PatentBox

Terms of Service

Thank you for visiting ThePatentBox.com (the "Website") and for using our online and offline services, including, without limitation, our online platform service and any data, reports and other materials we may provide to you in any physical or electronic form (collectively, the "Services"). The Services are owned by and brought to you by The Patent Box, LLC, a Pennsylvania limited liability company ("The Patent Box" or "we" or "us" or "our"). Without limiting the foregoing, if you and The Patent Box agree by e-mail or otherwise in writing that The Patent Box will offer you certain products and/or services included in the Services, our provision of such products and services to you will be subject to the terms and conditions in these Terms of Service, and such e-mail or other communication will only be effective with respect to pricing and deliverable specifications. By registering with or using the Services, or by clicking on, selecting or pressing "I accept", "I agree" or similar verbiage during the registration process on our Website or at any other time while using the Services, you ("user" or "you" or "your") agree to these Terms of Service, together with our Privacy Policy and all other fee schedules, operating rules, policies and procedures that may be published from time to time through the Services by The Patent Box (collectively, the "Agreement"). If you are using the Services on behalf of a business or employer, you are accepting this Agreement on their behalf, and you represent that you have the authority to bind that business or employer to this Agreement. The Agreement applies whenever you visit ThePatentBox.com, whether or not you have chosen to register for a user account with us, and regardless of whether you pay us any fees or other compensation, so please read it carefully. If you do not agree to be bound by this Agreement, do not use or access the Services.

You must be at least 18 years old to register for and use the Services, and by registering for or using the Services, you represent, warrant and agree that you are at least 18 years old. Additionally, whenever you register or act on behalf of a business while using the Services, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that business entity to this Agreement.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THIS AGREEMENT LIMITS OUR LIABILITY IN SECTION 12 BELOW. THIS AGREEMENT ALSO CONTAINS A BINDING ARBITRATION PROVISION IN SECTION 17 THAT AFFECTS YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICES.

1. Condition and Availability of the Services

Please note that the Website and related Services have recently launched and remain under development. New features are frequently being tested and added while we work to optimize the experience for our users. While every effort is being made to maintain a fully operational Website, there are times when any and all Services and/or data may be unavailable to you. In addition, the Website is dependent in part on several third party service providers (for example, our hosting services, USPTO PAIR and other third party providers of bulk patent data). Availability of these third-party services, as well as any changes to the way these services function or provide access to their data, could impact the availability of our Services, our ability to add new data to our system, and/or our ability to deliver monitoring or other reports on time.

2. About the Services

ThePatentBox.com is a patent research website designed to allow intellectual property (IP) professionals perform or obtain research related to patent practitioners, patent prosecution, and to track United States patent applications with greater efficiency and ease.

Our practitioner search tool and related services (together, the "Practitioner Search Services") are designed to help you identify patent attorneys and agents that are a good fit for your business or firm based on a practitioner’s technical and legal experience, along with other relevant factors. Our Practitioner Search Services are based on our database of patent attorneys and agents registered to prosecute patent applications in the United States. However, this database is not a comprehensive list of all patent attorneys and agents registered to practice in the United States. Our Practitioner Search Services are able to create associations between patent cases and the attorneys and agents responsible for those cases who are in the database on which our Services are built, in part using the text of patent documents that have been generated through the use of Optical Character Recognition ("OCR") algorithms. However, because OCR is not perfect, it is possible that attorneys and agents may be misassociated with cases. Further, because the Practitioner Search Services are derived from only a sampling of public patent file wrapper records, certain practitioner profiles returned by the Practitioner Match search may be incomplete, and some profiles may contain more information than others.

Our Research, Monitoring, and Custom Reports services are available for use by IP professionals at both small and large firms, by in-house IP professionals, by IP recruiters, and academic users. Our Website is intended to provide an informative and useful service, and it is important that it remain a safe, trustworthy, and business-oriented site. Accordingly, you agree that you will only use the Services in a manner consistent with their purpose and in accordance with this Agreement.

The Patent Box’s role is to make the Services available to you and other users. However, we do not have control over you or other users. We do not verify the accuracy of any information provided by you or other users; as such, each user is solely responsible for verifying the accuracy and completeness of any information received through the Services.

Please note that while we hope the Services will be useful to legal professionals, the information, materials, and other content available and provided through the Services are for informational purposes only, and are not intended to and do not constitute legal advice. Your use of the Services is at your own risk. Your use of the Services (including the creation of an account or the submission of information to the Services) does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and The Patent Box, or you and any attorney or agent appearing on the Services. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal issue or problem. If you are an attorney or patent agent, you should not rely exclusively on the Services to provide legal advice, and you are solely responsible for any legal advice you provide. Use of and access to the Services or any of the contact/project request forms or e-mail links contained within our Website do not create an attorney-client relationship between The Patent Box and the user or browser, nor does any other communication you may have with us create an attorney-client relationship.

The Patent Box is not an attorney referral service. The Patent Box does not select, approve, evaluate, or otherwise endorse any particular attorney, patent agent, law firm, or provider of legal services, nor does The Patent Box make any representations or warranties about the quality of legal services or the qualifications of any attorney, patent agent, law firm, or provider of legal services. The practitioner information available on the Services is obtained from data that is made publicly available by the United States Patent and Trademark Office or from the practitioners themselves, and as such it is impossible for The Patent Box to verify the accuracy of this information. Therefore, The Patent Box expressly disclaims any representation or warranty as to the practitioner information available on the Services, and under no circumstances will The Patent Box have any liability to you for any reliance on information obtained ON OR through the Services.

If you are an attorney or patent agent, you acknowledge that the Rules or Codes of Professional Conduct of the jurisdiction(s) in which you practice apply to your use of the Services, including all information that you provide in your practitioner profile on the Services.

Please also note that our database of patent applications and related documents is not comprehensive and is not designed or intended to represent a complete set of all patent filings or information available (for example, we exclude certain documents such as foreign correspondence documents and do not index the text of certain documents). In addition, our indexing and search functionality may at times be erroneous or imprecise due, in part, to our use of OCR algorithms for extracting text from image-based documents. For example, it is possible to enter a search term and receive no results even if the word does appear in a particular document that we store. You hereby represent, warrant and covenant that you will not rely on the Services when making or taking any patent-related or any other determination or action.

3. License to Use the Services; Intellectual Property Rights

The Services, including all software, The Patent Box’s content, logos, trademarks, inventions, technology, products, services, databases, the compilation of any of the foregoing or any information provided on or otherwise through the Services, are owned by The Patent Box and its licensors, are protected under United States and international copyright, patent, trademark and/or other intellectual property laws, and incorporate valuable confidential information and trade secrets of The Patent Box. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, any general use or custom reports, documents, information or research materials (collectively, "Reports") that are produced by The Patent Box and made available to you through the Services are the intellectual property of The Patent Box. In consideration of your promises reflected in the Agreement, The Patent Box grants to you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, revocable, non-sublicensable, non-transferable license to use the Services and Reports solely as permitted under the Agreement for your internal personal or business purposes and not for commercial resale, sublicensing, time-sharing or service bureau usage. Further, if you are a legal professional and you obtain Reports in connection with a client matter, you may share one copy of the relevant Reports with the specific client for which you obtained such Reports. 

Occasionally, some of the materials you may obtain through the Services may contain copyrighted works owned by third parties. If so, access to such works is provided solely for your internal, non-commercial research purposes only, subject to applicable copyright fair use principles, and not for any resale, distribution or public performance. Notwithstanding anything else in this Agreement to the contrary, you may reproduce and use such works only to the extent permitted by fair use principles or otherwise permitted by the copyright owner in writing.

All rights in and to the Services and the Reports not expressly granted to you by the foregoing paragraph are reserved by The Patent Box. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you may not (i) interfere with the Services in any way, (ii) copy, modify, distribute, harvest, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Services or any information, Reports, or databases accessed or obtained therefrom, (iii) make any derivative works based on the Services, Reports or databases (including any customization, translation, or localization), or share the Reports or other information obtained from the Services with any third party except as expressly permitted by this Agreement.

Your compliance with the requirements in this Agreement is a condition to, and material inducement and consideration for, our granting you the right to access and use the Services and Reports. Any unauthorized use or other activity in violation of this Agreement will cause the licenses granted by The Patent Box in this Section to terminate automatically.

The Patent Box, ThePatentBox.com, and the The Patent Box logo, and all of our other trademarks, service marks, graphics and logos used in connection with the Services, are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Patent Box or The Patent Box’s licensors. Your use of the Services grants you no right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any The Patent Box or third-party trademarks.

We are constantly innovating in order to provide the best possible experience for our users. You acknowledge and agree that the form, features and/or nature of the Services which we provide may change from time to time without prior notice to you. We may also cease or discontinue providing the Services at any time, but we will notify our active account holders in the event we do.

4. User Accounts; Fees and Pricing

With the exception of accessing and browsing any publicly accessible portions of our Website, all users who desire to use the Services must register for an account. To be eligible for an account, you must, at minimum, be at least 18 years of age. The Patent Box may prevent any user from creating an account if it determines such user is not eligible for any reason in The Patent Box’s sole discretion.

User accounts on ThePatentBox.com may require the payment of some form of fees ("Fees"), which may vary depending on the service level you elect to receive. User accounts may include an introductory free trial which may be offered for a limited period of time to new users in The Patent Box’s sole discretion. We do not collect payment information when you sign up for an account that includes a free trial. If you begin your relationship with us as a user under an account with a free trial, we will obtain your affirmative consent and valid credit card or other permitted payment information before your account is transitioned to a paid account.

The Patent Box reserves the right to impose or modify any Fees charged for your access or use of the Services at any time in its sole discretion. You may review our current pricing schedule (the "Pricing Schedule") by visiting the following link: http://www.thepatentbox.com/pricing. The Pricing Schedule, as amended from time to time, is hereby incorporated by reference, and you agree to pay the Fees associated with the service level or plan you select. The Patent Box will notify you of any changes in or relating to Fees at the e-mail address associated with your account at the time such notice is provided, and any such changes shall be effective no sooner than fifteen (15) days after we provide you with such notice. If you do not agree with the change, you may cancel your account by clicking the "Cancel" link in your account settings and confirm you want to cancel. Upon cancellation, you will be responsible for paying any balance remaining on your account. Please contact us if you have any questions about pricing or Fees by emailing us at sales@thepatentbox.com.

You may elect to associate with your account a credit card or other permitted payment method for the payment of Fees and other charges due. You hereby authorize The Patent Box to charge or debit all Fees set forth in this Section 3 to the credit card, debit card, or bank account you provide to us (or to any third party payment processor authorized to act on our behalf) for the purpose of making payments relevant to this Agreement. Any revocation by you of payment authorization or failure to maintain valid and updated payment account information is grounds for immediate cancellation of your account without notice.

In the alternative, you may elect to pay following receipt of a monthly invoice itemizing all Fees incurred in connection with your account for use of or access to the Services in the relevant month. You may make this election by using the tools provided for doing so through your user account. Payment is due within thirty (30) days of receipt of invoice.

You agree to pay us promptly for all Fees and other charges due and that we may initiate collection action on any past due amounts at any time. The Patent Box may charge you reasonable fees associated with the cost of using a collection agency or legal services to collect payment for any outstanding charges to a delinquent account. In addition, a late fee of 1.5% per month (or if lesser, the highest rate permitted by applicable law) will accrue on any past due amounts. You agree to pay all such charges in addition to the relevant past due amounts.

As a condition to your use of and access to the Services, you represent, warrant and agree as follows:

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account.
When creating your account, you will provide only accurate, complete and non-misleading information.
You are responsible for maintaining your password in strict confidence and under no circumstances may you share your login information with any other user or third party without The Patent Box’s prior written consent.
You will immediately notify The Patent Box of any unauthorized uses of your account or any other breaches of security.
You shall only use the Services in accordance with the Agreement and all applicable United States state, federal, or local laws, regulations and rules, as well as all applicable international laws, regulations and rules (including, without limitation, all laws related to the issuance, administration and protection of patent and other intellectual property rights and trade secrets). You are solely responsible for obtaining and maintaining all equipment and services needed for access to and use of the Services (such as a computer and internet services) and for paying all charges related thereto.
You shall not use the Services to post, submit or transmit any content deemed by The Patent Box in its sole discretion to be hateful, threatening, pornographic, obscene, abusive, unlawful, harassing, racially or ethnically offensive, libelous or defamatory, or any content that encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, bring forth civil liability, violate any law, or that is otherwise inappropriate.
You shall not use the Services to post, submit or transmit material that is copyrighted by a third party, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party proprietary rights, including without limitation privacy and publicity rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner to post the material and to grant The Patent Box all of the license rights granted herein.
You agree that you will use your best judgment and exercise caution before making any decision, or engaging in any transaction with another user or third party, as a result of or in reliance upon your use of the Services and/or any information or materials obtained therefrom. The Patent Box is not responsible for and shall not be held liable for any decision by you or any other person to engage in any personal or business transaction as a result of or related to such person’s use of the Services.

You also agree, represent and warrant that you will NOT:

except as expressly permitted by these Terms of Service or by The Patent Box in writing, transfer, download, copy, share, or send to any third party or any other user any content or materials downloaded or obtained through the Services;
solicit for commercial purposes other users of the Services;
use the Services to distribute or post spam, junk mail, chain letters, or pyramid schemes;
use metatags or any other "hidden text" utilizing any of our or any third party’s product names or trademarks;
harvest or otherwise collect personal information about users, including e-mail addresses, without their consent.
use any robot, spider, crawler, scraper or other automated means to access the Services;
take any action that imposes or may impose (in our sole discretion) an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our technical infrastructure;
bypass any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Services or certain features or modules of the Services.

We reserve the right to immediately block, suspend and/or terminate your access to the Services if we believe that you have engaged in any of the activities prohibited by the foregoing rules, or if we believe that any such activities have occurred in association with your account.

6. User Content

Users may have the opportunity to post comments and other content on our Website. You represent, warrant and agree that any content that you post shall not be illegal, invasive of privacy, infringing of intellectual property rights, or otherwise injurious to third parties and that it shall not consist of or contain software viruses or other malicious code. You represent, warrant and agree that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you post; and that use of the content you supply does not violate this Agreement and will not cause injury to The Patent Box or to any other person or entity. The Patent Box has the right but not the obligation to monitor and edit or remove any activity or content you and other users post in our sole discretion. The Patent Box takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content posted by you or any other user or third party.

7. Linked Applications, Websites and Services

We have not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, made available through the websites, webpages and applications to which the Services link, or with which the Services are integrated, or that link to the Services ("Third Party Sites"). You acknowledge that The Patent Box does not have any control over those Third Party Sites, does not recommend or endorse them, and is not responsible for their contents or their use. We have no responsibility for or control over any Third Party Site’s collection, storage, use or disclosure of information received from or about you. You are responsible for abiding by the privacy policies, service agreements or terms of use, and any other policies or agreements pertaining to the Third Party Sites.

8. Copyright Infringement

As The Patent Box asks others to respect its intellectual property rights, it respects the intellectual property rights of others, and requires its users and customers to do so as well. If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any user content infringes upon your copyrights, you may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") by providing our Copyright Agent with the following information in writing (see 17 U.S.C § 512(c)(3) for further detail):

A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works on the Services or available through our services are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at those locations;
Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled and information reasonably sufficient to permit The Patent Box to locate the material;
Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address;
A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

The Patent Box designated Copyright Agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement is Copyright Agent, e-mail: copyright@thepatentbox.com; postal address: The Patent Box, LLC, PO Box 641 Springfield, PA 19064. For clarity, only DMCA notices should go to the Copyright Agent; any other feedback, comments, requests for technical support, and other communications should be directed to our customer service. You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with all of the requirements of this Section, your DMCA notice may not be valid.

9. Changes to the Agreement

The Patent Box reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to amend or update any part of the Agreement by posting a link to the amended or updated Agreement on our home page, making it available to you through the Services, or notifying you of such changes via email. All changes shall take effect fifteen (15) calendar days after being posted or made available through the Services, or being provided to you by email. While we may attempt to notify you by email when major changes are made to the Agreement, it is your responsibility to check the Agreement periodically for changes, and you should check the "Last Updated" date at the bottom of this Agreement to familiarize yourself with the latest version. Your continued use of or access to the Services following the posting or distribution of any changes to the Agreement constitutes acceptance of those changes. The Patent Box may modify or eliminate services, modules or features of the Services; your sole and exclusive remedy, and The Patent Box’s sole liability, in connection with any such change, modification or elimination is to cancel your account with us.

10. Termination

The Patent Box may terminate, block or disable your access to all or any part of the Services at any time for any reason or no reason, with or without notice to you, effective immediately. Without limiting the foregoing, The Patent Box may terminate your access to all or any part of the Services if (a) The Patent Box believes that you have breached any provision of the Agreement (or have acted in manner which shows that you do not intend to, or are unable to comply with the provisions of the Agreement); (b) The Patent Box is required to do so by law (for example, where the provision of the Services to you is, or becomes, unlawful); (c) The Patent Box is transitioning to no longer providing the Services to users in the state or country in which you are resident or from which you use the Services; or (d) The Patent Box believes that your use of the Services may infringe or violate the rights of a third party or subject The Patent Box to civil or criminal liability or reputational harm. Termination may result, in The Patent Box’s sole discretion, in the forfeiture and destruction of all information associated with your account. All provisions of the Agreement which by their nature are intended to survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, limitations of liability, and miscellaneous terms, shall do so. If your account is cancelled or terminated for any reason, you will no longer be able to access information that you have stored under your account.

11. Disclaimer of Warranties.

YOU AGREE THAT USE OF THE SERVICES, AND ANY INFORMATION, REPORTS, DATABASES AND OTHER MATERIALS OBTAINED OR ACCESSED THEREFROM, IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE SERVICES AND ANY INFORMATION, REPORTS, DATABASES, PRACTITIONER PROFILES, AND OTHER MATERIALS PROVIDED BY THE PATENT BOX VIA ANY ELECTRONIC OR PHYSICAL MEANS ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES OF ANY KIND, AND THE PATENT BOX HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL SUCH WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. THE PATENT BOX DOES NOT REPRESENT, WARRANT OR GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICES, REPORTS OR OTHER CONTENT WILL MEET ALL OF YOUR BUSINESS OR OTHER REQUIREMENTS, OR THAT THE OPERATION OF THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE. THE PATENT BOX MAKES NO WARRANTIES, REPRESENTATIONS OR GUARANTEES ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE SERVICES, REPORTS, PRACTITIONER PROFILES, AND/OR THEIR CONTENT OR THE CONTENT OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, DATABASES REPORTS OR OTHER CONTENT LINKED TO OR INTEGRATED WITH THE SERVICES, AND ASSUMES NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR (I) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OMISSIONS OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, REPORTS OR DATABASES), (II) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SERVICES, (III) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE SERVICES, YOUR ACCOUNT OR OUR SERVERS, AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (IV) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM THE SERVICES, (V) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, MALWARE, ADWARE AND/OR THE LIKE WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH THE SERVICES BY ANY THIRD PARTY, OR (VI) ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE TO CONTENT OR DATA (WHETHER STORED THROUGH THE SERVICES OR OTHERWISE).

Some states do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties in some circumstances, so if the laws of such a state apply to your dealings with us and if the requisite circumstances exist in your case, then some portion or all of the foregoing disclaimer may not apply to you. The law of warranty varies from state to state and the law applicable in your particular case may give you specific legal rights.

12. Limitation of Liability

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL THE PATENT BOX OR ITS MEMBERS, MANAGERS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES, AGENTS, OR SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOST PROFITS, DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES, REPORTS OR OTHER MATERIALS, AND DAMAGES (DIRECT OR OTHERWISE) RELATING TO LOSS OF DATA) WHATSOEVER, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE PATENT BOX OR ANY OF THE FOREGOING PERSONS WERE ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

YOU AGREE THAT THE LIABILITY OF THE PATENT BOX AND ITS MEMBERS, MANAGERS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES, AGENTS, AND SUPPLIERS FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND DAMAGES WILL BE LIMITED, IN THE AGGREGATE, TO THE GREATER OF (i) THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO US FOR THE RELEVANT SERVICES TO WHICH THE CLAIM RELATES DURING THE PREVIOUS SIX (6) MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT OR CIRCUMSTANCES GIVING RISE TO THE LATEST SUCH CLAIM OR (ii) FIVE U.S. DOLLARS ($5.00 USD).

The foregoing limitations of liability shall apply to the fullest extent permitted by law in the applicable jurisdiction.

13. General Representation and Warranty

You represent and warrant that (i) your use of the Services will be in strict accordance with the Agreement and with all applicable laws and regulations (including without limitation any local laws or regulations in your country, state, city, or other governmental area, regarding online conduct) (the "Applicable Laws"); and (ii) your use of the Services will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights or any other rights of The Patent Box or of any other user or third party.

14. Indemnification

To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless The Patent Box, its affiliates and its and their respective members, managers, officers, employees, representatives and agents from and against any and all claims, actions, lawsuits, damages, obligations, complaints, demands, allegations, losses, liabilities, costs, debts, and expenses (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or related to or in connection with (a) your actual or alleged use of and access to the Services, (b) your actual or alleged violation, breach or default of any term of the Agreement, including, without limitation, your representations and warranties hereunder, or (c) your actual or alleged violation of any third party right including, but not limited to, any patent, trademark, service mark, copyright, trade secret, publicity or privacy right.

15. Notices

All notices, demands and other communications hereunder shall be in writing and shall be effective upon receipt, provided that we may provide notice to you by posting announcements on our Website (or otherwise making them available through the Services) or sending a message to the e-mail address that is currently associated with your account. Any such e-mail notice to you will be deemed given on the day it is sent. Except as specified in the next sentence, all notices to us of a legal nature shall be in writing and shall be sent by certified first-class U.S. mail, return receipt requested, to: The Patent Box LLC, P.O. Box 641, Springfield, PA 19064. All notices regarding copyright or other intellectual property infringement issues shall be sent in accordance with our copyright policy described in Section 8 above. If you have any questions about the Agreement, or if you need to notify us about a non-legal matter, then contact us at inquiries@thepatentbox.com or at the following address: The Patent Box LLC, P.O. Box 641 Springfield PA, 19064. 

16. Miscellaneous

You agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment or agency relationship exists between you and us or any of our affiliates as a result of the Agreement or your use of the Services. The Agreement (including our Privacy Policy and all other The Patent Box operating policies, rules and procedures posted on our Website or otherwise made available through the Services from time to time) constitutes the entire agreement between The Patent Box and you concerning the subject matter hereof, and may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized representative of The Patent Box, or by the posting by The Patent Box of a revised version of the Agreement on the Services.

Any dispute relating to the Agreement or arising out of your access to or use of the Services will be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, excluding its conflict of law provisions

If any part of the Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be reformed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. The provisions of the Agreement are severable, and if any portion is adjudged invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining portions will remain valid, enforceable and in effect.

Any waiver by either party of any term or condition of the Agreement or any breach thereof shall be in writing executed by the party and any such waiver, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition in any other instance or any to be charged, subsequent breach thereof. The Agreement is not assignable by you, except by operation of law; The Patent Box may assign its rights under the Agreement without condition. The Agreement will be binding upon and will inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns.

The Services, our Website, and the Reports, databases and other content provided on or through the Services are "Commercial Items" as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of "Commercial Computer Software" and "Commercial Computer Software Documentation", as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4, as applicable, the Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation are being licensed to U.S. Government end users (a) only as Commercial Items and (b) with only those rights as are granted to all other end users pursuant to the terms and conditions herein. All rights not expressly provided hereunder are reserved under the copyright laws of the United States.

You may direct any questions, comments or complaints with respect to the Services to:

The Patent Box, LLC
PO Box 641
Springfield, PA 19064
(800) 225-2238
inquiries@thepatentbox.com

17. Binding Arbitration.

a. Purpose. Any and all Disputes (as defined below) involving you and The Patent Box will be resolved through individual arbitration. In arbitration, there is no judge or jury and there is less discovery and appellate review than in court. This Section 17 (the "Arbitration Provision") shall be broadly interpreted. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, this Section 17 does not apply to an action by either party to enjoin the infringement or misuse of its intellectual property rights, including copyright, trademark, patent or trade secret rights.

b. Definitions. The term "Dispute" means any claim or controversy related to the Services or the Software, including but not limited to any and all: (1) claims for relief and theories of liability, whether based in contract, tort, fraud, negligence, statute, regulation, ordinance, or otherwise; (2) claims that arose before this Agreement or any prior agreement; (3) claims that arise after the expiration or termination of this Agreement; and (4) claims that are currently the subject of purported class action litigation in which you are not a member of a certified class. As used in this Arbitration Provision, "The Patent Box" means The Patent Box and any of its predecessors, successors, assigns, parents, subsidiaries and affiliated companies and each of their respective officers, directors, employees and agents, and "you" means you and any users or beneficiaries of your access to the Services or the Website.

c. Initiation of Arbitration Proceeding/Selection of Arbitrator. The party initiating the arbitration proceeding may open a case with JAMS, formerly Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc., ("JAMS") by visiting its website (www.jamsadr.com) or calling its toll-free number (1-800-352-5267). You may deliver any required or desired notice to The Patent Box by mail to P.O. Box 641, Springfield, PA 19064.

d. Right to Sue in Small Claims Court. Notwithstanding anything in this Arbitration Provision to the contrary, either you or The Patent Box may bring an individual action in a small claims court in the area where you access the Services if the claim is not aggregated with the claim of any other person and if the amount in controversy is properly within the jurisdiction of the small claims court.

e. Arbitration Procedures. This Arbitration Provision shall be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act. Arbitrations shall be administered by JAMS pursuant to its Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures (the "JAMS Rules") as modified by the version of this Arbitration Provision that is in effect when you notify The Patent Box about your Dispute. You can obtain the JAMS Rules from the JAMS by visiting its website (www.jamsadr.com) or calling its toll-free number (1-800-352-5267). If there is a conflict between this Arbitration Provision and the rest of this Agreement, this Arbitration Provision shall govern. If there is a conflict between this Arbitration Provision and the JAMS rules, this Arbitration Provision shall govern. If JAMS will not administer a proceeding under this Arbitration Provision as written, the parties shall agree on a substitute arbitration organization. If the parties cannot agree, the parties shall mutually petition a court of appropriate jurisdiction to appoint an arbitration organization that will administer a proceeding under this Arbitration Provision as written applying the JAMS Rules. A single arbitrator will resolve the Dispute. Unless you and The Patent Box agree otherwise, any arbitration hearing will take place in Philadelphia, PA. The arbitrator will honor claims of privilege recognized by law and will take reasonable steps to protect customer account information and other confidential or proprietary information. The arbitrator shall issue a reasoned written decision that explains the arbitrator’s essential findings and conclusions. The arbitrator’s award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction over the parties only if necessary for purposes of enforcing the arbitrator’s award. An arbitrator’s award that has been fully satisfied shall not be entered in any court.

f. Waiver of Class Actions and Collective Relief. THERE SHALL BE NO RIGHT OR AUTHORITY FOR ANY CLAIMS TO BE ARBITRATED OR LITIGATED ON A CLASS ACTION, JOINT OR CONSOLIDATED BASIS OR ON BASES INVOLVING CLAIMS BROUGHT IN A PURPORTED REPRESENTATIVE CAPACITY ON BEHALF OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC (SUCH AS A PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL), OTHER SUBSCRIBERS, OR OTHER PERSONS. THE ARBITRATOR MAY AWARD RELIEF ONLY IN FAVOR OF THE INDIVIDUAL PARTY SEEKING RELIEF AND ONLY TO THE EXTENT NECESSARY TO PROVIDE RELIEF WARRANTED BY THAT INDIVIDUAL PARTY’S CLAIM. THE ARBITRATOR MAY NOT CONSOLIDATE MORE THAN ONE PERSON’S CLAIMS, AND MAY NOT OTHERWISE PRESIDE OVER ANY FORM OF A REPRESENTATIVE OR CLASS PROCEEDING.

g. Arbitration Fees and Costs. If your claim seeks more than $75,000 in the aggregate, the payment of the JAMS’s fees and costs will be governed by the JAMS Rules. If your claims seek less than $75,000 in the aggregate, the payment of the JAMS’s fees and costs will be The Patent Box’s responsibility. However, if the arbitrator finds that your Dispute was frivolous or brought for an improper purpose (as measured by the standards set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)), the payment of the JAMS’s fees and costs shall be governed by the JAMS Rules and you shall reimburse The Patent Box for all fees and costs that were your obligation to pay under the JAMS Rules. You may hire an attorney to represent you in arbitration. You are responsible for your attorneys’ fees and additional costs and may only recover your attorneys’ fees and costs in the arbitration to the extent that you could in court if the arbitration is decided in your favor. Notwithstanding anything in this Arbitration Provision to the contrary, The Patent Box will pay all fees and costs that it is required by law to pay.

h. Severability and Waiver of Jury Trial. If any part of subsection (f) of this Arbitration Provision is found to be illegal or unenforceable, the entire Arbitration provision will be unenforceable and the Dispute will be decided by a court. WHETHER IN COURT OR IN ARBITRATION, YOU AND THE PATENT BOX AGREE TO WAIVE THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW. If any other clause in this Arbitration Provision is found to be illegal or unenforceable, that clause will be severed from this Arbitration Provision and the remainder of this Arbitration Provision will be given full force and effect.

i. Continuation. This Arbitration Provision will survive the termination or expiration of this Agreement.

Last Updated: March 4, 2019