Terms of Service for using RCS Business Messaging as a service on VNS-RBM portal

Thank you for using RCS Business Messaging through VNS-RBM portal, a platform and associated software that enables businesses to reach their customers with rich conversations via the users' default carrier messaging apps (" RCS Business Messaging " or " RBM ").

(A) These RCS Business Messaging Terms of Service (" RBM Terms ") are entered into by VIRTUOSO NETSOFT PVT LTD , and you (the entity agreeing to these terms).
(B) These RBM Terms form a binding agreement between the parties and are effective as of the earliest date you clicked to accept these RBM Terms or used RCS Business Messaging. If an individual is accepting on your behalf such individual represents and warrants that: (i) such individual has full legal authority to bind you to these RBM Terms; (ii) the individual has read and understands these RBM Terms; and (iii) the individual agrees, on your behalf, to these RBM Terms. These RBM Terms govern your access to and use of RCS Business Messaging.
(C) By accepting these RBM Terms, you are agreeing to guidelines provided under VNS-RBM APIs document for purposes of sending traffic for RCS Business Messaging.
(D) Additionally, you may have access to other tools and services provided by VNS or its affiliates. Any use of such tools and services may be subject to separate terms and conditions.
(E) We may refer to VIRTUOSO NETSOFT PVT LTD as " VNS ", " we ", " our ", or " us " in these RBM Terms. VNS may use its affiliates in connection with the performance of its obligations and exercise of its rights under these RBM Terms.
(F) These RBM Terms apply to you, your agents, the service provider(s) you work with, and both your and their employees, representatives, agents, and suppliers (collectively " you " or " Company ").

1. Applicable Terms; Modifications

1.1 Incorporation by Reference. To the extent applicable, the following terms are incorporated by reference into these RBM Terms:
(a)
Acceptance of Jibe TOS. The Jibe TOS will apply to and are deemed part of these RBM Terms https://developers.google.com/rcs-business-messaging/support/tos/ (or such other URL), as may be updated by Jibe from time to time.
(b)
Acceptable Use Policy. All of your products, services, or materials integrated with or used in conjunction with RCS Business Messaging must comply with the Acceptable Use Policy at  https://developers.google.com/business-communications/support/aup  (or such other URL as we may provide) (“Acceptable Use Policy”).
(c)

Scope

  1. RBM is a third party product and provided as a service  by VNS in the Territory basis its existing arrangement with Jibe;
  2. Under this Agreement COMPANY is being authorised by VNS to  offer RBM as a service to interested Brands;
  3. The product features of RBM and Jibe service descriptions are more particularly described in https://developers.google.com/business-communications/rcs-business-messaging
  4. Jibe owns certain intellectual property rights related to RBM including but not limited to current and future worldwide rights under patent law, copyright law, trade secret law, trademark law, moral rights law, and other similar rights;
  5. COMPANY shall remain solely responsible for on-boarding of its customers or Brands upon successful completion of Know Your Customer (KYC) process for self and each Brand it brings as a customer. In this regard, COMPANY will collect applicable KYC documents from each Brand and verify the same in accordance with and in strict compliance with Applicable law and/or VNS instructions as issued/amended from time to time. COMPANY shall provide copies of all KYC documents (for self and the Brands) to VNS promptly on demand by VNS. COMPANY shall remain liable to pay penalties to VNS (as determined by VNS) for breach or non-compliance with KYC and verification process as mandated under Applicable Law and/or VNS instructions.  COMPANY hereby agrees and undertakes to remain liable to any Government agency with regard to traceability or KYC and associated billing or payment related information especially in case of any Government agency enquiries/orders etc.
  6. RBM as a service shall be activated by VNS for a certain Brand upon successful validation done on the KYC documents and provided RBM Agent.
  7. Jibe or VNS may monitor all use of RBM, and may suspend or terminate any Brand's use of RBM if it violates the Online TOS and AUP and VNS’s Terms and Conditions as contained in Schedule 2 hereinafter written or where such suspension or termination is otherwise permitted under the Online TOS and AUP.
  8. Jibe or VNS may, in its sole discretion, and without incurring any liability to COMPANY or Brand: (i) upon notice (email to suffice), discontinue the sale or availability of RBM or support for COMPANY or Brands of RBM; or (ii) without notice, change RBM (including adding any features or functionality of RBM, the use of which may be contingent on COMPANY’s or Brands’ agreement to additional terms) or the Online TOS and AUP.
  9. Notwithstanding clause 3(e), Jibe or VNS may discontinue or suspend the availability of RBM without notice in the event of a security, technical, or other incident that poses a significant risk or adverse impact to RBM, the RBM platform, and/or to Jibe or Jibe’s other customers.
  10. Jibe or VNS has no obligation to provide COMPANY or Brands with advance notice of any change in RBM or the Online TOS and AUP.
  11. VNS will be responsible for verifying and on-boarding COMPANY for RBM, in accordance with VNS’s provisioning process. VNS shall verify & register COMPANY’s Brands and their RBM Use Cases based on the details provided by COMPANY and/or its Brands. VNS has sole discretion to block / exclude specific Aggregators, Brands and/or Use Cases from RBM.
  12. COMPANY will and, to the extent within COMPANY’s control ensure that the Brands will promptly report any suspected abuse of RBM.
  13. All ownership rights, title, and intellectual property rights in and to the content accessed through any RBM are the property of the applicable content owner and may be protected by copyright or other applicable laws. For clarity, (a) RBM will remain the exclusive property of Jibe and its Affiliates, (b) COMPANY will have no right to any intellectual property rights related to RBM, and (c) COMPANY may not (i) copy or sublicense RBM applications or VNS Platform (or any part) to any third party, (ii) circumvent, reverse-engineer, modify, disable, or otherwise tamper with any security technology in VNS platform or help anyone else to do so; (iii) use RBM other than by means authorized; or (iv) remove any proprietary notices or labels on the RBM applications or VNS Platform.
  14. All goodwill arising from the use by COMPANY or Brands of Jibe’s Brand Features will belong to Jibe and/or its Affiliates.
  15. VNS shall remain entitled to reject any Brand brought by COMPANY basis VNS’s internal policies;
  16. COMPANY shall provide and will ensure that a Brand provides within given timelines any information related to use of RBM which Jibe or VNS might require;
  17. COMPANY will not make any unauthorized, false, misleading, or illegal statements in connection with this Agreement or regarding RBM. COMPANY will not make any representations or warranties concerning RBM on behalf of Jibe or VNS or VNS’s managed service partners. Jibe and VNS or VNS’s managed service partners will not be responsible for any representations or warranties made by COMPANY concerning RBM.
  18. COMPANY will not (and will not instruct or encourage Brands or End Users to) use RBM or any Jibe documentation provided for any purpose other than to provide RBM as permitted hereunder.
1.2 Entire Agreement; All other Terms are Void. These RBM Terms are the entire agreement between you and VNS relating to its subject and supersede any prior or contemporaneous agreements on that subject (including any previously executed early access agreement). We object to any additional or different terms in your terms of service or other documents, including any of your API terms of service. Those other terms of service and documents will be considered material alterations to these RBM Terms and are void.
1.3 Modifications to these RBM Terms. VNS may make changes to these RBM Terms (including the Policies (as defined below), including any terms relating pricing or payment from time to time. Unless otherwise noted by VNS, material changes to these RBM Terms will become effective 30 days after they are posted, except if the changes apply to new functionality in which case they will be effective immediately. If you do not agree to the revised RBM Terms, please stop using RCS Business Messaging. VNS will post any modification to these RBM Terms to the Terms URL.

2. Definitions

2.1 "including" means "including but not limited to".
2.2 " Your Content " means all content made available by you to VNS through RCS Business Messaging including and in connection with your RBM agent(s), including the developer console, APIs, SDKs, and tools that enable RCS Business Messaging. For clarity, “Your Content” includes all content made available by any third party that you approve or otherwise authorize to use RCS Business Messaging under these RBM Terms.
2.3 " Your Services " means (a) your products, services, and technology (including Your Content) that you make available, integrate, or use in conjunction with RCS Business Messaging; and (b) the products, services, and destinations to which you direct users through your RBM agent. For clarity, “Your Services” includes all products, services, and technology made available, integrated, or used in conjunction with RCS Business Messaging by any third party that you approve or otherwise authorize to use RCS Business Messaging under these RBM Terms.
2.4 Any examples in these RBM Terms are illustrative and not the sole examples of a particular concept.

3. RCS Business Messaging

3.1 Modification. VNS may modify, deprecate, suspend, or discontinue RCS Business Messaging, or any of its features, at any time.
3.2 Beta Features. Some features of RCS Business Messaging are identified as "Beta" or otherwise unsupported or confidential (collectively, " Beta Features "). You may not disclose the terms or existence of any non-public Beta Features.
3.3 Minimum Requirements.
(a)
Compliance. In order to use RCS Business Messaging, you and your service providers and agents must comply with any applicable requirements described in the Acceptable Use Policy and any other policies provided to you by VNS or VNS’s affiliates, including the Communication Services (as defined in the Acceptable Use Policy) policies (the " Policies "). In addition:
  1. Accurate Information. You must provide honest, complete, and accurate information in connection with RCS Business Messaging, including to third parties.
  2. Compliance with Policies. You must comply with all applicable Policies. VNS may reject or remove certain of Your Services or Settings at any time if you don't comply with the Policies.
  3. Compliance Certification.  You may be required to certify compliance with the requirements from time to time, and as may be described in the Policies.
  4. Access Denial. Access to RCS Business Messaging may be denied if you fail to satisfy the requirements at any time.
(b)
Cooperation; Right to Review Spam Activity.  You will cooperate if VNS or its partners seek to gather information about you or Your Services to verify identity, confirm compliance with requirements, for quality assurance purposes, or as required to operate RCS Business Messaging. You hereby permit VNS to review your activity (including any activity of your RBM agents) and/or end user spam reports associated with your activity, and agree to provide reasonable assistance to VNS in this regard.
(c)
Privacy; Your Terms. You will obtain and maintain any required consents necessary to permit the processing of personal data under these RBM Terms. You will present or make available to each end user (in relation to RCS Business Messaging) an accurate, legally compliant, privacy policy and terms of service for your services associated with RCS Business Messaging, including your RBM agents. Such privacy policy and/or terms of service must (i) ensure the end user authorizes VNS to conduct the data processing activities contemplated under these RBM Terms; and (ii) not conflict with or supersede these RBM Terms in any way.
3.4 Prohibited Actions.  In connection with RCS Business Messaging, you will not, and will not authorize any third party to:
(a)
generate automated, fraudulent or otherwise invalid activity (including queries, clicks or conversions);
(b)
conceal ad- or transaction-related activity that must be disclosed;
(c)
attempt to interfere with the proper functioning of RCS Business Messaging;
(d)
collect or use personal and confidential information, such as national identification number or social security number, payment and financial data (e.g., credit card and bank account numbers), log-in credentials, passwords, or answers to security questions, provided that the foregoing does not exclude the use of two factor authentication or provision of single use passwords with end user consent in compliance with applicable law;
(e)
use any information about users' online or offline state for any reason except to directly provide the services to the user, and under no circumstances in a manner that may surprise or disturb a user (including sending a promotion or advertisement based on them coming back online); or
(f)
use or share user data without specific user consent for the specific use of that data.
3.5 Research and Testing; Reports.
(a)
To improve RCS Business Messaging, you authorize VNS to periodically conduct research and tests that may affect your use of RCS Business Messaging, including sounds, appearances, disclosures, labeling, formatting, size, placement, performance, pricing, and other adjustments. To ensure the timeliness and/or validity of test results, you authorize VNS to conduct such research and tests without notice or compensation to you.
(b)
VNS may, from time to time, require that you provide reports or other aggregated statistical information relating to your parallel (or similar) non-RBM messaging campaigns, for the purposes of enabling VNS to better understand, and improve, the efficacy of RCS Business Messaging.
3.6 Instruction to Send and Receive Messages.
(a)
In connection with your use of RCS Business Messaging to contact and/or message end users based on phone number and/or by providing any mobile or other telephone number to VNS in connection with RCS Business Messaging, you: (i) represent and warrant that you have been duly authorized by the subscriber of record to contact and/or message that telephone number, and (ii) expressly instruct and authorize VNS and its representatives to send messages (e.g., SMS, MMS, RCS messages) to that telephone number on your behalf in connection with RCS Business Messaging.
(b)
Standard message and data rates may apply to the sending or receipt of VNS messages by you and/or end users.
3.7 Instruction to Provide Billing Information to Third Parties.

VNS may provide summary billing information and/or record level detail to third parties for billing purposes (e.g., telecommunications carriers and/or their affiliates) related to the use of RCS Business Messaging by you and/or your end users, as further described  here  (as amended by VNS from time to time). By using RCS Business Messaging, you (i) represent and warrant that you have been duly authorized by the subscriber of record to provide such information, and (ii) expressly instruct and authorize VNS and its representatives to provide such information on your behalf in connection with RCS Business Messaging.

3.8 Suspension of services.
(a)
VNS has the right to suspend the RBM access provided to COMPANY at any point of time without liability and prior notice where it considers there is a requirement to do so.
(b)
VNS may without liability at any time and with immediate effect suspend part or all of the operation of RBM where:
  1. COMPANY is using RBM in a way which is fraudulent, unlawful, illegal or unauthorized; or not allowed under this Agreement; or
  2. VNS has valid reason to suspect (basis available information) fraudulent, unlawful, illegal or unauthorized use of RBM by COMPANY or by its Brands; or
  3. COMPANY has violated any of the terms mentioned in the document.

4. Resale Right; Rights Reserved

4.1 Resale Right. You may resell access and use of RCS Business Messaging to third parties with whom you have a written agreement that is no less protective of VNS, VNS's affiliates, and RCS Business Messaging, than as set forth in these RBM Terms. For clarity, you will remain liable for the acts and omissions of such third parties.
4.2 Rights Reserved.  You acknowledge that VNS may, at any time, in accordance with Section 1.4, update these RBM Terms and charge fees for using and/or reselling RCS Business Messaging.

5. Your Services

5.1 Authorization to Use Your Services.  To participate in RCS Business Messaging, you authorize VNS and its affiliates to:
(a)
access Your Services and include them in the RCS Business Messaging platform;
(b)
distribute Your Services as part of RCS Business Messaging through any VNS, VNS-affiliated, or third party product or service (including VNS products and services made available on, or integrated with, third-party devices and interfaces);
(c)
format or modify Your Content as necessary for proper functionality with RCS Business Messaging;
(d)
use Your Content to provide and improve the RCS Business Messaging platform and related products and services; and
(e)
use and disclose information relating to Your Services, including to: (i meet any applicable legal obligation, including enforceable government requests; (ii) enforce these RBM Terms and investigate potential violations; (iii) detect, prevent, review or otherwise address abuse, fraud, security or technical issues; or (iv) protect against harm to the rights, property, or safety of VNS, our users, or the public as required or permitted by law.
5.2 Your Responsibilities.  You are solely responsible for:
(a)
Your Services, including any reselling of RCS Business Messaging, including customer service and claims, and communications and reporting among the individuals and entities involved in providing Your Services;
(b)
settings and other decisions you make through the RCS Business Messaging developer console, including those where you were assisted by any VNS-provided features (" Settings "); and
(c)
your use of RCS Business Messaging (including your safeguarding of accounts, usernames, and passwords).

6. Representations and Warranties

You represent and warrant that:

6.1 Rights in Your Content and Your Services.  You have and will retain all necessary rights to grant the licenses in these RBM Terms and to provide Your Services through RCS Business Messaging;
6.2 Accurate Information.  All information, authorizations, and Settings you provide are complete, correct, and current;
6.3 No Deceptive Practices.  You will not engage in deceptive, misleading, and/or unethical practices in connection with Your Services or their promotion and will make no false or misleading representations with regard to VNS or its products or services;
6.4 Compliance with Laws.  You will comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations in connection with RCS Business Messaging (including any applicable opt-in/opt-out messaging requirements); and
6.5 Authorization to Act.  You are authorized to act on behalf of, have bound to these RBM Terms, and will be liable under these RBM Terms for, each individual or entity involved in Your Services.

7. Disclaimers

The following disclaimers apply in addition to those in the General API Terms:

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, RCS BUSINESS MESSAGING IS PROVIDED "AS IS," "AS AVAILABLE" AND "WITH ALL FAULTS," AND YOU USE IT (INCLUDING ITS DEVELOPER CONSOLE) AT YOUR (AND ANY SERVICE PROVIDER'S) OWN RISK. NONE OF VNS, ITS AFFILIATES, OR ITS PARTNERS MAKE ANY WARRANTY OR GUARANTEE IN CONNECTION WITH RCS BUSINESS MESSAGING OR RESULTS FROM RCS BUSINESS MESSAGING. VNS MAKES NO PROMISE TO INFORM YOU OF DEFECTS OR ERRORS.

8. Defense and Indemnity

  1. XXXX (as "Indemnitor") will defend at its own expense and hold harmless VNS, its officers, directors, employees and agents (as "Indemnitee") from and against any Actions or suits, government investigations or enforcement actions brought by a third party against Indemnitee arising out of, or resulting from, in whole or in part, (i) any misrepresentation, gross negligence, or wilful misconduct of Indemnitor, its employees or agents, (ii) breach of provisions related to confidentiality and data protection, or (iii) violation of any applicable laws or regulations by Indemnitor in connection with Indemnitor’s performance under the Agreement (collectively, the “Claim”), and indemnify for any damages, costs, fines, assessments, penalties and/or expenses, including without limitation reasonable attorney's fees resulting from the Claim, subject to Indemnitee providing the following to Indemnitor: (a) prompt written notice of the Claim; (b) sole and exclusive control over all defence and settlement of the Claim; and (c) all reasonable cooperation and assistance relating to defence and settlement of the Claim at Indemnitor’s expense. Indemnitee reserves the right, at its own expense, to participate in the defence and settlement of the Claim. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, Indemnitor will not settle any Claim for which it has an obligation to indemnify under this section admitting liability or fault on behalf of Indemnitee, nor create any obligation on behalf of Indemnitee without Indemnitee’s prior written consent.
  2. XXXX shall indemnify and keep indemnified VNS (or its officers, employees, affiliates and their agents) against all damages, costs, fines, assessments, penalties and/or expenses, including without limitation reasonable attorney's fees, arising under or in connection with: (i) XXXX’s use of the RCS Messaging Services for any purpose other than as specified in this Agreement; (ii) fines / penalties imposed on VNS by DoT, TRAI, TERM Cells etc. or other statutory, government or regulatory authorities resulting from XXXX’s acts or omissions under this Agreement.

9. Limitations of Liability

  1. Save as otherwise expressly stated, XXXX’s maximum liability to VNS for all Actions relating to procurement under this Agreement for this Category in each twelve (12) month period from the date of this Agreement shall be limited to 100% of the aggregate value of all invoices issued in relation to the Actions.
  2. Save as otherwise expressly stated, VNS’s maximum liability to XXXX for all Actions relating to procurement under this Agreement shall be limited to INR 50,000 or the aggregate value of all invoices raised by VNS during the period of 30 days immediately preceding the date on which such Action was initiated whichever is lower. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, VNS shall have no liability towards XXXX or its Brands or End Users, as the case may be, in relation to deficiency in service of RBM in any manner whatsoever.
  3. Direct losses shall be recoverable under this Agreement. However, save as otherwise stated, neither XXXX nor VNS shall be liable for any incidental, consequential, special or indirect damages, loss of profits, loss of business or further business, loss of goodwill or anticipated revenue, loss of data, business interruption, or increased cost of operations, or for exemplary or punitive damages arising out of or related to this Agreement or sale of RBM whether or not such Party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
  4. Nothing in the Agreement (including sub-clauses (a) to (b) above), excludes or limits liability in relation to: (i) either Party ’s liability for physical damage to property (ii) either Party’s liability for wilful default and wilful abandonment; (iii) either Party’s liability for any claims for infringement of any Intellectual Property Rights; (iv) either Party’s liability for breach of confidentiality provisions either Party’s liability for death or personal injury resulting from its negligence; (v) breaching Party’s liability for its obligations in relation to the Processing of Personal Data under this Agreement; (vi) either Party’s liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (vii) either Party’s liability which cannot be excluded by law; (vii) XXXX’s obligation to pay undisputed invoices, properly due under this Agreement or (ix) the use of either Party’s Intellectual Property Rights by the other Party in breach of the provisions set out in this Agreement provided that the non-breaching Party notifies the breaching Party and permits the breaching Party a period of thirty days (or such other period as the Parties may agree) to cure the breach to the reasonable satisfaction of the non-breaching Party;

10. RCS Ecosystem Protection

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you agree that, during the effective period of these RBM Terms, you will not assert a patent infringement claim based on or arising from: (i) RCS Business Messaging, (ii) any RBM agents developed by VNS, a VNS affiliate, or any third party for use in connection with RCS Business Messaging, or (iii) any messaging platform products and services used, created, provided or distributed by VNS or a VNS affiliate, against VNS, a VNS affiliate, or any other entity that has also entered into an agreement with VNS or a VNS affiliate in connection with RCS Business Messaging, or any messaging platform products and services used, created, provided or distributed by VNS or its affiliates. Any breach of this Section 10 will be deemed a material breach of these RBM Terms. Upon breach of this Section 10 all rights and licenses granted hereunder by VNS will immediately cease. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in these RBM Terms prejudices your right (or the right of your affiliates) to challenge the validity, essentiality and infringement of any patents, the use of which is essential for compliance with any technical standards.

11. Data Processing

When personal data from outside the European Union is processed by VNS on your behalf:

11.1 You will obtain and maintain any required consents necessary to (i) permit the access, storage, and processing of end user data by VNS in connection with RBM, and (ii) permit the access, processing and storage of your data provided to VNS, in each case for the purpose of providing and improving RBM.
11.2 You acknowledge that VNS is a data processor, and VNS may, and you hereby instruct VNS to, access, store, or use your data or end user data in order to provide and improve RBM.
11.3 VNS reserves the right to review your data and end user data for ensuring your compliance with these RBM Terms.
11.4 VNS may process, cache, and store your data and end user data anywhere VNS or its affiliates maintain facilities.
11.5 If you are or become a “Covered Entity” or “Business Associate”, as defined in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (as it may be amended from time to time) (“HIPAA”), you will not use RBM for any purpose or in any manner involving “Protected Health Information”, as defined in HIPAA, unless you have received prior written consent to use such from VNS.

12. Confidentiality and PR

12.1 Definition. "Confidential Information"  means information that one party (or an affiliate) discloses to the other party under these RBM Terms, and that is marked as confidential or would normally be considered confidential information under the circumstances. It does not include information that recipient already knew, that becomes public through no fault of the recipient, that was independently developed by the recipient, or that was lawfully given to the recipient by a third party.
12.2 Confidentiality Obligations.
  1. Subject to the remainder, a Party may disclose the other Party’s Confidential Information (i) pursuant to a Legal Process or (ii) with the other Party’s written consent.
  2. Before a Party discloses the other Party’s Confidential Information pursuant to a Legal Process, the disclosing Party will promptly notify the other Party, but notice will not be given prior to such a disclosure if the disclosing Party is informed that it is legally prohibited from giving notice;
  3. In case Personal Data of an End User is required by VNS under a legal process, XXXX will collect such Personal Data through respective Brands and provide the same to VNS. XXXX will also ensure that suitable notifications are sent by such Brands to their respective End User before such Personal Data are so shared.
  4. Each party will cooperate with the other party’s reasonable requests relating to efforts to oppose disclosure of the other party’s Confidential Information.
  5. These provisions do not apply where the Confidential Information received: (i) is or becomes public knowledge without breach of the Services Agreement; (ii) was already in a Party's possession free of obligations of confidentiality; or (iii) is received from a third party free of obligations of confidentiality.
12.3 Publicity.  Except as set out in Section 12.2 (Confidentiality Obligations), neither party may make any public statement regarding these RBM Terms without the other's written approval. Subject to your prior approval of the specific text (not to be unreasonably withheld), you agree to participate in industry announcements regarding RBM and RCS.