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Effective date: 8 March 2026 · Last updated: 8 March 2026
This page consolidates the legal framework governing GVDworks services, intellectual property, content, and regulatory compliance. It supplements our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. In the event of a conflict between this page and a signed client service agreement, the service agreement prevails. The canonical plain-text version of these terms is maintained at giovannivandam.com/legal.
GVDworks is a trading name of GVD Holdings (HK) Limited, a company incorporated in Hong Kong under the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622). GVD Holdings (HK) Limited is the parent entity for consulting activities conducted under the GVDworks brand and technology ventures under Veldspark Labs. References to “we,” “us,” or “our” on this website refer to GVD Holdings (HK) Limited and/or Giovanni van Dam personally, as the context requires.
| Business Registration | BR 78025335 |
| Registered Office | Unit 2A, 17/F, Glenealy Tower, No. 1 Glenealy, Central, Hong Kong S.A.R. |
| Contact | [email protected] |
Company name is displayed in accordance with Section 659 of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622). Electronic agreements formed through this website are legally valid under the Electronic Transactions Ordinance (Cap. 553).
GVD Holdings (HK) Limited is a holding company and parent entity only. It does not provide consulting, advisory, technology, or any other professional services to companies incorporated in, headquartered in, or primarily operating in Hong Kong — whether directly or indirectly. All operational service delivery is conducted to clients outside Hong Kong. Giovanni van Dam does not accept engagements with Hong Kong-based entities.
All content on gvdworks.com — including text, graphics, logos, images, code, tools, calculators, and blog articles — is the intellectual property of Giovanni van Dam and/or GVD Holdings (HK) Limited, and is protected by:
© 2018–2026 GVD Holdings (HK) Limited. All rights reserved.
The brand names “Giovanni van Dam,” “GVDworks,” “Veldspark Labs,” “LeadScoutr,” “TokenPulse,” and “Stowd.it” and their associated logos are trademarks of Giovanni van Dam and/or GVD Holdings (HK) Limited. Unauthorised use of these marks is strictly prohibited.
All work product, deliverables, strategies, methodologies, frameworks, tools, code, and materials created by Giovanni van Dam and/or GVD Holdings (HK) Limited — in any capacity whatsoever, including consulting, advisory, directorial, SaaS development, pro bono, or volunteer work — is and remains the exclusive property of GVD Holdings (HK) Limited. No “work for hire” doctrine, implied assignment, course-of-dealing custom, or local employment law of any jurisdiction operates to transfer ownership of intellectual property away from GVD Holdings (HK) Limited. This applies regardless of whether work is performed on a paid or unpaid basis, and regardless of the jurisdiction in which the work is performed.
All pre-existing intellectual property of Giovanni van Dam and/or GVD Holdings (HK) Limited — including but not limited to tools, frameworks, methodologies, libraries, code repositories, templates, processes, know-how, training materials, and proprietary systems developed prior to or independently of any client engagement (“Background IP”) — remains the sole and exclusive property of GVD Holdings (HK) Limited at all times. No client, employer, partner, or third party acquires any right, title, or interest in any Background IP, regardless of whether it is used in, incorporated into, or referenced during an engagement.
All intellectual property created, developed, conceived, or reduced to practice by Giovanni van Dam and/or GVD Holdings (HK) Limited during or in connection with any engagement, in any capacity — including consulting, advisory, directorial, employment, SaaS development, pro bono, or volunteer work (“Foreground IP”) — is and shall remain the exclusive property of GVD Holdings (HK) Limited. This includes, without limitation: code, software, architectures, designs, strategies, business plans, marketing materials, reports, analyses, presentations, documentation, and any derivative works thereof.
Upon full and final payment of all fees due for a specific engagement, the client is granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable licence to use the specific deliverables produced for that engagement, solely for the client's internal business purposes. This licence:
Unless otherwise specified in a signed service agreement, individual service agreements may grant broader rights (including full assignment) at GVD Holdings' discretion. Open source components included in deliverables are subject to their respective open source licences.
GVD Holdings (HK) Limited and Giovanni van Dam retain the unrestricted right to reuse, repurpose, adapt, modify, commercialise, publish, and build upon any and all work product, methodologies, frameworks, tools, code, strategies, techniques, concepts, and approaches developed during or in connection with any engagement — across any other client, competitor, product, venture, SaaS offering, publication, training, or purpose whatsoever. No engagement creates an obligation of exclusivity over any work product, methodology, or approach.
No engagement, contract, advisory relationship, directorship, or other arrangement with Giovanni van Dam or GVD Holdings (HK) Limited creates any implied or constructive:
Giovanni van Dam and GVD Holdings (HK) Limited are free to engage with, advise, build for, and serve any party at any time, including direct competitors of existing clients. Any restriction on competition must be set out in an explicit, separately negotiated, and signed written agreement referencing this clause.
All general knowledge, skills, experience, ideas, concepts, know-how, techniques, and professional expertise acquired or developed by Giovanni van Dam during any engagement are freely retained and usable without restriction. No client, employer, or partner has any claim over general professional development, industry knowledge, or skills gained through working together.
The IP ownership provisions in this section apply equally to pro bono, charitable, volunteer, and unpaid work. The absence of payment does not create an implied assignment, transfer, or licence of intellectual property. Charitable organisations and pro bono clients receive the same limited licence described in Section 2.6 (without the payment condition), revocable at GVD Holdings' discretion.
Where Giovanni van Dam serves as a director, board member, or advisor to a company, all intellectual property created by him in that capacity — including strategies, business plans, technology recommendations, and operational improvements — remains the property of GVD Holdings (HK) Limited, subject to the following carve-out:
For the avoidance of doubt, general strategic advice, frameworks, methodologies, and approaches applied in a directorial or advisory capacity are not trade secrets of the company and remain the IP of GVD Holdings (HK) Limited.
No intellectual property is assigned by implication, conduct, course of dealing, custom, or operation of law. Any assignment of intellectual property from GVD Holdings (HK) Limited to any third party requires an explicit, signed written instrument specifically identifying the IP to be assigned, executed by a director of GVD Holdings (HK) Limited. Payment of fees alone does not constitute, imply, or evidence an assignment of intellectual property.
Clients retain all right, title, and interest in their data. GVDworks may create aggregated, de-identified data that cannot reasonably identify any client or individual. GVDworks retains rights to such aggregated data for benchmarking, service improvement, and publication of anonymised industry insights.
Hong Kong does not have a statutory trade secrets regime. Protection arises from the equitable doctrine of breach of confidence under common law. All client engagements include confidentiality obligations that survive termination for a minimum of three (3) years, or for as long as the information retains its status as a trade secret, whichever is longer.
If you believe content on this website infringes your copyright, please send a written notice to [email protected] including: identification of the copyrighted work, identification of the infringing material, your contact information, a statement of good faith belief, and a statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate. We will respond promptly to valid notices.
Without prior written consent, you may not:
For republication, syndication, translation, or commercial licensing requests, contact [email protected].
All blog articles, case studies, guides, calculators, and tools published on gvdworks.com are for general informational purposes only. They do not constitute professional, legal, financial, or technical advice and do not create a client-consultant relationship. You should not act on any information without first seeking qualified professional advice specific to your circumstances.
GVD Holdings (HK) Limited and GVDworks are not a licensed law firm, accounting firm, financial advisor, or regulated professional services entity. Our services relate to IT strategy, business development, and technology implementation. Nothing on this website or in any engagement constitutes legal, accounting, tax, or regulated financial advice.
When providing consulting or fractional CTO services, GVDworks acts in an advisory capacity as an independent contractor. GVDworks does not assume fiduciary duties to the client's shareholders or board. The client retains ultimate authority and responsibility for all technology decisions, vendor selections, hiring decisions, and capital allocation. Recommendations are based on professional judgement and information available at the time of delivery. GVDworks does not guarantee any specific business outcome, revenue increase, cost saving, or technical result.
All advisory deliverables, strategies, recommendations, frameworks, tools, and work product created during engagements are the exclusive intellectual property of GVD Holdings (HK) Limited. Clients receive a limited licence as described in Section 2.6. Full provisions are set out in Section 2 (Intellectual Property).
No engagement creates an implied non-compete, non-solicitation, or exclusivity obligation. Giovanni van Dam and GVD Holdings (HK) Limited are free to serve any party, including direct competitors, at any time. See Section 2.8 for full provisions.
GVD Holdings (HK) Limited does not provide consulting, advisory, or any professional services to companies incorporated in, headquartered in, or primarily operating in Hong Kong — whether directly or indirectly. The Hong Kong company is a holding and parent entity only; all service delivery is to clients outside Hong Kong. Giovanni van Dam does not accept engagements with Hong Kong-based entities.
AI and machine learning systems involve inherent uncertainty, including risks related to data quality, model accuracy, bias, and evolving regulatory frameworks including Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (EU AI Act). GVDworks does not warrant that any AI system will perform to specific accuracy thresholds, comply with all future regulations, or be free from bias. The client is responsible for validating AI outputs, conducting fairness and bias audits where applicable, and ongoing compliance with AI governance requirements.
GVDworks uses AI tools in certain aspects of its operations, including content drafting assistance, code generation, data analysis, and internal research. All AI-assisted outputs are reviewed, edited, and validated by qualified professionals before publication or delivery. GVDworks does not use fully autonomous AI decision-making in client engagements. Where AI plays a material role in a deliverable, this is disclosed to the client.
Software-as-a-Service products developed under Veldspark Labs (including but not limited to LeadScoutr, TokenPulse, and Stowd.it) are subject to the following terms in addition to the Terms of Service. Individual product terms, where provided, take precedence.
Access to SaaS products is provided under a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable licence for the subscriber's internal business purposes during the subscription term. Products are licensed, not sold. GVD Holdings (HK) Limited retains all right, title, and interest in the product and its underlying technology.
GVDworks targets 99.9% monthly uptime, excluding scheduled maintenance and force majeure events. Scheduled maintenance is communicated at least 48 hours in advance. Service credits for downtime (where applicable) are defined in the applicable product terms or order form and constitute the subscriber's sole and exclusive remedy for unplanned downtime.
Subscribers retain all right, title, and interest in data uploaded to or processed by the product. GVDworks processes subscriber data solely for the purpose of providing the product and in accordance with the subscriber's documented instructions. GVDworks does not sell, share, or disclose subscriber data to third parties except as necessary to deliver the product or as required by law. A Data Processing Addendum conforming to GDPR Article 28 is available upon request.
Upon termination or expiry, subscribers may export their data for 30 days in a standard machine-readable format (CSV, JSON). After the export period, GVDworks deletes or anonymises subscriber data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.
Any custom features, integrations, modules, or enhancements built for a specific customer remain the intellectual property of GVD Holdings (HK) Limited. The customer receives a licence to use such custom development during their active subscription. GVD Holdings (HK) Limited may incorporate custom developments into the general product offering for all customers at its sole discretion.
Subscribers may not:
To the maximum extent permitted by the Control of Exemption Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 71) and applicable law:
These limitations do not apply to liability for:
Nothing in these terms affects the implied terms under the Hong Kong Supply of Services (Implied Terms) Ordinance (Cap. 457) to the extent they cannot be excluded. If any limitation is found unenforceable under the Control of Exemption Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 71) or the reasonableness standard of Article 6:248(2) of the Dutch Civil Code, it shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable.
This page and the relationship between GVDworks and its users and clients are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, without regard to conflict of laws principles. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) does not apply.
Any dispute arising out of or in connection with GVDworks services shall, at GVDworks' election, be resolved by:
This choice of governing law and exclusive jurisdiction applies regardless of:
No separate agreement, engagement letter, purchase order, or other document overrides this governing law clause unless it is signed by a director of GVD Holdings (HK) Limited and expressly references “Section 8 of the GVDworks Legal Terms.”
Neither party is liable for failure or delay caused by circumstances beyond reasonable control, including natural disasters, pandemics, war, terrorism, government actions, sanctions, cyberattacks (including ransomware and DDoS), critical infrastructure failures, or outages of third-party cloud providers. The affected party must provide written notice within five (5) business days and use commercially reasonable efforts to mitigate impact. If the event continues for more than ninety (90) consecutive days, either party may terminate the affected services without liability upon thirty (30) days' written notice.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless GVD Holdings (HK) Limited, its directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the website, violation of these terms, or infringement of any third-party rights.
If any provision of this page is found unenforceable by a court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction, it shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable. The remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.
GVDworks may update this page from time to time. Material changes are posted with an updated effective date. For clients under active service agreements, material changes to engagement terms require written notice at least thirty (30) days in advance.
In the event of a conflict, the following order of precedence applies:
GVD Holdings (HK) Limited
Unit 2A, 17/F, Glenealy Tower, No. 1 Glenealy
Central, Hong Kong S.A.R.
[email protected]
This page is for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Consult qualified legal counsel for advice specific to your situation.