Terms & Conditions for AQuA Affiliate membership including the use of the Quality App Directory
1. SCOPE OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1.1 AQuA
AFFILIATE
1.1.1 AQuA Affiliates may use the online tools,
documents and other resources freely provided on the AQuA website for AQuA Affiliates.
1.1.2 AQuA Affiliates may elect whether or not to
have your details displayed on the AQuA Affiliates listing on AQuA website.
The AQuA Affiliate registration process includes an option box to indicate if you wish your company name
and description to be publicly displayed or held privately by AQuA.
1.1.3 AQuA Affiliates demonstrate an interest in
improving application quality and being supportive of AQuA’s work in this area.
1.1.4 AQuA Affiliates shall not engage directly
or indirectly in any practice that may be detrimental to AQuA or to goodwill attached to AQuA.
1.2 QUALITY
APP DIRECTORY
1.2.1 These Terms and Conditions govern the
submission of data and application details to the AQuA Quality App Directory;
the application quality is measured by testing against the AQuA Testing
Criteria and the AQuA audit process to verify the stated level of testing.
1.2.2 Submitting information into the Quality App
Directory requires prior written acceptance to all Terms and Conditions herein.
If you do not accept all the terms of this Agreement, then AQuA is unwilling to
accept the Application submission to the Directory.
1.2.3 Affiliates submitting information must own
the rights of an application in order to submit related details into the
Directory.
1.3 TESTING
CRITERIA TOOL
1.3.1 Affiliates may use the online Testing
Criteria Tool to manage your own testing of an App. It records and preserves the results and
generates a test report. This test
management tool is provided purely to assist in testing Apps against the AQuA
Testing Criteria.
1.3.2 Use of the online Testing Criteria tool
does not in itself constitute testing by an Approved Test House.
The following
capitalized terms used in this Agreement shall have the meaning attributed to
them below:
App or Application means a
piece of software designed to run on a mobile device including phones and tablets.
Application Developer means the
owner of the rights to the distribution of the Application submitted to the
AQuA Quality App Directory.
Application-Related Data means any
data and information about the Application and the testing of the Application
which the Application Developer submits to the Directory.
Application Audit means the
testing of a submitted Application according to the AQuA Testing Criteria by
AQuA or an approved AQuA Quality App Directory test house.
AQuA means the App Quality
Alliance.
AQuA Affiliate means an
entity interested in the quality of mobile apps.
AQuA Quality App Directory (QAD) means the
online AQuA Directory holding and displaying details of Applications that pass
the AQuA Testing Criteria quality standards.
Audit means 1) audit test
of Developers with Self-Verified test status conducted by AQuA and fees borne
by AQuA and/or 2) audit test of Developers with Trusted-Developer-Verified
status conducted by test house with audit fees borne by the Developer.
Intellectual Property Rights means all
intellectual property rights, including patents, supplementary protection
certificates, petty patents, utility models, trademarks, database rights,
rights in designs, trade secret rights, copyrights (including rights in
computer software) and topography rights (whether or not any of these rights
are registered, and including applications and the right to apply for
registration of any such rights) and all rights and forms of protection of a
similar nature or having equivalent or similar effect to any of these which may
subsist anywhere in the world, in each case for their full term, and together
with any renewals or extensions.
Quality Level means the
verification level listed in the Directory, either Self-Verified,
Test-House-Verified, Verified by AQuA Member or Trusted Developer-Verified as
determined by the manner of testing that has been carried out on the
application.
Self-Verified means the
App has been tested on a stated device and meets or exceeds the standard
specified in the current version of the platform-specific AQuA Testing Criteria
but no test report is available from one of the approved AQuA Quality App
Directory test houses.
Smoke Test means the
reduced set of tests defined in the AQuA Testing Criteria that are used to test
the Application on second or subsequent device.
Submitter means an AQuA Affiliate qualified to submit Apps and App-related data
onto the AQuA Quality App Directory.
Testing Criteria means the
current version of the platform-specific AQuA Testing Criteria. These
criteria define the testing process for an application.
Test House means
AQuA-QAD Approved Test House.
Term means the period of
these Terms and Conditions which shall be deemed to commence from the date that
the T&Cs are accepted, until the date that this Agreement is terminated by
either party in accordance to these T&Cs.
Test House-Verified means the
App has been tested on a stated device and meets or exceeds the standard
specified in the current version of the platform-specific AQuA Testing Criteria
and a test report is available from one of the Directory test houses. The AQuA
Quality App Directory approved test house uploads the test report to the
Directory.
Test Report means the
official report from a test house stating that the App has passed all of the
tests outlined in the current version of the platform-specific AQuA Testing
Criteria.
Trusted Developer-Verified means the
App has been tested on a stated device and meets or exceeds the standard
specified in the current version of the platform-specific AQuA Testing Criteria
but the Developer is not obliged to have a test report uploaded
Trusted Status means
those organizations granted special status by the AQuA Administrator based on
either their passing a set number of consecutive and distinct apps within the
test house verified category or their organization being nominated by an AQuA
member for such status.
Verified by AQuA Member
is a Quality Level only available to the AQuA Administrator or AQuA Members,
who may elect to change the status of any App to “Verified by AQuA Member” if
the App is deemed as successfully independently tested by an AQuA Member.
3. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND
LICENSE
3.1 Submitter warrants that he/she is the
owner or authorized licensor of any Intellectual Property Rights subsisting in the Application and
Application-related Data (which for the avoidance of doubt shall include any logos and trademarks submitted
pertaining to submitter (or submitter company’s)
name and/or or the Application) and that nothing in the Application or
Application- related Data will
breach any third party Intellectual Property Rights.
3.2 Submitter hereby grants to AQuA a
non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license for the Term, to use, display and make available on or
via the AQuA Quality App Directory, any logos, trademarks, brand features, screen shots and other images
contained in the Application-related data
that are submitted, for the purposes of promoting, advertising or marketing the
App Directory.
3.3 AQuA
may use Submitter’s name (and logo, if applicable) to identify
Submitter as the Application Developer
and the Verified Application on AQuA’s website and/or in marketing or other
AQuA informational
material. This material will include, without limitation, a listing of
companies and Applications that
have met the AQuA Testing Criteria or a description of the Verified
Application. AQuA shall own all
right, title, and interest in and to all of AQuA’s marketing materials in connection with the Directory and the
Verified Application.
4. THE AQuA QUALITY APP DIRECTORY
4.1 To submit an Application, submitters are
required to furnish the complete Application-related Data as required and in the manner stated
in the online Directory submission forms.
4.2 Submitter warrants that the
Application-related Data is, and shall be for the duration of the Term, true, accurate, current, complete, not
misleading in any way and updated as required.
4.3 Submitter warrants
that any Application submitted has been tested on a stated device and meets or exceeds the standard specified in
the current version of the platform-specific AQuA Testing Criteria.
4.4 Submitter understands that approved Test
Houses will upload the App Test Report for any application
claiming that Quality Level of Test House Verified.
4.5 Submitter
is required to select one device against which the full set of AQuA Testing
Criteria tests have been
completed and passed.
4.6 Submitter
may also select other devices against which the Application has passed the
Smoke Test.
4.7 Application
Developers in a Trusted Status organization are able to upload application
details under the “Trusted
Developer-Verified” Quality Level. In these instances, an approved Test House test report is not required.
4.7 Submitter warrants that the Application
and the Application-related Data does not contain or link to any content or promote or perform any
function which may be considered to be: sexually explicit (including the use of sexual terms, images and
nudity); vulgar, profane, offensive or obscene;
defamatory, libelous, slanderous or otherwise unlawful; infringing of anyone
else's Intellectual Property
Rights or rights of privacy; religiously or racially offensive or otherwise promoting hate towards individuals
or groups; promoting terrorist or other criminal or illegal activities; or promoting gambling,
alcohol, tobacco, firearms or ammunition, or which may be reasonably likely to adversely
affect AQuA’s reputation.
4.8 Submitter warrants that the Application
and the Application-related data shall not contain any viruses, malware, Trojans, worms, malicious code or any
programming routines intended to damage,
surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or personal
information.
5. QUALITY APPLICATION DIRECTORY -
APPLICATION AUDITS
5.1 By submitting an Application, you agree
to the audit of the Application by AQuA at any time and a possible Directory post of “failed AQuA
Audit” if the Application fails to meet AQuA Testing Criteria, and you do not take the
appropriate action as detailed in section 5.6.
5.2 AQuA reserves the right to audit
Self-Verified Apps at any time and publically display the results of such an application audit.
5.3 Application audits will be executed on
submitted Applications selected by AQuA at AQuA’s discretion. AQuA will pay for
and conduct random audits of Applications with Self-Verified test status. In addition, it will conduct
various audits of Trusted Status-Verified Applications where AQuA will select and audit the
application, and the cost will be borne by the Trusted Status Application Developer.
5.4 Submitters will not be notified if an
Application has been selected for audit. AQuA will download the Application from one stated
distribution channel and send it for testing to an AQuA-approved test house. Test reports will be sent to
AQuA who reserves the right to modify any listing that fails an initial audit.
5.5 When an Application passes an audit, the
submitters will be informed via email. A status update will appear on your dashboard and
the status of the audited Self-Verified Application will be raised from Self-Verified to Test
House-Verified, with the appropriate test report uploaded to the Application-related Data.
5.6 When an Application fails an audit, you
will be informed via email. A status update will appear on your dashboard and submitters will
have 15 working days to amend the application and obtain and submit a successful a Test
Report. If this is not done in the appropriate time period stated, the status of the Application will change
to “Failed AQuA Audit” until such time as you submit a successful Test Report. On valid
submission of a successful Test Report and updated Application, the status of the Application will become Test
House-Verified.
5.7 AQuA Administrator has the option
of being able to revoke the status of a Trusted Status organization (and consequently its Application
Developers). If an Application Developer’s Trusted Status is revoked, any “Trusted Developer-Verified” Application
label will be automatically changed to a
Self-Verified status.
6. APPLICATION QUALITY BADGE
6.1
An AQuA App Quality
Badge may be made available from AQuA for Trusted Developer-Verified, Test House-Verified apps and Verified
by an AQuA Member apps. The AQuA App Quality badge is a graphic emblem to be used in developer marketing material
to reflect and attest to the quality of
their apps. Use of the AQuA App Quality Badge is limited to those stated above
and only for use in
marketing/collateral pieces in accordance with AQuA App Quality Badge Terms and
Conditions. Any other use of the
AQuA App Quality Badge is a violation to these Terms and Conditions.
7. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
7.1 AQuA has the right to upload
details of Applications in the Application Developer’s Directory account if they have been “Verified by an
AQuA Member” and reserves the right to modify status of said App to “Verified by an AQuA
Member”.
7.2 AQuA reserves the right to remove
or disable a developer account or apps within that account and/or start legal proceedings if the
developer has contravened any of these Terms and Conditions. AQuA reserves the right to revoke Trusted
Status from organizations.
7.3 You accept that any AQuA Member
may, at will, contact you directly or through AQuA for additional information or to have an
exchange of information.
7.4 You shall not engage directly or
indirectly in any practice that may be detrimental to AQuA or to goodwill attached to AQuA.
7.5 The AQuA Affiliate who initially creates
an account will become the Main Developer Contact.
7.6 The Main Developer Contact will be able
to delete the account at any time, modify information on the account and delete other
Developer Contacts. However, no other related Developer Contacts to that entity will be able to do so.
7.7 Main Developer Contacts may invite
others in their organization to be additional Developer Contacts under their account.
7.8 Main Developer Contacts may delete other
Developer Contacts from their account at any time.
7.9 Main Developer Contacts are required to
sign/accept these Terms and Conditions prior to opening the account.
7.10 Developer Contacts are required to
sign/accept these Terms and Conditions prior to being able to upload their initial
Application-related Data to the AQuA Quality App Directory.
8. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES
8.1 You represent and warrant that:
8.1.1 You
have the right and authority to enter into this Agreement on your own behalf,
or on behalf of your company, and you have all requisite corporate authority to
legally execute this Agreement and bind the company to its terms.
8.1.2 Submitted
Applications shall not constitute or give rise to any claim of any infringement
of any intellectual property right or other proprietary right of any third
party;
8.1.3 Submitted
Applications shall at all times comply with relevant Testing Criteria issued by
AQuA.
9. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
9.1 IN NO EVENT SHALL AQuA, ITS LICENSORS AND
AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, CLAIMS, LIABILITIES OR COSTS WHATSOEVER
IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT WHETHER IN CONTRACT, WARRANTY, TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), PRODUCT LIABILITY.
10 DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES
10.1 THE AQuA QUALITY APP DIRECTORY IS
MADE AVAILABLE AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITH ALL
FAULTS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. AQuA WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY
RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY FALSE AND/OR INACCURATE APPS AND/OR APPS DETAILS
UPLOADED TO THE AQuA QUALITY APP DIRECTORY, AND IS PROTECTED UNDER THESE TERMS
AND CONDITIONS FROM ANY NEGATIVE REPERCUSSIONS ARISING FROM SAME.
11. INDEMNIFICATION
11.1 To the maximum extent permitted by law,
you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless AQuA, its affiliates and their
respective directors, officers, employees and agents, from and against any and
all third party claims, actions, suits or proceedings, as well as any and all
losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable
attorneys’ fees) arising out of or accruing from any breaches by you of any
terms of this Agreement or your warranties given in this Agreement.
© 2013 AQuA