Terms and Conditions for Access
Introduction
Please read these Terms and Conditions carefully as they contain important information about your rights and obligations. We recommend that you keep a copy of these Terms and Conditions.
About Us
Patently Limited (“Patently”) is the owner of patently.com, the domain upon which we host and provide the services (“Services”) called Patently®.
Patently is in the business of collecting, organising, and making patent information (“Patent Data”) derived from various patent offices and other third party sources available via the Patently database, for informational purposes.
Your Access and Acceptance of these Terms and Conditions
These Terms and Conditions govern your access to the Services. Your right of access to the Services is governed through the access credentials you set up when Patently sends you an email (“Invitation to Access Email”) inviting you to access the Services, and your setting up of those credentials shall constitute your unqualified acceptance of these Terms and Conditions as an Authorised User.
If you are accessing Patently on behalf of a company or other organisation, you represent that you are accessing the Services in connection with your trade, business or profession, and that you have the authority to bind that company or organisation to these Terms and Conditions. Accordingly, the terms “you” and “your” as used herein will refer to that company or organisation. If you do not have, or no longer have, such authority, or if you do not agree with these Terms and Conditions, you may not use the Services and must inform us thereof with immediate effect.
These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between Patently and you relating to the Services, and any and all prior or contemporaneous written or oral agreements existing between the parties are hereby superseded and cancelled.
Changes to these Terms and Conditions
We reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions at any time. All amendments to these Terms and Conditions will be made available via Patently. Continued use of the Services will be deemed to constitute acceptance of the new Terms and Conditions. No other terms or changes to these Terms and Conditions will be binding unless agreed in writing signed by us.
Your Use of Patently
Unless explicitly agreed otherwise in writing, the Services may be used only by an individual to whom an Invitation to Access Email is sent to and may be used solely for internal business purposes (“Customer”).
Use of the Services does not confer any ownership in any of the intellectual property which exists in the Patently database, including without limitation any copyright and database rights subsisting therein, nor in any other intellectual property which is provided as part of the Services. Further, no licence to use the intellectual property is conferred save as explicitly set out in these Terms and Conditions. Patently owns all rights relating to suggestions or ideas for improvement of the Services, and you hereby assign all such rights to Patently.
You acknowledge that Patently has made substantial effort and investment in the processing of the information in the Patently database, and its presentation via the Patently user interface, and that you shall treat the Patently user interface as confidential. You acknowledge that the database is an original compilation of the Patent Data, and that the manner in which the compilation has been produced is a trade secret of Patently and shall be treated as confidential.
You may not:
copy any part of the Patently database, nor create any derivative work;
reverse engineer, disassemble or decompile any part of the Patently database;
copy any part of the Patently user interface;
attempt to circumvent any user limits or other license, timing or use restrictions that are applied to the Services,
use, access or allow access to the Services in any manner to provide services to any party other than a customer of Patently;
sell, license, supply, display or lease the Services or any content derived via the Services to any party; or
use any address data or other data identifying parties to contact those parties for advertising, promotional or spamming purposes, or to offer to administer intellectual property rights.
You will immediately notify Patently in writing of any event or action that causes or may cause unauthorised access to, disclosure of, or publication of the Patently database, or parts thereof. You will provide reasonable assistance to prevent any further access or disclosure.
Third Party Databases
The content of the Patently database is derived from third party databases and the provision of the Services relies upon the data in those third party databases. The production and maintenance of these third party databases is outside our control; the data is not always accurate or rendered in the most accessible manner. Whilst Patently uses algorithms and other processing means to correct for these deficiencies, no warranty is given or implied as to the completeness or accuracy of the data, and we are not liable for any loss arising as a result of omissions or inaccuracies in these third party databases or from the processing by Patently of this data.
External Site Links
Patently gives you access to external site links; these links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only. Patently bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality, or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.
No Warranty
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Patently make no warranties, either express or implied, about the Services. The Services are provided on an “as is” basis, without any warranties as to the accuracy of the information or fitness for any particular purpose.
We do not warrant that the Services will meet your individual requirements. We are not responsible for any people, equipment, deliverables or services that we are not expressly stipulated to provide in these Terms and Conditions. You are responsible for any people, equipment, deliverables and services that you need to obtain from someone other than us. Except for any matter in relation to which we specifically agree in writing to advise or do, we shall not be responsible, or have any Liability for advising on, or failing to advise on, or doing, or failing to do, anything else.
No Guarantee
We do not warrant that the Services will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure from unauthorised access, or that they will meet your individual requirements. Whilst we use our reasonable endeavours to make the Services available, we shall not have any liability to you if for any reason the Services are unavailable for any time or for any period. We make no warranty that your access to the Services will be uninterrupted, timely or error-free. Due to the nature of the Internet, this cannot be guaranteed. However, we will use our reasonable endeavours to ensure availability.
Improvements
We reserve the right, at any time, to carry out repairs, maintenance or introduce new facilities and functions in respect of all or any part of the Services.
Termination
We may suspend and/or terminate the provision of the Services at any time if these Terms and Conditions are not complied with; if any associated agreement or arrangement under which the Services are delivered to you provides for such suspension and/or termination; or if we are investigating any suspected non-compliance.
Storage of Information
You may be permitted to annotate search results and record and save other information (“User Content”) on the Patently computer systems as part of the Services.
You are responsible for your User Content. Absent agreement to the contrary, Patently will not necessarily review User Content and gives no undertaking as to the accuracy of any User Content.
You will not store any User Content which comprises material that is defamatory, offensive, illegal, or which violates the rights of third parties.
You will not create any User Content that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the Patently computer systems.
You acknowledge that Patently may preserve and/or disclose User Content if required to do so by law.
Patently reserves the right to delete User Content at its discretion.
Upon the termination of this Agreement for any you will be responsible for obtaining all User Content as required for the purpose of your use; all such content may subsequently be deleted by Patently from its computer systems.
Limitation of Liability
Patently will in no event be liable for indirect or consequential damages, lost profits or anticipated revenues, loss of data or reputational harm. You should not rely on Patent Data provided without consulting qualified advisors, nor without verifying all information with any relevant patent offices directly.
To the extent liability cannot be limited entirely by law, we limit our liability to a maximum amount corresponding to any amount paid for the Services by you in relation to the preceding 12 month period.
General
Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall create or be deemed to create a partnership or joint venture or relationship of employer and employee or principal and agent between the parties. This agreement binds and inures to the benefit of your successors and assigns and our successors and assigns.
The Customer authorises Patently to use its name and logo for the purpose of identifying the Customer in marketing materials distributed by Patently.
If at any time any one or more of the conditions of these Terms and Conditions (or any sub-condition or paragraph or any part of one or more of these Terms and Conditions) is held to be or becomes void or otherwise unenforceable for any reason under any applicable law, the same shall be deemed omitted from the contract and the validity and/or enforceability of the remaining provisions of the contract shall not in any way be affected or impaired as a result of that omission.
The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 shall not apply to these Terms and Conditions and a person who is not a party to these Terms and Conditions (including any employee, officer, agent, representative or sub-contractor of either party) shall not have the right (whether under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act or otherwise) to enforce any term which expressly or by implication confers a benefit on that person without the express prior agreement in writing of the parties which agreement must refer to this condition.
Governing Law and Jurisdiction
The construction and interpretation of these Terms and Conditions with you is governed by the law of England and Wales and the English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction to resolve any disputes arising under it (including claims for set- off and counterclaims). You agree that any judgment of the English courts shall be binding and may be enforced in the courts of any other jurisdiction.