Terms of Use

This agreement represents the complete understanding between Digital Patent Services (hereinafter referred to as DPS) and you, the account holder (hereinafter referred to as ACCOUNT HOLDER), and supersedes any other written or oral agreement. Upon notice published online on this web site, DPS can modify or amplify these terms and conditions, modify service prices, as well as discontinue or change any of the services or products offered. This will generally be for new products and product improvements. Continued use of your account with DPS signifies your agreement to these terms and conditions, but, if you decide you do not agree with them, please contact our Accounting Department at 800-741-3117, so we may finalize and initiate the closure of your account. We want satisfied customers, and we work hard to make sure that you are.

Provision of Services and Products

DPS will provide services on its host computing systems to allow ACCOUNT HOLDER to order patents and various patent related publications and books in several electronic formats either for download, or on CD or DVD, and to order and have printed books and documents shipped to your location or a location you specify, and to perform various search functions and return results, all to the best of our ability. These services are in exchange for payment of the advertised fees and/or product prices in compliance with the terms and conditions of this agreement. ACCOUNT HOLDER is responsible for shipping and handling costs, and these costs will be specified at the time of purchase, if at all possible. If this is not possible, DPS will provide the opportunity to specify that ACCOUNT HOLDER be notified when shipping and handling costs are calculated prior to shipping and finalizing the order.

Accuracy of Information, Documents, Publications and Services

DPS will strive to ensure that the documents and publications we provide are up to date, accurate and in good condition. Most of the information that DPS sells is derived from large inventories purchased from the U.S. government and DPS uses it's proprietary software to further improve the quality of portions of these documents, but DPS will not knowingly change the contents of these documents and publications because we understand the legal implications of doing so. Because of the sheer volume of data, and the fact that many of the documents we receive from the U.S. government and other government sources are defective upon receipt, DPS will not be held responsible for the accuracy of the contents of the documents or publications. For instance, if there was a misspelling in an original patent document we received from the U.S. government, that misspelling will remain exactly as it was found when we received it (e.g., made by a patent applicant, the patent examiner, publications author, etc.). We may, however, add the corrected word to an electronic index so it can be found in search systems, but we can't be sure we've found all misspellings in such cases. We have reported, and will continue to report problems we find with documents and publications to the proper authorities, but we must pass them on to the ACCOUNT HOLDER exactly as they come from the source provider. To do otherwise means that we would be changing a legal document that we do not have the authority to change. We ask that you report problems to us, and we will pass them on to the proper authority as necessary and confirm this to you, if you desire. If you receive a defective document and the original document we receive is also defective, we will attempt to resolve this by acquiring a new copy of the document at no additional charge to you. We ask that you notify us of the defective document, and it will be your choice whether you want a credit or a r eplacement document.

Payment Terms and Conditions of Non-Payment

The payment terms of ACCOUNT HOLDER's account specify that the Net Unpaid Balance is Due 30 days from the date of each purchase with an additional grace period totaling the number of days from the purchase date to the end of the purchase month. Note that this is from the shipping date (usually also the invoice date), and not the order date. For example, payment for an item purchased and shipped on May 15th would be absolutely due in our offices by June 30th. After that date, finance charges may accrue as follows: A finance charge of 1.5% per month on all outstanding balances past the final due date will be added to ACCOUNT HOLDER's account as a separate line item. These finance charges may be waived under certain circumstances, but you usually must speak to someone in our offices for a waiver. ACCOUNT HOLDER is only charged for the documents you receive and any applicable shipping and handling charges, and you can always call DPS for a credit or assistance if there is any kind of problem with the document or our services. We care about you and the quality of service we provide. Unpaid accounts with balances over $100.00 U.S. past 90 days may be sent to a collection agency.

Delivery of Electronic Results, Physical Documents and Publications

DPS ships printed publications and documents via traceable means (e.g., UPS) unless another method has been agreed upon in advance. DPS will not be responsible for delivery failure and delays in delivery caused by third party shipping companies (which is rare). DPS also returns documents, links to documents and search results, and DPS will not be responsible for the speed and/or accuracy of the "Internet" connection established for the transmission of purchased documents or publications. We request that you notify us if you detect reduced delivery speeds, or other problems while using your services via the Internet and we will do everything reasonable within our power to correct or fix the problem, or find out where the fault exists. Because of the nature of the Internet, DPS cannot, and shall not guarantee that its electronic services, host computer download facilities, or email services will be available 100% of the time, but we do assure you that we will strive for 100% availability for times other than during our normal weekly maintenance window. This window is once each week on Sunday afternoon from 2:00 PM through 9:00 PM Eastern Time. And even during this window, services may still be available.

Licensing and Use of Purchased Documents and Publications

US Patent documents are public domain by their very nature, and you are welcome to keep them, redistribute or even sell them, if you so desire. Be aware that DPS will not be responsible for the contents and accuracy of any of these documents, even if we have enhanced them by removing noise, deskewing (straightening) crooked scanned documents, improving readability, etc. Quite often we receive damaged documents from the various patent authorities and it is not possible to examine every page of every document we receive (we add over 20,000 new publications to our inventories each week). The books in our Government Publications Series are assigned ISBN numbers and they may have certain enhancements or editorial additions that are copyrighted, such as an added table of contents or an index where none existed in the original government published version, therefore, you must get our permission in writing to make copies of these publications.

Passwords and Confidential Account Information

You are expected to keep your provided password or PIN (Personal Identification Number) confidential. If you suspect your password or PIN has been compromised, you should request a new one as soon as possible, and you shall advise us if you suspect purchases were made by someone other than yourself using your user ID and PIN or password. We record certain pieces of technical information on purchases and logons such as the Internet Protocol (IP) address and the terminal type that were used for the transaction. We can possibly tell if your account has been compromised if you advise us that purchases were made by someone other than you. If this happens, we will be happy to fully credit your account and assign you new logon credentials. We may even be able to tell who it was, or at least where it originated (city, state, country, or even the street address), but we can not guarantee this. Either way, will cooperate with authorities to prosecute those that perpetrated the theft using your identification. Our credit card purchases are fully encrypted for security, but general download of data products are not in order to achieve maximum processing and download speed. However, if you require a secure, encrypted channel for downloads, please calls us and we will arrange it.

Construction and Lawful Execution

By sending (submitting) this New Account Request, you agree that you have the authority within your firm or company under the laws of your country to execute such documents and agreements, or if the account is for you personally, that you are at least 18 years of age and a legal resident and citizen of the United States of America. This Agreement shall be deemed to have been entered into in the Commonwealth of Virginia and shall be interpreted and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia applicable to such agreements executed and to be fully performed therein. Each party hereby agrees to submit to the exclusive in personam jurisdiction of the courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia for the resolution of all disputes between them, or, if jurisdictional prerequisites exist at the time, to the sole and exclusive in personam jurisdiction of the Federal Courts in Virginia with venue to be in the Northern District of Alexandria in Fairfax County.