Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of terms

By purchasing, downloading, or using any Designers Bookshop product you agree to be bound by these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the product.

2. Purchases and FastSpring

All purchases are made through FastSpring, Designers Bookshop's authorised reseller. Your purchase contract is with FastSpring and FastSpring's own terms and conditions apply to the transaction. This is particularly relevant for EU consumers, who retain statutory rights under FastSpring's terms.

3. Subscription and billing

Designers Bookshop products are sold on a subscription basis. Your subscription renews automatically at the end of each billing period.

Yearly subscribers will receive renewal reminders from FastSpring 4 weeks and 3 days before their billing date. Monthly subscriptions do not include renewal reminders. It is your responsibility to cancel before your renewal date if you do not wish to continue. You can cancel yourself via your FastSpring account portal, or contact us before the renewal date and we will assist you.

If we change the subscription price, we will give you at least 30 days' notice before the change takes effect at your next renewal.

4. Refunds

Because a free 30-day demo is available before purchase, refunds are only offered where the license has never been activated and you are unable to get the product working. To request a refund, contact us within 30 days of purchase. We will verify the activation status on our end and, if eligible, process a full refund via FastSpring. Charges made after a renewal are not eligible for refund — if you no longer wish to use the product, please cancel before your renewal date.

5. License

Subject to these terms and payment of the applicable subscription fee, Designers Bookshop grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, personal license to install and use the software on up to 2 devices that you personally own or control.

This license is valid only while your subscription is active. Upon cancellation, expiry, or non-renewal of your subscription, your right to use the software ceases.

You may not sublicense, sell, rent, lend, or transfer the software or your license to any third party.

6. Permitted and prohibited use

You may install and use the software on up to 2 devices you personally own or control for your own professional or personal design work.

You may not: reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble the software; distribute or resell the software or access to it; use the software to build a competing product; or share your license credentials with others.

7. AI features, integrations, and compliance with laws

Certain Designers Bookshop products (including Merge) include features capable of interfacing with locally installed artificial intelligence models as well as user-configured third-party cloud AI application programming interfaces (APIs).

Sole user responsibility. You acknowledge and agree that it is entirely your responsibility to study, understand, and comply with all applicable local, national, and international laws, regulations, industry standards, and contractual obligations—including, without limitation, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), cross-border data transfer restrictions, professional secrecy laws (such as German § 203 StGB), intellectual property laws, and client non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)—regarding any data, prompts, or content you process, store, or transmit through the software.

No ownership or custody. Designers Bookshop operates client-side software. We do not host, store, inspect, or act as an intermediary for your local AI executions, private data, or third-party cloud API communications. We assume no ownership, control, or liability whatsoever for any third-party AI services you choose to connect, any data transmitted to such services, or any outputs generated.

AI agent behavior and instruction adherence. Merge provides interfaces and tools to configure AI agents, profiles, memories, and instructions. However, AI models (both local and cloud-based) generate output autonomously and non-deterministically. Designers Bookshop is not responsible or liable if an AI model or agent fails to follow, misinterprets, or deviates from the rules, system prompts, instructions, or parameters you configure. Rule compliance and output accuracy are strictly governed by the underlying AI model and are outside the scope and responsibility of the Merge application.

Third-party API accounts and usage costs. When you configure external AI providers (such as OpenAI, Anthropic, or OpenRouter), you do so under your own direct agreements and API credentials with those providers. You are solely responsible for all API token usage, consumption costs, rate limits, and subscription fees incurred. Designers Bookshop is not responsible or liable for any billing, fees, or charges generated by your use of third-party APIs.

AI output accuracy and no professional advice. Artificial intelligence outputs are probabilistic and may contain inaccuracies, omissions, errors, or hallucinations. Merge and its AI features do not provide certified legal, financial, tax, accounting, or professional advice. You must independently evaluate, verify, and confirm the accuracy and legality of all AI-generated outputs, notes, calculations, and documents before relying on them or transmitting them to clients.

Third-party communication services and automations. Certain features permit integrations with third-party messaging and automation services (including Telegram, WhatsApp/Meta, and custom webhooks). You are solely responsible for complying with the acceptable use policies, developer terms, and conditions of those platforms, as well as applicable anti-spam, marketing, and electronic communication regulations (such as CAN-SPAM and the EU ePrivacy Directive). Designers Bookshop assumes no responsibility or liability for any account suspensions, restrictions, or penalties resulting from user-configured automations.

If in doubt, do not use. If you are uncertain of your legal obligations, compliance status, or authorization to process specific data through local models or external services, you must refrain from using the software or the applicable features.

8. Data storage, iCloud sync, and backup responsibility

Merge is designed with a local-first architecture. Your documents, notes, contacts, project databases, and local AI prompts reside strictly on your local hardware and/or your personal Apple iCloud storage container. Designers Bookshop does not host, possess, or maintain copies of your application data or files.

Because Designers Bookshop has no custody or access to your data, we cannot recover, restore, or reconstruct your files in the event of hardware failure, Apple iCloud synchronization conflicts, accidental deletion, operating system errors, or data corruption. You are solely responsible for maintaining regular, secure, and independent backups (such as via Apple Time Machine or external storage) of all your data.

9. Intellectual property

All software, documentation, and associated materials are and remain the intellectual property of Designers Bookshop. These terms grant you a limited license to use the software — they do not transfer any ownership rights to you.

10. Disclaimer of warranties

The software is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or uninterrupted operation. Designers Bookshop does not warrant that the software will be error-free.

11. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Designers Bookshop shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of or inability to use the software, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of the Philippines. Any disputes arising from these terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Philippines.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. Continued use of the software after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised terms.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms? Email at: