Terms of Service
GerbDiff is free for personal use and for academic use at schools, universities, and non-profit research institutions. Commercial use requires a paid license. These terms are the agreement between you and Derivative Engineering LLC for the GerbDiff software.
These Terms of Service (this "Agreement") are a legal agreement between you and Derivative Engineering LLC ("Licensor") governing your use of the GerbDiff software and related services (the "Software"). By installing or using the Software, or by creating a GerbDiff account, you agree to this Agreement. If you do not agree, do not install or use the Software.
1. Definitions
"Personal Use" means use by an individual solely for personal, non-commercial purposes, such as hobby, home, or personal educational projects.
"Academic Use" means use by a student, educator, or researcher at a school, college, university, or non-profit research institution, for coursework, teaching, or academic research. This includes checking, preparing, and ordering boards for teaching labs, student projects, and research instruments, whether the work is done by a student or by faculty or staff on behalf of the institution. Academic Use does not include work funded by or performed on behalf of a commercial sponsor, or use by a commercial subsidiary or spin-out company of an institution.
"Commercial Use" means any use for or on behalf of a business, government agency, non-profit organization, or other entity, or any use in connection with work performed for payment or other commercial advantage. Use of the Software in the course of your employment, contracting, or freelance work is Commercial Use. Academic Use is not Commercial Use, even though it is use on behalf of an institution, and even where that institution is a non-profit organization or a public body.
2. Personal License (Free), Including Academic Use
Subject to this Agreement, Licensor grants you a free, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Software for Personal Use and Academic Use. There is a single free license, the Personal license. Academic Use qualifies for it: there is no separate academic edition, no application, and no academic verification step. Students, faculty, staff, and researchers may use the Software at no charge for coursework, teaching, and academic research, including work carried out on behalf of their institution.
Reports and images exported under the Personal license include a notice identifying them as produced by the Personal edition. You may not remove, obscure, or alter this notice. A Commercial or Team subscription is available to institutions that want unmarked reports, invoice billing, or a purchase order, but it is not required for Academic Use.
This section states how Licensor has always intended the free license to apply to academic work, and it applies to every copy of the Software, including copies installed under an earlier version of this Agreement.
3. Commercial License
Commercial Use of the Software requires an active paid Commercial or Team subscription, licensed per seat. A Team subscription is licensed by concurrent (floating) seat: the number of subscribed seats is the maximum number of users who may run the Software at the same time across the organization, not a limit on the number of people who may install it. No free evaluation period for Commercial Use is offered. Commercial Trials granted under version 1.0 of this Agreement remain valid for the remainder of their stated 30-day term. When a Commercial Trial or subscription ends, your license reverts to the Personal license terms, and continued Commercial Use is not permitted.
4. Restrictions
You may not: (a) use the Software for Commercial Use without an active commercial subscription; (b) remove or circumvent license enforcement or export notices; (c) redistribute, sublicense, rent, or resell the Software; or (d) reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Software except to the extent permitted by applicable law.
5. Ownership
The Software is licensed, not sold. Licensor retains all right, title, and interest in the Software. Your Gerber files and design data remain yours; the Software processes them locally on your machine.
6. Privacy and Telemetry
The Software sends a minimal startup ping once per launch. It never transmits your design files, file names, or board data. The complete list of what is collected is published on our Privacy page.
7. Compliance
Licensor reserves the right to verify compliance with this Agreement, including by requesting reasonable evidence that use qualifies as Personal Use or Academic Use. Unlicensed Commercial Use is a violation of this Agreement and may also constitute copyright infringement.
8. Termination
This Agreement terminates automatically if you materially breach it. Upon termination you must stop using the Software and destroy all copies. Sections 5, 9, and 10 survive termination.
9. Disclaimer of Warranty
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR VERIFYING ALL DESIGN DATA BEFORE MANUFACTURING.
10. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, LICENSOR'S TOTAL LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID FOR THE SOFTWARE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, AND LICENSOR WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING COSTS OF PCB FABRICATION, RE-SPINS, OR LOST PROFITS.
11. Changes
Licensor may update this Agreement for future versions of the Software. The agreement version you accepted remains in effect for the version you installed.
12. Governing Law
This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Washington, without regard to conflict of laws principles.
13. Contact
Derivative Engineering LLC · [email protected]