Terms and Conditions for Digital Book Downloads

These download terms and conditions govern the download of digital books or ebooks from the blackthornsdesign.com website. It is understood that the download offer is intended exclusively for non-reselling customers.

Ludovic Mornand, STUDIO BLACKTHORNS®, SIRET number 51304057600045.

Article 1 – Definition

Download:

The download consists of the transmission and reproduction, on the customer's electronic device, of a digital file incorporating the chosen work. Access to these files requires the use of the internet, internet-connected electronic devices and, for certain files, reading software for .pdf, .ePub or .mobi files.

Digital Book:

The digital form of any paper book, the content of which includes the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th cover pages and all illustrations and images, where applicable.

Said digital form, by whatever process, that can be consulted by the End User from a Reading Terminal. The digital book is distributed, and downloaded in computer file formats authorized by the publisher.

PDF (Portable Document Format): A computer file format created by Adobe Systems. The specificity of PDF is to preserve the formatting (fonts, images, graphic objects, etc.) of any source document.

E-Pub (acronym for electronic publication): A standardised open format for electronic books. The specificity of the E-Pub format is to allow the real-time recomposition of the page layout of the text according to the screen size. This format is particularly recommended for reading Digital Books on any digital tablet.

.Mobi Format: A closed format created by the company Mobipocket, acquired by Amazon for the creation and reading of digital books. Read only by the Mobipocket Reader software available only on Kindle, this format also allows the real-time recomposition of the page layout of the text according to the screen size.

Article 2 – Purpose

These constitute, as of this day, the general terms and conditions for downloading digital books, the distribution and digital distribution of which in France is provided by STUDIO BLACKTHORNS® on its website blackthornsdesign.com.

The general terms and conditions for downloading digital books, as well as the specific conditions for downloading each digital book, such as its unit price, file format, protection mode and usage rights, are those in force on the digital book download site and/or those accessible on the dedicated digital tablet, where the order took place on the date of order validation.

blackthornsdesign.com reserves the right to modify these general terms and conditions at any time.

The Customer must therefore take the precaution of keeping informed of the most recent changes to the general terms and conditions each time they download by consulting the blackthornsdesign.com website.

In order to be able to order on the site, the Customer must first have read and accepted the general terms and conditions for downloading digital books.

These general terms and conditions, as well as the specific terms and conditions for each digital book, are those in force on the digital book download site at the time of order validation.

Non-acceptance of the general terms and conditions and specific conditions of blackthornsdesign.com's download offers, as well as the general technical terms and conditions related to the purchase of books, will prevent the Customer from accessing blackthornsdesign.com's digital download offer.

As a result, no claim or refund request can be made on the basis of a refusal or misunderstanding of these general technical terms and conditions.

The digital books offered by this site are in MOBI, EPUB and/or PDF formats. However, it is strongly recommended that Customers use the MOBI format for use on an Amazon brand e-reader, or the EPUB format for use on any other digital tablet.

Article 3 – Modification of the Offer

blackthornsdesign.com reserves the right, without notice or compensation, to make any modifications or improvements to the digital book download offer that it deems necessary or useful and will not be liable for any damage of any kind that may result from this.

Similarly, blackthornsdesign.com reserves the right, without notice or compensation, to definitively terminate a digital book download offer and will not be liable for any damage of any kind that may result from this.

Article 4 – Access Conditions

The digital book offer is accessible to persons with the legal capacity to contract and who hold a valid personal French bank card. Orders from minors must be placed by one of their parents or legal guardians. The service may not be used for professional purposes.

Article 5 – Order, Payment and Delivery

In order to be able to order on the blackthornsdesign.com website, the Customer must reside in mainland France. The Customer does not need to create an account to purchase digital books. He must simply go to the Web page corresponding to the desired digital book and then provide all the information requested on the online payment form, including the first name, last name, e-mail address, full postal address and bank details. The Customer undertakes to provide true and sincere information.

The Customer pays for his orders by credit card in two ways. Either directly via the STUDIO BLACKTHORNS® interface or through his Paypal account that he has already created or that he can create during the purchase. The connection will then be secured and encrypted (via SSL protocol) by the Paypal site itself. The Customer can use the STUDIO BLACKTHORNS® online payment form. Here too his information will be encrypted according to SSL protocol (certificate installed on our server) and will in no case be stored on the blackthornsdesign.com computer server. Whatever the payment method chosen, no bank data will be transmitted or stored on the blackthornsdesign.com website.

The Customer is invited to print or save the order confirmation page showing his order number in order to keep the information relating to his order in case of complaint.

Once the order is validated online, the Customer receives confirmation of his order by a confirmation e-mail to the e-mail address associated with the customer account. The sending of this e-mail is equivalent to acknowledgement of receipt of the Customer's order.

When the Customer accesses the digital offer via the blackthornsdesign.com website, he proceeds to the purchase by clicking on the "BUY" button. This action triggers the sending of an immediate download link to the e-mail address associated with the account. Access to the digital file is then made by clicking on this unique download link.

The purchase price of his order will be automatically debited, even if the Customer decides, subsequently, to give up the download or consultation of the digital book ordered. The Customer acknowledges that the fourteen-day withdrawal period opened by article L.121-21-8 of the Consumer Code cannot apply, as soon as his order has been executed by sending download links.

In case of difficulties, and in particular if the Customer does not receive the download or online reading links to the e-mail address associated with his customer account, he can contact the Studio Blackthorns team at any time by sending an e-mail to the address contact[a]blackthornsdesign.com

Article 6 – Right of Withdrawal

The downloaded files are digital files not provided on a physical medium, consequently, the fourteen-day withdrawal period opened by article L.121-21-8 of the Consumer Code cannot apply, as soon as the order has been executed by sending download links after the express prior consent of the consumer and the express waiver of his right of withdrawal.

Article 7 – Price

The prices of digital files can be modified at any time.

The sales prices of digital books displayed on the site are inclusive of all taxes and download and/or consultation fees.

The communication costs related to access and use of the digital book download site and the digital book after-sales service remain the responsibility of the Customer.

Article 8 – Proof

Unless proven otherwise (for example, by producing a hard copy of your order confirmation screen and including the date of purchase), the terms of the order and downloads kept by blackthornsdesign.com in the form of electronic records on blackthornsdesign.com will constitute proof of all transactions between the Customer and blackthornsdesign.com.

Article 9 – Downloading and Reading eBooks

Technical Information and Recommendations

Access to digital books requires the use of the Internet, Internet-connected electronic devices (computer, smartphone, tablet, digital reader) and reading software, these devices and software must meet specific technical constraints:

Digital Book Formats

Digital books might be available in 3 formats:

PDF retains the formatting of the printed version. This is the recommended format for reading on a computer.

The .Mobi format: is used by Amazon's technology (Kindle) and allows the real-time recomposition of the page layout of the text according to the screen size.

ePub is free and available on tablets and readers other than Kindle and allows you to optimise the layout of the content, modify the size or font of the characters.

Article 10 – Protection of Copyright

The digital files offered by blackthornsdesign.com are only intended for strictly personal, private and free use. The Customer expressly undertakes to keep the download link that will be sent to him confidential and not to communicate it in any form whatsoever to a third party.

Any reproduction, adaptation or representation in any form and by any means whatsoever, and particularly resale, exchange, rental and transfer to a third party are prohibited and expose its author to legal proceedings, civil or criminal, provided by the current provisions of the intellectual property code.

The digital files as well as all the elements reproduced on the product sheet of each digital file (in particular texts, comments, illustrations, logos and iconographic documents) are protected by the Intellectual Property Code and by the applicable international standards.

The Customer undertakes to respect the rights of authors, performers and publishers of digital books and not to circumvent or infringe the technical protection measures.

Infringement of technical protection measures is punishable by specific offences referred to in Article L 335-3-1 and following of the Intellectual Property Code.

Any deterioration, as well as, in the absence of authorisation, any representation, reproduction, modification, commercial use, total or partial, of various elements of this site is prohibited and exposes its author to legal proceedings. These general and specific conditions do not imply authorisation to represent, reproduce, modify or use commercially the various elements of the site.

Article 11 – Confidentiality

The transmission of information on the payment interfaces is secure and encrypted. The Customer pays for his orders by credit card in two ways. Either directly via the STUDIO BLACKTHORNS® interface or through his Paypal account that he has already created or that he can create during the purchase. The connection will then be secured and encrypted (via SSL protocol) by the Paypal site itself. Either the Customer uses the STUDIO BLACKTHORNS® online payment form. Here too his information will be encrypted according to SSL protocol (certificate installed on our server) and will in no case be stored on the blackthornsdesign.com computer server. Whatever the payment method chosen, no bank data will be transmitted or stored on the blackthornsdesign.com website.

Article 12 – Guarantees

blackthornsdesign.com remains bound by the legal guarantee of conformity mentioned in articles L. 211-4 to L. 211-13 of the consumer code and that relating to defects of the thing sold, under the conditions provided for in articles 1641 to 1648 and 2232 of the Civil Code.  

Article 1641 c.civ: "the seller is bound by the guarantee by reason of the hidden defects of the thing sold which render it unfit for the use for which it is intended, or which diminish this use so much that the buyer would not have acquired it, or would have given only a lower price, if he had known them."  

Article 1648-1 c.civ: "The action resulting from redhibitory defects must be brought by the purchaser, within two years from the discovery of the defect".  

Article L.211-4 of the Consumer Code: "The seller is required to deliver goods in accordance with the contract and is liable for any lack of conformity existing at the time of delivery. He is also liable for any lack of conformity resulting from the packaging, the assembly instructions or the installation when it has been put at his charge by the contract or carried out under his responsibility."  

Article L.211-5 of the Consumer Code: "To comply with the contract, the goods must:

1° Be fit for the purpose usually expected of similar goods and, where applicable:

  • correspond to the description given by the seller and possess the qualities that the latter presented to the buyer in the form of a sample or model;
  • present the qualities that a buyer can legitimately expect in view of the public statements made by the seller, by the producer or by his representative, in particular in advertising or labelling;

2° Or present the characteristics defined by mutual agreement by the parties or be fit for any special use sought by the buyer, brought to the attention of the seller and that the latter has accepted"

Article L.211-12 of the Consumer Code: "The action resulting from the lack of conformity is prescribed by two years from the delivery of the goods."

Article 13 – Responsibility  

No claim can be made against blackthornsdesign.com 48 hours after the order of the digital book.

The obligations incumbent on blackthornsdesign.com within the framework of the digital book download offer are obligations of means.

blackthornsdesign.com cannot be held responsible for the following situations: service interruptions due to the characteristics and limitations related to the internet network and in particular interruption of access networks, technical performance and response times to consult, query or transfer information contained on the site or digital files.

The data deemed confidential transmitted by the Customer on the blackthornsdesign.com download site are at his own risk. Given the intrinsic characteristics of the Internet, blackthornsdesign.com does not guarantee you against the risks, in particular of misappropriation, intrusion, contamination and hacking of your data, programs and files. It is the Customer's responsibility to take all appropriate measures to protect his own data, programs and files, in particular against computer viruses. blackthornsdesign.com cannot under any circumstances be held responsible for any damage that may result therefrom, such as loss of data or deterioration of computer equipment.

blackthornsdesign.com cannot be held responsible for any malfunction occurring at the time of downloading the ordered digital files which is not of its making and which the Customer has not provided proof of. However, in case of difficulties blackthornsdesign.com undertakes to make every effort to allow Customers to access the reading of the ordered digital files. In any event, the extent of blackthornsdesign.com's liability will be limited to the purchase value of the digital files ordered and paid for and to which the Customer has not been able to access after requesting assistance from the after-sales service and satisfied all the technical constraints indicated on the online help pages by blackthornsdesign.com, provided that the Customer is able to provide proof of this;

If the Customer has not downloaded the digital book immediately after sending the download link, blackthornsdesign.com cannot be held responsible in case of impossibility for the Customer to download the digital book later.

Article 14 – Personal Data

In accordance with the Data Protection Act of 6 January 1978, the final Customer has a right of access, rectification and opposition to personal data concerning him. He can make the request by using the contact form available on the following page: https://blackthornsdesign.com/en/contact-us

Article 15 – Deactivation of the Customer Account

blackthornsdesign.com reserves the right to block the download of the digital book without notice or compensation in case of:

  • Non-compliance with the general conditions
  • Non-payment of sums due

Article 16 – Force Majeure

The responsibility of blackthorndesign.com cannot be engaged if the execution of the contract is delayed or prevented due to a case of force majeure or fortuitous event, due to the other party or a third party or external causes such as social conflicts, intervention of civil or military authorities, natural disasters, fires, water damage, interruption of the telecommunications network or the electricity network, or other cases defined by the jurisprudence rendered by the French jurisdictions.  

Article 17 – Duration

These general conditions apply for the entire duration of the online availability of the services offered by blackthorndesign.com.

Article 18 – Validation

By validating his order, the Customer declares to have read all of the general conditions and accepts them.

Article 19 – Applicable Law

These general conditions are subject to French law. The language of this contract is French. If one of the clauses of these general terms of service were deemed contrary to the law by a competent court, the other clauses would remain perfectly applicable.

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