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Terms of Use

Last updated: June 2026

These Terms of Use govern access to and use of the publications, content, methodologies, and intellectual property made available through this website and through any materials distributed by Rivermessages LDA under the names The Coherence Standard and Relational Intelligence. By accessing this website or any associated materials, you agree to be bound by these terms.

1. Ownership of Intellectual Property

All content published on this website and within the publications distributed under The Coherence Standard series — including but not limited to the Relational Intelligence Manifesto, Book One: The Architecture, and all subsequent volumes — is the exclusive intellectual property of Rivermessages LDA (NIPC 516430068), a company registered in Portugal, and its named authors Elton Vecchietti and Sascha Loeffler.

Intellectual property covered by these terms includes, without limitation: all written content, editorial frameworks, structural models, diagnostic methodologies, named concepts, proprietary terminology, and the organisational architectures described or introduced across all publications and associated materials.

2. Trademark Notice and Prior Use

The following names, titles, and conceptual terms are asserted as the proprietary intellectual property of Rivermessages LDA and its authors by virtue of first public use, prior publication, and documented authorship, and are in the process of formal trademark registration:

• Relational Intelligence — as a named discipline and field of organisational study, as defined and published by Rivermessages LDA
• The Coherence Standard — as a publication series, body of work, and operational framework
• Coherence Debt — as a named diagnostic concept describing the accumulated cost of relational fragmentation in organisations
• Relational OS — as a named model describing the operating system of relational structure within an organisation
• Relational System — as used within the context of the Relational Intelligence discipline
• Cohere — as the trading name of the practice subsidiary of Rivermessages LDA

The absence of a registered trademark symbol (®) alongside any of the above does not constitute a waiver of rights. Rivermessages LDA asserts common law trademark rights in all applicable jurisdictions on the basis of prior and continuous use, original authorship, and documented public release predating any third-party use of the same or confusingly similar terms within the same field.

Any use of the above names, terms, or conceptual frameworks by third parties — whether commercial, academic, or editorial — without prior written authorisation from Rivermessages LDA constitutes an infringement of these rights.

3. Copyright

All publications, texts, documents, website content, and materials produced under The Coherence Standard and Relational Intelligence are protected by copyright law. Copyright is held by Rivermessages LDA and the respective named authors. All rights reserved.

No part of any publication or material made available through this website may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, adapted, translated, or incorporated into any other work — in whole or in part, in any form or by any means — without the prior written permission of Rivermessages LDA.

4. Permitted Use

Access to materials on this website is granted for personal, non-commercial reading only. Readers may reference, cite, or quote from publications in academic, journalistic, or professional contexts provided that full attribution is given — including author names, publication title, series name, and publisher (Rivermessages LDA) — and that such citation does not reproduce substantial portions of the work.

Any citation or reference to concepts originating in these publications — including Relational Intelligence, Coherence Debt, the Relational OS, and related frameworks — must clearly attribute the source. Presentation of these concepts as independently developed, or adoption of the terminology without attribution, constitutes misappropriation of intellectual property.

5. Prohibited Uses

The following are expressly prohibited without prior written authorisation from Rivermessages LDA:

• Commercial use of any content, concept, methodology, or terminology originating in these publications
• Reproduction or redistribution of publications or substantial portions thereof
• Use of proprietary terminology or named frameworks in competing products, services, or publications
• Training, fine-tuning, or otherwise incorporating content from these publications into artificial intelligence systems or machine learning models
• Creating derivative works based on the methodologies, frameworks, or structural models presented
• Claiming independent authorship or origination of concepts introduced in these publications

6. No Licence Granted

Nothing in these Terms of Use or in the act of granting access to this website or its publications constitutes the granting of any licence, right, or permission beyond that expressly stated herein. All rights not expressly granted are reserved by Rivermessages LDA.

7. Precedence of Authorship

The concepts, frameworks, terminologies, and methodologies presented across The Coherence Standard publications were developed, authored, and first published by Elton Vecchietti and Sascha Loeffler under the auspices of Rivermessages LDA. The dates of composition, editorial review, and public release are documented and verifiable. These records establish the precedence of authorship and origination for all intellectual property described in these terms.

Rivermessages LDA reserves the right to assert these precedence records in any dispute concerning the ownership or origination of the concepts, frameworks, and terminology contained in its publications.

8. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms of Use are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Portugal. Any disputes arising in connection with these terms or the intellectual property of Rivermessages LDA shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts of Lisbon, Portugal, without prejudice to the right of Rivermessages LDA to seek injunctive or other relief in any jurisdiction where infringement occurs.

9. Amendments

Rivermessages LDA reserves the right to amend these terms at any time. The date at the top of this page indicates the version in effect. Continued use of this website following any amendment constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

10. Contact

For licensing enquiries, permissions, or questions regarding these terms, contact Rivermessages LDA at hello@co-here.de or by post R. Luís de Freitas Branco, 42D, 1600-491 Lisbon, Portugal.