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Version 1.1 · as of 2026-10-22

Licence terms for Melanite

Who may use Melanite for what, what a Commercial licence covers, and who is responsible for the safety of an installation.

Draft: this version is still being reviewed by counsel. Until then the page is noindex.

§ 1 Scope

  1. These licence terms govern the use of the software “Melanite” (also “Melanite IO”), including device and container images, updates and the accompanying documentation (the “Software”). The Software is provided by rterials GbR, Gartenstraße 5a, 54472 Veldenz, Germany (“we”, “us”). The terms apply to every person and every organisation that installs or uses the Software (“you”).
  2. By installing or using the Software you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, you may not use the Software.
  3. Our order process is conducted by our online reseller Paddle.com. Paddle.com is the merchant of record for all our orders: if you buy a licence, you conclude the purchase contract with Paddle.com, and payment, invoice, VAT, withdrawal and the warranty arising from the purchase are governed by its terms. We grant the rights to use the Software under these terms.
  4. The Integrator tier and source-code or white-label licences are governed by separate written agreements. These terms apply in addition, unless those agreements provide otherwise.
  5. Your own terms and conditions do not apply, even if we do not expressly object to them.

§ 2 Definitions and commercial use

  1. A “device” is every instance of the Software — every installation running on its own hardware, in its own virtual machine or in its own container. Several instances running at the same time are several devices. This includes the clients of a fleet: a client is a complete Melanite instance that can also run on its own, and therefore counts as a device of its own.
  2. “Private use” is use by a natural person for purposes that are predominantly outside their trade, business or independent profession.
  3. “Commercial use” is any use by or for a company, a self-employed person, a public authority, an association, a foundation or any other organisation — whether or not it generates revenue. It includes in particular:
    1. machines, installations and products containing the Software that are delivered, sold or rented to third parties;
    2. use in your own operation, for example in production, test rigs and laboratory equipment, for dashboards and displays, in building services and in energy monitoring;
    3. lighting, signage and displays in shops, restaurants, hotels and venues;
    4. setting up and commissioning the Software for customers.
  4. By way of exception to paragraph 3, the following is permitted without a Commercial licence:
    1. use in teaching at schools, universities and other educational institutions;
    2. non-commercial academic research; research carried out for or paid by a company is commercial use;
    3. evaluation under § 4.

§ 3 Community licence

  1. For private use and for the cases in § 2 (4) we grant you, free of charge, the simple, non-transferable right, unlimited in time and territory, to install and use the Software on your devices.
  2. Under the Community licence, interfaces provided by the Software show the notice “Powered by Melanite” (the “badge”). You may not remove, hide or alter it.
  3. The Community licence carries no entitlement to support, to updates or to any particular quality of the Software.

§ 4 Evaluation by companies

  1. A company or other organisation may evaluate the Software free of charge before buying: for up to 30 days per device, counted from the first installation on that device.
  2. During the evaluation the Software may not be used in production, to control installations in live operation, or in front of customers.
  3. After the period ends, further use requires a Commercial licence; otherwise use on that device must stop.

§ 5 Commercial licence

  1. Upon full payment we grant you the simple, perpetual right to use the Software commercially as well — on as many devices as you have bought licences for.
  2. The Commercial licence additionally entitles you to hide the badge under § 3 (2) by means of the licence key (“white label”).
  3. The licence is evidenced by a digitally signed licence key, which you retrieve from the customer portal. Whoever holds the key can use the licence — keep it confidential. You may use a key on no more devices at the same time than it covers licences; a key bound to a device is valid for that device only.
  4. If a device fails or is replaced, you may move the licence to the replacement device once the Software is no longer used on the old one. Technical limits of the customer portal, such as waiting periods for re-binding a key, remain unaffected; support helps in such cases.
  5. We provide support by email to the extent described at purchase. Response times apply only where separately agreed.

§ 6 Limits of use, your content, open source

  1. Unless these terms or mandatory law permit it, you may not:
    1. remove, circumvent, alter or imitate the licence check, licence keys, the badge or copyright notices;
    2. sell, rent, lend or sublicense the Software — except for a transfer under § 7 and for machines or products each covered by a Commercial licence;
    3. modify, decompile or otherwise reverse-engineer the Software.
  2. Your rights under §§ 69d and 69e of the German Copyright Act (UrhG) remain unaffected — in particular to make a backup copy, to observe and test the Software, and to decompile it to the extent permitted by law to achieve interoperability.
  3. Your content stays yours: node graphs, HMI pages, scenes, configurations and data that you create or process with the Software belong to you. We acquire no rights in them.
  4. The Software contains third-party components under open-source licences. Those licences take precedence for those components; these terms do not restrict the rights granted there. Where such a licence requires the source code to be made available, we provide it on request.

§ 7 Transfer

  1. You may pass a Commercial licence on to a third party together with the device on which it is used — for example when you sell a machine with Melanite inside. A licence that is not bound to a device may also be passed on without a device.
  2. The condition is that you no longer use the Software under that licence afterwards, delete your copies of the licence key, and that the recipient accepts these terms. Let us know about the transfer so that we can assign the licence to its new holder in the customer portal.
  3. The Community licence is not transferable; anyone can obtain it themselves.

§ 8 Safety and responsibility for your installation

  1. Melanite is not a safety controller. The Software has not been developed or certified to functional-safety standards (such as IEC 61508, ISO 13849 or IEC 62061). You may not use it for safety functions — in particular not for emergency stops, the monitoring of protective devices, or any other function on which the protection of people depends.
  2. Safety functions must be implemented with components certified for that purpose that act independently of Melanite. The Software may display the state of such components, but may neither take over nor replace their safety function.
  3. Whoever builds, operates or places on the market a machine, installation or system using the Software is responsible for its safety — including the risk assessment, the conformity assessment and CE marking under the applicable rules (for example the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC or the Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230), and the design, testing and commissioning of the control logic.
  4. You must review and test control logic, HMI pages and configurations that you create yourself or with the AI assistant before using them on a real installation. Suggestions from the AI assistant can be wrong.
  5. You are responsible for configuring your device securely, in particular for credentials, network separation and installing updates.

§ 9 Data and third-party services

  1. The Software processes your data locally on your device. The licence check runs entirely offline; no data is sent to us for it.
  2. If you use functions that connect third-party services — for example the AI assistant with your own API key — the data flows directly between your device and that provider, and its terms apply.
  3. How we process data on our website and in the customer portal is set out in the privacy policy.

§ 10 Updates

  1. We may provide updates; these terms apply to them. There is no entitlement to updates or to particular future features. Statutory update obligations towards consumers remain unaffected.
  2. Our servers are not required to operate the Software. We are under no obligation to keep online services available for its operation.

§ 11 Licence verification (businesses only)

  1. This section applies if you are a business (Unternehmer) within the meaning of § 14 of the German Civil Code (BGB). On request, you confirm to us in text form within 30 days on how many devices you use the Software commercially and which licences you hold for them. We ask at most once per calendar year, unless there are concrete indications of under-licensing.
  2. If there are concrete indications of under-licensing, we may have the licensing checked by an independent expert bound to confidentiality — at most once per calendar year, with at least 14 days' notice, during normal business hours and with as little disruption to your operation as possible. We bear the cost of the check unless it reveals under-licensing of more than 5 percent.
  3. You purchase any missing licences at the list price then in force.
  4. This arrangement takes the place of any technical monitoring of licence use.

§ 12 Contractual penalty (businesses only)

  1. If a business within the meaning of § 14 BGB uses the Software commercially without the required Commercial licence and has removed, circumvented or manipulated the badge, the licence check or a licence key in doing so, it promises a contractual penalty for each device affected. We determine its amount at our reasonable discretion; in case of dispute it can be reviewed by the competent court.
  2. The contractual penalty is credited against any claim for damages. Further claims remain unaffected.

§ 13 Liability

  1. We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act, for fraudulently concealed defects, and where we have given a guarantee.
  2. Where the Software is provided free of charge (Community licence and evaluation), we are not liable beyond that. For defects we are liable in that case only if we fraudulently concealed them.
  3. Where the Software is provided for payment (Commercial licence), we are liable for slight negligence only for breach of material contractual obligations — obligations whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance you may regularly rely — and only for the foreseeable damage typical of the contract.
  4. In the case of paragraph 3, our liability for loss of data is limited to the effort that would have been needed to restore it had regular backups appropriate to the risk been kept.
  5. Contributory fault — in particular use contrary to § 8 — is taken into account under § 254 BGB.
  6. These limitations also apply in favour of our partners, employees and agents.

§ 14 Term and termination

  1. The Community licence applies for as long as you comply with these terms. It lapses if you use the Software commercially contrary to these terms or remove the badge without a Commercial licence.
  2. The Commercial licence is perpetual. We may terminate it only for good cause, in particular if payment finally fails, or if you seriously breach these terms despite a warning.
  3. If the purchase price of a Commercial licence is refunded — under our refund policy or through a chargeback — the licence ends with the refund, including on devices that are not connected to the internet.
  4. When a licence ends, you stop using the Software under that licence and delete the related licence keys from every device. §§ 11 to 13 survive.

§ 15 Changes to these terms

  1. For a purchased Commercial licence, the version of these terms in force at the time of purchase applies. We do not subsequently restrict the rights of use arising from it.
  2. For the Community licence and for new versions of the Software, the version in force when you obtain them applies. The current version is at melanite.io/de/legal/lizenzbedingungen; we send earlier versions on request.

§ 16 Final provisions

  1. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer habitually resident in another country, the protection of that country's mandatory provisions remains unaffected.
  2. If a provision of these terms is invalid, the remaining provisions stay valid; the statutory rule takes the place of the invalid provision.
  3. The German version is binding. The English translation is for information.
  4. Contact: rterials GbR, Gartenstraße 5a, 54472 Veldenz, Germany, info@melanite.io.

This is a translation for information. The German version is the binding one.

Version 1.1 · as of 2026-10-22