Terms of Service

The agreement

These Terms of Service set out the rules that govern your use of the website at highseek.mom and the scouting services offered by High Seek Limited. By browsing the website, submitting an enquiry or commissioning a run, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the website or the services.

These terms operate alongside any written engagement agreement signed by the Company and the client. Where the signed agreement addresses a subject in more detail, the signed agreement prevails for that engagement. These terms continue to apply to the website and to any subject the signed agreement does not cover.

High Seek Limited is a company registered in Hong Kong at Rm 2404 New Trend Centre, 704 Prince Edward Rd E, San Po Kong, Hong Kong - 999077, Hong Kong (HK). The Company provides computer systems design and related professional, scientific and technical services, including market sweeps, shortlist dossiers, watch briefs, signal checks, competitor map reviews and intro call sittings.

Definitions

The following words carry the meanings given below throughout these terms, unless the context requires otherwise.

• Company, we, us and our mean High Seek Limited.
• Client means the person or organisation that commissions a run, whether directly or through an authorised representative.
• Website means the pages served at highseek.mom and any subdomain of that address.
• Services means the scouting runs described on the services page, together with any related work agreed in writing.
• Run means a discrete piece of scouting work, such as a market sweep, dossier, watch brief, signal check, competitor map review or intro call sitting.
• Deliverable means any brief, dossier, map, note, written record or verbal findings provided as part of a run.
• Confidential Information means information that is not public and that a reasonable person would treat as sensitive, whether or not it is marked confidential.

Headings are included for convenience and do not affect the interpretation of any clause.

Who may use the service

The services are intended for businesses, public bodies and professional teams. By commissioning a run, you confirm that you are at least eighteen years old and that you have authority to bind the organisation you represent.

If you use the website as an individual without an organisational role, you may browse the public pages freely. Any enquiry you send is treated as a professional enquiry, and the desk may ask for confirmation of your role before discussing any client matter.

We may decline to provide services to any person or organisation at our discretion, for example where a request falls outside our technical competence, where accepting it would create a conflict with an existing client or where the request appears to be unlawful.

Use of the website

You may read, print and share the public pages of the website for your own professional use. You may link to the website from your own materials, provided the link does not suggest a partnership or endorsement that does not exist.

You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the website, interfere with its operation, copy it wholesale for republication or use automated tools in a way that degrades the service for other visitors. The desk welcomes referrals and linking; it does not welcome scraping that treats the tower room as a free data source.

We work to keep the website available, but we do not promise uninterrupted access. Maintenance, security measures and events outside our control may cause a page to be unavailable for a period, and we accept no liability for a delay caused by such an event.

Commissioning a run

An engagement begins when the Company accepts a written brief from the client and, where required, the client confirms the fee and timing in writing. A general enquiry, an intro call or a conversation about a possible run does not create a binding engagement on its own.

Each brief should name the blind quarter to be studied, the plot selected, the desired output, the intended audience and the date by which the deliverable is needed. The desk will confirm what it understands, raise any question about scope and correct anything it cannot commit to before work starts.

Where a client asks for a change to an accepted brief, the desk will assess the effect on scope, timing and fee and confirm the revised position in writing. Work on the change begins only after that confirmation.

Fees and payment

Fees for a run are stated in the brief or the accompanying proposal. Unless the brief says otherwise, fees are quoted exclusive of any applicable taxes, duties or bank charges, which are added where the law requires.

Invoices are issued according to the schedule in the brief. Where a schedule is not stated, the desk issues an invoice on delivery of the deliverable. Payment is due within thirty days of the invoice date unless the brief provides a different period.

Late payment may attract interest at a reasonable commercial rate from the due date until payment is received. Where an invoice remains unpaid beyond a stated grace period, the desk may pause work on any open run and withhold further deliverables until the account is settled.

Fees for research time already spent are not refundable merely because a client later decides that a run is no longer needed. Where a run is cancelled before any research begins, the desk will refund any prepayment less reasonable administration costs.

Delivery of briefs

The desk delivers briefs digitally, usually as a document sent by email or through a shared folder agreed with the client. A live walk through is offered for dossiers, watch briefs and competitor maps, and a client may ask for one at no additional fee during the term of the run.

Delivery dates are given in good faith and are based on the information available when the brief is accepted. If a delay becomes likely, the desk will tell the client promptly, explain the cause and propose a revised date.

Deliverables are written for the audience named in the brief. If a client shares a deliverable more widely, the desk is not responsible for how a reader outside that audience interprets the content.

Client responsibilities

A good brief produces a good brief. We ask clients to provide accurate context, to name the decision the run is meant to inform and to respond to clarifications within a reasonable time. Delays caused by incomplete context are not the responsibility of the desk.

Where a client provides information about a third party, the client confirms that it has a lawful basis for sharing that information and that the desk may use it for the purpose of the run. The client must not ask the desk to obtain information through deception, unauthorised access or any method that would breach the law or the rights of another person.

The client is responsible for deciding what action to take on the basis of a deliverable. The desk supplies research and analysis; the commercial, technical and legal decisions that follow remain with the client.

Acceptance of deliverables

A deliverable is considered accepted when the client confirms acceptance in writing, or when fourteen days pass after delivery without a written objection that identifies a material departure from the brief.

If a client objects within that period, the desk will review the objection and, where the deliverable does not meet the brief, correct it at no additional fee. Where the objection concerns a matter outside the accepted brief, the desk will treat it as a request for additional work and quote accordingly.

Minor differences in wording, structure or length that do not affect the substance of a finding are not grounds for rejection. The desk writes to a consistent house style, and a client that prefers a different style may request adjustments before the run begins.

Intellectual property

The website, its design, its written content and the internal methods used by the desk are owned by High Seek Limited or used under licence. Nothing in these terms transfers ownership of those materials to a visitor or client.

On full payment for a run, the client receives a perpetual, non exclusive licence to use the deliverable for its own internal business purposes, including sharing it with its advisers and decision makers. The client may not resell a deliverable, publish it as its own research or distribute it to the public without written permission from the Company.

The desk retains the right to reuse general knowledge, methods and unconnected observations developed during a run, provided that no confidential information of the client is disclosed. Case study references are used only with written permission, as described in the confidentiality section.

Confidentiality

Each party agrees to keep the Confidential Information of the other party secure and to use it only for the purposes of the engagement. This obligation applies to written material, spoken information and anything observed during a visit to the other party premises.

The obligation does not apply to information that is already public without a breach of these terms, that was lawfully known before the engagement, that is independently developed without use of the other party information, or that must be disclosed by law or by a competent authority. Where disclosure is required, the party subject to the requirement will give the other party prompt notice where the law allows.

Confidentiality obligations survive the end of an engagement for a period of five years, or for as long as the information remains commercially sensitive if that is longer. Client names are treated as confidential and are not used in marketing until the client confirms in writing that the desk may do so.

Research standards and limits

The desk works from published sources, lawful observation and conversations with people who agree to speak. We do not misrepresent our identity, we do not obtain material through unauthorised access and we do not ask a counterpart to breach an obligation owed to a third party.

Every dossier and brief carries a source line for each factual claim. Where a fact cannot be confirmed, the deliverable says so. A finding marked as unconfirmed is not a warranty that the underlying fact is true; it is an honest statement of the evidence available at the time of writing.

Markets move. A brief reflects the position at the time it was written, and the desk is not responsible for a change that occurs afterward. Where a client needs a continuous view, a watch brief desk is the appropriate instrument, because it is designed to update the position on a fixed cadence.

Third party material

Deliverables may quote or summarise material created by third parties, such as filings, reports, standards and public statements. That material remains the property of its owner. The desk uses it under fair dealing, licence or public availability, and attributes it in the deliverable.

A client that republishes third party material from a deliverable must satisfy itself that the republication is permitted. The desk licence covers the analysis and original writing in the deliverable, not the third party material that the deliverable summarises.

Links in a deliverable or on the website to third party sites are provided for convenience. The Company does not control those sites and accepts no responsibility for their content, availability or practices.

Warranties and disclaimers

The Company warrants that the services will be performed with reasonable skill and care by people competent to carry out the work, and that the deliverables will materially conform to the accepted brief.

Except as stated above, the services and the website are provided as they are. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Company disclaims all other warranties, whether express or implied, including any warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, non infringement or uninterrupted availability.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the total liability of the Company arising out of or in connection with an engagement, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, is limited to the fees paid by the client for the run giving rise to the claim.

The Company is not liable for loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of anticipated savings, loss of business opportunity, loss of goodwill or any indirect or consequential loss, even where the Company was advised of the possibility of such loss.

Where multiple claims arise from the same facts or series of facts, they are treated as a single claim for the purpose of the cap. A claim must be notified to the Company within twelve months of the date on which the claimant first knew, or ought reasonably to have known, of the facts giving rise to it.

Indemnity

A client will indemnify the Company against any claim, loss or expense arising from information the client supplied that was inaccurate, misleading or provided in breach of a third party right or a legal obligation.

A client will also indemnify the Company against any claim arising from the client use of a deliverable in a way that is outside the licence granted in these terms, including republication of third party material without the necessary permission.

The Company will indemnify a client against any claim that the original analysis in a deliverable infringes the intellectual property of a third party, provided the client has used the deliverable within the licence granted and has notified the Company promptly of the claim.

Termination

Either party may end an engagement by giving written notice where the other party commits a material breach and fails to remedy it within fifteen days of a written request to do so.

A client may end an engagement for convenience by giving written notice. Where a run is ended for convenience, the client pays for research already performed and for any non cancellable commitment made on the client behalf, and the desk delivers any work in progress on request.

The Company may suspend or end access to the website or the services immediately where it reasonably believes that a client has acted unlawfully, has attempted to breach the security of the website or has placed the desk in a position that conflicts with a legal or professional obligation.

Clauses dealing with confidentiality, intellectual property, liability, indemnity, payment of accrued fees and governing law survive the end of an engagement.

Privacy and data protection

The Company handles personal information in accordance with its Privacy Policy, which is published on this website and forms part of the way the desk operates. By using the website or commissioning a run, you acknowledge that the Privacy Policy describes how information is collected and used.

Where the Company processes personal information on behalf of a client, it does so as a processor and follows the documented instructions of that client. A separate data processing schedule may be agreed where the engagement involves personal information at a scale that makes one appropriate.

Both parties agree to notify each other promptly of any personal data breach that affects information shared under the engagement, and to cooperate in the response in a way that meets the parties respective legal obligations.

Non solicitation and conflict

During an engagement and for twelve months afterward, neither party will knowingly solicit for employment a person who was directly involved in the engagement, except through a general public advertisement that is not targeted at that person.

The desk will tell a prospective client where it believes that an engagement would create a conflict with an existing client duty. Where a conflict cannot be managed with appropriate safeguards, the desk will decline the run rather than place one client in an unfair position.

Nothing in this clause prevents a client from working with any other adviser, nor the desk from serving other clients in the same sector, provided that confidential information is protected as described in these terms.

Prohibited conduct

You must not use the website or the services to break the law, to infringe the rights of another person, to transmit malicious code, to attempt unauthorised access to a system or to harass any member of the desk.

You must not present a deliverable as a guarantee of a market outcome, nor use the desk research to mislead a counterpart into believing that a fact has been verified when the deliverable marks it as unconfirmed.

Where the desk reasonably believes that a request would require unlawful conduct, it will decline the work, explain the reason in general terms and, where appropriate, report the matter to a competent authority.

Force majeure

Neither party is liable for a failure or delay in performance caused by an event beyond its reasonable control, including a natural disaster, an epidemic, a war, civil unrest, a failure of a public telecommunications network, a widespread power outage or an act of a government authority.

The party affected by such an event will notify the other party promptly, will take reasonable steps to reduce the effect and will resume performance as soon as it is able. If the event continues for more than sixty days, either party may end the affected engagement by written notice without further liability, save for payment of work already performed.

A force majeure event does not excuse a party from paying an invoice that was already due before the event began.

Notices

Formal notices under these terms must be in writing. Notices to the Company should be sent by email to reach@highseek.mom and by post to Rm 2404 New Trend Centre, 704 Prince Edward Rd E, San Po Kong, Hong Kong - 999077, Hong Kong (HK). Notices to a client are sent to the email address or postal address named in the engagement brief.

A notice is treated as received on the next working day after sending by email, or five working days after posting by ordinary mail. A notice sent by courier is treated as received on delivery.

Either party may change its notice address by giving written notice under this clause. A change takes effect when the notice is received.

Governing law and disputes

These terms and any engagement are governed by the laws of Hong Kong. The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Hong Kong for the resolution of any dispute, except that either party may seek urgent relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Before starting proceedings, the parties will attempt in good faith to resolve a dispute through discussion between senior representatives. The discussion period is thirty days from a written notice of the dispute, unless both parties agree to extend it.

Where the dispute is not resolved through discussion, the parties may agree to mediation before proceedings. Nothing in this clause prevents a party from seeking an interim injunction where delay would cause serious harm.

General provisions

These terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any signed engagement agreement, form the entire agreement between the parties on the subjects they cover. Each party confirms that it has not relied on a statement outside those documents in entering into an engagement.

If a clause is found to be invalid or unenforceable, it is removed to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining clauses continue in full force. A failure to enforce a clause on one occasion does not waive the right to enforce it later.

A party may not assign an engagement without the written consent of the other party, except to a successor in connection with a reorganisation of the business, provided the successor agrees to be bound by these terms.

No person who is not a party to these terms may enforce any of its provisions. The contract between the parties is made in the English language, and the English version prevails over any translation.

How to contact us

Questions about these terms, a request for a signed engagement agreement or a note about a possible conflict should be sent to the contact desk. We answer questions about the terms before a brief is signed, because a clear start avoids a difficult conversation later.

These terms are reviewed periodically and may be updated to reflect changes in the way the desk works or in the law that applies to it. The date at the top of this page shows when the current version became effective.