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Geneanet Website Terms and Conditions of Use

Geneanet publishes a Privacy Policy and modifies its Website Terms and Conditions of Use. This update will be effective as of October 1, 2021. To learn more, please visit this page.

(Last revised November 15, 2023)

Table of contents

 

1. Introduction
2. Definitions
3. Presentation of Service
4. Use of the Site
5. Geneanet Premium
6. Hosting of Genealogical Data
7. ‘Genealogical Data Legacy’ Service
8. Ownership of Members’ Genealogical Data and Non-Commercialization
9. ‘Discussion Forum’ Service
10. ‘Geneanet Mailbox’ Service
11. User’s Liability
12. Geneanet’s Liabilities
13. Intellectual Property
14. Modification of the Site and these Terms and Conditions
15. Force majeure
16. Miscellaneous

1. Introduction

The Geneanet website (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Site’) is a website accessible via the Internet at www.geneanet.org, published by Geneanet SAS, a company registered with the Trade and Companies Register of Paris under number B 428 812 572, with a share capital of €53,814.40. Its intra-Community VAT identification number is FR 60428812572 and its registered office is Geneanet, 165 bis, rue de Vaugirard, 75015 Paris, France. The aim of the Site is to make genealogy accessible to all.

The Geneanet website is hosted by Geneanet SAS, 165 bis rue de Vaugirard, 75015 Paris, France. The Publishing Director (directeur de la publication du site) is Mr. Christophe Becker, Chairman and Managing Director of Geneanet SAS.

Geneanet offers on its Site a vast choice of online services (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Service’ or ‘Services’) relating to genealogy and family history. The service ‘Family Trees Online’ is also available on smartphones and tablets with the App downloadable from Google Play and App Store.

By using this Site, in full or in part, the user fully accepts to be bound by and strictly comply with these Terms and Conditions.

These Terms and Conditions are accessible via the Site registration form or via the section ‘Terms and Conditions’ found at the bottom of the Site. Unless otherwise expressly stated, all new services or modifications to existing services are subject to these Terms and Conditions.

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2. Definitions

2.1. Users and Members

Contributor: A member of the Site who shares his/her personal archives via the various services available on the Site.

Geneanet: Geneanet SAS and any entities controlling, controlled by or under common control with Geneanet.

Geneanet Account: All personal data, as defined by article 2.2.1, of a member that he/she is free to manage (addition, deletion and amendment). Certain account information is obligatory for the use of some services (e.g. the postal address of members who wish to publish their family tree on Geneanet).

Member: Any user who has registered free of charge on the Site and is recognized when accessing the Site. Registration gives the member access to certain services, including the Geneanet Account.

Premium Member: Any member who has subscribed as a Premium Member by completing the appropriate online form and paid the subscription fee. Premium subscription allows access to a full list of services that are available on the webpage ‘Geneanet Premium’.

User: Any visitor who uses the Site and/or any of the Services offered on the Site. Users may have several statuses: i.e., user, member and Premium member.

2.2. Data

2.2.1. Members’ Personal Data

The term ‘members’ personal data’ means information by which you can be identified, directly or indirectly. For further information on how we process your personal data, please refer to our privacy policy which is available here.

2.2.2. Genealogical Data

The term ‘genealogical data’ refers to all personal or other data voluntarily provided or entered in a family tree (via the Geneanet family tree publication tool), or via another sharing service provided by Geneanet.

The term ‘collaborative genealogical data’ refers to all data or documents published on Geneanet by the users, including in particular data and documents which are not linked to a member’s family tree, and freely shared with all Site users.

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3. Presentation of Service

The aim of the Service is to allow the user to construct his/her genealogy and his/her family history.

For this purpose, Geneanet, acting as a hosting provider, makes configurable space and options available for its Users, allowing them to build their family tree and to conduct genealogy research.

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4. Use of the Site

4.1. Access to the Site

Anyone with an Internet connection can freely access the Site and consult its pages without charge. However, certain services are only accessible to members. Other services are available only to Premium Members (see article 5.).

4.2.Registration

4.2.1. Registration as a Member

A user obtains member status after having completed the registration form. Registration as a member is effective when the user receives the ‘Registration Confirmation’ email from Geneanet.

Registration is open to private individuals and to genealogy non-profit associations or societies. All industrial, commercial, artisanal or professional entities and undertakings, whether French or foreign, are expressly excluded.

The user must complete the registration form found on the Site with all the required information. This information allows the user to be identified. The IP address of the computer used to register with Geneanet is retained by Geneanet. The user must also provide a username and password in accordance with article 4.2.2. below.

If the user fails to provide the required information or if the information appears to be manifestly incorrect (false identity, invented address, etc.), Geneanet reserves the right to delete the corresponding Geneanet account without notice.

A user wishing to register as a member must ensure his/her email address can receive emails sent to him/her by Geneanet without the latter having to pass via an email address validation process or any other anti-spam system. If the user has such a system, it shall be his/her responsibility to configure it so that emails from Geneanet (text and HTML) can be received. Member status implies acceptance by the individual registered with Geneanet to receive ‘service’ emails which are necessary for good relations between Geneanet and its members and also the proper use of the Site by members.

4.2.2. Member Identification

Members have a personal username and password allowing them to access the services corresponding to their status.

Username

When registering, each Geneanet user will choose a username and password. The user cannot choose a username that is already in use or which has already been used. The username is unique to the member. The member will systematically be asked to provide this username when using the Site in order to identify him/her and to provide him/her with a personalized response.

The username chosen by the user must comply with French legislation and more particularly, with legislation relating to public policy and morality. Furthermore, the user shall not publish any controversial messages, political or otherwise, through his/her username. Whether a username is considered controversial or otherwise shall be determined by Geneanet at its sole discretion.

Password

The user shall choose a personal and confidential password. The user is solely responsible for the use of his/her password. The user undertakes to keep his/her password secret and not to disclose it in any form whatsoever.

4.2.3. Duration of Registration

User registration is for an unlimited period, notwithstanding the fact that each party may unilaterally terminate, at any time, without having to give a reason and without penalty, the present contractual relations.

In particular, in the event of non-compliance with these Terms and Conditions by the user, Geneanet reserves the right to delete the corresponding Geneanet account without notice, and, in the case of a paid-subscription account, without penalty or reimbursement of any amount whatsoever.

Use of the Accounts

A member can open as many Geneanet accounts as he/she may wish, provided that each account created with Geneanet corresponds to as many registrations, with a separate username and password allocated for each account.

All of his/her information is accessible via the ‘My Account’ menu on the Site.

Use of the accounts is exclusively for non-commercial purposes, except with the express prior approval of Geneanet, to the exclusion notably of any solicitation or attempted solicitation.

Therefore, the user (including Premium Members) undertakes:

  • to only access the Site using an ordinary web browser and solely to carry out personal or professional research;
  • not to share his/her login details, which are strictly personal, so as to share his/her Geneanet access with other people;
  • not to use a temporary email address;
  • never to use a web robot, for any reason. A “robot” shall be deemed to be any software tool designed to reproduce the actions of a human user with a view to entering data, migrating such data, mass downloads, load or performance tests and/or “stress tests”. The use of any automatic access tool is expressly prohibited;
  • not to bypass or try to bypass functionalities related to the security of the Geneanet sites, or the functionalities related to restriction of their use or to the copying of their contents or services;
  • not to extract, download or copy this data other than for genealogical purposes.
  • not to use this data for commercial purposes.

Geneanet reserves the right to block access to its services if the level of access indicates an abnormal use of the Site and of the information it contains.

Failure to comply with any one of these undertakings may result in the immediate cancellation of the user’s account. Geneanet reserves the right to undertake any legal action it may consider appropriate against any users who act contrary to these Terms and Conditions.

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5. Geneanet Premium

5.1. Service access

The Premium subscription enables users to benefit, among other things, from the services listed on the following page: www.geneanet.org/premium.

When a Premium Member owns several different Geneanet accounts, the Premium service is accessed using the specific username tied to the account for which the member has taken out a Premium subscription.

Access to Geneanet as a Premium Member is individual and personal. It is reserved to natural persons. The Premium Member undertakes not to disclose his/her Geneanet log-in information to third parties. Breach of this provision may result in immediate termination of the Premium subscription by Geneanet, in which case the amount of the subscription will be kept by Geneanet for fees incurred as a result of this breach.

The general terms and conditions of sale applicable to this service can be accessed on this page.

5.2. Fair Use

The Geneanet Premium subscription gives access to all public data provided on the Site (except information contained in family trees to which access has been restricted by the owners and which they use for personal purposes only).

This information is provided to Premium members for their personal or professional genealogical research only, within the limits defined at article 4.2.3.

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6. Hosting of Genealogical Data

Geneanet provides tools and hosting space to allow its Users to conduct Genealogy research. In this respect, Geneanet notably offers users the possibility of creating their family trees and of searching various historical collections.

When Geneanet is not the data publisher of this data, in particular when Geneanet did not create the Family Tree in question, it is considered as a host pursuant to article 6-1-2 of the French Law for Confidence in the Digital Economy (Loi pour la confiance dans l’économie numérique).

6.1. Family Trees

The genealogical data is published on Geneanet, host of the family trees, under the responsibility of the member, who shall alone ensure the data is used and published in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Geneanet offers three levels of family tree privacy to allow a member to publish their genealogy while respecting the privacy of their living contemporaries, through the three following options: “Public”, “Semi-Public” (information apart from first name and surname, filiation and /or relationship is hidden (dates, photos, places and notes), or “Private” (living persons are not displayed) 

The member must choose the appropriate level of privacy depending on the persons they enter in their family tree. Living persons have the right to access, correct and delete data concerning them in any family tree.

If an account which created a family tree is inactive for more than three years, Geneanet reserves the right to make any correction that it may consider appropriate.

6.2. Personal Archive Collections

Geneanet provides multiple archive sharing services on its Site allowing contributors to share their personal archives.

A “personal archive” is any digitized or transcribed document, of genealogical or historical interest (hereinafter, “contribution”), for which the member owns the rights of reproduction and exploitation, and which can be freely published.

These files are published under the sole and full responsibility of the member. It is notably the member’s sole responsibility to ensure that they have the relevant rights with respect to these personal archives, and in particular, the consent of the persons identified or identifiable in these published archives, of which Geneanet is only a host. Any document published which does not comply with applicable legal and regulatory provisions (in particular, those relative to dates for release of public archives and to the conditions for communication and use as defined by the terms and conditions of the public or private archive services which held it; or those relative to compliance with privacy policy provisions) or which infringes intellectual property rights owned by a third party, shall be deleted by Geneanet, from the moment it becomes aware of such non-compliance or infringement. To this end, the member must cite the source of the information and documents published on the Site.

Geneanet reserves the right to enter into business partnerships (contrats de partenariat) with other genealogy service providers for the purposes of sharing and/or enriching this indexed data.

It should however be noted that the database belonging to Geneanet is not physically transferred to its partners, so use of the data is limited solely to access by the Users of the genealogy service.

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7. ‘Genealogical Data Legacy’ Service

By default, the data and research of members that is online at the time of their death will remain online. However, Geneanet offers its members the possibility of declaring their wishes concerning the future of their family tree and associated documents in the event of their death.

In order to declare their wishes in the event of their death, members can tick the relevant box found on the page ‘My Genealogical Profile / Genealogical Data Legacy’. In addition, a member can write a message for the attention of their heir(s). This message will be held by Geneanet exclusively for such purpose, and will be sent to the relevant heir(s) on his/her (their) request.

Each member can thus choose to leave their data and research online after they die. This decision is binding as against Geneanet (without prejudice to the provisions of the article hereof concerning the case of total cessation of the service) and for information purposes with respect to the heir(s), in addition to the legal provisions mentioned below.

In accordance with article 85 of the French Data Protection Law (Loi Informatique et Libertés) dated January 6, 1978, following the death of a member, his/her heir(s) may, subject to proof of their identity and inheritance rights, require that the death be recorded and that the personal data of that deceased member be updated (within the meaning of article 2 of the French Data Protection Law dated January 6, 1978).

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8. Ownership of Members’ Genealogical Data and Non-Commercialization

8.1. Ownership of Members’ Genealogical Data

Genealogical data remains fully the property of the members who publish it on Geneanet. With the exception of the indexations of images carried out on the Site which remain Geneanet property.

The filing of genealogical data under the Creative Commons license ‘CC BY-NC-SA 2.0FR’ (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/fr/) does not alter its ownership but does allow the reuse of this data by Geneanet and all Geneanet members.

In the case of a member’s account being deleted, certain data, particularly the collaborative genealogical data published by the respective member, will remain accessible on Geneanet. This includes, for example, old postcards, photos of tombs or monuments, family crests, and records.

8.2. Non-Commercialization of Members’ Genealogical Data 

‘Non-commercialization’ means that Geneanet undertakes NOT TO SELL to third-party companies the information submitted freely and free of charge by its members via the sharing services as defined in article 6 of these Terms and Conditions proposed by Geneanet.

For the avoidance of doubt, ‘non-commercialization’ does not prevent Geneanet from using the information submitted by its members to set up services or options reserved for its Premium members, such as research, notifications or matches.

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9. ‘Discussion Forum’ Service

With respect to the use of discussion forums, a Charter including ‘advice for posting a message’ is displayed at the top of certain discussion forums. The Charter and ‘advice for posting a message’ must be read and respected prior to sending a message on the forum. Messages not conforming to the guidelines may be subject to modification, deletion and/or the exclusion of the member concerned.

The user expressly recognizes that forums are exclusively for sharing information between, and for providing assistance to, other users, relating to genealogy. Users undertake not to use the forums for any other purposes (particularly political and religious) and shall refrain from using controversial usernames or profile images and any behavior that may be judged as damaging to the convivial nature of the service. Users expressly acknowledge Geneanet’s right to delete any messages, images and/or pseudonyms that breach this provision.

Users undertake not to use this service for commercial purposes, or, generally, to propose products or services remunerating them either directly or indirectly.

Users undertake not to direct Internet users, directly (via a hyperlink) or indirectly, to other Internet sites that may not comply with applicable legislation and these Terms and Conditions.

All advertising messages, special offers or sponsoring that remunerates the user in any form whatsoever is forbidden within the service, unless with the prior written consent of Geneanet. In the absence of prior agreement, Geneanet alone has the right to publish advertising messages on any page of its Site, including, in particular, the pages of family trees.

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10. ‘Geneanet Mailbox’ Service

Geneanet provides a messaging system, of which it is the owner, for its members to allow them to exchange messages relating to genealogy in an exclusively non-commercial context.

All messages sent by a member to a single addressee via the Site’s internal messaging system is considered a private correspondence, for which the sender of the message is solely responsible. Geneanet cannot be held responsible for the contents of private messages between members sent via the internal messaging system.

In cases of abuse or misuse of the messaging system (notably by sending ‘spam’ aimed at canvassing, in the event of insulting language, harassment or any other form of prejudicial behavior that compromises the harmonious use of the Services) Geneanet reserves the right to delete the account of an offending member 24 hours after having notified that member by email or internal message. No claim may be made in this respect by the member whose account has been deleted.

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11. Users’ Liability

The user is solely responsible for any data whatsoever that he/she provides to Geneanet and/or publishes on the Site, as well as any messages and opinions expressed, whether through his/her Geneanet account, user content, forum discussions or in any other manner.

The user undertakes to ensure that this data is not likely to undermine the legitimate interests of any third parties whoever they may be. In particular, the user undertakes to respect the image rights of third parties, the right to privacy and intellectual property rights. The user undertakes not to slander (diffamer) or insult (injurier). In more general terms, the user undertakes to not contravene the applicable legal or regulatory provisions.

The User is fully aware that he/she is the publisher of the Family Tree that he/she creates and that he/she is considered as such under the law, Geneanet’s liability being limited to that of a host pursuant to article 6-1-2 of the French Law for Confidence in the Digital Economy (Loi pour la confiance dans l’économie numérique).

In this respect, the user undertakes to indemnify Geneanet for and against any claims and/or actions and/or complaints based directly or indirectly on this information and/or data, which may be brought against Geneanet. In particular, the user undertakes to bear the cost of any payments whatsoever, which may be claimed from Geneanet, or payments which Geneanet may be ordered to make by a Court decision, including lawyers’ fees and court expenses.

Likewise, the user undertakes to indemnify Geneanet for and against any detrimental consequences directly or indirectly related to the use that he/she makes of the service.

This undertaking also applies as regards Geneanet’s partners.

In the event that Geneanet decides that a user’s account contains comments or data manifestly contrary to applicable legal or regulatory provisions, Geneanet reserves the right to delete the said comments or data without notice. In this event the user has no right of recourse.

The user is solely responsible for all consequences, direct or indirect, of hyperlinks the user proposes between the Site and another website.

The user undertakes to respect the image and reputation of Geneanet and not to make any declarations and/or actions whatsoever which may be detrimental to Geneanet. In general terms, the user shall not take any action that impedes the smooth functioning of the Site.

As Geneanet seeks to provide reliable information, users are requested to cite the source of all information and data that they communicate via the Site. Geneanet in no way guarantees the authenticity and/or reliability of information and data provided by a user.

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12. Geneanet’s Liability

12.1. Hyperlinks

The website may provide hyperlinks that give access to other websites published and managed by third parties, particularly within the search results of the Geneanet database. Geneanet cannot be held liable, directly or indirectly, in the event that a third-party site fails to comply with current or future legal and regulatory provisions, or for the consequences of such non-compliance.

More generally, Geneanet shall bear no responsibility for the actions of such third parties and shall require that users refer to the terms and conditions of the relevant sites.

12.2. Characteristics of the Internet

Users acknowledge the characteristics and limits of the Internet, particularly regarding technical performance, response time when consulting, examining or transferring information, the risks of interruption, and more generally, the risks inherent to any connection and transmission on the Internet, lack of protection for certain data against possible misuse and risks of contamination by computer viruses on the network.

As a consequence, Geneanet cannot in any circumstances be held liable for any damage directly or indirectly relating to any of these characteristics and/or limitations.

Any user’s connection to the Site and use of all or part of the Services is under the user’s sole responsibility.

It is the responsibility of all users to take the necessary precautions to protect their own data and/or software and equipment against any form of attack.

12.3. Site Access and Updates

Geneanet endeavors, to the extent possible, to keep the Service accessible 7 days a week and 24 hours a day, but is not bound by any obligation to achieve this.

Any evolution or change to the Site may require an update and/or temporary unavailability of the Site and Geneanet shall in no way be held liable in this respect.

Likewise, Geneanet reserves the right to interrupt, suspend, modify or terminate one or several Site services at any time without notice and without having to provide any reason therefor. In this event, Geneanet shall in no way be held liable in this respect.

12.4. Content of Services

To the extent that the Services give access to information provided by the users themselves, Geneanet shall not be held liable in respect of this information.

Geneanet shall not be liable for the malfunction of software downloaded nor for any damage that may result from its download. The same applies to any other downloads whatsoever.

The Site presents services proposed by advertisers and Partners and therefore contains data relating to their products and services. The Site also provides advice and information that may contain inaccuracies, omissions, gaps, outdated information, etc. Geneanet shall not be held liable regarding this content and does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this information. Geneanet shall not bear liability for the actual or supposed quality of the products or services proposed by these advertisers and Partners on the Site.

Geneanet shall not be held liable in the event of use of the service which is not in compliance with these Terms and Conditions.

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13. Intellectual Property

The Site and all related rights are the exclusive property of Geneanet.

All trademarks, logos and other distinctive marks reproduced on the Site, as well as on other sites accessed through hyperlinks, are the exclusive property of their owners and are protected in this respect by the provisions of the French Intellectual Property Code.

Any unauthorized reproduction of these trademarks, logos and distinctive marks and/or signs constitutes an infringement subject to civil and criminal sanctions.

All texts, commentaries, illustrations, data and images reproduced on the Site and those to which the Site allows access, are subject to copyright and their reproduction or non-authorized download constitutes an infringement subject to civil and criminal sanctions.

Geneanet is the sole owner of the exploitation rights regarding the genealogical index database made available on the Site. Any unauthorized use of this database, in full or in part, is subject to the legal provisions that protect the interests of database providers.

The user is the sole owner of copyright for data he/she puts online, provided this data qualifies as copyrightable material and is therefore afforded copyright protection, within the limit of competing rights that may be held by third parties with respect to this data.

To the extent that this data is published on the Site, the user grants Geneanet, free of charge, all exploitation rights necessary to put this data online, notably the rights to digitization, publishing on the Internet in all languages, the right of translation and adaption.

To the extent that this data is published on the Site for the purposes of making it available to all, and particularly when it is made available for reproduction and use by other users in their own database and family trees, the user publishing the data expressly assigns all rights necessary for this use of his/her data, in accordance with these Terms and Conditions, notably the rights to reproduction, adaption, translation and Internet publication in all languages.

Assignment of these rights is on a non-exclusive worldwide basis and for the legal duration of protection afforded under copyright.

The user undertakes not to reproduce, copy, use or extract the Family Trees or other data which he/she did not create or of which he/she is not the owner, for any purpose other than genealogy purposes.

It should be noted, for the avoidance of doubt, that the terms of Article L. 343-4 of the Intellectual Property Code provide that:

The act of violating the rights of the producer of a database as defined in Article L. 342-1 is punishable by three years of imprisonment and a fine of €300,000. When the offence has been committed as an organized gang, penalties are increased to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of €750,000.

The user warrants, vis-à-vis Geneanet, that he/she holds all necessary authorizations for the online publication of this data for the purposes indicated above.

The user shall be responsible for any remuneration that may be claimed by any third parties regarding the publication of this data on the Site. The user shall indemnify Geneanet for and against all recourse, claims or actions that may be brought against Geneanet by any third party.

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14. Modification of the Site and these Terms and Conditions

Geneanet reserves the right to modify the various services offered on the Site as well as these Terms and Conditions at any time. The user acknowledges that he/she cannot make any claim in this regard.

In the event of a material change these Terms and Conditions, Geneanet shall inform its users of this with reasonable advance notice so that they can review the said modifications. Users who do not agree to the new terms will have to stop using the Site . Notwithstanding the foregoing, Premium members may continue to use the service in accordance with the Terms and Conditions as drafted before the changes until termination or expiry of their subscription, which will not be automatically renewed.

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15. Force majeure

Neither party shall be held liable with respect to the other for non-performance or delays in performance of any obligation arising under this contract due to the conduct of the other party following the occurrence of a case of force majeure as commonly recognized by case law.

Any force majeure event suspends the obligations arising under this contract for the entire duration that such event continues. However, if a force majeure event lasts more than 30 consecutive days, this will give rise to the right to automatic termination of this contract fifteen (15) days after either party has sent a letter notifying such termination by registered post with acknowledgement of receipt.

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16. Miscellaneous

If one or more clauses of these Terms and Conditions are held to be invalid or declared void under any law, regulation, or following a final decision of a competent court, the other provisions shall remain in full force and effect. The parties will then agree to replace the clause held to be void and invalid by another which is as close as possible in content to the initial clause, notably in order to preserve the balance of the contract.

The present Terms and Conditions constitute the entire and sole agreement between the parties. In particular, it replaces and cancels any earlier agreement.

These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by French law. Unless otherwise provided by mandatory provisions of public policy, and where conciliation has failed, the relevant Courts of Paris shall have jurisdiction to settle any disputes related to the validity, interpretation or performance of these Terms and Conditions. These Terms and Conditions have been drawn up in the French language and, as the case may be, translated into other languages for information purposes only. In the case of difficulty of interpretation, the French version alone shall prevail.

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If Internet users have any questions, they are invited to ask them preferably using the Services proposed on the Site (particularly the forum). They may nonetheless ask their questions by email if necessary, with the reply taking longer due to technical reasons.

– By email: [email protected]

– By phone: +33 1 42 74 40 30

– By post: Geneanet, 165 bis rue de Vaugirard, 75015 Paris, France

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