Terms and Conditions

 

WIPO Terms and Conditions for the Use of Published International Patent Applications Data (September 25, 2008)

 

1.  Definitions - In these Terms and Conditions;

"Agreement" shall mean any contract between the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and any Customer regarding WIPO products and services relating to published international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), and these Terms and Conditions which are incorporated by reference in such contract;

"PCT Data Products and Services" shall mean any WIPO product and service relating to published international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), whether provided free of charge or for a fee;

"The Customer" shall mean (i) any Third Party using, free of charge, the information contained on PCT Data Products and Services, and (ii) any Subscriber to PCT Data Products and Services provided for a fee. Both shall be subject to these Terms and Conditions.

2.  Grant of Rights - WIPO allows the Customer to access and make use of the information contained on PCT Data Products and Services under the conditions described herein. Unless otherwise provided for in these Terms and Conditions, the Customer shall have a worldwide, irrevocable, and non-exclusive right to make the following uses of data contained on PCT Data Products and Services:

(a) acquiring, downloading and storing the information in a searchable database;
(b) copying, reformatting, distributing, publishing, transmitting, making derivative works and displaying the information through an electronic network and electronic extracts;
(c) authorizing users to access and use the information, including downloading, creating printouts, reproducing, reformatting, analyzing, printing and displaying such printouts and electronic extracts;
(d) in connection with any of the above, copying and distributing such printouts or extracts of information.

Any use other than the above-mentioned uses shall be subject to the prior consent of WIPO.

3. Legal Value of PCT Applications - The description and claims in text format that are available on PATENTSCOPE® Search Service are obtained by applying automatic Optical Character Recognition procedures (OCR) to the scanned images of the documents. They therefore contain discrepancies with the originals and do not have any legal value. The texts are used to feed the PATENTSCOPE® Search Service text indexation engine and are freely provided as an additionnal service to the general public by WIPO, notably in HTML renditions displayed in the "Description" and "Claims" tabs of each dossier. As a consequence, only the PDF version of the PCT applications documents that contain the error-free scanned images should be used for legal purposes.

4.  Responsibility - WIPO is responsible for the accurate and complete reproduction of the PCT applications and related documents in PCT Data Products and Services. However, WIPO bears no responsibility for the content of those applications and documents.

5. Applicability/Inapplicability of these Terms and Conditions - The Customer automatically accepts these Terms and Conditions by the sole fact of using any PCT Data Products and Services. These Terms and Conditions do not apply to the national phase data such as status information and national language translations accessible through PATENTSCOPE® Search Service (http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/) via hyperlinks, to online databases of national industrial property offices.

6.  Intellectual Property Rights - The Customer recognizes WIPO’s copyright in the works contained on PCT Data Products and Services.  WIPO does not make any warranty, express or implied, regarding any or all of the foregoing uses of the data contained on these products, or any part thereof, that may affect or violate any patent, trade mark, copyright, trade secret, or other proprietary right of any third party.

7.  Reservation - WIPO reserves the right to discontinue, to issue, and to modify, at any time, the number, content, format, structure, and description of any or all of the data, contained on PCT Data Products and Services.  Any of such modifications shall take effect 90 days following posting of a notice on WIPO’s web site for PCT Data Products and Services provided free of charge and, following e-mail notification to the Customer for PCT Data Products and Services provided for a fee.  Moreover, WIPO reserves the right to modify, where applicable, the fee charged for the data upon e-mail notification at least 30 days in advance of the said modification.  In addition, WIPO makes every effort to ensure, but cannot guarantee, the accuracy and integrity of the data contained on these products and services.

8.  Liability and Force Majeure - WIPO shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, liquidated, special, punitive or exemplary damages or penalties to the Customer, including, but not limited to, losses of business, revenue or profits, as a consequence of using any of the data contained on PCT Data Products and Services. WIPO shall not be liable or deemed to be in default for any delays or failure in performance or interruption of service resulting directly or indirectly from any cause or circumstance beyond its reasonable control.

9 .  User Identification and Passwords (where applicable) - These Terms and Conditions are applicable to all User Identification and passwords issued to the Customer, and accordingly, the Customer agrees to assume sole responsibility for compliance with these Terms and Conditions, of all uses associated with each and every User Identification and password issued under these Terms and Conditions, and for maintaining the security respecting the User Identification and passwords issued.

10 .  The Customer Name (where applicable) - Any change in the Customer organizational trade name or in Customer's business address shall be notified to WIPO as soon as possible following the change. WIPO will then modify the Customer records to reflect the new trade name and/or business address.

11 .  Invoicing/Payment (where applicable) - The cost of the subscription and the ways of payments to subscribe to PCT Data Products and Services provided for a fee are detailed in the Subscription Form that the Customer has to complete before being able, upon receipt of payment by WIPO, to use data contained on PCT Data Products and Services provided for a fee. The Customer will be invoiced the fee set forth in the applicable WIPO's catalogue of products or electronic bookshop with payment due 30 days upon receipt of invoice. WIPO reserves the right to suspend the service to a delinquent account without prior notice. Should the Customer be delinquent in the payment of any invoice, the Customer shall be liable for all costs of collection incurred by WIPO, including without limitation collection agency fees, any administrative related expenses and reasonable attorney's fees, as well as court costs.

12 .  Acknowledgment of Source and Disclaimers - The Customer shall identify WIPO as the authentic source of any of the data contained on PCT Data Products and Services.  Any identification of WIPO as the source of data shall include the following (first) disclaimer:  “The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) bears no responsibility for the integrity or accuracy of the data contained herein, in particular due, but not limited, to any deletion, manipulation, or reformatting of data that may have occurred beyond its control.”

13.   Use of Logo/Trademark - The Customer does not have the right to use the WIPO logo nor the PATENTSCOPE® logo (international registration number: 879539) unless it is specifically authorized by WIPO in writing after having sent a request to patentscope@wipo.int. In case such authorization is given, the Customer shall include the following (second) disclaimer: "The use of the WIPO logo and/or PATENTSCOPE® logo does not state or imply that WIPO supports or endorses any use made by [the Customer – name of the company] of data provided to it by WIPO nor any other activity of [the Customer – name of the company]". The first and second disclaimers shall appear adjacent to any identification of WIPO as the authentic source of data or use of the WIPO and/or PATENTSCOPE® logos, respectively.

14. Modifications - WIPO reserves the right to modify these Terms and Conditions at any time. Any revised Terms and Conditions will be posted on WIPO's web site. Modifications shall take effect immediately following posting of the new Terms and Conditions.

15. Termination of the Agreement (where applicable) - The Agreement may be terminated by either WIPO or the Customer upon e-mail notification. Such termination will be deemed effective 60 days after the receipt of such notification by the party so notified.

16. Final Agreement (where applicable) - The Agreement, including these Terms and Conditions (and any revisions) and Subscription Form (where applicable) to PCT Data Products and Services provided for a fee, constitutes the entire understanding between WIPO and the Customer regarding the use of PCT Data Products and Services.

17. Privileges and immunities - Nothing in or relating to the Agreement and to these Terms and Conditions shall be deemed a waiver of any of the privileges and immunities of WIPO in conformity with the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 21, 1947 and with the provisions of the Agreement between the Swiss Federal Council and WIPO to determine the organization's juridical status in Switzerland of December 9, 1970, and of the Implementation Arrangement of the same date related thereto.

18. Settlement of Disputes - Any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or relating to the Agreement, or the breach, termination or invalidity thereof, that cannot be resolved by negotiation shall be submitted to conciliation in accordance with the UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules. The place of conciliation shall be Geneva. The language to be used in the conciliation shall be English. If, and to the extent that any such dispute, controversy or claim has not been settled pursuant to the conciliation within sixty (60) days of the commencement of the conciliation it shall, upon the filing of a Request for Arbitration by either party, be referred to and finally determined by arbitration in accordance with the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules as at present in force. There shall be a sole arbitrator. The place of arbitration shall be Geneva. The language to be used in the arbitral proceedings shall be English.

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