The terms and conditions of this Agreement govern your use of the SmartPractice software and the Website, are binding and enforceable against all persons that access the SmartPractice software and the Website or any part thereof in terms of section 11(3) of the ECT Act.
If you do not agree to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you must stop using the SmartPractice software and the Website now, as further use will automatically bind you to this Agreement. If at any time, you do not accept this Agreement in full, you are not permitted to use the SmartPractice software or the Website or any part thereof.
If you access the SmartPractice software and / or the Website via a third-party Business Partner, then you will be bound to terms of such third-party Business Partner and to this Agreement. On termination of any contract with such third-party Business Partner, should you continue to use the SmartPractice software and / or the Website, then you will be bound to the whole of this Agreement, which is then applicable.
We may at any time amend this Agreement without notice. You are responsible for reviewing this Agreement on each occasion that you revisit the SmartPractice software and the Website and, if you continue to use the SmartPractice software and the Website after changes are made, you are deemed to have accepted the amended Agreement.
Parties
This Agreement is concluded by:
SmartPractice (Pty) Ltd (Registration Number 2015/223633/087) whose registered office is at 5 Progress Street, George, 6530, Western Cape, South Africa ("SmartPractice", "we" or "us") and you, the person, business entity or sole trader, using the SmartPractice software or the Website and shall to the extent relevant, include any of your employees or Subscriber Business Partners using the Website or the SmartPractice software ("you").
Authority to Act
If you are registering to access and use the SmartPractice software for the first time in the capacity of an employee or client of a separate corporate entity, partnership or similar business entity, you must have the authority of that business entity to:
- Use the SmartPractice software and the Website for that entity's business; and
- Accept this Agreement on behalf of that entity.
Accordingly, you confirm and warrant to SmartPractice that:
- You are authorised to accept this Agreement on behalf of the business entity which you represent;
- This Agreement governs the use by you and / or your business of the SmartPractice software and the Website;
- You, and the business entity which you represent together with its employees, will comply with all its terms.
You and SmartPractice agree as follows:
In this Agreement, references to a "person" includes an individual, sole trader, partnership, body corporate, an unincorporated association of persons and any other legal entity; technical expressions shall have the relevant meaning commonly attributed to them in the computer software business sector in South Africa; the use of the word "including" and similar expressions will be construed as illustrative and not exhaustive; notwithstanding the fact that hyperlinks in this Agreement to copyright notices and legislation should be deemed part of this Agreement in terms of section 11 of the ECT Act, the fact that some or all of the hyperlinks may be non-operational from time to time shall not play a role in determination of the validity and interpretation of this Agreement.
- 2. Subscription and use of SmartPractice
- the SmartPractice software and the Website are only intended for business use. You warrant that you will only use the SmartPractice software and the Website for business purposes.
- We may require you to register before we supply any services via this Website. When you register, you agree to provide, true, accurate, up-to-date and complete User Details as required by the relevant registration made available to you via this Website.
- You can purchase a subscription to access and use the SmartPractice software by following the relevant process on the Website. Should you subscribe to use the SmartPractice software you shall be bound for the full duration of the subscription period selected.
- We will not keep a separate record of the contract relating to your specific subscription for the SmartPractice software, so it will not be available from us. We therefore strongly recommend you print a copy of this Agreement, both before and after you submit your payment details. SmartPractice will supply you with a tax invoice, either directly or through appointed Business Partner, transmitted via email. The transmitted electronic document will constitute the original tax invoice. No other tax invoice, credit or debit note will be issued in respect of the specific supply, unless as a copy of the original document.
- SmartPractice grants you a non-exclusive and non-assignable license to access and use the SmartPractice software strictly via the Website with the user roles according to your subscription type and in accordance with this Agreement.
- For so long as you pay the Access Fee and any other applicable charges, you may permit the agreed number of Subscriber Business Partners to access and use the relevant subscription for the SmartPractice software. You agree to ensure that those Subscriber Business Partners comply with this Agreement. Those Subscriber Business Partners must only use the relevant subscription for the SmartPractice software as follows for their own (or their employer's) accounting and finance and related purposes:
- 1. as permitted by and subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement;
- 2. in the course of their (or their employer's) own business; and
- 3. with their own (or their employer's) Company Data only.
- If a Subscriber Business Partner is not the employee of a subscriber to the SmartPractice software, the subscriber must ensure that such Subscriber Business Partner:
a. complies with this Agreement; and
b. uses the relevant Company Data in the SmartPractice software in accordance with that subscriber's instructions.
- 3. Obligations
- You agree to:
- ensure that your User Details and other information given in relation to your use of the SmartPractice software and the Website are, and are maintained to be, true and accurate;
- use the SmartPractice software and the Website for your own lawful internal business purposes, in accordance with this Agreement and any notice sent by SmartPractice or condition posted on the Website;
- comply with your contractual obligations to the Business Partner through which you have been granted access to the Website and / or the SmartPractice software, if applicable;
- ensure that all account credentials required to access the SmartPractice software and the Website are kept secure and confidential and to immediately notify SmartPractice of any unauthorised use of your account credentials or any other breach of security. In such instances, it shall be your obligation to immediately request SmartPractice to reset your password and to maintain security. In any event, it is deemed good practice to regularly reset your password to maintain data security;
- notify us, if, at any time you become aware of any unauthorised use of the account credentials of your Subscriber Business Partners, or any other security-related matter with the SmartPractice software and the Website, and to co-operate with us to the extent reasonably necessary to rectify the security breach;
- ensure that the Subscriber Business Partners who access the SmartPractice software on your account comply with the terms of this Agreement;
- only store the maximum amount of data, if any, as may be prescribed from time to time on the SmartPractice software or on the Website. If at any time, you exceed the amount of any specified limit, for so long as you do so, SmartPractice may charge you at its then - standard rates for additional storage.
- Except as expressly permitted by another clause of this Agreement or by separate written arrangement with us, you agree not to and agree to ensure that no Subscriber Business Partners:
- 1. use or copy (irrespective of the extent of copying) the whole or any part of the graphic user interface of the SmartPractice software or the Website for incorporation into or the development of any software or other product or technology.
- When accessing and using the SmartPractice software or the Website, you must:
- 1. not attempt to undermine the security or integrity of SmartPractice's computing systems or networks or, where the SmartPractice software or the Website is hosted by a third party, that third party's computing systems and networks;
- 2. not use, or misuse the SmartPractice software or the Website in any way which may impair the functionality of the SmartPractice software or Website, or impair the ability of any other user to use the SmartPractice software or Website;
- 3. not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any materials other than those to which you have been given express permission to access or to the computer system on which the SmartPractice software or Website is hosted;
- 4. not transmit, or input into the SmartPractice software, any files that may damage any other person's computing devices or software, content that may be offensive, or material or User Details or Company Data in violation of any law (including data or other material protected by copyright or trade secrets which you do not have the right to use);
- 5. not modify, translate, or create derivative works based on the SmartPractice software or the Website, nor reproduce, reverse assemble, decompile or reverse engineer the SmartPractice software or the Website, whether in whole or in part, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code, underlying ideas, algorithms, file formats, programming of the SmartPractice software or the Website or any files contained in or generated by the SmartPractice software or the Website, nor shall you permit any third party to do so; and not merge or combine the whole or any part of the SmartPractice software or the Website with any other software or documentation without the prior written consent of SmartPractice.
- SmartPractice's obligations shall be to provide you with access to the SmartPractice software (which access may not necessarily be uninterrupted), including technical support by email as described on the Website.
- 4. Payment of Charges
- Payment shall be made in accordance with the payment conditions emailed to you on request. Refer to section 13.7
- If you pay your Access Fee or any other subscription charges to an entity separate from SmartPractice (e.g. if you obtained access via an accountant or Business Partner), you agree to nonetheless remain to be bound by the terms of this Agreement.
- 5. Confidentiality, Privacy of Company Data and User Information and Interception of Communications
- We undertake to take all reasonable steps to protect the personal information of Business Partners and to comply with all applicable legislation.
- In respect of access to Company Data and User Details:
- 1. The Company Data entered, or imported on instruction, by you, remains your property and we will not use nor make available for use any of this information without your permission.
- 2. We will never access the details of any Company Data entered and stored by you. We will never access system usage history for a specific identifiable user, except where granted permission by that person to assist with resolution of a system issue or error.
- We electronically collect, store and use, and you supply to us, Company information and User Details as we request from you via the Website and the SmartPractice software, and such other information as we may from time to time reasonably request. You warrant that this information is true and accurate.
- You agree to our use, storage and disclosure of information, Company Data and User Details for the following purposes:
- 1. We will use your User Details, for exercising our rights and for performing our legal obligations under this Agreement. We may use it to contact you, via your relevant or nominated personnel or our Business Partners, about our other relevant products and services, to conduct research about our customers and to track and record the manner in which you and your Subscriber Business Partners use the SmartPractice software and the Website.
- 2. We will only use your Company Data stored via the SmartPractice software or the Website to the extent necessary for us to provide the SmartPractice software for performing our rights and obligations in this Agreement and for performing our legal obligations and in accordance with this clause 5. We acknowledge that your Company Data is your proprietary and confidential data and that under no circumstances may we exploit that data for our own purposes not specifically relating to providing you the SmartPractice software, save where you have consented to the contrary.
- 3. The information, which you submit and store via the SmartPractice software, may be stored on SmartPractice's computer servers which servers may be controlled, hosted and managed by our Affiliate or third party Contractors who shall be bound to these confidentiality and privacy provisions.
- 4. We will disclose your User Details and other relevant information (including User Details of your Subscriber Business Partners, if necessary) to our Affiliates and third party Contractors who assist us (and our Affiliates) to provide the SmartPractice software and the Website, who shall be bound to these confidentiality and privacy provisions.
- 5. We may access and use non-identifying and aggregated usage information and transaction volumes in order to better understand how our customers are using the SmartPractice software so we can improve the system design and where appropriate have the system prompt users with suggestions on ways to improve their own use of the system.
- 6. We collect information via the Website by means of cookies and use cookies to allow you to enter your password less frequently during a session, to help analyses our web page flow, measure promotional effectiveness, and promote trust and safety, to offer certain features that are only available through the use of a cookie and to allow us to provide information that is targeted to your interests. You hereby authorise us to use cookies.
- SmartPractice owns and retains all rights to non-personal statistical information collected and compiled by SmartPractice.
- All other information not dealt with in this clause shall constitute Confidential Information and shall not be disclosed to any other party without the prior written consent of the owner of such information first being obtained
- Subject to clause 5.7.8 below. The receiving party will keep the Company data and information strictly confidential and will not disclose it to any third party without the prior written consent of the disclosing party. Further to the Confidentiality declaration the subscriber must make himself aware of clause
- 1. which specifically refers to the appointed SmartPractice webmaster who from time to time have to debug company specific data. Typical this will include incorrect email addresses that restricts the subscriber’s functionality.
- 2. The information is password protected and will not be disclosed to any employee of SmartPractice (Pty) Ltd except the webmaster which will only require to do so in the proper performance of his/her duties.
- 3. The receiving party will establish and maintain reasonable security measures to provide for the safe custody of the information and to prevent unauthorized access to it. This include firewalls, daily backups and antivirus protection.
- 4. It is agreed that the webmaster would require the following login details and files to be able to perform the initial setup and once the linked is established this third-party software will not be accessed by webmaster or any staff member from SmartPractice.
- 5. Sage One
- 6. Pastel Partner
- 7. Efile logins would not be required but it will be required to download a specific file once logged into Efile. The webmaster will instruct you on how to generate this file
- 8. On the termination of your subscription and upon being requested to do so, the receiving party will return the information disclosed to it, including all copies thereof, within a reasonable period.
- 9. The obligations set out above shall not apply to any information which the receiving party discloses pursuant to law or any professional or regulatory obligation
- Subject to the provisions of the RIC Act you agree to SmartPractice's right to block, filter, delete, disclose all communications which you send or post to the Website and SmartPractice servers. You acknowledge that this consent and your use of the Website satisfy the "writing" requirement as required in the RIC Act.
- 6. Intellectual Property Rights
- All right, title, ownership, benefit and interest in and to, and all Intellectual Property in the SmartPractice software and the Website, the design and content of the SmartPractice software and the Website and any documentation relating thereto remain the property of SmartPractice. All rights to Intellectual Property in respect of the SmartPractice software and the Website are reserved. The exclusive right to authorise or prohibit the direct or indirect, temporary or permanent reproduction of the Intellectual Property by any means and in any form, in whole or in part, and to make the Intellectual Property available to the public, and to distribute any copyright protected material in the SmartPractice software and the Website shall remain with SmartPractice.
- You may not use the Intellectual Property and any third-party trademarks that appear on the SmartPractice software or the Website, other than as permitted by express written license from SmartPractice or by law. In particular, you may not use the marks as meta-tags nor may you sponsor them in search engines. All goodwill in your legitimate use of the marks shall accrue to SmartPractice. You are required to notify us immediately if you become aware of any infringement of the Intellectual Property and rights thereto
- the SmartPractice software and the Website may incorporate technical and other protective measures designed to prevent unauthorised and / or illegal use of the SmartPractice software. You agree to the incorporation of any such measures in the SmartPractice software.
- If, in our reasonable opinion, the SmartPractice software or the Website are likely to become or do become the subject of a claim of infringement of a third party's intellectual property rights, we may elect to either:
- 1. obtain the right for you to continue using the SmartPractice software or the Website as permitted under this Agreement; or
- 2. modify or replace the infringing part of the SmartPractice software or the Website so as to avoid the infringement or alleged infringement, without materially reducing the functionality or performance of the SmartPractice software or the Website
- In the circumstances per clause 6.4 above you must:
- 1. promptly notify us of any claim or threatened claim concerning the use of the SmartPractice software or the Website;
- not independently defend or respond to such claim or threatened claim; and
- co-operate with us in the defense of any such claim or threatened claim, subject to our payment of your third-party costs incurred in providing such cooperation.
- Clauses 6.4 and 6.5 state your exclusive remedy in connection with any claim or threatened claim in relation to the Intellectual Property rights of a third party.
- "SmartPractice", " the SmartPractice software" are registered trademarks and you agree not to use any such trademarks as an element of a domain name or sub-domain name, notwithstanding the fact that such domain name use and registration may be permitted in terms of any law. Upon request, you shall immediately cease to use such domain name and transfer it to SmartPractice at your cost.
- 7. Disclaimers and Liabilities
- We will use reasonable endeavors to ensure that the SmartPractice software will give the functionality and levels of service as described on the Website, when used in accordance with it and this Agreement. If you believe our provision of the SmartPractice software or the Website does not conform to this undertaking, you should notify us by email at support@smartpractice.co.za
- We do not warrant:
- 1. that the SmartPractice software or the Website will be continuously available, or that your use thereof will be uninterrupted or error or bug free, or that the Website, the SmartPractice software and server will be free from attack;
- 2. that all the information we provide on the SmartPractice software and the Website is correct and complete, but we nevertheless undertake to use our reasonable endeavors to ensure that all the information we provide on the SmartPractice software and the Website is correct and complete at the time of the last update to the relevant page;
- 3. that the SmartPractice software or the Website will meet your requirements and, for this purpose, it is specifically recorded that the SmartPractice software is provided "as is" and it is your responsibility to satisfy yourself that it meets your requirements and is compatible with your hardware and software prior to making use thereof;
- 4. that the SmartPractice software or the Website results of use will be correct, accurate or reliable;
- 5. that any defects in the SmartPractice software or the Website can or will be corrected.
- Subject to the provisions of any applicable legislation and save as otherwise provided in this Agreement, SmartPractice (including its directors, employees, affiliates, third-party Contractors, business partners, Internet service providers and agents) shall not be liable for any damage, loss or liability of any nature incurred by whomever and you agree to indemnify us and keep us indemnified against all costs (including the costs of enforcement), expenses, liabilities (including any tax liability), injuries, direct, indirect or consequential loss (all three of which terms include, but are not limited to, pure economic loss, loss of income, loss of profits, loss of data, anticipated savings, loss of business, loss or depletion of goodwill, interruption of business and loss similar to all the preceding types of loss), damages, claims, demands, proceedings and judgments which we incur or suffer in any way arising from the following:
- 1. access to the SmartPractice software or the Website;
- 2. access to websites linked (including hyperlinked) to the Website;
- 3. inability to access the Website;
- 4. inability to access websites linked to the Website;
- 5. services or software available from the Website (including the SmartPractice software);
- 6. content available on the Website;
- 7. downloads and use of content on the Website;
- 8. any failure to perform our obligations in this Agreement due to causes beyond our reasonable control including any interruption to or failure of any website, your computer, associated supporting system not provided by us and used by you, telecommunications services, third-party and / or electricity supply service not provided by us, including the Internet;
- 9. your breach of any of the terms of this Agreement;
- 10. use of the SmartPractice software or the Website other than in accordance with this Agreement; or
- 11. any other reason not directly related to SmartPractice's gross negligence.
- To the maximum extent permitted by law all undertakings and warranties given by us under this Agreement are exclusive and all other terms, warranties, representations, undertakings and conditions, express or implied, statutory or otherwise are excluded.
- To the extent, we are liable, our total liability (and that of any Affiliate, Business Partner or third-party Contractor) shall not exceed the amount of charges actually paid by you to use the SmartPractice software or the Website in the year prior to the date the circumstances causing such liability first arose. The limitation of liability in this clause 7 has been calculated to be proportionate to the charges paid by you to use the SmartPractice software and takes into account the fact that it is not within our control how and for what purposes you use the SmartPractice software.
- 8. Termination
- We may terminate this Agreement at any time by written notice, effective immediately, if you:
- 1. materially breach any term of this Agreement and either that breach is incapable of remedy or you have not remedied that breach within 7 (seven) days after receiving written notice requiring you to remedy it;
- 2. fail to pay when due any charges payable to us or stop paying for use of the SmartPractice software; or
- 3. are liquidated provisionally or finally, placed under judicial management, commit an act of insolvency or enter into, or attempt to enter into compromise with your creditors.
- Subject to clause 8.1.3, upon termination of this Agreement however caused, we will stop your ability to access the SmartPractice software, so that you will no longer be able to access and use the SmartPractice software. You acknowledge that you may no longer be able to access your Company Data via the SmartPractice software from this time.
- If this Agreement is terminated and you notify us at the time of notice of termination that you require further access to your Company Data, we may provide you with access to the SmartPractice software for a period of 5 (five) calendar days in order that you may print out your Company Data, subject to the following:
- it is possible that we may have deleted your Company Data, and not be able to provide it to you; and
- we may charge you for providing you with access to your Company Data; and
- if your account remains in arrears for 90 (ninety) days, we may delete your Company Data.
- If we terminate this Agreement in accordance with clause 8.1 we may irretrievably delete your Company Data from the effective date of termination.
- Any termination of this Agreement will not affect any accrued rights or liabilities of either party, nor shall it affect the coming into force, or the continuance in force, of any provision of this Agreement which is expressly or by implication intended to come into force or continue in force on or after termination.
- 9. Notices and Address
- Your communication with us must be by email to our email address contained on the Website.
- Our communication with you shall be via those details provided on registration.
- All legal notices given under this Agreement shall be in writing to the physical address of such party delivered by hand. Legal notices under this Agreement addressed specifically to either of us will be effective on actual receipt by the intended recipient.
- As a condition of this Agreement, if you use any communication tools available through the SmartPractice software or the Website, you agree only to use such communication tools for lawful and legitimate purposes in accordance with the acceptable use provisions of this Agreement.
- 10. Acceptable use of the SmartPractice software and the website
- It is impossible to provide an exhaustive list of exactly what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable use of the SmartPractice software and the Website. In general, we will not tolerate any use of the SmartPractice software and the Website which damages or is likely to damage our reputation, the availability or integrity of the SmartPractice software and the Website or which causes us or threatens to cause us to incur any legal, tax or regulatory liability.
- We therefore require you to treat the Website and the SmartPractice software with respect, and not to use same for any illegal purpose, or in such a way as to infringe or breach other's rights or to cause or threaten to cause us damage.
- You must not use the Website or any communication tool for posting or disseminating any material unrelated to the use of the SmartPractice software or the Website including: files that may damage any other person's computing devices or software, content that may be offensive to any of our other users, or material in violation of any law (including material that is protected by copyright or trade secrets which you do not have the right to use).
- When you make any communication on the Website, you represent that you own the content of the communication.
- We reserve the right to remove any communication posted on the Website, suspend the use of the SmartPractice software and the Website and generally or block your access to any part thereof and / or to suspend or terminate your rights to use same or any part of it if we suspect misuse at any time in our sole discretion. We shall then report any misuse of the SmartPractice software and the Website to the relevant enforcement or other authorities and to our advisers. We further reserve the right to disclose any evidence we have which relates directly or indirectly to misuse.
- 11. Links
- Links to the Website are permitted, subject to first obtaining our prior written consent although we reserve the right to withdraw such consent at any time.
- The Website may include hyperlinks to third party sites. We have no control over and are not responsible for the content, use by you or availability of those third-party websites, for any products or services you buy through those sites or for the treatment of any personal information, you provide to the third party. The products, services and websites of third party providers made available via this website may be owned and operated by independent suppliers. While we may co-brand these products or services with our own, we do not endorse those products or services or warrant the products, services or accuracy or reliability of any information provided to you by such third parties.
- 12. General Terms
- You agree that you are bound to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, which is concluded in George, South Africa at the time you enter the Website for the first time or after you have accepted this Agreement as required on the Website.
- This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and SmartPractice and supersedes all other documentation, information and other communication.
- Any failure by SmartPractice to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall in no way constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
- In the event that any term or condition detailed herein is found to be unenforceable or invalid for any reason, such term(s) or condition(s) shall be severable from the remaining terms and conditions of this Agreement. The remaining terms and conditions shall remain enforceable and applicable.
- We do not recommend or endorse any other entity, including any third parties who make the SmartPractice software available to you - if you wish to engage with such an organisation, you should investigate its experience, skills and qualifications. No third party is appointed or authorised by us as our servant or agent, nor has any authority, either express or implied, to amend this Agreement, or to enter into any contract, provide any representation, warranty or guarantee with or to you on our behalf, or otherwise make commitments for us in any way whatsoever. You agree that we will not be responsible for any act or omission of any third party including any services provided by it in relation to the SmartPractice software, including any administration of it.
- 13. Disclosures required by Section 43 of the ECT Act
Access to the services, content, software and content downloads available from the Website is classified as "electronic transactions" in terms of the ECT Act and therefore you have the rights detailed in Chapter 7 of the ECT Act and SmartPractice has the duty to disclose the following information:
- Full name and legal status of website owner: SmartPractice (Pty) Ltd.
- Street Address: 5 Progress Street, George, 6530, Western Cape, South Africa.
- Postal address: PO Box 2669, George,6530, South Africa.
- Physical address for the receipt of legal notices: 5 Progress Street, George, 6530, Western Cape, South Africa
- Official email address of the Website: support@SmartPractice.co.za.
- Manual published in terms of section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 may be viewed at: 5 Progress Street, George, 6530, Western Cape, South Africa
- Alternative Dispute Resolution: Subject to urgent and / or interim relief, all disputes regarding:
- 1. access to the Website;
- 2. the inability to access the Website;
- 3. the services and content available from the Website; or
- this Agreement, Shall be referred to arbitration in terms of the expedited rules of the Arbitration Foundation of South Africa and such arbitration proceedings shall be conducted in Johannesburg in English. The arbitration ruling shall be final and the unsuccessful party shall pay the costs of the successful party on a scale as between attorney and own client.
- Cooling off period:
- 1. Under section 42(1)(g) of the ECT Act the cooling-off period set out in section 44 of the Act does not apply to an electronic transaction where audio or video recordings or computer software were unsealed by the consumer.
- 2. Under section 42(1)(d) of the ECT Act the cooling-off period set out in section 44 of the Act does not apply in respect of services, which began with the consumer's consent before the end of the seven-day period referred to in section 44(1).
- 3. Under section 42(1)(f) of the ECT Act the cooling-off period set out in section 44 of the Act does not apply where the goods:
- are made to the consumer's specifications;
- are clearly personalised;
- by reason of their nature cannot be returned; or d. are likely to deteriorate or expire rapidly.
- Users may lodge complaints in respect of the Website via email to info@SmartPractice.co.za.