Terms & Conditions

ACID is the trading name of Anti Copying In Design Limited (ACID), an English registered company which has the company number No. 3402512 and Registered Head Office Fifth Floor, Suite 23, 63/66 Hatton Garden, London EC1N 8LE. ACID’s head office and address for all correspondence is Fetcham Park, Lower Road, Leatherhead, KT22 9HD. 

ACID is a membership organisation, committed to raising awareness and encouraging ethics, compliance and respect for intellectual property (IP) within corporate social responsibility.  By joining ACID you are joining an organisation which is committed to its objectives to the benefit of its members.

Prior to joining ACID all applicants must ensure that they read and understand the following Terms & Conditions. Please ensure that you also download, read and understand the Code of Conduct and ACID Membership Joining Criteria which are available at the bottom of this page.

What ACID Will Do

We will provide you with the necessary image files in order that you may incorporate the use of the ACID name and Member of ACID logo into your business strategy.  The member of ACID logo cannot be used in an inappropriate or offensive manner, nor can it be used in conjunction with external, independent IP courses without permission.  This is in contradiction of the exclusive agreement that ACID has reached with its selected IP legal affiliate panel upon whose specialist advice both ACID and its members rely.  ACID’s decision on the inappropriate use of the logo is final.

ACID IP Databank

We will also give you access to the ACID IP Databank as part of your membership. This facility is to encourage you, as a member, to lodge with ACID details of your designs in order that this may serve as a robust acknowledgement and evidence of your creation of your designs and can be used to assist in verification of creativity if you ever need such assistance.

Access to Legal Affiliates

ACID also provides access to ACID legal affiliate teams (through an online contact form) who can provide free initial legal advice.  Such advice is personal to you and not to be disseminated to the public.

Should you wish for an ACID legal affiliate to act on your behalf, such work will be undertaken at a discounted hourly rate for ACID members.

ACID Members agree to read and understand the Additional Legal Affiliate Information document from ACID which clarifies the benefits of initial free legal advice and reduced legal fees should they instruct an ACID legal affiliate, as well as the protocol for the conduct of disputes.  ACID Members consent to any lawyer, whether an ACID legal affiliate or otherwise, whom they instruct to represent them in relation to any dispute, discussing the matter with another ACID legal affiliate who is instructed to represent their opponent in the matter on a “without prejudice” basis at an early stage in order to explore the possibility of resolving the dispute amicably.

What We Expect From You

As a member of ACID we expect from you and you agree to the following:

1. to have the utmost respect for Intellectual Property and adhere to a strict anti-copying policy within your organisation
2. to promote ACID and its aims and to support ACID in its fight against IP theft
3. to pay your membership fees by the specified date
4. to adhere to the ACID Member Joining Criteria
5. to promote and maintain ethical standards of conduct and at all times deal fairly and honestly with the public and with the business community
6. at all times act in a professional manner and not engage in practices which would bring the design industry or ACID into disrepute
7. ensure that your designs and products conform with all relevant laws and regulations and that your employees and agents are fully aware of all such laws and regulations
8. not deliberately or knowingly copy the designs, products, name or trading style of another company or business
9. not to engage in any practice or activity which unfairly competes with the business or is detrimental to the goodwill or reputation of another company or business
10. In the event that a dispute arises between you and one or more ACID members concerning the origin, ownership or integrity of one or more designs or products, you agree to submit to the ACID Mediation Scheme (or another similar scheme approved by the ACID Committee) and to attend at least an initial session of no less than three hours in an attempt to resolve the dispute. This will not prevent ACID members seeking urgent interim relief in appropriate circumstances. In such cases, ACID should be notified that such steps are to be taken.
11. The use of the ACID logo in what is considered a derogatory or inappropriate manner or if it is used in conjunction with external, independent IP courses, training, CPD, mentoring sessions without permission is not allowed.  ACID’s decision is final.

Membership Fees

The membership fees are set out and published on the web site but may vary from time to time.

Membership fees are payable in full annually. 

ACID Membership fees can be paid by monthly direct debit instalments.  All members choosing this option will pay an annual administration fee of £10.00 plus VAT in addition to their subscription fee.  

Your liability for the membership fees is for the full year of joining and if you do decide that you no longer wish to be a member, but part of your membership fee remains unpaid, you will still be under the obligation to pay the remainder of any fee outstanding.

We do not store credit card details nor do we share member details with any third parties.

Cancelling Your Membership

ACID may end your membership at any time if you, in the reasonable opinion of ACID are in breach of any of these terms and particularly the obligations set out under “what we expect from you” as these are key to our objectives and our aims.

You may cancel your membership at the end of your subscription year by giving one month’s prior written notice in writing by email to [email protected] . This is particularly important for Direct Debit payers. 

Should you wish to return to ACID membership, following receipt of your annual subscription fee,  or payment of the first month’s Direct Debit instalment, we will grant you access to your previous records and IP Databank uploads.  You will also be assigned your previous Membership ID. 

What Happens When You Leave

When cancellation of your ACID membership takes effect, the licence you had for the use of the ACID name and logo is automatically revoked.

You agree to immediately remove the ACID name and logo from your publicity material, products, website and other media on which you have used the ACID name and logo. As you are no longer a member you cannot benefit from your prior association with ACID and we hope you understand that.

You will also need to consider what you wish to happen with any designs and documents stored for you on the ACID IP Databank.  If hard copies, you can choose for these to be returned to you for a fee, or destroyed at your written request,  When you receive written confirmation from us of your effective cancellation date you have the opportunity to choose the option you want by completing an online form.

Alternatively, we can continue to store your designs and documents for a further 12 months at the nominal cost of £25.00, after which we will contact you. In the event that ACID cancels your membership for breach of these Terms and Conditions, this option will not be available to you.

Any membership fees which remain unpaid must be paid within 30 days of cancellation of your ACID membership. We hope you understand that we are a not-for-profit organisation which relies on membership fees in order to promote its aims and objectives for the benefit of members. Whilst we allow members to pay by instalments this does not relieve you of the liability to pay the remainder of your subscription fee if you leave part way through a year.  We do not offer refunds of membership fees to any members who choose to discontinue membership part way through a year.

For the sake of clarity ACID Limited is the campaigning not for profit arm of ACID and ACID Marketplace Limited is the trading arm of the membership organisation Anti Copying In Design Limited (ACID), which processes membership fees.