Last updated: 28 September 2026
This policy explains what you can put into the Tech Toppers editor, how saving and sharing work, what happens to designs you share, and what we do about content that breaks the rules. It forms part of your contract with us.
1. What this policy covers
It applies to everything you put into the editor or send to us: your layout, colour choices, legends, patterns, icons, text and any artwork. It also applies to anything you post on our site, such as reviews or comments.
2. The short version
You keep ownership of your design. We only get the licences described here.
You can save designs to your account and come back to them.
You can share a design by link, with or without an account. Anyone with the link can use your design as a starting point in the editor — so only share it if you are happy with that.
Nobody can overwrite your original, and nobody can publish a version they have made from it.
You must not use anyone else's logo, brand, artwork or photograph without permission. For now, the editor does not support uploading images.
The public design library is not open to customers yet.
3. Your ownership, and the licences you give us
3.1 You own your design. We do not claim ownership of it and we do not sell it.
3.2 To produce your order, you grant us a licence to store, copy, adapt as needed to print, reproduce and print your design for producing, quality-checking and delivering your order, and for handling complaints, returns and our legal and accounting records.
3.3 To save and share your design, you grant us a licence to store it, display it back to you, and — where you have shared it by link — display and transmit it to whoever holds that link, and moderate or remove it. We need this to run the feature at all.
3.4 To market your design, we need a separate opt-in from you. That is never a condition of buying from us or using the editor. See the Marketing & Image Use policy.
3.5 These licences are non-exclusive, which means you can use your design anywhere else you like. They are royalty-free, which means we do not pay you for the uses described here, and you do not pay us.
3.6 The patterns and icons available in the editor belong to us or our licensors. Using them in a design does not give you ownership of them, and you must not copy or redistribute them outside the editor, or use them in a design you offer for sale elsewhere.
4. The rules for designs
You must not use, save or share anything that:
4.1 infringes anyone's intellectual property — copyright, trade marks, registered or unregistered design rights, or rights in a person's image. In practice: no third-party logos or brand names, no characters or artwork from films, games, anime, sports teams or brands, and no other artist's illustrations. "Found it on Google" or "it's free to download" is not permission.
4.2 contains another person's personal information, such as a name, address, phone number or email address, unless you have their permission.
4.3 includes a photograph or likeness of an identifiable person, unless you have their permission — and a parent or guardian's permission if they are under 18.
4.4 is unlawful, or promotes unlawful activity.
4.5 is hateful or discriminatory, or promotes hatred or violence against anyone on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or age.
4.6 is sexually explicit or pornographic, or sexualises anyone under 18.
4.7 harasses, threatens, bullies, defames or intimidates anyone.
4.8 promotes or gives instructions for self-harm, suicide or an eating disorder.
4.9 misrepresents who you are, or impersonates anyone.
4.10 suggests that we sponsor, endorse or are connected with you or your business, when we are not.
4.11 contains malware, or anything designed to interfere with our systems.
4.12 is otherwise something we would not be comfortable printing or showing to a customer.
5. Saving your designs
5.1 With an account. Designs you save appear in your own library, visible only to you. You can delete any design at any time, and you can download it as a PNG first.
5.2 Without an account. You can still create a design, and you can save it by link. We hold it in our database and give you the link. Keep the link safe: it is the only way back to the design, and because we have no record that the design is yours, we cannot restore a lost link, delete the design on your behalf, or attach credit to you. Creating an account fixes all three.
5.3 How long we keep them. We keep saved designs while your account is active. If you close your account we delete them. If an account is inactive for 24 months we email you, and delete the saved designs if we do not hear back. Where we need to keep something for tax, accounting or an ongoing dispute, we keep it only as long as that need lasts. See our Privacy Policy for the full retention schedule.
5.4 Keep your own copy. We do not promise to store a design forever, so download anything you would be upset to lose.
6. Sharing a design by link
6.1 You can share any design by link, whether or not you have an account. With an account the design is saved to your library as well; without one, we hold it and give you the link.
6.2 Anyone who holds the link can:
view the design;
order products with it;
open it in the editor and use it as a starting point for a version of their own.
6.3 Anyone who holds the link cannot overwrite your design, and cannot publish a version they have made from it. Your design stays exactly as you made it and stays available at your link.
6.4 So share on that basis. Keep the link private if you do not want anyone using your design as a starting point. We will not chase you about it, and we will not treat a leaked link as a breach — but once it is out, anyone holding it can do the things in 6.2.
6.5 You can revoke a link at any time, which stops it working. If a link leaks, tell us and we will revoke it for you.
6.6 Names. You can attach a designer name to a design. If you do, it travels with the design and stays attached to any version someone makes from it. We do not put a title on a shared design.
6.7 A shared design is not listed publicly, is not searchable, and is only visible to people who have the link.
6.8 We may disable a share link if we believe it breaches this policy or the law.
7. Using someone else's shared design (a remix)
7.1 Using a shared design as a starting point is fine. That is what share links are for. In this policy, a design you make from someone else's shared design is a remix.
7.2 Your remix is yours. It saves privately to your own library, and you can order products with it.
7.3 Your remix cannot be published. Not to the public library, not anywhere else. Only designs someone has made from scratch can be published, and only when the public library opens (see section 9).
7.4 The original designer's name stays attached to your remix. You must not remove it, hide it, or present your version as though it were the original.
7.5 You must not share your version in a way that suggests the original designer made or endorsed your changes.
7.6 The original designer's design remains theirs. Making a version of it does not give you any rights in their work, and does not make you the owner of anything except your own changes.
8. Your private library
8.1 Designs you save live in a private library on your account.
8.2 Only you can see it. Nothing in your private library is listed publicly, searchable, or shown to other customers.
8.3 You can delete any design at any time, and download it as a PNG first.
8.4 Any remix you make from someone else's shared design is saved here, privately, and stays here.
9. The public design library — not open yet
9.1 The public design library is not open to customers. At the moment we populate it ourselves. Nothing in this section applies to you today.
9.2 When we open it, this is how it will work:
Only designs built entirely from Tech Toppers patterns and icons can be published. Nothing containing an uploaded image or piece of artwork can be published.
Only designs started from scratch can be published. A remix can never be published.
Publishing is voluntary, and we approve every design at our discretion. We may decline one without giving a reason.
When you publish, you give a design name and a designer name.
Your design is shown publicly with your designer name, and other customers can use it as a starting point and order products printed with it.
You keep ownership of your design.
We may remove a published design at any time.
Publishing will earn store credit under a separate Design Library Rewards policy, which will set out how much, when it is paid, and how it can be spent.
We may withhold or reverse credit where a design is a trivial or bad-faith copy of another design.
9.3 We will tell you when the library opens, and update this policy before we do.
10. Moderation and enforcement
10.1 We may review any design or shared content, and may refuse, remove or disable it if we believe it breaches this policy, the Terms of Service or the law.
10.2 If you breach this policy we may: warn you; remove the content; unpublish a design; suspend or close your account; cancel affected orders; and, where appropriate, report the matter to the police or another authority.
10.3 Removals, and what happens to versions made from a design.
If you unpublish your own design, your link stops working and your name stops appearing on new orders. Versions other people made from your design stay in their own private libraries — those are their designs, not yours to withdraw.
If we remove a design because it breaches these rules, we may also remove designs made from it, to the extent they contain the same problem. If the problem was in something the other version does not contain, it can stay.
If we close an account for repeated infringement, every design from that account is removed.
10.4 We will tell you when we take action, unless telling you would be unlawful or would defeat the purpose.
10.5 Reporting content. If you believe content on our site infringes your rights, use the takedown process in section 14 of the Terms of Service, or email contact@techtoppers.co.uk with the subject line "Copyright Takedown Request".
10.6 We do not pre-screen. We do not check every design before it is saved or shared. Responsibility for a design rests with the person who made it. That said, once we know something is infringing or unlawful, we remove it.
11. If you are not sure
Ask us before you save or share. Email contact@techtoppers.co.uk and tell us where any artwork or element came from, and we will tell you whether we can print it. It is much cheaper and quicker to ask first than to deal with a complaint afterwards.