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Terms and conditions - Platform

By using the Open Brain Platform, you agree to our terms and privacy policies, which outline data usage and your responsibilities. Please review them carefully.

Background

The Blue Brain Project (hereinafter, the “BBP”), a Swiss Brain Initiative operating within the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (hereinafter, the “EPFL”) has developed, for the past 20 years, approximately 18 million lines of code that enable the building, simulating, analyzing, and visualizing of digital brain models – biologically accurate replicas of brain tissue or entire brains. The EPFL’s BBP has open-sourced its related data, models, and software for use by the research community. This foundational contribution serves as the starting point for the Open Brain Institute, a not-for-profit Swiss Foundation registered under IDE number CHE-329.972.115 (hereinafter, the “OBI”), to share these resources with the community and catalyze further development of Digital Brain Models of any kind.

The OBI operates the Open Brain Platform (hereinafter, the "Platform"), a web-accessible online platform running on cloud computing resources and designed to aggregate and provide access to neuroscience-related content and tools.

These Terms and Conditions (hereinafter, the “Terms”) govern the use of the Platform for academic research purposes to the exclusion of commercial research and purposes. Any commercial use of the Platform is authorised only upon the prior conclusion of a commercial agreement between the User and OBI. Subject to the above, the academic access and use of the Platform is expressly and exclusively governed by these Terms as well as the privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) and the citation policy (the “Citation Policy”). Paid Services offered by OBI are in addition governed by the financing policy (the “Financing Policy”).

1. Definitions

  • a. Assets

    Data sets, computational models, software tools, algorithms, and workflows, including Digital Brain Models, made available on the Platform for the purpose of research exploration, simulation, and analysis in the field of neuroscience. Assets include: (I) the Assets created and/or shared by OBI, including but not limited to BBP data, tools and material shared on open-source access (the “OBI Background Assets”), (ii) the Assets created outside the Platform and uploaded to the Platform by the Users (the “Users Background Assets”), (iii) any Assets created or modified by the Users through the Platform (the “Users Modified Assets”). Each User can decide whether or not to make his/her/its Users Background Assets and/or Users Modified Assets available to other Users. Any Assets under i-iii, when made available to other Users on the Platform are consequently referred to as Shared Assets (the “Shared Assets”). For the sake of clarity, any Assets created or modified by OBI and shared by OBI on the Platform are consequently included in the OBI Background Assets.
  • b. Digital Brain Model

    Any computational model of any aspect of the brain, such as synapses, neurons, circuits, and brain regions, the whole brain, used for neuroscience research, simulation and analysis.
  • c. Force Majeure

    Means circumstances beyond the reasonable control of OBI and all acts that are neither foreseeable nor objectively attributable to OBI, including but not limited to a power supply problem.
  • d. Lab Members

    Users which are part of a Virtual Laboratory.
  • e. Platform

    The Open Brain Platform and all its Assets, Services and web components accessible through the domain name https://openbraininstitute.org/app/virtual-lab.
  • f. Principal Investigator (or PI)

    A physical person User who creates and administers a Virtual Laboratory.
  • g. Projects

    Sub-divisions of Virtual Labs with assigned Lab Members undertaking a specific research project.
  • h. Services

    services and tools provided to the Users through the technical infrastructure of the Platform and made available through the “Explore”, “Build” and “Experiment” sections of the Platform, including cloud computing capabilities, a chat, Assets storage, Assets management, Assets sharing mechanisms, the ability to simulate Digital Brain Models and Virtual Laboratories.
  • i. Unacceptable Content

    means any content, of any nature, which is or which contains any material that: is (i) unlawful, defamatory, indecent, obscene or in contravention of any law or regulation, or which infringes the rights of any third party; and/or (ii) promotes violence or illegal activities or promotes discrimination based on race, sex, religion, national origin, physical disability or age; and/or (iii) contains any viruses, worms, Trojan horses or other contaminants or disabling devices that may modify, delete, disable or damage any data, files, software or system; and/or (iv) other content that OBI may consider unacceptable, at its sole discretion.
  • j. User

    Any individual or organization who accesses the Platform.
  • k. Virtual Laboratory (or Virtual Lab)

    An environment within the Platform where Users can carry out neuroscience projects, such as research exploring brain knowledge, by using, modifying, building, testing and/or simulating Assets, collaborating and inviting Lab Members, conducting experiments and analyzing results.

2. Description of the Platform and types of services

The Platform is composed of three main sections (“Explore”, “Build”, and “Experiment”) as well as a chat available in each section. The Build, Explore, and Experiment sections are accessible through Virtual Laboratories, which the User can create or join. Each section gives access to specific functionalities, as follows:

  • The Explore section serves as a public repository for Shared Assets. Subject to the licensing conditions as specified for each Shared Asset, Shared Assets in the Explore section can be consulted, explored, and re-used by all Users.
  • The Build section gives the User the tools to create custom Digital Brain Models at multiple scales (cellular, circuit, and/or system), either from scratch or by modifying existing ones.
  • The Experiment section enables the User to run experiments and model complex brain processes in a controlled, reproducible setting.

These functionalities are subject to a subscription and/or credit fee, as defined in Section 6.b below, and to the acceptance of the Financing Policy.

3. Access, use and restriction of Access to the Platform

  • a. Principle

    Any access and use of the Platform shall be done in accordance with these Terms. The access and use of the Platform imply the User's full and unconditional acceptance of these Terms and compliance with applicable law.
  • b. Access to the Platform through the User’s own systems

    The User is responsible for the security and configuration of his/her/its computer hardware, systems, programs and data within his/her/its sphere of influence, used to access the Platform. The User is responsible for the security and configuration of his/her/its computer hardware, systems, programs and data within his/her/its sphere of influence, used to access the Platform.
  • c. Registration through a Github account

    Access to the Platform requires the User to register for a Github account on https://github.com/. The User undertakes to provide accurate and complete information and to comply with the terms and conditions imposed by Github. The User who creates an account on behalf of a legal entity or organization shall have the authority to accept these Terms. The User is solely responsible for all activities that occur under his/her/its account.
  • d. Suspension and restriction of access

    In addition to OBI’s termination right set forth in Section 10.b below, OBI may freely and at its sole discretion suspend or restrict access to all or any part of the Platform on a permanent or temporary basis, without notice or reason.

4. Third party services & links and references

The Platform may include third party (including but not limited to AWS, Github and Stripe) software, products or services (the “Third Party Services”), which are subject to their own terms and conditions, to which the User undertakes to comply by using the Platform. The Users acknowledge and agree that the Platform and the Assets are hosted and managed by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Each Third Party Service is the sole responsibility of the third party from which it originates. OBI shall not be held responsible or liable for:

  • any malfunction, disruption, failure of Third Party Service or damages arising from the latter.
  • any malfunction, disruption, or failure of the Platform or inability to provide the Services which is mainly caused by a malfunction, disruption, failure of a Third Party Service.

The User acknowledges that the performance and availability of such Third Party Services are beyond the control of OBI, and any issues arising from these Third Party Services shall not constitute a breach of these Terms by OBI. OBI PROVIDES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH REGARD TO THIRD PARTY SERVICES OR COMPONENTS, AND OBI WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY FAILURE OF ANY THIRD PARTY SERVICES OR COMPONENT TO FUNCTION AS EXPECTED OR INTENDED.

OBI may at any time and without notice remove or add Third Party Services from/on the Platform.

The Platform may provide/contain links or references to other websites and resources, including to Third Party Services. OBI hereby makes no representations, warranties, or other commitments or endorsements whatsoever about those websites and resources that may be referenced, accessible from, or linked to. OBI shall not be liable for any content associated with such websites and resources.

5. User's obligations and restriction on use

The User agrees to use the Platform at his/her own risk.

The User shall not use the Platform:

  • to store or transmit Unacceptable Content;
  • in breach of any Intellectual Property Rights or any other third party rights;
  • in a way that violates any law or any regulation or is other prohibited by these Terms, the Financing Policy, the Citation Policy, and/or the Privacy Policy [https://www.openbraininstitute.org/privacy].

The User further undertakes:

  • not to disclose his/her/its login details (user name and password) to access the Platform to anyone;
  • to immediately inform OBI if the User suspects that his/her/its password has been lost/stolen and/or otherwise compromised and/or otherwise suspect that the User’s access to the Platform may have been compromised;
  • not to attempt to obtain unauthorized access to the Platform or to its related systems or networks; 
  • not to cause or launch any automated programs or scripts for the purpose of scraping, indexing, surveying, or otherwise data mining any portion of the Platform;
  • to use the Platform and the Assets only in a loyal manner and in strict compliance with the Intellectual Property Rights regime applicable to each Asset;
  • not to contribute to or encourage anyone else to use the Platform or the Assets other than in a manner that is fair and strictly in accordance with the Intellectual Property Rights regime applicable to each Asset;
  • not to compromise the security of the Platform;
  • not to send or cause to send spam or unsolicited letters or emails to any other User of the Website or to OBI, including its agents, governing bodies and employees;
  • not to alter the Platform;
  • not to decompile, reverse engineer or disassemble the Platform or portion thereof;
  • to immediately inform OBI if the User becomes aware of any use of the Platform that does not comply with the provisions of these Terms, in particular with this Section 5.

In addition:

  • as a Lab Member, the User undertakes to use the Platform, its Assets and Services within the Virtual Laboratory in compliance with the PI’s instructions.
  • as a PI, the User undertakes to (i) assume full responsibility for inviting Lab Members within its Virtual Laboratory and to (ii) ensure that the Lab Members and the Projects comply with these Terms, in particular, ensure that intellectual property rights are respected within the Virtual Laboratory.

Any unauthorized use of the Platform, its Services and/or its Assets as well as any use or access in violation with these Terms, may engage the User’s liability (see Section 9.b below).

6. Fees

The fees consist of a monthly or yearly subscription fee for the Pro and Premium plans as well as credits. The various subscription options, the credits and the payment methods are further described in the Financing Policy, which forms an integral part of these Terms.

  • a. Subscription fee

    Depending on the subscription option chosen, access to a Virtual Lab may require the payment by the User of a subscription fee, whose amount differs from the scope of Services chosen. The different options of subscription fees are presented to the User in the Financing Policy during the registration process for a Virtual Laboratory. The subscription plan can be upgraded, downgraded or cancelled by a User at any time, subject to a prior one-month notice for the end of a month.
  • b. Credits

    In addition to the subscription fee, the building and running of a Virtual Laboratory require the purchase by the PI of credits, which represent an amount paid in advance for the use of the respective Services through the Virtual Laboratory. The sale of credits is final and credits are not refundable nor transferable between Users. Consumed credits are deducted from prepaid credits according to current rates, as defined and periodically updated by OBI. The PI is responsible for the budgeting and management of credits within a Virtual Laboratory. OBI may grant at its sole discretion credits free of charge as part of initial tests use, promotional programs, or other rewards and returns due.

7. Intellectual property rights

  • a. Ownership

    The owner of the OBI Background Assets retains all rights, including ownership, in the OBI Background Assets. The owner of the Users Background Assets retains all rights, including ownership in the Users Background Assets. By uploading Users Background Assets on the Platform, the User warrants that the uploading of the Users Background Assets does not infringe any third-party rights. The Users Modified Assets are jointly owned by OBI and the PI on behalf of the Lab Members of the concerned Virtual Laboratory. The PI is solely responsible for the management and distribution of ownership between Lab Members, as the case may be according to applicable law and regulations.
  • b. Right to use and to commercialize

    OBI Background Assets: OBI hereby grants the User the non-exclusive and royalty-free right to use the OBI Background Assets (to the extent they are Shared Assets) in accordance with the CC BY 4.0 licensing conditions. Subject to these licensing conditions, all revenues resulting from the commercialization of OBI Background Assets shall accrue to OBI. Users Background Assets: The User hereby grants OBI, and the other Users to the extent that the User Background Asset is a Shared Asset, the non-exclusive and royalty-free right to use the Users Background Assets uploaded on the Platform in accordance with CC BY 4.0 licensing conditions, which includes OBI’s right to make available these Users Background Assets to the other Users. Users Modified Assets: The Users Modified Assets which are Shared Assets shall be used: - by the Users, in accordance with the CC BY-NC 4.0 licensing conditions; - by OBI, in accordance with the CC BY 4.0 licensing conditions. Unless specified otherwise in a specific agreement concluded between OBI and the PI responsible for the Virtual Laboratory, all revenues resulting from the commercialization of Users Modified Assets shall be split 50% for OBI and 50% for the PI on behalf of the Lab Members of the concerned Virtual Laboratory. For the sake of clarity, all costs incurred by the commercial exploitation of Users Modified Assets are to be borne equally by the above-mentioned beneficiaries and shall be deducted from the aforementioned shares; The PI (on behalf of the Lab Members of the concerned Virtual Laboratory)’s share of commercial exploitation revenues shall be made available, at the PI’s sole discretion, (i) in cash or (ii) in the form of credits to be used in the Virtual Laboratory, which cannot subsequently be redeemed in cash. The PI is solely responsible for the management and distribution of license revenues between Lab Members, as the case may be according to applicable law and regulations. The final decision to commercially exploit the Users Modified Assets belongs exclusively to OBI, at its sole discretion.

8. Citation and acknowledgment

The User shall provide full acknowledgement and citation in any reproduction, regardless of the form or method used (including, but not limited to downloading, screen capture, printing, etc.), of all or part of the elements of the Platform, including, but not limited to, its content (such as texts, images, videos, data, databases, user interface elements, etc.). The User undertakes to mention in a clearly visible manner the source of the data concerned, in close proximity and each time it is used, at least in the following form: [Source: Open Brain Institute (OBI). Retrieved from [https://openbraininstitute.org] on [Date]]. For academic or professional use, Users should adhere to the citation style appropriate to their field.

Any adaptation, modification, translation, transformation of any kind of all or part of the elements of the Platform, including, but not limited to, its content (such as texts, images, videos, data, databases, user interface elements, etc.) shall be mentioned in a clearly visible manner and in close proximity to the adapted content, for example: [[Type of adaptation (e.g. Created/, Translated, etc.)] using data/content from Open Brain Institute (OBI), [https://openbraininstitute.org], accessed on [Date]]. For academic or professional use, Users should adhere to the citation style appropriate to their field. The User shall not misrepresent, distort, or materially alter the original data or content in a manner that could mislead or misrepresent the original source's intent, meaning, or context.

Not withstanding the foregoing, all image files contained on the Website are protected by a copyright and shall include all required copyright information. The User shall, in all cases and at all times, retain the copyright notice associated with the image files as displayed on the Website. As regards OBI’s copyright, and unless otherwise indicated, all image files shall include the following notice:[© [Year]OBI].

9. Warranties and liability

  • a. No warranty from OBI

    OBI provides no warranties in connection with the Platform, its Assets and Services. In particular, OBI does not warrant that: the Platform will operate in an uninterrupted and secure manner or that it will be accessible at any time and in any place; errors or defects that may affect the Website will be corrected; the Platform is free from viruses or other harmful elements, the User being responsible for keeping his or her computer hardware up to date, using appropriate anti-virus software and refraining from installing any other potentially malicious programs; the use of the Platform will meet the User’s expectations. THE ASSETS CONTAINED ON THE PLATFORM ARE PROVIDED TO THE USER “AS IS” AND WITH NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY ARISING FROM STATUTE, COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, OR USAGE OF TRADE. NEITHER OBI NOR ITS EMPLOYEES OR REPRESENTATIVES SHALL ASSUME ANY LIABILITY WHATSOEVER IN CONNECTION WITH THE ASSETS AND NEITHER OBI NOR ITS EMPLOYEES OR REPRESENTATIVES SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INACCURACY, ERROR, OMISSION OR MODIFICATION OF THE ASSETS. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, OBI HAS NO OBLIGATION TO INDEMNIFY, DEFEND, OR HOLD HARMLESS THE USER, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION AGAINST CLAIMS RELATED TO PRODUCT LIABILITY OR INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS. MOREOVER, OBI, ITS EMPLOYEES AND REPRESENTATIVES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES ARISING FROM THE USE OF THE PLATFORM, in particular for: damages and losses arising from the act of a third party or incumbent on a third party by virtue of its contractual obligations; indirect or consequential damages, including lost profits or loss of data, arising out of or in any way connected with access to and use of the Website; damages or losses arising from a virus or bug affecting the Website; damages or losses resulting from the impossibility of accessing the Website (or parts thereof) due to server maintenance or any other cause, whether scheduled or unscheduled; damages or losses arising from acts or omissions on the part of the User, including accidental deletion of data. Liability arising from the acts of the OBI’s auxiliaries is excluded to the extent permitted by applicable law. OBI shall not be liable for any default if such default is the result of Force Majeure. In the event of Force Majeure, OBI’s obligations, if any, are suspended until the situation that led to Force Majeure has been fully restored.
  • b. Indeminification by user

    The User shall indemnify OBI, and OBI’s representatives and employees, and hold them harmless from and against any and all losses, damages, claims, penalties, fines, costs and expenses, including without limitation attorneys’ fees and legal costs, which may arise in connection with: the failure to comply with these Terms, the Financing Policy, the Citation Policy and/or the Privacy Policy; any unlawful behavior or infringement of third-party rights, in particular intellectual property rights and/or personality rights of third parties; any damage caused by use of the Website.

10. Termination

  • a. Termination by the User

    The User may close his account at any time by emailing support@openbraininstitute.org. Payment obligations pursuant to Section 6 above are reserved.
  • b. Termination by OBI

    OBI may block, close or suspend a User’s account as well as prohibit a User from accessing and/or using all or part of the Platform in the following cases, without notice, without giving any reason and without any compensation: - any violation of one or more provisions of these Terms, of the Financing Policy ((e.g. User in default of payment), of the Citation Policy and/or of the Privacy Policy; - any violation of a legal obligation; - any behavior detrimental and/or damaging to the Platform, to OBI, a partner, a User or any other third party; - in any other case as deemed necessary by OBI. In the event of extraordinary termination, OBI will use reasonable efforts to notify the User in advance to allow the User to export his/her/its Assets from the Services, unless (i) it is not appropriate for OBI to do so, (ii) OBI reasonably believe that continued access to the User’s account will cause damage to OBI or anyone else, or (iii) OBI is legally prohibited from doing so.
  • c. Consequences

    Upon termination, the User’s account is immediately disabled, and the User will not be able to access the Platform, his/her/its account, any Assets or any files or other documents contained in his/her/its account. Upon termination of the account of the last PI administering a Virtual Laboratory, the Virtual Laboratory is immediately disabled and all the data it contains deleted.

11. Data privacy

The data privacy related to the access and use of the Platform are governed by the Privacy Policy, which forms an integral part of these Terms, available here: [https://www.openbraininstitute.org/privacy]. 

By accepting these Terms, the User accepts to be publicly listed on the Platform.

Miscellaneous

  • a. Amendments to these Terms

    OBI may amend these Terms, including the Privacy Policy, the Citation Policy and the Financing Policy, at any time. The promulgation of the new versions of these documents is announced on the Website. New versions of these Terms shall take effect immediately for all Users. After the new versions become effective, continued use of the Website constitutes acceptance of the amended Terms.
  • b. Non waiver

    Any failure by OBI to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of those rights.
  • c. Severability

    If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable by a court, the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in effect.
  • d. Governing Law

    These Terms shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of Switzerland, to the exclusion of its conflict of law provisions.
  • e. Jurisdiction

    Any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the ordinary courts in Lausanne (Canton de Vaud).

Any question about these Terms shall be addressed to info@openbraininstitute.org.

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