General trading conditions

General Terms and Conditions of Business of Presse Dienst Süd GmbH [Press Services South & Co. Ltd.]

1. GENERAL MATTERS, SCOPE OF APPLICATION

1.1 The following General Terms and Conditions of Business (GTCBs) of Presse Dienst Süd GmbH (hereafter referred to as Presse Dienst Süd) shall be the only ones that apply. General terms and conditions defined by the customer such as conflict with or deviate from the General Terms and Conditions of Business of Presse Dienst Süd shall not be recognised as having any validity, unless Presse Dienst Süd shall have expressly acknowledged them as valid in writing. The GTCBs of Presse Dienst Süd shall also apply if Presse Dienst Süd, being aware of conditions that conflict with or deviate from these GTCBs, should carry out a delivery without express reservation.
1.2 In commercial transactions these GTCBs shall apply to all future conditions of business, even if no renewed and explicit agreement has been made to this effect.
1.3 Employees of Presse Dienst Süd have no authority to make oral agreements, or to give any kind of assurance, in so far as this would result in an extension of the object of the contract as concluded.

2. CONCLUSION OF A CONTRACT

2.1 Offers made by Presse Dienst Süd are made without obligation, and represent an invitation to the customer to place an order with Presse Dienst Süd.
2.2 The order placed by the customer represents a binding offer, which Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled to take up within four weeks, either through written confirmation of the order, or by actually supplying the service requested.
2.3 The nature and scope of the service and the time when it is to be carried out may be derived from the individual agreement, from the confirmation of the order and/or the delivery certificates or delivery notes of Presse Dienst Süd.
2.4 Fixed terms shall be dated from the time when the confirmation of the order is received by the customer; not, however, before all terms and technical details of the order shall have been clarified and any required starting materials, documents and/or permissions shall have been provided by the customer.
2.5 Subsequent change requests on the part of the customer interrupt the fixed terms set for a service to be supplied, so that a new fixed term shall commence therewith.

3. FILM-, VIDEO- AND AUDIO RECORDING SERVICES

3.1 Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled to subject both negatives and positives to any labelling, specifications, marginal selections or improvements (such as glossy or matt treatment, perforation and so on) or to carry out any of these modifications when this is seen to be necessary for the processing of orders, as also to remove any labelling, specifications or captions etc. that are already present, against payment, when these constitute a hindrance to the processing of the order.
3.2 All title presentations, title negatives, photo plates and other signal carriers that have been created by Presse Dienst Süd, as well as any documentation required for copying (e.g. contact tapes and filter tapes, lists of cuts, floppy disks, data carriers etc.), shall remain the property of Presse Dienst Süd, irrespective of the remuneration made for the services supplied by Presse Dienst Süd. Presse Dienst Süd shall not be subject to an obligation to keep these materials after the processing has been completed. To facilitate subsequent orders, however, Presse Dienst Süd will keep the materials for two years, without admitting any liability in this respect. Materials will be kept for longer periods only on the basis of a special written agreement.
3.3 In the case of colour copies or audio recordings, judgments of the colour or tone quality are subjective and can vary widely. In so far as no special instructions from the customer have been received, the blending of the colours or of the tone (tone colour) in the execution of the order shall be at the discretion of Presse Dienst Süd. In the case of colour or tone variation occasioned by the materials, the process or the system, the tolerance levels that are standard in the industry shall apply. An explicit reference is made, in this connection, to section 11.1.
3.4 In principle all services supplied by Presse Dienst Süd are calculated in shifts. One shift corresponds to ten production hours of an integral working period. In so far as, in keeping with the price list, charges are made for the use of equipment on an hourly basis, hourly charges will also be made for the personnel required. Any partial hours are to be rounded upwards to the full hour.

4. SAFE KEEPING OF TJE MATERIALS

4.1 Film or other materials that have been put into the hands of Presse Dienst Süd will be kept free of charge for the duration of the processing of the first order. The keeping of these materials after the processing has been completed forms no part of the services to which Presse Dienst Süd is obliged.
4.2 Storage of the materials following on the processing of the first order, or for any other purpose, shall be at the film warehouse of Presse Dienst Süd, which is not designed for archive storage purposes. Original negatives and secondary materials will not be stored separately.
4.3 Presse Dienst Süd accepts materials given into its hands for safe keeping without subjecting them to any kind of examination and in the state in which they are put into its hands for safe keeping. It is the responsibility of the customer to provide adequate insurance coverage for the materials to be left in the keeping of Presse Dienst Süd. The materials handed over for safe keeping will be deposited or reissued within normal working hours. The customer is to give notice that materials will be collected at least 24 hours in advance, so that the materials may be made available for collection.
4.4 Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled, if appropriate, to have the materials kept in third party storage in the name of the customer.
4.5 The storage charges shall be calculated on the basis of Presse Dienst Süd’s currently valid price list. In the case of materials that have not been processed by Presse Dienst Süd, the storage charges shall be reckoned from the day of delivery, and are to be paid three months at a time and in advance. Any partial month shall be rounded up to the full month.
4.6 The storage charges given in Presse Dienst Süd’s price lists do not include remuneration for exceptional work carried out, such as inventory work for instance, the drawing up of inventory lists, the seeking out of individual components, sorting operations and so on. Such work will be charged for separately, depending on the length of time involved.
4.7 Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled, after having given prior notice, to send the materials within an appropriate period to the last known address of the party placing the order.
4.8 If it should prove impossible for Presse Dienst Süd’s notice to this effect to be delivered by post, Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled, on the expiry of one month and at its own discretion, either to store the materials elsewhere (at the charge and at the risk of the customer), or to put them up at public auction, to sell them as second-hand goods, to destroy them or else freely to exploit them, inclusive of the rights of use assigned in security as defined by section 13.10.

5. RENTAL, LOANS FOR USE

5.1 Immediately on receipt of the article rented at the place of delivery, the customer is to assure himself that it is complete and that its external properties are in order. Presse Dienst Süd must be notified immediately of any damage to the article or other impairment. This shall apply likewise to damages suffered during shipment. No later complaints with reference to inadequate quantity or obvious defects will be acknowledged.
5.2 The customer shall be obliged to treat the objects loaned to him with all due care, and to take out appropriate insurance cover. The right to rent out or loan the articles to third parties is hereby excluded.
5.3 Presse Dienst Süd reserves to itself the right to select the shipment route and the means of shipment, in so far as there exists no written agreement with the customer to the contrary. Presse Dienst Süd will insure the goods during shipment only when requested in writing to do so, and only at the cost of the customer.
5.4 The risk shall pass to the customer as soon as the shipment has been put into the hands of the firm or persons who are to carry out the delivery, or as soon as it has left the warehouse of Presse Dienst Süd for the purpose of being dispatched.
5.5 On conclusion of the rental period, the customer is to send the object or objects back to Presse Dienst Süd free of charge. The customer shall bear the risk of damage occurring during shipment. This shall apply even in cases where Presse Dienst Süd effects the shipment for the customer. In case of the object rented suffering damage, being destroyed or lost (by theft, for instance), the customer shall be obliged to inform Presse Dienst Süd forthwith of what has occurred.
5.6 The nature, duration and scope of loans for the use of equipment, objects and facilities may in principle be derived from the individual agreement, from the confirmation of the order and/or the delivery certificates or delivery notes of Presse Dienst Süd.
In connection with the currently valid price list, these documents shall constitute the basis of billing, irrespective of the length of time the materials have been used by the customer.
5.7 Premises rented by the customer are to be handed over at the end of the period set for their use in the same condition as that in which they were made available to the customer at the start of the rental period. The full daily rental will continue to be charged for the duration of the work of dismantling or clearing up. The customer shall bear the costs for the work of dismantling and clearing up, as also for the disposal of any refuse or waste.
5.8 The minimum rental period shall be one day. For days within the rental period booked during which studios and adjoining rooms cannot be used by the customer (days of standstill), for a period of up to two days only the rental for the premises will be charged to the customer.
5.9 The customer shall be obliged to adhere to the agreed dates for the start and finish of his work. The customer shall not have any claim to the premises being put at his disposal if the agreed date should be exceeded, or at weekends or on public holidays.
5.10 If an order should be cancelled within 24 hours before the start of the agreed rental period, a cancellation charge to the amount of 50% of the entire rental charges will have to be paid. It shall remain open to the customer to demonstrate that the cancellation has occasioned lesser damage or no damage at all to Presse Dienst Süd.
5.11 The customer shall be obliged to take out insurance on the property or properties and/or rooms/premises put at his disposal. The customer hereby undertakes to have regard to and to adhere to all the VBG[1], VDE[2], VDI[3]and DIN prescriptions that currently apply, as well as the generally recognised technical safety regulations and rules for safety in the workplace. Fire and first aid officers and security personnel, in so far as these are prescribed by official regulations, are to be appointed by the customer, or will be charged for by Presse Dienst Süd in keeping with the outlay involved.
5.12 Presse Dienst Süd will admit no liability for objects of whatever kind that have been introduced by the user to the premises rented, nor will it provide any insurance coverage for such objects. This does not apply to those objects which have been rented by the customer from Presse Dienst Süd.
5.13 In so far as disruption of normal operations, or any other interruptions for operational reasons, should make it impossible to provide the contractually agreed services for more than four consecutive hours, so long as this has not been occasioned or caused by the customer, his representatives or vicarious agents, for any period of disruption in excess of this Presse Dienst Süd’s claim to remuneration shall lapse, until such time as the disruption shall have been cleared up. The customer may withdraw from the contract in such a case only if the cause of the disruption cannot be rectified promptly and if the customer would be seriously affected in his business interests as a result of the disruption to service.

[1] Vorschriften der Berufsgenossenschaften: Regulations of the Professional Associations.
[2] Verband Deutscher Elektrotechniker: Association of German Electronics Engineers.
[3] Verein Deutscher Ingenieure: Society of German Engineers.

6. OBLIGATIONS OG THE CUSTOMER

6.1 The customer hereby gives assurance that he is entitled, in statutory and/or contractual terms, to carry out the placement of the orders together with all the dispositions and legal matters associated with them. He also attests that there are no legal obstacles that stand in the way of his placement of the order.
6.2 The customer hereby undertakes, if expressly requested by Presse Dienst Süd to do so, to provide an explanation showing that he is not subject to any restrictions in respect of the materials to be processed, and if appropriate to obtain consent from the party in whose authority it lies. This shall apply likewise to the rights exercised by companies that exploit third party rights (like GEMA[1], GVL[2] etc.).
6.3 With reference to the statutory and/or contractual prescriptions of companies exploiting third party rights, Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled to supply such companies with the information they require. The customer hereby expressly releases Presse Dienst Süd from any possible claims on the part of these companies.
6.4 With reservation in respect of any written agreements to the contrary, Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled to regard the customer (or party depositing the materials – if more than one, each party responsible for joint deposit) as entitled to take copies of these materials and as legitimated to issue sub-licences.
6.5 The customer shall be obliged
• to ensure full insurance coverage for the objects made available to him or kept for him by Presse Dienst Süd,
• to have available backup or secondary materials or specimens suitable for use as replacements for the starting materials,
• to inform Presse Dienst Süd forthwith of any changes of address, or changes with reference to the company constitution or parties in possession of legal claims,
• not to deliver any explosive materials to Presse Dienst Süd without prior notification in writing,
• to inform any third parties that might have legal claims of these GTCBs, and ensure that they express their consent to these in writing,
• to accept the services supplied at the duly agreed date and
• to reply to enquiries on the part of Presse Dienst Süd within an appropriate term.

[4] Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte: Society for the Rights of Musical Performance and Mechanical Reproduction.
[5] Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Lizenzschutzrechten: Society for the Exploitation of Licensing Copyright.

7. PRICES

7.1 Presse Dienst Süd’s prices are to be understood in euros, with the addition of VAT at the currently valid rate. In the case of deliveries, prices are to be taken as being ex works. Packaging, lading and freight costs will be charged for separately.
7.2 If the conclusion of the contract and the supply of the agreed service are separated by a period of more than four months, and if during this period the relevant costs for the provision of the service on the part of Presse Dienst Süd should go up (in particular as a result of wage agreements or increases in the price of materials), Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled to charge to the customer the higher prices that thereby result.
7.3 Disbursed costs for the services of third parties will be charged to the customer by Presse Dienst Süd with the addition of an administration fee of 20%. It shall remain open to the customer to demonstrate that the outlay incurred by Presse Dienst Süd through the commissioning of third parties has been less than this.

8. CONDITIONS OF PAYMENT, PROHIBITION OF OFFSETTING OF CHARGES

8.1 Presse Dienst Süd’s invoices become due for payment, to the full amount, on the collection or delivery of the contractual object, as defined by the individual agreement.
8.2 If the customer should fall into arrears, Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled to levy a charge on the customer of €15.00 for each warning letter. It shall remain open to the customer to demonstrate to Presse Dienst Süd that Presse Dienst Süd’s outlay on the warning letter has been less than this.
8.3 The customer shall not be entitled to offset charges on the basis of counterclaims, unless these counterclaims are either uncontested or have been upheld at law.
8.4 If after the conclusion of the contract the customer’s financial circumstances should suffer a significant deterioration, or if circumstances should come to the knowledge of Presse Dienst Süd which place its claim to remuneration at risk, Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled to decline to fulfil its own obligations to provide service to the customer as specified by the contract, until such time as the customer shall have fulfilled his obligations as specified by the contract or have provided security for these.
8.5 Presse Dienst Süd may define an appropriate term in which the customer, step by step, may in return for the services of Presse Dienst Süd at his discretion either fulfil his obligation to provide service as specified in the contract or provide security for the same. If the term should expire without effect, Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled to withdraw from the contract.

9. DELIVERIES AND SERVICES

9.1 Any times of delivery or times for a service to be supplied may be derived from Presse Dienst Süd’s confirmation of the order.
9.2 Presse Dienst Süd reserves to itself the right to carry out partial deliveries or delivery by advance instalment.
9.3 In case of events that constitute force majeure, Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled to postpone the delivery or service for the time that the hindrance persists.
9.4 If it should remain impossible in the long term (but at least for a minimum period of six months), as a result of force majeure, for Presse Dienst Süd to carry out the agreed delivery or service, Presse Dienst Süd shall be released from the obligation to deliver the goods or supply the service.
9.5 The concept of force majeure covers all circumstances for which Presse Dienst Süd cannot be held responsible and which make it impossible for Presse Dienst Süd to carry out the delivery or service, or make it so difficult that it cannot reasonably be expected to do so – such as for example a strike or a lawful lockout, war, bans on imports or exports, lack of energy or raw materials or a failure to obtain supplies punctually as a result of circumstances for which Presse Dienst Süd cannot be held responsible. If Presse Dienst Süd becomes free of the obligation to deliver the goods or supply the service, the customer shall be entitled to withdraw from the contract.
9.6 If, after the expiry of the term envisaged for a delivery or service, the delivery or service should be postponed at the request of the customer, Presse Dienst Süd will charge the customer for any storage costs that may fall due from this time on. In the case of materials being stored at the Presse Dienst Süd works, this shall be 0.5 % of the total invoicing amount for every month or partial month of storage. It shall remain open to the customer to supply proof that the storage costs incurred by Presse Dienst Süd have been less, or that no costs have been incurred whatever.

10. TRANSFER OF RISK

10.1 In the case of deliveries, the risk shall be transferred to the customer as soon as the contractual materials have been despatched or put into the hands of the party responsible for carrying out the shipment. This shall also apply where shipment is effected by Presse Dienst Süd or its vicarious agents.
10.2 Where goods are collected, the risk shall be transferred to the customer when the contractual materials have been handed over. If the despatch or collection should be postponed in view of circumstances for which the customer may be held responsible, the risk shall be transferred to the customer on the day at which the materials were ready for despatch or collection.
10.3 In the case of work effected for the customer, the risk shall pass to the customer at the time when the work is inspected and approved.

11. RIGHTS OF THE CUSTOMER IN CASES OF COMPLANT

11.1 If graphics or audio recordings that were not originally recorded on the equipment of Presse Dienst Süd are overwritten or rerecorded or otherwise processed, Presse Dienst Süd will only admit the obligation to carry out the rerecording in a professional manner. If mixing of multi-channel recordings or master mixing of television or cinematic film should have to be carried out by the personnel of Presse Dienst Süd without the presence of the customer or an employee appointed by the customer (in particular, a director) to be responsible for this task, Presse Dienst Süd will only admit the obligation to carry out such work in a technically faultless manner.
11.2 In other cases, in order to establish the existence of any defects, business customers are to examine the contractual object immediately after the delivery or performance of work, and if an obvious defect should be found, to notify Presse Dienst Süd of this in writing within one week, or else to state that the work has been inspected and approved.
11.3 Defects that are not immediately obvious are to be pointed out by business customers within two weeks from the time they appear, but at latest within one year from the delivery of the contractual object or from the inspection and approval of the work performed.
11.4 Users must point out obvious defects within two months from the time when the state of the goods or quality of work performed is found to be other than as specified by the contract. Defects that are not immediately obvious must be pointed out in writing within two years from the time when the contractual object is delivered or the work performed is inspected and approved.
11.5 If the customer should overstep the terms of exclusion for the pointing out of obvious defects as detailed in sections 11.2 and 11.4, the contractual object shall be seen as having been accepted or the work performed as having been inspected and approved.
11.6 If the contractual object or work performed should prove to be defective, the customer may at his own discretion call for subsequent fulfilment of the terms of the contract either through the correction of the defect or through the delivery or production of an object that is free of defects. In a case of work performed, Presse Dienst Süd shall have the right to choose the means of redress.
11.7 Presse Dienst Süd may make the subsequent fulfilment of the terms of the contract dependent on the customer’s paying some portion of the remuneration, to an amount that is appropriate when taking the defect into account. Presse Dienst Süd may decline the manner of subsequent fulfilment selected by the customer if it should be possible only at disproportionate cost.
11.8 If in the case of work to be performed Presse Dienst Süd should fail to effect subsequent fulfilment within an appropriate term set by the customer, the customer shall be entitled to carry out the work himself.
11.9 If a subsequent improvement by Presse Dienst Süd should twice prove inadequate, if Presse Dienst Süd should decline to carry out either form of subsequent fulfilment or if Presse Dienst Süd should fail to effect subsequent fulfilment within an appropriate term set by the customer, the customer shall have the right both in cases of delivery and in cases of work to be performed to reduce the remuneration, or alternatively to withdraw from the contract. In addition to this the customer may request reimbursement of any outlay that has been ineffectually made, or ask to be indemnified for damages. The customer’s right to withdraw from the contract, or to call for indemnification in place of the service to be supplied, is excluded in a case where the defect is insignificant.
11.10 For business customers the term of limitation shall be one year from the time of delivery of the contractual object or inspect and approval of the work performed. For users the term of limitation shall be two years from the time of delivery of the contractual object or from the inspection and approval of the work performed.
11.11 The customer shall have no right to complain of defects which have been occasioned by the inappropriate servicing or maintenance of the contractual object, or through modifications to the contractual object or work performed carried out on the customer’s own responsibility.

12. LIABILITY

12.1 Presse Dienst Süd will admit liability only for damages wilfully caused or such as are occasioned through gross negligence.
12.2 In cases of simple negligence, Presse Dienst Süd will admit liability – except in a case of injury to life and limb or damage to health – only in so far as there has been a failure to adhere to essential obligations (cardinal obligations) of the contract, and only to an extent limited to foreseeable damages such as may be seen as typical of the contractual relation.
12.3 In so far as no possibility obtains of recreating the materials that have been put into the hands of Presse Dienst Süd on the basis of negatives, copies or other starting materials belonging to the customer, foreseeable damages such as may be seen as typical of the contractual relation shall be understood to comprise the replacement of the material value of the material on which the data was carried, the material supplied being of the same nature and length.
12.4 In a case of simple negligence, any liability for indirect or unforeseeable damage, for damage consequent upon a defect or for loss of expected profit shall be excluded, unless the violation of essential obligations (cardinal obligations) of the contract should have been involved.
12.5 Any liability to indemnify that goes further than the terms set down in these GTCBs – irrespective of the legal basis of the claim asserted – is hereby excluded.
12.6 The limitations or exclusions of liability as specified in sections 12.2, 12.3, 12.4 and 12.5 shall not apply to a liability independent of attribution of responsibility such as is prescribed by statute, in particular a liability that rests on guarantee or on the product liability act.
12.7 In so far as the liability of Presse Dienst Süd is excluded or limited, the same shall also apply to the personal liability of employees, workers, staff, organs, representatives and vicarious agents of Presse Dienst Süd.

13. RESERVATION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS, ROGHT OF SECURITY AND RIGHT OF USE

13.1 Goods delivered to users shall remain the property of Presse Dienst Süd until such time as they have been paid for by the user in full.
13.2 In the case of delivery to business customers, Presse Dienst Süd reserves to itself the right, up till the time when all claims shall have been settled to which Presse Dienst Süd is entitled on the basis of the business connection with the business customer taken as a whole, to insist on the following securities, which will be released in proportional amounts, at the discretion of Presse Dienst Süd, as soon as the value that may be realised from them persistently exceeds the claim on the business customer by more than 20%. In the case of ongoing billing, these securities shall serve as surety for the outstanding balance due.
13.3 The contractual object shall remain the property of Presse Dienst Süd until such time as it has been paid for in full. If the business customer should dispose of the contractual object to third parties before it has been paid for in full, he hereby assigns his claim on the third party to Presse Dienst Süd until such time as all outstanding claims shall have been settled. Presse Dienst Süd hereby accepts this assignment. The business customer shall be entitled to collect the assigned claim. The authorisation to dispose of the contractual object to third parties and to call in claims shall apply only in the context of a proper business relation, and not in cases where a ban on assignment subsists between the business customer and the third party in question.
13.4 Pledging, collateral assignment, disposal of contractual goods in the form of a sale and lease back procedure or any other such dispositions on the part of the business customer are impermissible, so long as the reservation in respect of Presse Dienst Süd’s property rights subsists.
13.5 If the business customer carries out further processing on the contractual object, Presse Dienst Süd shall acquire direct property rights to the newly created article. In a case of linking, mixing or processing of articles pertaining to several parties with prior rights of ownership, Presse Dienst Süd shall acquire property rights to the newly created article in proportion to the relation between its part in the article to the total value of the article produced.
13.6 The customer shall be obliged to treat the goods to which Presse Dienst Süd retains property rights with due care, and to maintain them properly. In particular he shall be obliged to take out adequate insurance coverage, at his own cost, for damage by fire, water or other kinds of damage, for theft and destruction, the sum insured to correspond to the value as new. The customer hereby assigns, already at this point, all claims based on the insurance policy to Presse Dienst Süd, and Presse Dienst Süd accepts this assignment. Presse Dienst Süd shall moreover be entitled to call for the submission of documents in proof of the existence of insurance coverage.
13.7 In a case of distraint or other kind of intervention on the part of third parties, the customer is to notify Presse Dienst Süd in writing forthwith, so that Presse Dienst Süd may initiate a third party action against execution. In so far as the third party should not be in a position to reimburse Presse Dienst Süd for the costs, in and out of court, of a third party action against execution, the customer shall be liable for the shortfall incurred by Presse Dienst Süd.
13.8 In a case of arrears in payment, Presse Dienst Süd shall be entitled to reveal all rights based on securities and to assert all its claims and rights derived from these. The customer shall in this case be obliged immediately to issue to Presse Dienst Süd all existing certificates (especially contracts and notes of delivery) relevant to the claim or right that is to be asserted; the business customer is to supply any information immediately that may be necessary for the vindication of the claim or right.
13.9 The customer hereby assigns to Presse Dienst Süd as collateral security all objects that have come into the possession of Presse Dienst Süd in connection with the placing of the order, in particular film negatives, video tapes, other initial film materials, photographic plates etc., inclusive of any expectancies relating to these.
13.10 With the placing of the order, the customer hereby assigns to Presse Dienst Süd the exclusive rights of use, unlimited in terms of time, place and content, to all film works and moving pictures to which the order relates. These rights shall extend to all known forms of use. In so far as third party rights should exist or should come into being, the customer hereby additionally assigns to Presse Dienst Süd any rights of exclusive use that he may acquire. Conditional on the possibility of this right’s being rescinded and withdrawn, the customer is hereby authorised by Presse Dienst Süd to make use of the materials. The customer hereby assigns to Presse Dienst Süd all present and future claims on third parties to which he may be entitled as a result of the transfer of rights of use. Likewise the customer hereby assigns to Presse Dienst Süd his claims to insurance benefits in respect of these films. Until these rights are withdrawn, the customer shall be entitled to collect the relevant claims. Presse Dienst Süd hereby accepts all the assignments mentioned above.

14. REFERENCE

Presse Dienst Süd reserves to itself the right to quote the services it has provided for the customer as a reference, in particular on its own website (www.traveldisc.de, www.pressedienst.com) or in publicity materials.

15. RESPONSIBLE COURT, APPLICABLE LAW

15.1 The place of fulfilment shall be Munich, and the responsible court of law shall be that of Munich, if the customer is a businessman, a juridical person under public law or a special fund under public law. Munich shall also be the responsible court of law if at the time of conclusion of the contract the customer should have no general place of jurisdiction within Germany, or after the conclusion of the contract should change his domicile or normal place of residence to a location outside the Federal Republic of Germany or if his normal place of residence should be unknown at the time when suit is brought against him.
15.2 The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply to the contractual relation exclusively. The stipulations of the UN Sales Law are hereby excluded.

16. CLAUSE RELATING TO THE REQUIREMENT OF WRITTEN FORM, SEVEABILITY

16.1 Any changes or supplements to the contract, including oral agreements, require to be expressed in writing to be valid. The same shall apply likewise to an agreement to set aside this clause relating to the requirement of written form.
16.2 If one of the above stipulations should be or become ineffective, the validity of the other stipulations shall not be affected thereby. An invalid stipulation is to be replaced by one that is appropriate for the effecting of the commercial intention envisaged, taking the interests of the parties into account. The same manner of proceeding is to be followed if these GTCBs should prove to contain loopholes.