TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Below are BlueMelon Design Pty Ltd (throughout this document will be referred to as BMD) standard terms and conditions. It is vital that you (The Client) please take time to read through thoroughly and ensure you fully understand these terms and conditions and their implications before you commence any project with BMD. Please also note that from time to time BMD may need to alter these terms and conditions without notice. Please contact us if you do not understand any of the terms and conditions in this document.

Commencement of work

Agreement to work with, submission of SoW and payment of a deposit (if applicable) to BMD constitutes agreement to these terms and conditions.

Payment Terms

“The Client” agrees to pay a 50% deposit of the quoted amount to commence any project, with the balance payable prior to delivery. Once research, resources allocated or design work has commenced on a project, this deposit is non-refundable. In the case of a change of mind by “The Client,” this deposit is non-refundable. BMD endeavours to provide content and creative services that meet and exceed a client’s needs and expectations, but in the event of a “change of mind” (after a project has commenced) by “The Client”, the initial 50% deposit is forfeited, plus a pro-rata payment based upon the time spent.

If the work time exceeds 4 calendar weeks in duration, “The Client” (if applicable) agrees to a progress payment of 50% of the balance per month until the conclusion of the project, with any outstanding amount payable in full upon delivery.

Work Case Studies & Design samples

“The Client” agrees to allow BMD to showcase any/all work created in the course of a project as part of the BMD portfolio. BMD acknowledges the confidential nature of projects and agrees to only display project work once product/service has been publicly launched.

BMD will first send an email to “The Client” requesting approval to do so. Under no circumstances, BMD will publish content without “The Client” consent.

Force Majeure

BMD shall not be liable for any failure or delay in supply or delivery of products/services where such failure or delay is wholly or partly due to any cause or circumstances whatsoever outside the reasonable control of BMD. Including but not limited to war, natural disasters, strikes, lockouts, industrial disputes or unrest, government restrictions or transport delays, fire, power outages, failure attributable to hosting suppliers, breakdown of plant, theft, vandalism, riots, civil commotions, accidents of any kind or act of terrorism.

Scope of Work

BMD may make any changes to the Scope of Work, design, materials or functionality of the deliverables or provision of the Services: (a) which are required to comply with any applicable legal or regulatory requirements; (b) are required or advisable to prevent the services and/or deliverables infringing third party rights, including Intellectual Property Rights; or (c) which in BlueMelon Design’s reasonable opinion, do not materially affect the quality or performance of the Services.

If at any time “The Client” wishes to make any alterations to all or any part of the services including the Scope of Work, and/or Customer Materials and/or data then “The Client” will provide BMD with full written specifications of such alterations and with such further information as BMD may require.

BMD will either decline to undertake such alterations or will submit to “The Client” a quotation for such alterations specifying what changes (if any) will be required to the services including fees and the deliverables.

Upon receipt of such quotation “The Client” will either: (a) accept such quotation, in which case the services will be deemed to be amended accordingly; or (b) withdraw the proposed alterations in which case the agreement will continue in force unchanged.

Fees for service

It is agreed that the fee for service shall be the cost estimates provided via email or other media, unless work undertaken exceeds the work outlined. If work undertaken exceeds the items specified in the quote, “The Client” agrees to pay appropriate fees for the excess work, outside the scope of the original agreement. “The Client” will be notified of increases in the scope of the project, a new SoW will be issued and written approval must be obtained from “The Client” before new work commences.

Customer Materials

Where BMD is supplied with Customer Materials or is requested to use specific material by the Customer when undertaking the Services:

(a) BMD will not be liable for any delay in or inability to perform the Services or for any additional costs incurred in the performance of the Services or for any defect or error in the Services or Deliverables or errors in or additional costs associated with their delivery to the extent that such delay, inability, costs, defect or error were caused by defects in or unsuitability of the Customer Materials or specified materials, or the Customer’s failure to supply the Customer Materials to BMD in the manner (including regarding format and method of delivery) directed by BMD, if being noted and agreed that BMD may not be able to identify defects in the Customer Materials or specified materials, or the unsuitable nature of the Customer Materials or specified materials until production has commenced, and where additional costs are incurred by BlueMelon Design such costs shall be recoverable from the Customer;

(b) BMD may reject any of the Customer Materials or specified materials which in its opinion are unsuitable;

(c) BMD may, if the Customer Materials or specified materials are found to be unsuitable during production or have been supplied to BMD otherwise than in the manner (including regarding format and method of delivery) directed by BMD, charge the additional production costs incurred by BMD to the Customer after notifying, where possible, the Customer in writing of the unsuitability of the Customer Materials or specified materials; and

(d) BMD accepts no responsibility for imperfect work caused by defects in or unsuitability of the Customer Materials or specified materials.

Legal Authorization for Publications

The Customer is responsible for obtaining, at its own cost, all necessary consents, clearances, and authorisations which may be required by all applicable law and any regulatory and other authorities or commercial providers in respect of its receipt of the Services and use of the Deliverables. In particular, the Customer agrees that it, and not BMD, is responsible for ensuring the use of the Customer’s own and any third party photographs, images, sounds and text in the Deliverables does not infringe third party Intellectual Property Rights, whether those third party materials are sourced by the Customer or by BMD on the Customer’s behalf.

Excess work

This is defined as any work involving additions to the list of items defined in the Estimate of Services or changes to all pieces of finished work after sign-off by an authorised representative of “The Client”. From time to time “The Client” will require extra requirements during a project, or extra files upon completion of a project. The client will be informed that the alterations or changes requested fall outside the scope of the original SoW. If the client wishes these alterations to be made, a new SoW will be issued by BMD addressing the new requirements and the associated cost. Work can only commence once SoW has been signed off.

Publication and/or release of work performed on behalf of the client by “BMD” may not take place before cleared funds have been received.

Any booking fees, delivery fees, design commencement fees, or progress payments are non-refundable once work has commenced if the contract is terminated by the client, after work has commenced.

Liability & Litigation

It is agreed that all work and materials provided for “The Client” by “BMD” will be free and clear of all liens and encumbrances and may be lawfully used by “The Client” without infringing upon the rights of others including, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, any copyright trade secret patent or trademark rights of any third party.

It is agreed that “BMD” indemnify and hold “The Client” harmless from and against all claims for injury or death to persons or damage to property (including cost of litigation and legal fees) caused by, arising from or incidental to the services to be performed during the performance of the work outlined, except any such claims which are caused by the negligence of “The Client” or its employees, and it is agreed that we shall notify “The Client” in writing of full details of any such claim.

Under no circumstances shall BMD be liable to “The Client” for an indirect or consequential loss suffered by “The Client” relying on the information included in the supplies prepared by BMD including (without limitation) loss of profit, loss of contracts or pure economic loss. Any liability is strictly limited to the direct losses associated with remedial costs of the supplies only, not to include claims for delays, out of sequence working, non-productive overtime, an award of costs, etc. Liability to any third party for any reason is specifically excluded unless separately agreed in writing.

Approval of Final Work

While BMD takes all care to avoid errors, BMD accepts no responsibility for typographical errors, spelling mistakes, or incorrect information on any project committed to print or production. It is “The Client’s” responsibility to proofread and approve all final copy before the production of work. The email verification of the Client’s representative shall be conclusive as to the approval of all deliverables prior to their release for printing, implementation or installation. No refunds or reprints are given after a final approved deliverable has gone to print due oversights by “The Client’s” proofreading.

Copyright

BMD retains full ownership of design concepts and materials it produces. Once a final concept is delivered to a client and full payment is received, complete ownership rights to the concept transfer to the client. Unused concepts remain the property of BlueMelon Design. BMD may still use paid-for concepts in its promotional materials and in its design portfolio. Unless the client requests otherwise, BMD retains the right to display a small byline claiming design credit on works it produces, except for corporate stationery.

This granting of copyright does not extend to the use of design proposals and concepts submitted to but not approved for the work outlined. Until the final payment, BMD retains ownership of all the work produced. BMD reserve the rights to certain elements used to create your projects including RAW files, fonts, patterns, stock images, textures, colour palettes, and other non-exclusive items.

BMD reserve the right to use stock images in the creation of designs if required. Costs of this will be outlined to the client prior to purchase if not included in the proposal quote.

Other than for the promotional use of BMD all services provided shall be for the exclusive use of the client’s said purposes only. Designs may not be used for other promotional items, website or printed materials without permission. Upon payment of all invoices, reproduction rights for all approved final designs created by BMD shall be outlined in the Project Proposal. For additional usage, the price will be assessed as needed.

In accordance with the Australian Copyright Act (1968), ‘licensing of copyright is subject to a mutual agreement made between client and designer’. Copyright will remain property of BMD till such time an agreement is in place. As part of BMD terms of business, the copyright licence is automatically released to the client on receipt of the final payment for the commissioned work. BMD reserve the right to use all artwork produced, concepts produced in the course of the project (including those concepts not selected) and revisions for the purposes of promoting BMD in print or digital media portfolios, social media, and blogs, except where the client has specifically requested in writing otherwise.

Goodwill

This proposal assumes goodwill from both BMD and “The Client” regarding:

• • What can reasonably be achieved in a given time frame

Making the best use of resources to achieve the most effective outcomes

Resending Uploading Files

If a client loosed or accidentally deletes the files delivered by BMD upon completion of the project, BMD can re-upload to DropBox, for a fee of $200 per request (plus GST). Providing the request from the “Client” has been made within 2 years from the date of completion.

BMD will not archive projects older than 2 years from completion unless requested by “The Client” in which charges may apply.

Artwork on DVD or USB Drive

If any client artwork is required on CD/DVD, an administration fee of approximately – $100 plus courier/ postage will be payable.

International Work

Some of BMD clients come from outside Australia. Being a niche market we are global specialists in the field of Brand, Content, Digital Experiences, Research and Innovation and as such create work across the world, using contemporary communication methods such as Skype, DropBox, Google Suite, Cisco, email and chat, along with the more traditional devices such as a telephone.

Termination policy

From time to time circumstances beyond the control of either party may result in the need for project cancellation. In the event of the client cancelling a project after a project has commenced, the advance payment (deposit) will be forfeited in lieu of compensation to BMD. This is to cover design and administration time spent, resources purchased and allocated, research time and administration costs. If the project is more than 50% completed (this is determined by BMD and the client by negotiation) a pro-rata payment is payable for time spent up until cancellation notice, at an hourly rate of $200 per hour plus GST.

If a project is cancelled by BMD, due to unforeseen circumstances, the deposit will be refunded in full to the client in a timely manner.

In the event of cancellation of the project by the client, ownership of all copyrights and the original artwork and disks shall be returned and retained by the BlueMelon Design.

Printing

All printing accounts must be settled in full prior to the release of the files to the printer. Accounts that are not paid COD will incur a late administration fee of $250 + GST. Accounts which remain outstanding for 14 days after the date of invoice will incur an additional late payment fee equivalent to 7% of the project costs for each week payment is outstanding. If you are having difficulty paying your invoice, please get in touch as soon as you are aware of the issue, so we can discuss a solution that works for your company.

Print Returns And Refunds

It is agreed that BMD is not responsible or held liable for any errors contained in the final product after the final product has been approved by the client, (approval may be given in writing), committed to print or posted in view of the public. BMD will not be held responsible for any changes or amendments made after approval. It is the sole responsibility of the client to notify BMD of any such errors during the revision cycle and before the final files have been generated.

In the event of a need to reprint due to errors in content, the client must inform BMD within 3 days of product acceptance, and must return the product (at the cost of the client) within 10 days of acceptance for assessment.

As with all print projects, payment for re-printed project MUST be prepaid.

Print – Colour Variations

With all printing, there may be some colour variations from what you have seen on screen to what the final product looks like and previous orders. This is due to the nature of CMYK printing and bulk-run printing system. There will be no reprints at the expense of BMD.

Website design credit

“The Client” agrees to allow “BMD” to place a small credit on printed material exhibition displays, advertisements and/or a BMD on the “Client” website. This will be in the form of a small logo or line of text placed towards the bottom of the page.

“The Client” also agrees to allow “BMD” to place websites and other designs, along with a link to the client’s site on “BMD” own website for self-promotional purposes.

Website design post- completion alterations

Once web design is complete, “BMD” will provide the customer with the opportunity to review the resulting work. “BMD” will make one set of minor changes at no extra cost within 14 days of the start of the review period. Minor changes include small textual changes and small adjustments to the placement of items on the page. It does not include changes to images, colour schemes or any navigation features. Any minor changes can be notified to “BMD” by e-mail and confirmed by post. “BMD” will consider that the client has accepted the original draft, if no notification of changes is received in writing from the customer, within 14 days of the start of the review period. An hourly fee after this time for tweaks and amendments is payable of $200 per hour plus GST if applicable.

Confidentiality

It is agreed that employees of “BMD” shall not at any time either during the continuance of the work outlined or thereafter, except in the course of their duties, divulge any of the confidential affairs of “The Client” or any of its clients or associated companies to anyone whatsoever without the previous consent in writing of “The Client”.

Late payments & Default

Accounts that are not paid within 15 days will incur a late administration fee of $50 + GST. Accounts which remain outstanding for 30 days after the date of invoice will incur an additional late payment fee equivalent to 7% of the project costs for each week payment is outstanding.

An account shall be considered in default if it remains unpaid for 30 days from the date of invoice or “The Client” has stated expressly that they do not intend to pay an invoice by “BMD” unless prior arrangements have been made. “BMD” shall at its sole discretion suspend any and all services provided to “The Client” by “BMD” or its subsidiaries (including but not limited to research, findings, hosting, websites designed files, concepts, artwork, reports, insights, and email) and employ debt collection measures until the total outstanding balance has been fully paid. This includes any and all unpaid accounts due for services ordered, including, but not limited to design, hosting, domain registration, search engine submission, maintenance, subcontractors, printers, photographers and libraries plus bank interest calculated daily for each day payment is overdue.

Suspension of such services does not relieve the client of its obligation to pay the due amount. Files on external servers, such as hosted e-commerce solutions will be removed and held until payment is made or for 30 days until the client has paid for their invoices in full.

“The Client” whose account is in default agree to pay “BMD” reasonable legal expenses and third-party collection agency fees in the enforcement of these Terms and Conditions.

“BMD” retains all copyright for work performed until full project costs have been paid. “BMD” reserves the right to reuse or resell work undertaken in the case of a payment default.

“BMD accepts no liability or responsibility for loss of income or damage to the client for work removed from third party servers, as a result of non-payment and “The Client” will not take legal action for any situation arising from invoice disputes or removal of the disputed work in such cases.

Amendments to these Terms and Conditions

All and any amendments to the terms and conditions outlined in this submission must be provided in writing by “The Client“ and signed by an authorised representative of “BMD” prior to the commencement of the work outlined in this submission.

Freelance contractors and confidentiality

All contractors employed by “BMD” are held to a strict confidentiality and nondisclosure agreement. Contractors of “BMD” are also bound by a strictly enforced non-solicitation agreement for a period of 36 months after the conclusion of their work with “BMD”. If this was to be breached by the contractor “BMD” will take swift and preparatory measures to ensure “The Client” is made aware that the contractor in question is no longer a representative of “BMD” and acting independently.

Furthermore, the unlawful contractor will be prosecuted through legal channels to the full extent of the law in such cases.

“BMD” aims for the complete security of our clients and if we select contractors it is based upon previous work, references, and global checks with previous employers, as well as compliance with strict “BMD” guidelines of professional behaviour and ethics.

Disclaimer

Research, insights, data, design, strategy, photography, TVC, illustration, writing and marketing are all highly creative and subjective art forms. As such “BMD” takes every possible care with professional advice offered and any suggested creative concepts and/or their implementation, however “BMD” cannot be held responsible for variations between expectation and outcome.

All information contained in our website is intended for general information purposes only. The information is provided by “BMD”. We try to keep the information up-to-date and ensure that it is correct, however, we make no warranties of any kind concerning the accuracy, completeness, suitability, reliability, or availability of the information contained in this website, or any products, services, links, or graphics that may be found on this website. Use this information at your own risk. “BMD” will not be held liable for any loss or damage, or loss of data from your use of this website, or in connection with this website. This includes indirect or consequential loss or damage. “BMD” has no control over websites that are linked to on this website.

Those third-party websites are under the control of their owners, and “BMD” will not be held liable for your use of those websites. By linking to these sites, we are not endorsing or recommending any information or views expressed in the content on those sites.