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Terms Of Use

Terms and conditions when using this website and service.

Terms And Conditions (“Terms”)

Please read these Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) carefully before accessing or using the website at www.opticous.com and all related websites, software, apps, and/or plug-ins (together the “Service”) made available by Opticous (“Opticous”, “us”, “we” or “our”).

1. Acceptance Of Terms

1.1. Opticous operates the website www.opticous.com (“Website”), a platform that allows you to link, share, and otherwise use certain information, text, graphics, photos, videos, or other material (together “Content”). Our goal is to help designers, bloggers, and everyone who is looking for an image to find photos and other Content that you can use for free subject to and in compliance with these Terms.

1.2. Your access to and use of the Service is conditioned on your acceptance of and compliance with these Terms. These Terms apply to all visitors, users, and others who access and/or use the Service.

1.3. By accessing or using the Service, whether as a visitor, or user of the Website, you agree to be bound by these Terms. These Terms serve to protect and safeguard your rights, the rights of other users, our rights, and the rights of third parties in the course of operating the Website. If you do not agree to the terms of use, you must immediately stop using any part of the Service.

1.4. We reserve the right to change or adapt these Terms at any time and without giving reasons with effect for the future. You will be notified of these changes at least two weeks before they take effect by posting them on the Website and should you have created a user account on our Website by notifying your registered e-mail address. You have the right to immediately cancel and terminate your account on our Website if you do not agree to the changes to the Terms. Changes shall be deemed approved by you if you continue to use the Service after the new Terms come into effect.

1.5. The use of the Service is subject to the Terms in force at the time of use.

2. Accounts And Registration

2.1. You have the option of creating a user account on our Website so that you can use the additional functions of the Website, in particular for downloading exclusive photos and other Content or for participating in any contests made available through the Service. The opening of a user account can only take place with the agreement to these Terms.

2.2. Upon registration, Opticous and you enter into a contract for the use of the Website and the Services. There is no claim to the conclusion of this contract. Opticous is entitled to refuse your registration without giving reasons.

2.3. You may only register with Opticous if you are 18 years of age or if you act with the consent of your parents or guardian to register under these Terms. Opticous reserves the right to verify the consent of your parents or guardian. Therefore, you must provide an e-mail address of your parents or guardian when you register, so that we can obtain a declaration of consent from your parents or guardian.

2.4. When you create an account with us, you must provide us with the information and data requested by Opticous that is accurate, complete, and current at all times. If your data changes after registration, you are obliged to correct the information in your account immediately.

2.5. You may not use as a username the name of another person or entity or that is not lawfully available for use, a name or trademark that is subject to any rights of another person or entity other than you without authorization, or a name that is otherwise offensive, vulgar or obscene.

2.6. You are responsible for safeguarding the password that you use to access the Service and for any activities or actions under your password, whether your password is with our Service or a third-party service. If you are not responsible for the misuse of your member account, you are not liable. You agree not to disclose your password to any third party. You must notify us immediately at support@opticous.com upon becoming aware of any breach of security or unauthorized use of your account.

3. Contests, Sweepstakes, And Promotions

3.1. Occasionally, Opticous or our partners and/or advertising partners conduct promotional activities on the Website, such as contests, sweepstakes, or other promotions (together “Promotions”). Each of these Promotions are subject to additional special conditions (“Conditions Of Participation”), which will be published on our Website or otherwise notified to you by Opticous.

3.2. When participating in Promotions, you must separately agree to the applicable Conditions Of Participation. After approval, the Conditions Of Participation are an integral part of these Terms. In the event of a conflict between the Conditions Of Participation and the Terms, the Conditions Of Participation shall prevail with respect to the Promotion in question.

3.3. All prizes in connection with a Promotion are non-transferable and cannot be changed for cash or other products or services. Opticous reserves the right to modify or replace the Promotion prizes.

Information On Data Protection

Participation in the Promotion requires the participant to provide personal data such as name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. These personal data will be collected and processed by Opticous and/or by appointed providers (e.g. companies providing tech gadgets, coupons or other prizes) for the purpose of participation, implementation, and handling of the Promotion and the possible notification of a win on the basis of Article 6 (1) (b) GDPR (performance of contractual relationships with you). Personal data will not be passed on to third parties, with the exception of partners, which are also involved in the Promotion. In the event of a win, the personal data collected for participation in the Promotion will be transferred to the respective third-party involved (hotels, travel agents/organizers) exclusively for the above-mentioned purpose. As soon as the process of determining the winner and of handing out the price is completed and the data provided is no longer required, they are deleted unless continued storage is required on legal grounds.

You have the right:

  • in accordance with Article 15 GDPR to obtain information about the personal data processed by us;
  • in accordance with Article 16 GDPR DSGVO to obtain without undue delay the rectification or completion of your personal data stored by us;
  • in accordance with Article 17 GDPR to obtain the erasure of the personal data stored by us, unless the processing is necessary for exercising the right of freedom of expression or information, for compliance with a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest, or for the establishment exercise or defense of legal claims;
  • in accordance with Article 18 GDPR to obtain the restriction of the processing of your personal data if you contest the accuracy of the personal data, the processing is unlawful, but you oppose their erasure and we no longer require the data, but you require these for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims or you have objected to their processing in accordance with Article 21 GDPR;
  • in accordance with Article 20 GDPR to receive your personal data in a structure, commonly used and machine-readable format or have such transmitted to another controller;
  • in accordance with Article 77 GDPR to complain to a supervisory authority. You can usually contact the supervisory authority at your normal place of residence or your workplace or where we are headquartered for this.

Such personal data as may be collected, saved, transferred, processed, or used shall be consulted by Opticous and by such providers as are appointed in this connection – together with any partners which may be involved – and (in the event of a win) collected, saved, etc by any involved 3rd parties (hotels, travel agents/organizers) exclusively for that purpose and shall be deleted once the competition has been wound up in its entirety unless there are compulsory legal reasons requiring that the data should not be deleted. Otherwise, the general data protection guidelines of Opticous (Privacy Policy) shall apply.

4. Intellectual Property; License To Users

4.1. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, you may access and use the Website and Service.

4.2. The Website and the Service are protected by copyright, trademark and/or other protective rights and are subject to copyright law and other protective laws (“Opticous Rights”). Opticous is the rightful owner or licensee of all rights to the Website and the Service. With the exception of the use of the Website and Service in accordance with these Terms, use of Opticous Rights is only permitted with the prior written consent of Opticous.

4.3. Except for certain sponsored content (i.e. content from partners that you can buy from them by getting redirected to their website, hereinafter “Sponsored Content”), all Content made available for download on the Service can be used for free for personal and/or commercial purposes subject to some limitations as set out in these Terms and stated under Usage & Restrictions. You do not need to, but you can, credit Opticous.

4.4. Opticous License

For all Content made available for download on the Service, that is not Sponsored Content, Opticous grants you an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and otherwise use the Content (this does not include Sponsored Content), including for commercial purposes, without attributing the Opticous. Make sure to always comply with the Opticous License (Usage & Restrictions). The Opticous License does not, for example, include:

  • the right to compile any Opticous Content to replicate a similar or competing Service;
  • the right to sell copies of the Opticous Content without first updating, modifying, or otherwise incorporating new creative elements into the Content (i.e., selling unaltered copies of photos, videos, or other content), including selling the Content as prints or printed on physical goods.

4.5. Be aware that, depending on your intended use of the Content, you may need the permission or consent of a third party (e.g. owner of a brand, identifiable person, or author/rights holder of copyrightable work depicted in the Content).

Furthermore, when using the Content, you may not imply endorsement of products and services by the author of the Content and/or any person, company, or brand depicted in Content.

5. Restrictions On Use Of The Service And Content

5.1. You represent and warrant to Opticous that by using the Service you will NOT:

  • impersonate any other person on the Services, e.g. a representative of Opticous or any other person responsible for the Services, or impersonate any non-existent relationship with such persons;
  • use the Service and/or Website for the storage, publication and/or transmission of “junk mails”, chain letters, unsolicited bulk e-mails, etc., or for any other purpose. “(“spamming”);
  • send any data or store any data on a Opticous data carrier which, by its nature or nature (e.g. viruses), size, or reproduction (e.g. spamming), is intended to impair or endanger the existence or operation of the Services and the Opticous data network;
  • make any electronic attacks of any kind on the Service or network; in particular, the use of computer programs to automatically read out data such as robots, spiders, etc. is prohibited;
  • use or exploit any metatags or other hidden texts containing the name or trademark of Opticous without the express written consent of Opticous;
  • collect, store or use any personal information, including member names and profiles, about other users;
  • copy the look and feel of the Website.

5.2. Furthermore, despite the Opticous License provided to you by Opticous hereunder you agree to NOT use any Opticous Content made available via the Service (in whole or in part):

  • to portray any person depicted in the Content (a “Person”) in a way that a reasonable person would find offensive, including but not limited to depicting a Person: a) in connection with pornography, adult entertainment venues, escort services, dating services, or the like; b) in connection with the endorsement of products and services (i.e. statement made to the Person highlighting the benefits or recommending products/services to the public) ; c) in a political context, such as the promotion, advertisement or endorsement of any party, candidate, or elected official, or in connection with any political policy or viewpoint; d) as suffering from, or medicating for, a physical or mental ailment; or e) engaging in immoral or criminal activities;
  • in a pornographic, defamatory, or deceptive context, or in a manner that could be considered libelous, obscene, or illegal;
  • as a trademark, service mark, logo, or other indication of origin, or as part thereof;
  • in a manner that infringes upon any third party’s copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property, or gives rise to a claim of deceptive advertising or unfair competition;
  • falsely represent, expressly or by way of reasonable implication, that any Content was created by you or a person other that the copyright holder(s) of that Content;
  • access, download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, or use any Content to create a similar or competitive service or to contribute the Content to an existing similar or competitive service.

6. Violation Of Terms And Termination Of Use

6.1. Opticous reserves the right to restrict or suspend your access to the Services in whole or in part at any time, without prior notice and excluding any claim for damages on your part (“Suspension”), if there are reasonable grounds for suspecting violations by you of these Terms and/or the applicable Conditions of Participation.

6.2. If you prove within twelve (12) months after the Suspension that you have not violated the Terms the applicable Conditions of Participation, Opticous will lift the Suspension. If such proof is not provided within the 12-month period, Opticous is entitled to delete your member account including all its data.

6.3. Opticous expressly reserves the right to take legal action, in particular to assert claims for damages or to file criminal charges.

7. Disclaimer Of Warranty; Links To Other Third Party Sites

7.1. The use of the Service is at your own risk. The Website and the Service are offered to you on an “as is” and “as available” basis. We do not warrant that the Website or the Services will always be uninterrupted, current, timely, secure, error-free, or suitable for use for any particular purpose or to achieve any particular result.

7.2. Opticous does not guarantee that the content on the Website or on linked other sites is correct or complete. The content of the users does not reflect our opinions or views on life. The presence of links to other websites does not imply that Opticous endorses or recommends the linked website. Opticous has no influence on the contents of the linked external sites and is not responsible for them. We strongly advise you to read the terms and conditions and privacy policies of any third-party websites or services that you visit. Opticous is also not responsible for the advertising of third parties published on the Website or for the goods or services offered therein.

7.3. If Opticous becomes aware of any violations of the law through content, links to third-party websites, or advertising published on the website, Opticous will immediately delete such content, links, or advertising.

7.4. Opticous accepts no responsibility for errors, omissions, interruptions, deletions, defects, delays in operation or transmission, communication line failures, or unauthorized access or theft, destruction, or modification of user communications. Likewise, Opticous is not liable for problems or technical malfunctions in connection with telephone networks or lines, online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, or for failures of e-mails or players due to technical problems or data jams on the internet and/or one of the Service, unless these are within the sphere of influence of Opticous.

9. Liability

9.1. We are liable for damages according to the statutory provisions unless otherwise stated below. In the case of breach of obligation – on any legal ground whatsoever – we are responsible for intent and gross negligence. In the case of simple negligence, we are liable only for

  • damage due to injury to life, body, or health, and
  • damage due to serious breach of a fundamental contractual obligation (obligation the performance of which at all enables the due performance of the agreement and on the compliance on which the contractual partner usually relies and is entitled to rely). In that case, the liability is, however, limited to reimbursement of foreseeable and typical loss.

9.2. The above limitations of liability also apply in favor of our employees, staff, representatives, and agents.

9.3. For claims under the Product Liability Act, the statutory provisions apply exclusively.

9.4. Claims for damages against Opticous shall become statute-barred after twelve (12) months from the date of their creation unless they are based on intentional or grossly negligent acts.

10. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold Opticous and its affiliates harmless from and against any and all claims, damages, liabilities, losses, or demands arising out of or in connection with (i) your use and access to the Website and/or Service; (ii) your violation of these Terms; (iii) infringement of third party rights (copyrights, trademark rights, personal rights, etc.) by you or your Content. The indemnity obligation includes the reasonable costs of legal defence, in particular lawyer’s fees, necessary to defend against such claims.

11. Data Protection

Use of the Website and Service is subject to our Privacy Policy, which is available at https://opticous.com/privacy-policy/.

12. Choice Of Law, Place Of Jurisdiction

The law of the Kingdom of Sweden shall apply to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. For merchants, legal entities under public law and special funds under public law, the place of jurisdiction is Stockholm.

13. Miscellaneous

13.1. These Terms, together with the applicable Conditions Of Participation, our Privacy Policy, and any other legal provisions published by us on the Website, constitute the sole agreement between you and Opticous regarding your use of the Website and the Services.

13.2. Should individual clauses of these Terms be wholly or partially invalid or should these Terms contain gaps, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining Terms.



Last modified: June 19, 2022