Terms of Service

Version 1.1 updated 04/06/2018

BitDegree.org is an internet-based platform (hereinafter – the Platform) run by BitDegree, UAB (hereinafter – the BitDegree), for the use of so called Massive Open Online Courses.

The Platform aims to connect teachers and students who would like share and gain real useful skills and practical knowledge, which has value at labour market. BitDegree therefore caters to the need of communication between lectors and students and provides to this end the technical Platform. In these Terms, references to “you” or “your” are references to you whether as a Learner, Visitor or Lector.

BitDegree aims to keep a healthy balance between the free flow of information and intellectual property rights, keeping the best interests of its users in mind and expects its users to display the same level of care in dealing with the intellectual property rights of other users and rights holders.

By registering for the Platform, you agree to accept the validity of and ensure compliance with these terms of use (hereinafter – the TOS). BitDegree reserves the right to modify these TOS at any time without advance notice. Any changes to these TOS will be effective immediately upon posting on this page, with an updated effective date. By accessing the Platform after any changes have been made, you signify your agreement on a prospective basis to the modified TOS and all of the changes. Be sure to return to this page periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version of these TOS.

Any version of these TOS in a language other than English is provided for convenience and you understand and agree that the English language version will control if there is any conflict.

The following terms of use apply to the use of the Platform and to all connected services offered by BitDegree.

1. Registration and Conclusion of the Agreement

In order to be able to use the Platform, the you are required to register. After registration a contract between you and BitDegree about the use of the Platform is concluded (hereinafter - Contract).

The registration for, and use of, the Platform is free for all users.

Use of the Platform and access to the Online Content and Courses by anyone under the age of 16 is prohibited.

You can register for the Platform either by completing a registration form.

If the you chose the completion of the registration form, you need to make sure the data provided is complete and correct. It is prohibited to register for an account under a different name or otherwise inaccurate information. In particular, BitDegree advises against the abuse of titles and occupational titles. You are also required to immediately notify BitDegree of any changes of their data. Before filing the registration form the you have to confirm that you read these TOS as well as the data privacy and cookie policy for the use of the Platform and agree to their validity.

The contracting party for the use of the Platform is BitDegree, UAB (Vytenio str. 9-106 LT-03113, Vilnius, Lithuania)

Further contact details can be found in the website of the Platform.

Following the successful conclusion of the contract you can use the Platform in accordance with the TOS. To do so, the you need to login to the Platform via the login area of the website. The login data consist either of the login data of the user account for Facebook or a comparable internet service, or of the e-mail address the user provided during the registration and the password they chose (“login data”). The User can change the password anytime in their account settings.

BitDegree may refuse a registration without stating reasons for the decision. You are not entitled to conclude a contract.

2. User Account and Login Data

BitDegree provides to you a user account on the Platform’s website after concluding the user. You have access to your data via this user account after entering the login data.

The login data as well as the user account are not transferable and may only be used by the registered user. You must not pass or allow the use of the login data to any third party. The login data has to be kept in safe custody and must not be disclosed to anyone.

As soon as You learn of or suspect an abuse of their login data they are obliged to notify BitDegree thereof immediately. You are liable for all consequences of a third party accessing and using the user account provided that they are responsible for the loss of login data. In particular, you are liable if you enabled the unauthorized use of login data intentionally or carelessly. Yours liability ends only if you inform BitDegree about the unauthorized use or loss of login data and change the password, if possible and necessary.

BitDegree is entitled to temporarily or permanently lock yours account and / or withdraw access rights from You with immediate effect or within a period of time at the discretion of BitDegree and / or terminate the user contract without giving notice in case you violate these terms of use, in particular if (i) false information were provided during registration; (ii) unauthorized disclosure of login data and / or other forms of abuse of the Platform.

In these cases, you are not allowed to register again without BitDegree’s prior written consent.

3. Privacy Policy

For further information regarding the details of BitDegree’s handling with personal data please see the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

4. The contents of the agreement

On the Platform, MOOCs are offered for a variety of different areas. These courses are supported by interactive elements. In particular, BitDegree helps to bring together users and gives them an opportunity to participate in MOOCs. BitDegree provides the technical applications but does not participate in any communication with regard to the contents.

The participation in or the completion of, a MOOC does not constitute any legal relationship of any kind between the user and the university or organization providing the course or the respective lecturer. In particular, you do not apply for or enroll in any courses at the university or organization.

BitDegree reserves the right to cancel, change or delay courses at any time.

For certain courses exams can be taken in accordance with the procedure provided online for the respective course. BitDegree reserves the right to change, delay or cancel the examination procedure, in particular with regard to the emphasis of the results.

The exact scope and the details of certain functions of the Platform can be found on the Platform’s website.

Aside its own functions BitDegree also offers third party functionalities in the form of apps or provides links to third party content. In such cases, apps or third-party content are clearly marked as such. BitDegree is not responsible for these offers and cannot exert any influence on them. Any contracts resulting from third party apps are concluded only between you and the third party, governed by the provisions of the respective provider.

BitDegree may provide you with news on the Platform, e.g., new features, as well as on modifications or upgrading of BitDegree’s services, via e-mail to the e-mail address provided during registration, provided that you agreed to the receipt of such a newsletter. If you do not want to receive news about the Platform they can unsubscribe from the service by sending an e-mail to [email protected] at any time or stop the receipt by changing their account settings. Furthermore, every e-mail contains a link to unsubscribe from the e-mail list.

BitDegree aims to develop the Platform gradually and in close collaboration with you. Therefore, BitDegree reserves the right to expand, supplement and modify the services of the Platform or offer different services. However, this should not lead to any unreasonable restrictions of your current organization on the Platform as the aim is to improve the system and not to reduce the functionality. In the event of extensions, supplements or modifications to the service, all your data will be preserved unless you explicitly consent to the deletion of certain data or deletes them himself.

BitDegree provides the user with the knowledge that may help user with job related opportunities. BitDegree notifies that the company is not responsible for any job/career related issues and matters regarding the user & is not obligated to supply the user with a job after the enrollment in any BitDegree course. BitDegree does not list valid job offerings.

5. Term and Termination

Registration and use of the Platform are free of charge for you.

Yours contract is concluded for an indefinite period.

Both parties may terminate the contract without giving any reasons to the end of each month by giving notice two weeks. The right to terminate for important reasons remains unaffected. The termination notice shall be delivered by e-mail to [email protected]

6. User generated content, copyright and other rights to content

You are and remain the author of their copyright protected work (hereinafter - the Your Content). The same applies after publication of Your Content on the Platform.

You grant BitDegree for the operating of the Platform and for the display of the Your Content the transferable, non-exclusive rights unlimited in respect of time and place to the works published on the Platform. This includes the right without any limit or restrictions to territory, country or time to distribute, reproduce, adapt, make available, broadcast and retransmit and to recite, perform and present in public. In particular, you grant BitDegree the right to make the Your Content available on the Platform in any form, and to undertake any adaptations and reproductions that are required for this purpose (storage on the servers of BitDegree, etc.) and to permit reproductions to other users. This also includes the right to undertake acts of exploitation within the context of additional functionalities applicable at any given time, such as copying, editing and storing of documents published in the context of apps, news feeds (in varying formats if necessary), other subscription services (push services) or retrieval services (pull services) and the use of Your Content in optimized versions of the Platform on mobile devices or of apps. The rights granted are always limited to functions and features of the Platform. You hereby agree to a possible assignment of rights.

BitDegree also reserves the right to open the Platform using an appropriate application programming interface (called API), so that the Platform may be used by or in the context of internet services provided by third parties, which may include granting access to content posted by you. You can determine whether the contents shall be accessible by the public. In that regard, you grant BitDegree the right to permit the exploitation of rights to third parties to the same extent as they were granted to BitDegree’s. This shall not affect BitDegree’s entitlement to continue to use the rights granted to BitDegree.

The rights granted to BitDegree according to the provisions above do not allow it to exploit the You Content independently of the Platform. Any reproduction or use of the contributions and their content in other electronic or printed publications beyond BitDegree’s service without the prior written consent of you is not permitted.

BitDegree will provide discussion forums on the Platform where you can discuss the courses provided, ask questions and provide and discuss proposals as texts, images, links, etc. Content published in discussion forums are publicly accessible.

The Platform thrives on User generated information which are linked in various ways and in some cases build upon one another (especially in discussions and comments of individual courses).

BitDegree reserves the right to delete certain contents without giving any reasons. You are not entitled that certain content remains on the Platform.

All of the BitDegree website pages are not a part of any other websites or brands, unless stated otherwise. Additionally, BitDegree is NOT endorsed by any brands in any way, unless stated otherwise. The trademarks of companies used in the BitDegree website belong only to their respective owners.

Any content provided by BitDegree or a third party may be protected by copyright or other intellectual property (e.g., logos of universities or organizations). You are granted only a non-exclusive, non-transferrable right for the non-commercial use of the content in context of the work for the course on the Platform only. Any further use of legally protected content (e.g., transfer to third parties) is only permitted after prior written consent by the respective rights owner.

7. Subscriptions and payments

The BitDegree payment processor has an auto renewal feature, which means that by selecting subscription based services, you authorize BitDegree to maintain your account information and to charge that account automatically upon the renewal of the service you choose with no further action required by you.

BitDegree reserves the right to change the prices for subscription services. Price changes will take effect at the start of the next subscription period. BitDegree will inform the users about any price changes 30 days prior to any changes applied. By agreeing with these terms of service, you accept the new price by continuing to use your subscription after the price change. If you do not agree with the price changes, you can cancel your subscription before the price change goes into force.

BitDegree is responsible for the transactions on the Platform, including refunds, cancellations and chargebacks.

8. Money Back Guarantee

If you are not fully satisfied with the BitDegree services within the first 14 days after the purchase, BitDegree will refund the full amount of your purchase and will discontinue your access. Refunds will not be proceeded for accounts which have violated the terms of service or exceeded the 14 day term. If BitDegree determines that a user is abusing the money back guarantee & refund policy, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account and discontinue or restrict all current or future use of the service provided by BitDegree without issuing a refund. To request for a refund, email [email protected]

9. Rules for the use of the Platform and for posting content

By providing the Platform BitDegree provides the technical conditions for an open exchange of experiences and opinions of the users. Only to the extent that it is obligated by law or by authorities, BitDegree will examine specific content, remove it and take appropriate measures, if necessary. Therefore, it is of outmost importance that you respect the rights of third parties and generally commit to a respectful interaction and mutual consideration of each other’s interest. This includes also in the areas for the exchange of views and discussions, tolerance and the openness towards different-minded people and the readiness for constructive conflict resolution when needed. In particular, the user commits to observe the following rules on the Platform.

You shall only make true and non-misleading statements in your profile and your communication with other users. When setting a profile picture, you must ensure that the public display of these photos is permitted and does not contain references to logos, trademarks or other proprietary information on businesses and the display of the photo does not violate any applicable laws or rights of third parties. This applies in particular to personal rights and the right to one's own image.

You shall ensure that the reproduction and communication to the public of content submitted by them including text, images, graphics, videos, etc. on the Platform is permitted. In particular, you have to ensure that by uploading contents onto the Platform, you do not violate any copyright and ancillary copyright protected positions of third parties (e.g., by uploading plagiarisms of academic papers, pirated movies or software, etc.), no personal rights, rights to one's own image, no trademark rights held by third parties (brands, company names, titles, etc.).

You are obliged to adhere to any applicable laws when using the content and services of BitDegree. In particular, it is prohibited to upload content of unconstitutional organizations as well as the proliferation of unconstitutional, particularly racist, ideas, the dissemination of pornographic material, to upload content that is libelous, slanderous or otherwise defamatory or violates statutory regulations (e.g., criminal law, youth protection law, privacy law, copyright law or trademark law).

Any improper use of the Platform is prohibited. Without limitation, the following acts in particular constitute improper use: (i) if data on the Platform is altered, deleted, suppressed or rendered unusable without authorization; (ii) by using mechanisms, software or scripts in connection with the use of the Platform which are likely to affect the operation of the Platform; (iii) by any blocking, overwriting, modifying and copying of content, unless it is necessary for the proper use of the Platform’s services (copying by means of robot / crawler search engine technology is for example not necessary for the proper use of the Platform’s services and is therefore prohibited); (iv) by distributional and publicly communicating content on the Platform’s website or content of other Users if the User has no explicit distribution right; (v) by every action that is likely to affect the functionality of the Platform’s infrastructure, especially by crush loading it; (vi) by introducing malicious codes such as viruses, worms, Trojan horses and related scripts or programs; (vii) by simultaneously sending chain letters and the sending of identical private messages to multiple users unknown to the User; (viii) in case of any insinuating or sexual communication (explicit or implicit).

Before setting links, the linked content must be checked for rights violations. Linking to illegal sites, especially with an extremist, inciting or offensive content is prohibited. BitDegree expressly disassociates itself from the linked content and assume no liability for it. Solely the operator of such site is responsible for the content of these websites.

You shall pay attention to behave appropriately towards other users and to not make any defamatory or vexatious statements while exchanging views and opinions in discussion forums.

If you or a third-party gains knowledge of content which is unlawful or inappropriate according to the foregoing provisions, BitDegree requests to report the violation via the contact or e-mail [email protected]. BitDegree will examine the content immediately upon receipt of such notice.

Furthermore, the you are obligated to comply with the following code of honor: (i) You will register for one account only and will not make the login data available to anyone; (ii) All work results which you hand in with regard to works and examinations are the result of your own work without external help (unless collaboration with others is explicitly permitted) and without the aid of materials other than more explicitly permitted for the course; (iii) You will not make available any solutions to works, examinations or other assignments to others. This includes your own solutions as well as those released by the respective lecturer; (iv) You will not engage in any activity that would dishonestly improve your results, or improve or deteriorate the results of others. In particular I will not perform any examinations or provide any other assignments for others.

10. Violations of the terms of use

BitDegree reserves the right to delete content which does not comply with these TOS, to prevent or reverse illegal actions, and to warn or to lock accounts of users who violate these TOS either indefinitely or for a limited period of time to make them adhere to these TOS. Warnings or the locking of accounts will be communicated to you via e-mail. BitDegree also reserves the right to terminate the user contract immediately, if in individual cases the continuation of the user contract is unacceptable.

Users that were banned for violating the TOS may be permitted to use the Platform again, if it is assured that they will refrain from abusive behavior in the future.

The above provisions also apply in the case that BitDegree has reasonable grounds to suspect a systematic undermining of internal security measures (e.g., e-mail abuse, the inclusion of harmful components such as viruses, worms, Trojan horses).

11. Warranty and liability of the user / Indemnification

You assure and warrant that you are entitled to and able to grant BitDegree the rights of use to the uploaded Your Content in the scope as provided for in Sections 6. You also warrant to BitDegree not to post content onto the Platform which violates the provisions of Section 9, not to commit any of the prohibited acts provided in and not to provide any false information.

You are solely responsible for all of their content uploaded to the portal including texts, articles, photographs, etc., and for the existence of any necessary legal entitlements relating to that as well as for their actions on the Platform. BitDegree does not generally check the content and actions of the you unless. You indemnify and keep BitDegree, its personnel harmless from any liabilities or expenses including legal attorney's fees as well as potential and actual costs of legal proceedings and administrative fines, if claims are being brought on BitDegree, its employees or other personnel because the User culpably violates their obligations under Sections 7 and 8 and infringes rights of third parties or of persons represented by them. The same applies if claims results from otherwise illegal content and in cases where claims are brought by consumer bodies or authorities. BitDegree will inform you about the claim and give you, to the extent possible and reasonable, the opportunity to defend against asserted claims. You are obliged to end the infringing use immediately if requested by BitDegree and to fully disclose to BitDegree all relevant facts concerning the use. All further rights and claims of BitDegree for damages remain unaffected.

If rights of third parties are violated by the yours contents you have to provide BitDegree at BitDegree’s own discretion and at the yours expense with the right of use, if you are the owner, or limit the content so that no third-party rights are being violated.

12. Liability

BitDegree shall be liable to you without restriction for any damages arising from injury to life, limb or health, based on an intentional or negligent breach of duty and for other damages caused by intentional or gross negligent breach of duty or an acquired assurance or warranty. For other damages incurred due to slight negligence BitDegree is only liable in case of breach of essential contractual obligations, meaning contractual obligations which are essential for the proper conduct of the performance and on which the contractual partner can reasonably rely as well as those whose breach jeopardizes the purpose of the contract. In these cases BitDegree’s liability is limited to damages that are fore seeable for this type of contract.

Only you shall be liable for content uploaded by you. In this respect BitDegree shall not assume any liability.

BitDegree makes every effort to keep the Platform constantly available. You acknowledge that a constant availability of the Platform’s website is technically impossible. In particular, maintenance, security or capacity issues and events not in the sphere or influence of BitDegree (e.g., disruptions in public communication networks, power failures etc.) may result in brief malfunctions or temporary suspension of services on the Platform’s website. BitDegree may change the times of availability of certain parts of the services at any time and after a respective not on the website of the Platform.

If BitDegree is unable to provide the service of the Platform due to operational or technical malfunctions it will undertake all efforts reasonable to publish a respective note about the interruption of the service on the homepage of the Platform’s website as soon as possible. BitDegree shall not be liable such interruptions as well as for damages resulting from loss of data if the damages could have been avoided by a regular and complete backup of all relevant data by the User. Therefore, each and every user should ensure the backup of important documents at regular intervals.

13. Modification of Services of the Platform

BitDegree reserves the right to add, modify or remove any or all of the services of the Platform at any time, in particular with regard to the courses, or change the hours of operation of the Platform.

BitDegree shall have no liability to Users in respect of any losses arising as a result of any changes to the services of the Platform.

14. Contract details

BitDegree focuses primarily on English-speaking users. The communication between you and BitDegree is therefore entirely in English. The TOS and consumer information are also available in English.

15. Amendments to terms of use

BitDegree may amend these TOS at any time.

16. Final Provisions

If any provision of these TOS is or becomes invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected. The parties undertake to replace any invalid provision with a valid provision which is in its economically and legally desired sense and purpose as close to the invalid provision as possible. This also applies to contractual loopholes.

The contractual relationship with users, these Terms of Use and their interpretation shall be governed solely by the laws of the Republic of Lithuania. The application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (“CISG”) is excluded.

If you are a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law or if you have no permanent residence within Lithuania, then the venue for litigation arising out of or in connection with this contract is Vilnius. If you are a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law or the User has no permanent residence within Lithuania, then the venue for all rights and obligations resulting from the contractual agreements with the user is Vilnius.

BitDegree prefers amicable dispute resolution process. In case of any misunderstanding or controversy, BitDegree offers to contact directly with BitDegree and resolve such a conflict in a friendly manner. If it cannot be resolved in a friendly way within three months after the conflict has arisen, any further dispute shall be settled with respect to the following rules:

In case you are not treated as a consumer in accordance with the laws applicable to his capacity, any dispute, controversy or claim arising our or in connection with this user contract where the disputed amount exceeds EUR 100,000 shall be finally resolved by arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. The number of arbitrators shall be 3 (three). The venue of arbitration shall be Vilnius, Lithuania. The language of arbitration shall be English. If the criterion of EUR 100,000 of this agreement is not met, any dispute between the Parties shall be settled before the competent courts of Vilnius, Lithuania.