Our Terms of Use will be updated on 29 September. You can preview them here.

LEGAL NOTICES AND GENERAL CONDITIONS FOR USE OF THE SERVICES OFFERED BY THE FORK

http://www.thefork.com and The Fork applications are published by:

LA FOURCHETTE SAS
A simplified joint stock company with capital of 30.231.355,35 euros
Registered office: 70, rue Saint-Lazare, 75009 Paris, France
RCS PARIS 494 447 949
European VAT No.: FR71494447949

Publication director: Bertrand Jelensperger.
Telephone: +33 (0)1 83 77 77 07
email: contact@lafourchette.com

The website at http://www.thefork.com is hosted by:

Oxalide
25, boulevard de Strasbourg
75010 Paris, France
http://www.oxalide.com/

Attention: If you do not agree with all or some of the general usage conditions below, you are strongly recommended not to use www.thefork.com or The Fork applications.

The aim of these legal notices and general conditions is to set out the conditions and procedures applicable to the free online restaurant table search and booking service. These general conditions may be added to or amended by specific conditions and usage procedures particular to certain features.

The service is only for individuals able to enter into contracts pursuant to French law. Users of http://www.thefork.com or The Fork applications are considered to be anyone who visits the site or its applications and/or uses the site or its applications and the associated services.

ACCEPTANCE OF THE GENERAL CONDITIONS

La Fourchette provides a free online restaurant table search and booking service to users in exchange for unconditional acceptance of these general conditions.

Users declare and acknowledge that they have read all the terms of these general conditions. Furthermore, by using any of the services offered on the site, which can be accessed at http://www.thefork.com, and/or by using The Fork applications (hereafter, the "The Fork website"), users unconditionally accept these general conditions.

La Fourchette reserves the right to change these general conditions at any time, in whole or in part. As such, it is the user's responsibility to regularly view the latest version of the general conditions shown at http://thefork.com/page/cgu and on The Fork applications. Users are considered as having accepted this latest version every time they log on to The Fork website.

If users do not adhere to these general conditions, La Fourchette reserves the right to suspend the services and/or refuse access to a service without warning.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVICE

Search for and book a table online in real time

The Fork website allows users to search for and book a restaurant table online in real time.

Benefit from promotions and special offers from the restaurants listed on The Fork

The Fork website allows users to benefit from promotions or special offers from the restaurants listed on the site, provided that the reservations are made using the dedicated reservation procedure in The Fork website's reservation module. Not all restaurants have promotions or special offers. The conditions of validity for these promotions are explained on The Fork website.

Associated personalised services

By setting up an account on The Fork website, users can make reservations without having to re-enter their contact details, and, thanks to La Fourchette's business agreements, users can benefit from exclusive offers in regional restaurants.

Warning

Users are responsible for making any checks that may seem necessary or prudent before making a reservation at one of the restaurants listed on The Fork website.La Fourchette does not guarantee in any way the products, services and/or business practices of third parties listed on its site. Therefore, La Fourchette cannot guarantee that users will be satisfied with the products, services and/or business practices to which they are exposed as a result of making a reservation on The Fork website.

FREE NATURE OF THE SERVICE

The services offered and described in these general conditions are free of charge.

Prices may be charged if the services offered change, or as a result of network changes, changes in technology and/or legal constraints. Users will be duly notified of this by a modification to these general conditions or by The Fork adding special conditions about these paid-for services to its website.

Warning

Users who make use of The Fork website in line with these general conditions can do so free of charge.

However, users acknowledge that The Fork website also provides paid-for services. For example, following a reservation made via The Fork website, users acknowledge and accept that the service provided to the third party Restaurant Owner listed on The Fork website is a paid-for service.

If La Fourchette supplies on its The Fork website details on prices or a range of prices of a third party provider listed on its site, this information is supplied for information purposes and convenience only. La Fourchette does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Also, The Fork website may contain links to third party websites, which are owned and operated by retailers or service providers working independently of La Fourchette. These third parties may require users to pay a fee for using certain content or services supplied on the third party website. Therefore, users are responsible for making any necessary and prudent checks as to whether payment will be required and the nature of the payment procedures before entering into a transaction with third parties. La Fourchette cannot under any circumstances be connected with the services provided by third parties and/or the third party websites in question.

OPENING AN ACCOUNT - IDENTIFICATION - PROOF

EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION

From the time the account is set up, users are allocated a username and password (hereafter "Identifying Information") so that they can access their private account.

Confidentiality of Identifying Information

Identifying Information is personal and confidential. It can only be changed if the user requests it to be changed, or on the initiative of La Fourchette.

Users alone are fully responsible for using their Identifying Information and agree to make all efforts to keep their Identifying Information confidential and not to reveal it to any person or in any form.

If their Identifying Information is lost or stolen, users are responsible for any harmful consequences of this loss or theft, and must follow, as soon as possible, the stated procedure for changing it; this procedure can be viewed at http://www.thefork.com/my-account/profile.

Agreement on proof

The parties explicitly agree that:

• the presence of an ID code validly identifies the author of a document or message and proves the authenticity of a document or message,
• an electronic document containing an ID code has the same validity as a document signed by the issuing person,
• the parties may print out an electronic message from electronic messaging software to prove the content of their exchanges regarding the performance of these general conditions.

Exchange of information

Users agree to the use of electronic messaging to send the information they request regarding the completion or performance of the contract.

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION

La Fourchette, in strict compliance with current law and regulations, wishes to collect certain information. This information is collected in accordance with provisions of data protection law to give users an optimum experience of The Fork website.

Declaration of the automated processing of named data to the French Personal Data Protection Commission (CNIL)

La Fourchette, when processing personal data, has declared the client-prospect files (type NS-48) to the CNIL. Client-prospect files (type NS-48) are recorded under n°1575793.

Privacy charter

The collection of personal data does not make visible, directly or indirectly, the ethnic origins, political, philosophical or religious opinions or trade union affiliation, or data regarding the health or sex orientation of the people concerned.

User data are collected and processed fairly and legally for specific, clear and legitimate purposes, and are not subsequently processed in a way incompatible with these purposes. It is collected and processed in a way that identifies the persons concerned for a duration not exceeding the time necessary to complete the procedures for which the data are collected and processed.

Personal data shall only be processed by a subcontractor or a person acting under the authority of the data controller or that of the subcontractor, on the instructions of the data controller at The Fork.

Cookies

The Fork website and/or its partner websites may store information on the user's computer or device. This information will take the form of a "Cookie" or similar file. "Cookies" are data which contain no personal information and are sent via the server on users' hard drives or devices. The main role of cookies is to identify users more quickly when they log on and make it easier for them to participate in certain events, promotions, activities etc. on The Fork website.

La Fourchette cannot guarantee the optimum functioning of The Fork website if users refuse cookies.

Users acknowledge and accept that La Fourchette reserves the right to install a "Cookie" on their computer or device to save information about the use of The Fork website.

To find out more about the cookies used by La Fourchette and to change your cookie settings, users are invited to read the La Fourchette cookies policy.

Data use

Users are hereby notified that the personal data marked as obligatory on the forms, which is gathered to provide the service described in these general conditions, must be provided in order to use this service; it will only be used to provide this service and is intended only for La Fourchette and its Restaurant Owner partner clients, who shall take all necessary precautions to maintain, as far as possible, the security of the data.

Users authorise La Fourchette to supply certain information to its technical suppliers so that users can benefit from certain functions of The Fork website (forum, opinions, comments, etc.).

Users authorise La Fourchette to pass on all their information to La Fourchette's Restaurant Owner client partners when supplying the services offered by The Fork.

Furthermore, users authorise La Fourchette to use and/or transfer this information under its partnership agreements, in accordance with the law, particularly to enable users to benefit from personalised information and services ("loyalty points", "special deals", "Free invitations", etc.).

La Fourchette's customers, when using the "invite your friends along to this reservation" feature, are likely to disclose third party email addresses to La Fourchette.

When disclosing these addresses, La Fourchette's customers declare that they have obtained the explicit and informed permission of the owners of these addresses. Therefore, the client shall not hold La Fourchette liable for the use of these email addresses in the following ways:

• Sending an invitation on behalf of the La Fourchette customer (by email)
• Sending a request to leave an opinion after a reservation (by email)

La Fourchette agrees not to use third party email addresses for any other purposes.

Any email sent by La Fourchette to the address collected the first time the user makes a reservation will be related to the service outlined in these general conditions.

All emails sent by LAFOURCHETTE include a link at the bottom that can be used to cancel subscriptions. The user can also manage his subscriptions via his own account, in the section “my subscriptions” or send a message specifying his cancellation request to the following email address: "contact@lafourchette.com".

Right of access, correction and opposition

Users have a right of access and rectification over this data, which they may assert by unticking a box on the User's "My account" page or by writing to: contact@lafourchette.com

Users may also assert their right of opposition to the use of this data if they have a legitimate reason by sending a message to the following email address: contact@lafourchette.com

Warning

Users acknowledge that, generally and given the current state of technological progress, every time they publish information online, this information can be collected and used by third parties. Therefore, users shall not hold La Fourchette responsible for any liability or harmful consequence of the use by third parties of this information exchanged using communication tools (chat, forum, opinions) offered on The Fork website.

USER OPINIONS

Users must follow the rules below to publish an opinion on the site about a restaurant they have reserved on The Fork website.

Conditions for posting opinions

• To post an opinion, users must be of full legal age, have an account on The Fork website which identifies them, have reserved a restaurant via The Fork website and have honoured their reservation at the restaurant.
• To avoid any conflict of interest and for obvious reasons of objectivity, users working in the restaurant sector may not post opinions on The Fork website.
• The post may only be about the restaurant the user visited. Any opinions on another restaurant will be deleted by La Fourchette.

Reasons for rejecting posts

Users are notified that their posts may be rejected for the following reasons:

• if the user does not adhere to the "Conditions for posting opinions" above;
• if La Fourchette believes that its civil or criminal liability may be engaged;
• if the text includes insults or vulgarity;
• if the author's Identifying Information includes insults or vulgarity;
• if the text contains random characters or continuations of words with no meaning;
• if the content (text, document, image, etc.) has nothing to do with the matter noted;
• if the opinion contains a specific conflict of interest;
• if the content is badly written to the point of being unintelligible;
• if a user makes an inappropriate comment about another post or its author;
• if the content to be posted includes personal information, such as the surname or first name of individuals who are not public persons, a telephone number, a specific physical address or an email address;
• if the text contains a credit card number, social security number, bank account number or any other information likely to lead to identity theft;
• if the text includes a call to take legal action;
• if the content mentions websites, hyperlinks, URLs, email addresses or telephone numbers;
• if the text is obviously spam.

If users post content which is clearly fake, La Fourchette, after applying the procedures for the refusal or deletion of the post, shall cancel the user's registration and delete all of their posts.

Moderating the posts

Posts are moderated to ensure that they comply with these General Terms of Use, and will be published, rejected or deleted accordingly. Each post is moderated by a human in advance. The maximum moderation time is 2 weeks. Users may ask for an existing post to be moderated by writing to: contact@lafourchette.com giving the reasons for their request.

Users who have posted an opinion may later ask for it to be deleted by writing to: contact@lafourchette.com. Posts will remain on the site for up to 3 years from the time they are first posted. Posts on restaurants which have closed or changed ownership since the post was made will be deleted. Users are notified that they may be contacted by La Fourchette to check the authenticity of their post, by email and/or by telephone. Users are informed that their post may be forwarded to Partner Sites of La Fourchette and be posted on these Partner Sites. To make it easier for users of The Fork website to read the posts, users authorise La Fourchette to include the following information next to the post: date of registration on the site, number of posts made, first name and the first letter of the surname, position and date of the restaurant visit. In accordance with the amended law of 6 January 1978, users have the right to access, modify, rectify and delete their data; they also have a right to oppose the information being used if there are legitimate reasons for this. Users may assert these rights by writing to contact@lafourchette.com.

Opinions from groups of diners

Users who book a restaurant for a group of diners are invited to supply the email addresses of their co-diners so that they can receive practical information about the reservation (restaurant address, reservation time, etc.) Users declare that they have the advance permission of their co-diners for them to pass on their email addresses in this context. Each co-diner is then invited to post an opinion on their experience at the restaurant booked by the user.

Right of reply

Each Restaurant owner has a right of reply in order to:

• Give their version of events;
• Thank the diner for their contribution;
• Outline any changes that have been made in the restaurant since the post was made.

Any request for a response must be sent within 3 months of the contentious message being circulated, to contact@lafourchette.com or by letter sent by registered post with proof of receipt request to La Fourchette, 70 rue Saint-Lazare 75009 PARIS (France).

The request must include the following:

• post references,
• ID of the author
• the contentious passages
• content of the desired response (the response cannot be longer than the user post to which it is responding).

Once this procedure has been followed, if the response request meets these General Terms of Use, the response will be moderated under the same conditions as the user posts and published, if applicable, after the message to which it responds, up to 7 days from the response request.

Restaurant ratings

Every user who has booked a restaurant using The Fork website and honoured their reservation at the restaurant is invited to rate their experience.

Users are informed that the rating on The Fork website next to each restaurant is an equally-weighted average of the ratings given for each table in the last year.

Use of user content

We may use user content and user opinions in different ways, including to publish it on The Fork website, change its format, include it in advertising or other documents, create works derived from it, enhance it, distribute it and also allow others to use it on their websites and social media platforms. Therefore, users hereby give La Fourchette irrevocable permission to use this content for any purpose, and irrevocably waive any claims to or assertion of moral or patrimonial rights regarding this content.

LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

Network functioning

Given the specific nature of the Internet, La Fourchette offers no guarantee of the continuity of the service, and can only be bound by an obligation of means in this regard.

La Fourchette cannot be held liable in the event of damage linked to temporary unavailability of one of its services on The Fork website.

Website modification

Information on The Fork website may be changed at any time, given the interactive nature of the site, for which La Fourchette is not liable.

Website use

La Fourchette declines any liability for any damage or loss linked to the use or inability to use The Fork website or its content, except in the event of statutory exceptions.

La Fourchette does not guarantee that the information presented is detailed, complete, verified or accurate. The documents, information, descriptive sheets, and, in general, any content on The Fork website is provided "as is", with no explicit or tacit guarantee of any kind.

Users expressly acknowledge that the photos on The Fork website are not contractually binding.

Generally, users accept and acknowledge that the reservation is not guaranteed. As such, La Fourchette does not guarantee the effectiveness of the booking service. Availability is checked digitally and in real time and a table is actually booked via the computer. However, as La Fourchette is not able to physically check the accuracy of the information collected and/or given by the service providers, users accept that La Fourchette cannot be held liable if the user is unable to benefit from the restaurant's services. The configurations of the real time reservation software partially depend on the information supplied and/or saved by the Restaurant Owner and may not reflect reality. So, for example, users acknowledge and accept that La Fourchette shall not under any circumstances be held liable if the booking is cancelled if the restaurant is closed for any reason, or if the service is refused for any reason.

Likewise, and for the same reasons, users accept that La Fourchette cannot be held liable if the user is not able to benefit from the restaurant's promotions or special offers. Users acknowledge and accept that La Fourchette shall not be held liable if the restaurant fails to honour a promotion or special offer for any reason.

User guarantees

Users state that they are fully familiar with the features and limitations of the Internet. They acknowledge that it is impossible to guarantee that the data sent by the user over the Internet will be fully secure. La Fourchette cannot be held responsible for any incidents which could arise from this data transfer.

Users therefore disclose the data at their own risk. La Fourchette can only give assurances that it will use all the means available to it to ensure maximum security.

Users agree to compensate La Fourchette for any costs that La Fourchette has to bear as a result of any claim or dispute, in our out of court, linked to the use of the services set out herein by the user. The user agrees to hold La Fourchette harmless against any pronouncement in this regard in the event of legal proceedings.

In any case, users explicitly acknowledge and agree to use The Fork website at their own risk and under their sole responsibility.

Hyperlinks

The Fork website contains links to third party websites. Linked sites are not under the control of La Fourchette, and La Fourchette is not responsible for the content of these related sites. La Fourchette supplies these links for convenience only, and a link does not mean that La Fourchette sponsors or recommends the linked site in question or that La Fourchette is affiliated to it. Linked sites are owned and operated by independent retailers or service providers, and as such La Fourchette cannot guarantee that you will be satisfied with their products, services or business practices. It is your responsibility to make any checks you think are necessary or appropriate before entering into any transactions with one of these third parties.

USER OBLIGATIONS

Unrestricted acceptance of these general conditions

By setting up an account, users accept, explicitly and without reserve, the terms of these general conditions and any special conditions on The Fork website.

Provision of accurate, honest and true information

When setting up an account, users must send accurate and true information regarding their title, family name, first name(s), email address and telephone number, so that they can be properly identified.

Checking the validity conditions for promotions and special offers

Users must check the validity conditions of a promotion before booking on the site and may not under any circumstances claim from the restaurant a La Fourchette promotion outside the validity conditions as outlined on The Fork website, and outside the booking procedure with a promotion or special offer.

Adherence to national and international intellectual property law

Users agree not to submit, copy, resell, republish, or, in general, make available in any form whatsoever any information or data received from La Fourchette or available on The Fork website, to another individual or legal entity from any country. In general, users agree to adhere to the intellectual property provisions below.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Ownership of rights

All intellectual property moral and patrimonial rights relating to the content and information on The Fork website belong to La Fourchette, with the exception of third party patrimonial rights, for which La Fourchette has obtained the necessary rights transfers or authorisations.

The rights conferred on users by using The Fork website and the services supplied by La Fourchette do not entail any transfer or permission to operate or use any part of The Fork website.

Protection of all items: trademarks, designs, logos, hyperlinks, information, etc.

All items (brands, designs, texts, hyperlinks, logos, images, videos, sounds, software, formatting, databases, codes etc.) on The Fork website and on associated sites are protected by national and international law and intellectual property law. These items remain the sole property of La Fourchette and/or its partners.

Prohibition on unauthorised use

Therefore, without prior written permission from La Fourchette and/or its partners, users may not reproduce, represent, republish, redistribute, adapt, translate and/or transform partially or in full, or transfer to another media, any information from The Fork website.

Penalties

Users acknowledge and are aware that failure to obey this prohibition constitutes an infringement punishable by civil and criminal law.

PENALTY FOR CONTRACTUAL FAILURES

Suspension or permanent stoppage of the service(s)

In the event of failure by users to meet or comply with one of their obligations or stipulations in these general conditions, La Fourchette may modify, suspend, limit or withdraw access to the service, without users being entitled to any compensation of any kind.

Damages

La Fourchette shall also be entitled to claim compensation for the losses sustained.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Applicable law

The relations that bind La Fourchette and the user, which are mainly governed by these general conditions, are subject to French law, to the exclusion of any other state legislation. If these general conditions are drawn up in several languages or translated, only the French version shall have legal force.

Jurisdiction

Any dispute and/or difficulty in the construction or performance of these general conditions shall be brought before the relevant courts of the city of Paris (France).

Partial nullity - Dissociation - Titles

If a provision of these general conditions is null and void, illegal, non-invocable or inapplicable in any way, the validity, legality or application of the other provisions of these general conditions shall not be affected or altered in any way; the other stipulations of the general conditions shall remain in force and retain their full effect.

La Fourchette may draw up a new clause to re-establish the joint will of the Parties as expressed in the initial clause, in line with current law applicable to these general conditions.

The titles of the articles herein are for information purposes only and must not be considered as forming an integral part of the general conditions.

Absence of renunciation

Unless stipulated otherwise in these general conditions, no tolerance, failure to act, abstention or omission, and no delay by La Fourchette in asserting any of its rights under this agreement, can jeopardise said right, and cannot be understood as a renunciation to assert said right in the future. On the contrary, said right shall remain in full force.

Notification and removal of illegal content

La Fourchette notifies all users of The Fork website that it may give notice of a claim or objection relating to illicit items or content posted on The Fork website.

If users believe items or content posted on The Fork website to be illegal and/or in breach of their copyright, they may immediately send a notification to La Fourchette by registered post with proof of receipt containing all supporting documentation to prove the ownership of the rights if applicable. Once this procedure has been followed, and after the accuracy of the notification has been checked, La Fourchette shall make all reasonable efforts to remove the illicit content as soon as possible. La Fourchette cannot be held liable for content presented on The Fork website which can be modified by third parties (for example, restaurant sheets, forums, opinions, etc.).