Skip to main content

Terms and Community Guidelines

1) Terms of Use

Access to and use of DesignSpark is provided by RS Components Limited on the terms set out below. By accessing and using DesignSpark you agree to be bound by these terms and Community Rules.

These terms and our Privacy Policy are subject to change from time to time without notice so should be checked regularly. Continued use of this website will be deemed acceptance of the updated or amended terms.

2) Registration and use of DesignSpark

In order to participate in and contribute to DesignSpark, you are required to register with DesignSpark. Any personal information will be collected in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Certain applications provided on DesignSpark may also require a separate registration before use. You agree to use DesignSpark only for lawful purposes, for your own personal or internal business use. You agree not to use DesignSpark in any way which infringes the rights of, restricts or inhibits anyone else’s use and enjoyment of DesignSpark.

Users of DesignSpark Software tools agree to comply to the End User Licence Agreement (EULA). Copies of EULA’s are available within each DesignSpark tool.

Any payment you make for your use of the Third Party Sites and any personal data you share as part of this will be processed by our payment partner FastSpring whose terms and conditions and privacy policy will apply.

3) Copyright

All RS Components trade marks, design rights, patents and other intellectual property rights on this website are vested in RS Components Limited or its licensors. Any products, technology or processes and their handbooks or materials may be subject to intellectual property rights owned or licensed by us or third parties. All copyright notices in the original materials must be retained.

You shall retain your rights in any content you submit, post or display on DesignSpark. You grant RS Components Limited a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, copy, reproduce, process, modify, publish, transmit and display the content on any other RS site or for any other purposes. You confirm that you have all the necessary rights to grant RS Components Limited this licence.

RS Components Limited is not responsible for any file downloads. Materials downloaded from other users may be subject to restrictions and limitations as may be asserted by them.

This website may not modified, disassembled, decompiled or reverse engineered in any way. No part of DesignSpark may be reproduced or stored in any other website without our permission. Any FAQ or tutorial or other content made available for your convenience on the DesignSpark website is strictly intended for you as a DesignSpark user and you must not reproduce or use it for any other purpose or share it in any way. 

Certain applications on DesignSpark require you to licence source code using an open source model. Where this is the case it is your responsibility to understand and comply with the open source licensing model and it is your responsibility to choose the most appropriate open source licence type from the options made available to you. You understand that unless you choose an open source licence type for these applications, you will be unable to share content.

4) Community Rules

You agree to use DesignSpark in accordance with the following Community Rules.

Content

You may NOT post:

  • Anything that is confidential in nature.
  • Any facts that are inaccurate or any opinions that are not genuinely held.
  • Anything that could be interpreted as self-publicity. This includes spamming, posting the same or similar message across many discussions,
  • Advertising (including pyramid selling and chain letters), selling or soliciting, anything unlawful or offensive – do not, for example, send or post material that is indecent, racist, defamatory, harassing, threatening, seditious, blasphemous, fraudulent or contravenes the applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the US or the country in which you reside.
  • The personal details of others or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person.
  • Any third-party material that infringes any legal rights such as copyright or other proprietary rights.
  • Anything which is technically harmful including viruses, logic bombs, Trojan horses, corrupted data or other malicious software.

Style

  • Members may not shout at other members by posting in all capital letters.
  • Please consider your use-of-language for those whose first language is not English.
  • Always exchange ideas in a civil and measured manner

Responsibility

You will:-

  • Accept responsibility for all material that you publish on DesignSpark.
  • Always acknowledge the name of the source of any third-party material legitimately quoted or referred to.
  • Not quote any member who specifically requests not to be quoted
  • Not intentionally misquote another member or any DesignSpark representative.
  • Not abuse the facility to send an individual member a personal message.
  • Keep your password confidential at all times.
  • Not disrupt the normal flow of conversations within DesignSpark or act in any way to the detriment of other users.
  • Respect the spirit and tone of DesignSpark.

Monitoring

  • RS Components Limited is not responsible for monitoring or moderating the services and discussions on DesignSpark. We exclude all liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of DesignSpark.
  • Please report any transgressions to DesignSpark, including any misuse of the personal messaging facility.
  • Do not misuse the channels for complaint – persistence may result in action by RS Components Ltd in respect of your account.
  • RS Components Limited reserves the right to review, refuse or delete any contribution which we consider in breach of the Community Rules, or take action against any user account, at any time, for any reason.

5) Breach of Website terms

If we consider that you have breached any of these Website Terms of Use or Community Rules we may take such action that we consider appropriate such as:

  • Immediate temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to participate in DesignSpark and/or removal of any of your contributions or material on DesignSpark;
  • An issue of a warning and possibly legal action;
  • Any other action that we deem appropriate.

6) Disclaimers

The content posted on DesignSpark is created by members of DesignSpark and us to provide an open discussion forum. RS Components Limited is not responsible for any conduct of, or content posted by, DesignSpark members including but not limited to any errors or omissions in any content or any loss or damage caused as a result of any content posted, e-mailed or otherwise available from DesignSpark.

Your access to and use of DesignSpark and DesignSpark Applications (including but not limited to, DesignSpark PCB, DesignSpark Mechanical, 3D CAD Models, Footprints and Symbols) is at your own risk. DesignSpark is provided on an AS-IS basis. RS Components Limited makes no warranties, representations or undertakings about:

  • any of the content of this website (including, without limitation, any as to the quality, accuracy, completeness or fitness for purpose of any such content);
  • Any drawings, dimensions, materials or product data; or
  • any content of any other website referred to or accessed by hypertext links or otherwise through this website ('Third Party Site').

RS Components Limited shall not be liable for damages, losses (whether direct, indirect or consequential), expenses, liabilities, loss of profits or costs resulting from the use of, access to, or reliance upon the information given by its employees, agents or subcontractors in relation to, contained in or available through, its website.

RS Components Limited does not endorse or approve the content of any Third Party Site, nor will RS Components Limited have any liability in connection with any of them (including, but not limited to, liability arising out of any allegation that the content of any Third Party Site infringes any law or the rights of any person or is obscene, defamatory or scandalous).

RS Components Limited does not warrant that functions, materials and information available on this website (and/ or linked to this website) will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that this website or its server are free of viruses or bugs and other items of a destructive nature. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and virus checks (including anti-virus and other security checks) to satisfy particular requirements for the accuracy and security of the data input and output.

7) General

The failure or delay of RS Components Limited to exercise or enforce any right in these terms does not waive its right to enforce that right.

These terms shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and Wales which shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes.

8) RS Group plc

RS Group plc is the publicly quoted parent company which owns RS Components. For full details of the RS Group of companies, please click on the blue link. When we refer to "we" "our" or "us" we mean RS Group and each of its companies within the RS Group plc.

Need help?

Visit our Support Centre to find out how else we can help you