TERMS OF USE

1. Scope

These terms govern your use of blackoarstudio.com. They do not govern any project we might carry out for you — that is set by a separate written agreement, and where that agreement and these terms differ, the agreement wins.

2. Who we work with

Black Oar Studio L.L.C. supplies services to businesses, public bodies and other organisations acting in a professional capacity. We do not contract with consumers. Nothing on this site is an offer to a consumer, and consumer withdrawal rights do not arise from it.

3. Nothing here is an offer

Prices, packages, timelines and service descriptions on this site indicate our usual starting points. They are not binding offers. A binding engagement exists only once we have both signed a written agreement, or we have confirmed a specific scope, price and schedule to you in writing.

4. What the portfolio actually is

Read this section carefully, because it matters.

Most of the projects shown in our work section are self-initiated concept projects. They are demonstrations we designed, built and branded ourselves to show how we work. The brands in them — including but not limited to TechPack Ultra, Cairn Advisor, Boutique Escape, Loaf & Link, CYAN MARKET and Merch Design Packs — are fictional. They are not clients of ours, they are not real companies, and the products, prices, locations and any figures shown within them are invented for the purpose of the demonstration.

Where a project was commissioned by a real client, we say so explicitly on that project's page. If a page does not say so, assume it is a concept piece.

We publish no client logos we have not been given permission to use, and no performance statistics we cannot substantiate.

5. Intellectual property

The design, code, text, imagery, video, audio and layout of this site belong to us or are licensed to us. You may view pages and share links to them. Everything else — copying, adapting, republishing, scraping for commercial use, or reusing any part of the design or code — needs our written permission first.

Third-party names and marks that appear anywhere on this site remain the property of their owners and are used descriptively only.

6. Acceptable use

Don't attack the site, don't try to break into it, don't scrape it at a volume that degrades it for anyone else, and don't use it to distribute anything unlawful. That's the whole list.

7. No advice

This site is marketing and reference material. It is not legal, tax, financial or technical advice, and it is not a substitute for advice about your own situation. Decisions you make on the basis of something you read here are yours.

8. The tools on this site

Our Lab hosts the Machine Readability Check. You enter the address of a web page; we request that page once, the way any browser or crawler may, and report a fixed set of automated checks on what came back. Read what it is before you rely on it.

It is a snapshot of a single page at a single moment, produced by a named rule set whose version is printed with every result. It is automated: no person looks at your site, and nothing is interpreted. It measures one dimension — whether a machine can read the page — and it is not an audit, not a security assessment, and not a statement about the quality, safety or lawfulness of anything.

We give no warranty that a result is accurate, complete or fit for any purpose. A page can change between two checks, can answer us differently than it answers you, and can refuse us entirely. We may change, extend or withdraw the rule set at any time without notice, so two results produced under different versions are not comparable. Decisions you take on the basis of a result are yours — clause 7 applies to it in full.

Only submit addresses you are entitled to submit, and do not use the tool to place load on anyone's site, including your own. Running it creates no engagement and no obligation on either side; a paid audit is a separate written agreement.

Liability for the tool is governed by clause 11 below, as it is for the rest of this site.

9. AI in our work

Several of the services described on this site involve AI: third-party models, automated workflows, AI-assisted production. Which models are used, what they touch, who reviews the output and which rules apply depends on the project, and it is settled in that project's own agreement — not here. Describing an AI capability on this site is not a warranty that any particular implementation meets the EU AI Act or any other regulation. Clause 1 applies: these terms cover this website, not the work we do for clients.

10. Availability

We would like the site to be available all the time and we take reasonable care to keep it so. We do not guarantee it. We may change, move or withdraw any part of it without notice.

11. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent applicable law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive loss, or for lost profit, revenue, data or goodwill, arising out of your use of this site.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited — including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, and for intent or gross negligence.

12. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New Mexico, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. The courts of Bernalillo County, New Mexico have jurisdiction over disputes arising from them.

Where you are a consumer or a public body and mandatory law in your own country gives you a different forum or different rights, that law is unaffected by this clause.

13. Severability

If a provision of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest stays in force and the unenforceable part is treated as replaced by the closest enforceable equivalent.

14. Changes

We may revise these terms. The version that applies to you is the one published when you use the site. The date at the top shows when it last changed.