Terms of Service

Agreement to Terms

Welcome to Berlin Experience! These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of our mobile application and related services (collectively, the "Service") operated by Berlin Experience ("we," "us," or "our").

By downloading, accessing, or using our Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you disagree with any part of these terms, then you may not access the Service.

Description of Service

Berlin Experience is a community-driven platform designed for Google I/O Connect Berlin attendees to document and share their conference journey. Our Service includes:

• Journey documentation and sharing capabilities
• Community interaction features (likes, comments, follows)
• Country-based groups and interest communities
• Practical tools (visa tracker, expense tracker, packing lists)
• Local recommendations and networking features

User Accounts

Account Creation

To access certain features of our Service, you must create an account. You may create an account using Google Sign-In or email registration. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials.

Account Responsibilities

• You must provide accurate and complete information
• You are responsible for all activities under your account
• You must notify us immediately of any unauthorized use
• You may not share your account with others
• You must be at least 13 years old to create an account

User Content

Content Ownership

You retain ownership of all content you post, upload, or share through our Service ("User Content"). By posting User Content, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, and display your content for the purpose of providing and improving our Service.

Content Standards

You agree that your User Content will not:

• Violate any applicable laws or regulations
• Infringe on the rights of others
• Contain harassment, hate speech, or discriminatory content
• Include spam, commercial solicitations, or advertisements
• Contain malicious code or security threats
• Misrepresent your identity or affiliation
• Include private information of others without consent

Prohibited Uses

You may not use our Service:

• For any unlawful purpose or to solicit unlawful acts
• To violate any international, federal, provincial, or state regulations or laws
• To harass, abuse, insult, harm, defame, slander, disparage, intimidate, or discriminate
• To submit false or misleading information
• To upload or transmit viruses or malicious code
• To collect or track personal information of others
• To spam, phish, pharm, pretext, spider, crawl, or scrape
• For any obscene or immoral purpose
• To interfere with security features of the Service

Community Guidelines

Berlin Experience is built on community values of authenticity, respect, and helpfulness. We expect all users to:

• Share authentic and helpful experiences
• Respect other community members
• Provide constructive feedback and comments
• Help create a welcoming environment for all attendees
• Report inappropriate content or behavior
• Follow the journey theme and conference focus

Moderation and Enforcement

We reserve the right to review, moderate, and remove any User Content that violates these Terms or our Community Guidelines. We may also suspend or terminate accounts that repeatedly violate our policies.

Our moderation process includes both automated systems and community reporting. We strive to be fair and transparent in our enforcement actions.

Privacy

Your privacy is important to us. Please review our Privacy Policy, which also governs your use of the Service, to understand our practices regarding the collection and use of your information.

By using our Service, you consent to the collection and use of your information as outlined in our Privacy Policy.

Intellectual Property

The Service and its original content, features, and functionality are and will remain the exclusive property of Berlin Experience and its licensors. The Service is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws.

As an open-source project, certain components of our Service are available under open-source licenses. Please refer to our GitHub repository for specific licensing information.

Termination

We may terminate or suspend your account and bar access to the Service immediately, without prior notice or liability, for any reason whatsoever, including without limitation if you breach the Terms.

You may also delete your account at any time through the app settings. Upon termination, your right to use the Service will cease immediately, and we will delete your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Disclaimers

The information on this Service is provided on an "as is" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all representations, warranties, conditions, and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law, or the law of equity.

• We do not guarantee the accuracy of user-generated content
• We are not responsible for travel decisions made based on app content
• We do not endorse any recommendations or advice from users
• The Service may be temporarily unavailable for maintenance

Limitation of Liability

In no event shall Berlin Experience, nor its directors, employees, partners, agents, suppliers, or affiliates, be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including without limitation, loss of profits, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting from your use of the Service.

Our total liability to you for all claims arising from or relating to the Service shall not exceed the amount you paid us in the twelve months preceding the claim, or €100, whichever is greater.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Berlin Experience and its licensee and licensors, and their employees, contractors, agents, officers and directors, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees).

This includes claims arising from your use of and access to the Service, your violation of any term of these Terms, or your violation of any third-party right, including without limitation any copyright, property, or privacy right.

Governing Law

These Terms shall be interpreted and governed by the laws of Germany, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of those rights.

Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of the Service will be resolved through binding arbitration in Berlin, Germany, conducted in English.

Changes to Terms

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time. If a revision is material, we will try to provide at least 30 days notice prior to any new terms taking effect.

What constitutes a material change will be determined at our sole discretion. By continuing to access or use our Service after those revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised terms.

Open Source

Berlin Experience is an open-source project released under the MIT License. You are free to view, modify, and contribute to the source code in accordance with the open-source license terms.

Contributing to the project requires acceptance of our Contributor License Agreement and adherence to our Code of Conduct. All contributions become part of the open-source project.

Third-Party Services

Our Service may contain links to third-party websites or services that are not owned or controlled by Berlin Experience. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party websites or services.

We use the following third-party services:

• Firebase: Backend infrastructure and analytics
• Google Maps: Location-based features
• Google Sign-In: Authentication services

Your use of these third-party services is subject to their respective terms of service and privacy policies.

Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held to be unenforceable or invalid, such provision will be changed and interpreted to accomplish the objectives of such provision to the greatest extent possible under applicable law, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

Waiver

Except as provided herein, the failure to exercise a right or to require performance of an obligation under these Terms shall not affect a party's ability to exercise such right or require such performance at any time thereafter nor shall the waiver of a breach constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach.

Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any other legal notices published by us on the Service, constitute the entire agreement between you and Berlin Experience concerning the Service.

These Terms supersede and replace any prior agreements we might have had between us regarding the Service.