IP.com - Intellectual Property Discussion Forum

1. ACCEPTANCE
These Terms of Use govern your access to the FORUM as well as your registration with us. Any use of the site (whether as a registered or non-registered user) by you conclusively indicates that you are at least 18 years of age and that you have reviewed and accepted these Terms of Use. There may be additional terms and conditions relating to your use of certain portions of the site. If you use these other portions of the site, you will also be bound by those other terms and conditions.

2. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICE
This Agreement covers use of the FORUM, including searching of our content, or any other use not covered by a separate agreement. The terms of use for other IP.com services, such as defensive publishing into our IP.com Prior Art Database, the IP.com Legal Safeguarding Agent and IP.com Innovation Q are all covered individually and separately from this Agreement.

IP.com provides the FORUM for the purpose of enabling and open discussion of intellectual property, prior art, legal safeguarding and other intellectual property related issues.

You understand and agree that the FORUM is provided "AS-IS" and that IP.com assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, mis-delivery of any content or failure to store any user communications or personalization settings. Further, IP.com assumes no responsibility for decisions that you might make related to information provided by IP.com or others on the site.

You are responsible for obtaining access to the FORUM by subscribing or registering (when required to do so) through IP.com's registration process. Access to the FORUM may involve fees.

3. MODIFICATIONS TO SERVICE
IP.com reserves the right to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the FORUM (or any part thereof) with or without notice. You agree that IP.com shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the FORUM.

IP.com may change, add or remove any part of this Agreement, or any other terms associated with the use of the FORUM, at any time, by posting a notice of such changes to the Terms of Use page of the Web site. Any changes shall become part of the Agreement and shall apply as soon as such notice is posted. By continuing to use the FORUM after the notice is posted, you are indicating your acceptance of those changes.

4. FEES AND PAYMENTS
IP.com may charge you fees to register or to use parts of the FORUM. In order to use the FORUM or designated portions of the FORUM you may be required to register and create an account. You agree to pay all fees and charges, including applicable taxes, incurred through your account at the rates in effect for the billing period in which such fees and charges are incurred. IP.com reserves the right to change the amount of, or basis for determining, any Fees, and to institute new Fees, effective upon notice to you.

5. REGISTRATION
You may be required to register (or subscribe) on our site in order to access parts of the FORUM. In registering with us, you agree to provide accurate, current and complete information about yourself, and to update that information if it changes. Failure to provide accurate and timely information may result in your account being closed and all fees incurred becoming immediately due.

As part of the registration process, you will choose a password. It is your responsibility to keep this password confidential. If you find out that your password or account is being used by someone without your consent, or you discover any other breach of security, you agree to notify us immediately. The right to use the site as a registered user is personal to the registered user and is not transferable to any other person or entity. As a registered user, you are responsible for all use of your account (under any name or password), and you agree that IP.com can assume that any communication from the account using your name and password came from you. IP.com shall have the right at any time to change or discontinue any aspect or feature of the FORUM, including without limitation content, hours of availability and equipment needed for access or use. You shall use the FORUM for lawful purposes only.

If you are a corporate representative or a representative of any other entity registering as a user of the FORUM, you agree that you have the requisite corporate or other authority to accept these terms on behalf of the participating entity. Once you have accepted these Terms of Use, all participating members of your entity will be bound to these Terms of Use.

6. NON-TRANSFERABILITY OF RIGHTS
Your right to use the FORUM is personal to you and you may not sub-license, transfer, sell or assign this agreement to any third party without the approval of IP.com. Any attempt to do so will be void.

7. REGISTRATION/SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL AND CANCELLATION
You will have continuous access to the FORUM (so long as it is made available) provided that you agree to and abide by the Terms of Use. In the event that you are required to register for any part of the FORUM, IP.com will automatically renew your account upon every one-year or monthly anniversary of the date on which you subscribed or registered. You may be required to submit fees or payments at the time of renewal. You agree to submit payment per the method selected at the time of registration or as currently indicated in your account profile.

You may avoid the automatic renewal by canceling your registration online.

8. PRIVACY
At IP.com, we respect the privacy of our users. Please see our Privacy Policy on the IP.com web site(s). The Privacy Policy as it appears on the IP.com web site(s) (and which may change from time-to-time) becomes part of this Agreement.

9. USER CONDUCT
We reserve the right (but have no duty) to monitor and to remove any objectionable information at any time, without notice, in our sole discretion.

IP.com has certain rules for conduct which you must agree to follow in using the site.

You agree to:

follow all local, state, national and international laws and regulations; and
be responsible for all acts that occur under your account or password, including any content transmitted or broadcast through your account or any activities occurring under your account.

You also agree that you will not:

transmit through the site any unlawful, harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, libelous, tortuous, pornographic or otherwise objectionable content;
copy, broadcast, distribute, or otherwise use any content provided by others, in a manner that is unlawful, harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, libelous, tortuous, pornographic or otherwise objectionable;
transmit any content that might infringe the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, rights of publicity, or other proprietary rights of others;
copy, broadcast, distribute, or otherwise use any content provided by others, in a manner that infringes the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, rights of publicity, or other proprietary rights of others;
interfere with or disrupt the site or IP.com's computer systems, servers or networks, or violate the regulations or policies of such networks;
transmit any content containing viruses, trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, or any other harmful programs;
attempt to gain unauthorized access to the site, others' accounts, or computer systems or networks connected to the site, through password mining or otherwise;
engage in any systematic extraction of data or data fields, including without limitation e-mail addresses;
collect information about others without their consent;
provide false information on your registration form, impersonate any person, or otherwise attempt to mislead others about your identity;
transmit any content to the site which contains any advertisement or commercial solicitation;
transmit junk mail, spam, chain letters, or other unsolicited bulk e-mail or duplicative messages;
sell access to or use of any services available on the site; or
interfere with anyone's use of the site.

10. CONTENT AND RELATED PROPRIETARY RIGHTS
IP.com is a distributor of content supplied by third parties. Accordingly, IP.com has no editorial control over such content. Any opinions, statements or other information in content available on or through the site are those of the respective author or distributor (some of whom have elected to remain anonymous) and not of IP.com. IP.com neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any content made available on or through the FORUM. IP.com may at any time change the content it offers as a part of the FORUM. Under no circumstances will IP.com be liable for any loss or damage caused by content available on or through the FORUM. It is the responsibility of users to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any content available on or through the FORUM.

By transmitting any content to our site, you grant to IP.com, its successors and assigns, a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty free, perpetual, non-revocable license to distribute, display, broadcast, or reproduce that content or to use or distribute that content in any manner (including without limitation to distribute it to our channel partners for searching and redistribution, to sell it and to create derivative works), and to authorize the downloading and printing of a copy of the content by end users for their individual use.

You agree that content presented through the site by IP.com, its advertisers, customers, users, or others is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, or other proprietary rights and laws. Unless otherwise expressly stated in these Terms of Use, you may display, reformat and print a single copy of any content obtained through the site for your individual, noncommercial use only. You agree not to otherwise copy, change, upload, transmit, sell, publish, commercially exploit, modify, create derivative works or distribute any content available through the FORUM, including without limitation code and software.

The site is owned by IP.com. The site may contain trademarks and service marks owned by IP.com. The site and all such trademarks and service marks shall at all times remain the property of IP.com. Access to the site does not give you a right to copy or use any intellectual property of IP.com. You may only use such intellectual property as authorized in writing by IP.com.

11. TERMINATION
You agree that IP.com may close your account and/or prevent you from using the site for violating these Terms of Use or our Intellectual Property Rights Policy, or for any other reason, at any time, in IP.com's sole discretion, without prior notice to you and without any liability to you for such termination.

12. INDEMNIFICATION
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless IP.com and its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, business partners, officers, and employees from any loss, liability, claim, demand, cost, damage, or expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) incurred by IP.com relating in any way to your use of the FORUM, any content you provide or any breach of your obligations under these Terms of Use. IP.com reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, which shall not excuse your indemnity obligations.

13. CHANGES TO THIS AGREEMENT
From time-to-time IP.com may make changes to this Terms of Use Agreement, including the Privacy Policy and will let you know about them by posting the changes on the web site(s). By continuing to use the site after we have posted changes to these Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy, you agree to and accept the changes.

14. EXTERNAL LINKS
IP.com's site may contain links to other sites. IP.com is not responsible for any content contained on such sites or otherwise with respect to such sites. You agree that IP.com does not endorse, sponsor or recommend any other sites and is not liable for any loss or damages arising from any link from another website to the site or from the site to another website. If you have any problems or concerns regarding other sites, please contact their site administrator or webmaster directly.

15. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES
THE SITE AND THE CONTENT AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS AND WITHOUT REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT). WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE PRECEDING SENTENCE, IP.COM MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY AS TO (1) THE ACCURACY, CURRENCY, COMPLETENESS, RELIABILITY OR USEFULNESS OF THE SITE OR ANY CONTENT AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SITE; (2) THAT THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR FREE, THAT SOFTWARE DEFECTS OR DEFECTS IN THE SITE WILL BE CORRECTED OR THAT THE SITE OR OUR SERVER IS FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS; OR (3) REGARDING ANY GOODS, SERVICES, PROMOTIONS, OR THE DELIVERY OF ANY GOODS OR SERVICES, PURCHASED, ACCESSED OR OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITE OR ADVERTISED THROUGH THE SITE. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION OBTAINED BY YOU FROM IP.COM OR THROUGH OR FROM THE SITE SHALL CREATE ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED HEREIN.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties so the above limitations may not apply to you. If so, any implied warranties are limited to ninety (90) days.

16. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION NEGLIGENCE, SHALL IP.COM BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES INCURRED BY YOU IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR ANY CONTENT AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SITE OR ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO THE SITE OR ANY CONTENT AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SITE (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLES), EVEN IF IP.COM HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR IF IP.COM COULD HAVE FORESEEN THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE PRECEDING SENTENCE, YOU AGREE THAT IP.COM IS NOT RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY THREATENING, DEFAMATORY, OBSCENE, OFFENSIVE, TORTIOUS, OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY OR ANY INFRINGEMENT OF YOUR OR ANOTHER'S RIGHTS ARISING ON, FROM, OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SITE OR ANY CONTENT AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SITE.

If you are dissatisfied with the site or the content available on or through the FORUM, or with any of these Terms of Use, your only remedy is to discontinue using the FORUM.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the limitation or exclusion of incidental, consequential or other types of damages, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you.

17. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
It is the policy of IP.com to respect the intellectual property rights of others; we require that our users do the same. IP.com may terminate access to the FORUM, including the accounts of those who appear to infringe the intellectual property rights of others, and/or IP.com may remove content that has prompted such a complaint.

If you believe that your intellectual property rights have been infringed by IP.com or by a user of IP.com on the FORUM, please provide us notice via email at legal@ip.com and include all of the following information:

a description of the work that you claim has been infringed;
a description of the material that you claim is infringing, identified with sufficient detail to enable us to locate it on the FORUM;
if a specific publication or publications are involved, the publication identifier(s) of the publication(s) in question;
your address, telephone number, and e-mail address;
a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the owner of the intellectual property rights, its agent, or the law;
a statement by you declaring under penalty of perjury that (a) the above information in your notice is accurate, and (b) that you are the owner of the intellectual property rights involved or that you are authorized to act on the behalf of the owner of the intellectual property rights; and
a physical or electronic signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the intellectual property rights.

18. MISCELLANEOUS
These Terms of Use are governed by and will be interpreted in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict of law provisions. You agree to submit any dispute relating to the site or these Terms of Use to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the state courts located in Monroe County in the State of New York, or the federal courts in the Western District of New York. IP.com does not waive any right or provision in these Terms of Use by failing to exercise or enforce such right or provision. If any provision of these Terms of Use is found invalid, unlawful or unenforceable, such provision shall be interpreted to reflect the parties' intentions as nearly as possible, and shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions.

These Terms of Use (a) may be amended by IP.com at any time by posting such an amendment on the web site, whether or not you actually receive notice of such amendment, or by you and IP.com in a writing executed by you and IP.com, (b) inure to the benefit of, and are binding upon, you and IP.com and each of your and IP.com's successors and assigns, except that you may not assign any of your obligations under these Terms of Use without the prior written consent of IP.com, and (c), together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and IP.com with respect to the FORUM, and supersede all prior oral and written proposals, representatives, understandings and agreements.

You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim relating to the FORUM or these Terms of Use, must be commenced within one year after such claim arose or it is forever barred.

The section titles in this Terms of Use are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.

You may send notices to IP.com (1) by e-mail at legal@ip.com or (2) by regular mail at IP.com, Inc., 500 Corporate Parkway, Suite 120, Amherst, New York 14226, with a copy to Daniel C. Oliverio, Esq., Hodgson, Russ, Andrews, Woods & Goodyear, LLP, One M&T Plaza, Suite 2000, Buffalo, New York 14203. Any such notice will be effective upon actual receipt by IP.com. IP.com may send notices to you through e-mail, regular mail or a posting on the site. Any such notice will be effective upon actual receipt by you in the case of e-mail or regular mail or upon posting in the case of such notice being posted on the site.

I HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ALL OF ITS TERMS.