General terms and conditions (abbreviated: GTC) are all pre-formulated contractual conditions for a large number of contracts that one contracting party (the user) provides to the other contracting party (the contracting partner) when concluding a contract.

General Terms and Conditions of Delivery and Business

Terms of Service

I. Validity

The following Standard Terms and Conditions of Delivery and Business (hereinafter referred to as the Standard Terms and Conditions) shall apply to all of orders, offers, deliveries and services executed by the photographer.
They shall be deemed to be binding on both parties upon acceptance of the photographer’s delivery, service or offer by the customer, however no later than upon the photo- graphic material being accepted for publication.
If the customer does not accept these Standard Terms and Conditions, it shall lodge written notification to this effect within three work days. Any alternative Standard Terms and Conditions on the part of the customer are hereby rejected. Alternative Standard Terms and Conditions on the part of the customer shall be deemed to be void unless the photographer agrees in writing to be bound by them.
In the absence of any express reference to the contrary, these Standard Terms and Conditions shall also apply to all of the photographer’s future orders, offers, deliveries and services under the ongoing business relationship notwithstanding the absence of any express reference to them.

II. commission products

These Standard Terms and Conditions shall apply to all photographic material submit- ted to the customer regardless of its degree of completion or technical form. They shall expressly also apply to photographic material transmitted electronically or digitally.
The customer acknowledges that the photographic material provided by the photographer constitutes copyright material as defined in Section 2 (1) No. 5 of the German Copyright Act.
Any suggestions submitted by the customer concerning modifications or adjustments shall be deemed to constitute individual services which shall be subject to separate

remuneration.
The photographic material provided shall remain the photographer’s property notwith-

standing the fact that consideration may have been received for it.
The customer shall treat the photographic material carefully and may only make it avail- able to third parties for internal business purposes, i. e. for viewing, selection purposes

and technical editing.
Any complaints concerning the content of the delivery or the content, quality or state

of the photographic material shall be lodged within 48 hours of receipt. Failing this, the photographic material shall be deemed to have been received in proper condition, in conformance with the contract and as described.

III. Provision of photographic material (analog and digital).

These Standard Terms and Conditions shall apply to all photographic material submit- ted to the customer regardless of its degree of completion or technical form. They shall expressly also apply to photographic material transmitted electronically or digitally.
The customer acknowledges that the photographic material provided by the photographer constitutes copyright material as defined in Section 2 (1) No. 5 of the German Copyright Act.
Any suggestions submitted by the customer concerning modifications or adjustments shall be deemed to constitute individual services which shall be subject to separate

remuneration.
The photographic material provided shall remain the photographer’s property notwith-

standing the fact that consideration may have been received for it.
The customer shall treat the photographic material carefully and may only make it avail- able to third parties for internal business purposes, i. e. for viewing, selection purposes

and technical editing.
Any complaints concerning the content of the delivery or the content, quality or state

of the photographic material shall be lodged within 48 hours of receipt. Failing this, the photographic material shall be deemed to have been received in proper condition, in conformance with the contract and as described.

IV. Rights of use

The customer shall fundamentally only receive simple rights for one-time utilization. Sub- ject to any other agreements, the right of publication on the Internet or inclusion in digital databases shall be limited to the duration of the publication period of the corresponding or a comparable printed item.
Exclusive utilization rights, exclusive rights for certain geographic territories or periods of time shall be subject to separate agreement as well as a surcharge of at least 100 % on top of the basic fee in question.
Upon the photographic material being delivered, only the utilization rights shall be granted for one-time use of the photographic material for the purpose specified by the customer and in the publication, medium or data vehicle which has been stated by the customer or can be reasonably assumed in the light of the circumstances surrounding the placing of the order. In the case of any doubt, the purpose for which the photo- graphic material has been supplied as evidenced by the delivery note or the recipient address shall be decisive.
Any use, exploitation, dissemination, copying or publication going beyond the scope provided for in Section 3 above shall be subject to separate remuneration and require the photographer’s prior written approval. This shall particularly apply to:

secondary exploitation or publication including but not limited to anthologies, product- related brochures, advertising or, in the case of any other types of reprinting, any editing of or modifications or changes to the photographic material,
digitalization, storage or duplication of the photographic material on data media of any type (e. g. magnetic, optic, magneto-optic or electronic media such as CD-ROM, DVD, hard disks, RAM, microfilms etc.) other than for the technical editing and management of the photographic material pursuant to III. 5. herein,
any reproduction or utilization of the photographic data on digital data media, inclusion or display of the photographic data on the Internet or in on-line databases or other electronic archives (including the customer’s internal electronic archives),
the transmission of digitalized photographic material by data transmission lines or on data media for reproduction on screens or for the production of hardcopies.

5. Any modifications to the photographic material using photo composing, mounting or electronic means to produce a new copyright work shall require the photographer’s prior written approval and shall be designated as such by [M]. In addition, the photo- graphic material may not be copied in drawing form, recreated photographically or used in any other manner as a motive.

6. The customer may not transfer the rights of utilization or any part thereof granted to it to any third parties unless these are members of its group or subsidiaries. All use, repro- duction and transfer of the photographic material shall be subject to the condition that the copyright information stipulated by the photographer be included in such a way that it can be clearly allocated to the picture in question.

7. The grant of the rights of utilization shall be subject to the condition precedent of full settlement of all of the photographer’s claims for payment under the applicable contrac- tual relationship.

8. The photographer still has the right to use his photographs for house advertising pur- poses even if he grants exclusive rights to the customer.

V. Liability

The photographer shall not be held liable for the breach of any rights (trademarks company names, design rights) shown in the photographs or held by persons or objects depict- ed in the photographic material unless a duly signed release is enclosed. The customer shall be responsible for acquiring the rights of utilization over and above the copyright to the photograph in question and for obtaining releases from collections, museums etc., e.g. for images showing works of applied or plastic arts. The customer shall be responsible for the legend as well as the context in which the photograph is used.
2. The customer shall assume responsibility for the due and proper utilization of the pho- tographic material as of the date of delivery.

VI. Fees

The agreed fee applies. If no fee has been agreed, it is based on the current picture fee overview of the Mittelstandsgemeinschaft Foto-Marketing (MFM). The fee is exclusive of the applicable VAT.
The agreed fee covers the one-off use of the image material for the agreed purpose in accordance with Section IV.3.
Costs and expenses incurred through the order (e.g. material and laboratory costs, model fees, costs for necessary props, travel costs, necessary expenses, etc.) are not included in the fee and are to be borne by the customer.
The fee is due upon delivery of the recording. If a production is delivered in parts, the corresponding partial fee is due with the respective delivery. In the case of production orders, the photographer is entitled to demand advance payments in accordance with the scope of services provided.
The fee according to VI. 1. General terms and conditions are to be paid in full even if the image material ordered and delivered is not published. If the recordings are used as a template for layout and presentation purposes, a fee of at least EUR 75.00 per recording is due, unless otherwise agreed.
Offsetting or exercising the right of retention is only permitted with undisputed or legally established claims by the customer. It is also permissible to set off counterclaims that are disputed but ready for decision.

VII. Return of the picture material

Analogue picture material is to be returned in the delivered form immediately after publication or the agreed use, but no later than three months after the delivery date, without being requested to do so; two specimen copies are to be enclosed. An extension of the 3-month period requires the photographer's written approval.
Digital data must always be deleted or the data carriers destroyed after use. The photographer is not liable for the existence and / or the possibility of a renewed delivery of the data.
If, at the customer's request or with the customer's consent, the photographer only provides photographic material for the purpose of checking whether use or publication is possible, the customer must return analogue photographic material within one month of receipt at the latest, unless a different deadline is noted on the delivery note. Digital data are to be deleted or the data carriers are to be destroyed or returned. An extension of this period is only effective if it has been confirmed in writing by the photographer.
The return of the image material is carried out by the customer at his own expense in packaging customary in the industry. The customer bears the risk of loss or damage during transport to the photographer's receipt.

VIII. Contractual Penalty, Compensation for Damages

In the event of any unauthorized use, application, reproduction or transfer of the image material (without the consent of the photographer), a contractual penalty of five times the usage fee must be paid for each individual case, subject to further claims for damages.
If the copyright notice is omitted, incomplete, incorrectly placed or not assignable, a surcharge of 100% on the agreed or customary usage fee must be paid.

IX. General

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies as agreed, also for deliveries abroad.
Ancillary agreements to the contract or to these terms and conditions must be in text form to be effective.
The possible invalidity or ineffectiveness of one or more provisions of these terms and conditions does not affect the effectiveness of the remaining provisions. The parties undertake to replace the invalid provision with a meaningful and effective provision that comes closest to the intended regulation economically and legally.
If the customer is a registered trader, the place of fulfillment and jurisdiction is the photographer's place of residence.

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