Last revised: Sept 2, 2019
The website located at http://www.99designs.com/ (the “Site”) is a copyrighted work belonging to 99designs Pty Ltd, Australian Company Number 121 195 248 (“99designs”, “us”, and “we”). Certain features of the Services or Site may be subject to additional guidelines, terms, or rules, which will be posted on the Service or Site in connection with such features. To the extent such terms, guidelines, and rules conflict with these terms of use, these terms of use shall govern.
These terms of use (“Agreement”) set forth the legally binding terms for your use of the Site and Services (whether as a Customer or as a Designer). By registering for Services, you are accepting this Agreement and you represent and warrant that you have the right, authority, and capacity to enter into this Agreement. You may not access or use the Site or Services if you are not at least 18 years old. If you do not agree with all of the provisions of this Agreement, you cannot use the Services.
In case you are located in the United States this Agreement requires the use of arbitration on an individual basis to resolve disputes, rather than jury trials or class actions, and also limits the remedies available to you in the event of a dispute.
1. Service
1.1 General
99designs provides an online platform that helps connect and support customers who wish to purchase designs (“Customers”) and designers who wish to provide such designs (“Designers”), including, for example, through Design Contests, the Project Service, Partner Integrations and related services and by making available the Adobe Stock (each as defined below and collectively, the “Services”). “User” means any user of the Site or Service, and may be a Designer or a Customer. “Sold Design” means the applicable winning Design Concept (as defined in Section 1.2(a) below), purchased Design Template (and any customized version thereof), or the design sold under the Project Service. “Sale” means the applicable sale. “IPR” means all trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, mask work rights, patents and other intellectual property rights recognized by the laws of any country. "Adobe Stock" means any images owned by Adobe and licensed to 99designs, as well as any derivatives, modifications, improvements, enhancements, or extensions of the above, whenever developed.
1.2 Design Contest
(a) Customer may create a design contest (“Design Contest”) by creating a design brief (“Design Brief”), paying the Customer Payment (as defined in Section 3.1 below) to 99designs and following the other instructions on the Site. The Design Brief must clearly specify the requirements for the Design Contest, such that Designers clearly know the rules and criteria on which their Design Concepts will be judged. There are currently two types of Design Contests: (1) the default Pre-Paid Contest and (2) the Guaranteed Contest. Designers invited by 99designs (in 99designs’ sole discretion) to enter a Design Contest may submit design concepts (“Design Concepts”) in the format specified by 99designs by following the instructions on the Site. Design Concepts must comply with the Design Brief. (b) For Guaranteed Contests, Customer must select one or more winning Design Concepts by a certain time specified by 99designs. If no winner is selected in the qualifying or final round of a Guaranteed Contest, 99designs will retain the Customer Payment and, will distribute the Designer Fee in the form of 99design Credits pro rata among the Designers who participated in the qualifying or final round and who have won a Design Contest in the past and who have not breached this Agreement, a pro rata portion of the Designer Fee, and Customer will have no right to a refund or to use the Design Concepts. If no winner is selected in the final round of a Guaranteed Contest, 99designs will retain the Customer Payment, and will distribute the Designer Fee in the form of 99design Credits pro rata among the finalists who satisfy criteria determined by 99designs’ in its sole discretion, in the final round of the Guaranteed Contest who satisfy criteria determined by 99designs in its sole discretion a pro rata portion of the Designer Fee, and Customer will have no right to a refund or to use the Design Concepts. (c) For Pre-Paid Contests, Customer must select one or more winning Design Concepts by the time the Pre-Paid Contest closes. Customer may withdraw Pre-Paid Contest (but not a Guaranteed Contest) for a refund of the Customer Payment before entering the final round and before the close of the Pre-Paid Contest. Customer may additionally seek a refund of the Customer Payment for a Pre-Paid Contest (but not a Guaranteed Contest) at any time up to 60 days after the date of payment for the Pre-Paid Contest, but only if finalists were not chosen by Customer. (d) For the avoidance of doubt, Customer has no right or license to use any Design Concepts other than the Sold Design. Customer may not: (a) run a Design Contest if Customer is tendering the creation of the same design through a service other than the Site (this clause (a) does not apply to customers located in the European Economic Area ("EEA"); (b) allow or request Designers to submit Design Concepts to Customer via any means other than via the Site; and (c) collude in relation to the awarding of a winner in a Design Contest or awarding a separate account held by Customer as the successful Designer in a Design Contest. Customers and Designers must deal on an arm’s length basis and Customer may not cancel any Design Contest for the purpose of contracting separately with a Designer who Customer meets through the Site which results in Customer avoiding paying 99designs any Customer Payment or any fees and charges of 99designs. (e) Some jurisdictions provide Customer certain mandatory statutory rights (e.g., right to supplementary performance (e.g., rectification or replacement), right for a refund, right to withdrawal, right to reduce the price and right to damages in case the Design Concepts are defective) (collectively, “Mandatory Statutory Rights”) which remain unaffected.
1.3 Project Service
(a) Customers and Designers can work with each other on design projects by creating a 1-to-1 project (“Project Service”) and following the directions on the Site. Designer can create quotes for Customers. 99designs will invoice Customer based on Designer’s quote plus platform and other applicable fees. Customer can pay 99designs' invoices and reserve the right to accept designs before they are considered Sold Designs. If designs have not been accepted by Customer, Customer may request a refund of the Customer Payment from 99designs, at any time up to 60 days after the date of invoice payment, or 10 days after delivery of Designs, whichever happens sooner. In addition to the foregoing, customers located in the EEA may request a refund of the Customer Payment, at any time up to one year starting with the accrual of the claim. After Designer has delivered the designs, Customer will be deemed to have accepted the designs unless Customer provides notice of rejection to 99designs and Designer within 10 days of delivery of the designs. If the cause for the notice of rejection is not cured within 30 days of a rejection notice, 99designs will refund the Customer Payment and Customer will have no right to use the resulting design in any way. 99designs reserves the right in its sole discretion to restrict Customers or Designers from creating projects using Project Services and to remove projects. 99designs has no involvement in managing or providing the design to Customer and is simply providing the ability for Designer to store files for, work with Customers, and for Customers to request services from, view designs, provide feedback on projects and pay 99designs, using Project Services. (b) Some jurisdictions provide Customer certain Mandatory Statutory Rights (defined in Section 1.2(e) above) which remain unaffected.
1.4 Partner Integrations
99designs may partner with third party websites and platforms that wish to integrate with 99designs to enable Customers to identify potential providers of design or other services and connect with Designers on the 99designs platform and to work with each other on design projects (each such integration being a "Partner Integration"). Customers who choose to acquire designs or other services from Designers through a Partner Integration will be subject to these Terms of Use in respect of any design services acquired and must sign up for an account on the 99designs platform. Designers acknowledge and agree that 99designs may make their information available to our third party partners who may make the information available on their own sites for the purpose of such Partner Integrations.
2. Design Transfer Agreement
The Design Transfer Agreement, available at http://99designs.com/legal/design-transfer- agreement, sets forth the legally binding terms between the applicable Designer and Customer for the sale of a Sold Design through the Design Contest. The Design Transfer Agreement, available at http://99designs.com/projects/design-transfer- agreement, sets forth the legally binding terms between the applicable Designer and Customer for the sale of a Sold Design through the Project Service.
3. Payment Terms
The following terms apply to Customers who have purchased a Sold Design and Designers who have sold a Sold Design.
3.1 Customer Payment
The “Customer Payment” means (i) the price selected by Customer when Customer created a Design Contest as set forth at http://99designs.com/pricing; or (ii) 99designs' invoiced price for the Sold Design issued through the Project Service by Designer to Customer.
3.2 Refunds
99designs will make refunds of the Customer Payment to Customer using the same payment methods that Customer used to make the Customer Payment to 99designs or via any other method specified by 99designs from time to time. If a refund is paid to Customer or a credit card charge back occurs, then: (a) Designer must reimburse 99designs for the applicable Designer Fee (the reimbursement will first be paid out of any 99designs Credits held by Designer and any remaining debt will be payable by Designer to 99designs on demand); and (b) Customer will initially receive the amount of the Customer Payment, less the Designer Fee and will receive the Designer Fee only once the Designer Fee is reimbursed by Designer to 99designs. 99designs may refund Customers for the following reasons: (i) the Sold Design is Defective; (ii) 99designs is required by law or considers that it is required by law to do so; (iii) 99designs determines that issuing a refund to Customer will avoid any dispute or increased costs to 99designs; (iv) 99designs issues the refund to Customer in accordance with any refund policy specified by 99designs from time to time; (v) the order placed (or request made) by Customer is found to be fraudulent; (vi) Customer placed a duplicate order (or request) in error; or (vii) in 99designs’ sole opinion, 99designs considers that it is likely that the refund is necessary to avoid a credit card charge back. A Sold Design will be deemed to be “Defective” if: (i) Customer and Designer agree it is defective and notify 99designs of this fact; (ii) the Sold Design is subject to a third party claim that the Sold Design infringes/misappropriates such party’s IPR, that is not frivolous.
3.3 99designs Credits
99designs pays the Designer Fee to Designer in the form of 99designs Credits. There are two types of 99designs Credits:(i) Currency Credits, which are equivalent to one unit of the local currency based on the location of the Site (e.g., if you are using the U.S. site, the Currency Credit would be equivalent to U.S. $1; if you are using the German site, the Currency Credit would be equivalent to 1Euro; etc.); and (ii) Bonus Credits, which are not equivalent to any currency. 99designs Credits are not legal tender and cannot be traded or sold to third parties. 99designs Credits are only exchangeable for Sold Designs. The balance of any 99designs Credits held by you may be reduced at any time by 99designs for charge-backs or refunds, or for any amount owing by you to 99designs, or to compensate 99designs for any loss it has suffered as a result of any breach of this Agreement by you. Provided that you are not in breach of this Agreement and your Account is not suspended, you may at any time (and 99designs may require you to at any time) convert Currency Credits which you hold in your Account to U.S. dollars or any other currency specified by 99designs from time to time. Any such payments will be subject to any minimum or maximum withdrawal amounts set by 99designs, to address, for example, charge-backs and refunds. 99designs is not an escrow service and does not hold cash or property on behalf of any person. All amounts deposited or paid to 99designs are property of 99designs and 99designs may use those funds as it sees fit. The only rights that you have to receive payment of any amounts held by 99designs are as set out in this Section 3.3. Upon termination of this Agreement, all Bonus Credits will be cancelled immediately and you may convert Currency Credits described above.
3.4 General Payment Terms
Currency Credits are convertible into the local currency based on the location of the Site. You agree that you are responsible for the collection and/or payment of all Taxes which you may be liable for in any jurisdiction arising from your sale or purchase of any Sold Designs via the Site. 99designs is not responsible for collecting, reporting, paying, or remitting to you any such Taxes. “Taxes” means any applicable duties, sales taxes, GST, VAT or other taxes which may be levied in respect of a transaction contemplated by this Agreement.
4. Exclusivity and Non-Circumvention
4.1 Exclusivity
You acknowledge and agree that 99designs’ revenue is derived from its receipt of Customer Payments made through the Site. Therefore, for 24 months from the time you meet any party through the Site (the "Exclusivity Period"), you must use the 99designs Services as your exclusive method to request, make, and receive all payments for work directly or indirectly with that party or arising out of your relationship with that party (the "99designs Relationship"). You may opt-out of this obligation only if Customer or prospective Customer pays 99designs an "Opt-Out Fee" computed to be the greater of the following amounts:
(a) $2,500; or
(b) 15% of the cost to the Customer of the services to be performed in the 99designs Relationship during the Exclusivity Period, as estimated in good faith by the prospective Customer.
To pay the Opt-Out Fee, you must request instructions by sending an email message to support@99designs.com.
4.2 Non-Circumvention
You agree not to circumvent the payment methods offered by the Site. By way of illustration and not in limitation of the foregoing, you must not:
(a) Share any personal information on your Profile (excluding personal websites and portfolios) in the way of email, video, phone or any other method of direct contact.
(b) Submit proposals or solicit parties identified through the Site to contact, hire, manage, or pay outside the Site.
(c) Accept proposals or solicit parties identified through the Site to contact, deliver services, invoice, or receive payment outside the Site.
(d) Cancel any Design Contest for the purpose of contracting separately with a Designer who Customer meets through the Site.
(e) Invoice or report on the Site or in an Opt-Out Fee request an invoice or payment amount lower than that actually agreed between Client and Designer.You agree to notify 99designs immediately if another person improperly contacts you or suggests making or receiving payments outside of the Site. If you are aware of a breach or potential breach of this non-circumvention policy, please submit a confidential report to us by sending an email message to: support@99designs.com.
5. Important Disclaimers and Release
5.1 Disclaimer
We make no warranties regarding the Design Contest, Design Concepts, Adobe Stock, Partner Integrations or any other products or services provided by us, Designers, Customers, or other Users and each of the foregoing are provided by us “AS IS”. Designers sell and Customers buy Sold Designs at their own risk. You should make whatever investigation you feel necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any transaction with any other User. Your interactions with other users are solely between you and such User and 99designs will not be responsible for any loss or damage incurred as the result of any such interactions (excluding those directly due to 99designs’ acts or the Services). If there is a dispute between you and any User, we are under no obligation to become involved. Notwithstanding the foregoing, 99designs will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide the Services described in this Agreement.
5.2 Release
You hereby release and forever discharge us (and our officers, employees, agents, successors, and assigns) from, and hereby waive and release, each and every past, present and future dispute, claim, controversy, demand, right, obligation, liability, action and cause of action of every kind and nature (including personal injuries, death, and property damage), that has arisen or arises directly or indirectly out of, or relates directly or indirectly to, your use of the Site and/or Services, your use of Adobe Stock, any interactions or transactions of you with, or act or omission of you in relation to other Users, including Customers and Designers and Third Party Sites & Ads (excluding those directly due to 99designs’ acts or the Services). This Section 5.2 does not apply to customers located in the EEA.
If applicable, you hereby waive California Civil Code Section 1542 in connection with the foregoing, which states: “A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party.”
6. Accounts
In order to use the Service, you must register for an account with 99designs (“Account”) and provide certain information about yourself as prompted by the Site registration form. You represent and warrant that: (a) all required registration information you submit is truthful and accurate; and (b) you will maintain the accuracy of such information. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you agree to provide 99designs with identification documents (including copies of IDs, passports or drivers licenses) which 99designs requests from you from time to time for the purposes of verifying your identity. You may delete your Account at any time, for any reason, by calling Customer Support at the contact number in Section 15.5. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Account login information and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your Account. You agree to immediately notify 99designs of any unauthorized use, or suspected unauthorized use of your Account or any other breach of security which is based on your negligence. 99designs cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with the above requirements. Designers may not have more than one Account.
7. User Content
7.1 Your User Content
“User Content” means any and all information and content that a User submits to, or uses with, the Site or Services. User Content includes Design Contests, Design Concepts, and reviews and/or testimonials (“Reviews”). You are solely responsible for your User Content. You assume all risks associated with use of your User Content, including any reliance on its accuracy, completeness or usefulness by others, or any disclosure of your User Content that makes you or any third party personally identifiable. You hereby represent and warrant that your User Content does not violate the Acceptable Use Policy (defined below). You may not state or imply that your User Content is in any way provided, sponsored or endorsed by 99designs. Because you alone are responsible for your User Content (and not 99designs), you may expose yourself to liability if, for example, your User Content violates the Acceptable Use Policy. 99designs is not obligated to remove any Design Contests, Design Concepts, or Reviews from the Site unless required by applicable Law. 99designs is not obligated to backup any User Content and User Content may be deleted at any time. You are solely responsible for creating backup copies of your User Content if you desire.
7.2 License to User Content
You hereby grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to 99designs an irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free and fully paid, worldwide license for all the duration of the intellectual property rights to reproduce, distribute, publicly display and perform, prepare derivative works of, incorporate into other works, and otherwise use your User Content, and to grant sublicenses of the foregoing, solely for the purposes of including your User Content in the Site and Services and making it available on third party platforms via Partner Integrations; and for general marketing purposes of 99designs; provided that 99designs will only use your Design Brief and Design Concepts in accordance with the private or public settings of the Design Contest and Project Service or for the purposes of enabling and operating a Partner Integration as contemplated in section 1.4 above. You agree to irrevocably waive (and cause to be waived) any claims and assertions of moral rights or attribution with respect to your User Content (this sentence does not apply to customers located in the EEA). For the avoidance of doubt, Designer’s license or assignment of the Sold Design to Customer is set forth in the applicable Design Transfer Agreement.
8. Acceptable Use Policy
The following sets forth 99designs’ “Acceptable Use Policy”:
8.1 Privacy
You agree that you will only use the personal information of other Customers or Designers made available to you only for the purposes of interacting with them in relation to the Services. You must not use their personal information for any other purpose, including for marketing purposes. You represent and warrant that you will comply with applicable privacy laws and data protection laws (including, without limitation, the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)) in relation to the storage, use and transfer of personal information.
8.2 User Content
You agree not to use the Site or Services with any User Content or to provide any products or services that (a) violates any third-party right, including any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, moral right, privacy right, right of publicity, or any other intellectual property or proprietary right (including by allowing any third party to download or reuse any User Content in violation of any such third party rights, by using any work in an editorial manner without affixing the necessary credit or attribution or by posting or uploading or allowing any third party to post or upload any User Content on social media sites that grant exclusive rights or ownership in respect of such User Content to any third party); (b) is unlawful, harassing, abusive, tortious, threatening, harmful, invasive of another’s privacy, vulgar, defamatory, false, intentionally misleading, trade libelous, slanderous, indecent, pornographic, obscene, patently offensive (e. g. , material that promotes racism, bigotry, hatred, or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual) or otherwise objectionable material of any kind or nature or which is harmful to minors in any way or that would otherwise imply that the creator of the User Content, or the persons or property appearing in the User Content (if any), endorse any political, economic or other opinion-based movements or parties or in a way that places any person in the User Content in a bad light or in a defamatory, unlawful, immoral or offensive manner; (c) is in violation of any laws, or obligations or restrictions imposed by any third party; or (d) would cause a material risk to the security or operations of 99designs or any third party.
8.3 Use Restrictions
You agree not to use the Site or Services to: (a) upload, transmit, or distribute any computer viruses, worms, or any software intended to damage or alter a computer system or data; (b) send unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, junk mail, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or any other form of duplicative or unsolicited messages, whether commercial or otherwise, or to offer, use, or permit the use of the Site and/or Services in a computer service business, third-party outsourcing service, on a membership or subscription basis, on a service bureau basis, on a time-sharing basis, as part of a hosted service, or on behalf of any third party, or to sell, license or distribute any work as stand-alone or as part of an online database or any other database, or any derivative product containing any work in such way that is intended to allow a third party to use, download, extract or access the work as a stand-alone file or otherwise share any work with any third party; (c) harvest, collect, gather or assemble information or data regarding other users, including e-mail addresses, without their consent; (d) interfere with, disrupt, or create an undue burden on servers or networks connected to the Site or Services or violate the regulations, policies or procedures of such networks, or remove, obscure, or alter any proprietary notices associated with the Site and/or Services; (e) attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site or Services, other computer systems or networks connected to or used together with the Site or Services, through password mining or other means; (f) harass or interfere with another user’s use and enjoyment of the Site or Services; (g) introduce software or automated agents or scripts to the Site or Services so as to produce multiple accounts, generate automated searches, requests and queries, or to strip, scrape, or mine data from the Site or Services; (h) impersonate any person or entity or falsify or misrepresent yourself or your affiliation with any person or entity; or (i) display, mirror, or frame the Site, or otherwise attempt to interact with the operating system underlying the Site and/or Services.
8.4 Other Guidelines/Policies
Please see the following (which you agree to comply with in your use of the Site and/or Services):
https://help.99designs.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1554815-how-is-copyright-handled
https://help.99designs.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1554602-guidelines-policies-at-99designs
Adobe Stock Designer Terms
8.5
We reserve the right (but have no obligation) to review any User Content, investigate, and/or take appropriate action against you in our sole discretion (including removing or modifying your User Content, terminating your Account, and/or reporting you to law enforcement authorities) if you violate the Acceptable Use Policy or any other provision of this Agreement or otherwise create liability for us or any other person.
9. Site
9.1 License
Subject to the terms of this Agreement, 99designs grants you a non-transferable, non-exclusive, license to use the Site and Services (excluding Adobe Stock, Design Concepts, designs in the Project Service, and Sold Designs) for your internal business purposes. For the avoidance of doubt, Designer’s license or assignment of the Sold Design to Customer is set forth in the applicable Design Transfer Agreement.
Adobe Stock License Terms
Subject to the terms of this Agreement and to your election to utilise our Adobe Stock functions, 99designs grants you a non- transferable, non-exclusive, license to use the Adobe Stock licensed by 99designs for the sole purpose of allowing you to: (A) use, reproduce, archive, modify or display the relevant item of Adobe Stock for marketing, promotional, internal presentation or decoration purposes, digital productions, and non-commercial uses with no reproduction or production limit; (B) distribute the relevant item of Adobe Stock as incorporated into any item of merchandise or other work of authorship; (C) use, reproduce, distribute and display the relevant item of Adobe Stock in connection with: (1) electronic templates and design template applications intended for resale, provided the recipient is only permitted to use or access the relevant item of Adobe Stock in connection with the template; (2) any goods or services intended for resale or distribution; or (3) public relations campaign to promote goods or services through the media; (D) transfer files containing the relevant item of Adobe Stock or permitted derivative works to your employees or subcontractors (which may include 99designs and Designers), provided that such employees and subcontractors agree in a binding written agreement to abide by the restrictions in this agreement and only use the relevant item of Adobe Stock on your behalf (and, in the case of 99designs and Designers, only use the relevant item of Adobe Stock in connection with the final design); and (E) create an archive, digital library, network configuration or similar arrangement to allow the relevant item of Adobe Stock to be viewed by your employees.
9.2 Certain Restrictions
The rights granted to you in this Agreement are subject to the following restrictions: (a) you shall not license, sell, rent, lease, transfer, assign, distribute, customize, or otherwise commercially exploit the Site or Services, or otherwise host or sub-license the Site and/or Services (or any part thereof); (b) you shall not modify, make derivative works of, adapt, translate, disassemble, reverse compile, decompile or reverse engineer any part of the Site or Services, or otherwise attempt to discover the source code in the Site and/or Services (or any part thereof); (c) you shall not access the Site or Services in order to build or promote a similar or competitive service; and (d) except as expressly stated herein, no part of the Site or Services may be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means. Any future release, update, or other addition to functionality of the Site or Services shall be subject to the terms of this Agreement. All copyright and other proprietary notices on any Site or Services content must be retained on all copies thereof. 99designs reserves the right, at any time, to modify, suspend, or discontinue the Site or Services or any part thereof with or without notice. You agree that 99designs will not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of the Site or Services or any part thereof. You acknowledge and agree that 99designs will have no obligation to provide you with any support or maintenance in connection with the Site or Services.
9.3 Feedback
If you provide 99designs any feedback or suggestions regarding the Site or Services (“Feedback”), you hereby assign and agree to assign upon our request to 99designs all rights in the Feedback and agree that 99designs shall have the right to use such Feedback and related information in any manner it deems appropriate. 99designs will treat any Feedback you provide to 99designs as non-confidential and non-proprietary. You agree that you will not submit to 99designs any information or ideas that you consider to be confidential or proprietary. This Section 9.3 does not apply to customers located in the EEA; customers in the EEA agree to assign Feedback to 99designs upon our request.
9.4 Ownership
Each User owns its own User Content. Excluding your User Content, you acknowledge that all the IPR in the Site and Services are owned by 99designs or 99designs’ licensors. The provision of the Site and Services does not transfer to you or any third party any rights, title or interest in or to such IPR. 99designs and its suppliers reserve all rights not granted in this Agreement.
10. Indemnity
You agree to indemnify and hold 99designs (and its officers, employees, and agents) harmless, including reasonable costs and attorneys’ fees, from any claim or demand made by any third party due to or arising out of (a) your use of the Site or Services, (b) your User Content (including your Design Contest, Design Concept, designs in the Project Service, and Reviews), (c) your interaction with any other User, (d) your use of Adobe Stock, or (e) your violation of this Agreement or any applicable laws. 99designs reserves the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify us and you agree to cooperate with our defense of these claims. You agree not to settle any matter without the prior written consent of 99designs. 99designs will use reasonable efforts to notify you of any such claim, action or proceeding upon becoming aware of it. This Section 10 does not apply to customers located in the EEA.
11. Third Party Sites & Ads
The Site might contain links to third party websites, services, and advertisements for third parties (collectively, “Third Party Sites & Ads”). These Third Party Sites & Ads are not under the control of 99designs and 99designs is not responsible for any Third Party Sites & Ads. 99designs provides these Third Party Sites & Ads only as a convenience and does not review, approve, monitor, endorse, warrant, or make any representations with respect to Third Party Sites & Ads. You use all Third Party Sites & Ads at your own risk. When you link to a Third Party Site & Ad, the applicable third party’s terms and policies apply, including the third party’s privacy and data gathering practices. You should make whatever investigation you feel necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any transaction in connection with such Third Party Sites & Ads.
12. Term and Termination
Subject to this Section, this Agreement will remain in full force and effect while you use the Site or Services. We may (a) suspend your rights to use the Site and/or Services (including your Account), including in part or in full, or (b) terminate this Agreement, at any time for a legitimate purpose, including in part or in full, and including for any use of the Site or Services in violation of this Agreement or where any of our licensors terminates our licence to use any content (including the Adobe Stock). Upon termination of this Agreement, your Account and right to access and use the Site and Services (or relevant part thereof) will terminate immediately. Any 99designs Credits or payments outstanding to you at termination will be paid to you. You understand that any termination of your Account may involve deletion of your User Content associated therewith from our live databases. However we reserve the right to continue to use your User Content to the extent permitted under applicable law (this sentence does not apply to customers located in the EEA). 99designs will not have any liability whatsoever to you for any termination of this Agreement, including for termination of your Account or deletion of your User Content. Even after this Agreement is terminated, the following provisions of this Agreement will remain in effect: Sections 1.3(b), 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 (excluding Section 9.1), 10, 11, 13, 14, and 15.
13. Disclaimers
13.1
The Site and Services are provided “AS-IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” and we (and our suppliers) expressly disclaim any warranties and conditions of any kind, whether express or implied, including the warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, quiet enjoyment, accuracy, or non-infringement. We (and our suppliers) make no warranty that the Site or Services: (a) will meet your requirements; (b) will be available on an uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free basis; or (c) will be accurate, reliable, free of viruses or other harmful code, complete, legal, or safe. Some states do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so the above exclusion may not apply to you.
13.2
The following Section applies to users in the EEA and Switzerland:
99designs is liable for defects in accordance with the applicable statutory provisions. With regard to companies, the warranty period is limited to twelve (12) months. An additional warranty is only provided if this has been expressly agreed.
14. Limitation on Liability
14.1
In no event shall we (and our suppliers) be liable to you or any third party for any lost profit or any indirect, consequential, exemplary, incidental, special or punitive damages arising from or relating to this Agreement or your use of, or inability to use, the Site or Services, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Access to, and use of, the Site and Services are at your own discretion and risk, and you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data resulting therefrom. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein (but subject to clause 14.4), our (and our suppliers’) liability to you for any damages arising from or related to this Agreement (for any cause whatsoever and regardless of the form of the action), will at all times be limited to the greater of (a) fifty US dollars ($50) or (b) amounts you have paid 99designs in the prior 12 months (if any). The existence of more than one claim will not enlarge this limit. Some jurisdictions do not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental of consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you and you may also have other legal rights that vary from jurisdictions to jurisdictions.**
14.2 The following Section applies to users in Australia:
If the Consumer Law under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (or analogous legislation) applies to this Agreement and permits the limitation of liability for breach of warranty implied by legislation, the liability of 99designs is limited, at the option of 99designs, to: (a) in the case of goods, any one or more of the following: (i) the replacement of the goods or the supply of equivalent goods; (ii) the repair of the goods; (iii) the payment of the cost of replacing the goods or of acquiring equivalent goods; or (iv) the payment of the cost of having the goods repaired; and (b) In the case of services: (i) the supplying of the services again; or (ii) the payment of the cost of having the services supplied again.
14.3 The following Section applies to users in the EEA and Switzerland:
99designs is liable without limitation for (a) damages caused intentionally or with gross negligence by 99designs, its legal representatives or executive staff and other assistants in performance; (b) personal injury, damage to health and death caused intentionally or as a result of gross negligence on the part of 99designs, its legal representatives or assistants in performance, and (c) damages caused by the absence of warranted characteristics and for damages relating to product liability. 99designs is liable for damages resulting from the breach of primary contractual obligations by 99designs, its legal representatives or other assistants in performance; primary contractual obligations are such basic duties which form the essence of the Agreement which were decisive for the conclusion of the Agreement and its performance. If 99designs breaches its primary obligations through simple negligence, then its ensuing liability shall be limited to the amount which was foreseeable by 99designs at the time the respective service was performed.
14.4 In respect of Adobe Stock, subject to all other limitations set out in these terms, the maximum aggregate liability of 99designs for each and all claims (including any claim that alleges that any item of the Adobe Stock directly or indirectly infringes a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, publicity rights or privacy rights) under or relating to your use of the Adobe Stock is equivalent to the greater of 10,000 USD or 10,000 USD per item of Adobe Stock.
15. General
15.1 Changes to Terms of Use
This Agreement (including pricing terms) is subject to occasional revision, and if we make any substantial changes, we may notify you by sending you an e-mail to the last e-mail address you provided to us (if any) and/or by prominently posting notice of the changes on our Site. Any changes to this agreement will be effective upon the earlier of thirty (30) calendar days following our dispatch of an e-mail notice to you (if applicable) or thirty (30) calendar days following our posting of notice of the changes on our Site. These changes will be effective immediately for new users of our Site or Services. You are responsible for providing us with your most current e-mail address. In the event that the last e-mail address that you have provided us is not valid, or for any reason is not capable of delivering to you the notice described above, our dispatch of the e-mail containing such notice will nonetheless constitute effective notice of the changes described in the notice. Continued use of our Site or Services following notice of such changes shall indicate your acknowledgement of such changes and agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of such changes.
15.2 Disputes
(a) Governing Law
This Agreement shall be governed by and construed solely and exclusively in accordance with the laws of the State of California, USA without giving effect to any law that would result in the application of the law of another jurisdiction.
(b) United States
If you located are in the United States, the following applies to you. Please read this carefully. It affects your rights.
(i) Except for either party’s claims of infringement or misappropriation of the other party’s patent, copyright, trademark, or trade secret, any and all disputes between you and 99designs arising under or related in any way to this Agreement, must be resolved through binding arbitration as described in this section. This agreement to arbitrate is intended to be interpreted broadly. It includes, but is not limited to, all claims and disputes relating to your use of any of the 99designs Site and Service. (ii) You agree that by entering into this agreement, you and 99designs are each waiving the right to trial by jury or to participate in a class action. You and 99designs agree that each may bring claims against the other only in your or its individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class or representative proceeding. Any arbitration will take place on an individual basis; class arbitrations and class actions are not permitted. (iii) The arbitration will be governed by the Commercial Arbitration Rules and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), as modified by this section. For any claim where the total amount of the award sought is $10,000 or less, the AAA, you and 99designs must abide by the following rules: (a) the arbitration shall be conducted solely based on written submissions; and (b) the arbitration shall not involve any personal appearance by the parties or witnesses unless otherwise mutually agreed by the parties. If the claim exceeds $10,000, the right to a hearing will be determined by the AAA rules, and the hearing (if any) must take place in your choice of the following locations: San Francisco, CA, Denver, CO, or New York, NY. The arbitrator’s ruling is binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. In the event this agreement to arbitrate is held unenforceable by a court, then the disputes that would otherwise have been arbitrated shall be exclusively brought in the state or federal courts located in San Francisco County, California. Claims of infringement or misappropriation of the other party’s patent, copyright, trademark, or trade secret shall be exclusively brought in the state and federal courts located in San Francisco County, California.
(c) EEA and Switzerland
If you located are in the EEA or Switzerland, the parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of London, England and their Courts of Appeal.
(d) Australia and Elsewhere
If you are located in Australia or elsewhere in the world, the parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the State of Victoria, Australia and their Courts of Appeal.
15.3 Entire Agreement
This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and us regarding the use of the Site and Services. Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. The section titles in this Agreement are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. The word including means including without limitation. If any provision of this Agreement is, for any reason, held to be invalid or unenforceable, the other provisions of this Agreement will be unimpaired and the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed modified so that it is valid and enforceable to the maximum extent permitted by law. Your relationship to 99designs is that of an independent contractor, and neither party is an agent or partner of the other. This Agreement, and your rights and obligations herein, may not be assigned, subcontracted, delegated, or otherwise transferred by you without 99designs’ prior written consent, and any attempted assignment, subcontract, delegation, or transfer in violation of the foregoing will be null and void. The terms of this Agreement shall be binding upon assignees.
15.4 Copyright/Trademark Information
Copyright © 2019, 99designs. All rights reserved. All trademarks, logos and service marks (“Marks”) displayed on the Site are our property or the property of other third parties. You are not permitted to use these Marks without our prior written consent or the consent of such third party which may own the Marks.
15.5 Contact Information
+1 800 513 1678