Terms of Use

These Terms of Use govern the access to and use of the website opening.science and any associated subdomains, content, and services (the "Website") provided by the Open Science Stiftung (Open Science Foundation), Obere Bönigstrasse 100, 3800 Matten bei Interlaken, Switzerland (the "Foundation").

By accessing or using the Website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy, and the Legal Notice. If you do not agree, you must not use the Website.

We may amend these Terms of Use at any time. The version in force at the time of access governs that visit. Material changes will be communicated by a conspicuous notice on the Website.

The Website provides general information about the Foundation, its activities, programmes, publications, and the broader open-science ecosystem. The Website is not intended to constitute, and shall not be construed as, legal, tax, financial, investment, or scientific advice. No information published on the Website should be relied upon without independent professional verification.

The Foundation is a charitable foundation under Swiss law, the purpose of which is the promotion and further development of Open Science. It does not offer goods or services to consumers and does not solicit donations from minors.

The Foundation endeavours to keep the Website accessible at all times but does not warrant uninterrupted, error-free, or secure access. We may, at our sole discretion and without prior notice, modify, suspend, or discontinue all or any part of the Website, restrict access, or remove content. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, no claim to availability arises against the Foundation.

You may use the Website only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms. You agree not to:

(a) use the Website in any way that violates applicable Swiss, EU, or other applicable law or regulation; (b) interfere with or disrupt the Website, its servers, or networks connected to it, including by introducing malware, denial-of-service attempts, or unauthorised access; (c) circumvent or attempt to circumvent any security or access-control mechanism; (d) systematically scrape, harvest, mirror, or otherwise extract data from the Website by automated means without our prior written consent, save where permitted by an applicable open licence (see section 5); (e) use the Website to transmit unsolicited communications, advertising, or material designed to deceive, defame, or harass; (f) use the Foundation's name, logos, or word marks in a way that suggests endorsement, affiliation, or sponsorship without prior written consent; (g) uploading content generated by AI tools that infringes on the copyrights of third parties or is misleading.

5.1 General

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all content of the Website — including texts, graphics, illustrations, photographs, logos, layouts, and source code — is protected by copyright and other intellectual-property rights and is the property of the Foundation or its licensors.

5.2 Open content

In line with the Foundation's purpose, original textual and other materials authored by the Foundation are, where so marked, made available under a Creative Commons licence (typically CC BY 4.0 or, for software, an OSI-approved open-source licence such as MIT, Apache 2.0, or AGPL 3.0). Where content is so licensed, that open licence governs the rights of users and prevails over any contrary statement in these Terms. The terms of the applicable open licence (in particular attribution requirements) must be respected.

5.3 Marks

The names "Open Science Stiftung", "Open Science Foundation", "Open Science Institute", and any associated logos and word marks are reserved by the Foundation and may be subject to trademark protection. Their use is not granted by any open licence covering content and requires prior written consent, except for nominative fair use (e.g. accurate identification of the Foundation in commentary, news reporting, or scientific citation).

5.4 Third-party content

The Website may include third-party content used under licence or applicable exceptions. Such content remains the property of the respective rights holders and is identified where appropriate. Use of third-party content is subject to its respective licence terms.

6.1 Outbound links

The Website may contain links to third-party websites. Such links are provided for convenience only. The Foundation has no control over the content of linked sites and accepts no responsibility for their accuracy, legality, or availability.

6.2 Cookies and tracking technologies

This website uses technically necessary cookies (e.g., for session management). The use of additional cookies (e.g., for analytics) is subject to prior consent via a cookie banner (opt-in). Consent may be withdrawn at any time.

6.3 Inbound links

Linking to the Website is generally permitted, provided that the link does not create a misleading impression about the Foundation, its activities, or its endorsement of the linking party. Framing, deep-linking that bypasses navigational context, or any use that misappropriates the Foundation's identity is prohibited.

If and to the extent the Website allows you to submit content (e.g. via a contact form or upload feature), you warrant that:

(a) you own or have all necessary rights in the submitted content; (b) the content does not infringe any third-party rights, including intellectual-property, personality, or data-protection rights; (c) the content is not unlawful, defamatory, threatening, obscene, or otherwise objectionable; (d) the content does not contain malware or other harmful elements.

You grant the Foundation a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, transferable, and sublicensable right to use, store, reproduce, modify, and display the submitted content for the purpose of operating the Website and pursuing the Foundation's charitable purpose. You may at any time request deletion of content you have submitted, provided that there are no legal or legitimate interests of the Foundation (e.g., archiving obligations) that would preclude this.

8.1 Information without warranty

The Foundation provides the Website and its content "as is". To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Foundation disclaims all warranties, whether express or implied, including without limitation warranties of accuracy, completeness, timeliness, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

8.2 Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Foundation, its Foundation Board, employees, contractors, agents, and affiliates shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with the use of, or inability to use, the Website, including loss of data, loss of profits, or business interruption, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

The foregoing limitations do not apply to liability for damages caused by gross negligence or wilful misconduct, or to liability that cannot be excluded by mandatory law.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Foundation, its Foundation Board, employees, contractors, and agents from and against any third-party claim arising out of your breach of these Terms, your unlawful use of the Website, or content you have submitted, including reasonable legal and other costs necessarily incurred in defending such a claim.

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable in whole or in part, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect. The invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision that comes as close as legally possible to the economic intent of the invalid provision.

These Terms of Use and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with them shall be governed exclusively by Swiss substantive law, to the exclusion of its conflict-of-laws rules and of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

The exclusive place of jurisdiction is Bern, Switzerland, subject to mandatory provisions of law to the contrary.

Open Science Stiftung
Obere Bönigstrasse 100, 3800 Matten bei Interlaken, Switzerland
General inquiries / legal: office@opening.science