Terms and conditions of membership

1) Purpose and mission

IU exists to deter and remedy commercial concept theft, providing a membership-based record, storage, and protection framework. Aims:

• (a) pursue action including litigation against theft;
• (b) deter future theft through secure vaulting and enforcement;
• (c) help bring more viable ideas to market.

2) Key definitions

COMCEPT™: any idea, design, strategy, brand positioning, process or other innovation that creates commercial advantage and can reasonably be sold or licensed (a single idea or a related set, e.g. a pitch). Member: an individual or entity accepted into IU and current on fees. Vault: the member’s secure, time-sequenced record for each COMCEPT. Breach: unauthorized use, sale, disclosure, or making a COMCEPT unviable without agreed compensation.

3) Ethical directives

IU operates under eight ethical directives:

• Fairness;
• Originality;
• Value exchange;
• Control;
• Confidence;
• Privacy (IU does not view vault contents unless authorized by the member or a court);
• Sustainability;
• Rule of law.

4) What IU provides

A structured chronological record of COMCEPT creation, disclosures and interactions; a marketplace context for compliant sale and licensing; consideration of reported breaches, negotiation assistance, and — where viable and approved — full litigation management funded by IU; and evolving services.

5) Membership

Eligibility: professionals and qualifying organizations (generally fewer than 1,000 employees; larger by arrangement). Term: 12 months from registration; monthly, quarterly or annual schedules permitted; the commitment is annual regardless. Status: member names may be publicly listed.

6) Fees

Membership (which includes the first COMCEPT lodgement) and additional lodgements are fee-based. Beta-phase discounted pricing may apply. Refunds: COMCEPT registration fees are refundable within 48 hours of initial lodgement; membership fees are non-refundable. Recurrent revenues: where IU assists in court actions or in negotiating ongoing licenses, IU receives 25% of gross receipts for the life of the contract. Restoration of a lapsed membership may attract restoration fees (see clause 10). Payments must be current.

7) Vaulting and evidence

Vault each COMCEPT before any third-party presentation. Clearly state a COMCEPT’s IU registration (number plus confidentiality warning) in presentations and documents. IU will not open a vault without written member authorization or a court order. Capacity: each COMCEPT includes 100 GB of storage; more can be purchased. Members must maintain their own backups.

8) Data retention

IU retains the data associated with each COMCEPT for a minimum of seven years from the date it is lodged, or for as long as your membership remains current, whichever period is longer. IU does not promise to retain COMCEPT data indefinitely, with one exception: data placed under a litigation hold (clause 9). Once the applicable retention period has ended, IU may securely destroy the data associated with a COMCEPT. Because storage is not guaranteed to be permanent, members must maintain their own backups (see clause 7) and should not treat IU as their only copy.

9) Litigation hold

If IU is notified that litigation concerning a COMCEPT is on foot — whether that litigation is run by IU, by the member, or by any other party — the data associated with that COMCEPT is placed under a litigation hold. Data under a litigation hold is retained indefinitely, for so long as the hold remains in force, and is exempt from every retention limit, lapse and dormancy rule, and deletion process in these Terms — including the seven-year retention floor in clause 8 and the consequences of a lapsed membership in clause 10. A litigation hold overrides every other provision of these Terms concerning the retention or deletion of data.

10) Lapsed membership, dormancy and restoration

If your membership lapses (for example, because fees are not paid), the following applies:

• (a) Your previously lodged COMCEPTs are retained in accordance with clause 8, but they become dormant: they are no longer active, serviced, or protected by IU, and IU will not act on a breach, negotiate, or litigate in respect of a dormant COMCEPT. Dormant does not mean deleted — your data is retained, not destroyed — but it is not in active protection.
• (b) To renew after a lapse you choose one of two options:
  • (i) Restore your previously lodged COMCEPTs to active protection. Restoration requires payment of a restoration fee for each year that your membership was lapsed. These fees accumulate: the longer the lapse, the more years of restoration fee are payable. Once paid, your COMCEPTs return to active protection and servicing with their original lodgement records intact.
  • (ii) Rejoin with a lodged-COMCEPT count of zero. Your membership is reinstated but your previously lodged COMCEPTs are not restored to active protection, and your active lodged-COMCEPT count is set to zero. This does not delete your previously lodged COMCEPTs: they remain retained under clause 8 and dormant, and setting your count to zero is not a representation that they have been destroyed.
• (c) A member who rejoins under option (b)(ii) may still restore their previously lodged COMCEPTs later, by paying the accumulated restoration fee for each year of the lapsed period, provided the data is still within the seven-year retention window of clause 8. Once the retention window for a COMCEPT has passed and its data has been destroyed, it can no longer be restored.

In this clause, restore means returning a COMCEPT to active protection and servicing by IU. It does not mean recovering deleted data, because dormant data is retained, not deleted.

11) Storage costs

Today, the cost of storing your COMCEPT data is covered by your membership fees, or by a reciprocal entitlement through a partner professional association. IU reserves the right to introduce, vary, or restructure data-storage fees at any time, at its sole discretion. Any new or varied fee applies from its introduction and is not charged for periods before it was introduced.

12) Where and how your data is stored

IU is a global organization. IU may, at its sole discretion and without notice to members, store, process, duplicate, move, and archive COMCEPT data and other member data in any jurisdiction (inside or outside Australia, and inside or outside your own), with any provider, and on any storage medium, online or offline. IU is not obliged to identify to members where their data is stored, to notify members before or after their data is moved between storage locations, providers, or media (including being taken offline), or to hold data in any particular country. Wherever your data is held, IU takes reasonable steps to protect it. Nothing in this clause reduces IU’s obligations under clause 8 (data retention) or clause 9 (litigation hold): moving, duplicating, or archiving data never shortens the retention IU owes you. Where your data is disclosed to a recipient overseas, IU remains accountable for that data to the extent required by applicable privacy law; our privacy policy explains how we handle cross-border storage.

13) Public verification of registration numbers

IU intends to provide a public verification facility on the IU website. When available, any person will be able to enter a COMCEPT™ registration number into that facility. The facility returns only:

• (a) whether the number corresponds to a COMCEPT registered with IU;
• (b) whether that COMCEPT is currently in active protection or is dormant within the meaning of clause 10; and
• (c) if, and only if, you have chosen to publish one, a short public description of the concept of up to approximately 100 words.

Publication of a description is optional and is off by default. At lodgement you provide a title and description for your own records. That record is private. You may separately choose to publish a public description — either by electing to reuse your private description, or by writing different wording for publication. If you make no election, nothing describing your concept is published, and the facility confirms only registration and protection status.

The facility does not disclose the date on which a COMCEPT was lodged, the identity of the member who lodged it, how many COMCEPTs that member has lodged, or the contents of your vault. IU never discloses the material held in your vault.

The purpose of the facility is to allow a person dealing with a member to confirm that a claimed registration is genuine and is currently protected. You acknowledge that, because protection status is disclosed, a person searching a valid number belonging to a lapsed membership will learn that the COMCEPT is dormant and not in active protection.

A registration number is an identifier issued by IU. It is not, and IU does not represent it to be, proof of authorship, ownership, novelty, or priority of the underlying concept. Evidentiary weight rests on the cryptographic hash, the trusted timestamp, and IU’s custody of the material, as described in clause 7.

This facility is a forthcoming feature and is not yet available; its details may change before it is released.

14) Process overview

Join and vault → report breach (record it in the member portal, attempt settlement) → request assistance (authorize IU vault access, evaluate viability) → assisted negotiation (IU receives 25%) → litigation (IU funds and runs it; if successful, IU retains 25% plus full court-awarded costs and damages, where allowed). Once IU is engaged, do not contact the other party without consent.

15) Case viability and selection

IU proceeds where negotiation has failed; the evidence supports originality, timing, and use; success prospects are reasonable; the opponent can pay; damages are estimable; witnesses and evidence are available; and the COMCEPT was not presented or commercialised before registration. A six-month registration runway is generally required before IU litigates. IU has discretion to decline, pause, or withdraw.

16) Negotiation and litigation economics

Negotiated: member 75% / IU 25%. Court: member 75% / IU 25%, plus IU seeks full recovery of legal costs from the loser. Members are not liable for IU’s funding except in extraordinary circumstances (fraud, wilful misrepresentation, material non-cooperation) or by court order. Withdrawal or private settlement after IU commences: the member reimburses IU’s reasonable costs. “Reasonable offer” duty: if IU and counsel deem an offer reasonable, the member must accept it to continue funding. IU chooses the forum(s).

17) Member duties

Accuracy and honesty; compliance with IU processes and use of correct registration numbers and watermarks (abuse leads to suspension or termination); confidentiality notices before sharing; local-law compliance; contact updates within 30 days; joint ventures covered only if all parties are members and a JV form is lodged before disclosure.

18) Rights, transfers and disputes between members

By registering you confirm that you hold the rights. Transfers and sales are allowed; the acquirer must become a member (within 30 days if buying a business with registered COMCEPTs) and notify IU via a transfer form; breaks in the data trail can void support. Intra-member disputes: IU arbitration requires permitting IU to open the relevant vaults.

19) Security and privacy

Best-in-class protections are used, but nothing online is perfectly secure; members must use IU backup protocols. If an IU security breach causes third-party access and market use, IU pursues the perpetrators at IU’s cost.

20) Software and IP

No interference with IU systems (this is prosecutable). Brand use must follow IU guidelines.

21) Limitations and liability

Membership is no replacement for patents, and there are no guarantees of outcome. To the maximum extent permitted by law, IU excludes all liability — whether arising in contract, tort (including negligence), statute, or otherwise — for:

• (a) indirect or consequential loss of any kind, including loss of profit, revenue, opportunity, business, or goodwill;
• (b) loss, corruption, unavailability, delay in retrieval, or destruction of COMCEPT data or other member data, however caused, including loss arising from the jurisdiction or location in which data is stored, the storage provider or medium used, or the movement of data between locations, providers, or media under clause 12; and
• (c) unsuccessful outcomes and ordinary negligence, except where fraud or wilful misconduct is proven.

Where liability cannot be excluded — including under the consumer guarantees in the Australian Consumer Law — IU’s liability is limited, to the extent the law permits, to resupplying the relevant service or paying the cost of having it resupplied. Nothing in this clause excludes, restricts, or modifies any right or guarantee that cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted, or modified, and nothing in this clause limits IU’s obligations under clause 9 (litigation hold). You acknowledge, as clause 7 requires, that you must maintain your own backups of every COMCEPT and must not treat IU as your only copy. A good-faith standard applies.

22) “Ask” setting and valuation appeals

IU and the member agree a settlement “Ask” before assisted negotiation. Valuation disputes may go to an independent appeals board whose decision is final for IU funding.

23) Courts, venue and appeals

IU may select the jurisdiction(s) and pursue or defend appeals at its discretion, in consultation with the member.

24) Notices and communications

Updates are handled per IU process; avoid direct contact with the alleged thief once IU is engaged.

25) Public signalling

IU may publish member status to deter theft. COMCEPT lists are not public by default; vault contents remain private unless authorized or court-ordered.

26) Payment, settlement and collections

IU’s share and fees are payable at or before the member’s receipt of funds; IU may manage collections.

27) Amendments and final terms

IU may update these Terms at any time; the latest version supersedes any prior version.

28) Summary of core numbers

• Member 75% / IU 25% of recoveries;
• recurrent licenses negotiated with IU: 25% to IU for the life of the contract;
• refund window: 48 hours;
• membership term: 12 months;
• data retention: at least seven years, or the life of your membership if longer (indefinite under a litigation hold);
• vault before disclosure required;
• six-month window before litigation;
• comprehensive, time-sequenced evidence;
• no direct contact once IU is appointed.

These Terms are a working draft and are currently under review by our legal advisers.