YachtSoft Terms of Sale and Software Licence Agreement

Version: 2.1 Last updated: 13 October 2026

Staging legal draft. These terms incorporate YachtSoft's confirmed commercial rules but have not yet received the planned Seychelles-qualified legal review. Automated checkout remains disabled. Mandatory statutory rights always prevail.

Jump to: prices · annual and perpetual licences · delivery · computers and trial · refunds · disputes

1. Parties and acceptance

These Terms of Sale and Software Licence Agreement (the Terms) are a contract between you (the Customer) and Phil Southwell trading as YachtSoft (the Seller, we, us). YachtSoft is a trading name.

By purchasing, activating or using YachtSoft, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old and authorised to accept these Terms for yourself and, where applicable, your organisation.

Sending a website enquiry is a request for contact, not an order or acceptance of a purchase. No payment is taken, licence issued or trial activated by submitting it. The team confirms compatibility, commercial arrangements and setup separately.

When automated checkout is introduced, web purchases will require an explicit I agree confirmation and will record the document version and acceptance time. YachtSoft also presents an in-app acceptance dialog on first use. Use of YachtSoft is also governed by the Privacy Policy.

2. What YachtSoft is

YachtSoft is proprietary parametric yacht-design software for Rhino 8 and Grasshopper, distributed through Rhino Package Manager and approved YachtSoft channels.

YachtSoft is a design-support tool. Its outputs are not certified engineering approvals and do not replace professional judgment, independent verification, classification-society approval or regulatory compliance. Qualified naval-architecture and engineering review remains the customer's responsibility before construction or operational use.

3. Products, prices and checkout

Prices are exclusive of applicable taxes unless checkout states otherwise. PayPal or another payment provider may display tax, currency-conversion or payment fees separately.

YachtSoft does not offer monthly billing. Annual licences are single 365-day purchases and are not automatically renewed.

Eligible students may request 50% off an annual Designer or Pro licence after manual verification. Studio and volume licensing is arranged manually for teams requiring YachtSoft on 5–15 computers. Student and studio sales are not automated at launch.

Official distribution channels are:

• yachtsoft.app for product information and, once enabled, checkout;
• Rhino Package Manager, using package name YachtSoft for Pro and yachtsoft-designer for Designer; and
• YachtSoft's official Food4Rhino listings.

Rhino and Grasshopper are licensed separately by Robert McNeel & Associates. YachtSoft is not affiliated with or endorsed by McNeel.

4. Annual and perpetual licences

4.1 Software licence, not sale

You receive a limited, non-exclusive right to use the YachtSoft software under these Terms. The Seller retains ownership of the software, code, algorithms, interface, documentation and trademarks.

4.2 Annual licence

• The 365-day term begins on first activation.
• The licence does not renew or charge automatically.
• A renewal extends the same key by another 365 days.
• An active annual licence includes support and updates within the purchased product and major-version line during that term.
• A later major version may be sold as a separate product.

4.3 Perpetual licence

• A perpetual licence provides indefinite use of the purchased major-version line.
• It includes five years of support and updates within that major-version line, measured from first activation.
• Later major versions, such as versions 2, 3 or 4, are separate products and are not included automatically.
• Publishing a later version of these Terms does not remove the paid right to use the purchased major version.

4.4 Designer-to-Pro upgrade

You may upgrade Designer to Pro. The upgrade price is the difference between the then-current list prices for the same term type. YachtSoft issues a Pro key and supersedes the previous Designer entitlement according to the confirmed upgrade process.

5. Delivery and activation

YachtSoft is delivered electronically. Installation is through Rhino Package Manager or another official YachtSoft channel; no direct .yak download is offered from the website.

A paid licence is issued after payment completes and the applicable key or activation entitlement is delivered. The paid licence term begins on first activation, not on payment or key issue.

You are responsible for:

• installing a supported Rhino 8 version (currently Rhino 8.27 or later);
• choosing the correct YachtSoft package;
• maintaining a compatible computer and internet access for required licence validation; and
• keeping your licence key secure.

6. Computers, transfers and trial

6.1 Paid licences

Each paid Designer or Pro licence covers two computers for the licensed customer or organisation. The licence works only for the purchased product.

If both activations are already in use and you replace a computer, contact mail.yachtsoft@gmail.com. YachtSoft may block the previous key or activation and issue a replacement key after checking the request. A replacement or product upgrade may involve the applicable list-price difference; no pro-rata credit is promised unless YachtSoft confirms it in writing.

You may not sell, gift, sublicense or assign a licence to another person without written permission.

6.2 Pro trial

There is one free trial: 30 days of YachtSoft Pro on one computer, beginning on first activation. Deleting local files or reinstalling YachtSoft does not reset the server-side trial record. Attempts to evade trial limits through reinstalls, virtual machines or multiple identities are prohibited.

At the end of the trial, continued use of paid Designer or Pro features requires the applicable paid licence.

7. Licence restrictions

Without prior written consent, you must not:

• copy, redistribute or publish YachtSoft except as required for your own authorised installation;
• reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or attempt to discover source code or proprietary algorithms, except to the limited extent that applicable law expressly prevents this restriction;
• remove or alter proprietary notices;
• sublicense, resell or provide YachtSoft itself as a hosted third-party service;
• share a licence beyond its permitted computer activations; or
• circumvent technical protection, trial enforcement or licence validation.

You may use YachtSoft for professional design work within the entitlements of the edition you purchased.

8. Refunds, failed payments and chargebacks

YachtSoft is digital software delivered electronically. Because access can be supplied immediately, YachtSoft does not offer discretionary change-of-mind refunds after the customer accepts these Terms, pays and receives the licence or activation entitlement.

This does not exclude:

• rights that cannot legally be excluded;
• remedies for duplicate or unauthorised charges;
• non-delivery or failed licence fulfilment that YachtSoft does not remedy within a reasonable time; or
• rights available through PayPal or another payment provider under its applicable terms.

If a payment fails, is reversed, or is charged back without a valid basis, YachtSoft may suspend or revoke the associated key and access to updates while the matter is resolved.

Before opening a dispute, email mail.yachtsoft@gmail.com with the order reference and licence key so YachtSoft can investigate.

Nothing in these Terms excludes rights that cannot be excluded under the Seychelles Fair Trading Act 2022 or other mandatory law applicable to the customer.

9. Updates and support

Support and updates are available during an active annual term and during the five-year support period attached to a perpetual licence. Support covers the purchased product and major-version line; later major versions are separate products.

YachtSoft aims to respond to support email within one working day. This is a service target rather than a guaranteed resolution time.

When an annual licence expires, full paid features may stop working until the same key is renewed. A perpetual customer may continue using the last installed version in the purchased major-version line after the five-year update and support period ends.

10. Intellectual property

All rights in YachtSoft remain with the Seller and applicable licensors. These Terms grant only the use rights described here. YachtSoft trademarks, logos and product names may not be used without permission except for truthful reference to the product.

Designs and project material created by a customer remain the customer's material. YachtSoft claims no ownership of customer Rhino models, Grasshopper definitions or vessel designs merely because YachtSoft was used to create them.

11. Warranty disclaimer

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, YachtSoft and related services are provided as is and as available, without express, implied or statutory warranties, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy of design outputs or non-infringement.

YachtSoft does not warrant that the software will be error-free or uninterrupted, or that results will satisfy regulatory, classification or construction requirements. Nothing in this section excludes warranties that mandatory law does not permit the Seller to exclude.

12. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Seller and its contractors are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, business, goodwill or data arising from YachtSoft or these Terms.

Subject to non-excludable liability, the Seller's aggregate liability for direct damages is limited to the greater of:

• the fees actually paid for the licence giving rise to the claim during the 12 months before the event; or
• for a perpetual licence, the one-time fee paid for that licence.

Nothing limits liability for fraud, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or another liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.

Customers remain responsible for design, construction and operational decisions and for independently validating YachtSoft outputs before relying on them.

13. Suspension and termination

You may stop using and uninstall YachtSoft at any time. Uninstalling does not create a refund right beyond section 8.

YachtSoft may suspend or terminate a licence for a material breach, including licence sharing, circumvention, unlawful use, reverse engineering outside legally protected exceptions, or chargeback abuse. Where a breach can reasonably be cured, YachtSoft will normally provide notice and a reasonable opportunity to cure it.

On termination for breach, you must stop using YachtSoft and delete unauthorised copies. A paid perpetual licence will not be terminated solely because YachtSoft publishes new terms; termination for breach follows this section.

14. Privacy

Personal information is processed as described in the Privacy Policy. The shipping Rhino plug-in sends licence and trial activation information required to issue and validate entitlements. It does not send Rhino models, project geometry, usage analytics, crash reports or module-usage telemetry to YachtSoft during normal operation.

15. Changes to these Terms

Updated Terms apply to new purchases from their stated effective date.

For annual licences, updated Terms may apply to a renewal or the next annual period after reasonable notice. For perpetual licences, an update to these Terms does not remove the already-paid right to use the purchased major-version line indefinitely.

The version and last-updated date at the top identify the published document. Future checkout and the in-app acceptance gate may record the version accepted.

16. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Seychelles, excluding conflict-of-law rules that would require another jurisdiction's law, subject always to mandatory consumer protections that apply to the customer.

17. Dispute resolution

Contact mail.yachtsoft@gmail.com first and allow 30 days for good-faith informal resolution.

Either party may use the courts of Seychelles, or another court of mandatory jurisdiction that cannot be waived, for a qualifying small claim or non-waivable consumer claim. The proposed small-claim threshold is the greater of USD 5,000 or the licence fee paid for the disputed transaction and remains subject to Seychelles-qualified legal review.

Other unresolved disputes are intended to be resolved by binding, English-language arbitration seated in Victoria, Seychelles, before a single arbitrator under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. The arbitration is ad hoc. The proposed appointing mechanism and consumer-law carve-outs remain subject to Seychelles-qualified legal review before automated checkout is enabled.

Either party may seek interim court relief to protect intellectual property or prevent unauthorised use pending final resolution.

18. General

These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement about the purchase and licensing of YachtSoft, subject to an order that expressly grants additional rights.

If a provision is invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to the maximum extent permitted. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. The Seller may assign these Terms to a successor in connection with a sale or transfer of the business. The customer may not assign the licence except as section 6 permits.

The Seller is not liable for delay or failure caused by events outside reasonable control, including widespread internet outages, government action or third-party service failure.

These Terms are written in English. A translation is provided for convenience only; the English version controls to the extent permitted by law.

19. Contact

Phil Southwell trading as YachtSoft P.O. Box 111, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles Email: mail.yachtsoft@gmail.com Website: https://yachtsoft.app