Terms of Service

Article 1 (Purpose)

The purpose of these Terms of Service (“Terms”) is to set out the rights, obligations, and responsibilities of the Seoul Design Foundation (“Foundation”) and users, and other necessary matters, in connection with the use of the official World Design Congress website, mobile web, and related ancillary services operated by the Foundation (collectively, the “Service”).

Article 2 (Definitions)

1. “Service” means the entirety of the websites, platforms, and applications established and operated by the Foundation to provide registration, participation, online exhibition/conference viewing, networking, and related ancillary functions for the World Design Congress.

2. “User” means an individual or organization that agrees to these Terms and accesses the Service to register as a participant or otherwise use the Service.

3. “Content” means all text, images, video, audio, files, and other information provided through the Service or posted/uploaded by a user.

4. “Participating Organization” means a company, institution, or organization that takes part in the World Design Congress in the form of an exhibition, presentation, sponsorship, or similar.

Article 3 (Effect and Amendment of the Terms)

1. These Terms take effect by being posted on the Service screen or otherwise notified to users.

2. A user’s registration as a participant on the Service is deemed to constitute agreement to these Terms.

3. The Foundation may amend these Terms to the extent it does not violate relevant laws and regulations. Where the Terms are amended, the Foundation will specify the effective date and reason for the amendment and provide notice through the notice board within the Service, among other means, at least 7 days before the effective date (at least 30 days before the effective date where the amendment is unfavorable to users).

4. If a user continues to use the Service after the effective date of the amended Terms, the user is deemed to have agreed to the amended Terms.

Article 4 (Provision, Change, and Suspension of the Service)

1. The Foundation will make its best efforts to provide the Service without interruption; however, the Foundation may temporarily suspend all or part of the Service in the event of system maintenance, equipment failure, force majeure, or other unavoidable circumstances.

2. The Foundation may change the content of the Service it provides for operational or technical reasons, and will provide advance notice of any such change; provided that, in urgent cases, notice may be given afterward.

3. A user may discontinue use of the Service and request withdrawal of membership or cancellation of registration at any time, in which case the request will be processed in accordance with the procedures established by the Foundation.

Article 5 (User Registration and Management)

1. Users must register using their real name and accurate information in accordance with the procedures established by the Service, and must not use another person’s identity or provide false information.

2. Users are responsible for managing their own registration information and must not transfer, lend, or share it with any third party.

3. A user is responsible for any disadvantage arising from the user’s failure to properly manage their registration information or from fraudulent use, and the Foundation is not liable for such matters unless there is intentional misconduct or gross negligence on its part.

4. The Foundation may temporarily or permanently suspend the provision of all or part of the Service to a user without prior notice, in which case the user’s access to their registration information and related materials may be restricted.

Article 6 (User Obligations and Prohibited Conduct)

Users must not engage in any of the following in connection with their use of the Service:

1. Using another person’s information without authorization or entering false information;

2. Infringing the copyright, trademark rights, or other intellectual property rights of the Foundation or a third party;

3. Accessing the Service by means other than the interface officially provided by the Foundation, or interfering with the Service’s normal operation through abnormal means;

4. Reproducing, distributing, selling, or otherwise using Content posted on the Service for commercial purposes without the Foundation’s prior consent;

5. Collecting or extracting Content or data from the Service using automated means such as crawling, data mining, or bots;

6. Distributing computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or other programs that may damage the Service or its systems;

7. Attempting to gain access using registration information that has not been authorized;

8. Posting content that is unlawful, defamatory of a third party, or otherwise socially inappropriate, including abusive, obscene, or discriminatory expression; or

9. Any other act that violates relevant laws and regulations or these Terms.

Users are solely responsible for any damage caused to the Foundation or third parties arising from a violation of this Article.

Article 7 (Cookies and Processing of Personal Information)

1. The Foundation may use cookies to improve the convenience of using the Service and for statistical analysis, and a user’s use of the Service is deemed to constitute consent to this.

2. Matters relating to the Foundation’s collection, use, and storage of personal information are governed by the separately posted Privacy Policy.

3. The Foundation does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 14, and where it becomes aware that such information has been collected without the consent of a legal representative, it will destroy the information without delay in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

Article 8 (Ownership of Content and License to Use)

1. Copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Service and the Content provided through the Service belong to the Foundation or to a third party holding the relevant lawful rights.

2. Users may not reproduce, transmit, publish, distribute, broadcast, or otherwise use for commercial purposes any Content of the Service without the Foundation’s prior written consent.

3. Copyright in Content that a user posts or uploads to the Service (including presentation materials, reviews, and comments) belongs, in principle, to that user. However, the user agrees to grant the Foundation a royalty-free license to use, reproduce, edit, exhibit, and distribute such Content to the extent necessary for the Foundation’s operation of the Congress, including for promotion, archiving, and the production of records of the World Design Congress.

4. Users warrant that the Content they post does not infringe the rights of any third party, and users are solely responsible for any dispute arising from a breach of this warranty.

Article 9 (User Opinions and Feedback)

1. Opinions, suggestions, and error reports that users provide to help improve the Service (“Feedback”) may be freely used by the Foundation for the purpose of improving the Service.

2. However, the Foundation will not disclose Feedback in association with a user’s personal information without the user’s separate consent.

Article 10 (Links to External Sites)

1. The Service may include links to third-party websites that are not operated by the Foundation.

2. The Foundation is not responsible in any way for the reliability or stability of such external sites, or for the information provided on them, and users must separately review the terms and policies of any external site before using it.

Article 11 (Management of Postings)

Where the Foundation determines that Content posted by a user violates relevant laws and regulations or these Terms, the Foundation may delete or make the Content private, or restrict its posting, without prior notice.

Article 12 (Restriction of Service Use and Termination of Agreement)

1. Where a user violates these Terms or interferes with the normal operation of the Service, the Foundation may, after prior notice (or subsequent notice in urgent cases), restrict the user’s use of the Service, cancel the user’s registration, or terminate the agreement.

2. A user may, at any time, request withdrawal of membership or cancellation of participant registration through the procedures within the Service, in which case relevant laws and regulations and the Foundation’s refund/cancellation policy will apply.

3. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination of the agreement (including Articles 8, 14, 15, and 17) will remain effective even after termination.

Article 13 (Disclaimer and Warranty Disclaimer)

1. The Service and the information and Content provided through it are provided “as is,” and the Foundation makes no express or implied warranty as to their accuracy, completeness, or currency.

2. The Foundation is not liable for any disruption to the Service arising from causes beyond its reasonable control, such as force majeure, power outages, network failures, third-party hacking, or DDoS attacks.

3. The Foundation has no obligation to intervene in disputes arising between users, or between a user and a third party, in connection with the Service, and is not liable for damages arising therefrom, except where such damages result from the Foundation’s intentional misconduct or negligence.

Article 14 (Limitation of Liability)

1. The Foundation is liable for damages incurred by users to the extent provided by relevant laws and regulations, and, absent intentional misconduct or gross negligence on the part of the Foundation, is not liable for indirect, special, or consequential damages arising in connection with the use of the Service.

2. Except where the Foundation has engaged in intentional misconduct or gross negligence, the Foundation is not liable for damages arising in connection with the use of Service features provided free of charge.

3. This Article applies only to the extent it does not unfairly restrict a consumer’s rights under relevant laws and regulations.

Article 15 (Dispute Resolution and Governing Law)

1. Disputes arising between the Foundation and a user in connection with these Terms and the use of the Service are governed by the laws of the Republic of Korea.

2. Where litigation arises between the Foundation and a user in connection with these Terms and the use of the Service, the matter will, in principle, be brought before the court having jurisdiction under the Civil Procedure Act; provided that, absent agreement between the Foundation and the user, the Seoul Central District Court will have jurisdiction.

Article 16 (Prohibition on Assignment)

Users may not assign, gift, or provide as security to any third party all or part of the rights and obligations arising under these Terms without the Foundation’s prior written consent.

Article 17 (Miscellaneous)

1. Matters not specified in these Terms, and the interpretation of these Terms, are governed by relevant laws and regulations and generally accepted commercial practice.

2. The Foundation’s failure to exercise, or delay in exercising, any right under these Terms shall not be construed as a waiver of that right.

3. If any provision of these Terms is determined to be invalid or unenforceable under relevant laws and regulations, the remaining provisions will continue to be effective.

Addendum

These Terms take effect on 1 September 2026.