right (as well as rights of publicity and privacy) without first obtaining the permission of the owner of such rights; (c) you will not collect or store personal data about other users; (d) you will not use the Site for any commercial purpose not expressly approved by Company in writing; (e) you will not upload, post, email, or otherwise transmit any advertising or promotional materials or any other form of solicitation or unauthorized communication; (f) you will not upload, post, email, or otherwise transmit any material that contains viruses or any other computer code, files, or programs which might interrupt, limit, or interfere with the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment.
From time to time on certain areas of our Site you may be able to submit photos, written posts and certain other materials ("User Content").  By using these features, you agree that you will not post any content that is unlawful, harmful, tortious, defamatory, libelous, obscene, invasive of the privacy of another person, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful, racist, infringing, pornographic, violent or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate as determined by Company; that you will not post any content that contains personal information about any individual, violates the image rights or privacy/publicity of any other individual or entity, or anything that you are under a contractual obligation to keep private or confidential; that you will not impersonate any person or organization, including without limitation, the personnel of Company, or misrepresent an affiliation with another person or organization; you will not falsely represent yourself as a consumer; you will not post any content that contains viruses, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may adversely affect the operation of the Site, or feature of the Site.  You further understand and agree that you have no ownership rights in any account you may have with us, or other access to the Site or features therein.  Company may cancel your account and delete all User Content associated with your account at any time, and without notice, if Company deems that you have violated these Terms, the law, or for any other reason.  Company assumes no liability for any information removed from this Site, and reserves the right to permanently restrict access to the Site or a user account.
By displaying, publishing, or otherwise posting any User Content on or through the Site, you hereby grant to Company a non-exclusive, sub-licensable, worldwide, royalty free license for the duration of any intellectual property protection of the content concerned, to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such User Content in any and all media now known or hereinafter developed without the requirement to make payment to you or to any third party or the need to seek any third party permission. This license includes the right to host, index, cache, distribute, and tag any User Content, as well as the right to sublicense User Content to third parties, including other users, for use on other media or platforms known or hereinafter developed, such as for use on mobile phones, in video or music software computer programs.  
In addition, where legally permissible you hereby absolutely and irrevocably waive all moral rights in such User Content, and to the extent such waiver is unenforceable, you hereby covenant and agree (to the extent legally permissible) not to exercise such moral rights against Company or any other person designated by Company (in particular your paternity right (right to be named as the author of a copyrighted work) and your right to object to any modifications of a copyrighted work).  The provisions in this paragraph are not applicable if you are a consumer in Austria, Italy or Spain.
You continue to retain all ownership rights in your User Content, and you continue to have the right to use your User Content in any way you choose, subject to these Terms and the license described herein.  You represent and warrant that you own the content submitted, displayed, published or posted by you on the Site and otherwise have the right to grant the license set forth herein, and the displaying, publishing or posting of any content you submit, and our use thereof, does not and will not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, trademark rights, patents, contract rights or any other intellectual property rights or other rights of any person or entity.
User Content that qualifies as personal data will be processed by Company in accordance with our Privacy Policy – please see the “Miscellaneous” section below for more information.
You agree to indemnify and hold Company, its parents, subsidiaries, officers, employees, and Site contractors and each of their officers, employees and agents harmless from any claims, damages and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, related to your violation of these Terms or any violations thereof by your dependents or which arises from the use of User Content you submitted, posted, or otherwise provided to Company or this Site. The provisions of this paragraph are not applicable to consumers in the Netherlands.

Disclosing Material Connections
From time to time you may be asked to review products, including third party products. You can review products only if you are a consumer. In exchange for your review you may be provided with benefits, not limited to obtaining the product to be reviewed for free. You represent and warrant that you shall transparently disclose that you have been provided with compensation or free product in exchange for your honest review.
How do I disclose? It is easy. If you are commenting on your experience outside of the Home Tester Club you must use a disclosure hashtag (#), like #advertising, #ad, or #sponsored.
If you are reviewing on www.hometesterclub.com then you don't need to add these tags - we do this automatically for you via the "Home Tested" tag that is applied to your review.
Remember, we want your uncensored ratings and reviews. We want you to tell us exactly what you thought about the product, in your own words and style. Your friends & Home Tester Club members are interested in what your experience is - both positive and negative, so use the product a few times and provide your considered feedback.
Stating that you received the product for free helps the quality and credibility of all the reviews made by Home Tester Club members.
Why do we ask you do this? It helps everyone know how you go to make your review, and we want to make sure all our members follow the guidelines set by applicable regulatory and supervisory bodies.

Accounts, Passwords, and Security
The Site may require registration or may otherwise ask you to provide information to participate in certain features or access certain content. If you create an account or otherwise submit information, you must complete the specified process by providing Company with current, complete, and accurate information as requested by the applicable registration form. It is your responsibility to maintain the currency, completeness, and accuracy of your information and data, and any loss caused by your failure to do so is your responsibility. It is entirely your responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of your password and account. Additionally, you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account, whether authorized or unauthorized.  You agree to notify Company immediately of any unauthorized use of your account. You further agree not to email, post, or otherwise disseminate any user ID, password, or other information which provides you access to the Site. 

Representations and Limitations of Liability
Company makes no representations about the reliability of the features of this Site, the Company Content, User Content, or any other Site feature, and disclaims all liability in the event of any service failure. You acknowledge that any reliance on such material or systems will be at your own risk. Company makes no representations regarding the amount of time that any Company Content or User Content will be preserved.
Company does not endorse, verify, evaluate or guarantee any information provided by users and nothing shall be considered as an endorsement, verification or guarantee of any User Content. You shall not create or distribute information, including but not limited to advertisements, press releases or other marketing materials, or include links to any sites which contain or suggest an endorsement by Company without the prior review and written approval of Company.
THIS SITE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS, AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THOSE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE MADE WITH RESPECT TO THIS SITE OR ANY INFORMATION OR SOFTWARE THEREIN.
SUBJECT TO THE FINAL PARAGRAPH OF THIS SECTION:

  1. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, SHALL COMPANY BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (COLLECTIVELY, “DAMAGES”) THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SITE;
  2. COMPANY SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER THAT RESULT FROM MISTAKES, OMISSIONS, INTERRUPTIONS, DELETION OF FILES, ERRORS, DEFECTS, DELAYS IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, OR ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, WHETHER OR NOT CAUSED BY EVENTS BEYOND COMPANY’S REASONABLE CONTROL, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ACTS OF GOD, PANDEMICS, GOVERNMENT ORDERS, COMMUNICATIONS LINE FAILURE, THEFT, DESTRUCTION, OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO THIS SITE'S RECORDS, PROGRAMS, OR SERVICES; AND
  3. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO A NEGLIGENT ACT, WILL COMPANY OR ITS AFFILIATES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE OF ANY KIND THAT RESULTS FROM THE USE OF, OR THE INABILITY TO USE, THE SITE, EVEN IF COMPANY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. 

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW US TO LIMIT OR EXCLUDE OUR LIABILITY IN THE MANNER SET OUT IN THIS SECTION (INCLUDING IN RESPECT OF DAMAGES ARISING FROM COMPANY’S GROSS OR OTHER NEGLIGENCE, FRAUDULENT OR RECKLESS ACTS OR INTENTIONAL MISCONDUCT, OR INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGES). AS A RESULT, THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU AND THE FOREGOING PARAGRAPHS OF THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY ONLY TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAWS. 

Third Party Websites
This Site may hyperlink to sites not maintained by or related to Company. Hyperlinks are provided as a service to users and are not sponsored by or affiliated with this Site or Company, and Company makes no representations or warranties about the content, completeness, or accuracy of those third party sites. Information you submit at a third party site accessible from this Site is subject to the terms of that site's privacy policy, and Company has no control over how your information is collected, used, or otherwise handled.

Rules for Sweepstakes, Contests, Instant Win Games and Similar Promotions.
Any sweepstakes, contests, raffles, surveys, games or similar promotions made available through this Site may be governed by specific rules that are separate from and in addition to these Terms. By participating in any such sweepstakes, contest, raffle, survey, game, or similar promotion, you will become subject to those rules, which may vary from the Terms as set forth herein, and which are incorporated into these Terms. The Company urges you to read the applicable rules, which may be linked from the particular activity.

Miscellaneous
Both you and Company acknowledge and agree that no partnership is formed and neither you nor Company has the power or the authority to obligate or bind the other.
These Terms will be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of Germany, without regard to conflicts of laws principles but (if you are a consumer) without prejudice to your rights under applicable laws. 
If you are a consumer: (i) you can bring legal proceedings in respect of any and all disputes regarding these Terms in the courts of the country in which you have your place of residence unless (where relevant) you volunteer to bring legal proceedings in the German courts; and (ii) we can bring such legal proceedings only in the courts of the country in which you have your place of residence. In all other cases, any and all disputes regarding these Terms will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Germany.
You agree that, to the extent permitted by applicable law, any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Site and/or these Terms, will be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action. This provision is not applicable to consumers in Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands or Spain.
If you are a consumer, you may also be able to apply for an out-of-court mechanism to solve any lawsuit relating to these Terms with the competent bodies. Just to give you an example, the European Commission’s Online Dispute Resolution Platform is available at http://ec.europa.eu/odr, but you are free to choose an alternative out-of-court mechanism.
These Terms operate to the fullest extent permissible by law.
On certain areas of our Site, you may be given the ability to provide us with personally identifiable information. Please read our Privacy Policy [here] for more information about our information collection and use practices.
The failure of Company to comply with these Terms because of an act of God, war, fire, riot, terrorism, earthquake, pandemics, actions of federal, state or local governmental authorities or for any other reason beyond the reasonable control of Company, shall not be deemed a breach of these Terms.
If Company fails to act with respect to your breach or anyone else's breach on any occasion, Company is not waiving its right to act with respect to future or similar breaches.
If any provision or part of these Terms shall be unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision or part shall be deemed severable from these Terms and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions or parts. Any void or unenforceable provision or part of these Terms shall be automatically replaced by a valid and enforceable provision or part that is as close as possible to the initial provision/part and intention of the parties.
These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and Company regarding the use of the Site and your account. By using the Site or accepting the Terms during the account registration process (as the case may be), you represent that you are capable of entering into a binding agreement, and that you agree to be bound by these Terms.