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TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE

BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS provides and operates an instant messaging and voice/video over IP (VoIP) telecommunications service, called “Linphone free SIP service” (“the Service”), and distributes a VoIP application for mobile and desktop platforms, called Linphone (“the Application”), to any individual user, whether for personal or business purposes.
The Service and the Application, as well as other associated support, maintenance or development services, and more generally all products and services provided by BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS, are described on BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS’ website, available at linphone.org (“the Site”).

These General Terms and Conditions apply to the use of the Service and the Application by the User.

1.    DEFINITIONS

Under these Terms and Conditions, each of the expressions mentioned below will be defined as follows:

  • Application: the Linphone application for iOS, the Linphone application for Android, and the Linphone application for desktop platforms; downloadable on the User’s Device; published by BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS;
  • Personal Data: personal data of the User, processed by the Application, when used by the User;
  • Data: data and content, of any kind, provided by the User on the Application, and processed by the Application;
  • BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS: SARL BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS, whose head office is located at 12, Allée des Genets 38000 GRENOBLE, registered with the Grenoble Trade and Company Registry under number 520 318 437.
  • Service: Belledonne Communications’ VoIP service for audio/video calling and instant messaging, using the open protocol SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), allowing Users to create a free SIP account with the SIP domain sip.linphone.org, and that is made available for free online or via the Application, under the conditions set forth in these T&Cs;
  • Site: linphone.org website, published and operated by BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS, describing and updating the functionalities and prerequisites of the Service; and allowing access to the Service and download of the Application;
  • Device: a fix or mobile telecommunication device with Internet access, such as a smartphone, tablet, hardware phone, or personal computer (PC), which allows the Application to be downloaded and the Service to be used, in accordance with the prerequisites indicated at the time of download;
  • User: natural person having downloaded and using the Application or the Service, for personal or professional purposes;
  • Contact Person: natural person, User of the Service, with whom the User interacts via the Application.

2.    ACCEPTANCE OF THE GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The purpose of these General Terms and Conditions of Use (hereinafter referred to as the “T&Cs”) is to define the conditions under which the User may access the Application and take advantage of all the functionalities of the Service.
These T&Cs are accessible at any time on the Application and on the Site.
Downloading the Application and subscribing to the Service are subject to the User’s full and reserved acceptance of these T&Cs.
BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS reserves the right to amend or supplement at any time the present T&Cs which will, in such a case, be subject to a new acceptance by the User.

3.    SERVICE DESCRIPTION

The “Linphone free SIP Service” (the Service) offers the following main features:

  • Audio over IP calls ;
  • Video over IP calls ;
  • Instant messaging ;
  • Audio and video conferencing ;
  • Content sharing (images, text, videos, documents) ;

This list of services is not exhaustive and may be revised, supplemented or limited at any time by BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS, which the User expressly acknowledges, without this modification giving rise to compensation for the User, given the free nature of the Service and of the Application.

4.    ACCESS TO THE SERVICE

4.1. User Account

To access the Service, the User must use a Device compatible with the technical prerequisites indicated on the Site, and access the Site giving access to the Service, or download the Application from the Site, or from a store (Google Play Store, Apple Store).

Thereafter, the User must create a User Account.

For this purpose, he will communicate the following data: email address, username, telephone number (optional). Required data are marked with an asterisk.

The User will need to choose a personal password. The User’s username and password are confidential and non-transferable. The User undertakes not to communicate them to third parties and to ensure their confidentiality. The password may be changed by the User via the Service.

BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS shall not be held liable for any direct or indirect damage suffered by the User or by third parties resulting from fraudulent access to the User’s personal Accoun, resulting from the disclosure of his or her Ids (username or password) or from a security breach on the User’s Device.

The User may, at any time, close his Account directly via the web Service, without BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS’s support.

4.2. Free Service

The Service is free for all Users, regardless of its use, as long as it complies with these T&Cs.

The User may, however, subscribe to additional support and maintenance services or order any specific development services, by contacting BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS.

5.    PERSONAL USE OF THE SERVICE

The Service may be used for personal or professional purposes.

However, a User Account must remain strictly personal, for the sole use of the User, and may under no circumstances be used collectively, for example by other employees of the same company.

If several employees of the same company wish to benefit from the Service, they must each create their own User Account.

The automated and/or simultaneous creation of User Accounts, without human intervention, for the purposes of assigning them to people working for a company, whatever its legal status, is strictly prohibited. BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS has a monitoring tool to detect any suspicious account creation, carried out in a massive and/or automatic way.
Any User Account created in violation of this section will, at the sole discretion of BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS, and after investigation with the User(s) holding the Account(s), be suspended or terminated, without prejudice to any rights and remedies of BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS against the person or entity that created such Account(s).

6.    INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

6.1. License to use the Application

The Application is released under the free GNU GPL v.3 license, whose terms are available at the following address: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html (hereinafter “the License”).

Pursuant to this License, the User is granted the main following rights:

  • i)    The right to use and execute the Application (art.2) ;
  • ii)    The right to transmit the source code of the Application (art.3); this code being available on the Site, depending on the versions used (iOS, Android, desktop)
  • iii)    The right to modify the source code of the Application and to develop derivative works or derivative versions of the Application (“covered works”, art. 2)
  • iv)    The right to distribute and redistribute, even for commercial purposes, the derivative versions of the Application, in source code form, but subject to compliance with all the requirements set forth in Section 5 of the License; including the obligation to distribute such derivative versions under the same License (GNU GPL v.3), and to preserve the copyright notices, by expressly mentioning BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS as the publisher of the original Application;
  • v)    The right to distribute and redistribute, including for commercial purposes, the derivative versions of the Application, in executable code form, but only if all the requirements set forth in Section 6 of the License are met; and in particular, to give the User access to the source code of the derivative version of the Application ;

As an additional condition, authorized by Article 7 of the License, the User may not distribute or broadcast derivative versions (“covered works”) of the Application, regardless of their form, unless expressly mentioning BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS as the publisher of the original Application, as well as the name of the Application “Linphone”.

In order to know precisely the extent of his rights, the User is advised to refer to the exact terms of the License and, if necessary, to refer to the FAQ of the Free Software Foundation or to ask BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS about his rights and obligations under this article.

The User is informed that he or she may, if he or she prefers, subscribe against a fee to a proprietary license on the Application source code, as well as additional Support, consulting and development services; upon prior quotation from BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS.

6.2. Intellectual Property

The Application, the Service, and all the elements composing it (in particular its source code, its graphic charter and its database) are protected by the intellectual property code in France and by foreign legislation and are the property of BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS, to the exclusion of software components developed and distributed by third parties (the list of which is available on https://wiki.linphone.org/xwiki/wiki/public/view/Linphone/Third%20party%…), and Data published by third parties, or by the User.

Any modification of the source code of the Application and distribution of a derivative version must be done in accordance with the moral rights of BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS; and excludes in all cases the use of specific graphic elements of the Application and the Service, and in particular the Linphone logo, on which BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS holds the exclusive rights.

In particular, any reproduction and modification of the logo of the Application, as well as the “Linphone” or “LINPHONE” brand (European brand n°9164237), which are the exclusive property of BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS, remains strictly prohibited.

The exchange, rental and transfer to a third party of these elements or contents are strictly prohibited, without prior written agreement of the copyrights holders.

Consequently, any integration of the Service into another telecommunications service, based on a derivative version of the Application, is strictly prohibited, unless all elements not subject to the License are excluded from this version, and provided that BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS is mentioned, together with the trademark “Linphone”, or any other distinctive sign of the Service, which is the exclusive property of BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS.

Likewise, any assignment, transmission, or distribution, for commercial or non-commercial purposes, of User Accounts of the Service, even with mention of copyright notices, is prohibited. In other words, any “resale” of the Service “as is” is strictly prohibited, without this restriction being considered as an infringement of the User’s rights under Article 6.1.

6.3. Sanctions

Any violation of the terms of this article will result in the termination of the User’s rights to use the Service, upon written notice from BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS, pursuant to the terms of article 8 of the License, as well as the immediate closure of his User Account. Any restoration of the License, pursuant to article 8 al.2, is expressly excluded.

Furthermore, in the event of a termination of the License, BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS reserves the right to take action for infringement or to bring any other useful action against the User in order to enforce its intellectual property rights and claim for damages.

7.    USER COMMITMENTS

The Application is used under the sole responsibility of the User, who undertakes to respect the rights of the Contacts, and to refrain from any illicit data collection, as well as to comply with the rules set forth in this article regarding the dissemination of Content.

7.1. Call Capture

It is recalled that under Article 226-1 of the Penal Code :
Is punishable by one year imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros if, by any means whatsoever, one willfully violates the privacy of others:
2° By fixing, recording or transmitting, without the consent of the latter, the image of a person in a private place.
Consequently, if the User wishes to make an audio or video recording of a call or videoconference, the User undertakes to obtain the prior agreement of the Contact Person or Contact Persons concerned, and to be able to justify this by any means.

BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS shall not be held liable, in its capacity as host of the Application, for any unauthorized capture of a call, whether audio or video, as well as the image or words of a Contact Person. Consequently, the User guarantees BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS against any recourse, complaint, or claim from a Contact Person or any physical person, whose image or words have been captured and/or broadcast by the User without his prior authorization; and related to the unauthorized capture, use, or broadcast of this call, as well as to their hosting by the Application. Consequently, the User guarantees BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS against any indemnity or sentence that may be imposed on it as a result of such action.

7.2. Unlawful content

When using the Application, the User undertakes not to upload on, include in or disseminate via the Application any content that is unlawful, contrary to laws and regulations, public order or morality.

In its capacity as host of the Service under article 6.IV of the 21st June 2004 Statute on “trust in the digital economy”, BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS reserves the right to delete any patently unlawful content, whether or not upon request for deletion by a third party, and to suspend the User’s Account and access to the Service without delay and without prior formal notice. More generally, BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS reserves the right to delete any content that violates these T&Cs, without prior notice and at its sole discretion. Furthermore, BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS reserves the right, in such a case, to terminate the account of the User concerned, with 8 days’ notice.

8.    DATA SECURITY

8.1. User Account Security

The User is responsible for the security of his User Account and the confidentiality of the Data stored therein.

Thus, it is particularly recommended to the User:

  • to choose a strong password to access to its User Account (8 characters minimum, with at least one upper case, one lower case, one number and one special character) ;
  • to install an antivirus on his Device,
  • to lock his Device with a password or reinforced means of identification, such as biometrics (fingerprint or facial recognition);

8.2. Data Backup

Since the Application is installed on the User’s Device, all Data relating to communications exchanged via the Service (call history, messages, conversation durations, recordings, etc.) is hosted on this Device, under the sole responsibility of the User.

Only the Data mentioned in the Personal Data Management Policy of the Application (“Privacy Policy”) are kept by BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS, for their own duration.

Consequently, it is up to the User to make his or her own backup of the Data, on an external medium, or on an external backup service, if he or she so wishes.

9.    SERVICE AVAILABILITY

BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS undertakes to make all reasonable efforts to ensure the permanence, continuity and quality of service in accordance with the best common practices of the business.

BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS reserves the right to suspend access to the Service for possible maintenance or Service improvement operations.

The User hereby acknowledges that fluctuations in the bandwidth and contingencies of the access provider, or interruption of the Service ordered by an administrative or jurisdictional authority may result in suspending access to the Service, without BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS’s consent.

Given the free nature of access to the Service for Users, no compensation may be claimed from BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS in the event of unavailability of the Service, whatever its cause.

10.    NO WARRANTY – SUPPORT EXCLUSIONS

Pursuant to Section 15 of the License, BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS does not warrant that the operation of the Application, and thus of the Service, will be uninterrupted or free of anomalies or malfunctions.

Given the free nature of the Service, no user support or corrective maintenance services are provided by BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS in connection with the Service.

If the User wishes to benefit from such services, he or she is advised to subscribe to a separate Support agreement with BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS.

In addition, BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS provides, on its Site, resources to help the User use the Service (functional documentation, screenshots, videos, white papers, etc.), over which it holds all intellectual property rights. The User may also get in contact with the Linphone community, on the forums dedicated to it, in order to find answers to his or her questions. Answers from Linphone contributors outside BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS may nevertheless contain errors, and do not guarantee the resolution of problems identified by the User. In any event, BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS cannot be held liable for this information as provider of the Service.

11.    BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS’ LIABILITY

Pursuant to Section 16 of the License, BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS shall not be liable for the performance, non-performance or malfunction of the Service or the Application, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

Consequently, given the free nature of the Service and the Application, BELLEDONNE COMMUNICATIONS shall not be held liable for any direct or indirect damage resulting from the performance or failure to perform the Service or provide the Application, or their defaulting performance, and in particular for any indirect prejudice such as commercial prejudice, loss of customers, loss of profits, damage to the brand image, or any claim by a third party.

This clause is without prejudice to the rights of Users under any applicable legal warranties.

12.    APPLICABLE LAW – DISPUTE RESOLUTION

The present Terms and Conditions shall be governed by French law.
Any dispute relating to the application, validity, or performance of these Terms and Conditions may be submitted, in the event of failure of amicable discussions, to a mediation body, whose contact details will be sent to the User upon request.
IN THE EVENT OF A DISPUTE AS TO THE VALIDITY, PERFORMANCE, OR INTERPRETATION OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, AND IN THE ABSENCE OF AN AMICABLE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE PARTIES WITHIN ONE MONTH FROM THE NOTIFICATION OF THE DISPUTE, THE JUDICIAL COURT OF GRENOBLE (“Tribunal Judiciaire de Grenoble”) SHALL HAVE EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION THEREON, NOTWITHSTANDING PLURALITY OF DEFENDANTS OR APPEAL IN WARRANTY, EVEN FOR EMERGENCY OR PROTECTIVE PROCEEDINGS.
This clause is applicable only to Professional Users acting for commercial purposes (under art.48 of the French Civil Procedure Code).