General Terms and Conditions for the Information Services of europatent GmbH

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1. Scope

1.1. The General Terms and Conditions apply to the services of europatent GmbH (hereinafter referred to as "europatent") within the scope of an accepted order of a customer (hereinafter referred to as "customer") for the services described therein.

1.2. europatent will provide the services ordered to the customer at the customer's request in (i) written form, on (ii) a data carrier, via (iii) the Internet or (iv) by any other electronic means agreed between europatent and the customer.

2.  Availability and use of information services

2.1. Due to maintenance and adjustment measures as well as access restrictions of third parties or at europatent, the information services or individual functions may be temporarily unavailable. This applies in particular to the data sources and information services of the patent offices connected to the system, over whose function and availability europatent has no influence.

2.2. The following forms of use of the information services by the customer are not permitted:

2.2.1. Automated access and retrieval of data files.

2.2.2. Bulk download of data to create own datasets.

2.2.3. Accessing data by circumventing the masks or interface definitions provided by europatent.

3. Contract term, extension and termination

3.1. The respective contractual relationship begins on the date specified in europatent's order confirmation.

3.2. Extension. The respective contractual relationship shall be automatically extended by a further period of three months unless it is terminated in accordance with the following paragraphs.

3.3. Ordinary termination. Notice of termination must be given in writing by letter, fax or e-mail within the time limits specified in clause 3.4:

3.3.1. Postal address: Elsenheimerstrasse67, 80687 Munich, Germany

3.3.2. Fax number: +49 89/41 11 561-10

3.3.3. E-mail address: info@europatent.net

3.4. Notice Periods. The following services, as described in the respective order, will be terminated as follows:

·      The profile-based monitoring services can be terminated three months to the end of a quarter.

·      Individual monitored numbers can be terminated without notice. The current month is charged according to the current price list.

·      The file inspection can be terminated without notice. In this case, a cancellation fee according to our price list is payable

·      Training courses can only be completed before the actual presentation. In the event that europatent has expenses in connection with this service, this work will be invoiced on an hourly basis according to our price list.

·      Projects can only be completed upon request. In the event that europatent incurs expenses in connection with this service, this work will be invoiced on an hourly basis in accordance with our price list.

·      Consultancy services can be terminated upon request. In the event that europatent incurs expenses in connection with this service, this work will be invoiced on an hourly basis in accordance with our price list.

·      If there is an underlying contract, the notice periods stated in the contract shall apply.

·      If no notice periods are defined in the contract, the contract term is automatically extended by a further 12 months unless it is cancelled 3 months before the end of the calendar year.

3.5. Termination for good cause. The parties may terminate the contract for good cause. europatent may in particular terminate the contract with the customer without notice if:

i. Abuse or non-compliance with these General Terms and Conditions, and/or

ii. Non-payment during a period of4 months after receipt of the unpaid invoice by the customer.

4. Prices, payment and non-payment

4.1. The prices for the services as described in the respective order shall be calculated on the basis of the price list valid on the date of receipt of the respective order.

4.2. europatent is entitled to increase the prices appropriately after written announcement, with effect from the beginning of the month after next. If the customer does not agree with the adjustment, he can terminate this contract in writing with one month's notice to the day on which the new fee comes into effect.

4.3. Unless otherwise stated on the invoice, payment must be made without deduction within 14 days of receipt of the invoice. europatent is entitled to make a delivery only against advance payment if it deems this necessary.

4.4. Any taxes, customs duties or other charges which may become due as a result of the delivery of information shall be borne by the customer, who shall also bear the risk of loss or damage during transport.

5. Liability

5.1. No warranty or representation, express or implied, is given as to the quality of the information services or their performance or fitness for a particular purpose. europatent does not warrant that the software-based information services will meet the requirements of the customer or that they will function without error.

5.2. europatent is liable without limitation for damages arising from injury to life, limb or health, guarantees for the quality of the subject of the contract, fraudulent concealment of defects and claims under the Product Liability Act as well as for damages caused intentionally or by gross negligence.

5.3. Notwithstanding clause 5.2,europatent is only liable for slight negligence if it breaches a contractual obligation, the fulfilment of which only enables the proper performance of the contract and/or the breach of which jeopardizes the achievement of the purpose of the contract and on the fulfilment of which the customer may regularly rely on (so-called cardinal obligations). europatent is liable here in the event of breach of an essential obligation under the contract up to an amount of one annual sum of the commissioned service. This limitation of liability does not apply to personal injury

5.4. The liability for slightly negligent breaches of cardinal obligations according to section 5.3 is limited to the damage foreseeable at the time of conclusion of the contract and up to a maximum of one annual amount of the commissioned service.  In all other cases, europatent's liability for slight negligence is excluded.

5.5. Notwithstanding the above liability provisions, europatent is liable for the loss of data only up to the amount that would have been incurred to restore the data if it had been properly and regularly backed up.

5.6. The above liability provisions apply accordingly to legal representatives and vicarious agents of europatent.

6. Data protection and confidentiality

6.1. The Customer is informed that europatent stores and processes personal data for the performance of the contract. The data protection declaration of europatent is available for information at the following link: https://www. patoffice.de/datenschutzerklaerung/

6.2. europatent undertakes to treat all information handled in the context of the cooperation, namely and without limitation also the rulebooks, evaluations, comments and search profiles, as confidential and to keep them secret for an unlimited period. Disclosure of the data to third parties is not permitted unless this is regulated by a supplementary agreement or the data must be disclosed due to legal obligations or by order of a court or authority.

7. Changes to the General Terms and Conditions

7.1. The customer shall be notified in writing of any amendments to the General Terms and Conditions. If the customer does not reject the amendments in writing within one month after notification, they are deemed accepted. europatent will expressly draw the customer's attention to this legal consequence when notifying him of the amendments.

8. Applicable law and disputes

8.1. These Terms and Conditions and the respective contractual relationship shall be governed by and construed exclusively in accordance with the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany.

8.2. If the customer is an entrepreneur, Munich shall be the exclusive place of jurisdiction for any disputes arising from a service contract.

9. General

9.1. These Terms and Conditions are drafted in German and English. In the event of a dispute over the terms of these Terms and Conditions, the German version shall prevail.

9.2. The invalidity of individual provisions of these Terms and Conditions does not affect the validity of the other provisions of these Terms and Conditions. europatent and the customer undertake in this case to conclude an agreement that comes as close as possible to the invalid provision from a commercial point of view.

9.3. The customer may transfer rights and obligations arising from or in connection with a contractual relationship to third parties only with the written consent of europatent.

9.4. Amendments, supplements and additions to these Terms and Conditions must be made in writing with express reference to these Terms and Conditions. The requirement of the written form can itself only be waived in writing.