Terms of Use for Kitchen Stories
These Terms of Use constitute a binding agreement between AJNS New Media GmbH, Storkower Str. 115, 10407 Berlin ("AJNS") and you ("you"; "User"). Further information about AJNS can be found in the legal notice on our website www.kitchenstories.com.
You may use the "Kitchen Stories" app (the "App") and the "Kitchen Stories" web services (the "Services") exclusively in accordance with these Terms of Use. The "Kitchen Stories" website provides publicly accessible content. Registration, login, and account-related community and premium features are offered exclusively through the App. These Terms of Use replace all previous agreements concluded between the parties with regard to the App and/or the Services. In addition to these Terms of Use, in particular with regard to the contract conclusion process for in-app purchases, the terms and conditions of the distribution platform used to download the App (e.g. Apple App Store, Google Play, etc.) shall apply. In the event of any conflict, these Terms of Use shall prevail. The respective App Store provider is not a contractual party with regard to the use of the App and shall not be liable for any defects, damages, or infringements of third-party rights. However, in the event of a defect, a withdrawal from the contract and a request for a refund may, where applicable, be declared directly to the App Store provider.
Subject Matter of the Agreement
1.1 The App and the Services provide community features and access to content (in particular videos) from AJNS and other users relating to cooking, which can be displayed in a personalized news feed for the User or accessed via categories or search functions. The exact system requirements and the complete scope of functionality owed under the App are set out in the product description on the distribution platform used to download the App (hereinafter "App Store") and in the service descriptions provided in the App at the time the contract is concluded. The Services also enable content to be accessed via a website. On the website, recipes, articles, and other content publicly provided by AJNS can be accessed without logging in. Registration, login, account management, the posting of user-generated content, and other account-related community and premium features are available exclusively through the App.
1.2 The App is provided free of charge in object code. Use of the community features is also free of charge. The source code of the App is not part of the subject matter of the agreement.
1.3 Certain additional features are only available to users with a paid Premium Account. Details are displayed in the App. Certain special provisions of these Terms and Conditions apply to the Premium Account.
1.4 AJNS reserves the right to offer additional features and services in the future and to conduct competitions. This may be done through additional content in the App or via the in-app purchase function of the respective App Store. Additional special terms and conditions and/or competition rules may apply in addition to these Terms of Use and will be communicated in an appropriate manner before the in-app purchase or before the use of such features or services or participation in such competitions. Use and/or participation is only possible if such additional terms and conditions or rules are accepted. The price and scope of functionality of in-app purchases are specified in the respective offer displayed within the App.
1.5 AJNS provides updates for the App in the respective App Store insofar as these are required during the legally applicable period to maintain the App's contractual compliance and informs the User of their availability. In addition, AJNS may provide free updates in the respective App Store that modify the functionality of the App. Such changes are subject to Section 4.3 and the applicable statutory provisions. The exact system requirements and the functionality of such updates and of the App in its updated version are set out in the product and update description in the respective App Store.
If the User fails to install a properly provided update within a reasonable period, the consequences shall be governed by the applicable statutory provisions.
1.6 These Terms of Use apply accordingly to all in-app purchases and updates and to the App in the version updated through in-app purchases and/or updates.
1.7 In order to use the community features of the App (e.g., depending on availability, creating profiles, accessing content from other users, creating favorites lists / personal "cookbooks," participating in surveys / voting for the most popular recipes, commenting, participating in competitions, and communicating with other users), you must register free of charge after downloading the App. You may also use the App and/or the Services without registering. Content made publicly available through the Services, in particular via the Kitchen Stories website, is available without registration or login. Community features and other account-related services are available exclusively through the App. Registration is required for this purpose. Important: AJNS does not adopt or claim ownership of user content!
1.8 AJNS may offer Business Accounts with special features for the commercial use of community features. These Business Accounts are subject to supplementary provisions.
Conclusion of Contract; Optional Registration
2.1 The contract governing the use of the App and the Services, including the granting of rights to use the App, is concluded when the User clicks the "Install" button (the label may vary depending on the App Store) on the product description page in the respective App Store and, where applicable, enters their password for the respective App Store. Further details may be governed by the terms and conditions of the respective App Store.
2.2 The contract governing the use of the community features of the App and the Services is concluded as follows: By submitting the fully completed registration request within the App, you make an offer to conclude a contract. AJNS will confirm receipt of the registration request. AJNS may accept the offer by activating the community features and Services in the App. However, there is no entitlement to the conclusion of a contract.
2.3 Following registration, we will also inform you by email about the key basic functions of the community. If you have given the appropriate consent, we will also send you our newsletter, in which we provide information about new features, products, or content. You may unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time, e.g. by clicking the unsubscribe link contained in every newsletter. You may register for the newsletter again at any time.
User Rights and Obligations
3.1 The information required as part of the registration process must be provided truthfully and updated without undue delay in the event of any changes to ensure smooth use. Where alternative mechanisms for registration with access to existing user profiles (e.g. registration via Facebook) are offered, this obligation applies accordingly to the data stored in the respective user profiles.
3.2 You are responsible for keeping your login and access credentials (e.g. username, password) confidential and may not disclose them or allow or enable unauthorized persons or third parties to gain access to them. You are obliged to take the necessary measures to ensure confidentiality and to notify AJNS immediately by email at hello@kitchenstories.de in the event of misuse or loss of such information or if there is a corresponding suspicion.
3.3 As part of the community features, you have the opportunity to post your own content to your profile (e.g. personal information, profile picture) and to the Kitchen Stories content database (e.g. recipes and videos you have created yourself). Please note that your profile and the content you post will be visible to all registered users.
3.4 You may not post content that violates applicable laws or the copyrights or personal rights of third parties or the Kitchen Stories netiquette rules (if applicable), or that is likely to significantly disrupt the open and friendly atmosphere of the community. In particular, you may not post any insulting, defamatory, obscene, sexist, pornographic, politically or religiously extremist, glorifying violence, harmful to minors, or otherwise unlawful content or content that is unsuitable for an unrestricted group of users. In particular, you may only post content that you have either created yourself or for which the author and any other persons depicted have given their consent. Under no circumstances may you copy content from other platforms or other sources and post it to the community without permission.
3.5 Due to the large volume of user-generated content, AJNS cannot review every piece of content before publication. However, AJNS reserves the right, in response to complaints or upon otherwise becoming aware of such content, to block, modify, or delete content that violates the principles set out in Section 3.4 or that does not fit the thematic focus of the community (cooking, food, recipes, and kitchen equipment). In the event of a violation of these Terms of Use, AJNS also reserves the right to temporarily or permanently suspend the User or terminate the user agreement. As a general rule, suspension will only be considered after the User has previously been warned twice for violations, unless the severity of a violation justifies immediate suspension following a balancing of the parties' respective interests. In this balancing of interests, particular consideration shall also be given to AJNS's interest in providing an attractive offering for other users. For clarification: Where private messages can be sent on the platform, Kitchen Stories will only access the content of such messages if at least one participant in the conversation has consented to this, for example by using a function to report inappropriate content.
Where required by law, AJNS will inform the affected User of the essential reasons for a moderation decision and the complaint options available to them.
3.6 Netiquette
As a member of our KS Community, you undertake to observe the basic rules of mutual tolerance and courtesy in your interactions with others. The following netiquette applies in our community:
3.6.1 You should always treat other members politely and respectfully. Only write what you would also say to another person in person. Insults, abuse, and personal attacks are not permitted in the KS Community.
3.6.2 Try to avoid ambiguous wording. Since gestures and facial expressions are absent from written communication, sarcasm and irony can be difficult to understand. Make sure that your wording cannot be interpreted by others as an attack.
3.6.3 Be tolerant and respect the opinions of other community members. Do not lecture other members or make fun of them – this also applies to recipes and photos.
3.6.4 Think before posting a comment and pay attention to spelling, grammar, and your choice of words.
3.6.5 Any form of spam or inappropriate advertising is prohibited in the KS Community.
Disparaging remarks and insults of any kind will not be tolerated in our KS Community. This applies regardless of whether such statements are directed against other members, moderators, third parties, or other groups of people. The same applies to all posts that violate applicable law.
Rights and Obligations of AJNS
4.1 AJNS makes the App available for download via the respective App Store.
4.2 AJNS provides the community features of the App and the Services with an average annual availability of 97%. Scheduled maintenance periods shall be excluded from the calculation of availability to a reasonable extent. AJNS will make economically reasonable efforts to provide appropriate advance notice of scheduled maintenance at a suitable location within the community platform and to carry out such maintenance outside peak community usage times.
4.3 For clarification: AJNS may change the content offered via the App and/or the Services at any time at its own discretion. There is no entitlement to the initial or continued availability of specific content. Changes to the App, Services, or community features may be made in particular for legal, security-related, technical, or operational reasons, as well as for the further development of the offering. AJNS will comply with statutory requirements and inform Users insofar as legally required. The provisions governing the Premium Account remain unaffected by this.
Special Provisions for the Premium Account
5.1 Activation of the paid Premium Account is voluntary. The exact features of the Premium Account, in particular the price, respective term, and features associated with the Premium Account, are displayed in the App. Displayed prices include VAT, where applicable.
5.2 The Premium Account can only be purchased via the mobile App. Premium features are available exclusively within the App. Login to the account and use of account-related premium features via the website are not offered. The available payment methods depend on the User's location and the respective App Store.
5.3 Depending on the respective service, the additional content and functionalities of the Premium Account constitute digital content or digital services. The User does not acquire ownership thereof but only a simple, time-limited right of use for the duration of the contract or the period during which the content is available, as applicable.
5.4 Where AJNS is entitled under these Terms of Use to temporarily or permanently suspend an account, it shall also be entitled to refuse performance with regard to paid content or functionalities.
5.5 AJNS may change or remove the paid content or functionalities offered at any time. This does not apply to content already purchased, i.e. if AJNS discontinues the availability of the Premium Account or reduces its scope of services, this shall not affect already purchased terms.
5.6 After the Premium Account term expires, the User's account will revert to a regular account.
Withdrawal right for Premium Account
With regard to paid in-app purchases, consumers (i.e. natural persons who enter into a legal transaction for purposes that are predominantly neither commercial nor attributable to their independent professional activities) have a statutory right of withdrawal as follows:
Right of Withdrawal
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period is fourteen days from the day on which the contract is concluded.
To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us (AJNS New Media GmbH, Storkower Str. 115, 10407 Berlin; email: hello@kitchenstories.de; Tel. +49 30 695 182 92) of your decision to withdraw from the contract by means of a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post or email). You may use the attached model withdrawal form, although this is not mandatory.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your notification exercising your right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Consequences of Withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse all payments we have received from you, including delivery costs (with the exception of additional costs resulting from your choice of a delivery method other than the least expensive standard delivery method offered by us), without undue delay and no later than fourteen days from the day on which we receive notification of your withdrawal from this contract. We will use the same means of payment for the reimbursement as you used for the original transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise with you; in no event will you be charged any fees for the reimbursement.
End of the withdrawal notice.
Model Withdrawal Form
(If you wish to withdraw from the contract, please complete this form and return it.)
To
AJNS New Media GmbH, Storkower Str. 115, 10407 Berlin, Germany
E-mail: hello@kitchenstories.de
I/We () hereby give notice that I/We () withdraw from my/our () contract of sale of the following goods ()/for the provision of the following service (*),
—
Ordered on ()/received on (),
—
Name of consumer(s),
—
Address of consumer(s),
—
Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper),
—
Date
(*) Delete as appropriate
Grant of Rights to the User
7.1 AJNS grants the User a worldwide, non-exclusive (simple), non-transferable, non-sublicensable right to use the App, the Services, and the community content, including any documentation and user instructions contained in the App, for private purposes and, to the extent necessary for use in accordance with the intended purpose and the contract, to store and display such content and to share it exclusively using the functionalities provided for this purpose in the App with other users within the community or via supported third-party social networks. This right is granted for the App and AJNS's own content on a permanent basis and for community content for the duration of the contract governing use of the community features. The User may only download and use the App on devices linked to the App Store ID used for installation. All rights not expressly granted, in particular the rights to modify, distribute, and/or otherwise exploit the App and the community content, remain reserved.
7.2 The User may not decompile or otherwise reverse engineer the App or attempt to obtain its source code. The only exceptions are acts that are necessary to obtain interface information required to achieve interoperability between the App and third-party software, provided that the User has previously unsuccessfully attempted to obtain such information from AJNS in return for reasonable compensation for the effort involved. Any interface information obtained in this manner may only be used for the purpose of achieving interoperability, may not be published, and may only be made available to third parties to the extent necessary to achieve interoperability.
Grant of Rights to AJNS; Indemnification
8.1 The User grants AJNS a free-of-charge, worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable right, limited to the term of the contract, to use all community content posted by the User (including permitted modifications such as translations) for the purposes of the contract governing the use of the App, the Services, and the community features. This includes, in particular, storing, reproducing, making content publicly accessible, translating it into other languages where necessary, technically modifying it (in particular compressing and slightly reducing its size, including where this results in visible effects, provided that the content is not distorted) to the extent necessary, in particular for reasons of compatibility and optimization of storage and transmission capacity, and otherwise using it to the extent required for the purposes of this contract. This also includes AJNS's right to make such content available via interfaces to third-party cooperation partners who integrate Kitchen Stories content into their own offerings or display it on their own devices. Such content will be made available in a manner ensuring that, following deletion on Kitchen Stories, the User's content is no longer visible to such third-party cooperation partners. Important: AJNS does not adopt or claim ownership of user content.
8.2 AJNS reserves the right, subject to the User's consent, to feature individual community content submitted by the User as a "Feature." Consent to use content as a Feature may be requested by email or via a notification within the App. Consent is voluntary. If the User grants consent to use the content as a Feature, they thereby grant AJNS a free-of-charge, worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable, perpetual, irrevocable right to store, reproduce, make publicly accessible, translate into other languages, edit, combine with other works (e.g. combine a recipe with new photographs or video footage that may, but need not, be based on the original community content), and otherwise use and exploit the relevant community content. In addition to the permanent right to distribute such content to third-party cooperation partners via interfaces, this includes the right to post the community content on social media and other third-party platforms or offerings and to use it to promote Kitchen Stories offerings.
8.3 The grant of rights under Section 8.2 applies accordingly to content submitted for participation in a competition on Kitchen Stories, unless the competition rules expressly provide otherwise.
8.4 You undertake to indemnify AJNS against any damages, claims, costs (including customary legal fees), and expenses incurred by AJNS as a result of third parties or authorities bringing judicial or extrajudicial claims against AJNS due to or in connection with a violation of Section 3.4 of these Terms of Use by content posted by you. This shall not apply insofar as you are not responsible for the violation.
Warranty/Liability
9.1 To the extent that the App is provided free of charge and other services (in particular the Services) are provided free of charge, AJNS provides no warranty and shall only be liable in accordance with statutory provisions for intent and gross negligence; with regard to defects in the App, AJNS shall only be liable insofar as AJNS has fraudulently concealed the defect. The statutory provisions applicable to consumer contracts for digital products, in particular those concerning provision, conformity, updates, and remedies for defects, remain unaffected.
9.2 To the extent that parts of the App and/or certain services provided by AJNS are subject to payment via in-app purchases, the statutory warranty provisions for digital products shall apply. If content or functionality is defective and the User reports the defect to AJNS, AJNS will remedy the defect within a reasonable period and in accordance with statutory provisions (e.g. by means of an update) or provide the User with a new version of the content or functionality that does not contain the defect. If such subsequent performance is definitively refused or fails, the User may reduce the remuneration or terminate the contract for the purchase of the affected content or functionality and, in both cases, claim damages in accordance with this Section 9.
9.3 To the extent that parts of the App and/or certain services provided by AJNS are subject to payment via in-app purchases, AJNS's statutory liability is limited as follows:
9.3.1 AJNS's statutory liability shall be unlimited in cases of intent, gross negligence, injury to life, body, or health, breach of an expressly designated guarantee, and under the German Product Liability Act.
9.3.2 Except in the cases described in Section 9.3.1, AJNS shall be liable for slight negligence only in the event of a breach of a material contractual obligation. Material contractual obligations are obligations whose fulfillment is essential for achieving the purpose of the contract and on whose fulfillment the User may therefore regularly rely.
9.3.3 In the cases referred to in Section 9.3.2, AJNS shall only be liable for foreseeable and typical damages.
9.3.4 In all other cases, AJNS shall not be liable for slight negligence.
9.4 The User is obliged to regularly back up their data. Where AJNS is liable in principle for data loss under this Section, such liability shall be limited to the restoration costs that would have been incurred had regular and appropriate backup copies been made.
9.5 AJNS shall not be liable for damages resulting from modifications to the App by the User or from a software or hardware environment that deviates from the system requirements.
Term and Termination; Consequences of Termination
10.1 For clarification: The App itself is provided on a permanent basis; the corresponding right of use cannot be terminated.
10.2 The contract governing the use of the basic community features and the Services is concluded for an indefinite period and may, unless otherwise provided in this Section 10, be terminated by either party at any time with seven days' notice.
10.3 Notwithstanding Section 10.2, the special terms and conditions for any time-limited premium features obtained through in-app purchases may provide for different notice periods for ordinary termination of the contract governing the use of basic community features. If no special provisions are made, termination shall only take effect when the contractual term of the time-limited premium feature also ends.
10.4 The statutory right of either party to terminate the contract without notice for good cause remains unaffected. Good cause for AJNS shall exist in particular if the User breaches one of their obligations under Section 3 and, where the breach is capable of remedy, fails to remedy it within 14 days of being requested to do so by AJNS. In particular, no deadline is required in the case of violations of Section 3.4.
10.5 Following the effective termination of the use of community features, AJNS will no longer display the User's community content and will delete it after a period of four weeks. Within this period, AJNS will make the content available to the User for download or in another reasonable manner upon request.
Final Provisions
11.1 Choice of Law
These Terms of Use are governed by German law, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer residing in another Member State of the European Union, the mandatory consumer protection provisions of the law of that state shall remain unaffected by this choice of law.11.2 Language; Contract Text
The contract is concluded in German. AJNS does not store the contract text. The Terms and Conditions can be accessed at any time at kitchenstories.com/de/agb.11.3 Place of Jurisdiction
For (i) Users who are not consumers, (ii) consumers who have no residence in Germany at the time the contract is concluded or who move their residence abroad after conclusion of the contract, and (iii) consumers whose habitual place of residence is unknown at the time legal proceedings are initiated, Berlin shall be the place of jurisdiction and place of performance. In all other cases, the place of jurisdiction for consumers shall be determined in accordance with the applicable general rules.11.4 AJNS is not obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
11.5 Severability Clause
Should any provision of this contract be or become invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The parties shall, to the extent reasonable and in accordance with the principles of good faith, replace the invalid provision with a legally permissible provision that comes as close as possible to the economic effect of the invalid provision, provided that this does not result in a material change to the content of the contract.11.6 Amendments to the Terms and Conditions
AJNS is entitled to amend and adapt these Terms and Conditions during the term of the contract governing the use of community features with effect for the future if this is required due to changes in the legal or economic framework, in particular changes in legislation or case law. AJNS will send the amended terms to the User by email at least six weeks before the planned effective date and will specifically highlight the new provisions. At the same time, AJNS will grant the User a reasonable period of at least six weeks to declare whether they accept the amended Terms of Use for continued use of the services. If no declaration is made within this period, calculated from receipt of the notification, the amended Terms and Conditions shall be deemed agreed. At the beginning of the period, AJNS will specifically inform the User of this legal consequence, i.e. the right to object, the objection period, and the significance of silence.Version: August 2026
Terms of Use for Kitchen Stories
These Terms of Use are a binding contract between AJNS New Media GmbH, Storkower Str. 115, 10407 Berlin ("AJNS") and you ("You"; "User"). For more information about AJNS see the disclaimer on our website www.kitchenstories.com.
You can use the "Kitchen Stories" App (the "App") and/or the “Kitchen Stories” Web services (the “Services”) only in accordance with these Terms of Use. These Terms of Use replace all previous contracts between the parties concerning the App and/or the Services. In addition to the Terms of Use, the Terms and Conditions for the distribution platform used to download the App (e.g., the Apple App Store, Google Play, etc.) apply, in particular regarding the way contracts are concluded in the case of in app purchases. In case of contradictions, the provisions of these Terms of Use take precedence. The provider of the respective app store is not a party to the contract regarding the use of the app and is not liable for any defects, damages or infringements of third party rights. However, in the event of a defect, you may be able to declare your rescission of a contract and submit a claim for a refund directly to the provider of the app store.
Subject of agreement
1.1 The App and the Services offer community functions and access to content (especially video) of AJNS and other users on the subject of cooking, which may be displayed in a newsfeed personalized for the User or accessed through a category list or search functionality. The precise system requirements and the full scope of functions of the App are found in the product description on the distribution platform used to download the App (hereinafter the "App Store"). The Services allow the entry and retrieval of content via a website.
1.2 The App is provided free of charge in the object code. Use of the community functions is also free of charge. The source code of the App is not the subject of this agreement.
1.3 Certain additional functions are only available for users with a paid Premium Account. Details are shown within the App. The Premium Account is subject to specific provisions within these Terms of Use.
1.4 AJNS reserves the right to provide further extended functions beyond those specified above, and run contests. This may be implemented through additional content within the app or through the in-App purchasing option of the corresponding App Store. In addition to these Terms of Use, other special terms and conditions or contest terms, respectively, may apply, which will be communicated accordingly before the in-App purchase or before use of such additional functions or participation in such contests, respectively. Use or or participation in such content or contests, respectively, is possible only after accepting such terms. The price and scope of functions of the corresponding in-App purchases is shown always in the offer shown in the App.
1.5 AJNS can provide updates for this App free of charge in the respective App Store, which change the scope of functions of the App. The exact system requirements and the complete scope of functions of such updates and the updated version of the App can be found in the product and update description in the corresponding App Store.
1.6 These Terms of Use apply correspondingly to all in-App purchases and updates and to the latest updated version of the App acquired in the process of in-App purchase and/or update.
1.7 In order for you to be able to use the community functions of the App and/or the Services (e.g., as available, create profiles, access content of other users, create list of bookmarks or “cook books”, participate in surveys / vote for most popular recipes, comment, participate in contests, communicate with other users), you have to register free of charge after downloading the App. You can also use the App and/or the Services without registering. The community functions are not available to you in this case. Important: AJNS does not appropriate the user's content!
1.8 ANJS may offer Business Accounts with specific functionalities for commercial use of the community functionalities. These Business Accounts are subject to additional terms.
Contract conclusion; optional registration
2.1 The contract for use of the App and the Services including the granting of the rights of use to the App comes into existence once the user clicks on the "install" button (may be called differently depending on the App Store) on the product description page in the corresponding App Store and enters his/her password for that App Store; the T&C of the corresponding App Store apply to further details, if pertinent.
2.2 The contract about the use of the community functions of the App and the Services come into existence as follows: By sending a fully completed registration form from the App or through the Kitchen Stories website, you are concluding a contract. AJNS will confirm the receipt of the registration form. AJNS can accept the offer by switching on the community functions in the App and in the Services. However, there is not claim to contract conclusion.
2.3 After registration, we explain to you via email the most important basic functions of the community. If you have opted in accordingly, we will also send you our newsletter, pointing out new features, products or content. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time, e.g. by selecting the unsubscribe link in each newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter again at any time.
Rights and duties of the user
3.1 The data required for registration must be provided truthfully and updated immediately if it changes to ensure smooth use. If alternative methods with access to existing user profiles (e.g., registration via Facebook) are offered for registration, this obligation applies accordingly to the data stored in those user profiles.
3.2 You are responsible for protecting your registration and access data (e.g., user name, password) and you should not disclose them or tolerate or enable unauthorized or third parties to find them out. You are obliged to take the required measures to guarantee confidentiality and immediately report abuse or loss of such information or suspicions thereof to AJNS by e-mail to hello@kitchenstories.de.
3.3 As part of the community functions you have the option to set up your own content in your profile (e.g., personal information, profile picture) and the database of Kitchen Stories content (e.g., personal recipes and videos). Please keep in mind that all registered users can view your profile and all of the content you submit.
3.4 You are not allowed to add content that violates applicable laws or copyrights or personality rights of third parties or the Kitchen Stories Netiquette Rules (if available), or that could significantly disrupt the open and friendly environment in the community. In particular, you are not allowed to add any content that is abusive, defamatory, obscene, sexist, pornographic, political or extremist religious, violent, harmful to minors or otherwise illegal or unsuitable for an unrestricted circle of users. In addition, you may only add content that you have either created yourself or received permission to use from the author or any other disclosed people. You may not take content from other platforms or other sources without request and add it to the community under any circumstances.
3.5 Due to the large scope of user-generated content AJNS is not able to check all content before approving it, but it reserves the right to block, change, or delete content in reaction to complaints or upon obtaining knowledge in another way, if such content violates the principles mentioned in Section 3.4 or is not suitable for the subject of the community (cooking, food, recipes and kitchen equipment). AJNS reserves the right to ban a user temporarily or permanently, or terminate the Agreement, in the event of a breach of these Terms of Use. A ban is generally possible only after the user has been warned twice because of breaches of the Terms of Use, except where the gravity of the breach justifies an immediate ban, taking into account both parties’ interests. This weighing of interests must particularly take into account AJNS’ interest in providing an attractive offering for its other users. For clarity: To the extent it is possible to send private messages through the platform, Kitchen Stories accesses these messages only if at least one participant of such conversations has consented, for example by using the reporting functionality for inappropriate content.
3.6 Netiquette
As a member of our KS Community, you commit yourself to the basic rules of mutual tolerance and politeness. In our community we require the following netiquette:
3.6.1 You should always treat other members politely and respectfully. Write only what you would personally say to another person. Insults, harassment and personal attacks are not allowed in the KS community.
3.6.2 Try to avoid ambiguous formulations. Since gestures and facial expressions are missing in written communication, sarcasm and irony are difficult to understand. Make sure that your expression cannot be understood as an attack by others.
3.6.3 Be tolerant and respect the opinions of other community members. Don' trule out other members and don't make fun of other members, including their recipes and photos.
3.6.4 Think before you write a comment and pay attention to spelling, grammar, and language.
3.6.5 All forms of spam and inappropriate advertising are taboo in the KS Community.
Disparagements and insults of any kind will not be tolerated in our KS Community. It doesn't matter whether such statements are directed against other members, moderators, third parties or other groups of people. The same also applies to all contributions, which offend against valid law.
Rights and duties of the AJNS
4.1 AJNS provides the App for download through the App Stores.
4.2 AJNS provides the community functions for the App and the Services with the average availability rate of 97% a year. The availability calculation does not include the planned maintenance times within reasonable scope. AJNS will make an effort, within an economically viable scope, to inform about the planned maintenance times in a suitable location on the community platform ahead of time and to perform such maintenance work outside of the community peak times.
4.3 Clarification: AJNS can change the content available through the App and/or the Services at its own discretion at any time. There is no entitlement to initial or continued access to specific content. The provisions on the Premium Account remain unaffected.
Specific provisions for the Premium Account
5.1 Paid activation of the Premium Account is optional. The specific characteristics of the Premium Account, in particular price, term, and the features included in the Premium Account are displayed within the App. Any stated prices include VAT where applicable.
5.2 The Premium Account can only be purchased through the mobile App. Its functions can also be used when accessing the account through the Kitchen Stories website, to the extent they do not depend on specific technical features of mobile devices (such as a camera or sensors). The available payment methods depend on the user’s location and the relevant app store.
5.3 The additional content and functions of the Premium Account are digital content. The user does not acquire any property rights in them, only a simple right of use limited to the term of the contract or availability of the content (as applicable).
5.4 To the extent AJNS is entitled to temporarily or permanently suspend a user’s account, this also creates a right to withhold paid content and/or features.
5.5 AJNS may modify or remove the offered content and/or functions at any time. This does not apply for content that has already been purchased, i.e. if AJNS decides to discontinue the Premium Account or reduce its functions, this does not apply for already paid terms.
5.6 After the end of its term, the Premium Account automatically turns into a regular user account again.
Withdrawal right for Premium Account
In view of paid in app purchases, consumers (i.e. natural persons entering into a transaction for purposes not mainly associated with their commercial or independent professional activity) have a withdrawal right as follows:
Right of withdrawal
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day of the conclusion of the contract.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, you must inform us (AJNS New Media GmbH, Storkower Str. 115, 10407 Berlin, Germany; e-mail: hello@kitchenstories.de; phone +49 30 695 182 92) of your decision to withdraw from this contract by an unequivocal statement (e.g. a letter sent by post, fax or e-mail). You may use the attached model withdrawal form, but it is not obligatory.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we shall reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (with the exception of the supplementary costs resulting from your choice of a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us), without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract. We will carry out such reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
End of withdrawal notice.
Model withdrawal form
(If you wish to withdraw from the contract, please complete this form and return it to us)
To
AJNS New Media GmbH, Storkower Str. 115, 10407 Berlin, Germany
E-mail: hello@kitchenstories.de
I/We () hereby give notice that I/We () withdraw from my/our () contract of sale of the following goods ()/for the provision of the following service (*),
—
Ordered on ()/received on (),
—
Name of consumer(s),
—
Address of consumer(s),
—
Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper),
—
Date
(*) Delete as appropriate
Rights granted to the user
7.1 AJNS grants the user a world-wide, non-exclusive (simple), non-transferable, non-sublicensable right to use the App, the Services, and the content of the community including any documents and user manuals found in the App for private purposes and save and display within the scope necessary for use in accordance with regulations and contract, and share exclusively by using the App functions intended for this purpose with other users in the community or through other supported social networks. This right is permanent for the App and AJNS's own content and time-limited for the community for the period of the contract for the use of community functions. The user may download and use the App exclusively on devices that are linked to the App Store ID used for the installation. All rights that are not expressly granted, especially the right to process, disseminate and/or otherwise exploit the App and the community content remain reserved.
7.2 The user may not decompile the App or otherwise reverse engineer it or try to find out the source code. An exception to this are actions that are necessary to obtain interface information required to ensure interoperability of the App with third-party software; this requires that the user has previously made unsuccessful attempts to find out such information from AJNS in exchange for an appropriate compensation of expenditures. Interface information obtained in this manner may only be used for establishing interoperability, and may not be published, and may only be provided to third parties in the scope necessary for establishing such interoperability.
Rights granted to AJNS; Indemnification
8.1 The user grants to AJNS the gratuitous, worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable right, limited to the duration of the contract, to save all community content added by users (including permitted derivative works such as translations) for the purposes of the contract for the use of the App, the Services, and the community functions, in particular including the display content with other users of the Community, and to duplicate, make publicly accessible, translate into other languages, and edit technically to the necessary extent, especially due to compatibility and optimization of the need for storage space and transfer capacities (in particular to compress and slightly reduce, even if the effects are visible; but the content cannot be distorted), and use in other ways as needed for the purposes of the contract. This also includes AJNS’ right to make such content accessible to its third party cooperation partners through application programming interfaces to enable such third parties to display such content in their own services and on their own devices, but in such a way that the content is no longer visible in/on such third party services/devices once it has been deleted from Kitchen Stories. Important: AJNS does not appropriate the user's content.
8.2 AJNS reserves the right to “feature” certain user generated content with the user’s consent. Such consent may be obtained by e-mail or through a message within the App. Consent is voluntary. If the user consents to “featuring” content, they grant AJNS a gratuitous, worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable, perpetual, irrevocable right to store, copy, make publicly accessible, translate into other languages, modify, connect with other works (e.g. combine a recipe with new photo or video material that may or may not be similar to the originally submitted phot or video material). The foregoing includes in particular the right to make such content accessible to third parties via application programming interfaces, and the right to post the content in social media and other third party offerings and platforms, and to use it to advertise the offerings of Kitchen Stories.
8.3 The grant of rights in Sec. 8.2 applies accordingly for any content submitted for participation in a contest, except to the extent the contest terms for that specific contest expressly provide otherwise.
8.4 You commit to indemnify AJNS from all damages, claims, costs (including customary legal fees) and expenditures that AJNS incurs as a result of in-court or out-of-court legal actions taken by third parties or authorities against AJNS due to or in connection with a breach of Section 3.4 of these Terms of Use in the community content added by you. This does not apply if you are not the one responsible for the breach.
Warranty/Liability
9.1 To the extent the App is provided free of charge and other services (specifically the Services) are also provided free of charge, AJNS does not assume any warranties and is liable in accordance with the legal provisions only for intent and gross negligence; AJNS is only liable for App defects if AJNS maliciously concealed the defect.
9.2 To the extent certain functions of the App and/or certain services of AJNS are paid through in app purchases, the statutory warranty regime applies subject to the following provisions: In the event a content item or a functionality is defective and the user reports this defect to AJNS, AJNS will at its choice and within a reasonable period to be set by the user, remedy the defect (e.g. by means of an update) or provide the user with a new version of the content or the function (as applicable) which does not have the defect. In the event such supplementary performance is definitely denied or has definitely failed, the user may reduce the fees or terminate the contract regarding the concerned content and/or function, and in each case claim damages pursuant to Section 9.
9.3 If parts of the App and/or specific services of AJNS are not free of charge through in-App purchases, the statutory liability of AJNS is limited as follows:
9.3.1 The statutory liability of AJNS is unlimited in case of intent, gross negligence, personal injury, breaches of a guarantee – which must be expressly designated as such in order to be a guarantee in the legal sense – and under the German Product Liabilty Act.
9.3.2 Except in the cases described in Section 9.3.1, AJNS is responsible for slight negligence only in cases of breach of an essential obligation. Essential obligations are obligations that must be performed in order to achieve the purpose of the contract in the first place, and on the performance of which the user may therefore generally rely.
9.3.3 In the cases described in Section 9.3.2, AJNS is only liable for the typical and foreseeable damage.
9.3.4 In other cases, AJNS is not liable for slight negligence.
9.4 The user must regularly back-up his/her data. If AJNS is liable for data loss in accordance with this section, such liability is limited to the restoration costs, which would have been incurred in case of regular and risk-adequate preparation of back-up copies.
9.5 AJNS is not liable for damages resulting from a change of the App by the user or a software and hardware environment that differs from system requirements.
Duration and cancellation; consequences of cancellation
10.1 Clarification: The App itself is made available for permanent use; the corresponding right of use cannot be canceled.
10.2 The contract for the use of the underlying community functions and the Services is concluded for an undetermined period of time and may be terminated for convenience by either party at any time with a notice period of 7 days, unless otherwise specified in this section 8.
10.3 In deviation from Section 10.2 the special conditions for any time-limited premium functions acquired through in-App purchases may specify other periods for regular cancellation of the contract for the use of the underlying community functions; unless special regulations are contained therein, the cancellation will become valid only once the contract period of the time-limited premium function ends.
10.4 The legal right of both parties to an immediate extraordinary cancellation for an important reason remains reserved. An important reason for AJNS, in particular, is when the user breaches one of its obligations from Section 3 and, if the breach can be rectified, does not do so within 14 days after being prompted by AJNS to do so. In particular in case of breaches against Section 3.4 a notice period is superfluous.
10.5 After the cancellation of the use of community functions goes into effect, AJNS will no longer show the community content of the user and delete it after four weeks. Within this period, AJNS will provide the content to the user for download or in another reasonable manner on request.
Final provisions
11.1 Choice of law
These Terms of Use are subject exclusively to the laws of Germany, excluding the CISG. If you are a consumer domiciled in a Member State of the EU other than Germany, this choice of law does not affect the application of the mandatory consumer protection laws of that Member State.11.2 Language; contract text
The contract is concluded in German and English. AJNS does not save the contract text. The Terms and Conditions can be viewed at any time on our website at kitchenstories.com/en/terms.11.3 Place of jurisdiction
The place of jurisdiction and performance is Berlin for (i) users who are not consumers, (ii) users who have no residence in Germany upon contract conclusion or move to another country after contract conclusion, and (iii) users whose regular place of residence is unknown at the moment when a lawsuit is filed. Otherwise, the place of jurisdiction for consumers is based on the general rules.11.4 Dispute Resolution Information
The European Commission offers an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Platform at http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. However, we are neither obliged nor willing to participate in a dispute resolution procedure before a consumer mediation entity.11.5 Salvatory clause
If a provision of this contract is or becomes invalid, the validity of the rest of this contract will not be affected. The parties agree, within reason and in good faith, to replace the invalid provision by a permissible regulation that is equivalent in terms of economic outcome, as long as this does not result in any substantial changes of the contractual content.11.6 Changes to the Terms of Use
AJNS may change and adapt these Terms of Use during the validity period of the contract for the use of community functions effective for the future, if this is necessitated by changes in the legal and economic general conditions, especially changes in the law and court practices. AJNS will send the amended Terms of Use to the user at least six weeks before the planned entry into effect per e-mail and point out especially the new provision. At the same time, AJNS will set a reasonable period of at least six weeks for the user to declare the acceptance of the amended Terms of Use for the further use of services. If no declaration of acceptance is made within this period, since the receipt of the information, the amended Terms of Use will be considered accepted. AJNS will inform the customers once the period begins in particular of the legal consequence, i.e., the right to object, the deadline for objection, and the significance of remaining silent. This change mechanism does not apply to changes of the parties' main contractual duties.Last updated: March 2020