Cotavue end-user licence agreement

Version 1, 24 October 2026. Draft, to be reviewed by a lawyer before the first sale. This is a translation for information: the French version prevails.

By installing or using Cotavue, you accept this agreement. If you do not accept it, do not install the software. If you bought it and refuse this agreement, you get a refund (section 9).

1. Who grants the licence

Cotavue is published by Cotanova, the trade name of a French sole proprietorship (micro-entreprise). Its full details (address, SIRET number) are in the legal notice on cotanova.fr. Contact: contact@cotanova.com.

In this agreement, "we" means Cotanova, "you" the person or organisation using Cotavue, and "the software" Cotavue, its documentation and its updates.

2. What the licence allows

We grant you a personal, non-exclusive and non-transferable (except section 5) right to install and use the software, for private or professional purposes, according to your plan:

• Trial: all features, for 14 days of use (only the days you open Cotavue count), with no account and no payment method.
• Reader: free, with no time limit, after the trial. You open and view all your files, navigate in 2D and 3D, show or hide layers and parts, and read properties. The other features (measurements, isolation, parts list, export, printing, conversion) need a paid licence.
• Solo: all features, for one person, on at most two computers at a time (for example a desktop and a laptop).
• Workshop: all features, for one organisation, on at most five computers at a time. A seat can be reassigned to another person in the same organisation.

3. Term: a lifetime licence

A Solo or Workshop licence is paid once and does not expire. It covers the version bought and all 1.x versions, updates included.

If a version 2 is released one day, it may be paid, with a reduced price for version 1 customers. Your 1.x licence keeps working with no time limit: nothing forces you to upgrade.

4. Licence key and activation

Your licence is a key, sent by e-mail after the purchase. The key is activated on the computer. An Internet connection may be needed once, at activation; after that, the software works offline. The licence check never blocks the opening of a file.

The key is confidential: do not publish it or give it to anyone your licence does not cover.

5. Changing computers, transferring the licence

To use Cotavue on a new computer, remove the licence from the old computer in the software ("Remove the license from this PC"), then activate the key on the new one. If the old computer is out of order, write to us: we release the seat.

You may transfer a Solo or Workshop licence to another person or organisation, once, provided you stop using it and tell us by e-mail. The transferred licence remains subject to this agreement.

6. What is not allowed

Unless we agree in writing, or the law expressly allows it, you must not:

• use the software on more computers than your plan allows;
• rent, lend, resell or share the software or the key, except under section 5;
• bypass or disable the key, the trial counter or the Reader mode;
• decompile, disassemble or modify the software. The right to decompile for interoperability, under article L. 122-6-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code, is not affected;
• remove copyright or licence notices.

7. Ownership

The software remains the property of Cotanova. The licence gives you a right of use, not ownership of the software.

Your files remain yours. Cotavue opens them on your computer and sends them nowhere. A conversion or an export writes a new file: the original file is never modified.

8. Open-source components

Cotavue contains open-source components, each under its own licence, which prevails for that component:

• Open CASCADE Technology (reading STEP and IGES files), under the GNU LGPL 2.1 with the Open CASCADE exception. These libraries are shipped in the "occt" folder of the installation: you may replace them with a compatible version. Their sources are available on request and at the address given in the "licences" folder;
• Rust libraries, mostly under the MIT and Apache 2.0 licences.

The full list and the texts of these licences are in the "licences" folder of the installation.

9. Refund and warranties

Refunded within 30 days, no questions asked: if Cotavue does not suit you, write to us within 30 days of the purchase. We refund you in full and the key is deactivated; the software goes back to Reader mode.

If you are a consumer, you also have the legal guarantee of conformity for digital content and services (articles L. 224-25-12 and following of the French Consumer Code, or the equivalent rules of your country). This agreement does not reduce any of your legal rights.

The software reads file formats published by other vendors. We test each version on hundreds of real files, but we cannot guarantee that a non-standard or damaged file displays completely: in that case, Cotavue displays what it can read and reports what it skipped.

10. Measurements: check critical dimensions

Cotavue computes measurements from the geometry stored in the file. Their accuracy depends on the file: drawing precision, scale, units, calibration for a PDF. Before manufacturing, inspecting or committing money based on a measurement, check it against the dimensions of the original drawing or with its author.

11. Liability

If you are a business, and as far as the law allows: the software is provided as is; we are not liable for indirect damage (loss of business, revenue or data, a part made wrong from an unchecked measurement); our total liability is limited to the price you paid for the licence.

If you are a consumer, our liability is the one provided by law.

Nothing in this agreement limits our liability for gross negligence or wilful misconduct, or for personal injury.

12. End of the licence

You may stop using the software and uninstall it at any time.

If you do not comply with this agreement, in particular section 6, we may end your paid licence after asking you by e-mail to remedy the situation, with no effect within 15 days. The key is then deactivated, without refund.

13. Updates and support

Updates to 1.x versions are free. We are not obliged to publish any, but we fix conformity defects as required by law. Support is by e-mail, at contact@cotanova.com.

14. Privacy

The software collects no personal data and sends no usage statistics. See the privacy policy on cotanova.fr.

15. Governing law

This agreement is governed by French law. In case of disagreement, write to us first: we look for an amicable solution. If you are a consumer, you may also use, free of charge, the consumer mediator named in our terms of sale, and go to the court of your place of residence. Between businesses, the courts of the place of Cotanova's registered office have sole jurisdiction.

The French version of this agreement prevails.