1. Applicability
These terms (“StudioTech Terms”) apply to the website owned and operated by or on behalf of StudioTech (“StudioTech”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) and to Signature X, the content, software, and related services made available through studiotech.co.za and the Signature X service (together, the “Services”). Signature X is StudioTech’s service for centrally managed Outlook email signatures and promotional banners.
If a signed written contract between you and StudioTech conflicts with these StudioTech Terms, the signed contract controls for that conflict.
These StudioTech Terms are intended for use in South Africa and are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, including the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (“CPA”), the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (“ECTA”), the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”), and the Copyright Act 98 of 1978, as applicable.
Please read these StudioTech Terms carefully. They contain important information about your rights and obligations.
By creating a Signature X account, using the StudioTech website, or placing an order for Signature X, you accept these StudioTech Terms.
You may not order or use the Services if you (a) do not agree to these StudioTech Terms; (b) are not at least 18 years of age and legally competent to enter into a binding contract; or (c) are prohibited from accessing or using the Services by applicable South African law.
Nothing in these StudioTech Terms excludes, limits, or waives any consumer right under the CPA, or any other South African law, that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
2. Dispute resolution
Informal resolution
Before starting a formal claim, you and StudioTech agree to try in good faith to resolve the dispute. Write to legal@studiotech.co.za with a short description of the dispute and your contact details, including your order reference if you have one. We will respond using the contact details on your order or account. This step is required before either party starts formal proceedings, except where urgent interim relief is needed.
Consumer forums
If you are a consumer under the CPA, you may use the remedies available under South African law, including, where they apply, the Small Claims Court, the National Consumer Commission, or another competent forum. These StudioTech Terms do not stop you from using those rights.
Courts of South Africa
Subject to the informal step above and any mandatory consumer remedy, disputes arising out of these StudioTech Terms or the Services are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Republic of South Africa.
Optional arbitration
If both parties agree in writing after a dispute has arisen, the dispute may be referred to arbitration in South Africa under the Arbitration Act 42 of 1965, seated in South Africa and conducted in English. Arbitration is optional and does not limit consumer rights under the CPA that cannot be waived.
3. Signature X account
Use of Signature X may require an account for your business. You agree to keep the account information complete, accurate, and up to date. You are responsible for activity under the account and for keeping sign-in details secure. Do not share credentials with unapproved third-party applications. Anyone you allow to administer signatures or banners must be aware of these StudioTech Terms and our Privacy statement.
4. Messages and the contact form
If you give us a mobile number or email address, and where the law requires your consent, StudioTech may contact you by email, SMS, or phone about your order, account, signatures, banners, deployment, and related service messages. Marketing messages are sent only where POPIA, the CPA, and applicable direct marketing rules allow it.
Giving a mobile number is not a condition of purchase unless we say so and the law allows it. Your network operator’s message and data rates may apply. You can opt out of marketing email with the unsubscribe link, or of marketing SMS by replying “STOP”. Messages needed to deliver or support Signature X may still be sent.
If you use the contact form, we email you about that enquiry. How we handle those details is described in the Privacy statement, not in these Terms. Sending the form is not consent to direct marketing.
5. Indemnity
To the extent South African law allows, and without limiting consumer rights under the CPA that cannot be waived, you agree to indemnify StudioTech and its directors, employees, and agents against claims, losses, and reasonable legal costs arising from your unlawful use of the Services, a material breach of these StudioTech Terms, or your infringement of someone else’s rights, except to the extent caused by StudioTech’s gross negligence or wilful misconduct.
6. Limitation of liability
Nothing in these StudioTech Terms excludes liability that South African law does not allow us to exclude, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence where an exclusion would be unlawful, fraud, or consumer remedies under the CPA for defective goods or services.
Subject to that, StudioTech is not liable for consequential, indirect, incidental, special, or punitive damages arising out of these StudioTech Terms or the Services, whether in contract, delict, or otherwise, to the extent the law allows that exclusion.
Subject to the same limits, StudioTech’s total liability arising out of these StudioTech Terms is capped at the fees you paid to StudioTech for the Signature X service that gave rise to the claim during the twelve months before the claim.
7. Force majeure
Neither party is liable for delay or failure to perform these StudioTech Terms, other than a duty to pay, where the cause is beyond reasonable control. That includes natural disaster, epidemic, government action, war, civil unrest, strikes, supply failure, telecommunications failure, or power failure.
8. Severability
If a provision of these StudioTech Terms is held illegal or unenforceable, it will be changed to the smallest extent needed to make it enforceable, or removed if that is not possible. The rest of the Terms stay in force.
9. Microsoft 365, Outlook, and email platforms
Signature X works with your organisation’s email environment, including Microsoft 365 and Outlook. StudioTech does not operate those platforms. Their availability, security, and terms are controlled by the relevant provider. Signature X cannot guarantee that every email client will display a signature or banner in the same way, or that delivery by a third-party mail system will be uninterrupted.
You are responsible for having the rights and administrator access needed to deploy Signature X in your organisation, and for telling your users that company signatures and banners may be added to email they send.
10. Orders and subscriptions
An order is an offer to buy Signature X on the fees and scope shown on the order page at the time you submit it. StudioTech may accept or decline an order. Subscription fees, once-off setup, and taxes are those stated before you place the order. VAT and the amount due are confirmed before payment where the order page says so.
Additional terms may apply to deployment, support, or a particular campaign feature. If those terms conflict with these StudioTech Terms, the more specific terms apply to that part of the service.
11. Third-party services
The Services may rely on third parties, including Microsoft, email hosts, payment providers, and hosting providers. Those parties have their own terms and privacy notices. StudioTech is not responsible for their sites or services except to the extent South African law requires.
12. Suspension and ending access
StudioTech may suspend or end access to Signature X where that is reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, a breach of these StudioTech Terms, or a legal duty. Where the CPA requires notice or another consumer right, we will follow it. Clauses that should survive the end of the service will survive.
13. Changes to these Terms
We may update these StudioTech Terms. The new date appears at the top of this page. Where the law requires more notice, we will give it. Continuing to use the Services after the change takes effect is acceptance, except where South African law requires a different form of consent.
14. Governing law
These StudioTech Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. They are provided in English. If they are translated, the English version prevails except where a consumer law says otherwise.
15. Your logos, banners, and signature content
You keep ownership of the names, logos, artwork, offers, and other materials you supply for signatures and banners (“Customer Materials”). You grant StudioTech a non-exclusive licence to host, reproduce, and display Customer Materials only so we can provide Signature X, including adding them to email and reporting how often a banner is served.
You confirm that you have the rights needed to use Customer Materials in email sent by your organisation, and that they are lawful, accurate, and not misleading. You are responsible for promotional claims in your banners.
16. StudioTech intellectual property
StudioTech owns or licenses the website, Signature X, its software, trademarks, and designs. These StudioTech Terms do not transfer that intellectual property to you. It is protected by the Copyright Act 98 of 1978, the Trade Marks Act 194 of 1993, and other applicable law.
While you comply with these StudioTech Terms and pay the applicable fees, StudioTech grants your organisation a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use Signature X for your own business email. You may not copy, resell, reverse engineer, or sublicense the service except as these Terms allow.
17. Standards for content
You must not use Signature X to send or display content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, hateful, discriminatory, or infringing. StudioTech may remove that content and suspend the service, and may cooperate with law enforcement where the law requires it.
18. Using Signature X
Signature X adds your organisation’s signature, and any active promotional banner, to email sent through the connected environment. One banner may stay in place, or several banners may rotate, according to the dates and settings you choose. Counts of how often a banner is served describe distribution across your team. They are not a measure of opens, clicks, or sales unless we say so in writing.
You must use the service only for lawful business email and in line with your own privacy and marketing duties toward the people your team writes to.
19. The website
The website may link to other sites. A link is not an endorsement. StudioTech is not responsible for those sites. We use cookies and similar tools as described in the Privacy statement. The site is not aimed at children under 18. Content on the site is general information, not professional advice. We do not promise that the site will always be available.
20. Warranties
To the extent the law allows, the website is provided “as is” and “as available”. StudioTech does not warrant that the website will be error-free or free of harmful code.
Nothing in this section limits the warranties and remedies the CPA gives consumers for goods or services supplied in the ordinary course.
How a signature or banner appears depends on the recipient’s mail client, images settings, and the customer’s Microsoft 365 or Outlook configuration. StudioTech does not warrant identical rendering in every client.
21. Copyright complaints
If you believe material on the website or in Signature X infringes copyright under the Copyright Act 98 of 1978, email legal@studiotech.co.za with:
- your name, address, telephone number, and email address;
- the work you say is infringed;
- where the material appears;
- a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorised; and
- a statement that the notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorised to act for the owner.
22. Personal information
Orders, contact messages, account details, signature content, and banner-serving records are processed as described in the Privacy statement, in line with POPIA. You instruct StudioTech to process that information as needed to provide Signature X, take payment, and meet legal duties.
23. Security reports
To report a security vulnerability, email security@studiotech.co.za with enough detail for us to assess it. Do not access other customers’ data, and do not go further than is needed to show the issue.
24. Contact
Questions about these StudioTech Terms: legal@studiotech.co.za.
StudioTech · South Africa · studiotech.co.za