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General Terms and Conditions Applicable to “Ivan Shishmanov” Virtual Library

Please read carefully these general terms and conditions before using the web site at www.bglit.org, as they concern your rights and obligations.

These general terms and conditions stipulate the rules for using the “Ivan Shishmanov” virtual library, as well as the relationships between the owner of the site, the Bulgarian Science Fund under the Ministry of Education and Science, Uniform Identification Code (EIK):175467353, with a registered office at 239 B Alexander Stamboliyski Blvd, city of Sofia, with the Users of the site.

All literary works (in the original and in translation) and data bases part of this site are works of authorship protected under Article 3(1)(1), Article 3(2)(3) and Article 9 of the Copyright and Related Rights Act (CRRA). The site itself, at www.bglit.org, is an electronic library and the works published on it can be used solely in the case provided for under Article 24(1)(9) of CRRA. The domain www.bglit.org is an unregistered trademark used in the public domain for the provision of free educational services and in this context it is protected under Article 12(6) of the Bulgarian Trademarks and Geographical Indications Act. Any unauthorized use of the site at www.bglit.org leads to direct violation of copyright, trademark rights, or other national and/or international legal provisions concerning intellectual property.

If you, as a User, disagree to be bound by all these general terms and conditions, please stop using the site at www.bglit.org. In the case provided for under Article 4 of the Consumer Protection Act, the site at www.bglit.org provides, through these general terms and conditions, to you as a User of educational services, relevant information for its use, allowing you to make your adequate conscious choice as to whether to sign this agreement or not. The definition of a “consumer” covers all types of use of this site both by persons who are willing to get access to a certain literary work in the respective language for personal learning purposes, and by the legal entities seeking general information on the educational materials provided by us driven by subjective interest or professional reasons.

І. Definitions.

The terms listed below have the meaning stated opposite them in these general terms and conditions, unless the context indicates anther meaning:

1. www.bglit.org is a system designed on the basis of authorship in the form of virtual library, created and compiled as a data base in line with Article 3(2)(3) of CRRA and the copyright legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria, and intended to provide specific educational information under the terms and conditions of authorized or unauthorized access to certain digital content of translated or original literary works, and for the sake of brevity the system will hereinafter be referred to as “the site”.

2. The Bulgarian Science Fund under the Ministry of Education and Science, with a registered office at 239 B Alexander Stamboliyski Blvd, city of Sofia, is the owner of the site which is responsible to any third party for its use and content, and for the sake of brevity it will hereinafter be referred to as “Provider” or “the Provider”.

3. The Users of the site are natural persons and/or legal entities that use, with different levels of access, exclusively and solely for educational and research purposes – without commercial distribution, the literary works provided in translation and in original by the www.bglit.org site via a web browser. They are the representatives of the information society as per the effective Bulgarian legislation. For the sake of brevity they will be hereinafter referred to as “Users” or “the Users”.

4. “Electronic statement” is a verbal statement submitted in a digital form through a common standard for conversion, reading and visual presentation of information.

5. An “IP address” is a unique identifying number associating a device, a web page or a resource of the User in a way that allows their localization within the World Wide Web.

6. An “electronic link” or just a “link” is a hyperlink indicated on a certain web page that allows automated navigation to another web page, information resource or object via standardized protocols.

7. "Abuse" or "malicious actions” are actions or inactions violating Internet ethics, the Bulgarian legislation, these general terms and conditions and/or causing damages to persons connected to the Internet or associated networks, sending undesired mail, termed unsolicited commercial communications in the E-Commerce Act (SPAM, JUNK MAIL), flooding the channels (FLOOD), obtaining of access to resources by using someone else’s rights and passwords, using of system deficiencies for the purpose of gaining personal benefit or obtaining information (HACK), performance of actions that may be qualified as industrial espionage or sabotage, damaging or destroying systems or data arrays (CRACK), sending of "Trojan horses" or causing the installation of viruses or remote control systems disturbing the normal work of the other Internet Users and of the associated networks, use of a large number of site materials in a way, which may suggest that they are not employed for educational purposes in line with the situation provided for under Article 24 of CRRA and go beyond the aims of the site, by a certain User for a commercial and/or another purpose and which use includes the provision, copying and reproduction of their content on other sites and sources, as well as the performance of any legal actions aimed at violation of intellectual property, copyright, trademarks, industrial design, logotypes or another type of authorship images, as well as any other premeditated acts, which may be qualified as a crime or administrative violation under the Bulgarian law or other applicable law.

8. A “web page” is a part of a web site that can be integral or stand-alone.

9. A “website” is dedicated space in the global Internet network, accessible via its uniform locator (URL) over HTTP or HTTPS protocol and containing files, programs, texts, sound, picture, image, hyperlinks or other materials and resources.

10. An “information system” is a device or a system of connected devices, which or some of which is intended to store, send or receive electronic documents.

11. A "password" is a code of letters, numbers and symbols, which together with the Username or e-mail address is used to access the User profile and the profiles of the Users registered on the site.

12. A "server" is a device or system of connected devices, on which or on some of which system software is installed to perform tasks related to storing, processing, receiving or transmitting of information.

13. “Material” is any subject matter of copyright in the context of Article 3 of CRRA, as well as any information in the form of a translated or original literary text, which can be reproduced and offered for educational purposes by Wi-Fi or cable giving access to an unlimited number of persons and allowing such access from a location and at a time chosen individually by a User or employee of www.bglit.org .

14. A “data base” is a totality of independent works, data or other materials arranged systematically or methodically and individually accessible by electronic or other means, representing an information source of www.bglit.org, which constitute intellectual property of the Bulgarian Science Fund under the Ministry of Education and Science as per Article 11 and respectively Article 14 of CRRA.

15. A “fortuitous event” is a circumstance of an extraordinary nature unforeseen at the time of entering into a contract, which makes its execution objectively impossible.

16. "Commercial communications" are promotional or other communications presenting directly or indirectly the goods, services or image of a person pursuing a commercial or craft activity or exercising a regulated profession.

ІІ. User registration. Agreement with the general terms and conditions. Conclusion of a service contract.

17. In order to use the content of the site at www.bglit.org for research and educational purposes, the User should complete an electronic registration form, where they should provide their personal data, the authenticity of which they guarantee, the User being both the signatory and the owner of the electronic statement within the meaning of Article 4 of the Electronic Document and Electronic Signature Act (EDESA). If the User makes a statement of volition on behalf of a third person, it will be assumed that he negotiates on another person’s behalf and at another person’s expense and he will be held personally responsible for possible damage inflicted as a consequence of legal action taken without authorization. By completing this agreement the User explicitly declares his consent to these General Terms and Conditions and it is regarded that the service contract is concluded at the moment of receipt of the statement of volition in the information system of the Provider. Where the User has partial legal capacity, his statement of volition will be formed after its approval by a parent/guardian and/or other persons representing him on legal grounds, according to the Bulgarian civil law or the law of the country whose national he is, and where the User is legally incapable, the declaration of agreement and the formation of a statement of volition is performed directly by the guardian parent.

18. These General Terms and Conditions constitute a contract for the provision of an online educational service. It is regarded as concluded between and binding for each registered User of the portal at www.bglit.org and the Provider. Upon opening, browsing and/or using this site any unregistered visitor is regarded to be and agrees that he is familiar with the provisions of and agrees to be bound by and to comply with these General Terms and Conditions, as well as with the provisions of Article 93f of CRRA to the extent to which this is possible prior to his registration. The service contract may (but not necessarily) be saved by the Provider and in such a case it will constitute an electronic document pursuant to Article 3(1) of the Electronic Document and Electronic Signature Act.

19. The object of this contract for online educational service is supporting a profile with a User name and a password in the information resource of the site, and on the basis of it you are granted a right of access to all or a part of the educational materials in the respective language for a certain period of time. The connection takes place via a web browser and the information data bases on the site at www.bglit.org supported by the Provider. Each literary work or data base to be found on the pages of the site is subject to the copyright of the Bulgarian Science Fund under the Ministry of Education and Science that derives from the case provided for under Article 11 and/or Article 14 of CRRA. Therefore, the author-created content of the site may not be copied, distributed, reproduced, borrowed or modified under any other form and in any way without the consent of the Bulgarian Science Fund under the Ministry of Education and Science.

20. In the event of proven cases of use of author-created educational materials constituting intellectual property of www.bglit.org in a way that can be qualified as their reproduction for purposes other than educational; contrary to the educational and scientific objective of the site at www.bglit.org; use for trading and/or other commercial purposes, where this act includes distribution, provision, copying or reproduction of the content of www.bglit.org in any way, as well as making of hard or electronic copies, inclusion of works of authorship in other websites and sources, as well as any violation of the rules provided for in these general terms and conditions, then the relevant administrative, criminal and civil measures and penalties, grounded on the imperative legal provisions of Article172а of the Criminal Code (CC) and Article 94 of CRRA will be applied to the respective User. To this end the case will be referred to the respective regional prosecutor’s offices or to the competent district court of the Republic of Bulgaria.

21. In case of breach or non-performance of the obligations imposed on the Users by these general terms and conditions and/or the effective Bulgarian legislations, the Provider has the right but not the obligation to terminate this service contract unilaterally by written notice e-mailed to the User, without allowing additional time for compliance.

22. The Provider is a personal data administrator registered under the Personal Data Protection Act.

23. The Provider undertakes to ensure the privacy of the information containing personal data and provided online by the Users via completed applications for registration. Disclosure of the personal data is possible only in the cases, where the information is required by government agencies or officials authorized by law to request and collect information containing personal data in compliance with the statutory procedures, or in cases of counterfeiting and with a view to identifying the perpetrator of an offence against intellectual property personal data should be provided to the Cyber Crime unit of the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (CDCOC), the Prosecutor’s Office or a court.

24. The Provider retains the right to save, store and use any information on the Users required for their identification and for reproducing the statement of agreement with the General Terms and Conditions.

25. (1) Upon registration each User states his User name, date of birth, full name as it appears on his ID document, as well as his exact address. These data are used as log-in identifiers for each User. If the Username is already taken (there is another User with the same name), he is immediately notified to specify a new Username, which is available. The User undertakes the obligation not to provide his Username and password for use by third parties, and in case of providing them to a third person, he shall be fully responsible for that person’s actions, which the User agrees to be regarded as performed in his name and on his behalf. The Provider is not liable for damages incurred to the User as a result of misuse of his Username and password by third parties.

(2) In the process of registration the User also completes a form, where he states his full name, citizenship, exact address, email, phone number, user name and password. Persons, who do not complete correctly the obligatory fields in the registration form can not acquire the rights of a User with authorized access to the digital content of the site, since there is no possiblity for their individualization.

(3) Upon successful registration the person completes a declaration, whereby he certifies in writing that he will use the content of the site at www.bglit.org provided to him solely for educational and learning purposes consistent with the free use case provided for under Article 24(1)(9) of CRRA.

26. By browsing and/or using the site at www.bglit.org the respective User expresses his agreement to receive commercial communications in electronic format sent by the Provider or by a third party authorized by it.

III. Registration.

27. By means of his registration, which is a statement of volition in an electronic form, the User concludes a contract with www.bglit.org for the provision of an online educational service between him and the Provider with such objects, terms and conditions as described in detail herein above. Immediately after his registration the User receives a communication at the e-mail address provided by him, which contains a Username and a password, which is a confirmation on behalf of www.bglit.org of the receipt of his statement of volition and agreement with these general terms and conditions.

28. (1) The Provider gives the User access to the educational information resources on the site within a reasonable period after the occurrence of the contractual obligation and within the parameters specified in these general terms and conditions.

(2) The access is controlled in the following ways:

- access control by content

- access control by User

- access control by User IP address

2.1 Access control by content

In the case of this type of access control the system displays the content by retrieving and visualizing it page by page. The access to the content may be limited for each individual page or sequence of pages by indicating whether the respective page or group of pages is accessible via Internet and for which particular User. This is the way to limit completely the access of accidental visitors of the site to books by contemporary authors, to present-day translations of classical literature and/or parts of such works and individual pages of theirs, mostly for the purpose of safeguarding the copyrights of third parties, whose works are published on the site but only for educational purposes. The main objective of the site at www.bglit.org is to protect and preserve the copyrights of authors, whose works are published on its pages. Hence, access to the said content is provided only to registered Users that meet the requirements of Article 25(2) and have signed the statement as per Article 25(3) of the general terms and conditions. On the basis of the thus highlighted criteria two types of content can be distinguished on the site at www.bglit.org: “open”, i.e. the content that can be seen on Internet (these are usually original literary works and out-of-copyright translations) and “closed” – the content that cannot be seen directly via internet (and subject to which are the works with valid copyrights).

2.2 Access control by User.

Regarding Users, the system distinguishes between anonymous (accidental) and registered Users. Registered Users acquire their own name and password in the case provided for under Article 17, which are issued by the administrator of the site at www.bglit.org and which identify them uniquely. The system maintains a data base of all registered Users with their names and passwords and with their specific rights. As already pointed out, access to open digital content is possible only for registered Users. The restriction by User is valid for the entire open content and there is no option of specifying certain parts of its for access by unregistered Users. On that basis a distinction is made between uses with authorized access and such with banned access to digital content.

2.3 Access control by User IP address.

The system contains information as to where the access occurs (from which IP network) and this circumstance is associated with the geographical location of the computer, from which the User accesses the site (from a home computer, from one used by an employee at a university, research institute, school, a computer in the BAS network, etc.) On the basis of this information the system can restrict the access to the open digital content only for a list of authorized networks. The access from other networks is limited and thus the access may also be restricted on a geographical or location basis. The limitation by network is valid for the entire open content (i.e separate parts of works cannot be specified), and on this basis a distinction is made between areas with authorized or banned access to the digital content.

29. The contract is performed by generating and supporting a profile with a username and a password via which a certain level of access to the presented online educational services is provided for a certain period of time.

30. Unregistered Users are entitled to use only that part of the information and educational array of translated and original literary works, as well as other parts of the data base on the site at www.bglit.org, which are out of copyright and for that reason they are part of what is referred to as the “open content” of the site.

IV. Applicability. Amendment.

31. The provisions of the General Terms and Conditions shall apply to all issues that have arisen in the course of using the site and they can be supplemented by the Provider in case of identified need by employing them as a basis for creating rules on the use of certain site sections. These new rules shall apply to the general terms and conditions on a subsidiary basis.

32. With a view to the regular supplementation and modification of the services, their refinement and expansion, as well as in relation to the changing legislation that affects them, the General Terms and Conditions can be amended unilaterally by the Provider without it having the obligation to notify each User individually about the amendment that has been introduced. An amendment is in place in case of publication of the terms and conditions on the site and they become effective at that moment, unless otherwise provided for, and the User undertakes the obligation to promptly monitor the current terms and conditions for amendments.

33. The User may state that he does not accept the amendments within one week after the publication of such amendments. In such a case the contract between the User and the Provider is terminated when the application of the User reaches the Provider. In the event that the User fails to state non-acceptance of the amendments within the specified period, it shall be considered bound by them.

V. Rights and obligations of the Provider and of the Users.

34. The Provider undertakes the obligation to render the necessary care according to the circumstances and thereby to enable the Users to make unimpeded use of the educational services provided via the site in line with these General Terms and Conditions and the legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Provider is not responsible for the content of materials and references beyond the data base of works of authorship and the information resources.

35. The Provider has the right to discontinue the access of certain Users to the site, in case it is established that they have provided incorrect data at the time of their registration or that they have, through their action, infringed in any way the intellectual property rights of the Bulgarian Science Fund under the Ministry of Education and Science or of third parties, or that, in particular, they have violated the laws of the Republic of Bulgaria.

36. The Provider has the right to terminate the provision of certain services while undertaking to notify the Users about that by means of a notice on the website.

37. The Provider has the right to amend unilaterally, at any time, these General Terms and Conditions, but it has no obligation to notify individually all Users for the changes that have taken place. The latter will be disclosed in a proper and accessible manner in the content of the site in the ways and under the conditions described in detail herein above.

38. The Provider has the right to take measures to prevent abuse and malicious actions on the part of Users by limiting their access to the site and canceling the contract for educational service, and on such grounds it will have the right to claim the forfeit agreed in these general terms and conditions.

39. The Provider has the right to refuse to register certain Users for using the site in case they fail to submit the personal data required in the registration form, as well as in the case of their disagreement with these general terms and conditions.

40. The Provider has the right (but not an obligation) to save in its information system or on another terminal device for access to the site information regarding the Users and constituting the so-called “cookies”. These are small text files, which are saved by the website at www.bglit.org via a server on the hard disk of the User, thus allowing the recovery of information about him that identifies him with a view to tracing his actions.

41. Users are obliged to continuously familiarize themselves with the General Terms and Conditions and with their amendments and the acceptance of the amendments shall take place in the ways and according to the rules described above.

42. Users are entitled to use the educational online services provided by the Provider in compliance with these General Terms and Conditions, the supplements to them and the special rules agreed for the respective services based on the copyright legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria.

43. The User has the right to change freely and without any limitations the data provided at registration while complying with the rules provided for in these General Terms and Conditions.

44. The User himself shall secure the equipment he needs (hardware and software) for using the services rendered by the Provider.

45. The User undertakes the commitment to use the materials published on the site solely for learning, educational, scholarly and personal needs while behaving in a way fully consistent with the objectives of the site stated in the first section of these general terms and conditions.

46. The User undertakes the obligation not to copy, distribute, borrow in any way, reproduce or publish literary works of authorship and/or their translations part of the site at www.bglit.org, as well as not to:

- infringe the intellectual property rights of the Bulgarian Science Fund under the Ministry of Education and Science, including copyrights, trademarks, logotypes or any other materials or authorship images and shall declare that he is aware of his subsequent liability as a consequence of the provision of such materials in the case provided for under Article 172а, Article 172b of the CC and Article 94 of CRRA;

– violate any property and/or non-property rights or lawful interests of third parties;

– violate in any other way these General Terms and Conditions and the legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria.

47. In relation to the use of the services rendered by the Provider the User also undertakes to:

– comply with the provisions of the General terms and Conditions and the legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria;

– watch out for intellectual property violations committed by other Users, and in case of detecting such violations, to promptly notify the Provider;

– abstain from infringing in any way the rights of the Provider, or those of third parties through his actions related to the execution of the contract for providing an online educational service.

VII. Liability. Limitation of the liability.

48. The site at www.bglit.org allows a specific User to make free use, for learning, scholarly or educational purposes, of literary works and their translations, the access to which takes place in accordance with the rules provided for in these General Terms and Conditions. The Provider sees to the credibility and author authenticity of the content of the published works, as well as to their truthfulness and topicality. The Provider is not obliged to monitor the information it saves, transfers or makes accessible when providing services to the Users, nor to seek facts or circumstances indicative of the perpetration of unlawful activities. In case a User of the site is harmed as a result of incorrect information and/or obsolescence of a material, whose source is www.bglit.org, the Provider shall not be held liable in any way.

49. (1) In case of damage suffered by the Provider due to the actions of a User of the site acting in bad faith, the User is obliged to indemnify the Bulgarian Science Fund under the Ministry of Education and Science for all direct and indirect damages sustained, including compensations paid to third parties, legal and document registration expenses, etc., attorneys' fees, etc. The User is also obliged to indemnify the Provider in cases where the actions have been performed by third persons, to whom he has provided for use his username, the e-mail address used for the registration, passwords and in general a part of or all data submitted at the time of his registration.

(2) In case of intellectual property infringements, any concerned person may file a complaint with the site at www.bglit.org using the e-mail address info@bglit.org. After an objective investigation of the case concerned, the site administration decides whether to remove the respective content, if it is part of www.bglit.org, or to refer the case to the competent government authorities on grounds of intellectual property violation. The site at www.bglit.org shall not be liable for copyright infringements perpetrated by third parties with respect to content, which is part of the Internet library.

50. The Provider shall not be liable for damages caused on the software, hardware or the telecommunication facilities or for any loss of information that have ensued from materials or resources that have been searched, downloaded or used in any way via the services provided by the site.

51. The Provider shall not be liable for any damages that have occurred as a consequence of discontinuation, change or limitation of the services, deletion, modification, loss, incredibility, inaccuracy or incompleteness of communications, literary works, translations, materials or information transferred, used, recorder, reproduced or made available via the site.

52. The Provider shall not be liable for termination of the access to the site and/ or the services and/or for the poor quality of their provision as a consequence of tests performed by the Provider for the purpose of checking equipment, networks, etc.

53. The Provider shall not be liable for service provision issues, which are due to inadequate equipment of the Users, or to incompatibility of the software applications used by them and the services rendered via the site.

54. The Provider shall not be liable for the termination of its services upon occurrence of circumstances beyond its control: cases of force majeure, fortuitous events, problems in the World Wide Web, actions or inactions of third parties, etc.

55. The Provider has the right to collect and save information about its Users upon their registration in a way that allows their identification.

56. The Provider shall take due care to prevent the access of third parties to the stored information on the Users. The Provider undertakes not to disclose the collected information on the Users to third parties except in the cases, where the respective User has given his consent for that or an official request has been filed with authorities explicitly empowered for that.

57. The User may terminate the contract described in the general terms and conditions after giving a one-month written or electronic notice. In this case he should make a clear personal statement of volition to the effect that he does not wish to use the service any more. The notice should necessarily include all the data described, so that an indubitable conclusion can be reached that the statements of volition referred to above are issued by the respective User, which should technically match the User data corresponding to the registration. Notices can be sent to the address specified above or to the e-mail address info@bglit.org.

12. In cases of non-performance and/or abuse by the Users of the obligations imputed to them by these terms and conditions and/or violation of these terms and conditions or of the Bulgarian copyright legislation the Provider has the right to terminate the contract without any notice.

13. This contract shall be automatically terminated upon termination of the operations of the Provider Bulgarian Science Fund under the Ministry of Education and Science and upon discontinuation of the support of the site at www.bglit.org, as well as by mutual agreement of the parties to it.

VIII. Other terms and conditions.

1. For all matters not provided for in this contract the provisions of the effective legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria shall apply.

2. All disputes between the parties shall be solved in a spirit of understanding and goodwill. In the event that no agreement is reached, all outstanding disputes arising from the contract for educational online service and/or from these general terms and conditions, as well as between the parties to them, including disputes arising from and/or relating to their interpretation, invalidity, performance, cancelation, termination, as well as disputes on the filling of gaps in the general terms and conditions and in the contract or their adjustment to newly arisen circumstances, shall be settled by the competent courts in the Republic of Bulgaria.

No part of this site, including its author-created content, trademark, design, domain, functionality or verbal content, also these general terms and conditions, may be reproduced, modified or distributed contrary to the legislation regulating intellectual property in the Republic of Bulgaria, without the prior written consent of the Bulgarian Science Fund under the Ministry of Education and Science, in its capacity of an owner of the site, in the cases provided for under Article 11, Article 14, Article 93b and Article 93c of CRRA. In case of such unlawful actions the responsible natural or legal persons shall be held liable under the relevant criminal, civil or administrative law and shall owe indemnities for damages caused to the company.