Terms of Use

AthStudio is a publishing platform operated by Athenium ("we", "us"). It lets publishers and authors ("you") prepare, publish, distribute and manage digital books sold to readers through the Plinth marketplace and reading applications.

Access to AthStudio requires an AthID account. You are responsible for keeping your credentials secure and for all activity under your account. Publishing-house accounts may add team members with roles (author, editor, approver, admin); the account admin is responsible for managing those memberships.

You retain all copyright and intellectual-property rights in the manuscripts, covers and other materials you upload. By publishing through AthStudio you grant us the licence required to operate the service: to process, store, format, encrypt, distribute and display your work to readers who purchase it, and to display metadata (title, author, cover, description) in marketplace listings and promotional placements you request.

You warrant that you hold the rights needed to publish the content you upload, that it does not infringe any third party's rights, and that it complies with applicable law. We may remove or refuse content that we reasonably believe breaches these terms.

When a book is published, a permanent ownership record for each sold copy is created on a public ledger. These records exist so that a reader's purchase is durable and portable — they do not transfer your copyright, and they cannot be altered or deleted by us or by you after sale.

Published editions are archived permanently. You can publish updated versions of a book at any time; readers receive the current version, and the edition each reader purchased remains preserved.

You may retire (archive) a book from sale at any time. Archiving stops new purchases. Readers who already own the book keep permanent access to it — this is a core promise of the platform and is not reversible by archiving, account closure, or termination of these terms.

You set your book's list price in AthStudio. Sales are processed through our payment providers. Platform fees, settlement timing, refund handling and payout arrangements are described in the publisher agreement and payout documentation applicable to your account; where a reader refund is granted under the marketplace refund policy, the corresponding sale proceeds are reversed.

You must not:

• upload content you do not have the right to publish;
• attempt to access other publishers' accounts, content or data;
• interfere with, probe or disrupt the service or its security measures;
• use the service to distribute malware or unlawful material.

We work to keep AthStudio available and reliable but do not guarantee uninterrupted operation. We may change, add or remove features. If we discontinue the publishing service, readers' access to purchased books is preserved under the ownership promise in section 4.

To the extent permitted by law (including the Australian Consumer Law, whose consumer guarantees are not excluded), we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss arising from your use of the service. Our total liability for claims relating to the service is limited to the fees we have retained from your sales in the six months before the claim.

You may stop using AthStudio at any time. We may suspend or terminate accounts that breach these terms. On termination, unsold drafts and working files may be deleted on request; published books follow the archive rules in section 5 — sold copies remain readable by their owners.

These terms are governed by the laws of Queensland, Australia, and the courts of Queensland have non-exclusive jurisdiction.

Questions about these terms: admin@athenium.au