Terms and conditions

All communications with customers are treated confidentially. No documents, files or emails will be disclosed to another party outside Fablab Inc. or its subsidiaries without the written permission of the client.

Definitions

Fablab Inc. provides an array of services to its clients:

Rapid Prototyping: Prototype parts are manufactured from 3D files uploaded by our customers. These parts are made of materials that can mimic the properties and dimensions of the final part, but aren’t generally used as final products.

Manufacturing: Fablab Inc. provides functional parts production service with digital additive manufacturing technology. Fablab Inc. can also act as an intermediate for part fabrication.

Reverse engineering: The process consists of scanning a real object to create a realistic digital 3D model of the item.

Research and development (R&D): Design and manufacturing of functional prototypes, such as processes or systems, according to our customer’s specifications.

Orders

The following policy does not apply to R&D; this is decided case by case, in agreement with the customer.

Once the order confirmation has been received by Fablab Inc., electronically or otherwise, the order is considered firm. However, it can be canceled if no work has yet been carried out on the parts or files.

The customer may make a choice of color for some materials, provided that the color is available, and/or currently in stock. Fablab Inc. notifies the customer if a color is not available and will offer an alternative.

An order placed with the color choice “no preference” will be printed with the material available in the machine at the time of printing. The color tone can also be uneven within a part.

Fablab Inc. reserves the right to refuse an order. The reasons for this refusal may be technical, for instance (but not limited to this reason).

Deadlines

The deadlines indicated by the website are approximate and indicate an average duration per batch of production. For example, if the order exceeds the capacity of the machine, it will take more than one batch to finalize the order. Thus, it typically takes 6 business days (2 business days for a rush order) for a batch and 1 to 2 business days for each additional batch.  Production planning can occur on the same working day if the order is placed before 14h. For orders placed after 14h, planning begins from 9am the next working day and the deadlines are one day later. Thus, if an order placed on Friday at 15h, the production delay of 6 buiness days will begin the following Monday at 9am.

Customer Satisfaction

In the case of rapid prototyping, parts are provided only as a geometric representation of designs provided by the customer and are not intended for functional testing unless otherwise specified in the quote. Fablab Inc. will do its best to respect the estimated shipping dates.

For additive digital fabrication, specifications of tolerance and strength of materials are provided by the manufacturers of the equipment in our posession.

In the event of reverse engineering, Fablab Inc. ensures a level of consistency between the part supplied by the client and the computer model up to ± 0.005″. No warranty is provided for a 3D scan alone.

Intellectual property

All rights, including all copyrights, patents, trade secrets and trademark rights (defined as “intellectual property”) developed by the customer remain the property of the latter and Fablab Inc. pledges to respect them.

Confidentiality

Fablab Inc. and its affiliates recognize and accept that all specifications, documentation, and communications that refer to components submitted by the customer may contain valuable proprietary information, ideas and customer expressions (“Confidential Information”). Therefore, Fablab Inc. will take all necessary precautions (and will require from its employees and affiliates the same precautions) to keep the information confidential and not use or disclose such confidential information except those necessary to perform the requested services . The above obligations on confidentiality do not apply to information held by Fablab Inc. or its affiliates prior to disclosure by the client or the information developed by another party, or to information that is generally accessible publicly or to any disclosure required by law or by court order.

Waiver

The customer acknowledges the following limits of the technologies used:

1. Parts made by rapid prototyping or additive digital fabrication are not an exact replica, but only geometric representations that are not accurate in terms of precision, material composition and surface quality.
2. Pieces made by rapid prototyping or additive digital fabrication are mainly for visual purposes and are not guaranteed for functional testing, tooling, materials, or any real life use.
3. Customers are fully responsible for any use that is made of a prototype.

Customer Guarantees

The Customer warrants that (a) it has the right to supply part specifications to Fablab Inc. and its affiliates; (b) the use by Fablab Inc. or its affiliates of specifications and other documents provided by the customer to produce a prototype does not violate or infringe any intellectual property of a third party, and (c) any software or file customer supplied to Fablab Inc. and its affiliates will be free from viruses, Trojan horses or other dangerous data.

Compensation

The customer agrees to indemnify, defend and free from any responsibility Fablab Inc. and its directors, officers, employees and affiliates from any and all losses, liabilities, damages and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs) that they may suffer due to any and all claims, demands, actions or other proceedings made or incurred by a third party against one of them and resulting from (i) any claim that the specifications, prototypes or other materials provided to a company affiliate as part of an attack order on the intellectual property of a third party, or (ii) any use of a prototype by the Customer or its employees, agents or subcontractors.

Force Majeure

Fablab Inc., or its affiliates can not be held responsible for the disclosure of confidential information to the extent that such infringement is caused by external factors beyond their control, including, without limitation, in case of war, terrorism, natural disasters, or encryption failure during communication.

Applicable rights

These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of Quebec. Any dispute arising from these Terms and Conditions, including disputes relating to the validity of it, and any disputes related to the use of Fablab Inc.’s service, website or ordered and delivered models should be brought to the courts of Quebec.