Terms of Service
Version 1.0. Effective [EFFECTIVE DATE].
1. Who we are
Etchplan is a web-based PDF markup, measurement and construction-planning tool provided by [COMPANY NAME] Pty Ltd (ACN [ACN]) of [REGISTERED ADDRESS], Australia (“we”, “us”, “our”).
These Terms apply when you create an account, sign in, or use Etchplan. If you use Etchplan for an employer or client, you confirm you have authority to accept these Terms for them, and “you” means both.
2. Definitions
Australian Consumer Law means Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).
Confidential Information means information disclosed by one party to the other that is marked confidential or that a reasonable person would understand to be confidential given its nature or the circumstances of disclosure. It includes Your Content. It does not include information that:
- (a) is or becomes public other than through a breach of these Terms;
- (b) the receiving party already held without a duty of confidence;
- (c) the receiving party lawfully receives from a third party free to disclose it; or
- (d) the receiving party independently develops without reference to the disclosed information.
Equipment Data means manufacturer specifications, load charts, design-vehicle dimensions and similar reference data we make available in the Etchplan library.
Local Files means PDF files that stay on your own computer and are read by Etchplan through your browser rather than uploaded to us.
Planning Output means anything Etchplan computes from Equipment Data and your drawing: working radii, load-capacity checks, reach and clearance envelopes, swept-path envelopes and similar.
Your Content means anything you upload, open, create or store using Etchplan.
3. Your account
You need an account. Give accurate details, keep your sign-in method secure, and tell us at legal@etchplan.com if you believe someone else has accessed it.
An account belongs to one person. Where several people share a workstation, each still needs their own account, because authorship of a markup is recorded against the account that made it and shared logins make that record meaningless.
4. What Etchplan is offered as
| Tier | What it is |
|---|---|
| Free | No payment. Exported and printed output carries an Etchplan watermark. |
| Trial | A single 30-day period per account, started by you, during which additional features are available at no charge. Output remains watermarked. |
| Pilot | An invited unpaid arrangement, on terms agreed separately in writing. Those terms prevail over these Terms where they differ. |
| Paid | A subscription that removes the watermark and the usage limits. |
Changes to what a tier includes. We may add, change or remove features. Where we remove or materially reduce a feature you are actively using:
- (a) we will give you at least 30 days notice by email or in the app; and
- (b) if you are on a paid subscription and the change materially reduces the value of what you are paying for, you may terminate and we will refund the unused portion of your current billing period.
5. Your Content stays yours
You own Your Content. Nothing here transfers ownership of your drawings, markups or measurements to us.
You grant us a limited licence to host, store, transmit, display and process Your Content solely to provide Etchplan to you and to people you share it with. That licence ends when you delete the content or close your account, subject to clause 13.
We will not use Your Content to train machine-learning models, to market Etchplan, or to demonstrate Etchplan to anyone else, without your specific written permission each time.
Where your files sit. On the free and paid tiers, Etchplan reads your PDFs directly from a folder on your own computer. Those Local Files are never uploaded to us unless you switch on cloud backup for a document, or share a document in a way that requires us to hold a copy. The markups, measurements and calibrations you create about those files are stored on our servers. Our Privacy Policy sets out the detail.
6. Confidentiality
Each party will keep the other's Confidential Information confidential, use it only for the purposes of these Terms, and protect it with at least the care it applies to its own confidential information of similar importance.
Either party may disclose Confidential Information where compelled by law, and will where lawfully able give the other party prior notice so it can seek protection.
This clause survives termination for five years, and indefinitely in respect of Your Content.
7. Acceptable use
You must not:
- use Etchplan unlawfully, or to store or transmit unlawful content;
- upload content you do not have the right to upload;
- attempt to access another user's account or content;
- probe, scan or test the security of the service, or circumvent any access control, usage limit, watermark or licence check;
- reverse engineer or decompile, except to the extent that restriction is void under law;
- resell, sublicense or provide Etchplan as a service to a third party without our written agreement;
- extract or systematically copy the Etchplan block or Equipment Data library for use outside Etchplan;
- use automated means that degrade the service for others.
8. Equipment Data and Planning Output
This is the most important clause in these Terms.
Etchplan is a planning aid. It is not an engineering certification, a lift study, a swept-path assessment, a clearance certificate, or advice of any kind.
8.1 The manufacturer's documentation governs. Equipment Data derives from manufacturer documentation identified in each block's provenance record at the date shown. Manufacturers revise their documentation. Where Equipment Data or Planning Output differs from the manufacturer's own current documentation for the specific equipment, model, configuration and jurisdiction, the manufacturer's documentation prevails.
8.2 Planning Output is our calculation, not the manufacturer's. Every derived figure is computed by us from Equipment Data and the calibration you supplied. It is not issued, checked or approved by any manufacturer or standards body, and it may contain errors or omissions.
8.3 Calibration and measurement are yours. Measurements depend entirely on the scale calibration you set. An incorrect calibration produces confidently wrong measurements throughout a drawing, and Etchplan cannot detect that. You are responsible for verifying every calibration and every measurement you rely on.
8.4 Design-vehicle and standards data. Swept-path envelopes use standardised design-vehicle dimensions from published sources. Those are model vehicles, not real ones. Actual dimensions, turning performance, driver behaviour, speed, gradient and surface conditions will differ, standards are revised, and jurisdictions differ.
8.5 Verification is your responsibility. Before relying on anything Etchplan produces for a lift plan, an excavation plan, a traffic-management plan, an engineering decision, a submission or any site activity, you must verify it against current manufacturer documentation and the applicable standards, and have it reviewed by a suitably qualified engineer where the decision warrants it.
8.6 Versioned acknowledgements. Some features require you to acknowledge a specific warning before first use, recorded against the version of the wording shown. Material changes to that wording require fresh acknowledgement. Those warnings sit alongside this clause and do not replace it.
8.7 Watermarked, trial and pilot output. Output that is watermarked, or produced under a trial or pilot arrangement, is working material and must not be issued, submitted or relied upon as a final or certified document.
9. Availability and support
We aim to keep Etchplan available but do not offer a service level or an uptime guarantee, and you should not rely on it as the sole record of anything you cannot afford to lose.
We may suspend access for maintenance, security, or to protect the service. Where the reason allows we will give notice; where it does not, we will tell you as soon as we can afterwards.
Support is by email to legal@etchplan.com on reasonable efforts during Sydney business hours. Paid subscribers are prioritised.
Etchplan is an early-stage product. Features may change or be withdrawn and defects will occur.
Etchplan currently requires a Chromium-based browser for the main application.
10. Security and data breaches
We maintain security measures appropriate to the nature of the data, described in our Privacy Policy.
If we become aware of unauthorised access to Your Content, we will notify you without undue delay, and in any event within five business days of becoming aware, tell you what we know, and tell you what we are doing about it. This applies whether or not the incident is notifiable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
11. Fees
Where you subscribe, the price, billing period and payment terms are those shown when you subscribe. Prices are in Australian dollars and include GST where applicable.
Price changes apply only from your next renewal, and we will give at least 30 days notice before a renewal at a changed price. You may cancel before renewal.
Free, trial and pilot access is at no charge and may be changed or withdrawn on 30 days notice, except where we have agreed otherwise in writing.
12. Suspension and termination
You may stop using Etchplan and close your account at any time.
We may suspend or terminate your access where:
- (a) you materially breach these Terms and, if the breach can be fixed, do not fix it within 30 days of us telling you;
- (b) we are required to by law; or
- (c) continuing would expose us or other users to material risk of harm, in which case we may act immediately and will tell you promptly afterwards.
Except under (c), we will tell you first and give you a chance to respond.
Either party may terminate for convenience on 30 days notice. If you are on a paid subscription and we terminate for convenience, we will refund the unused portion.
13. What happens to your data when access ends
On closure or termination we delete or de-identify what we hold within a reasonable period, subject to:
- backups, overwritten on their normal cycle;
- anything we must retain by law;
- content you contributed inside a shared context, such as comments on another organisation's drawing, which remains with that organisation with your name removed and the contribution shown as from a former user.
Before your access ends you may export your work at any time. For 30 days after termination we will keep your data and provide read and export access on request, unless we terminated under clause 12(c).
Your Local Files are on your own computer and are unaffected. We never had them.
14. If we cease trading
We are a small company and you are entitled to ask what happens if we stop.
If we decide to discontinue Etchplan, we will give at least 90 days notice and will keep export working for that whole period. If we enter external administration, we will use reasonable endeavours to give you the same.
15. Our intellectual property
Etchplan, including the software, block library, artwork, computational models, interface, name and logo, is owned by us or our licensors. These Terms grant a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use Etchplan while your account is active, and nothing more.
Feedback you give us may be used freely and without obligation. We will not identify you as its source without asking.
16. Third-party data, standards and trademarks
Manufacturer names, model designations and trademarks are used solely to identify equipment. We are independent and are not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by or approved by any manufacturer or standards body.
Some Equipment Data derives from published standards documents that are copyright works. We reproduce only the dimensional and performance parameters needed to identify and model the equipment, and we do not redistribute those documents. If you need the standard itself, obtain it from its publisher.
Etchplan also includes open-source software components licensed under their own terms, including components under the Apache 2.0 and MIT licences. The current notices are at etchplan.com/legal/open-source.
17. Consumer guarantees
Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law.
Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or modifies any guarantee, right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law where it would be unlawful to do so.
Where the ACL applies and we may limit our liability, our liability for failure to comply with a consumer guarantee is limited, at our option, to resupplying the service or paying the cost of having it resupplied.
18. Limitation of liability
Subject to clause 17, and to the fullest extent the law allows:
18.1 Neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, revenue, contract, goodwill or anticipated savings.
18.2 We are not liable for loss arising from project delay, rework, demolition or site incident, or from your reliance on Equipment Data or Planning Output where you have not verified it as clause 8 requires.
18.3 Our total aggregate liability is limited to the greater of the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim and [LIABILITY CAP].
18.4 Where you use Etchplan free of charge, our total aggregate liability is limited to [LIABILITY CAP].
18.5 Nothing limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud.
19. Indemnities
19.1 By you. You indemnify us against third-party claims, and reasonable costs of defending them, arising from:
- (a) Your Content infringing a third party's rights; or
- (b) your use of Etchplan in material breach of clause 7.
This indemnity does not apply to the extent the claim arises from our own breach, negligence or wilful misconduct, and it is reduced proportionately to the extent we contributed to the loss. You have no obligation to indemnify us for our own liability to you.
19.2 By us. We will defend you against a third-party claim that Etchplan itself, used as these Terms allow, infringes that party's intellectual property rights, and we will pay the damages finally awarded against you, or the settlement we agree, for that claim. If such a claim arises or appears likely, we may secure your right to keep using Etchplan, modify it to be non-infringing, or replace the affected part; if none of those is practicable, we may end your access and refund the unused portion of anything you have paid. This clause does not apply to the extent a claim arises from Your Content, from use in breach of these Terms, or from combining Etchplan with anything we did not supply.
19.3 Process. The party claiming an indemnity must notify the other promptly, give it control of the defence and any settlement, and provide reasonable assistance. Neither party may settle a claim in a way that imposes obligations on the other without its consent.
20. Privacy
We handle personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy at etchplan.com/legal/privacy, which forms part of these Terms.
21. Force majeure
Neither party is liable for failure to perform caused by an event beyond its reasonable control, including natural disaster, war, civil unrest, industrial action not involving its own workforce, failure of a telecommunications or hosting provider, or government action.
The affected party must notify the other as soon as practicable, use reasonable efforts to mitigate, and resume as soon as it can. Either party may terminate on notice if the event continues for more than 60 days. This clause does not excuse an obligation to pay money already owed.
22. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms. Where a change materially affects your rights, we will give at least 30 days notice by email or in the app before it takes effect.
If you do not accept a material change, you may terminate before it takes effect and we will refund the unused portion of your current billing period. Continuing to use Etchplan after a change takes effect means you accept it.
Previous versions are available on request.
23. General
23.1 Notices. Notices to us go to legal@etchplan.com. Notices to you go to the email address on your account or are shown in the app. A notice is taken to be received on the next business day after sending.
23.2 Assignment. Neither party may assign these Terms without the other's consent, not to be unreasonably withheld, except that we may assign to a purchaser of substantially all our business on notice to you.
23.3 Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and any written pilot or subscription terms are the entire agreement and replace all prior discussions. Nothing limits liability for fraudulent misrepresentation.
23.4 Severability. If a provision is unenforceable it is severed and the rest continues.
23.5 Waiver. A failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.
23.6 No partnership. Nothing creates a partnership, joint venture, employment or agency relationship.
23.7 No third-party rights. Only you and we may enforce these Terms.
23.8 Survival. Clauses 5, 6, 8, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23 and any other clause intended to survive, survive termination.
23.9 Dispute resolution. Before starting proceedings, each party will try to resolve any dispute by good-faith negotiation between people with authority to settle it, for at least 30 days after one party notifies the other of the dispute in writing. Nothing in this clause prevents either party seeking urgent injunctive relief.
23.10 Governing law. New South Wales, Australia. Both parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of its courts.
24. Contact
[COMPANY NAME] Pty Ltd (ACN [ACN]), [REGISTERED ADDRESS], legal@etchplan.com