These Terms of Service (“Terms”) explain the basis on which you may access and use the Genie platform and our AI Genie ‘Bot’, which can be accessed via our website as www.meetgenie.co, our mobile and desktop applications, and via certain other third party sites and/or platforms (collectively, “Genie”).
Genie is brought to you by Meet Genie Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with registered office at West Bush House, Hailey Lane, Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, SG13 7NY (“we”, “us” or “our”).
By registering for a Genie account, undergoing the ‘onboarding’ process, or otherwise accessing or using Genie, you agree to be bound by these Terms, as may be amended by us from time to time. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not click ‘accept’ and you must stop using Genie immediately.
Where you enter into these Terms on behalf of a company or other legal entity (whether incorporated or not) you warrant to us that you have the right to bind such company or entity to these Terms. Unless we have been informed otherwise, we are entitled to treat your acceptance of these Terms as your company’s acceptance of these Terms.
These Terms incorporate our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Acceptable Use Guidelines and any other documents referenced therein, each of which you also agree to be bound by when you register for a Genie account, undergo the ‘onboarding’ process, or otherwise access or use Genie.
For convenience, in these Terms:
Genie is a platform which acts like an automated talent agent, enabling registered Clients seeking to engage freelance contractors to publish Briefs, and to communicate and transact directly with Talent.
As the provider of the Genie platform, we do not provide, control, manage, offer, deliver or supply any Freelance Services. Clients alone are responsible for their Briefs and for booking and/or engaging Talent. Talent alone are responsible for provision of the Freelance Services. When a Client and Talent make or accept a booking via Genie, they are entering into a contract directly with each other. We are not a party to any contractual relationship between Clients and Talent, nor do we act as an agent in any capacity for any Talent (except as otherwise specified in the Invoicing and Payment Terms).
We have no control over and cannot guarantee:
We shall not be responsible or liable for any unavailability or unsuitability of a Brief or engagement, or for any acts or omissions of a Client, including non or late payment. We do not endorse any Client, Brief or engagement.
The Genie platform may contain links to third-party websites or resources (“Third-Party Services”). Such Third-Party Services may be subject to different terms and conditions and privacy practices. We are not responsible or liable for the availability or accuracy of such Third-Party Services, or the content, products, or services available from such Third-Party Services.
You agree to comply with:
You agree that you will not copy, decompile, modify, adapt or reverse engineer any part of Genie, allow others to use or access Genie, or use Genie in any manner that may be unlawful or that breaches our Acceptable Use Guidelines.
All intellectual property rights (including copyright, rights in data, trade marks and any patents or patent applications) in and to Genie and our services, and all associated goodwill, belong exclusively to us (or our respective licensors). You have no rights in or to Genie other than the right to use Genie in accordance with these Terms.
To the extent that the existence or use of Genie or any related service may infringe any law of a territory other than England and Wales, you are prohibited from such activity and this provision shall override all other provisions of these Terms.
We reserve the right to terminate your right to use Genie or terminate these Terms at any time for any reason (in our absolute discretion), including misuse of Genie by you. On termination, all rights granted to you under these Terms shall terminate immediately.
We may monitor, edit or remove any content made available by you or your use of Genie that, in our opinion, breaches the letter or spirit of these Terms, or for any other lawful reason, at any time.
We may change these Terms at any time by notifying you of a change when you next access Genie. The new terms may be displayed on-screen or be emailed to you, and you may be required to read and accept them to continue to use Genie.
Once you’ve registered for a Genie account, you will be able to access and use Genie. If you are registering a Genie account for a business, organisation or other legal entity, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to legally bind that entity and grant us all permissions and licenses provided in these Terms.
When registering, you must provide accurate and complete information as requested in the registration form, including the provision of your account details on any third party websites or social media platforms that may be required. Once you have been successfully registered, you may access Genie through such third party websites or platforms through which Genie makes its services available.
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the username and password and for all activities that take place in connection with Genie using your account, including use of the account by a third party. You must not do anything that may assist anyone who is not registered to gain access to your Genie account. You agree immediately to notify us in writing of any actual or suspected unauthorised use of your password or account or any suspected breach of security.
You may not use another person’s Genie account at any time without our permission. Following registration, we may allow you to access Genie in accordance with these Terms.
You may not register more than one Genie account unless we authorise you to do so. You may not assign or otherwise transfer your Genie account to another party.
You will be invited to use Genie by way of an email, which will contain a link to our onboarding typeform. During the onboarding process, we will ask you a series of questions about yourself, which will allow Genie to build and generate your profile on the platform.
Once you have completed onboarding, Genie will send you an email with your password and username to log-in to your new Genie account.
You confirm that all information you provide (or have provided) to us during the onboarding process is accurate and complete information.
As Talent, you may use Genie to:
When responding to Briefs, you acknowledge that you may be required to agree to the terms of our standard Non-Disclosure Agreement which we will supply to you. You agree that any intellectual property rights (including copyright) in Bespoke Materials will belong to the Client and you will enter into such further documentation as requested to confirm this You will retain ownership of intellectual property rights in your Personal Materials.
Without limiting your obligations under the Acceptable Use Guidelines, you must ensure that all Personal Materials and Bespoke Materials are your own original work which you own, and that you have obtained all necessary licences, consents and permissions from third parties with any rights in the Personal Materials and Bespoke Materials, including from any individuals featured in your Personal Materials or Bespoke Materials (or from an individual’s parent or legal guardian where they are aged under 16).
You agree not to do anything or submit any Personal Materials or Bespoke Materials that may infringe any third party intellectual property or other rights (including those of a Client) and agree to reimburse us on demand for all costs, damages, claims and losses we or the Client may suffer or incur as a result of or in connection with your breach of this requirement.
By accessing or using Genie, you warrant and represent to us that:
You may cancel an engagement or Brief you have agreed to carry out at any time before it begins, without financial penalty, via Genie. However, be aware that this behaviour may reflect poorly on you on the platform, and Clients may have the right to bring claims against you directly.
Clients can cancel a Brief at any time before the Brief begins. However, Genie encourages Clients to pay compensation to Talent where cancellation occurs within 7 days of the date the engagement was due to start. Where Clients cancel a Brief after the engagement has started, Clients must compensate Talent for any Freelance Services provided up until the date of cancellation
To request an amendment to a Brief, Talent are encouraged to liaise with Clients directly, or to “request a call back” and Genie will seek to facilitate the cancellation.
If you are offered and choose to accept an engagement for a Brief with a Client, you acknowledge that you are entering into a contract directly with that Client. You must:
If your behaviour fails to meet the standards as stated above, negatively impacts the Client and/or those involved, or otherwise damages the reputation of the Client and/or Genie, we reserve the right to terminate your right to use Genie.
In order to help Clients and Talent determine whether they fall “inside” or “outside” the scope of applicable IR35 legislation in the UK, Genie will ask you a series of questions about the terms of any engagement you accept. Genie will use the information you provide in response to these questions to give you an indication of whether IR35 may apply to your engagement. Genie will also use this information to help Clients formulate certain documentation required to evidence their compliance with IR35 legislation.
It is your responsibility to check and verify your status under IR35 legislation. The IR35 assessment made by Genie is an indication only, based on the information you provide to Genie. We accept no liability or responsibility for the accuracy of the initial IR35 assessment made by Genie. You are solely responsible for obtaining your own tax advice on the issue and for your own compliance with applicable tax laws. You agree to reimburse us on demand for all costs, damages, claims and losses we may suffer or incur as a result of or in connection with your failure to comply with IR35 and any other applicable tax laws.
For each engagement, the Client will choose whether to be invoiced for the Freelance Services directly by you (“Direct Invoicing”), or whether to have the invoicing process handled by Genie (“Genie Invoicing”).
Direct Invoicing
You must address and send all invoices directly to the Client for any fees to which you are entitled in respect of Freelance Services provided (the “Talent Fee”). You must provide us with an accurate and complete copy of any invoice you submit to the Client in respect of Freelance Services provided, to allow us to calculate the applicable fees owed by the Client to Genie (the “Genie Fee”).
Genie Invoicing
Once Freelance Services have been provided, each of the Talent and the Client will be asked to confirm the applicable Talent Fee payable by Client to Talent, via their respective Genie accounts. Genie will then generate an invoice addressed to the Client for both the Talent Fee and the applicable Genie Fee. Our third party payment service provider may handle the invoicing procedure and process payment of your Talent Fee.
Where the Client has opted for Genie Invoicing, you hereby authorise us and our third-party payment service provider to invoice and collect fees, and process payment, on your behalf. We will do everything we can to ensure the payment process runs as smoothly as possible, but we shall not be liable to you to the extent you suffer a loss or delay in payment due to a failure of our third party payment service provider.
You warrant that any information you provide to us for the purpose of our calculation of the Genie Fee shall be complete and accurate.
You may be engaged by a Client to work on a project or engagement as part of a team of Talent or in cooperation with other Talent (a “Team”).
Talent working as part of a Team will be required to invoice for Freelance Services provided separately (if Direct Invoicing is applicable), or alternatively Genie will process each Talent’s invoices as part of a Team separately (if Genie Invoicing is applicable).
Please note that if you cease to use Genie, any: (a) permanent engagement you accept with a Client, during the six months from the date you last worked for the Client; or (b) temporary or freelance work for the next 250 worked days, shall both continue to be subject to these Terms, and you must notify us of any such engagement immediately upon becoming aware of the same.
We aim to provide a platform and service that you enjoy using and we try to make sure that it is available and meets our users’ needs. However, we are not able to guarantee that Genie will always meet expected functionality, availability and/or other performance levels, especially as we are reliant on third parties. In particular, there may be times when Genie is unavailable due to maintenance or emergency works. We are not responsible for outages or disruptions of the internet and telecommunications infrastructure which are beyond our control and can lead to interruptions in the availability of Genie. Any guarantee, condition, representation or warranty which might otherwise be implied or incorporated into these Terms, whether by statute, common law or otherwise, is excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law. While we take reasonable steps to ensure that Genie does not contain or allow the introduction of any virus, malware, bugs or similar issues, we cannot guarantee this, and you should take the necessary precautions before using Genie.
Any views expressed using Genie are the opinions of the relevant users, and do not represent our views, opinions, beliefs or values. We are not responsible for the content of any Briefs. Where you have reason to believe that any such content is in breach of these Terms, infringes your rights (or third party rights), or is otherwise illegal, you agree to notify us. Where we receive a notification, we will take reasonable steps to investigate promptly. Once you have posted content using Genie, or submitted content to us for posting on Genie and such content has been posted, it may be shared and reposted by users, including on other websites or social media channels. Given the nature of the internet and social media, if your content is posted elsewhere online, others may have shared, commented on, or re-posted your content. While we may be able to remove content from Genie, we are not able to remove or control content from other websites or platforms.
Except as expressly stated below, you agree to keep confidential any information you obtain as a result of or in connection with Genie that is proprietary and confidential or which you might reasonably expect the discloser would regard as confidential, and you agree not to use any of that information or permit others to use that information other than to determine whether or not accept a Brief. The disclosure to you via Genie of Briefs or Clients and/or other information constitutes confidential information and must be strictly treated as such and not shared with any third parties.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event shall we be liable for any:
Our maximum aggregate liability to you in any calendar year, arising under or in connection with your use of Genie (whether for breach of these Terms, tort, negligence or otherwise) shall not exceed £1000.
Nothing in these Terms shall exclude or in any way limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or fraud or any other liability to the extent the same may not be excluded or limited as a matter of law.
You choose to use the Genie platform voluntarily and at your sole risk. The Genie platform is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, either express or implied.
You agree that some Briefs and Client engagements carry inherent risk, and by accepting engagements and providing Freelance Services, you choose to assume those risks voluntarily.
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to release, defend (at our option), indemnify, and hold us and our affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, directors, employees and agents, harmless from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, arising out of or in any way connected with (i) your breach of these Terms, (ii) your improper use of Genie, (iii) your interaction with any Client, response to a Brief or behaviour on a Client engagement, or (iv) your breach of any laws, regulations or third party rights.
By using Genie, you consent to us collecting and using personal data that you submit to us in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
You accept and agree that if you apply for a Brief advertised by a company not based within the European Economic Area or the UK, we may send your personal details outside of the European Economic Area or UK (as applicable) to assist with that introduction.
These Terms apply to the exclusion of all other terms, including any terms proposed or made available by you. These Terms are the entire agreement between the parties and neither party has relied on any prior representation by the other party (including misrepresentations whether innocently or negligently made).
If any of these Terms are determined by any competent authority to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable to any extent, such term, condition or provision will to that extent be severed from the remaining terms, conditions and provisions which will continue to be valid to the fullest extent permitted by law.
If you cease to use Genie or your access is terminated, all terms intended to survive shall continue to apply, including intellectual property, liability, privacy and confidentiality.
These Terms shall be governed by in accordance with the law of England and Wales and the English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising under or in connection with these Terms.
You must not use Genie (or submit or provide access to any content that may be made available using Genie) in any way that: