Terms and Conditions this is the legal stuff, not really that inspiring

Use of the site

You, the user, use this web site at entirely your own risk.
We will do our best to avoid any harm to you and your system by using up to date methods and professionally sound practice.
Nicksoper.com does not accept responsibility of views and comments left in reference articles or comments left by site users.
If you find offensive, slanderous, or not nice content on our site, inform us and we will remove it.

Mailing List

We won't give your email address to anyone.
We will only email really interesting stuff that is relevant to Nicksoper.com.

User Comments

By using this website, you agree not to leave any malicious, slanderous, rude, false and generally not nice comments.
Any comments falling into the category above will be removed.

Bussiness with nicksoper.com

This list is a general guide to the terms and conditions of working with Nicksoper digital agency cc.

Simply Put:

Payment must be paid within 30 days of invoice.
Any payments that are outstanding, and no attempt has been made by the client to pay, the matter will be taken up with the relevant local authorities eg. The ITC in South Africa.
No design work to be done after 3:30pm on a Friday, we wouldn't want to rush it.
No design work will be done before 11am on a Monday morning, we wouldn't want any of our clients to get a tired designer.
No project will be completed on the day the brief is received. Unless otherwise discussed prior.
Clients are required to make a deposit of 50%, to secure studio time and get us started as soon as possible.
When you pay the deposit, you automatically agree to the terms of service of Nicksoper.com
Deadline to be negotiated in advance and signed on quotation.
Nicksoper.com will inform all clients of a suitable date when a project can be delivered though the quotation.
Nicksoper.com retains all author copyrights and reserves the right to brand any website created with the nicksoper.com box logo, unless otherwise discussed.
No published source files are to be altered in any way without the written permission of nicksoper.com.
We don't release our source files, unless that is arranged in the brief.
Clients must sign a contract which includes a confidentiality agreement.
Projects will only be completed as per the project specification provided. Nicksoper.com is not responsible for any errors by third parties, or the client.

Below are the full terms in full.

1 Appointment
Upon selection of Nicksoper.com as a service provider, the Client agrees to the terms and conditions outlined below.

2 Professional Responsibility
Nicksoper.com shall use its best efforts in accordance with sound and generally accepted business practice to perform Services Rendered.

3 Pricing Structure
3.1.Nicksoper.com shall directly provide The Client’s with written quotations, falling under the description of Services Rendered before the services are rendered.
3.2.Once The Client has agreed to the quotation price, and has paid the deposit as outlined in clause 4 of The Agreement, the price quoted is fixed and is not subject to change.
3.3. Nicksoper.com will invoice the client directly for any Services Rendered.
3.4. Nicksoper.com is not responsible for invoicing any third parties of The Client.
3.5. Unsigned quotations are subject to change, without prior notice.

4 Payment Terms
4.1 After quotation and agreement to the quotation specific to Services Rendered, a non negotiable and non refundable 50% deposit is to be paid before commencement of Services Rendered.
4.2 After completion of Services Rendered the balance is to be paid, in full, within 30 days after date of invoice.
4.3 Quotations and the Nicksoper.com terms of service are considered realised and accepted in full by the client upon payment of the 50% deposit.

5 Exclusivity
5.1.The Client, its directors, employees, shareholders or anyone associated with The Client, shall not, whilst this Agreement remains in force for a period of 12 months and for whatever reason, without the prior written approval of Nicksoper.com, engage in solicitation of the Services Rendered from any company other than Nicksoper.com, in any manner whatsoever, directly or indirectly, of any products and services which are, or may be, in the opinion of Nicksoper.com competitive with the Services Rendered by Nicksoper.com under this Agreement.

6 Intellectual Property Rights
6.1 The Client acknowledges that no rights are granted to The Client under this Agreement to prepare derivative works based on the Services Rendered or to alter, re-design, update, package, copy, reverse engineer, or duplicate the Services Rendered, or any portion thereof without the prior written consent of Nicksoper.com for a period of 99 years from the commencement of the Agreement and completion of Services Rendered, HOWEVER should the Services Rendered be such that The Client can update the Services Rendered themselves, for example with a content management system, all frameworks, design and subsequent systems will remain the property of Nicksoper.com, but the Client can use these Services Rendered to update their content within the Services Rendered.
6.2 The Client agrees that it shall in no way update, redesign, alter, deface, remove, cover up, or mutilate in any manner whatsoever, any Licensed Trademarks or any other means of identification, item number, copyright symbol, brand or name which Nicksoper.com may attach or affix to, or make a part of, the Services Rendered coming into the possession or custody of The Client.
6.3 Under The Agreement, no source files will be released to The Client unless this is negotiated prior to the 50% deposit being paid, outlined in clause 4, and thus stipulated in the signed quotation for Services Rendered.

7 Trademark/Copyright
Copyrights for the Services Rendered, together with any and all goodwill attached to the same, are the property of Nicksoper.com, and that Nicksoper.com retains exclusive rights of ownership and/or usage of all intellectual property rights associated with the Services Rendered. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to grant any of these rights to the Client or any other party.

8 Liability
Nicksoper.com and all its assigns do not assume any liability, whatsoever, for The Client.

9 Independent contractor relationship
The parties record that relationship by this agreement is that of independent contractor and client.

10 Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure
10.1. On the understanding that both parties are interested in meeting to consider possible collaboration in developments arising from Nickoper.com’s intellectual property it is agreed that all information, whether oral, written or otherwise, that is supplied in the course or as a result of so meeting shall be treated as confidential by the receiving party.
10.2. The receiving party undertakes not to use the information for any purpose, other than for the purpose of considering the said collaboration, without obtaining the written agreement of the disclosing party.
10.3. The Agreement applies to both technical and commercial information communicated by either party.
10.4. The Agreement does not apply to any information in the public domain or which the receiving party can show was either already lawfully in their possession prior to its disclosure by the other party or acquired without the involvement, either directly or indirectly, of the disclosing party.
10.5. Either party to The Agreement shall on request from the other return any documents or items connected with the disclosure and shall not retain any unauthorised copies or likenesses.
10.6. The Agreement or the supply of information referred to in paragraph 1, does not create any licence, title or interest in respect of any Intellectual Property Rights of the disclosing party.

Hosting with nicksoper.com

Hosting terms of Services

The following terms are part of every contract between Nicksoper Digtial Agency ("the Company") and a user ("Client") in regard to services provided by the Company. Use of such services constitutes acceptance hereof.

1. Services and Rates. Client acknowledges receipt of detailed information as to the services provided by the Company and its current rates and charges. At any time, the Company may change its rates and charges with prospective effect.

2. Technical Support. Within its area of expertise, the Company will provide technical support to Client at all times. Such support can be requested by email to nick@nicksoper.com.

The Company's support may relate, for example, to Client's server or the functionality of an operating system, software or a control panel; but not to application-specific issues such as CGI, JavaScript, PHP or ASP programing or any similar issue. If the Company's staff is required to login to Client's server to provide support, a system administration fee may be charged to Client at the Company's hourly rate then in effect.

Support will be limited within the Companies discretion.

The Company reserves the right to terminate hosting for the Client should any rude, aggressive or uncooperative correspondance from the Client as a result of the technical support provided.

3. Payments. An initial payment of stated charges will be due to the Company before the commencement of services, and a subsequent payment will be due at the close of each billing cycle thereafter. The Company may, without incurring any liability, interrupt service to Client if a payment due by Client becomes five or more days overdue, and may close and delete Client's account (causing the loss of all data therein) if such a payment becomes 30 or more days overdue. Client shall remain obligated to pay all accrued charges, including fees and interest for late payment, and shall reimburse all costs of collection incurred by the Company.

4. Credit Card Charges. At this stage we do not accept credit card payments.

5. Disputed Charges. All charges stated by the Company shall be considered valid unless disputed by Client within 60 days after the date of the statement. If Client disputes a credit card charge which is considered valid in the reasonable judgment of the Company, Client shall be liable to the Company for an administrative fee in the amount applicable at the time when the dispute arises.

6. Unacceptable Use of Services. Client shall not use the Company's services, and shall not (through action or inaction) permit others to use them, in any manner mentioned below:
for an illegal purpose or in support of an illegal activity;
to host pornographic content;
to host illegally hacked, cracked or manipulated software;
to harm or attempt to harm minors in any way;
to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) which threatens or encourages harm to persons or damage to property;
to cause harassment;
to make fraudulent offers or to promote financial scams such as "pyramid schemes", "Ponzi schemes" or "chain letters";
to add, remove or modify identifying network header information in an attempt to impersonate or otherwise to deceive or mislead;
to transmit unsolicited commercial or bulk e-mail;
to host sites or information advertised by unsolicited commercial or bulk e-mail from other networks;
to impede, with malicious intent, another person's use of electronic mail services or news;
to forge, in whole or in part, any message header originating in or passing through the Company's services;
to post any message or advertisement which is not solicited by the recipients and which violates the rules of a newsgroup or mailing list;
in an attempt to access the account of any other person or to penetrate the security measures of any hardware or software, electronic or telecommunications system;
to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) which infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, intellectual property right, trade secret or other proprietary right;
to collect or attempt to collect personal information about third parties without their knowledge or consent;
for any activity that affects the ability of other people or systems to use the Company's services or the Internet (such as "denial of service" attacks or other forms of interference with users, services or equipment);
to make an intentional distribution of software that attempts to cause damage, harassment or annoyance to persons, data or computer systems;
in such a way as to facilitate a continued connection ("pinging") while using the Company's services;
to display or transmit CGI-based forums, CGI mail processing scripts (such as formmail.pl or formmail.cgi) or IRC Chat servers, scripts or bots;
to provide deliberately inaccurate, misleading or unreliable information;
to obtain services to which Client is not entitled; or
in any other manner which the Company may, from time to time, forbid (by notice on its website) as unacceptable use of its services.

7. Security. Client shall take all reasonable steps to prevent unauthorized access to Client's account and to protect the secrecy of the password giving access thereto. Client shall be responsible for any misuse of the account, whether or not committed by a person allowed by Client to use it.

8. Contact Information. Client shall assure that the Company is at all times in possession of Client's current contact information. The Company communicates by e-mail, fax and telephone, in that order of preference.

9. Domain Registration Data. If Client registers or transfers a domain name, Client shall promptly provide to the Company:
the full name and the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the primary and each secondary name-server for the TLD (Top Level Domain) name;
the full name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number and (if available) fax number of each of the following persons: Client; the authorized contact person if the registrant is an organization, association or company; and the technical, administrative and billing contacts for the TLD name; as well as
any remark concerning the registered TLD name that should appear in the WHOIS directory.
Whenever necessary, Client shall also promptly provide to the Company all further information required to keep the foregoing registration data current, complete and accurate. Client recognizes that all such data will be publicly available.

10. IP Addresses. Client shall refrain from using any IP address or number other than those assigned by the Company to Client for Client's use, and shall use the latter only as permitted by the Company in connection with the use of its services. In its sole discretion, the Company may at any time change, withdraw or remove any such address or number.

In pursuance of the policies of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, Client shall, whenever possible, use name-based hosting in place of IP addresses.

11. Excessive Bandwidth Use. If Client uses bandwidth in excess of a stated monthly rate, the Company will charge "overage" as detailed on its website, and may also charge to Client's credit card a deposit against future "overage" in an amount determined by the Company. In addition, if Client's use of network resources is so excessive or improper as to impair network performance or interrupt service to other users, the Company may, in its discretion, assess further charges, disconnect or discontinue services to Client, or terminate this contract in the manner provided in Article 18 below.

12. Privacy. The Company will take all reasonable steps to protect the confidentiality of Client's personal and account information. It will not intentionally disclose such information to any third party, except as follows:
to law enforcement officials, in circumstances where the information is pertinent to the investigation of a suspected criminal offense; or
solely to the extent required, in situations where the Company has reason to believe that such disclosure is vital for the purpose of identifying, contacting or pursuing legal action against a person who may be violating or harming the rights or possessions of the Company, its clients or others.

13. Disclaimers. The Company makes no warranty in regard to any of its services. It shall not be liable to Client for any damages resulting from delays or interruptions in its services; from loss of data through failure of delivery; from material posted to its network by persons other than the Company; from the content of any other website linked to its network; or from any cause beyond its direct and exclusive control.

The Company's liability for its own negligence or misconduct shall never exceed the charges payable by Client for services provided by the Company during the period when damages were suffered. In no event shall the Company be liable for any special or consequential damages.

14. Suspension of Service. The Company may at any time suspend services to Client, without prior notice, if the Company has reason to suspect unacceptable use of such services (within the meaning of Article 6 above) by Client, Client's server or any of Client's customers.

If any such unacceptable use is detected, the Company may decline to refund the rates and charges due by Client for the period of the suspension; may assess to Client's account an administrative fine for the offense, a research fee for the time spent in investigating it, and (if applicable) a reactivation charge; may restrict indefinitely Client's access to the network; may remove, from the materials accessible through its services, any material involved in the unacceptable use of such services; and may take all other steps which it may consider necessary or appropriate to prevent any further violation.

15. Indemnification. Client shall hold the Company harmless from any claim asserted, and shall indemnify the Company for any loss incurred, as a result of any conduct by Client, by a customer of Client or by any person obtaining the Company's services directly or indirectly from Client.

16. Amendment. The Company may at any time amend this contract in any respect by a notice of amendment posted on its website, specifying an effective date which shall be no less than 15 days from the date on which the notice is posted.

If any such amendment imposes an additional obligation on Client, Client may terminate this contract with immediate effect, by a signed written notice sent to the Company on or before the effective date of the amendment.

17. Termination on Prior Notice. Either party may at any time terminate this contract by a signed written notice sent to the other party, specifying an effective date of termination which shall be no less than 15 days from the date on which the notice is sent.

18. Breach of Contract. Either party may terminate this contract with immediate effect, by a signed written notice sent to the other party, in the event of violation by such other party of any of the terms of this contract.

19. Consequences of Termination. In the event of termination of this contract by either party:
Client shall have no right to recover any payment already made to the Company and shall remain liable for all rates and charges incurred by Client before the termination takes effect.
Client's account will be closed on the effective date of termination and all data remaining therein may be lost. The Company shall not be liable to Client for any such loss.
The party terminating the contract shall not thereby be deprived of any claim for damages suffered through a breach of contract or other harmful conduct by the other party.

20. Notices. Any notice required for termination of this contract shall be sent by registered mail and addressed:
if to Client, to the last mailing address provided by Client to the Company; or
if to the Company, to 66 rue des Moutons, 1180 Uccle, Brussels, Belgium.

21. No Implied Waiver. A party's failure to exercise any right or remedy conferred by this contract shall not operate or be construed as a continuing or subsequent waiver of that or any other right or remedy.

22. Law and Jurisdiction. This contract shall be interpreted and applied in accordance with Belgian law. Disputes concerning it shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in Brussels, Belgium.