Terms & Conditions for Businesses (B2B)

This is a courtesy translation for your convenience. Only the German version is legally binding under German law.

Version: 14 August 2026 · Version 2026-08-14 · Print / save as PDF

This version applies to contracts with businesses (§ 14 German Civil Code, BGB), public-law legal entities and public special funds. For contracts with consumers, see the Terms for Consumers (B2C).

§ 1 Scope

(1) These Terms & Conditions apply to all contracts for services provided by the Contractor to businesses within the meaning of § 14 BGB, public-law legal entities and public special funds. They apply in particular to services in the following areas:

(2) These Terms apply exclusively to the clients named in paragraph 1. Contracts with consumers are not governed by these Terms.

(3) Only the version of these Terms that was expressly incorporated at the time of contract conclusion — identified by its date and version number — is authoritative.

(4) Conflicting, deviating or supplementary terms and conditions of the Client only become part of the contract if the Contractor expressly agrees to their validity.

(5) Individual agreements between the parties take precedence over these Terms.

(6) The content and scope of the owed service are determined, in order of priority, by: 1. the relevant individual contract, 2. the expressly incorporated offer including the service description and any attachments, 3. expressly agreed addenda and change requests, 4. these Terms as a supplement. In case of conflict, this order applies.

§ 2 Formation of Contract and Offers

(1) Offers by the Contractor are non-binding unless expressly designated as binding.

(2) If an acceptance period is stated for an offer, it may be accepted within that period. If no acceptance period is stated, a binding offer may be accepted within 30 calendar days of the date of the offer.

(3) A contract is formed in particular by:

(4) Changes to or extensions of an already agreed scope of services require a separate agreement.

§ 3 Scope of Services

(1) The content and scope of the owed services result exclusively from the relevant offer, individual contract, and expressly agreed changes or additions.

(2) Services, features, content, variants or characteristics that are not expressly agreed there are not part of the agreed scope of services.

(3) General service descriptions such as, in particular:

only establish the scope of service that is actually described for it in the specific offer or contract.

(4) No particular subjective design effect is owed. Likewise, a particular economic outcome is only owed if it was expressly agreed as a binding result of the service. In particular, without an express agreement, no specific:

are owed.

(5) Insofar as a particular technical measurement value, test standard or acceptance value is to be owed, this must be expressly agreed.

(6) The Contractor may select suitable technical, design and organizational methods for fulfilling the order, unless a particular implementation method has been expressly agreed.

§ 4 Client's Duties to Cooperate

(1) The Client shall provide all information, content, files, decisions, approvals, technical specifications and access credentials required for carrying out the project in a timely, complete and suitable form. This includes in particular:

(2) Upon request, the Client shall designate a contact person authorized to make decisions and give approvals. The Contractor may treat project-related statements, change requests and approvals from this contact person as binding statements of the Client.

(3) Feedback from other employees, advisors, shareholders, family members, agencies or other third parties only becomes binding once confirmed by, or communicated through, the designated contact person.

(4) The Contractor is not obliged to resolve conflicting instructions from different parties on its own. Work on the affected part of the project may be suspended until the Client makes an unambiguous decision.

(5) The Client is responsible for the factual and professional accuracy of the content it provides or approves, unless reviewing it is expressly part of the order.

(6) The Client warrants that it holds all rights necessary for the contractual use of the content it provides.

(7) If the Contractor is held liable by third parties for the contractual use of content provided by the Client, the Client shall indemnify the Contractor, to the extent permitted by law, against justified claims, unless the Contractor itself is responsible for the infringement.

(8) The Contractor is not obliged to research, create or obtain missing content itself, unless expressly agreed.

(9) Where technically or creatively reasonable, the Contractor may work temporarily with placeholder or sample content.

§ 5 Feedback, Approvals and Communication

(1) Unless another deadline is agreed, the Client should provide required feedback and approvals within five business days of receiving the relevant request or project state.

(2) Feedback must be submitted collectively, unambiguously and completely. Incomplete, contradictory or insufficiently specific feedback is only deemed complete once the information required for implementation has been provided.

(3) Project-related:

should, for evidentiary reasons, be made in text form, in particular by email or via an agreed project-management system.

(4) By giving an approval, the Client confirms the relevant project state as the basis for further work.

(5) Before giving approval, the Client is obliged to review, in particular:

(6) Changes to an already approved project state may constitute an additional service. This applies in particular to:

(7) Defects for which the Contractor is responsible remain unaffected by this.

(8) Mere silence by the Client on a draft or interim state does not, by the mere passage of time, constitute a design approval.

§ 6 Revision Rounds

(1) The scope of services includes only the revision rounds agreed in the offer or individual contract. Unless expressly agreed otherwise, two revision rounds are included.

(2) A revision round is a single, self-contained round of revisions relating to a specific draft, development or working state presented by the Contractor.

(3) The Client shall submit all change requests for a revision round together, in full, and specifically enough that the nature and scope of the desired changes is clearly identifiable.

(4) As long as the Contractor has not yet started implementation, several messages from the Client may be combined into a joint feedback package.

(5) Once implementation begins, the feedback package received up to that point is deemed complete, and the relevant revision round is deemed to have started.

(6) Once the correspondingly revised project state is submitted, the revision round is deemed completed.

(7) Change requests received in addition after the start of implementation of a revision round are not part of that ongoing revision round. They will be assigned to a further available revision round or, once the agreed revision rounds are exhausted, treated as an additional service.

(8) A revision round covers changes within the design and service concept already agreed. This may include, in particular, minor adjustments to:

(9) Not included in a revision round are, in particular:

These services are treated as additional services or change requests.

(10) Remedying a defect for which the Contractor is responsible is not counted against a revision round. A change in taste, preference, objective or requirements arising after the fact does not, however, constitute a defect.

§ 7 Change Requests and Additional Services

(1) Changes, extensions or additional services outside the originally agreed scope of services are treated as change requests or additional services.

(2) These may include, in particular:

(3) Before carrying out chargeable additional services, the Contractor will inform the Client of the anticipated additional effort or additional cost.

(4) Additional services are only carried out after being commissioned or approved by the Client.

(5) Unless a fixed price has been agreed, billing is based on the agreed hourly rate.

(6) Additional services may result in a reasonable postponement of agreed project deadlines.

(7) An extra service provided once as a goodwill gesture or without additional charge does not permanently extend the contractual scope of services and does not create any claim to corresponding services for later projects or project phases.

§ 8 Fees and Payment

(1) The fee agreed in the relevant offer or contract is authoritative.

(2) The fee is exclusive of the applicable statutory VAT.

(3) Unless otherwise agreed, invoices are due for payment in full within 14 calendar days of receipt, without deduction.

(4) Installment and partial payments may be requested in accordance with the payment schedule agreed in the offer or contract.

(5) Additional services are only billed separately in accordance with § 7.

(6) Where billing by time spent has been agreed, this is done in 15-minute increments. Every commenced quarter hour is billed proportionally based on the agreed hourly rate.

(7) In the event of payment default, the statutory consequences of default apply.

(8) For payment claims against a Client that is not a consumer, in particular the statutory provisions on default interest and the statutory default lump sum apply.

(9) Further statutory claims arising from payment default remain unaffected.

(10) The Client is only entitled to set-off or a right of retention with respect to undisputed or legally established counterclaims. This does not apply insofar as the counterclaim arises from the same contractual relationship and is directly legally or economically connected with the Contractor's claim.

§ 9 Deadlines, Project Delays and Project Suspension

(1) Deadlines are only binding if expressly agreed as binding.

(2) Agreed deadlines presuppose the Client's timely and complete cooperation.

(3) If cooperation required for further work by the Client is delayed, any deadlines dependent on it are postponed by at least the duration of the delay plus a reasonable period for rescheduling.

(4) The Contractor is not obliged to keep originally reserved project capacity permanently available during a delay caused by the Client.

(5) Once the delay ends, the project is rescheduled within the available capacity. There is no entitlement to immediate continuation at the originally scheduled time.

(6) If cooperation necessary for continuing the project is not provided despite a request, for more than 14 calendar days, the Contractor may organizationally postpone the project and reassign reserved capacity elsewhere.

(7) If a project suspension caused by the Client lasts longer than 30 calendar days, the Contractor is entitled to bill for the services provided in accordance with the contract and eligible for billing up to that point, in accordance with the contractual and statutory provisions.

(8) Statutory claims arising from a failure to cooperate remain unaffected.

§ 10 Suspension of Performance and Failure to Cooperate

(1) The Contractor may suspend further performance where it has a statutory right to refuse performance or a right of retention. This may apply in particular in the event of:

(2) Where legally required and reasonably possible under the circumstances, the Client will first be given a reasonable period to pay or provide the missing cooperation.

(3) During a justified suspension of performance, any affected processing deadlines do not continue to run. Affected deadlines are postponed by the duration of the interruption plus a reasonable period for rescheduling.

(4) If an act by the Client is required to produce a work and the Client fails to perform that act, the statutory rights under §§ 642 and 643 BGB remain unaffected, in particular.

(5) Under the statutory requirements, the Contractor may set a reasonable deadline for the Client to provide the required cooperation, and, if that deadline passes without result, declare the contract terminated as provided by law.

§ 11 Drafts, Working Files, Delivery Formats and Know-How

(1) Drafts, interim states, test versions, staging versions and other working states presented are generally intended, until approval or completion, to serve project coordination.

(2) Providing an interim state does not constitute a statement that it is complete, ready for acceptance, or suitable for production use.

(3) Drafts that were not selected, not commissioned or not carried out remain with the Contractor. There is no right to their delivery unless otherwise agreed.

(4) Design working files such as, in particular:

are only handed over if expressly agreed.

(5) For web projects, the delivery of technical project files — in particular HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP or comparable formats — is governed by the agreed scope of delivery.

(6) There is no obligation to hand over internal:

unless expressly agreed as a deliverable.

(7) General professional and technical know-how, working methods, routines and reusable components that are not client-specific remain with the Contractor. These may be reused for other projects, provided this does not violate any confidential information or exclusively granted rights of the Client.

§ 12 Usage and Copyright

(1) Copyright-protected work results remain, in terms of copyright, with the respective author.

(2) The Client receives exclusively the usage rights specified in the offer or contract. Absent a deviating agreement, the Client receives a simple, unlimited (in time and territory) right of use for the agreed purpose.

(3) The granting or transfer of agreed usage rights is subject to the condition precedent of full payment of the fee owed for it.

(4) Technically necessary:

are permitted within the agreed purpose of use.

(5) Further editing rights are governed by the relevant offer or contract.

(6) Where the Client has been granted an editing right, it may commission third parties with technical maintenance, upkeep or further development of the work result for its own purposes.

(7) A separate commercial onward transfer or sale of the usage rights to third parties is not covered by this, unless expressly agreed.

(8) For logos, brand identities, photography or other services, deviating or more extensive usage rights may be agreed in the respective offer.

(9) Use of work results by the Contractor for self-promotion purposes — in particular in its portfolio or as a reference — is permitted, provided that:

§ 13 AI-Assisted Service Delivery

(1) The Contractor may use artificial-intelligence tools to provide its services, in particular for:

unless expressly excluded in the specific order.

(2) Personal, confidential or non-public content of the Client is only processed in accordance with data-protection, contractual and technical requirements.

(3) Depending on the nature and extent of the human creative contribution, purely AI-generated elements may only be protected to a limited extent under copyright or other law. No guarantee is given as to the protectability, exclusivity or uniqueness of purely AI-generated elements.

(4) Where the intended purpose of use requires or agrees a distinct creative contribution, the Contractor may further edit AI-generated results accordingly. This does not establish any guarantee that every individual element will be independently protectable under copyright.

(5) Unless a separate legal, trademark, design or rights review has been expressly agreed, the Contractor does not owe a comprehensive legal review of AI-assisted work results for third-party rights.

(6) The Contractor does not use content where it is aware of a specific rights infringement.

(7) If the Client itself provides AI-generated content, specifications or templates, it is responsible for the necessary usage rights and the permissibility of their contractual use, unless reviewing them has been expressly commissioned.

(8) Statutory labeling or transparency obligations are observed insofar as they apply to the specific service and fall within the Contractor's area of responsibility.

§ 14 Web Design, Third-Party Providers and Technical Framework Conditions

(1) For web projects, the technical implementation is governed by the system architecture expressly agreed in the offer.

(2) Where a static website is agreed, an editorially manageable CMS or backend is only owed if expressly agreed.

(3) Responsive implementation means a functionally and creatively reasonable adaptation to the screen sizes agreed in the offer or customary in the market. An individually optimized variant for every available device or screen resolution is not owed.

(4) Unless otherwise agreed, technical implementation is for current versions of common browsers and operating systems supported by their respective manufacturer.

(5) Pixel-identical display across all:

is not owed. Minor technically caused display differences do not constitute a defect, provided that the essential functionality and usability are preserved.

(6) Where a service depends on third-party products, services or systems, the Contractor owes solely the agreed proper setup or integration.

(7) Permanent:

of third-party products is not owed. This applies in particular to:

(8) If a third-party product is discontinued, materially changed or no longer supported after completion, any resulting need for migration, replacement implementation or technical adaptation generally constitutes an additional service.

(9) Changes to external systems after contractual completion do not constitute a defect in the original service, provided it functioned as agreed at acceptance.

(10) If the Client, or a third party commissioned by it, modifies the work result after handover, the Contractor is not responsible for any resulting errors or functional impairments. Statutory claims for original defects unrelated to this remain unaffected.

(11) Error analysis and restoration following third-party changes may be billed as an additional service, provided the cause does not lie in an original defect for which the Contractor is responsible.

(12) Domains, hosting contracts and third-party accounts used permanently for the Client should, where technically possible and unless otherwise agreed, be set up in the Client's own name.

§ 15 Performance, SEO and Digital Accessibility

(1) "Performance optimization" refers to reasonable technical measures to optimize load behavior, data volume and resource use within the agreed technical framework.

(2) A specific:

is only owed if expressly agreed as a binding acceptance criterion.

(3) SEO services serve to improve, technically and/or editorially, the conditions for findability and ranking by search engines. No specific ranking, position or increase in visibility is guaranteed.

(4) Search engines and external platforms may independently change display, ranking, search results and technical requirements.

(5) Where digital-accessibility services are agreed, the:

are governed exclusively by the specific service description.

(6) Full compliance with WCAG, BITV, BFSG or other statutory accessibility requirements is only owed if expressly agreed.

(7) Technical or design accessibility services do not, absent an express agreement, constitute a legal assessment of which statutory obligations apply to the Client.

§ 16 Maintenance, Support, Monitoring and Backups

(1) For maintenance, support or monitoring contracts, only the services expressly designated in the relevant plan or offer are owed.

(2) Where updates are agreed, the service covers carrying out technically available updates that are, in the Contractor's professional judgment, suitable for the systems, components and extensions covered by the maintenance contract.

(3) An agreed functional check covers a reasonable review of essential functions after the relevant work has been carried out.

(4) Extensive troubleshooting, migrations or adjustments due to:

are only part of the maintenance plan if expressly agreed.

(5) Security measures such as:

serve to reduce risk. Complete prevention of attacks, malware, security vulnerabilities or unauthorized access cannot be guaranteed.

(6) The scope, interval and retention period of agreed backups are governed by the booked plan or offer.

(7) Restoration requires the existence of a technically usable backup.

(8) Systems not covered by the agreed backup scope, in particular email mailboxes or external platform data, are not part of the data backup.

(9) An agreed response time refers to the time until work begins, or a qualified initial response — it is not a guaranteed time for fixing or restoring the issue.

(10) Service hours are governed by the relevant offer. Absent a separate agreement, service hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., excluding statutory public holidays in Baden-Württemberg.

(11) Incident reports received outside service hours are deemed received at the start of the next service period.

(12) Time allowances included in a maintenance plan apply only to the specified billing period. Unused included time is not carried over or refunded, unless otherwise agreed.

§ 17 Third-Party Services, Licenses and Legal Review

(1) Costs for third-party licenses and services are not included in the fee unless expressly agreed. This applies in particular to:

(2) The Client bears ongoing third-party and license costs, unless otherwise agreed.

(3) Legal review or legal advice is not owed unless expressly agreed as a separate service and legally permissible to provide. This concerns, in particular:

(4) The technical creation, setup or integration of:

does not, absent an express agreement, include any legal review of their specific permissibility, completeness or currency.

(5) Legal texts provided by the Client are generally integrated technically in accordance with its specifications.

§ 18 Warranty and Defects

(1) The statutory warranty rights apply, unless validly agreed otherwise below.

(2) The Client should notify recognizable defects after provision or handover within a reasonable time, as specifically as possible and in text form. Statutory inspection and notification obligations, in particular § 377 of the German Commercial Code (HGB), remain unaffected insofar as they actually apply to the specific contractual relationship.

(3) Complaints should describe the nature, scope and — where possible — the circumstances of the defect specifically enough to allow the Contractor to investigate.

(4) In the case of a justified defect, the Contractor must generally first be given the opportunity for subsequent performance within a reasonable period.

(5) Otherwise, the statutory warranty rights apply.

(6) In particular, the following do not constitute defects:

(7) The Contractor gives no warranty for the factual accuracy of content provided or expressly approved by the Client, unless reviewing it was part of the order.

(8) Warranty rights relating to errors for which the Contractor is responsible remain unaffected.

§ 19 Acceptance for Works-Type Services

(1) Where the agreed service has the character of a works contract and is capable of acceptance, the Contractor shall make the completed service available for acceptance.

(2) The Client is obliged to accept a service produced in accordance with the contract. Acceptance may not be refused because of insignificant defects.

(3) After completion, the Contractor may set the Client a reasonable deadline for acceptance.

(4) If the Client does not refuse acceptance within the set deadline while stating at least one specific defect, the statutory provisions on deemed acceptance apply.

(5) Requests for changes, extensions or optimizations that do not constitute a defect do not prevent acceptance.

(6) Going live or publishing does not necessarily replace an expressly required acceptance; the statutory provisions remain authoritative.

§ 20 Liability

(1) The Contractor is liable without limitation:

(2) For slightly negligent breach of a material contractual obligation — an obligation whose fulfillment makes proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance the Client may regularly rely — the Contractor is only liable for the foreseeable damage typical for this type of contract.

(3) In all other respects, liability for slightly negligent breaches of duty is excluded.

(4) Mandatory statutory liability, in particular under the German Product Liability Act, remains unaffected.

(5) The above limitations of liability apply correspondingly for the benefit of the Contractor's legal representatives, employees and vicarious agents.

(6) These provisions do not shift the statutory burden of proof to the disadvantage of the Client.

(7) For data loss, the Contractor is liable — unless unlimited liability applies under the preceding paragraphs — only for the restoration effort that would also have arisen with proper, regular and risk-appropriate data backup.

(8) Where the Contractor has expressly and contractually taken on the data backup itself, its responsibility for properly performing this service remains unaffected.

§ 21 Confidentiality

(1) Both parties shall treat all confidential information of the other party that becomes known to them in connection with the contractual relationship as confidential, and use it exclusively for the purposes of the contract.

(2) The confidentiality obligation generally continues for five years after the end of the contractual relationship.

(3) For trade secrets, access credentials, security information and other information whose need for protection continues after this period, the obligation continues for as long as that need for protection exists.

(4) Information is not considered confidential if it:

(5) The permitted self-promotion under § 12(9) remains unaffected.

§ 22 Data Protection and Data Processing

(1) The Contractor processes personal data in accordance with the applicable data-protection provisions.

(2) Insofar as the Contractor processes personal data on behalf of the Client within the meaning of Art. 28 GDPR, the parties shall conclude a separate data-processing agreement before the relevant processing begins.

(3) Details on the processing of personal data by the Contractor under its own responsibility can be found in its privacy policy (German).

§ 23 Archiving and Data Retention After Project Completion

(1) Permanent archiving of project, working, source or original files is not owed unless a separate archiving service has been agreed.

(2) The Contractor is entitled to delete project files no longer needed, no earlier than twelve months after completion of the relevant project, provided that no:

stand in the way.

(3) The Client is responsible for permanently backing up the final products and files handed over to it, unless an ongoing backup service has been agreed.

(4) Subsequent re-procurement of files already handed over and subsequently no longer available is not owed.

§ 24 Termination and End of Contract

(1) The statutory termination and cancellation rights of both parties remain unaffected.

(2) Where a works contract exists, the Client may terminate it in accordance with statutory provisions up to completion. The consequences for remuneration are governed by § 648 BGB.

(3) Where the Client fails to provide required cooperation, the Contractor's rights are governed in particular by §§ 642 and 643 BGB.

(4) Either party may terminate a works contract for good cause under the conditions of § 648a BGB.

(5) Good cause exists, in accordance with the statutory provisions, in particular where, taking into account all circumstances of the individual case and weighing the interests of both parties, continuation of the contract until completion cannot reasonably be expected of the terminating party.

(6) Where the ground for termination is based on a remediable breach of duty, a reasonable deadline for remedy or a warning is generally required first, insofar as legally provided.

(7) In the event of premature termination, the level of service reached up to that point may be documented using suitable records. These may include, in particular:

(8) Under the statutory requirements, either party may request a joint determination of the level of service reached at termination.

(9) Claims for remuneration, compensation and damages are governed by the relevant grounds for termination and the statutory provisions. No separate flat termination fee, independent of this, is agreed.

(10) For continuing obligations, in particular maintenance, support or monitoring contracts, the term and ordinary notice period are primarily governed by the relevant offer or contract. Absent an express provision, a maintenance, support or monitoring relationship concluded for an indefinite period may be terminated by either party with four weeks' notice to the end of a calendar month.

(11) The right to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected for continuing obligations.

§ 25 Consequences of Termination

(1) After termination of the contract, the services due and eligible for billing under the statutory or contractual provisions up to the time of termination shall be remunerated.

(2) Third-party or license costs already incurred and no longer avoidable may be billed additionally in accordance with the relevant contract and statutory provisions.

(3) Usage rights are only granted to the extent owed under the contract, the level of completion, and full payment.

(4) Incomplete interim states are generally not production-ready or deployable final products.

(5) Where unfinished working states are handed over due to an express agreement or statutory obligation, there is no assurance that they are suitable, without further work, for their originally intended purpose.

(6) Statutory claims for defects, damages and other claims remain unaffected.

§ 26 Final Provisions

(1) The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

(2) The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with the contractual relationship is Stuttgart, provided the Client is:

or a choice-of-forum agreement is otherwise legally permissible. The Contractor remains entitled to sue the Client at the Client's statutory place of jurisdiction as well.

(3) The place of performance is the Contractor's registered place of business, unless expressly agreed otherwise.

(4) Individual agreements between the parties take precedence over these Terms.

(5) Should individual provisions of these Terms be or become wholly or partially invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected. The statutory provisions apply in place of the invalid provision.

Note: These Terms do not replace individual legal advice. For special contractual arrangements, international business or larger project volumes, review by a lawyer is recommended. This English text is a courtesy translation; the German version is legally binding.