Terms of Service

Agreement#

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and Four Birds Limited, a New Zealand company ("IPkit," "we," "us"). By accessing or using any IPkit property — including ipkit.ai and api.ipkit.ai(collectively, the "Service") — you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

If you are entering into these Terms on behalf of an organisation, you represent that you have authority to bind it and "you" refers to that organisation. Enterprise customers under a separately signed Master Services Agreement are governed by that agreement where it conflicts with these Terms.

Eligibility#

You must be at least 16 years old (or the age of digital consent in your jurisdiction, whichever is higher) to use the Service. You may not use the Service if you are barred from doing so under applicable law, are located in a jurisdiction subject to comprehensive trade sanctions, or appear on a government-administered restricted-party list.

Accounts and API keys#

Some features require an account. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide, for keeping your credentials and API keys confidential, and for all activity that occurs under your account or keys. Raw API keys are displayed to you exactly once at creation; IPkit cannot recover the raw value if you lose it. Notify us promptly at security@ipkit.ai if you suspect unauthorised use.

The Service#

IPkit provides search, monitoring, analysis, and related developer tools across publicly available intellectual-property data drawn from official registers and other sources. Features evolve over time; we may add, modify, or discontinue functionality with reasonable notice. Beta or preview features are provided "as is" and may change or be withdrawn without notice; do not rely on them for production workloads.

Acceptable use#

You agree not to, and not to permit anyone else to:

Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of these Terms.
Attempt to circumvent rate limits, plan quotas, authentication, or other access controls; share API keys outside the account that owns them; or resell access without a written agreement with ipkit.
Scrape, mirror, or bulk-export data beyond your plan's limits, or use the Service to build a substantially similar competing product.
Submit content that infringes intellectual-property rights, violates privacy, is unlawful, or that you do not have the right to submit.
Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service except under a written authorisation (see our security disclosure contact below).
Interfere with or disrupt the Service, the underlying infrastructure, or other users.
Use the Service to train a machine-learning model that competes with IPkit, except for your own internal research where doing so is permitted by your plan and applicable law.
Use the Service to send unsolicited bulk communications, malware, or content that violates a sub-processor's acceptable-use policy.

We may suspend or terminate access immediately if we reasonably believe you have violated this section, or if continued provision of the Service would expose IPkit, our other users, or a sub-processor to material legal, security, or reputational risk.

Data sources#

IPkit surfaces information drawn from publicly available intellectual-property records and other sources. That underlying data originates with the relevant registers and rights holders and remains subject to their own terms of use, which may govern attribution, reuse, and redistribution. You are responsible for complying with those terms when you act on data IPkit surfaces to you, and for independently verifying anything you rely on. IPkit does not warrant that the data is complete, current, or accurate, and your plan's limits and our API design may reflect constraints on how the underlying data may be used.

Plans, fees, and billing#

Paid plans are billed in advance on a recurring basis (monthly or annual, as selected at checkout) via Stripe. Usage-based charges accrue during the billing period and are settled at period end. Fees are exclusive of taxes; you are responsible for any sales, VAT, GST, or similar taxes, except taxes on IPkit's net income.

You may cancel at any time from the customer portal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you retain access until then. Except where required by law, fees already paid are non-refundable, including for partial periods of use, unused features, or downgrades. If you believe a charge is incorrect, contact billing@ipkit.ai within 30 days of the invoice date.

We may change pricing for renewals on at least 30 days' notice; continued use after a price change takes effect constitutes acceptance.

Free tier and trials#

We may offer free tiers, trials, or evaluation credits. These may be modified or discontinued at any time and are subject to fair-use limits. We may suspend or revoke free access if we detect abuse, including creation of multiple accounts to evade limits.

Customer content#

"Customer Content" means any data, text, file, or other material you submit to the Service. As between you and IPkit, you retain all rights in Customer Content. You grant IPkit a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, process, transmit, and display Customer Content solely to operate and improve the Service for you. We do not train general-purpose machine-learning models on Customer Content for the benefit of unrelated customers.

You represent that you have the rights necessary to submit Customer Content and that doing so will not violate any law or third-party right.

Our intellectual property#

IPkit and our licensors own the Service, including its software, designs, branding, documentation, and any analyses, classifications, or scores IPkit generates from public sources. Except for the licence we grant you to use the Service under these Terms, no rights are granted to you in IPkit's intellectual property by implication or otherwise. The IPkit name and logo are trademarks of Four Birds Limited.

Feedback#

If you send us suggestions, ideas, or feedback about the Service, you grant IPkit a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use them without restriction. You do not need to send us feedback; if you do, we may act on it without obligation.

Third-party services#

The Service may link to or interoperate with third-party services (e.g., GitHub, Google, Stripe, IP-office portals). Your use of those services is governed by their own terms; IPkit is not responsible for them.

No legal advice#

IPkit is a research and reasoning platform. Outputs — including registrability assessments, similarity scores, watch alerts, and any natural-language analysis — are informational and do not constitute legal advice, do not create an attorney-client relationship, and should not be acted on without consultation with a qualified attorney admitted in the relevant jurisdiction. You are solely responsible for filing decisions, deadlines, and downstream actions taken based on IPkit outputs.

Disclaimers#

Except as expressly stated in these Terms, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available." To the maximum extent permitted by law, IPkit and its licensors disclaim all warranties, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, and any warranty arising from course of dealing or trade usage. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error- free, or that source-registry data is complete, accurate, or up to date.

Limitation of liability#

To the maximum extent permitted by law, neither party will be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenues, goodwill, or data, even if advised of the possibility. Each party's aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the fees you paid IPkit in the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to the claim or (b) US$100.

These limits do not apply to liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law (for example, gross negligence, wilful misconduct, fraud, or — in some jurisdictions — death or personal injury caused by negligence). Some jurisdictions do not allow exclusions of certain warranties or limitations of liability, so portions of this section may not apply to you.

Indemnity#

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless IPkit and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any third-party claim, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of (a) your Customer Content, (b) your use of the Service in violation of these Terms or applicable law, or (c) your infringement of any third-party right. IPkit will notify you of the claim, give you reasonable control of the defence, and cooperate at your expense.

Suspension and termination#

Either party may terminate these Terms at any time. You can terminate by closing your account or canceling your subscription. We may suspend or terminate your access immediately if you breach these Terms (including the acceptable-use section), if required by law, or if we discontinue the Service. On termination, your right to use the Service ends; sections intended to survive (including 9–11, 13–16, 18–22) will survive.

After termination, we will retain and delete data as described in our Privacy Policy. You may request export of your data within 30 days of termination; after that we may delete it.

Modifications to these Terms#

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify account holders by email and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page at least 30 days before the change takes effect, except for changes required by law or for security reasons, which may take effect immediately. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance. If you object, your remedy is to stop using the Service and cancel your account.

Governing law and disputes#

These Terms are governed by the laws of New Zealand, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New Zealand for any dispute that is not subject to mandatory arbitration or small-claims jurisdiction.

Before filing a claim, the parties will attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute informally by contacting legal@ipkit.ai. Nothing in this section limits a party's right to seek injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to protect its intellectual property or confidential information.

The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply. Consumer-guarantees rights under the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and the Fair Trading Act 1986 are not excluded except where you acquire the Service for business purposes, in which case you agree those Acts do not apply to the maximum extent permitted.

Export and sanctions#

You may not use, export, or re-export the Service in violation of US, EU, UK, or other applicable export-control or sanctions laws. You represent that you are not located in, or a national of, a country subject to comprehensive sanctions and are not on a restricted-party list.

Force majeure#

Neither party is liable for failure or delay caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, labour disputes, internet or telecommunications failures, or pandemics, provided the affected party uses commercially reasonable efforts to mitigate and resume performance.

General#

Entire agreement. These Terms (together with the Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, and any separately signed agreement) are the entire agreement between you and IPkit regarding the Service and supersede prior agreements on the same subject.
Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect, and the unenforceable provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable.
No waiver. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of the right to enforce it later.
Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, with notice to you.
Notices. We may send notices to the email associated with your account. You may send notices to legal@ipkit.ai.
Independent contractors. The parties are independent contractors; nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship.
Third-party beneficiaries. There are no third-party beneficiaries of these Terms.

Contact#

General questions: hello@ipkit.ai
Legal: legal@ipkit.ai
Security disclosure: security@ipkit.ai
Billing: billing@ipkit.ai
Postal: Four Birds Limited, 566A Cove Road, RD2, Waipu 0582, New Zealand