EDAS Conference Services LLC
313 Westview Avenue
Leonia, NJ 07605

General

This document is a contract between EDAS Conference Services, LLC and the conference using EDAS ("Conference") whereby EDAS Conference Services licenses the use of its EDAS Electronic Paper Processing System (PPS) to the Conference for the purposes of automating the paper submission, processing, retrieval, scoring, and results analysis process for its conferences, workshops and similar events.

General Description of Services to be Provided

  1. A license to use the EDAS paper processing system for the Conference during the period beginning from the signing of this contract until the conference date.
  2. Use of the EDAS web server that will host the PPS web site and related online systems throughout the contract period.
  3. Access is through any web browser so the location of any user is immaterial.
  4. Computer programming services as required to customize the PPS to meet the specific requirements of the Conference.
  5. Technical support services to Conference conference staff and PPS users both by email and by telephone help desk that will accommodate reasonable requests for software extensions within four business days and bug fixes for serious problems within one business day.
  6. User questions (for example, how to change an author s address, change the order of paper authors or what do if there are two copies of one person in the data base) will be answered on a best-effort basis with an average response within one to two business days.
  7. EDAS Conference Services stipulates that he is the sole owner of EDAS;

Performance

  1. Enabling the conference PPS system as needed for Conference within one week of a request;
  2. maintaining the PPS operational throughout the contract period;
  3. full cooperation with members of the Conference organizing committee and with interested parties within the sponsoring societies;
  4. providing such technical support and assistance as may be required to assist all users of the PPS throughout the contract period;
  5. access to all related database content and delivery of that content to Conference upon request, either by FTP (File Transfer Protocol) or on other suitable storage media;
  6. all of the above except where prevented from so doing by events beyond the reasonable control of EDAS Conference Services or its suppliers.

Ownership of Material & Intellectual Property

  1. EDAS Conference Services shall remain the sole owner of the EDAS PPS system and of all processes related and of any custom programming that may be developed as relates to the Conference event under this agreement.
  2. The Conference shall remain the sole owner of any data resulting from the use of the EDAS system for the events and EDAS Conference Services agrees, with one exception, not to use any database(s), mailing list(s), scoring results, papers, intellectual property or other material(s) provided by the Conference or any information gathered as a result of this contract for any purpose other than that intended for the event. This exception is that author and reviewer contact information (title, name, affiliation, country, email address and telephone numbers) may be kept for other EDAS-managed conferences to facilitate single sign-on for authors, TPC members, and reviewers. In turn, authors, TPC members, TPC chairs, and reviewers have access to the existing EDAS reviewer database as an added benefit at no additional charge.
  3. The Conference acknowledges that EDAS Conference Services is providing software and systems for the use of the Conference under this agreement and the Conference agrees not to copy, decompile, reverse engineer or otherwise modify any related software, systems and processes for its use or for use by third parties.

Materials and Services to be Provided to EDAS Conference Services

The conference organizers are responsible for configuring:

  1. event specific details, including dates, location, timelines or other vital information pertaining to the event;
  2. web page design elements to customize the PPS for the event, including logos, trademarks and other graphical elements;
  3. written content for inclusion in the PPS site or for the purpose of automating email communication to authors, adjudicators, session chairs and others involved in the process. These include the following:
    1. review form questions;
    2. the conference enters the chair(s) and technical program committee members;
    3. deadlines, paper lengths and other manuscript submission details;
    4. email templates to be used for sending email to authors, reviewers and other conference participants;

The Conference organizers are responsible for assisting authors with submitting papers that conform to society, publisher and conference layout and PDF standards.

Fees

Fees are listed on the EDAS web site. Payment is due within 30 days of the beginning of the Conference. Any bank transfer fees or country-specific sales or service taxes are the responsibility of the Conference. (We do not charge US sales taxes.)

For each conference or a group of conferences, the Conference provides a billing address at the time the conference is set up.

There will be no charge for reasonable, generally-applicable feature requests that EDAS Conference Services and the conference organizers agree to. Other customization will be done at a rate of $100 per hour. Invoices for this work will be submitted at the end of any month in which this work is performed and will be due within 30 days.

Payment can be made by credit card, check (payable to EDAS Conference Services)
EDAS Conference Services
313 Westview Avenue
Leonia, NJ 07605

or write transfer to a US (for payments in dollars or for non-European conferences) or European bank account, for Euro payments. The account information will be provided in the invoice.

A 1.5% monthly (18% annual) interest charge will be applied to balances not paid by the due date.

Event Cancellation

In the event of the cancellation of a conference after the conference has been set up but before the paper submission deadline, only the effort for any software customizations beyond routine conference setup will be billed at a rate of $100 per hour. In the event of the cancellation of a conference after the paper submission deadline, only papers that have been reviewed will be charged. It is due and payable within 30 days of the cancellation notice.

Media Production Cancellation

If the Conference cancels any production requests for media such as USB memory sticks, CDs or brochures, EDAS will invoice any cancellation fees incurred by third parties as well as any effort already expended.

Indemnity

EDAS Conference Services and the Conference hereby indemnify and holds harmless the other party against all damages, claims, liabilities, losses and other expenses, including without limitation reasonable attorney's fees and costs, whether or not a lawsuit or other proceeding is filed, that in any way arise out of or relate to (a) any material uncured breach of any obligations under this Agreement, and/or (b) the negligent or willful acts or omissions of the other party.

EDAS Conference Services may use, at its discretion, third parties to provide services such as hosting, production of CD-ROMs and USB memory sticks, and shipping. EDAS Conference Services is not responsible for delays or non-performance arising from the usage of such third parties. The Conference is responsible to check any brochures, CD-ROMs and USB memory sticks for correctness immediately upon receipt.

Limitation of Liability

If EDAS provides physical media to the Conference, it is the responsibility of the Conference to check the received media such as USB memory stick or CD ROMs within two days of receipt. Refunds for defective media can only be provided if all media products are returned to EDAS or a designated manufacturer within two days of receipt. EDAS will be responsible for shipping costs for any returns.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, except for either party's violation of the other party's intellectual property rights, neither party shall be liable for any indirect, special, incidental, consequential or exemplary damages, whether foreseeable or not, that are in any way related to this Agreement.

Relationship of Parties

The parties agree that both are independent contractors and shall not be considered an agent of the other.