Kotar Library – Website Terms and Conditions

Welcome to Kotar – Israel’s online library (www.kotar.co.il), hereinafter “Kotar,” which makes available to its users a large selection of reference books and encyclopedias from the leading publishers in Israel, on the subjects of the Land of Israel, nature, geography, history, Bible, culture and heritage, philosophy, sociology, psychology, education and so on. Kotar also has convenient, user-friendly tools that allow users to easily search for any topic in all the books, highlight passages, add notes, and even copy passages from the book to their own private documents. The website was developed, and is administered and operated by CET – the Center for Educational Technology, hereinafter “CET,” whose address is Max Rowe Educational Center, 16 Klausner Street, Tel Aviv (P.O. Box 39513, Tel Aviv 61394), Israel.

The terms and conditions of use set out below apply to the use of the Kotar library, whether by means of computer or other communications device (cell phone, handheld computer, or similar). In addition, the terms and conditions apply to use made via the internet.

a. General

1. Use of and/or entry into the website are subject to the provisions and conditions appearing in this document (hereinafter: “Terms of Use”), and these apply, unconditionally, to all users of the website and/or its content, whether directly or indirectly, including, inter alia, occasional visitors and paid subscribers, hereinafter “the Users” (after having entered the website and read these terms and conditions carefully). The Terms of Use of the website are applicable to both genders equally.
2. Use of most portions of the website is conditional, inter alia, upon payment and a registration process, as set forth in the Terms of Use below.
3. CET is entitled, at any time and without prior notice, to modify the website’s Terms of Use, and this change shall be binding upon users in all respects from the time it is published on the website.
4. CET reserves the right to make changes to the website, the content of Kotar, and its services, at any time, subject to the needs that arise in the course of operating the Kotar library.

b. Website Content

1. Kotar allows users who are not subscribers to view a number of pages from the beginning of each of the books in the library, to view “open” books, to carry out searches, to view lists of search results, and to view, based on the search results, only that content which is “open” to the public.
2. Kotar allows subscribers to view all of the library’s content, to carry out searches, to view the search results, and to avail themselves of a personal working environment and editing tools that allow them:
   • To add notes and comments on the pages that they choose
   • To highlight, in color, selected passages in the chosen pages
   • To save the markings and notes on the pages of the books that have been modified
   • To copy texts and images from the books on the website to other applications, such as Word files
   • To print specific pages upon demand
   • To collect the work output in personal content folders
   • To create a personal bookshelf

c. Purchase of a Subscription

Use of the majority of Kotar’s services is subject to payment. The Kotar library offers subscription packages appropriate for private individuals and for institutions.

1. Purchase of a private subscription takes place immediately after registering for the website.
   1. The subscription purchased is an individual, non-transferable subscription. To remove all doubt, the purchase of a subscription does not grant the subscriber any rights to the information found on the website and/or the right to copy and/or distribute and/or sell and/or make commercial use of the information.
   2. Those registering by means of an Access Code may not make use of the Access Code belonging to another person.
   3. The credit card is charged immediately following completion of the subscription purchase.
   4. When a recurring monthly subscription is chosen, the subscriber hereby agrees that CET is authorized to renew the subscription payment automatically, every month, at the price agreed upon when the recurring monthly subscription was purchased.
   5. When a recurring monthly subscription is chosen, the monthly charge will be made on the same date in the month as the subscription was purchased .
   6. All purchases are final. No cash refund will be made for the unused portion of a subscription. Similarly, use of the subscription cannot be suspended/postponed.
   7. CET reserves the right to adjust the subscription purchase price from time to time.
2. Purchase of an institutional subscription for schools – to purchase an institutional subscription for schools, or obtain information about subscription packages available to schools, please contact the Customer Relations Center on 1-800-366-555 or by e-mail: sherut@cet.ac.il
3. Purchase of an institutional subscription for academic institutions, public libraries or other organizations – to purchase an institutional subscription for institutions other than schools, or obtain information about subscription packages available to academic institutions, public libraries or other organizations,
   please contact the Customer Relations Center on 1-800-366-555 or by e-mail: sherut@cet.ac.il

d. Cancelation of a Subscription

1. subscription can be cancelled by calling telephone number 1-700-504646 .
2. The subscription shall be canceled, subject to the following conditions:
   • An annual subscription may be cancelled by giving notice as above, no later than 14 days from the purchase date; in this case, the client will be charged a cancelation fee of $25.
   • Recurring monthly subscription – the user agrees that the website will charge the user’s credit card on a monthly basis, with the subscription being renewed automatically, unless the user gives notice, at least three days prior to the renewal date, of not wishing to renew the subscription for a further month. The user will be entitled to make personal use only of the user name and password that were given to him, to the end of the subscription period for the subscription that he has requested to cancel.
   • Upon CET giving reasonable notice, in advance, of the termination of Kotar’s operations, CET will cease collection of subscription fees. The subscriber declares and agrees that, in this case, he shall have no claim or demand against CET, apart from the balance of the monthly subscription fees for the period for which the monthly subscription was purchased and during which the website did not operate.
   • The purchaser hereby declares that he is aged 18 or above, reads and understands Hebrew well, and is legally entitled to agree to this contract. Similarly, he declares that the credit card used for purchase of the subscription is his own, is issued in his own name, and is currently valid.

e. Policies relating to Use of Content in the Kotar Library

1. The content and services of the Kotar library (images, texts, animations, sound and video files) may be used solely for the purposes of study, teaching, academic research, reference, and personal research, to the extent permitted by the Fair Use rules set forth in Section 19 of the State of Israel’s Copyright Law, 2007.
2. The content and services of Kotar may only be used through a personal subscription or institutional subscription.
3. An annual institutional subscription to Kotar grants the right to employees, subscribers and students of the institution, to make use of the content and services of Kotar from within the institution, as well as granting the right to the institution to make available to employees, subscribers and students, remote access by means of the institution’s IP address or addresses, and by means of remote access software (or by other means). An individual subscription held by an employee, subscriber or student of the institution, does not grant other employees, subscribers or students the right to use Kotar, only the purchaser of that subscription.
4. Users shall not disrupt or interfere with the service or website, or the servers or networks associated with the service or website.
5. Users will not publish, send by electronic mail or transmit in any other manner any materials whatsoever containing viruses or software code, files or software designed to disrupt, cancel or restrict the functionality of computer software or hardware or any telecommunications equipment.
6. . In any event of copying or use of the website’s content or its display outside the website, using the copying tools provided by the website, users are obligated to indicate the source of the material and the name of the website.
7. No link may be made from within the website, unless subject to the following conditions:
   • The link is made in accordance with Paragraph 1 above.
   • The link is to a complete page in the website, as it appears, so that it can be viewed and used in exactly the same manner as viewing it or using it on the website.
8. Users may not remove or obscure the watermarks appearing on printed pages produced through the website.
9. Users may not remove or modify the header or interfere with the identifying marks, so as to conceal the source of any information existing on the website.
10. Users of the Kotar library are entitled to print individual pages from the books displayed on the website for the purpose of individual study, research and reference. Users do not have the right to disseminate or sell any printouts whatsoever from the Kotar library.

f. Limitation of Liability

1. CET – the Center for Educational Technology – shall not be liable for the content provided on the website. The owner of the rights to the content (the books or works displayed on the website) shall be liable for that content.
2. CET shall not be liable for any consequential, incidental or direct damages (including damages for lost of databases, loss of software, costs of providing alternative service, or interruptions to services) arising from use of the service or the user’s inability to use the service.
3. Without detracting from the generality of the foregoing, CET’s liability for any cause whatsoever shall not exceed the sum paid by the subscriber to CET for the service during the subscription period.

g. Intellectual Property

1. Intellectual property rights, including copyright and the moral rights of authors in their works appearing on this website are the property of the authors and/or publishers set out in the body of the work.
2. Intellectual property rights, including copyright in the website, its design, layout, the technological tools on the website, including the output from conversion to the online form and the source code, are owned by CET.
3. Subject to that stated in Paragraph 1 of the Policies for Use of Content of the Kotar Library, it is forbidden to duplicate, copy, photo reproduce, record, translate, store in an information database, broadcast or receive in any way or by any electronic, optical, mechanical or other means, any part of this website. Similarly, no commercial use whatsoever may be made of this website, in whole or in part, unless solely with the express, written permission of CET (the Center for Educational Technology).
4. This website is not to be displayed within a visible or hidden frame, and links may not be made to pages located within it (deep linking), but only to the home page.
5. The website may not be displayed using a graphic design or interface different from that provided by the website, unless subject to agreement from CET, in advance and in writing.

h. Customer Service and/or Technical Support

A customer support call center is available. Should you have a problem or question, we would be pleased to assist.
You may call the Telephone Support Center:
on Sunday-Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 08:30 p.m. (GMT+2), and on Fridays until 1:00 p.m. (GMT+2), at telephone 03-6200622.

Technical problems may also be reported by e-mail to - webs@cet.ac.il.

i. User’s Declarations and Undertakings

1. Without detracting from any other provision in the Terms of Use, the user declares and undertakes that he will not upload to the website content of the following types:
   • Any material that infringes or breaches the intellectual property rights of others – including copyright or trade marks;
   • Any material that is pornographic, erotic or of a sexual nature, or which may be offensive to the public;
   • Any material related to minors or which may identify them, their personal details, or their address and contact details;
   • Any computer software, computer code or application that contains a virus, including malware known as Trojan horses, worms, vandals, malicious applications, or similar;
   • Any unlawful material, or material that encourages, supports, assists, provides instructions for carrying out or guides the carrying out of an act which constitutes a criminal offense under the laws of the State of Israel ;
   • Any material which is defamatory of an individual or which infringes his privacy;
   • Any material or link to material whose publication is prohibited under the provisions of any law;
   • Any material which is harassing, insulting, hostile, threatening, coarse, racist, offensive to the public, or which might constitute a basis for a civil law suit or constitute some other breach of Israeli law;
   • Any material which may be deceptive to consumers;
   • Any advertising or commercial material;
   • Any material from an internet website, access to which is restricted by means of a password or similar, and which is not freely available to users of the internet;
   • In addition, the user undertakes not to operate or allow the operation of any computer application or other means, including software of the class known as robots, crawlers, and similar, for the purpose of searching, scanning, copying or automatic retrieval of content from the website
2. The user undertakes to indemnify CET for any expense and/or damages, should such be awarded, as a result of a claim and/or demand made to it by a third party as a result of breach of any of the provisions stated in these Terms of Use, and/or breach of any other right belonging to any third party whatsoever.

j. Responsibility for Information

CET shall not be liable for any information reaching the user from some external source by means of the website or its applications, and the user is required to take due care when receiving any information transmitted to him in this way. CET does not undertake that this information will be transmitted in full or correctly.

k. Privacy Protection

CET respects the privacy of the website’s users, and the information presented below is meant to assist users in understanding CET’s privacy protection policy. That stated in the Privacy Protection Policy section is in addition to the Terms of Use, and does not detract from them.

1. The personal details provided to CET upon registration for Kotar and as part of the subscription purchase process, as well as data accumulated in connection with users, will be retained in CET’s databases, and will serve solely for the purposes permitted under this Privacy Protection Policy or by law.
2. CET will not transfer to third parties personal details and/or identifying details regarding users, other than in the cases set forth below:
   • When it is necessary in order to obtain the services, such as transmitting the details to a credit card provider;
   • When the user’s consent has been given for such transfer, in writing and in advance;
   • When it is required to do so under a judicial order or warrant;
   • In any dispute and/or demand and/or claim and/or legal proceedings, such as may be, between CET and the user;
   • Where the user has breached the Terms of Use and/or the provisions of any law;
   • In any instance in which CET believes that provision of the information is necessary in order to prevent serious harm to the user’s person and/or to the person of a third party and/or to prevent serious harm to the user’s property and/or the property of a third party.
3. CET administers and implements systems and procedures for data security which limit the risk of unauthorized penetration of its servers. However, to remove any doubt, it is hereby stipulated that CET cannot promise that the website is absolutely immune to unlawful access to the data held in it.
4. CET is entitled to modify the provisions of the Privacy Protection Policy from time to time, and the modified policy will take effect from the time it is published on the website.

l. Liability and Indemnity

1. A user of Kotar accepts upon himself all risks and liability in relation to use of the library and/or the internet and/or any other device through which the user enters Kotar.
2. CET does not guarantee users that the website will be available at all times and/or that the website will operate correctly and/or that the links therein and/or the tools therein and/or access to information on the website will be available at all times.
3. CET does not guarantee users that the website will always operate without interruptions or faults, whether due to CET or due to some other agency, including faults and/or interruptions in the internet and in wireless transmission of data.
4. The user undertakes to indemnify CET, its employees, management or agents, for any damage and/or loss and/or expense caused to them, including legal fees and court costs, as a result of breach of these Terms of Use.

m. Changes to the Website and Termination of the Service

CET is entitled to modify or update, add or delete from the website or the data found thereon. CET is entitled to remove and/or restrict the use of and/or the services on the website or a part thereof, for a limited period or permanently, at its sole discretion, and without prior notice.

n. Law and Jurisdiction

• These Terms of Use shall be governed solely by the laws of the State of Israel.
• All disputes over any matter relating to the Terms of Use shall be submitted for determination by the competent courts in Tel Aviv-Yafo, which will have exclusive jurisdiction.