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Terms of service

This is a courtesy translation for your convenience. Only the German version is legally binding; the contract language is German. German version

General Terms and Conditions

of active minds GmbH – framework conditions for all services – version July 2026

Preamble

These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter "GTC") govern the contractual relationship between active minds GmbH, Neunkirchen, Germany (hereinafter "active minds" or "provider"), and its customers as framework conditions for all services provided by active minds. Service-specific provisions are contained in the respective Special Conditions (§ 1 para. 2). The services of active minds are directed exclusively at entrepreneurs within the meaning of § 14 of the German Civil Code (BGB), legal entities under public law, or special funds under public law (hereinafter uniformly "customer"). Consumers within the meaning of § 13 BGB are not addressees of these services; no contract is concluded with consumers.

German law applies, subject to the mandatory provisions of European Union law. Deviating, conflicting or supplementary general terms and conditions of the customer do not become part of the contract unless active minds expressly agrees to their validity in text form.

§ 1 Scope and subject matter of the contract

  1. These GTC apply as framework conditions to all contracts between active minds and the customer concerning services of active minds, in particular in the areas of web hosting, email security services (spam and virus filtering) and domain registration.
  2. The scope and specific features of the individual services are governed by separate Special Conditions (currently: Special Conditions for Web Hosting, Special Conditions for Domain Registration, and Special Conditions for Email Security Services). The applicable Special Conditions become part of the contract upon ordering the respective service (§ 2 para. 5).
  3. In the event of contradictions, the following order of precedence applies: individual agreements, including the order confirmation, take precedence over the Special Conditions; the Special Conditions take precedence over these GTC. Otherwise, the provisions apply side by side.
  4. The version of these GTC and the applicable Special Conditions valid at the time of conclusion of the contract is decisive. active minds is entitled to amend them in accordance with the provisions of § 13.

§ 2 Conclusion of contract

  1. The presentation of services on the website or in other advertising material does not constitute a binding offer, but an invitation to submit an offer.
  2. By placing an order via the online ordering system, by email or in text form, the customer submits a binding offer to conclude a contract. The contract is concluded upon order confirmation in text form by active minds, at the latest upon provision of the service.
  3. active minds may make the conclusion of the contract dependent on the presentation of a credit report, an advance payment or a security deposit, in particular in the case of new customers, high order volumes or negative credit information.
  4. Upon conclusion of the contract, the customer warrants that they are an entrepreneur within the meaning of § 14 BGB. active minds is entitled to request proof of entrepreneur status.
  5. The Special Conditions applicable to the ordered service are made available to the customer at the latest upon ordering. By ordering the respective service, the customer confirms their validity; they become part of the contract for the service concerned.

§ 3 Provision of services (general provisions)

  1. The specific scope of the individual services results from the service description of the booked plan, the respective Special Conditions and the order confirmation.
  2. active minds provides its services in its own or rented data centres. The selection of the hardware and software used, the service locations and the use and change of subcontractors are at the discretion of active minds, provided the agreed service characteristics are maintained.
  3. active minds is entitled to expand, modify or adapt services to the state of the art, provided that this does not impair the essential content of the service. Significant changes to services to the detriment of the customer will be announced in accordance with § 13.
  4. Insofar as active minds provides free additional services, these may be discontinued at any time without notice. There are no claims for reimbursement or damages in this respect.

§ 4 Obligations and cooperation of the customer

  1. The customer is obliged to use the services of active minds properly, to comply with applicable law and to respect the rights of third parties.
  2. The customer undertakes in particular:
    1. to pay the agreed fees on time;
    2. to support active minds to a reasonable extent in the provision of the services, in particular by providing content, access data and other acts of cooperation in good time;
    3. to keep access data, passwords and API keys secret, to store them securely, to change them regularly and to inform active minds immediately in the event of a (suspected) compromise;
    4. to choose content, software and configurations in such a way that network and system stability is not impaired, in particular to keep scripts and applications used by them up to date and secure;
    5. to regularly create backup copies of their own data and to keep them to an extent that enables restoration with reasonable effort; any backups provided by active minds do not release the customer from this obligation;
    6. to report recognisable defects, malfunctions or security incidents immediately in text form and to cooperate in their clarification to a reasonable extent;
    7. to notify changes to their master and contact data (in particular company name, address, legal form, management, bank details, billing and administrative email address) immediately, at the latest within two weeks, in text form or to update them in the customer portal.
  3. The customer is obliged to comply with legal requirements applicable to them as an operator of websites or content, in particular with regard to legal notice obligations, telecommunications and telemedia law, copyright and trademark law, competition law, youth protection law and data protection law (GDPR and national implementing legislation).
  4. If the customer violates essential obligations after an unsuccessful warning, active minds is entitled to discontinue the services in whole or in part and/or to terminate the contract for good cause. In the case of serious violations, in particular violations of § 5, a prior warning is dispensable.

§ 5 Prohibited content and use

  1. The customer may not use the services of active minds for purposes that are unlawful under German law or the law of the European Union or that violate the rights of third parties.
  2. In particular, the storage, provision or distribution of content or the use of the services is prohibited insofar as it:
    1. is relevant under criminal law (e.g. incitement to hatred, glorification of violence, depictions of child abuse, terrorism, instructions for criminal offences);
    2. violates copyright, trademark, competition, personality or data protection law;
    3. serves the sending of unsolicited advertising (spam), phishing, the distribution of malware, denial-of-service attacks, brute-force attacks or other attacks on third-party IT systems;
    4. serves to circumvent sanctions or embargoes of the European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany or the United Nations;
    5. serves exclusively or predominantly the mining or generation of crypto assets without the express written permission of active minds;
    6. impairs the stability, security or integrity of the infrastructure of active minds or third parties, in particular through excessive use of shared resources ("fair use").
  3. In the event of a concrete suspicion of a violation, active minds is entitled to temporarily block the affected content and to request the customer to comment. In cases of imminent danger, in particular in the event of acute security incidents or official orders, the blocking may also take place without a prior hearing.
  4. In the event of a violation of paragraph 1 or 2, the customer bears all costs incurred by active minds through processing, restoration or legal defence, and indemnifies active minds against claims by third parties.

§ 6 Remuneration, prices, adjustment

  1. The prices agreed at the time of conclusion of the contract in accordance with the individual order confirmation or the valid price list apply. Unless otherwise stated, all prices are in euros plus the applicable statutory value added tax.
  2. Recurring monthly or annual fees are due in advance for the respective billing period. The first invoice is issued pro rata from the day of provision; fractions of a month are charged at 1/30 of the monthly fee per commenced day.
  3. Setup fees, one-off additional services and usage-based fees are due upon provision of the service.
  4. active minds is entitled to adjust the prices for ongoing continuing obligations once per calendar year to a reasonable extent, insofar as costs for the provision of services (in particular energy, personnel, licence, hardware or upstream supplier costs) change. Price increases will be communicated to the customer in text form at least six weeks before they take effect. In the event of an increase of more than 10 % compared to the most recently valid price, the customer has a special right of termination effective as of the date the price increase takes effect.

§ 7 Payment terms, SEPA direct debit

  1. For customers domiciled in a state of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA area, in particular EU/EEA), payments are generally to be made by SEPA core direct debit or SEPA business-to-business direct debit. The customer grants active minds a corresponding SEPA mandate. The pre-notification is provided with the invoice; the notification period is shortened to one bank working day.
  2. Customers domiciled outside the SEPA area make payments, at their choice, by bank transfer or by credit card via the payment service providers offered by active minds. Invoice amounts are payable in euros and without deduction; for transfers from abroad, the customer bears all bank, exchange rate and transaction fees (charge instruction "OUR"). Credit card payments are due upon invoicing; paragraph 3 applies accordingly to bank transfers.
  3. Insofar as active minds expressly agrees to a different method of payment (in particular bank transfer), invoice amounts are to be credited without deduction to the account specified in the invoice within ten (10) days of receipt of the invoice.
  4. Invoices are provided in electronic form (in particular as PDF by email or via the customer portal). The customer agrees to this form of invoicing.
  5. If a SEPA direct debit is returned or a credit card payment is charged back and the customer is responsible for the return or chargeback (in particular in the case of insufficient funds, unjustified objection or incorrect payment data), active minds is entitled:
    1. to suspend the provision of services until the outstanding amount has been settled;
    2. to charge a processing fee of EUR 15.00 net per return or chargeback and to pass on the fees actually charged by the bank or payment service provider. The customer remains entitled to prove that a significantly lower loss or no loss was incurred;
    3. to demand that future payments be made exclusively by advance payment or bank transfer.
  6. The customer may only set off claims that are undisputed or have been finally determined by a court. The customer is only entitled to a right of retention insofar as it is based on counterclaims arising from the same contractual relationship.

§ 8 Default of payment, suspension, reactivation

  1. If the customer defaults on payment, active minds is entitled to charge default interest at the statutory rate pursuant to § 288 para. 2 BGB (nine percentage points above the base interest rate) and a lump sum pursuant to § 288 para. 5 BGB in the amount of EUR 40.00. The right to assert further damage caused by default remains reserved.
  2. In the event of default of payment, active minds is entitled to suspend the services in whole or in part after a prior reminder with a reasonable deadline in text form (suspension). The customer's obligation to pay the agreed fees remains in force during the suspension.
  3. For the reactivation of a contract or service suspended due to default of payment, active minds is entitled to charge a reactivation fee of EUR 49.00 net per affected contract. The customer remains entitled to prove that significantly lower or no expenses were incurred.
  4. If the customer:
    1. is in default of payment of the fees or a not insignificant part thereof for two consecutive billing periods, or
    2. is in default of payment over a period of more than two billing periods in an amount equal to two monthly base fees,
    active minds is entitled to extraordinary termination of the contractual relationship without notice.
  5. active minds is entitled to make services dependent on an advance payment or a reasonable security deposit as soon as there are justified doubts about the customer's ability to pay.

§ 9 Liability

  1. active minds is liable without limitation for damage resulting from injury to life, body or health based on an intentional or negligent breach of duty by active minds, its legal representatives or vicarious agents, as well as for damage covered by liability under the German Product Liability Act.
  2. For other damage, active minds is liable without limitation only in the case of intent and gross negligence of its legal representatives or executive employees, as well as in the case of fraudulently concealed defects and within the scope of an expressly assumed guarantee.
  3. In the event of a simply negligent breach of essential contractual obligations (cardinal obligations), liability is limited in amount to the foreseeable damage typical for the contract at the time of conclusion of the contract. Essential contractual obligations are those obligations whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance the customer may regularly rely.
  4. In all other respects, the liability of active minds, in particular for slight negligence, is excluded. This applies in particular to indirect damage, consequential damage, lost profits, loss of data, business interruption and unrealised savings.
  5. active minds is not responsible for errors or malfunctions that are outside its sphere of influence, in particular for:
    1. disruptions in public telecommunications or data networks, including the transmission paths of the carriers;
    2. failures or malfunctions at registration authorities, registries, certification authorities or other upstream suppliers;
    3. damage caused by hardware or software used or controlled by the customer, by third parties commissioned by the customer or by insufficient cooperation of the customer;
    4. attacks by third parties on the customer's systems, insofar as active minds has taken the protective measures customary according to the state of the art;
    5. events of force majeure within the meaning of § 10.
  6. Insofar as the liability of active minds is excluded or limited, this also applies to the personal liability of its legal representatives, employees and vicarious agents.
  7. For the loss of data, active minds is only liable to the extent that the damage would have occurred if the customer had properly and regularly backed up the data. The customer remains obliged to back up data independently (§ 4 para. 2 lit. e).

§ 10 Force majeure

  1. active minds is not liable for delays or failures in performance based on force majeure or on events that make performance significantly more difficult or impossible for active minds. These include in particular war, terrorism, natural disasters, pandemics, strikes, lockouts, official measures, cyber attacks of a considerable scale, failures or significant disruptions of energy supply, communication networks or upstream suppliers – even if these events occur at subcontractors or upstream suppliers of active minds.
  2. The performance obligations of active minds are extended by the duration of the impediment plus a reasonable start-up time. If a significant impairment lasts longer than six weeks without interruption, both parties are entitled to extraordinarily terminate the affected part of the contract.

§ 11 Contract term, termination

  1. The term, billing period and ordinary notice periods of the individual services result from the respective Special Conditions and the order confirmation. Unless otherwise provided therein, contracts are concluded for an indefinite period, billed monthly and may be terminated by either party in text form with a notice period of two (2) weeks to the end of the calendar month.
  2. The right of both parties to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected. Good cause exists for active minds in particular in the event of:
    1. significant or repeated violations by the customer of § 4 or § 5 of these GTC after an unsuccessful warning;
    2. default of payment in accordance with § 8 para. 4;
    3. the opening of insolvency proceedings over the customer's assets or the rejection of such proceedings for lack of assets.
  3. Terminations require at least text form (§ 126b BGB), e.g. by email to the address stored in the customer portal or via the termination function provided in the customer portal.
  4. Upon termination of the contractual relationship, it is the customer's responsibility to back up their data before the termination date and, if applicable, to commission a domain transfer. After the end of the contract, active minds is entitled to delete the associated data and accounts, unless statutory retention obligations prevent this.

§ 12 Data protection, data processing on behalf, confidentiality

  1. active minds processes personal data of the customer within the scope of contract performance in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). Details can be found in the current privacy policy.
  2. Insofar as active minds processes personal data on behalf of the customer within the scope of the provision of services (Art. 28 GDPR), the parties conclude a separate data processing agreement. The customer ensures that, as controller, they fulfil the data protection requirements for the processing.
  3. The parties undertake to keep secret all information that becomes known to them within the scope of the contractual relationship that is marked as confidential or is recognisably to be treated as confidential, and to use it only for contractual purposes. This obligation applies for a period of three (3) years beyond the end of the contract, unless the information is already publicly known or statutory disclosure obligations exist.

§ 13 Amendments to the GTC and the Special Conditions

  1. active minds is entitled to amend or supplement these GTC and the Special Conditions insofar as this is necessary to adapt them to changed legal or technical framework conditions or to close regulatory gaps, and the customer is not unreasonably disadvantaged thereby.
  2. The amendments will be communicated to the customer in text form at least six (6) weeks before they come into force. If the customer does not object in text form within four (4) weeks of receipt of the notification, the amendments are deemed to have been accepted. In the notification, active minds will separately inform the customer of the significance of silence and of the objection period.
  3. In the event of a timely objection, active minds is entitled to terminate the contractual relationship with a notice period of one (1) month effective as of the date the amendment takes effect.

§ 14 Final provisions

  1. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, subject to the mandatory provisions of European Union law. The application of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is excluded.
  2. The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with the contractual relationship is the registered office of active minds GmbH, provided the customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law. active minds is also entitled to sue the customer at their general place of jurisdiction.
  3. The place of performance for all services is the registered office of active minds GmbH.
  4. The contract language is German. Communications requiring a specific form must be drafted in German.
  5. Should individual provisions of these GTC be or become invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected. In place of the invalid or unenforceable provision, that valid and enforceable provision shall be deemed agreed whose effects come closest to the economic objective pursued by the contracting parties with the invalid or unenforceable provision. The same applies to any regulatory gaps.

active minds GmbH – Neunkirchen – version: July 2026

Special Conditions for Email Security Services (SpamExperts)

of active minds GmbH – supplementary to the General Terms and Conditions – version July 2026

§ 1 Scope

  1. These Special Conditions apply in addition to the General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter "GTC") of active minds GmbH to all contracts for email security services (upstream spam and virus filtering). They become part of the contract upon ordering the service.
  2. In the event of contradictions, these Special Conditions take precedence over the GTC; otherwise the GTC remain unaffected.

§ 2 Scope of services

  1. active minds offers, as a separately bookable additional service, upstream spam and virus filtering of incoming and/or outgoing email traffic based on the "SpamExperts" filtering platform of SpamExperts B.V., Utrecht, Netherlands (hereinafter "upstream supplier"). The specific scope of services – in particular the filtered domains, the filtering direction (incoming/outgoing) and the quarantine function – results from the order confirmation and the respective service description.

§ 3 Functionality, quarantine

  1. Filtering is carried out automatically according to the state of the art (including reputation, signature and heuristic analysis methods). Complete detection of unwanted or harmful emails (in particular spam, phishing, malware) as well as the complete exclusion of emails falsely classified as unwanted (so-called false positives) are not achievable according to the state of the art and are not owed. Emails classified as unwanted are held in quarantine for a limited period and then automatically deleted; the respective retention period results from the service description. The customer is obliged to check the quarantine for wrongly withheld emails at regular, reasonable intervals.

§ 4 Fair use policy of the upstream supplier

  1. The fair use policy of the upstream supplier in its currently valid version, available at https://www.spamexperts.com/fair-use-policy (currently only available in English), applies in addition to the use of the email security services. According to this, the following currently applies in particular:
    1. A maximum of 1,000 (one thousand) email addresses may be operated per filtered domain. The filtering of domains with more than 1,000 email addresses requires a prior separate agreement with active minds;
    2. a usual level of email traffic corresponding to the customer's ordinary business operations is assumed; unusual usage or traffic patterns (e.g. mass sending or a permanently unusually high volume) constitute a violation of the fair use policy.

§ 5 Consequences of exceeding the fair use policy

  1. If the customer exceeds the limits of the fair use policy, active minds will notify them in text form and offer them a switch to a suitable plan or an individual offer. If the customer continues the use unchanged despite the notification and no agreement is reached within a reasonable period of usually fourteen (14) days, active minds is entitled, after prior notice in text form, to suspend or restrict the filtering service for the affected domains in whole or in part. The right of the upstream supplier to independently block accounts or restrict mail flow in the event of continued violation of the fair use policy remains unaffected; active minds has no influence on this. Impairments based on a violation of the fair use policy for which the customer is responsible do not count as unavailability within the meaning of any availability commitments and do not give rise to any claims by the customer for reduction, reimbursement or damages.

§ 6 Changes by the upstream supplier, special right of termination

  1. If the upstream supplier significantly changes the fair use policy or the scope of services to the detriment of the customer, or discontinues the filtering platform, active minds will inform the customer thereof in text form with reasonable notice, usually at least four (4) weeks in advance, and, where possible, offer an equivalent replacement service. In this case, the customer has a special right of termination for the affected service effective as of the date the change takes effect.

§ 7 Restrictions of use

  1. The customer may use the email security services exclusively for their own domains or domains managed by them. § 5 of the GTC (prohibited content and use) applies accordingly; in particular, the sending of unsolicited advertising (spam) via the filtering infrastructure is prohibited and entitles active minds to immediately suspend the affected service.

§ 8 Contract term, termination

  1. Unless otherwise agreed, the email security services are booked for an indefinite period, billed monthly and may be terminated by either party in text form with a notice period of two (2) weeks to the end of the calendar month. They end at the latest upon termination of the contract for the associated domain or the associated email hosting. The right to extraordinary termination pursuant to § 11 of the GTC remains unaffected.

active minds GmbH – Neunkirchen – version: July 2026