Imprint | Terms & Conditions

General Information

The website (the "Site") www.ophen.org and all its subdomains are operated for the Open Commons of Phenomenology by:

sdvig press
place de la Louve 3
CH-1003 Lausanne
Switzerland
https://www.sdvigpress.org

sdvig press is a not-for-profit Swiss association under the articles 60 and following of the Swiss Civil Code. Its bylaws are available upon request.

This information and the following terms of use also apply for the following profiles:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/openpheno
Facebook: www.facebook.com/openpheno

If you have any questions regarding our company, the website or feel that the contents of our website violates copyrights or other ancillary copyrights, then please just send us an email to We are always happy to get feedback and suggestions.

Terms of use

1. Access to our Site

You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Site. You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access our Site through your internet connection are aware of these terms, and that they comply with them.

We reserve the right to restrict access to, withdraw or amend the service we provide on our Site without notice. We will not be liable if for any reason our Site is unavailable at any time or for any period. We aim to update our Site regularly and may change the content at any time. Any of the material on our Site may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

sdvig press is dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of multilingual academic content (henceforth "Projects"), and to hosting the full content of its Projects for the public. In some cases, we act only as a hosting service, maintaining the infrastructure and organizational framework that allows our users to build the sdvig press Projects by contributing and editing content themselves. Because of this unique role, there are a couple of things you should be aware of when considering our relationship to you, the Projects, and the other users:

You are legally responsible for your edits and contributions on sdvig press Projects, so for your own protection you should exercise caution and avoid contributing any content that may result in criminal or civil liability under any applicable laws. For clarity, applicable law includes at least the laws of Switzerland. Although we may not agree with such actions, we warn editors and contributors that authorities may seek to apply other country laws to you, including local laws where you live or where you view or edit content. sdvig press cannot offer any protection, guarantee, immunity or indemnification.

2. Privacy Policy

We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

Because our services are used by people all over the world, personal information that we collect may be stored and processed in Switzerland or any other country in which we or our agents maintain facilities. By using our services, you consent to any such transfer of information outside your country.

We may collect and process the following data about you:

  • Information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration. This is statistical data about our users' browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual;
  • Information that you provide by completing the registration process, buying products from us, filling in forms on our Site or answering questions over the telephone;
  • Information relating to any transactions carried out between you and us on or in relation to our digital resources;
  • Information you provide to us over the telephone.

We may also obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive. They help us to improve our Site and to deliver a better and more personalised service. They enable us:

  • To estimate our audience size and usage pattern.
  • To store information about your preferences, and so allow us to customise our Site according to your individual interests.
  • To speed up your searches.
  • To recognise you when you return to our Site.

You may refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you log on to our Site.

We use a self-hosted Matomo installation to analyse the use of our Site. Matomo generates statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies. The information generated relating to our Site is used to create reports about the use of our Site. This information is stored in our own database.

We also use information held about you in the following ways:

  • To ensure that content from our Site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
  • To provide you with information, products or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you;
  • To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us;
  • To notify you about changes to our service.

Except as provided in this document, we will not provide your information to third parties.

If you do not want to receive e-mail from us then please do NOT sign up to our mailing list and/or tick the relevant box when you register or order products from us to indicate that you do not wish to be contacted. If you have signed up to our mailing list and have changed your mind, simply choose the unsubscribe link in any email you receive from us. This will ensure your name is removed and that you receive no further communications from us.

We may disclose your personal information to any member of our association. We will not disclose your personal information to any third parties, save for in circumstances where:

  • we sell or buy any business or assets or where our business or assets are bought by any third party; or
  • we need to comply with any legal obligations; or
  • we need to enforce our legal rights whether through legal proceedings or otherwise.

3. Content We Host

You may find some material objectionable or erroneous: Because we provide a wide array of content that is produced or gathered by fellow users, you may encounter material that you find offensive, erroneous, misleading, mislabeled, or otherwise objectionable. We therefore ask that you use common sense and proper judgment when using our services.

Our content is for general informational purposes only: Although we host a great deal of information that pertains to professional topics, including medical, legal, or financial issues, this content is presented for general informational purposes only. It should not be taken as professional advice. Please seek independent professional counseling from someone who is licensed or qualified in the applicable area in lieu of acting on any information, opinion, or advice contained in one of the Project websites.

4. Refraining from Certain Activities

Many Projects hosted by sdvig press only exist because of the vibrant community of users like you who collaborate to write, edit, and curate the content. We happily welcome your participation in this community. We encourage you to be civil and polite in your interactions with others in the community, to act in good faith, and to make edits and contributions aimed at furthering the mission of the shared Project.

Certain activities, whether legal or illegal, may be harmful to other users and violate our rules, and some activities may also subject you to liability. Therefore, for your own protection and for that of other users, you may not engage in such activities on our sites. These activities include:

Harassing and Abusing Others

  • Engaging in harassment, threats, stalking, spamming, or vandalism; and
  • Transmitting chain mail, junk mail, or spam to other users.

Violating the Privacy of Others

  • Infringing the privacy rights of others under the laws of Switzerland or other applicable laws (which may include the laws where you live or where you view or edit content);
  • Soliciting personally identifiable information for purposes of harassment, exploitation, violation of privacy, or any promotional or commercial purpose not explicitly approved by sdvig press; and
  • Soliciting personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18 for an illegal purpose or violating any applicable law regarding the health or well-being of minors.

Engaging in False Statements, Impersonation, or Fraud

  • Intentionally or knowingly posting content that constitutes libel or defamation;
  • With the intent to deceive, posting content that is false or inaccurate;
  • Attempting to impersonate another user or individual, misrepresenting your affiliation with any individual or entity, or using the username of another user with the intent to deceive; and
  • Engaging in fraud.

Committing Infringement

  • Infringing copyrights, trademarks, patents, or other proprietary rights under applicable law.

Misusing Our Services for Other Illegal Purposes

  • Posting child pornography or any other content that violates applicable law concerning child pornography;
  • Posting or trafficking in obscene material that is unlawful under applicable law; and
  • Using the services in a manner that is inconsistent with applicable law.

Engaging in Disruptive and Illegal Misuse of Facilities

  • Posting or distributing content that contains any viruses, malware, worms, Trojan horses, malicious code, or other device that could harm our technical infrastructure or system or that of our users;
  • Engaging in automated uses of the site that are abusive or disruptive of the services and have not been approved by the sdvig press community;
  • Disrupting the services by placing an undue burden on a Project website or the networks or servers connected with a Project website;
  • Disrupting the services by inundating any of the Project websites with communications or other traffic that suggests no serious intent to use the Project website for its stated purpose;
  • Knowingly accessing, tampering with, or using any of our non-public areas in our computer systems without authorization; and
  • Probing, scanning, or testing the vulnerability of any of our technical systems or networks unless all the following conditions are met:
  • such actions do not unduly abuse or disrupt our technical systems or networks;

  • such actions are not for personal gain (except for credit for your work);

  • you report any vulnerabilities to sdvig press developers (or fix it yourself); and

  • you do not undertake such actions with malicious or destructive intent.

We reserve the right to exercise our enforcement discretion with respect to the above terms.

5. Registration & Password Security

Certain services on our Site are only available if you complete the registration process.

By completing the registration process, you are confirming that you are at least eighteen years of age or a minor with consent of your parent or guardian to use our Sites. All minors must discuss these terms and conditions with their parents or guardians before completing the registration process.

In return for you using our Site and benefiting from our services, you agree to provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself where required in the registration form, and to ensure that this information is kept accurate, complete and up to date.

Once you have completed the registration process, you will have specified a username (email address) and a password. You must ensure that you keep your username and password in a safe and secure place and that you do not disclose them to anyone because you will be fully responsible for all activities which occur under your username and password. It is your responsibility to immediately notify us of any unauthorised use of your username and password or any other breach of security as soon as you become aware of it. We have the right to disable any username and password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our opinion you have failed to comply with any provision of these terms of use.

6. Trademarks

Although you have considerable freedoms for re-use of the content on the Project websites, it is important that, at sdvig press, we protect our trademark rights so that we can protect our users from fraudulent impersonators. Because of this, we ask that you please respect our trademarks.

7. Licensing of Content

To grow the commons of free knowledge and free culture, all users contributing to the Projects are required to grant broad permissions to the general public to re-distribute and re-use their contributions freely, so long as that use is properly attributed and the same freedom to re-use and re-distribute is granted to any derivative works. In keeping with our goal of providing free information to the widest possible audience, we require that when necessary all submitted content be licensed so that it is freely reusable by anyone who cares to access it.

You agree to the following licensing requirements:

  • Text to which you hold the copyright: When you submit text to which you hold the copyright, you agree to license it under:

    Please note that these licenses do allow commercial uses of your contributions, as long as such uses are compliant with the terms.

    An exception to the attribution of a CC-BY license applies to the upload of publications in the Open Commons database: in this case, you can choose the appropriate license when uploading content. The default setting is to all rights reserved.

  • Attribution: Attribution is an important part of these licenses. We consider it giving credit where credit is due – to authors like yourself. When you contribute text, you agree to be attributed in any of the following fashions:

    • Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to the article to which you contributed (since each article has a history page that lists all authors and editors);

    • Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to an alternative, stable online copy that is freely accessible, which conforms with the license, and which provides credit to the authors in a manner equivalent to the credit given on the Project website; or

    • Through a list of all authors (but please note that any list of authors may be filtered to exclude very small or irrelevant contributions).

  • Importing text: You may import text that you have found elsewhere or that you have co-authored with others, but in such case you warrant that the text is available under terms that are compatible with the CC BY-SA 4.0 license (or, as explained above, another license when exceptionally required by the Project edition or feature) ("CC BY-SA"). Content available only under GFDL is not permissible.

    You agree that, if you import text under a CC BY-SA license that requires attribution, you must credit the author(s) in a reasonable fashion. Where such credit is commonly given through page histories (such as sdvig press-internal copying), it is sufficient to give attribution in the edit summary, which is recorded in the page history, when importing the text. The attribution requirements are sometimes too intrusive for particular circumstances (regardless of the license), and there may be instances where the sdvig press community decides that imported text cannot be used for that reason.

  • Non-text media: Non-text media on the Projects are available under a variety of different licenses that support the general goal of allowing unrestricted re-use and re-distribution. When you contribute non-text media, you agree to comply with the requirements for such licenses as described in our Licensing Policy, and also comply with the requirements of the specific Project edition or feature to which you are contributing. Also see the Wikimedia Commons Licensing Policy for more information on contributing non-text media to that Project.

  • No revocation of license: Except as consistent with your license, you agree that you will not unilaterally revoke or seek invalidation of any license that you have granted under these Terms of Use for text content or non-text media contributed to the sdvig press Projects or features, even if you terminate use of our services.

  • Public domain content: Content that is in the public domain is welcome! It is important however that you confirm the public domain status of the content under the law of Switzerland as well as the laws of any other countries as required by the specific Project edition. When you contribute content that is in the public domain, you warrant that the material is actually in the public domain, and you agree to label it appropriately.

  • Re-use: Re-use of content that we host is welcome, though exceptions exist for content contributed under "fair use" or similar exemptions under copyright law. Any re-use must comply with the underlying license(s).

    When you re-use or re-distribute a text page developed by the sdvig press community, you agree to attribute the authors in any of the following fashions:

    • Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to the page or pages that you are re-using (since each page has a history page that lists all authors and editors);

    • Through hyperlink (where possible) or URL to an alternative, stable online copy that is freely accessible, which conforms with the license, and which provides credit to the authors in a manner equivalent to the credit given on the Project website; or

    • Through a list of all authors (but please note that any list of authors may be filtered to exclude very small or irrelevant contributions).

    If the text content was imported from another source, it is possible that the content is licensed under a compatible CC BY-SA license but not GFDL (as described in “Importing text,” above). In that case, you agree to comply with the compatible CC BY-SA license and do not have the option to re-license it under GFDL. To determine the license that applies to the content that you seek to re-use or re-distribute, you should review the page footer, page history, and discussion page.

    In addition, please be aware that text that originated from external sources and was imported into a Project may be under a license that attaches additional attribution requirements. Users agree to indicate these additional attribution requirements clearly. Depending on the Project, such requirements may appear for example in a banner or other notations pointing out that some or all of the content was originally published elsewhere. Where there are such visible notations, re-users should preserve them.

    For any non-text media, you agree to comply with whatever license under which the work has been made available (which can be discovered by clicking on the work and looking at the licensing section on its description page or reviewing an applicable source page for that work). When re-using any content that we host, you agree to comply with the relevant attribution requirements as they pertain to the underlying license or licenses.

  • Modifications or additions to material that you re-use: When modifying or making additions to text that you have obtained from a Project website, you agree to license the modified or added content under CC BY-SA 4.0 or later (or, as explained above, another license when exceptionally required by the specific Project edition or feature).

    When modifying or making additions to any non-text media that you have obtained from a Project website, you agree to license the modified or added content in accordance with whatever license under which the work has been made available.

    With both text content and non-text media, you agree to clearly indicate that the original work has been modified. If you are re-using text content in a wiki, it is sufficient to indicate in the page history that you made a change to the imported text. For each copy or modified version that you distribute, you agree to include a licensing notice stating which license the work is released under, along with either a hyperlink or URL to the text of the license or a copy of the license itself.

    9. Third-party Websites and Resources

    You are solely responsible for your use of any third-party websites or resources. Although the Projects contain links to third-party websites and resources, we do not endorse and are not responsible or liable for their availability, accuracy, or the related content, products, or services (including, without limitation, any viruses or other disabling features), nor do we have any obligation to monitor such third-party content.

    10. Management of Websites

    The need may arise to address an especially problematic user because of significant Project disturbance or dangerous behavior. In such cases, we reserve the right, but do not have the obligation to:

    • Investigate your use of the service (a) to determine whether a violation of these Terms of Use, Project edition policy, or other applicable law or policy has occurred, or (b) to comply with any applicable law, legal process, or appropriate governmental request;

    • Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues or respond to user support requests;

    • Refuse, disable, or restrict access to the contribution of any user who violates these Terms of Use;

    • Ban a user from editing or contributing or block a user's account or access for actions violating these Terms of Use, including repeat copyright infringement;

    • Take legal action against users who violate these Terms of Use (including reports to law enforcement authorities); and

    • Manage otherwise the Project websites in a manner designed to facilitate their proper functioning and protect the rights, property, and safety of ourselves and our users, licensors, partners, and the public.

    In the interests of our users and the Projects, in the extreme circumstance that any individual has had his or her account or access blocked under this provision, he or she is prohibited from creating or using another account on or seeking access to the same Project, unless we provide explicit permission. sdvig press itself will not ban a user from editing or contributing or block a user's account or access solely because of good faith criticism that does not result in actions otherwise violating these Terms of Use or community policies.

    The sdvig press community and its members may also take action when so allowed by the community or sdvig press policies applicable to the specific Project edition, including but not limited to warning, investigating, blocking, or banning users who violate those policies. You agree to comply with the final decisions of dispute resolution bodies that are established by the community for the specific Project editions (such as arbitration committees); these decisions may include sanctions as set out by the policy of the specific Project edition.

    Especially problematic users who have had accounts or access blocked on multiple Project editions may be subject to a ban from all of the Project editions, in accordance with the Global Ban Policy. In contrast to Board resolutions or these Terms of Use, policies established by the community, which may cover a single Project edition or multiple Projects editions (like the Global Ban Policy), may be modified by the relevant community according to its own procedures.

    The blocking of an account or access or the banning of a user under this provision shall be in accordance with Section 12 of these Terms of Use.

    11. Resolutions and Project Policies

    12. Termination

    Though we hope you will stay and continue to contribute to the Projects, you can stop using our services any time. In certain (hopefully unlikely) circumstances it may be necessary for either ourselves or the sdvig press community or its members (as described in Section 10) to terminate part or all of our services, terminate these Terms of Use, block your account or access, or ban you as a user. If your account or access is blocked or otherwise terminated for any reason, your public contributions will remain publicly available (subject to applicable policies), and, unless we notify you otherwise, you may still access our public pages for the sole purpose of reading publicly available content on the Projects. In such circumstances, however, you may not be able to access your account or settings. We reserve the right to suspend or end the services at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice. Even after your use and participation are banned, blocked or otherwise suspended, these Terms of Use will remain in effect with respect to relevant provisions, including Sections 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9-15, and 17.

    13. Disputes and Jurisdiction

    We hope that no serious disagreements arise involving you, but, in the event there is a dispute, we encourage you to seek resolution through the dispute resolution procedures or mechanisms provided by the Projects or Project editions and sdvig press. If you seek to file a legal claim against us, you agree to file and resolve it exclusively in a state or federal court located in Geneva, Switzerland. You also agree that the laws of the Canton of Geneva and, to the extent applicable, the laws of Switzerland will govern these Terms of Use, as well as any legal claim that might arise between you and us (without reference to conflict of laws principles). You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of, and agree that venue is proper in, the courts located in Geneva, Switzerland, in any legal action or proceeding relating to us or these Terms of Use.

    To ensure that disputes are dealt with soon after they arise, you agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action you might have arising out of or related to use of our services or these Terms of Use must be filed within the applicable statute of limitations or, if earlier, one (1) year after the pertinent facts underlying such claim or cause of action could have been discovered with reasonable diligence (or be forever barred).

    14. Disclaimers

    At sdvig press, we do our best to provide educational and informational content to a very wide audience, but your use of our services is at your sole risk. We provide these services on an "as is" and "as available" basis, and we expressly disclaim all express or implied warranties of all kinds, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We make no warranty that our services will meet your requirements, be safe, secure, uninterrupted, timely, accurate, or error-free, or that your information will be secure.

    We are not responsible for the content, data, or actions of third parties, and you release us, our directors, officers, employees, and agents from any claims and damages, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with any claim you have against any such third parties. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from us or through or from our services creates any warranty not expressly stated in these Terms of Use.

    Any material downloaded or otherwise obtained through your use of our services is done at your own discretion and risk, and you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download of any such material. You agree that we have no responsibility or liability for the deletion of, or the failure to store or to transmit, any content or communication maintained by the service. We retain the right to create limits on use and storage at our sole discretion at any time with or without notice.

    Some states or jurisdictions do not allow the types of disclaimers in this section, so they may not apply to you either in part or in full depending on the law.

    15. Limitation on Liability

    sdvig press will not be liable to you or to any other party for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data, or other intangible losses, regardless of whether we were advised of the possibility of such damage. In no event shall our liability exceed one thousand Swiss francs (CHF 1000.00) in aggregate. In the case that applicable law may not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability or incidental or consequential damages, the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you, although our liability will be limited to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

    16. Modifications to these Terms of Use

    17. Other Terms

    These Terms of Use do not create an employment, agency, partnership, or joint venture relationship between you and us, sdvig press. If you have not signed a separate agreement with us, these Terms of Use are the entire agreement between you and us. If there is any conflict between these Terms of Use and a signed written agreement between you and us, the signed agreement will control.

    You agree that we may provide you with notices, including those regarding changes to the Terms of Use, by email, regular mail, or postings on Project websites.

    If in any circumstance, we do not apply or enforce any provision of these Terms of Use, it is not a waiver of that provision.

    You understand that, unless otherwise agreed to in writing by us, you have no expectation of compensation for any activity, contribution, or idea that you provide to us, the community, or sdvig press or Project editions.

    Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in these Terms of Use, we (sdvig press) and you agree not to modify the applicable terms and requirements of any free license that is employed on the Projects or Project editions when such free license is authorized by these Terms of Use.

    These Terms of Use were written in English (U.S.). While we hope that translations of these Terms of Use are accurate, in the event of any differences in meaning between the original English version and a translation, the original English version takes precedence.

    If any provision or part of a provision of these Terms of Use is found unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that provision or part of the provision is deemed severable from these Terms of Use and will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and all other provisions of these Terms of Use will remain in full force and effect.

    Thank You!

    We appreciate your taking the time to read these Terms of Use, and we are very happy to have you contributing to the Projects and using our services.