IP.com (“IP.com” or “Website”) offers access to a wide variety of services, patent publications, and other publications (“Services” or “Content”). IP.com republishes Content from various third-party sources and is not responsible for that Content. If you have questions or issues relating to third-party Content on IP.com, you should direct those to the sources of that Content, not to IP.com.

When you use any of the Services or Content found on IP.com, either individually or on behalf of a business or educational/research institution, you or that business or educational/research institution agree to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions.

IP.com also allows and enables the uploading of Content onto its servers and makes this Content available for search, discovery, and analysis. Some IP.com Services or Content may only be available by subscription, and you may choose to subscribe to one or more of those services as described below.

For the most part, these Terms of Use generally apply to the Services or Content that is publicly available on IP.com. Depending on the Service or the Content, or whether you have an existing business relationship with IP.com, more specific terms or conditions could supersede or supplement these Terms of Use.

Do not misuse our Content. For example, do not interfere with our Services or Content or try to access them using a method other than the interface and the instructions that we provide. You may use our Services or Content only as permitted by law, including applicable export and re-export control laws and regulations. We may suspend or stop providing our Services or Content to you if you do not comply with our terms or policies, or if we are investigating suspected misconduct.

Using our Content does not give you ownership of any intellectual property rights in the Content you access. You may not infringe the intellectual property rights associated with any Content. This does not restrict you from obtaining express permission from its owner or as otherwise permitted by law. These terms do not grant you the right to use any branding or logos found in our Content. Do not remove, obscure, or alter any legal notices displayed in or along with our Content. Unless otherwise notified at the time of access and as referred to above, IP.com does not and cannot offer any license or use in the Content you locate on our Website or any of its databases.

As stated above, most of the Website’s Content is not IP.com’s exclusive property. This Content is the sole responsibility of the entity that has provided the Content and made it available. We may review Content to determine whether it is illegal or violates our policies, and we may remove or refuse to display content that we reasonably believe violates our policies or the law. However, that does not necessarily mean that we review all Content, so please do not assume that we do.

Our Website presents Content using unique retrieval, access, and presentation methodologies. These methodologies are protected by our copyright.

You agree not to copy any Content on the IP.com Website (unless it is Content generated by you or you are permitted to do so by a license) or to modify, decompile, disassemble, create derivative works from, or otherwise reverse engineer any Content, the IP.com Website, or other computer programs or services associated with the IP.com Website. You may not, without the prior written permission of IP.com, use any computer code, data mining software, robot, bot, spider, scraper, or other automatic device, program, algorithm, or methodology having similar process or functionality, or any manual process, to deep-link to, redistribute, retransmit, republish, commercially exploit, display, or copy in bulk the content found on or through the IP.com Website.

By your use of our Content, either individually or on behalf of a business or an educational/research institution, you agree to hold harmless and indemnify IP.com and its affiliates, officers, agents, managers, members, and employees from any claim, suit or action arising from or related to the use of the Content or violation of these terms, including any liability or expense arising from claims, losses, damages, suits, judgments, litigation costs, and attorneys’ fees.

Your IP.com Account

You may need an IP.com account to use some of our Services or Content. In addition, you may create your own IP.com account, or your account may be assigned to you by an administrator, such as your employer or educational institution. If you are using an IP.com account assigned to you by an administrator, then different or additional terms may apply and your administrator may be able to access or disable your account.

If you create or are assigned an account with IP.com, then you are responsible for maintaining its security of your uploaded content, and you are fully responsible for all activities that occur under the account and any other actions taken in connection with the account. Please immediately notify IP.com of any unauthorized uses of your account, your Content, or any other breaches of security. IP.com will not be liable for any acts or omissions by you, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of such acts or omissions.

In connection with your use of the Website, we may send you service announcements, administrative messages, and other information. You may opt out of some of those communications.

Privacy and Copyright Protection

IP.com’s privacy policies explain how we treat your personal data and protect your privacy when you use our Website or its Content. By using our Website or its Content, you agree that IP.com can use such data in accordance with our privacy policy that is incorporated herewith.

If you submit feedback or suggestions about our Services or Content, we may use your feedback or suggestions without obligation to you.

We respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement and terminate accounts of repeat infringers according to the process set out in the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. For more information regarding compliance with the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act or any claimed infringement or dispute related thereto (counter-notice), please contact IP.com’s designated Copyright Agent, Joseph Barone, by mail at 370 Woodcliff Drive, Suite 301, Fairport, NY 14450 or contact us at https://ip.com/contact-us.

Submitting Content

You may submit Content to IP.com.

If you or any third party allowed by you posts or makes material, links, or other information available to the Website (previously defined as “Content”), you are entirely responsible for your Content as well as any harm resulting from that Content. That is the case regardless of whether the Content in question constitutes text, graphics, an audio file, computer software, or any other form.

You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that Content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours. Further, by making Content available, you represent and warrant that:

• the downloading, copying, and use of the Content will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret rights, of any third party;
• if your employer has rights to intellectual property you create, you have either (i) received permission from your employer to post or make available the Content, including but not limited to any software, or (ii) secured from your employer a waiver as to all rights in or to the Content;
• you have fully complied with any third-party licenses relating to the Content, and have done all things necessary to successfully pass through to end users any required terms;
• the Content does not contain or install any viruses, worms, malware, Trojan horses or other harmful or destructive content;
• the Content is not spam, is not machine- or randomly-generated, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing);
• the Content is not pornographic, does not contain threats or incite violence toward individuals or entities, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party;
• the Content is not getting advertised via unwanted electronic messages such as spam links on newsgroups, email lists, other blogs and web sites, and similar unsolicited promotional methods;
• the Content is not named in a manner that misleads your readers into thinking that you are another person or company. For example, your document name or any linked Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is not the name of a person other than yourself or company other than your own; and
• you have, in the case of Content that includes computer code, accurately categorized and/or described the type, nature, uses, and effects of the materials, whether requested to do so by IP.com or otherwise.

When you upload or otherwise submit Content, you give IP.com (and those with whom we work) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display, and distribute such content.

IP.com has the right (though not the obligation) to, in IP.com’s sole discretion, (i) refuse or remove any Content that violates any applicable law or regulation or IP.com policy or is in any way harmful or objectionable, or (ii) terminate or deny access to and use of the Website to any individual or entity for any reason. IP.com will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid.

Modifying and Terminating our Services

We are constantly changing and improving our Services and Content. We may add or remove functionalities or features, and we may suspend Services or Content altogether.

You can stop using our Services or Content at any time, although we will be sorry to see you go. IP.com may also stop providing Services or Content to you, or add or create new limits, and limit access to our Services or Content at any time.

We believe that you own your data, and preserving your access to such data is important. If we discontinue one or more of the Services, including by discontinuing the hosting of the Content on our Website, where reasonably possible we will give you notice in advance and a chance to remove your Content from that Service or Services.

Our Warranties and Disclaimers

We provide our Content using a commercially reasonable level of skill and care and we hope that you will enjoy using the Website and find it useful. Some factors are out of our scope of promise regarding our Content or the Website.

OTHER THAN AS EXPRESSLY SET OUT IN THESE TERMS OR ADDITIONAL TERMS, IP.COM, ITS PARTNERS, AND CONTENT-PROVIDERS DO NOT MAKE ANY SPECIFIC PROMISES TO YOU ABOUT THE WEBSITE OR ITS CONTENT. FOR EXAMPLE, WE DO NOT MAKE ANY COMMITMENTS ABOUT THE CONTENT, THE SPECIFIC FUNCTION OF THE SERVICES OR CONTENT, OR THEIR RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, OR ABILITY TO MEET YOUR NEEDS. THE SERVICES AND CONTENT ARE PROVIDED TO YOU “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”.

SOME JURISDICTIONS PROVIDE FOR CERTAIN WARRANTIES, LIKE THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE EXCLUDE ALL WARRANTIES.

Liability for our Services

WHEN PERMITTED BY LAW, IP.COM, AND ITS PARTNERS, WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUES, OR DATA, FINANCIAL LOSSES, OR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES.

TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE TOTAL LIABILITY OF IP.COM AND ITS PARTNERS, FOR ANY CLAIM UNDER THESE TERMS, INCLUDING FOR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES, IS LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US TO USE THE SERVICES OVER THE TWELVE- (12-) MONTH PERIOD PRIOR TO THE DATE THE CAUSE OF ACTION AROSE.

IN ALL CASES, IP.COM, AND ITS SUPPLIERS AND DISTRIBUTORS, WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE THAT IS NOT REASONABLY FORESEEABLE.

Third-Party Sites

As a convenience to you, IP.com may provide links to websites operated by other entities. If you use these websites, you will leave IP.com. If you decide to visit any linked website, you do so at your own risk and it is your responsibility to take all protective measures to guard against viruses or other destructive elements. When you access a non-IP.com website, you understand that it is independent from IP.com, and that IP.com has no control over the content, or your privacy, on that website. In addition, a link to a non-IP.com website does not mean that IP.com endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content, or the use, of such website.

About these Terms

IP.com is designed and intended for those who have reached the age of majority (18 years of age) and by using our Website you affirm that you are at least 18 years of age or older.

We may modify these terms or any additional terms that apply to our Content, for example, to reflect changes to the law or changes to our Content. You should look at the terms regularly. We will post notice of modifications to these terms on this page. If you do not agree to the modified terms for our Content, you should discontinue your use of the Website.

IP.com further makes no representation that the Services or Content found at this Website are appropriate or available for use at locations outside of the United States and access to them from territories where their Content is illegal is prohibited. You may not use the Website or export the Services or Contents in violation of U.S. export laws and regulations. You acknowledge that the Website, the Services and/or the information received through the Website or the Services may be subject to export control regulations and hereby agree to comply with all such export control regulations.  Without limiting the foregoing, you agree not to export or re-export any of the Website, the Services and/or the information received through the Website or the Services in violation of any export control regulations. If you access this Website from a location outside of the United States, you are responsible for compliance with all local laws.

The laws of New York, U.S.A. will apply to any disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms of Use or the Services or Content. All claims arising out of or relating to these terms or the Services will be litigated exclusively in the federal or state courts of Monroe County, New York, USA, and you and IP.com consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

IP.com does not offer legal advice; nothing we may provide should be used as a substitute for advice of appropriate counsel. Be aware that intellectual property law varies considerably from country to country, so some information presented here may not be applicable to you. Although we make every attempt to provide current information, we do not promise that everything on the Website is complete or up to date.

These terms control the relationship between IP.com and you. They do not create any third party beneficiary rights.

In the event that you do not comply with these terms, and we do not take immediate action, we do not relinquish any rights that we may have (i.e. to take action in the future). If a particular term proves non-enforceable, then this will not affect any other terms.