Terms & Conditions

The following Terms and Conditions of Service apply to all products and services provided by Studio Mars Integrated Marketing Agency.

All work is carried out by Studio Mars on the understanding that the client has agreed to Studio Mars’ terms and conditions.

Copyright is retained by Studio Mars on all work including words, pictures, ideas, visuals and illustrations unless specifically released in writing and after all costs have been settled.

If a choice of design is presented, only one solution is deemed to be given by Studio Mars as fulfilling the contract. All other designs remain the property of Studio Mars, unless agreed in writing that this arrangement has been changed.

Project Acceptance
At the time of proposal, Studio Mars will provide the customer with a written estimate or quotation.

A copy of the written estimate or quotation is to be signed and dated by the customer to indicate acceptance and should be returned to Studio Mars. Alternatively, the client may send an official order in reply to the estimate or quotation which binds the client to accept Studio Mars’ terms and conditions. No work on a project will commence until either document has been received by Studio Mars.

Design Charges
Charges for design services to be provided by Studio Mars, will be set out in the written estimate or quotation that is provided to the customer. At the time of the customer’s signed acceptance of this estimate or quotation, indicating acceptance of the Terms & Conditions, a non-refundable deposit of 50% of the quoted fee will become immediately due. Work on the project will not commence until Studio Mars has received this amount. Complimentary artwork is limited to a set number of given revisions. Studio Mars has the right to refuse additional artwork/revisions.

Charges for Other Service
Charges for any additional services over and above the estimated design, will become fully payable (100% of the quoted amount) at the time of estimate or quotation acceptance.

Payment
The customer will be provided with an Approval Form and/or Review of the work provided with an Invoice prior to final publication. At this time the remainder of the amount due will become payable and the customer will also be required to sign and submit the Approval Form to Studio Mars. Accounts which remain outstanding for 30 days after the date of invoice, will incur an extra charge of 2% per month of the outstanding amount.

Payments may be made by cash, check, Major Credit Card, or Money Order and/or previously agreed electronic funds transfer.

Publication and/or release of work done by Studio Mars on behalf of the client, may not take place before cleared funds have been received. Once payment has been made, there will be no reimbursement of funds unless agreed by Studio Mars in writing.

Returned checks will incur an additional fee of $50 per returned check. Studio Mars reserves the right to consider an account to be in default in the event of a returned check.

Default
An account shall be considered default if it remains unpaid for 30 days from the date of invoice, or following a returned check. Studio Mars shall be considered entitled to remove Studio Mars and/or the customer’s material from any and all computer systems, until the amount due has been fully paid. This includes any and all unpaid monies due for services, including, but not limited to, branding & design, marketing services, website development & design, and social media strategy.

Removal of such materials does not relieve the customer of their obligation to pay the due amount. Customers whose accounts become default agree to pay Studio Mars reasonable legal expenses and third party collection agency fees in the enforcement of these Terms and Conditions.

Copyrights and Trademarks
By supplying text, images and other data to Studio Mars for inclusion in the customer’s business cards, flyers, pamphlets, website or other medium, the customer declares that it holds the appropriate copyright and/or trademark permissions. The ownership of such materials will remain with the customer, or rightful copyright or trademark owner.

Any artwork, images, or text supplied and/or designed by Studio Mars on behalf of the customer, will remain the property of Studio Mars and/or it’s suppliers.

The customer may request in writing from Studio Mars, the necessary permission to use materials (for which Studio Mars holds the copyright) in forms other than for which it was originally supplied, and Studio Mars may, at its discretion, grant this. Such permission must be obtained in writing before it will allow any of the aforesaid artwork, images, text, or other data to be used.

By supplying images, text, or any other data to Studio Mars, the customer grants Studio Mars permission to use this material freely in the pursuit of the design.

Should Studio Mars, or the customer supply an image, text, audio clip or any other file for use in a business cards, flyers, pamphlets, website, multimedia presentation, print item, exhibition, advertisement or any other medium believing it to be copyright and royalty free, which subsequently emerges to have such copyright or royalty usage limitations, the customer will agree to allow Studio Mars to remove and/or replace the file on the site.

The customer agrees to fully indemnify and hold Studio Mars free from harm in any and all claims resulting from the customer in not having obtained all the required copyright, and/or any other necessary permissions.

Alterations
The customer agrees that changes required over and above the estimated work or required to be carried out after acceptance of the draft design will be liable to a separate charge.

The customer also agrees that Studio Mars holds no responsibility for any amendments made by any third party, before or after a design is published.

Licensing
Any design, copywriting, drawing, idea or code created for the customer by Studio Mars, or any of its contractors, is licensed for use by the client on a one-time only basis and may not be modified, re-used, or re-distributed in any way or form without the express written consent of Studio Mars and any of it’s relevant sub-contractors.

All design work- where there is a risk that another party make a claim, should be registered by the client with the appropriate authorities prior to publishing or first use or searches and legal advice sought as to its use. Studio Mars will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from such claims. StStudio Mars is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss, non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. The customer agrees not to hold Studio Mars responsible for any such loss or damage. Any claim against Studio Mars shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the customer.

Data Formats
The client agrees to Starvin’ Artist Graphic Design’s definition of acceptable means of supplying data to the company.

Text is to be supplied to Studio Mars in electronic format as standard text (.txt), MS Word (.doc) via e-mail.

Images which are supplied in an electronic format, are to be provided in a format as prescribed by Studio Mars via e-mail. Images must be of a quality suitable for use without any subsequent image processing, and Studio Mars will not be held responsible for any image quality which the client later deems to be unacceptable. Studio Mars cannot be held responsible for the quality of any images which the client wishes to be scanned from printed materials.

Additional expenses may be incurred for any necessary action, including, but not limited to, photography and art direction, photography searches, media conversion, digital image processing, or data entry services.

Design Project Duration
Any indication given by Studio Mars of a design project’s duration is to be considered by the customer to be an estimation. Studio Mars cannot be held responsible for any project over-runs, whatever the cause. Estimated project duration should be deemed to be from the date that cleared funds are received by Studio Mars for the initial payment or by date confirmed in writing by Studio Mars.

Rights of Access for Website Construction
The client agrees to allow Studio Mars all necessary access to computer systems and other locations, as required, in order to complete a website project and until all due funds are cleared, including the necessary read/write permissions, usernames and passwords. The customer also agrees to allow Studio Mars access to any computer systems, usernames and passwords required to remove data and/or sites for failure to comply with these Terms and Conditions.

The customer agrees to supply Studio Mars with all necessary materials, electronic, or otherwise, required to create and complete the project, and to supply them in a timely manner.

Design Project Completion
Studio Mars considers the design project complete upon receipt of the customer’s review and signed approval or emailed statement accepting approval. Other services such as printing, website uploading, publishing etc., either contracted on the clients behalf constitute a separate project and can be treated as a separate charge. Once a project has been designed and emailed, there will be no refunds.

Project Abandonment
If after repeated attempts to begin, continue, or finalize the delivery of services, Customer fails to participate, or becomes otherwise unresponsive to Studio Mars’ requests for a period of two (2) months, the project may be considered abandoned, and Studio Mars may reduce any refund the Customer may otherwise be entitled to hereunder to zero, and Customer will have forfeited all rights to receive any refund for services purchased or as described in the original invoice. Studio Mars may issue customer credit for future services at its discretion.

Website Design Only
Once web design is complete, Studio Mars will provide the customer with the opportunity to review the resulting work. Studio Mars 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 placement of items on the page. It does not include changes to images, color schemes or any navigation features. Any minor changes can be notified to Studio Mars by e-mail.

Studio Mars 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.

Kids’ Privacy
Our Website is intended for the use of adults and individuals 13 years of ages and older. Our Website is not directed to children under the age of 13. Users under the age of 13 must have the permission and/or assistance of an adult while using or visiting our Website.

Hosting Websites
Studio Mars does not offer in-house hosting services. Studio Mars can only suggest possible sub-contractors and does not guarantee continuous service and will accept no liability for loss of service, whatever the cause. Studio Mars may request that clients change the type of hosting account used if that account is deemed by Studio Mars to be unacceptable because of poor service, lack of bandwidth or in any other way insufficient to support the website. Fees due to the hosting organization are the responsibility of the client and Studio Mars are not liable for their payment.

Domain Registration
Studio Mars cannot guarantee the availability of any domain name. Where Studio Mars is to register a domain name on behalf of a client it will endeavor to do so but the client should not assume a successful registration.

Search Engine Optimization
Due to the infinite number of considerations that search engines use when determining a site’s ranking, Studio Mars cannot guarantee any particular placement. Acceptance by any search engine cannot be guaranteed and when a site is accepted, the time it takes to appear in search results varies from one search engine to another. Rankings will also vary as new sites are added.

Design Credits
The customer agrees to allow Studio Mars to place a small credit on printed material exhibition displays, advertisements and/or a link to Studio Mars’ own website on the customer’s website. This will usually be in the form of a small logo or line of text placed towards the bottom of the page.

The customer also agrees to allow Studio Mars to place websites and other designs, along with a link to the client’s site on Studio Mars’ own website for demonstration purposes and to use any designs in its own publicity.

Rights of Refusal
Studio Mars will not include in its designs, any text, images or other data which it deems to be immoral, offensive, obscene or illegal. All advertising material must conform to all standards laid down by all relevant advertising standards authorities. Studio Mars also reserves the right to refuse to include submitted material without giving reason. Any images and/or data that Starvin’ Artist Graphic Design does include in all good faith, and then finds out that it violates these Terms and Conditions, the customer is obliged to allow Studio Mars to remove the violation without hindrance, or penalty. Studio Mars is to be held in no way responsible for any such data being included.

Cancellation
Cancellation of orders may be made initially by telephone contact, or e-mail, however, following this, Studio Mars will need formal notification in writing to the company’s postal address. The client will then be invoiced for all work completed over and above the non-refundable deposit that will have been made at the time of first ordering. The balance of monies due must be paid within 30 days. Please note: any cancellation which is not formally confirmed in writing and received by Studio Mars within 14 days of such instruction being issued, will be liable for the full quoted cost of the project.

Disclaimer
Studio Mars makes no warranties of any kind, express or implied, for any and all products and/or services that it supplies. Studio Mars will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from products and/or services it supplies. Studio Mars is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss of data, or non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. While we take reasonable steps to investigate the materials we recommend, we accept no responsibility for the performance or quality of materials or any consequential loss arising from their failure. The customer agrees not to hold Studio Mars responsible for any such loss or damage. Any claim against Studio mars shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the customer.

Studio Mars reserves the right to use the services of sub-contractors, agents and suppliers and any work, content, services and usage is bound by their Terms and Conditions. Studio Mars will not knowingly perform any actions to violate these and the client also agrees to be bound by these conditions.

Studio Mars and its clients agree to comply with Printers Terms and Conditions which include disclaimers for non-completion on time and the flexibility to supply quantities within 10% of the total ordered. Studio Mars recommend that if an exact quantity is required, then 10% extra is added to the quantity and extra time made available should the job be delayed.

Binding Arbitration
The parties to this contract agree that any and all disputes that cannot be settled in good faith by the parties shall be resolved through binding arbitration.  It is further agreed that the cost of binding arbitration shall be shared equally by Studio Mars and the Client.  It shall be clearly understood that any disputes that may arise are confidential with no public comment permitted in any form by either party relating to the dispute.  The results of any Arbitration proceeding shall also be confidential with no public comment by either party permitted in any form relating to any award. The parties agree that any breach of this provision shall constitute a willful breach of contract.  

General
These Terms and Conditions supersede any previous Terms and Conditions distributed in any form. Studio Mars reserves the right to change any rates and any of the Terms and Conditions at any time and without prior notice.

Acceptance of Quotation and Terms and Conditions
The placement of an order for design and/or any other services offered by Studio Mars and validated by the customer’s signature on the estimate or quotation form, constitutes acceptance of the estimate or quotation and agreement to comply fully with all the Terms and Conditions and forms a Contract for Business between the signatory and Studio Mars.